THE BUDGERIGAR SOCIETY 2010 CONVENTION
THE ROYAL CLIFTON HOTEL SOUTHPORT 11th – 13th JUNE 2010
The Royal Clifton Hotel at Southport was once again the setting for what proved to be yet another great weekend. Following the Convention held at the same venue in 2006, many comments were made that we should return again for the event in 2010, but after having such a great and successful weekend there in 2006, some had their doubts about the wisdom of returning to Southport and trying to equal, or even surpass, that event. Happily their doubts did not materialise as the weekend proved to be a huge success with many comments that it was actually better than in 2006.
Our President Dave Herring opened the Convention early on Friday afternoon and welcomed the many visitors that had already arrived at the Royal Clifton, and immediately before the first lecture, he was delighted to present Jeff Attwood with the Silver Bird trophy in front of a very warm and appreciative crowd.
Down Memory Lane
Jeff Attwood teamed up with Mick Freakley to present the first lecture which gave an insight into Jeff’s early memories of his time in the fancy, recalling his associations with many of the well known fanciers of the time, especially Mrs Moss and Harry Bryan.
Mick had produced a superb presentation to assist Jeff’s recollections using many of the early photographs that Jeff had, either in his possession, or had managed to borrow for the presentation.
The fantastic response at the conclusion of the presentation said all that needs to be said about this first lecture, save that right at the commencement, more chairs had to be brought into the room such was the interest in this, the first lecture of the weekend.
The Life of Brian – Make em’ Breed
Another full house greeted Brian Sweeting who gave a superb presentation outlining how he manages his superb stud of birds and giving some insight into how he manages to keep producing so many outstanding birds year after year.
Brian, having sat intently listening to Jeff and Mick felt that he had a hard act to follow, but he need not have had any fears as the crowded room was not slow to show their appreciation for a very interesting and informative presentation, with some going on their way hoping to emulate some of Brian’s success now they had been let into some of his secrets.
Late Night Fun
A packed “Windsor Suite” enjoyed a lovely meal followed by a very light hearted and fun quiz organised by Grant Findlay who was ably assisted by the “two Daves”, that is, Hislop and Whittaker. The crowd divided into roughly similar sized teams and entered into the night whole heartedly, rounding off what had been a great first day of the Convention.
From Junior Exhibitor to Champion Partnership
Sunday morning got off to a flying start with, amazingly, after such a late night Friday (or early Saturday morning for some!), with a crowded room; yet more seating having to be provided, with Richard and Michael Miller telling us about how they built up their winning stud of birds and how they now manage them.
Richard took the stage first, and showed pictures of some of his early birds and winners and then went on to tell about his partnership with his Dad and how it had progressed through the sections, the highlight being of course, winning the Club Show with their superb Violet hen in 2006.
Michael then took over and talked in some detail about their management and feeding methods with a special emphasis on how much thought, research and preparation is put into their feeding programme, a programme they are sure that contributes greatly to maintaining their superb stud of birds.
Infectious Diseases in psittacines
Such was the popularity of Kevin Eatwell’s presentation at the 2006 Convention, he was, by popular demand, invited back again this year.
Kevin talked in some depth about many of the diseases that can befall our birds and then went on to give some idea on firstly the prevention and failing that, some possible ways of treating birds that are infected.
The Development of the Modern Show Budgerigar
Ron Pearce and his partner, Marcel Buhler took centre stage after lunch and gave an insight into how the modern day show bird has developed from the birds that were winning many years ago. Using pictures of those winners from the earlier years, and comparing them with pictures of modern day winners, they soon showed that the modern day bird carries much more feather and is much bolder in comparison.
Following on from this lecture, the crowd moved into the show hall to watch the judging for Best in Show and Best Opposite Sex in Show.
It was interesting to see that an Opaline was picked as the winner, Ron and Marcel only commenting during their lecture that an opaline seldom, (in fact I’m sure they said never) wins Best in Show!
The Highlight
A Gala Dinner has always been the highlight of any weekend, and Saturday night in the “Windsor Suite” at the Royal Clifton was no exception.
A fine meal was enjoyed by all and suffered only a minor interruption when England scored, funnily enough though, there were no cheers when USA equalised; a thoughtful Budgerigar Society Secretary booking a television so that the “footy” fans could enjoy?? the match as well as the meal.
