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ANOTHER PRIME WEEKEND is in prospect in the exhibition world. Show-minded fanciers of all interests will have something tasty lined up, but for the budgerigar exhibitor this is THE weekend of the show calendar, when fanciers from all quarters of the British Isles (and far beyond) converge on the Doncaster Dome to attend the Budgerigar Society Club Show on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17. This year the event’s theme is “Where History Is Made”. Last November history certainly was made when the honours were annexed by the century’s most talked-about lutino. What will be the big story this Saturday? Perhaps a BIS triumph by a non-champion? That might shake up the old guard a bit. But this being the Club Show, one thing’s for sure: controversy will be balanced by companionship, and all rivalries will be forgotten as participants and onlookers surge forward with their congratulations as the major winners are announced. This year my colleagues Georgina Probert and Laura Welch will both be at the Dome, so please take the opportunity to say hello. And may the best bird win! ■ I’d like to think even a few canary fanciers might look in at Doncaster to see the best of the budgerigars. Yes, I know the two fancies are like oil and water, but an eye for a bird is an eye for a bird, surely? Just ask Brian Keenan and new contributor Ben Mason, who indulge in some enjoyable canaries-v-budgies knockabout on page 12 this week. Mud is slung, but you can sense the mutual respect. Definitely. ■ Editor’s Quote of the Week: “We breed true to type, nothing more, nothing less.” That simple principle has sustained Nick and Annalain Barrett through decades of supremacy in the Gloster canary world. Talk about keeping your eye on the ball. You can read the first of a series of articles on the Barretts on page 16.