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The World Show January 2020 There is always an air of excitement by British fanciers as well as those from other countries when attending the World Show. This year was no exception when fanciers descended in late January on Matosinhos, Porto in Portugal to attend the 68th World Show organised by the Portuguese Federation (COM-Portugal) on behalf of the legislative World organisation Confederation Ornithologique Mondiale (COM) which was formed in 1952. COM structure has two executive committees each consisting of seven members; the COM Board of Directors and the judges’ committee called the Ordre Mondial Des Juges OMJ. Each committee has its own president, vice president, secretary and members of the board. The affiliated countries are divided into two groups A & B depending on the size of their show team at the World Show and the number of OMJ judges that they have. Our country is sadly in the B group as our show team is always less than 300 and we only have 10 judges. Prior to setting off for Porto, I was informed that the presentation on the London Canary Fancy by Huw Evans had the second approval for recognition of the variety and this means that the same approval needs to be obtained for next year before COM recognises the variety as a breed and includes it in the show classification. This indeed was good news to start the trip to Portugal and congratulations are extended to Huw Evans for his presentation and for the London Canary Fancy and wish them every success for the last presentation next year. Every year there will be some elections to both executive committees at the congress (Annual General Meetings) and this year was no exception. The only position that was contested was that of the 2nd Vice President for the COM Board where three candidates stood for election. They were Alberto Rubens (Israel), Alejandro Gallego (Argentina) and Bernardo Williamson (Uruguay). Mr. Rubens was eliminated in the first ballot and the eventual winner was Mr. Williamson with 25:14 votes. At the COM Congress both Egypt and Costa Rica were welcomed as new members to COM making it 52 countries’ strong. The Saturday evening is the Gala Dinner and the flag & medal presentation with over 400 fanciers and partners attending the evening. This is unique to COM as fanciers attending from each country are called to the stage to be presented with their national flag while their national anthem is being played. This year we had 12 British fanciers and wives attending and all went up on the stage to sing God Save the Queen while our national anthem was playing. It is always so wonderful to be part of the family of nations sitting together and enjoying each other’s company.
One needs to pay tribute to the conveyors from those countries benching birds as they take 2 weeks of their holiday time to drive their countries’ teams to the show venue and then spend every day stewarding by feeding and watering a section of the show birds that are allocated to them and do all the necessary stewarding jobs. It is a thankless task but they do it for the love of the hobby and we need to acknowledge our gratitude to them for carrying out this task on our behalf. Our conveyors this year were Richard Lumley, our COM-UK president, who flew directly to Porto; together with Gary Mann. Gary needs more than a medal or two as he took all the team from Portsmouth across the ferry to Caen, France (8 hours trip) then drove for 20 hours all the way to Porto on his own, arriving at 3.30am, then repeated the same journey back home some 2 weeks later. We must also thank our Irish friends Peter Sherlock and Gerry Phelan who assisted Gary with the booking in of our team and again out on the Sunday, boxing our team in their boxes. This is the comradeship of the fancy at the World Show. Our sincere thanks and gratitude are extended to them for a grand job well done. Our stand was the centre point of gathering for all the British fanciers who attended the show.
Grant & Maggie Findlay, Ron Pearce, Janice & I flew on the Friday from Stansted airport and came back on the following Tuesday. While we were there we met with many British fanciers including Steve & Penny Lambert at the show and of course with Carlos & Ana Ramôa (President of COM) and many other friends from many countries.
The show attracted a total entry of 23,311 from 3,000+ exhibitors representing 24 countries. COM-UK had an entry of 202 birds from 29 exhibitors and came back home with 21 medals, not our best by any means, but 2 more than last year, with 5 golds, 9 silvers and 7 bronze medals. It was still a great achievement for our team and hope that we can better it in the future if British fanciers give us their support and backing. This year’s show had 92 judges invited from 17 countries from Europe, Israel and South America and we had the pleasure to supply one of our COM-UK judges, Kevin McCallum, to judge the show. The show operates on the 2-year owner bred breeder classes with one status of exhibitor for most varieties but for the canary section it is only 1-year rung birds that can be shown. Fanciers always question the length of time the birds are away from their premises and in show cages but despite the length of time that the birds are away (usually 2 weeks from the time they leave the exhibitors’ home till their return) they are well looked after by being fed and watered daily during their presence at the show and always come back healthy and eager to breed. But it is all about the atmosphere at the show and the camaraderie between the fanciers who are attending from all over the world and the friendship is next to none. Each country is supplied with its own stand to decorate as it wishes and it is the focal point for those fanciers from that country to meet. The budgerigar entry was 239 with a further 659 Colour Budgerigars and I was pleased that both Roy Aplin and myself exhibited budgerigars from the UK but was also more pleased to see that Stephen Cowling exhibited one colour budgerigar as well. We can only hope for more fanciers joining us in the future. Of course, I (unfortunately COM do not accept partnerships at shows) was very pleased to learn on arrival to the show that my team of 8 birds had won 1 silver medal (not my best performance by a mile) in the dominant pied blue series class. I was even more pleased to learn that Roy Aplin also won a bronze medal (not his best either) for the cinnamon grey class so we both were happy to be among the medal winners.
