This is one of a series of themed documentaries titled Clegg’s People made by Yorkshire Television and featuring Michael Clegg visiting places and interviewing people.  The series ran from the 1980s into the 1990s.  In this programmes Clegg meets a club of racing pigeon owners based in the village of Lofthouse, West Yorkshire, and witnesses a race. The film begins with Clegg holding a pigeon while recounting something of the history of the relationship between pigeons and humans.  The pigeon...

This is one of a series of themed documentaries titled Clegg’s People made by Yorkshire Television and featuring Michael Clegg visiting places and interviewing people.  The series ran from the 1980s into the 1990s.  In this programmes Clegg meets a club of racing pigeon owners based in the village of Lofthouse, West Yorkshire, and witnesses a race. The film begins with Clegg holding a pigeon while recounting something of the history of the relationship between pigeons and humans.  The pigeon fancier, Jack Sheldon, and his wife are in the village shop they run in the village of Robin Hood, near Wakefield.  Jack is secretary of the local pigeon racers group and a prize winning fancier.  Jack shows Clegg his pigeon loft at the back of the shop, which he is mucking out, and some of the different varieties of pigeons.  He explains that keeping pigeons has been in the family for generations, and that he has been involved since he was 12 years old.  He has many generations of pigeons, and he explains the importance of being consistent in the time that he releases the pigeons and feeds them, not allowing them to get too fat, and keeping them in good health.   Jack puts some pigeons, some old and some young, into a basket, and then drives them to the local pigeon racers group with its headquarters at the Lofthouse Athletic Club.  Here they gather around to have their pigeons tagged, or ringed, with rubber bands put on with a machine. All the baskets of pigeons are loaded onto a lorry and driven off to Leicester.  Jack, as President of the club, organises the setting of the clocks.  Clegg explains that 60,000 to 70,000 pigeons are raced in Yorkshire, and 350,000 nationwide.  He states though there are various theories, nobody knows how the pigeons manage to find their way back home.  Back at the club the clocks are sealed.   In Leicester three lorry loads of pigeons, also from Wales and the West Midlands, are released simultaneously.  Clegg talks to one elderly pigeon racer who regularly comes from Wallingford, 143 miles away, to watch the release.  He states that sometimes the birds go astray, and when are found they are brought near to where they come from and released again.   Back home Lack waits for his pigeons to arrive.  When they do so, he lures them into the loft with food, takes off their rings, and registers these in the clock.  He then takes this back to the club where the other racers have also gathered.  They swap clocks and read out the results, and then calculations are made before the four winners are read out.  They shake the hand of the winner.  Then they have a pint in the bar, joined by Clegg who has a chat with several of them about the race and the film ends. End Credits: Presented by Michael Clegg Cameraman – Brian Wilson Sound Recordist – Kevin Quirk Dubbing Mixer – Alan Bedward Production Assistant – Tricia Robertshaw Researcher – Pennina Barnett Film Editor – Alwyn Jones, John Lyon Graphics – Trevor Hodgson Director - Peter Jones  Producer - Mark Meysey-Thompson Editor – David Lowen Yorkshire Television Ltd 1985 Yorkshire Television Production