A widowed army veteran who owns more than a hundred pigeons says the birds are the "only thing keeping him going" following the death of his wife.
Geoff Blackhall, 75, from Ellesmere Port, has been keeping pigeons for more than 65 years and is a member of the homing society based at The Royal British Legion Club in Little Sutton. Geoff credits his hobby with filling the void left by his wife who died after contracting coronavirus last year.
Despite a pigeon club having been based at the site for almost five decades, earlier this year, Geoff was notified that he would have to start paying £100 a month to use the Little Sutton club's facilities.
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He told the ECHO : “All of a sudden, we got a letter from the club secretary saying ‘you haven’t paid any rent since 1968, so we’d like you to start paying £100 a month'. There are 17 of us and we’re all over 70. where are we going to get £100 a month from?
“There’s been a pigeon club on these premises for over 50 years. What the legion is meant to do is, you pay a subscription to them and they offer members facilities for darts, fishing, skittles - whatever you want to do. That’s actually written in the rules. So really, we have been paying rent because we’ve been paying our subs to the British Legion all the time."
When Geoff queried the sudden demand for rent, the club secretary informed him that the RBL Regional Property Manager had deemed the building as unsafe, therefore meaning the homing society had to vacate the premises with all of their equipment by October 1.
He said: “I pointed out that it was a bit strange that they wanted £100 a month off us when the building’s not safe anyway.
"They’re just making life so difficult for us, there’s a couple of the older fellas that have just packed in because they can’t stand it anymore and it’s not fair because that’s all they had.”
Geoff spent 15 years in the army, six of which were with special forces. It was during that period that he sustained an injury which has left him with permanent damage to the base of his spine.
The 75-year-old said most of the homing society's members are disabled and have lost their wives, with the pigeons offering an outlet to occupy them and "give them a purpose".
He said: “I left the army in April 1981 and, in May 1981, I joined the legion. I’ve been paying ever since. Since I lost my wife, I’m on my own. It’s only the pigeons and the guys at the club that are keeping me going really, so if I lose all that, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
While British Legion Clubs are not part of the charitable organisation, they must follow the conditions of the licence under which the club uses the name of 'The Royal British Legion' in its title.
A spokesperson for the Royal British Legion said: “Royal British Legion Clubs are run as separate entities to the Royal British Legion charity. The RBL has no responsibility for the management or activities of the clubs which are run as businesses. It is therefore up to the individual club's management to decide who can use the Club facilities on a local level.
"A property inspection was carried out by the RBL this week and we are not aware of any building issues at the Little Sutton premises.”
The ECHO has also approached the RBL Club, Little Sutton, for comment.
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