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How I started in the Bird Fancy George
Jenkins is a top champion Budgerigar breeder and exhibitor from Worcester. In
this article be tells the story of how he started and of his successful
come-back after a gap of I5 years on the show bench. My
entry into the Budgerigar Fancy was made long ago, back in 1952. I can only
describe myself as one of the lucky people who managed to serve part of my
apprenticeship when Harry Bryan and Mrs Moss were at the very top with Budgerigars.
In the early days I was a regular visitor to Harry Bryan's birdroom in Sutton
Coldfield. I used to travel from Worcester to Birmingham on the bus, and then
change and catch another bus to Harry's home town of Sutton Coldfield. I
remember those trips so well! Almost every journey I can remember, or at least I can remember the excitement of visiting the top man with budgerigars. The journey time on the bus was spent thinking about what questions to ask Harry, and thinking of the atmosphere of being with the best Budgerigars in the World, and their creator, Harry Bryan. I bought a number of birds from Harry in those early days. They mostly produced well for me and I was never charged a lot of money for them. I knew even then that Harry could have charged much more money for his surplus birds but people never seemed to realise that he enjoyed seeing new fanciers do well with his birds. In 1973 I
picked out a young Grey cock in the Sutton Coldfield birdroom. Harry told me it
was mine but he wanted to show it at the BS club show at the end of the season. We
agreed a price of £100 showed the bird t won a huge class and went on to
take fourth best champion breeder. At that stage I was beginning to
wonder if the bird would still be mine. After the show Harry called me over and
asked me when I would be down to collect the bird. The bird was mine and I gave
him the £100. I was pleased to say that Harry never went back on his word!
It was in 1970 that I met up with Mss Moss at a show. She knew that I was
friendly with Harry and she invited me down to see her stud in Devon. Over the
years I have bought and exchanged birds with her. It was on my first visit to
her birdroom that I was introduced to Jeff Attwood. Jeff used to work for her in
those days. Even then, Jeff bred some wonderful Cinnamon’s in his own
birdroom. Jeff eventually progressed to become one of the top men in the hobby.
He is certainly one of the top speakers in the country. At the
1969 BS club show I won a class with a Cinnamon cock. I really felt I had
arrived by wining such a class, because in those days Cinnamon’s were
one of the strongest colours at the leading shows. Two years later in 1971 I
took the award for fourth best breeder with a wonderful Cinnamon Grey Green
cock. The following year I won with a cinnamon Opaline hen and took the second
best breeder award. In 1973 I judged and was unable to show. But I was back
again in 1974 with another Cinnamon grey Green cock but this time I took the top
award - best in show. The luck never seemed to be running out and in 1975 a Dark
Green cock was best breeder. I used the Grey Greens at the 1979 show and after
that - disappeared from the show ) g bench until 1994. There
were many good reasons for the gap in showing but I never gave up with my
Budgerigars. I kept the Budgerigars going although the pressures of work are
best described as demanding. By
1993 I had more time so I decided to make a quiet visit to the BS club show at
Doncaster to see how things had changed - especially the quality of the birds.
Until then I had not visited a show for almost 15 years. After my visit I
realised that the birds at home could still give the best a run for their money.
At the following club show I
decided to enter. I showed a Skyblue cock from the old family of birds
which won its class, it won the adult challenge certificate and the won the
award for fifth best champion any age. At the time it caused a bit of
talk that after such a long gap, I could come back with such a big winner. That
delighted me! Since
then I have been able to bench a few top quality birds at the major shows but
perhaps the best set of wins came at the Midland BA area society show
last year. My Grey Green cock was best in show, a young Grey Green cock took the
young bird challenge certificate and second best young bird award, while my
Opaline Grey Green cock was second best champion any age and took the challenge
certificate. Four of my birds won
certificates at the show which really pleased me. Some
fanciers might believe that I have bought many birds to make my
"come-back" but this is not true. I have made a few wise purchases but
only a few, together with a couple of exchanges with fanciers that can be
trusted. I believe that these " Introductions” have only helped to bring
out what was already in the birdroom. | MAIN PAGE | G. JENKINS PAGE | |