Yorkshire pride soars as pigeon racing heralds return of sport: The Yorkshire Post says

Pigeon racing was the first sport out of the blocks on Monday following the easing of lockdown restrictions in England, beating snooker and horse racing to the punch.

More than 4,000 birds belonging to members of the Barnsley Federation of Racing Pigeons were released from a park in Kettering on Monday morning ahead of a 90-mile sprint back to South Yorkshire.

As organiser John Greenshield put it, the recent return of the sport is “like putting oxygen back in the area” for its many adherents.

Many sports fans will be feeling the same as their favourite contests begin to return in the coming weeks, albeit behind closed doors.

But as the Barnsley pigeon racers can attest, nothing beats the soaring feeling provided by the spectacle of live competition.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor