Flying the coop in a new trailer

A LOCAL pigeon racing club has scored a real ‘coo’ with the arrival of their newest member. The Banner Racing Pigeon Club has just purchased a state-of-the-art trailer, specially designed for their needs.

This comes after the flying success of a fundraising effort in which 42 birds were auctioned off last year. The trailer will make it easier for the club to head to overseas races, having previously relied on others for help with transporting the birds.

The pigeon club started in Ennis 20 years ago, with 15 members now involved and youngsters gaining an interest in the sport. The club races against others from all over the West of Ireland.

Treasurer, George Guilfoyle explained that a decision was made last year to fundraise for the trailer.

“We decided to have an auction and prize winning birds were donated by people from all over Ireland and the UK. The people at St Mary’s Pigeon Club in Limerick and Galway Racing Pigeon Club really helped us out and we had great support. All of the members of the club also donated birds, and Éire Óg kindly let us hold the auction in their clubhouse. We were delighted with how it went, we raised €7,000,” he said.

He said the new trailer was specifically sourced from overseas. “It was made by a company in Germany, specially built for racing pigeons, and we just received it last week. It has 24 pigeon baskets and it holds up to 700 pigeons.

“We are hoping to race from Scotland, England and France this year and this will be a great help. This is a very big thing for our club; for the last 20 year’s we have been relying on other people. We usually bring our pigeons to Limerick and use their trailer but now we are kind of standing on our own feet. It’s a really big thing for the club, but also for pigeon racing in Clare,” he said.

George, who has kept pigeons since he was a child, is hopeful that more people will get involved in the sport in the county. “We are always looking for more members. Pigeon racing is a lot more popular in cities but we are going well here in Clare. It’s a back garden sport; it’s a family sport and it’s great for kids. It’s cheap and the birds are very easy to keep. Pigeon racing was very popular in Ennis in the 70s, and it kind of died away, but it’s starting to grow again recently I suppose with the recession people are looking for things they can do at home.”

For more information on the club, check their facebook page Banner Pigeon Club or call 086 8733285.

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