January 2010
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Once again another year has come and gone. Did we all accomplish the goals we set out to achieve back at the beginning of 2010? Those that have been reading the quarterly newsletters and minutes will be well apprised of the many achievements of the CU in 2010. These were only possible thanks to a strong united board of directors, a highly motivated and skilled office staff and input and help from many members and friends across Canada. From where I sit as President of the CRPU, not everything that I had hoped to see accomplished unfolded, but by and large, I am very pleased with our year.
The new year stretches before us – a blank slate. Only we can control what will be written on our personal slates as the year marches along. I hope for most of us that it is a positive and productive year. The CU has some more very significant milestones to achieve in 2011. Hopefully, by the time you read this message, we will have migrated to a new website host and our home page will have a bright new and more user friendly look and feel and the long awaited on-line store will be running. I am sure that there will still be ongoing work to improve the results downloading function and awards calculations but I am confident that we will have announced our first national award winners where every result downloaded into the database was used to determine the champions. This will only get better as time moves forward and will add immeasurably to the status that Canadian national champions achieve. I believe that the unique manner in which the CU receives and processes weekly race results make the Canadian Ace pigeon and Ace loft awards the truest reflection of the actual performance of these birds against all competition. The CU is a world leader in this regard and every member should be proud of that.
The year 2011 also marks the first time the membership will directly elect a President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. Additionally, for the first time in my memory, all seven director positions expire at the same time. The membership has been handed a sacred trust. Each and every one of you has been handed the responsibility to assist in fielding a slate of competent individuals to run the CU and to vote in the best of the lot. Never before has the membership had this direct opportunity to set the course of the National organization. What you chose to do with that responsibility will be the future fate of the organization. I sincerely hope that you invest a little time and thought in this process and make the best and most informed decisions possible.
Je voudrais saisir cette occasion pour accueillir M. Gilles Paquette au CU, comme liaison entre les francophones, principalement au Québec. Monsieur Paquette, étant bilingue (français et anglais) apporte un appui longuement requis au CU, afin de communiquer en français avec les membres qui ne sont pas à l'aise en anglais. Gilles a également promis d’utiliser les ressources du nouveau club associé avec le CU, FLYING in Circle R.P.C. afin d'aider à la traduction des formules officielles, la constitution et autres documents, dans l’autre langue officielle du Canada. Veuillez voir sa biographie dans ce bulletin. Si vous avez des questions concernant le CU soyez libres de communiquer avec lui. Nous sommes fiers de pouvoir améliorer la communication en français. Bienvenue à Gilles.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Mr. Gilles Paquette as the new CU liaison to the French speaking fanciers, especially in Quebec. Mr. Paquette, being functional in both French and English, brings a wonderful, valuable and long overdue asset to the CU, the ability to communicate in French to those members that are not fluent in English. Gilles has also promised to draw on the resources of the newest CU affiliated club, the Flying in Circle R.P.C., to help translate our official forms, rules, constitution etc into Canada’s other official language. Please see his full biography elsewhere in this newsletter and please feel free to contact him if you have any questions relating to the CU and feel more comfortable working in French. Welcome aboard Gilles.
I was on the road again in December, visiting fellow pigeon fanciers in Florida. The Gulf Coast Homing Club hosts one of the premiere futurities in the world with a week of activities all provided free of charge, topped off by a truly classic pigeon race. While there, I had the opportunity to visit again with Freddie Rivera, AU President. Freddie had just returned from presiding over the AU annual and Board of Directors meetings at their 100th anniversary convention in Oklahoma City. Freddie was also the special guest speaker at the annual CU convention in Stratford last October and had some real good advice to offer regarding our new look convention and show in Niagara Falls this coming December. In the photo below, Freddie and I took a moment to thank the incoming President of the Gulf Homing Club, Mr Pete Yachimske, for a great week of fun.
The Three Presidents – L-R Mike van der Jagt CU President, Pete Yachimske GHC President and Freddie Rivera AU President.
On the way down to Florida, my wife and I stopped for lunch at the original Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Corbin Kentucky – the original home of Colonel Harland Sanders. On the wall of his old kitchen was his business code. It struck me that it might apply to the decisions made by pigeon clubs and combines as well as it applies to business. It says:
It is comparatively easy to prosper by trickery, the violation of confidence, oppression of the weak, sharp practices, cutting corners – all of those methods that we are so prone to palliate and condone as “business shrewdness”.
It is difficult to prosper by keeping of promises, the deliverance of value in goods, in services and in deeds – and in the meeting of so called “shrewdness” with sound merit and good ethics.
The easy way is efficacious and speedy – the hard way arduous and long. But as the clock ticks, the easy way becomes harder and the hard way becomes easier.
And as the calendar records the years, it becomes increasingly evident that the easy way rests haphazardly upon shifting sands, whereas the hard way builds solidly a foundation of confidence that cannot be swept away.
Happy New Year to everyone.
Mike van der Jagt
President
Canadian Racing Pigeon Union