Other winners were:
Our COM-UK president Richard Lumley was unable to be an active conveyor this year in driving the team with Gary Mann to the venue as he only came out of hospital just before the show. His overall impression was that the event was good but not as good as the previous year.
Gary Mann, who drove the team all the way by himself, said that on arrival he was well supported by the family of conveyors. There was a great atmosphere with the comradeship of the conveyors. The Conveyors party was great with every country taking their own food for everyone to share. Gary stewarded with our own judge Kevin McCallum and it was 2 hard days of stewarding. Gary felt that COM-UK needs to be more organised next year and to encourage more fanciers to come on board. Chris Smith, our Vice President, was over the moon to win a silver medal with a Variegated Fiorino. Chris has come close to winning a medal so many times and that was his first medal. He felt that the quality of the birds was high as in previous years.
It was good to see Willie McKay winning another gold medal after winning his first gold medal at the 2003 show. On this occasion he won the medal with a Self-Green Yellow cock. He was very pleased with his win and commented on the high standard and quality of the exhibits at the show. He commented on the large event and how well it was organised.
Ian Wright won a bronze medal with a 100% melanin crested canary hen and it was befitting that he won a medal with this variety as this was the last time he would show crests because he is stopping breeding with this variety. He commented that the quality of some of the sections was extremely high and especially the Lizard section. He said that the Gloster section in Portugal is always a strong section. He was pleased that British fanciers are doing well and is looking forward to next year’s show.
Lloyd Le Page from Guernsey was pleased with his bronze medal with a Broken Cap hen. This was his 4th World Show and in Italy 2 years ago he won a silver medal with a Clear Cap. He felt that it was a great event to attend.
Aid Boulen was very happy with his 2 bronze medals for a Crested Variegated Buff cock and a Crest Bred cock. He has been supporting the show for many years now.
Another happy exhibitor was Tony Horton with his gold medal for a Non-Cap Gold hen. This was his first gold medal. He was very pleased when he heard the news on his arrival late Thursday afternoon.
The medals are like the Olympics where the winner gets the gold, the second gets the silver and the third gets the bronze. The show is judged on the points system and your bird must achieve over 90 points to be eligible for winning a medal. For example, if the bird wins 95 points (the highest points a bird can achieve) then it will win the gold, the second can get 94, 93 or 92 points so it will win the silver and the third can get 91 or 90 points so it will win the bronze. Birds achieving below 90 points are not eligible for medals. Unfortunately, we can never host a World Show in the U.K. because we are controlled by government By-Laws of the 72-hour maximum rule that birds are allowed to be in cages. Our congratulations are extended to all exhibitors from the UK for participating at this unique event and those who attended this event are already planning their trip to next year’s World Show in Valencia, Spain from 22nd to 24th January 2021 so my appeal is for more exhibitors and more birds for next year’s event please. For more information and photos about the show visit www.comuk.co.uk |
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The World Show January 2020 The 68th COM World Show will be held in Matosinhos, Portugal and will be open to the public from 24th-26th January 2020. This event attracts a large entry and in 2019 the entry was 24,863 from 3,342 exhibitors representing 23 countries. Apart from the large number of birds on display there are many sales stands for fanciers to buy an array of goods as well as birds. The
UK entry is taken by experienced conveyors who transport the U.K.
team of birds to and from the show. Entries have to sent to the
COM-UK Show Co-ordinator Simon Tammam (396
Ashley Road, Poole, Dorset BH14 0AA) Tel: 01202 730221 Email: comuk.worldshowcoordinator@
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Click on the following links for Variety Schedules and Entry Form for the 2020 Show.
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