Meet the Committee
Who We Are
Graham Davis
President
My Father kept Gloster in the 50’s & 60’s so I have been around bird most of my life.
I started with Zebra Finches in the 60’s, breeding & showing as a Junior, I also kept a few British – Bullfinches, Goldfinches, Greenfinches and a pair of Bramblings.
A small aviary with a mix of Foreign Finches and some Diamond Doves.
Back then there were more C.B.S. Clubs than you could shake a stick at – still specialist Clubs too, plenty of choice for everyone.
Packed aviculture in from the 70’s until the mid 80’s (Got married and a 2 kids later) started up again, Zebra Finches and Budgerigars. Moved on to Red Factors and Lizards. My Dad started up with his beloved Glosters again and we did the full Show circuit including the National at the N.E.C., I changed variety again this time to Yorkies, the Reds went (this was the time they changed the Red’s show cages more expense). The competition with the Lizards and Yorkies was very sparse so by the late 90’s I had my first Fifes and met the colour full Mr. Lumsdon in his kilt at the National. I did stick with the Yorkies for a few years but by 2003 I concentrated on the Fifes.
Always thinking I could do with something fresh; I kept a couple of pairs of Mosaics, youngster always paid the seed bill, Last year they went and I’m now on my new venture Blue Lizards almost coming full circle.
Over the years I have held all the officer’s positions within a C.B.S. Club & Specialist Clubs mostly thankless jobs but when your keen you take more and more on. Now I can go to a show, help bench the birds, steward and go home, tiered but will have enjoyed the day and no worries on how it went.
2010 went to the Oxford 1910 CBS Show for the first time, great bunch of people but the highlight of my day was to see 10 cages of Blue Lizards. I had seen one at the NEC back in the 90's but back then they were seen a very unconventional side of the lizard work - but I did have a soft spot for them. I put in an order for a pair the breed Blues , also purchased a pair of Colour fed Lizards to be able to start my own stud.
Tom Marsh
Secretary Show Secretary Treasurer
From a very young age I was submerged in the world of bird keeping. My father had kept and bred a number of species of birds. From Zebra finches and Bengalese finches to Border and Fife canaries. My father started this hobby with his cousin in Shropshire before bringing his love for the fancy to Bristol. After decades of breeding birds and passing all his knowledge to me, I firstly took up breeding cockatiels, this was great and rather successful. But they weren't canaries.After my fathers passing, I bought my first pair of borders in 2018 alongside zebra finches and Bengalese. I wanted to continue his legacy and follow in his footsteps. The borders were frustrating to say the least and was lucky to video call Matt Eld for help on a couple of occasions. The Canary room was rather inspiring and helped me understand the fancy on another level. During lockdown I decided to build another aviary and get some fife's. From this moment I was hooked. I found myself looking for advice over and over, without my father there it was difficult to reach out. But I managed to land on my feet, I stumbled across Chris Green who put me in touch with Graham Davis and David Cheshire. I also met a great friend when asking for advice on Facebook. Mark has been a great friend and mentor! With these great people's support, I now find myself the secretary and treasurer of the Bristol Fife Fancy Canary Club, member of the Fife Canary Council and in touch with the best and most well known breeders in the country.
Wayne McCarthy
Welfare Officer
Coming soon