The ANPA Committee supported two nominations for the title of Master Breeder, and a Meritorious Service Award, at its meeting at the Adelaide National.

FELICE ESPOSITO
MARKED LONGFACED TUMBLERS
Nomination by Jeff Krahenbring
I am the secretary of the Australian Long Face Tumbler Club and have been since its inception in 2001.
It was a unanimous decision when Felice Esposito was secretly nominated for an ANPA Master Breeder award for marked LF Tumblers.
Felice has been President of the Australian Tumbler Club since 2003 and has done a marvellous job.
Felice has won champion marked clean leg Tumbler for five years over the past eight years at the ANPA National shows. His marked baldheads are second to none in the world.
His achievements at national level are winning with different birds and young birds at different times.
Felice has also won champion LF Tumbler at major pigeon shows and pigeon shows around Melbourne for many years.
Previously in Australia the only known successful barred baldhead breeder was the late Martin Johnstone from Melbourne.
Felice acquired some of his birds and has brought them to such a standard that in 2004 he won champion marked cleanleg Tumbler with a young Blue Bar bald hen.
This in itself was a great achievement, as Blacks were the dominant colour shown and bred. Now Felice has a breeding program for most colours in bars.
This year I judged the grand national pigeon show in the USA and Felices’s baldheads would be more than competitive against the best birds there.
The LF Tumbler section of the ANPA National show has been judged by many overseas judges, such as Larry Deckert from the USA in 2002 and Scott Sharp from Scotland in 2006, Stewart Paterson from South Africa in 2005 and Christo Britz from South Africa in 2008.
Alister Bull from New Zealand also always takes a great interest in the LF tumblers as he was one of the major breeders in New Zealand a few years ago.
All of  Australia’s top Tumbler judges and all of the above people have made special comment about the quality of the clean leg baldheads and the muff baldheads owned by Felice.
Felice is a generous, kind hearted person who would encourage and nurture anyone who showed an interest in this breed and does everything in his power to promote the pigeon fancy here in Australia and overseas with the contacts and friends he has gathered over the years.
Felice has been breeding marked muffed Tumblers from about the early 90’s and has had his cleanleg baldheads for about the same time, if not earlier
Supported by Larry Deckert, USA.
I would like to nominate Felice Esposito for master breeder in Marked Tumblers. I have known Felice for eight years and it is my opinion that he has done more to improve the baldhead Tumbler than anyone in this time period.
He has won best marked in cleanleg and muffs consistently at the national shows each year plus all the regional and local shows in his area.
I judged the tumblers at the NPA National Show in Ipswich, Queensland in 2001 and was impressed with his Tumblers at that time.
I have judged the entire Tumbler show in Woodstock, Canada and have judged many times at the national championship tumbler shows, and pageant of pigeons show here in the United States.
Just this past January I judged the marked cleanlegs in Detroit, MI, USA at the NPA National and United English Tumbler Club championship show.
In my opinion, Felice’s baldhead cleanlegs are equal to any in the world and his marked muffs are the best I have ever seen.
This is a testament to the type of breeder Felice is. He has done this on his own, improving them every year which is what I believe is the requirement to become a Master Breeder.

DALE LEWIS
MAGPIES
Nomination by Brian McInerney
I would like to nominate Dale Lewis as a Master Breeder of Magpies. Dale has had Magpies since taking them over from his father in the mid 1990’s.
The improvement in his stud in that time with minimal outside addition of birds has been significant.
It has been done with selective breeding programs. He breeds around 100 youngster’s each year, and is very selective in adding any birds to his stud. Dale’s placing of a very high emphasis on type and colour markings has led to the high quality birds now displayed.
The Magpie may not have been one of the glamour breeds of recent times, but was one of the foundation breeds imported to Australia over 100 years ago.
There are now very few top level breeders and Dale has been one over the past 15 years to take his Magpies to the next level In that time he has developed the Silver colour and established the rare Andalusian colour.
Judges from all over the world have marvelled at the quality of the birds when lined up at our ANPA National shows. These judges have been from both Europe and the USA. He has exported birds to the USA.
Photos of Magpies from around the world do not seem to meet the quality that is in Dale’s loft.
By 2001 Dale believed his birds had reached a level that warranted them being shown at a National level.
Dale has won Champion Magpie and Best Young at National shows in Adelaide 2001; Ipswich 2002; Melbourne 2003; Adelaide 2005; Ipswich 2006; Melbourne 2007 and Ipswich 2008. He did not show in Perth in 2004.
Since 1995 he has shown and won at the South Australian Canary and Pigeon Club show nearly every year. He has won Champion Magpie at the Annual show every year since 1998.
Dale has always been prepared to help anyone either wanting birds or advice.
I believe Dale has done enough to earn the right to receive a Master Breeder’s award for Magpies.

MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARD
TERRY DARLING
Nominated by Douglas McClary
It would be hard to imagine anyone more deserving of a Meritorious Service Award than our Terry.
He has a vast knowledge of many breeds of fancy pigeon and keeps about a thousand birds in over 30 breeds. He has supplied numerous birds to other fanciers and has sent birds to the USA.
It is recognised in South Australia that his influence, hard work and dedication has been largely responsible for the SA Canary and Pigeon Society being in the strong position it is today.
He joined the SAC&P committee in 1996 and accepted the ring coordinator’s position, a job which turned out to be an apprenticeship for the ANPA Ring Coordinator role that he took over in 2001.
The ordering, sorting and distributing about 60,000 rings is an extremely demanding role, but he performs it without complaint and hassle.
He has been secretary of the SAC&P club in addition to being ring coordinator so has had the ability to multi-task.
On top of that he ran the successful Sunday shows at Uraidia for a number of years. It has been said that whatever happens at the SAC&P club, Terry Darling is there somewhere, organising raffles, providing prizes and doing whatever else is necessary. His other positions within the pigeon include President of the Modena Club; Treasurer of the Riverland Poultry and Pigeon Club; President of the SA Frill and Tumbler Club and  resident of the Murray Mallee P & P Club, the last two no longer in operation.
He is currently the vice-president of the SA committee for ANPA and his presence at ANPA National shows is always appreciated where he will be found at the ANPA desk offering advice, taking membership and selling ANPA products.
As a result he often misses seeing his own birds judged owing to the long hours he spends at the desk.
Together with son Richie, he is devoted to pigeons and to ANPA and organisations within the hobby.
It is therefore a pleasure to  recommend that Terry is recognised at his own State’s National Show where he is – as usual – working away in his uncomplaining fashion.