Gravesend, Northfleet and Swanscombe Cage Bird Society
Giving a voice to the club
HOMEPAGE - Kent bird club
- This page was last updated: 08 May 2013. (Website last updated: 08 May 2013)
Welcome to the Gravesend, Northfleet and Swanscombe Cage Bird Society's website.
We're a Kent bird club and we hope this website will promote both the club and the keeping of cage and aviary birds in and around the Gravesend and Medway Towns area.
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We're keen to stress that the focus is on local matters, providing information about this and other Kent clubs, and a guide to where to find birds and buy equipment.
We've also included a link on keepers' language , which sets out what we mean by terms like specialist societies. In this way, we hope the website will be useful whether you've years of experience or yet to own your first bird.
We are also aware that if you're new to birdkeeping, it can appear a daunting prospect coming along to a club meeting for the first time. We therefore hope that these pages will give you a better understanding of our club and help to overcome any initial concerns. We'll certainly be glad to see you.
News
08 May: Ken Grigg gave a marvellous talk on key aspects of managing a canary stock at our April monthly meeting. All members took some good tips and a sense of renewed enthusiasm. Thanks, Ken.
29 March: the club's March meeting was hit by the bad weather with the snow preventing the majority of members from reaching the venue. The speaker has kindly offered to come back at a future meeting and the club will seek to re-arrange a date as soon as possible.
26 Jan: on-line subscriptions are now available through PayPal, which provides a secure payment system. The club hopes that this will make it easier to join the club. Further details are available below.
Fife canary at 2012 interclub
[Photographer: Ron Turner]
24 Feb: the club's March meeting should be a good evening with a talk on bee keeping by a member of Gravesend Beekeepers Association.
19 Jan: the club's annual general meeting took place on 14 Jan 2013. Details of the elected committee can be found on our Running the club page. The outgoing officers felt that 2012 had been a successful year for the club and would act as a springboard in going forward. An amended set of club rules was agreed along with affiliated patronage for the coming year. New subscription rates were set and Colin and Freda Cuthbert were elected as life-long members and life vice-presidents.
19 Nov: the annual show was a real success with an increase in attendance and benched birds. Please view our 2012 Annual Show page for all the news, photographs and video.
25 Oct: Our 3-way interclub with Maidstone and Dartford took place on 28 Oct with a good turn out of birds at Maidstone's venue. See our club meetings page.
18 Oct: The Gravesend Reporter ran a piece on the society in its 'Club Focus' section (first week in October) and we'd like to thank all at the paper for helping to provide the club with some local publicity.
2010 Fife canaries just hatched
[Photographer: Ron Turner]
About the club
The Gravesend, Northfleet and Swanscombe Cage Bird Society (GNS CBS) has a long history and our club name provides an indication of past mergers. With the dissolution of many bird clubs in recent years, GNS CBS is now one of the few still remaining in Kent.
The club meets every second Monday of the month for presentations, discussions, table shows, and general banter/ exchanging of advice. The highlight is the Saturday, annual show that's open to the public. Not all keepers show their birds though and potential members shouldn't be put off if they're only keen on knowing more about the hobby in general.
Club membership
If you'd like to consider joining this Kent bird club, come along to one of the monthly meetings and have a chat with the members. Don't worry if you're new to bird keeping and we welcome new members even if you're still considering which birds to keep.
If you’re not able to join us in person, you can now join on-line through PayPal, which provides a secure on-line payment system. We’re starting this service in 2013 and hope that you’ll feel encouraged to join our club and help us to build for the future. You don't need to be based in Kent and we'd welcome your support and interest from anywhere in the world.
On-line members will receive by email: essential information as it becomes available, a quarterly update, and a copy of the schedule for the annual show.
Membership for 2013 runs until 31 Dec 2013 and subscription rates are £5.00 (adult), £2.00 (junior aged 15-17 years), £8.00 (couple), and £10.00 (show partnership). The PayPal link is at the top of this page.
History
The Swanscombe and Northfleet Cage Bird Society was founded in 1924 and held its inaugural meeting in the Queen's Head pub on The Hill in Northfleet. The Gravesend and District Cage Bird Society was founded in 1937 where it initially met in Freeborn's Hall in Peacock Street, Gravesend, before moving to St. James Hall on Darnley Road. The two amalgamated in 1946 to form the current society with meetings originally being held at Princes Street Hall in Gravesend before moving to the current location in St Mark's.
Web accessibility
The design of the website has been updated for HTML5 but we have aimed to provide, as far as we're able, optimum accessibility to users with regard to type of browser, resizing of browser window, and screen reading software. We'd therefore like to hear any comments or problems that you may have encountered in using this site. Many thanks.