COAL BIRDS

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 16th Year

Issue

Issue No.

10

Date Released

Jun 1963

Length of issue (in feet)

896

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1DUTCH BOFFINs
2. 2COAL BIRDS
3. 3BLAST IT!
4. 4PRIDE OF THE LODGE

Story

Story No. within this Issue

2 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: the prize-winning pigeons owned by Jack Bramley, a deputy at Derbyshire’s Woodside Colliery, are "coal-fired".
NCB Commentary - From a Dutch living room to the living room of Mr. & Mrs Jack Bramley at their home in Ilkeston.
Jack’s a deputy at Woodside Colliery and who wouldn’t pass the news on to the missus if yuo spotted a story about yourself in the paper.
Jack has one of the finest collections of racing pigeons in the East Midlands - in three years Jack and his birds have flown to the top of the pigeon fancier’s tree - and they’ll probably fly even higher.
A neat, freshly painted loft in his garden and a flight of wheeling pigeons are Jack’s idea of a perfect day.
One wet day the path to the loft was pretty muddy so Jack laid down a lot of coal slack - his pigeons started eating it and they have done it ever since. Once a month Jack makes sure the bird’s bunker is stocked up.
The fame of Jack’s coal-fired pigeons spread far afield. "Dear Mr. Bramley", one letter went, "I am not a pigeon fancier - but I rather want to try the use of this on myself to see if it will help my indigestion -"
Another asked: "I wonder if you would send me about 5lbs of this coal - it may be different to our local supplies. I enclose 20/-."
Before Jack Bramley took to racing pigeons he bred and exhibited canaries. At Olympia’s international show his entries filled the first two places.
"That was my ambition with canaries", said Jack.
"That is why I changed to pigeons."
Today, Jack Bramley and his progressive pigeons are going forward on coal.

Keywords

Sport; Mining; Birds

Locations

Derbyshire; England

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
The British National Film Catalogue   Vol.1 1963, p.56
The National Archives COAL 32   /13 Scripts for Mining Review, 1960-1963

Credits:

Sponsor

National Coal Board

Production Co.

National Coal Board Film Unit