Eric Peake kicked off the entertainment as the After Dinner Speaker in his usual amusing way followed by the ever popular comedian, Joey Howard; sadly the sound equipment failed to match his humour and some of the guests had difficulty hearing him at the back of the room.
Presentations were made to some very special guests; John Cosby and Eric Peake who were celebrating “very big” birthdays and Anne and Colin Lamb who were celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary.
The Specialist Varieties
Sadly the last day of the convention came around all too soon, and certainly Sunday mornings’ start at 10.00am seemed far too early for a few who had “wined and dined” the night away into the not so wee small hours!
Even so, a decent sized audience gathered to listen to Lyn Bancroft talk about clearwings and red-eyes and the respective societies.
Ian Fielding followed covering Dominant and Recessive Pieds and the Variegated Budgerigar Club with Ghalib Al-Nasser bringing up the rear with a presentation about the Rare varieties including one or two of the newer and rarer ones such as the anthracite.
Pairing for Success
The final lecture of the Convention possibly attracted the largest audience when well in excess of 100 fanciers crowded into the “Osborne Two” suite to listen to Alan Marchant and Chris Huxley who brought along a number of their birds and talked about how they had progressed through the years. They pointed out the strengths of the various birds they had brought with them and went on to illustrate what they would look for in birds when they paired up and how they would achieve their aims by careful selection of their breeding pairs.
The Conclusion
As the old saying goes, “all good things must come to an end” and sadly the convention was no different. It seemed almost as though Sunday afternoon had arrived before events had really got under way and all the planning and preparation over such a long time had “come and gone” in no time at all.
It was time for our President, Dave Herring to present the winning exhibitors and judges with their special awards of a framed, commemorative print of the new Ideal Budgerigar, say a few words of congratulations and thanks and bid everyone a safe journey home with the hope that he would see them all again at the Club Show, the Woking Event and of course, the next Convention.
Thank You
It would be remiss of me, as Chairman, completing this report if I did not include a very special thank you to our Secretary, Dave Whittaker, who put so much time and effort into organising this great weekend, and the fantastic success of the convention was due in no small part to Dave’s incredible amount of planning and work, so to you Dave, and on behalf of everyone who attended the Convention and enjoyed themselves so much, a very sincere thank you, your efforts were very much appreciated.
THE CONVENTION SHOW
No Convention would be complete without birds and as in previous conventions organised by The Budgerigar Society there was a show, for owner bred birds only, in the five status’ with challenge certificates for the 19 colours, pre-graded seven points each. On this occasion recent past Presidents of the Society were invited to judge the show consisting of Janice Al-Nasser, Bob Francis and the Society’s current President, Dave Herring. Ian, Pat and Jennifer Fielding acted as the show officials and, although the entry was low in comparison with previous Convention shows, the quality was as high as in the past.
When judging of all the colour groups was completed, members attending the Convention were invited into the show hall after the last lecture on Saturday to watch the judging for Best in Show. Unfortunately there were no crests benched, so only 18 birds were lined up for the supreme award. There were some quality birds in the line up and after much deliberation the judges unanimously agreed on the Opaline Grey cock as the Best in Show; a bird that was staged in good condition with the desirable width of head and shoulder and showed itself well to capture the judges’ eyes. The bird belonged to Tony Pope from Glamorgan, making him the second Welsh fancier to win this coveted award at a Convention; the previous Welsh winners being the Taylor & Smith partnership at the 1990 Convention in Scarborough.
When it came to the selection of the Best Opposite Sex in Show a nice Cinnamon Grey hen belonging to beginner Jennifer Fielding captured the judges’ eyes for that award; a great achievement and a well deserved win for Jennifer who worked very hard at the show with her parents.
The champion section was headed by the Best in Show followed by Alcock & Hislop’s big solid Cobalt cock but his tail was a bit ragged on the day. Bill & Malcolm Hough were in third place with a quality Spangle Light Green cock.
Unfortunately there was only one exhibitor in the intermediate section and of course Margaret & Bill Walker won all the awards. Their Yellow-wing Green cock shown in good condition headed the section, a bird that had good size, shape and deportment with good variety markings. This was followed by their Whitewing Blue cock possessing similar features to their winner. A useful Grey cock was in third place.
The novice section again had only one exhibitor, David Brick, who benched a quality team to win two challenge certificates with his winning birds. His lovely challenge certificate winning Skyblue cock headed the section, but had a tail problem that prevented him from going further. This was followed by his second certificate winner, the Yellowface Skyblue cock, a bird of quality but not quite as wide in the face as the winner and not quite in top condition. A strong good headed Grey cock was in third place.
