Accrington & District Homing Society can offer a new starter package for new entrants wishing to take up the sport.

• Loan of two lofts for 18 months to two years.

• Loan of timing clock to record the velocity of the racing pigeon when it returns home.

• Ten young birds to start racing in July 2012.

• Help and advice on how to start up.

This is what club member Peter Hargreaves said in a recent interview with his local newspaper, the Accrington Observer: ‘The club already has six junior members aged under 15, but we’re looking to attract more. It’s an ideal hobby for a young boy, as well as people who are just retired and it really is very addictive. I’ve rejoined after 35 years and I’ve seen a big difference in the sport as we do have a lot of people now who are 50 or over and we really need to get some new blood in’. Peter added, ‘One thing we’re working on at the moment is a tracking device for the birds, so soon you’ll be able to watch your birds coming in on a laptop computer’. The junior lofts are around six feet long and three feet wide and would be suitable for storage in a garden or back yard.

Peter added, ‘You start racing with the younger birds, but once you get on to the older ones it’s quite amazing what they can do. Pigeons can go up to 600 miles in a day, so it’s quite thrilling to let them go at 6am and find them coming home at 9pm’.

Enquiries to Terry Slattery on 01254 386913 or Peter Hargreaves on 07747 628968.