Over the last 25 years a far greater number of people have been retiring earlier but many of these young retirees joining a local groups has not materialised. I know some groups are also having to fold owing to the shortage of members whoi do not wish to take a position on the committee or any other official position. It makes you think how many of these groups will still exist as each year goes by.

Let us put the rose-tinted glasses on and look at what our grandfathers or great grandfathers did for their leisure time. Back to the days when it was almost compulsory to join one of the many organisations and was almost obligatory to take your turn on a top table job. There were the sporting organisations, but what did the non-sporting types do for leisure? There was always the Brighouse Lark Singing Association. This curious pastime sprang up in the late nineteenth century and the history books tell us it had many supporters. Just how you trained a lark to sing better than it undoubtedly did already or what was the judging criteria to declare an eventual winner, I just cannot imagine. Meetings were held in local pubs, with the locl Lark singing Association meeting at the New Inn (now called The Beck) Bradford Road Brighouse. One of the largest of these competitions was held at the New Inn when 18 competing birds took part. Along with The Delvers Arms at Southowram and the Sun Inn at Rastrick, these were the three main venues for these competitions.

From the 1930s another bird event that had a thriving membership was the Brighouse and District Cage Bird Society. In this photo taken before the Second World War are a group of club members showing off their prize cage birds at their new meeting room at the Wheelers Club in Huddersfield Road and include (left to right): Arthur Burton, the Yorkshire Union Secretary; Craven Whiteley, secretary of the Brighouse society; Jim Fox; Bob Forbes; John Bentley; Tommy Stevenson, who usually judged the budgie sections and Fred Waddington.

But what ever happened to these organisations and was any of your family members of one? This photo is one of the few I have and any others seemed to have disappeared just as the cage bird fanciers clubs have.