There was good competition in the beginner section and the Cinnamon Grey hen of Jennifer Fielding headed this section followed by another hen, a Light Green, in second place for Chris Horrocks; a bird shown in good condition but lacking the winner’s head quality. Andrew Benton was third with his large Light Green cock which did not stand well during judging.
Gary Cameron benched a strong team in the junior section to win all the awards. His strong Opaline Cinnamon Skyblue hen headed the section followed by his Spangle Skyblue cock. A nice coloured Violet cock was placed third.
Major Specials & Challenge Certificate Winners
BEST IN SHOW
Tony Pope – Opaline Grey cock
Tony Pope made his trip to the Convention worthwhile when his superb Opaline Grey cock was awarded the supreme award of Best in Show.
This was a lovely clean opaline and a good example of the variety. It had plenty of size, and this, coupled with a good width of face and mask and lift above the eye made it a very worthy and popular winner.
It had of course already won the Opaline Blue series Challenge Certificate before going on to win Best in Show and Best Champion.
BEST OPPOSITE SEX IN SHOW
Jennifer Fielding – Cinnamon Grey hen
Jennifer had been very much involved with her Mum in running the show, so it was nice to see one of the “workers” win one of the major specials.
Jennifer benched a super fit Cinnamon Grey hen that the judges had little hesitation in awarding it the special for Best Opposite Sex in Show and then Best beginner. This was top quality hen that had plenty of style and length, together with nice feather and capping and a very deep mask that carried a good set of spots. Again it seemed that the judges decision was well received and very popular.
Best Normal Green
The winner of the Normal Green Challenge Certificate was a lovely Dark Green cock shown by the Father and Son partnership of T & A Luke. This bird displayed excellent style, with a good, deep, well spotted mask and plenty of width and capping over the eye.
Best Normal Blue
A superb quality Skyblue cock shown by D Brick won the Challenge Certificate for Normal Blues and also the award for Best Novice. Many thought that this outstanding Skyblue cock was unlucky not to be awarded Best in Show, but it no doubt just lost out on that award because of its broken tail. It displayed exceptional width across its face and mask and had large round spots on a very deep mask; it also had plenty of size and was a lovely even colour throughout.
Best Grey Green
A Benton entered a nice stylish Grey Green cock in excellent condition to win this Challenge Certificate. It was a good solid bird with nice feather above the eye, but was not quite as big as some of the other certificate winners.
Best Grey
T & A Luke enjoyed a very successful show winning no less than five Best of Colour awards. This winner was another good quality cock that had plenty of style and width with a good deep wide well spotted mask.
Best Opaline Green
Yet another winner for T & A Luke; the winner of the Opaline Green Challenge certificate was a lovely clean Opaline Dark Green hen that was benched in excellent condition. It was another good example of the opaline variety that had a good mask and spots and displayed excellent style.
Best Opaline Blue
The winner of this certificate was Tony Pope’s Opaline grey cock that went on to win Best in Show.
Best Normal Cinnamon
Looking at the five winning birds benched by T & A Luke it is fairly obvious that they have a stud of birds that have excellent style and capping above the eyes and the winner of this Normal Cinnamon Challenge Certificate, a Cinnamon Light Green cock was no exception. It was yet another of their birds that had superb style and size and again, as with all their team, was benched in excellent condition.
Best Opaline Cinnamon
A good quality Opaline Cinnamon Grey Green hen was the fifth winner for T & A Luke. Again this was a bird of excellent quality and another example of a good, clean opaline, with good mask, spots and width and benched in excellent condition.
Best Lutino
A super coloured Lutino cock won this certificate for I Saunders. It combined size with style and displayed a very good deep colour throughout. It had plenty of feather and was exhibited in very good condition.
Best Albino
A good quality Albino cock benched by HW & M Hough was the winner of the Albino Challenge Certificate. It had plenty of feather but was slightly spoilt by some markings on its wings.
Best Yellow-wing
A good style Yellow-wing Light Green cock was the Best Yellow-wing and Best Intermediate for M & D Walker. This was a nice, clean stylish bird and benched in excellent condition.
Best Whitewing
Cy Thorne benched a lovely Whitewing Violet cock in excellent condition to win this cerificate. This was a very good example of its variety and displayed a really good colour contrast between its deep violet body colour and nice clean wings.
