Cotswold Pheasant and Poultry Club
IMPORTANT
Mandatory registration of ALL poultry required, as of October 2024
Click here to go to DEFRA website for details.
A History of the Cotswold Pheasant and Poultry Club
for our 50th Anniversary
by
Neil Harvey – Life President
I had started to keep pheasants and poultry soon after I became married to Sue and we had our own house with a garden. I soon realised that there was no contact with other people keeping pheasants. Through talking with different people, I thought it would be a good idea to start a pheasant club up so I put an advert in The Wilts & Glos. Standard for like-minded people to get in contact and arrange a meeting. This was done and our first meeting was held at the Beeches Community Centre in Cirencester in the March of 1972, if my memory serves me correct, and about nine people turned up. From this it was decided to start a Pheasant Club up and to start with we would meet at some of our homes to keep the cost down so that if it did not take off nobody would be out of pocket. This worked very well at the beginning but numbers began to swell.
We organised a coach trip that September to go to visit The Pheasant Trust at Great Whitchingham in Norfolk. This was a great success. I organised the trip to include a visit to Stagsden Bird and Rose gardens in Bedford on the way to Norfolk to break the journey about half-way. Sadly, I do not think Stagsden is open any longer but, partially due to seeing Mr Johnston’s birds including some lovely examples of rare breeds of poultry, we later decided to include poultry in our title. This was thought to be sensible as most of us already kept poultry anyway. Going back to carry on our trip to The Pheasant Trust, we were met by the owner Philip Wayre who gave us a conducted tour of the Park, including some of the behind the scene places. This was the start of the Club outings that included many fine collections of birds and animals over the years.
The Club put on exhibitions of pheasants at different events such as Cirencester Cage Bird Show and the Three Counties Show plus a few more. These usually consisted of a six foot cubed pen with some greenery and branches as cover and about 6 or 7 cock birds in full colour. As their time in the pen was only a few hours the birds did not fight each other. The birds did look splendid with a great splash of colour and when you think of it, it was the main reason why we kept them in the first place. These exhibitions stopped when it was considered not the done thing to show these “wild” birds, as was showing of Wild Waterfowl. My, how things change over the years!
The
Club grew in numbers with more poultry keepers and showing members joining, but
the main aim of the Club was to educate members in as many aspects of poultry
keeping as possible, along with a few enjoyable talks on any and just about
every subject under the sun. While this
was going on we made the Club a constitutionally structured one, with the
normal officers and a bank account, also setting out the aims of the club which
have not altered very much over the years.
For my sins, I was honoured to be the first Chairman to be elected and
served for a few years and I am afraid I have forgotten how many it was and who
followed me. All I know is that when I
stood down they made me Life President and that makes me very humbled and
honoured to serve The Club.
*******
IMPORTANT CLUB NOTICE
Avian Influenza
Membership renewal details 2022/23
Thank you to all members who have paid their 2022-23 subscriptions. All of the exhibitions last year were cancelled, so the club’s income has reduced significantly. Whilst we have not had to pay for the hire of the hall, we still have other annual costs such as insurance, so we would be grateful if any outstanding subs could be paid by the methods shown below.
The membership subscription is £10 per Adult and for under 18's £2. Please renew your membership by either of the following ways:
- Send a cheque made out to “The Cotswold Pheasant & Poultry Club” to Club Treasurer Mrs K Harrison, 185 North Home Road, Cirencester, Glos, GL7 1DY.
- Make an online payment into the Club Bank account, making it clear who the payment relates to. The Club bank account details are as follows:
- Account name - The Cotswold Pheasant & Poultry Club
- Sort code – 30-98-41
- Account number - 03190855
Please also send an email to Kath (mjeh@globalnet.co.uk) informing her that a payment has been made and to whom it relates.
Kath will inform Club Secretary Margaret Gardner of your payment and she will issue new membership cards for the year.
Our Club's Aims
We are a group of fanciers involved in the breeding, exhibiting and presentation of Poultry, Ducks, Turkeys and Pheasants.The club has been in existence for over 30 years and is a friendly social club which meets once a month on an informal basis.
We host a variety of visiting speakers, have an annual outing, a popular BBQ, and a fun skittles match & quiz night, which all take place throughout the year and then there is the members club show which is held in March.
The main aim of the club is to promote the pure breeds of Poultry and Pheasants, to educate the general public and to meet in a social environment.
During the summer months we attend many local country shows with our exhibition tent displaying the many different breeds belonging to our members. This is where we meet and talk to the general public doing our best to answer any poultry related questions they may have.
Upcoming Events / Newsflash
Other Details About The Club
All are welcome to attend our meetings, there is no charge as a raffle covers the cost of the venue. tea and coffee is provided at the end of each meeting when we take the opportunity to socialise.
We also encourage new members to enter birds and provide help at our exhibitions as well as our club shows. ( We do have one rule that is you must attended at least 3 meetings throughout the year to qualify for entry in our Members Club Show).
If you would like any information about the club, our meetings, the shows and exhibitions, or have enquiries regarding the purchase of birds please feel free to email us and we will do our best to help you in any way we can.
Membership Fees.
12 months Subscription (November - October)
Subscription Renewal Due at A.G.M
Adult Fees : £10.00
Junior Fees : £2.00
Subscription includes the quarterly edition of the clubs newsletter "The Cotswold Quill".