Inside Blackpool's pigeon fanciers show 2025

Lucinda Herbert takes a look inside the annual pigeon weekend at Blackpool Winter Gardens.

Transcript

00:00This is our 49th show in Blackpool, and our 73rd show overall, so you can tell we have

00:06a certain tradition with Blackpool, and that we've been coming here for some considerable

00:10time, and this is an opportunity for pigeon fancies throughout the country and throughout

00:14the world to get together, to socialise, show off their pigeons, have them judged, and to

00:19– and for a bit of competition as well, of course.

00:23There's 37 classes within the show. They range from old pigeons of a certain age, and

00:31we have a class for young pigeons, and we also, when it comes to showing the racing

00:37pigeons, they are judged by the distance that they have flown. There are specific markings

00:43that you can give, like the head, the feathers, the wing, the body, and you can give them

00:49marks for that in a certain way of judging, if you like. But then there's another way

00:56of judging, which is somebody will go and have a look at the pigeons, they'll handle

00:58each one, and they'll see which one they like the feel of. It doesn't have any noticeable

01:04faults. You're racing your pigeons against somebody else's pigeons. So you're always

01:09striving to be better than they are. And that's what makes the competition, because one week

01:15I will be, let's say, and one week another person will be.