Best Spangle
A very well marked Spangle Light Green hen was another certificate winner for HW & M Hough. It was a good long stylish bird and had excellent width both across its face and shoulders.
Best Dominant Pied, Clearflight or Dutch Pied
P Hutchinson benched a Dominant Pied Grey Green cock in excellent condition to win this Challenge Certificate. It was a well marked bird with good style, mask and spots.
Best recessive Pied or Dark Eyed Clear
A superb styled Recessive Pied Violet cock was a winner for Pat and Ian Fielding, again, it was nice to see an award go their way as they had both put so much effort into organising the show. This bird had plenty of size and had excellent wing markings which all helped to make it a very good example of the Recessive Pied variety.
Best Yellowface
A very good quality Yellowface Skyblue cock proved to be another winner for Novice exhibitor, D Brick. This was a very long bodied bird that displayed a very deep mask with good round spots and plenty of width across its face.
Best Rare Variety
Cy Thorne benched a good solid Clearbody Light Green cock to win the Rae Variety Challenge Certificate. This was another bird that was good example of its variety and had plenty of size with a good mask and spots.
Best Any Other Colour
This certificate proved to be the third winner for Cy Thorne, who benched a very stylish, well marked Lacewing to take the Certificate for Best Any Other Colour.
Best Junior
A good solid Opaline Cinnamon Skyblue hen was awarded the special for Best Junior in Show for Gary Cameron.
A GREAT CONVENTION
Excellent Hotel, good food served with traditional English weather, great atmosphere and good company, with a few hidden extras thrown in, a memorable weekend
Happy 85th and many thanks
Lyn Bancroft - Guest Speaker
A group of Irish Budgerigar fanciers travelled from Ireland from the Exhibition Budgerigar Society of Ireland to the Budgerigar Society Convention at Southport. This was the third convention we have been to, and I would like to thank The Budgerigar Society for putting together a wonderful weekend with superb speakers. We met old friends and new; the fun and atmosphere was excellent.
This will be my 30th year travelling to the Club Show at Doncaster and I still enjoy every minute as much as I did my first show; it is also a wonderful weekend.
May this wonderful hobby of ours nurture and grow.
Joe & Bernie Nevin
Another great weekend spent at Southport for the Convention, the hotel was excellent and the speakers all were just great,
The whole weekend was so relaxing and enjoyable with perfect weather; another great budgie weekend. Well done The Budgerigar Society
Regards - Rick Watts
I would like to thank everyone involved in the organisation of the Convention and for the very enjoyable time I had in Southport. Never having previously attended such an event, I was not sure what to expect, but the friendliness which I encountered made me feel “at home” immediately.
With all good wishes. Pat Herring
Having just returned from the Convention at Southport, we felt we must put pen to paper to congratulate The Budgerigar Society on such a superb event and also our Secretary, Dave Whittaker who was on hand at all times to welcome and help when needed. The programme of speakers was second to none and we believe any other society in the world could not compete with this event for quality and value for money. We are already looking forward to the next one. Well done The Budgerigar Society.
Yours Sincerely – Rowell & Heighton R2736
On behalf of Les Martin and myself, we would like to extend our appreciation to the President, Chairman and Secretary and all those involved in creating the Convention in Southport at the Royal Clifton Hotel. Such successful events do not just arise easily without a great deal of background work by a team devoted to getting matters right for the benefit of others. The Budgerigar Society team did just that.
The lectures were well presented and the lecturers made their audiences realise that none of us knows everything; coupled with an excellent hotel and Convention Dinner, this made the weekend very enjoyable and well worth the effort to attend. Those who, for whatever reason, were unable to attend, missed a well organised weekend which was full of information, interest and comradeship and importantly, totally devoid of matters political, which is so destructive, given the hobby has regrettably declined world-wide.
Congratulations to all those in front, and behind the scenes.
Gerald Binks & Les Martin
I have just returned home from a fantastic weekend at the Royal Clifton hotel. The
Hotel was a superb setting to hold The Budgerigar Society’s Convention, held to celebrate its 85th year.
All the lectures were very informative and the place was buzzing with enthusiasm; there were some excellent birds on show and old friendships were rekindled and new ones made.
It is 35 years since I attended my first convention in 1975. The Budgerigar Society should be thanked for the first class organisation of the weekend and it’s great to know that the cult of the budgerigar is alive and well; long may it continue – I can’t wait for the next one.
Maurice Roberts