What a coo! Accrington school to get its own pigeon loft (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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What a coo! Accrington school to get its own pigeon loft
6:07pm Monday 26th January 2009 in News
BIRD MAN: Pigeon fancier and lollipop man Terry Slattery has won funding to build a new coop at Peel Park schoo
PUPILS will now be able to learn more about geography, maths and science – using the first ever school pigeon loft.
Children at Peel Park Primary are celebrating after gaining sponsorship to pay for the specialist building.
It will be kitted out with webcams, a timing system and tracking devices to follow pigeons’ flight patterns online.
The children were introduced to the joy of pigeon keeping by school lollipop man Terry Slattery, 61, who owns 39 pigeons at his Accrington home, off Queen’s Road.
In the past four years, he has entered his own pigeons in national competitions in the school’s name, and won a race against one of the Queen’s pigeons.
The school’s connections with the birds began when the Royal Pigeon Racing Association began a school competition to interest youngsters in entering races. In four years, the school has gained four trophies at the RPRA’s one loft race and were the top school for three out of the four years.
Now they will be the first school with their own loft after the association agreed to pay £800 and a host of businesses offered to pay for gadgets, feed and decking.
Head teacher Judith Williams said: “Terry has bred baby pigeons so children could keep track of their progress and has been extremely generous with his own time.
“We will be teaching geography when tracking their flights and using maths and science to estimate timings and explain the principle of flight. It has united the school in a common interest.”
Mr Slattery said: “I’ve loved pigeons since I was six and the interest from the children has been wonderful.”
