THE DISBANDING of a pigeon homing society after about 100 years has been described as the end of an era.
No one knows when Evenwood Homing Society was founded, but a photograph dating back to 1924 suggests it stretches back at least a century.
But now, the remaining handful of members say a combination of Brexit and dwindling interest in the sport has seen the club close.
The last five members – Michael Dodds, Douglas Lamb, Mervyn Tate, John Smith and John Firby – decided it was now time for the club to fold.
Mr Lamb, who was flying pigeons in his early teens, said: “There is not a young person interested in it – it’s all computers and the internet with them.
“People are getting older – it is a dying sport.”
Britain leaving the European Union has also impacted the sport. Pigeons have traditionally been taken overseas and released.
Mr Tate said: “It is very difficult to get into France. The only place you can take them is Hartlepool where you must have two veterinary surgeons [to look at the birds] which you have to pay for. It costs £40 to get one pigeon to France.
“Once upon a time you might have sent 14 or 15 pigeons to France, now you can’t afford to send one.”
Michael Dodds also started racing pigeons at an early age. He said: “I’ve been doing it since I was a young ‘un, I was about 12. I started with 12 and they were all red. At my peak I would have had about 20 old ‘un’s and 30 young ‘uns.”
Describing the appeal of the sport, they said it was the thrill of seeing the pigeons return home after a flight of eight to 14 hours.
Mr Dodds’ wife Jackie said: “I used to go and listen in the garden. You could see them a mile away coming in and all the men cheering. The atmosphere was fabulous.”
Mr Tate added: “I think [the appeal] is the companionship.
“When you went anywhere in the country, you could go into someone’s loft and it would be like you were already friends.”
The society has seen a number of ups and downs over the years, with the most recent success being in 2013 when Mr Lamb’s hen Adam and Abbie’s Girl – named after his grandchildren – won pigeon racing’s pinnacle prize, the Clermont Queen’s Cup.
Some 1,247 birds took part in the competition.
A more unfortunate moment has been dubbed the Flanders Pigeon Murderer which affected Mr Tate’s flock.
The incident, in the 1990s, saw a neighbouring allotment holder burning items, which then spread and razed his loft to the ground.
He had just exercised his birds that morning and was walking in the village when someone asked if he had taken his birds out.
Mr Tate said: “He said my loft was on fire. I could see the black smoke. By the time I got there the fire engines were there and everything was gone.”
He went on to describe how he was left in tears and could not go to work that day.
All of the records of his flock were also destroyed in the blaze.
The incident happened at about the same time the famous Flanders Pigeon Murderer episode of Blackadder was aired, hence the moniker.
Following its closure a lot of the club’s memorabilia and trophies are to be given to Evenwood and District History Society, which has already collected a substantial hoard of photographs and newspaper cuttings relating to pigeon racing in the village and has an entire file dedicated to it.
Following the folding of the group, the history society put up an impromptu exhibition of photographs on the parish hall’s noticeboard.
Kevin Richardson, of the history society, described the disbandment as the end of an era, and the last item to be added to the pigeon racing file would be this Teesdale Mercury article.
