New Classifications

                                                                                by Regina McCarthy

A unified Gloster classification, used by all clubs in the United States, has long been a goal of many exhibitors. I am sure it will take a few years to accomplish this objective. Someday we will reach that end.  We must take one step at a time.

I am very pleased that the first steps have  been taken to bring a uniform Gloster Classification to this Country by the three SPECIALTY GLOSTER  CLUBS.

The  National Gloster Show and at the National Cage Bird Show, the Gloster Division will be using the updated Gloster Classification, which follows this article.

Because I judged the NCBS Gloster Division  in 2004 I was invited to be the speaker at the NCBS Gloster Specialty Clubs' meetings and I took the opportunity to also speak about the classification. I was very much aware of the great misunderstanding of the NCBS Gloster Classification by most foreign judges due to the description of the classes; not to mention the many exhibitors who misclassified their birds. As usual, if you point out a problem at a club’s meeting, you are going to be picked to be part of the  solution. Well, that is what happened with me. By February I was chairing the committee to review the classifications.

From the International Gloster Breeders Association we had Fintan Keegan, Ralph Tepedino and me. From the National Gloster Club we had Winfield Checkley  and from United Gloster Breeders we had Barbara Rosario. As anyone can see, this committee was formed of long time members of these Clubs, with great experience in the breeding  and judging of Gloster Canaries. 

The goal of this Committee was to come up with a simple NCBS classification which all of the exhibitors as well as judges would understand. A secondary purpose would be to encourage local Clubs to adopt this classification, so that we can have a uniform Gloster Classification in use all over the Country.

With Barbara Rosario’s experience running the NCBS Gloster Division and my experience with the NGC Show, we came to the same conclusion that certain classes have never had one single bird entered for the past eight years. These classes were reviewed by the committee and we decided to  merge them with other classes.

The Committee worked very intensely to meet the deadline we were confronting due to the NCBS Annual meeting.

After many e-mails and phone calls back and forth, we arrived at a classification upon which we all agreed.

This proposed classification was sent to the Specialty Gloster Clubs for their revision and approval.  Subsequently, they submitted this proposal to the Board of the NCBS.  At the March 2005 meeting the classification  was approved by the NCBS Directors.

As noted above, the three Gloster Specialty Clubs in the USA, the International Gloster Breeders Association, the United Gloster Breeders, and the National Gloster Club worked together to develop the classification. Already several local cage bird clubs have expressed an interest in adopting the classification.

Gloster Classification