Moving On From O Bs Where Was This, To When Was This ?

[Morkin]

What game dealer did you take your pigeons to MM, and this was a very interesting read thanks to all who added there bit 👍👍👍

[sandspider]

2 hours ago, Old Boggy said:

Probably before your time. I think Bates were still there up until about 1966. They then moved to the Westgate end of Canterbury for a few years while Mr.Bates was still alive. And before anyone asks, he didn’t have a son, so there was no Master Bates to carry on the business 😂

OB

No, well before my time, never heard of him. Shame he didn't have a son!

[marsh man]

3 hours ago, Morkin said:

What game dealer did you take your pigeons to MM, and this was a very interesting read thanks to all who added there bit 👍👍👍

The main local game dealer when the U K first got an export licence to sell Pigeons abroad was Frost Game in Brockdish , his name was Cisel and was as good as you would get , even in the late 60s we were getting £4 / 5 for a large Hare , £1.50 for fresh Mallard and a £1 for frozen and once and only once I got £5 for a brace of Pheasants that were shot in October , I would hate to think what that £5 would be worth today , these dealers must have made good money out of dealing with game Pigeons and Rabbits as they were springing up everywhere , within a short distance I can think of at least eight and then they started to go by the wayside in the 90s , now the biggest and possibly the only one left in Norfolk that take large quantities of frozen stuff is C H Bambridge of Watton , 

This advert from Frost game was in 1976 

 

Edited March 24, 2023 by marsh man

[London Best]

6 hours ago, marsh man said:

The main local game dealer when the U K first got an export licence to sell Pigeons abroad was Frost Game in Brockdish , his name was Cisel and was as good as you would get , even in the late 60s we were getting £4 / 5 for a large Hare , £1.50 for fresh Mallard and a £1 for frozen and once and only once I got £5 for a brace of Pheasants that were shot in October , I would hate to think what that £5 would be worth today , these dealers must have made good money out of dealing with game Pigeons and Rabbits as they were springing up everywhere , within a short distance I can think of at least eight and then they started to go by the wayside in the 90s , now the biggest and possibly the only one left in Norfolk that take large quantities of frozen stuff is C H Bambridge of Watton , 

This advert from Frost game was in 1976 

 

I remember taking pigeons to George Hull in Boston. I think his top price hit 45p/bird once. 
I took a dose of pigeon in at 43p one day and thought I had a lot in the SWB Land Rover, until the next customer pulled in with a LWB and a double horse box, both full.

[marsh man]

10 minutes ago, London Best said:

I remember taking pigeons to George Hull in Boston. I think his top price hit 45p/bird once. 
I took a dose of pigeon in at 43p one day and thought I had a lot in the SWB Land Rover, until the next customer pulled in with a LWB and a double horse box, both full.

George Hull was also a very big game dealer who had a advert in the same Shooting Times as the one above , they would often collect free of charge and it was rumoured that when Cisel Frost needed a Million Pigeons he would give the big bag Pigeon shooters a chest freezer to keep them in , he would often send lorries loaded with game to Italy and I remember once when there was a fire or something went wrong at Eley cartridge factory in the UK and they became in short supply , so ole Cisel who was a cute business man brought a load of Italian cartridges back , I bought some when I dropped some Pigeons off and I don't often complain about cartridges but I can honestly say they were the worst ones I had the misfortune to use , after a having a shot where the shot struggled to reach the end of the barrel left little squares of unburnt powder when you opened the breach .

Another chap near mine ( Jimmy Ling ) who bought Pigeons and game also sold a lot of cartridges ,  he was a brilliant shot and shot many times abroad for his country , he had a photo in his little shop where the Pigeons were piled up as high as the roof in his plucking shed where he had five plucking machines, not the same demand now  

[enfieldspares]

22 hours ago, Minky said:

I vaguely remember a couple of lads at school using yellow wizard but I  never saw any.  Most of the ironmongers hereabouts sold Eley grand prix or Frank duke.

Ermm? Weren't Yellow Wizard the cartridge brand of Frank Dyke?

[Minky]

I wouldn't have a clue.  It's all to many years ago and I never saw any.  I was a schoolboy.   I did hear about Coopal powder ,,,, whatever that was but never encountered any.  I did go through a couple of boxes of Frank Dyke cartridges that were red paper cased  It was a time of gytorp, Eley, and then Rottweil, Winchester GB and then Maionccl and SMI.  I got into reloading using 80 & 82 series powders using at first a French Nemrod reloader that the girlfriend/wife bought for me. Again we just shot for the pot and fun so we didn't use hundreds of cartridges.