Who's Who ?
Alan Dean - Whittler, Southern California, USA.
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Hi, my name is Alan Dean, [Left in Picture] I live in Whittier (Just south of Los Angeles) in Southern California. I have been breeding Glosters for almost 60 years. I am originally from Wigan in Lancashire. I got my first Glosters from a cousin of mine from the bloodline of Bob Prescott, a local champion at the time.
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Of course, when I first started, I had no clue what I was doing and wanted as many light color, whites, cinnamons and grizzles that I could get a hold of, but I was very keen to learn.Â
At the age of 14, I hopped onto a train to Irvine in Scotland to visit Archie Brown. Archie along with his brother Robert were winning quite a lot in Scotland at the time.Â
I came back with 4 birds, yes you guessed it – 1- White Consort Cock, 1-Grizzle corona cock, 1-Cinnamon corona hen and 1-Yellow variegated consort hen.
I kept this line for 2 years but of course the type was getting lost with these colours. The next year, I again hopped on a train but this time to Gerry Wolfendale. I did not get any birds, but I got a lot of very good advice and an introduction to Nev Thomas.
I purchased 3 pairs from Nev, all TPD and green. This is where the love of showing my birds really started.Â
At the age of 18, 2 years after acquiring the birds from Nev, I sent my birds by train to the Scottish National show in Edinburgh. I did not attend the show but waited for my birds to return to Wigan station to see how they had done. 4 birds – 4 winners. Best Novice TPD Corona, Best Novice Fltd Corona and Best Novice U/F TPD Corona. Â
I was over the moon. After this win, I turned Champion. My first show as a Champion was at Irvine CBS Open show where my birds won, Best and 2nd Best Corona and Best Gloster.
I probably realized then that if I got serious about this, I could achieve a few better wins in the future.
 I decided to visit Derek and Margaret Moore. I remember visiting them on many occasions and seeing the initials CL (remember this for later) on some super birds. I asked Derek if I could have some of these birds and he said no, they were going to America. Why, I asked myself? Well as you get older and wiser you soon come to realise why.
I was able to get some very good birds from Derek and Margaret, but my birds took a turn for the better when I visited Harry Marriot.
I was working in Newark at the time and had Friday off. On Wednesday, I rang Harry to see if I could visit him. Of course, he said just come when you want and knock on the door. I left early and drove down to see Harry. He took me to his bird room and my eyes almost popped out of my head with the sight of his wonderful birds. We were talking for about 30 minutes when I noticed a show cage carrying box on the floor. I looked at Harry and asked, “Was he selling show cages?” He said no but just be careful when you walk by it. Â
Having carefully walked past the box a few times, I asked Harry if the box had birds in it. He said yes and that they were for me. Â
I had not gone to buy birds but imagine how I felt. I could not wait to see them. He asked me not to open the box until I got home. I asked him how much, he said “nothing the birds the cages and the box are a gift for you.”
Skip to the next day and I opened the box in my bird room. I took out a beautiful Cinnamon consort cock, I perfect white consort hen and a small but very neat green corona hen. I called Harry immediately to thank him. He said to pair the two consorts together and the green corona hen to the biggest consort cock that I had.
Derek and Margaret had let me have two consort hen sisters the previous year, from one of which I bred a huge consort cock. Perfect for Harry’s corona hen.
From these birds I bred a Fawn consort hen and a green corona cock. I paired the fawn consort hen back to her father the cinnamon consort cock. I paired the green corona cock back to his grandmother.
From these two pairs I bred two cinnamon consort hens, two variegated buff corona hens and a heavy variegated buff consort cock. This was in 1993.Â
That year the cinnamon hens won at every show I entered. (I alternated showing them). The buff hens also won their class every time out as did the consort cock.
Then came the IGBA show. I was stewarding, taking results slips back to the secretaries. Paul Rutland was at the table as I gave him the winning numbers from a novice class. Paul said to me. “Alan, how many birds did you enter?” I said, “4 in 3 classes.”. He said wow you have done well, 3 first and a second. I was very happy with this, especially with the first and second in the corona hen class. Imagine my surprise and pride when I found out that I had won Best Consort with the Cinnamon hen.
That unfortunately for me was my last show for a while. Â
I had entered my birds for the National show but did not make it. I was taken into hospital for a brain operation which meant that I had to sell all my birds.Â
This was the worst thing that I ever did with my birds. For years afterwards I struggled to get decent birds. Â
In 1998, I was again taken into hospital for a repeat brain operation.
Was I ever going to get good birds again? Not in England.
In 2006, I emigrated to California, USA with my wife and family. I again sold all my birds but took my show cages, cage fronts and utensils with me, you never know. Â
In 2010, I went to a local bird show, imagine my surprise when I saw around 150 decent looking Glosters.Â
I got talking to two guys Richard Sampson and Charles Long (remember CL, from earlier?). Obviously, Charles got his birds from Derek Moore, I found out that Richard’s birds all came from Cris Klaes.Â
 Charles lived about 250 miles from me, but Richard was only 40. I went to visit Richard. Having judged Cris’s birds in Belgium and having visited Cris a couple of times, I could see straight away the blood line.Â
Some great birds. Richard let me have a consort cock and a consort hen. I was hooked again. I bought a bird shed and decided to set it up. Â
The only problem was that the only cages available were all wire with wire bottoms, oh how I do not like them. Â
Then I remembered my cage fronts were in storage at the port of Los Angeles amongst other things. Out they came and a set of 40 English style box cages were made.
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I contacted a good friend of mine in Italy, Pietro Tellaroli, to see if he had birds for sale. Of course, he did and that was no problem for him. The only issue was, how was I going to get them?
I investigated everything that was needed to import the birds into the USA. All was actually very simple and straight forward. The main issue was the expense. Quarantine is very expensive. Â
I went ahead and got eight pairs from Pietro. The next year I visited Pietro and picked out six more pairs of which one was a superb lightly variegated buff consort cock. This bird came with 2 corona hens, a yellow and a white. This was the foundation of my stud of Glosters today. Â
One of the offspring from 2023 was the best yellow at the USA National Exhibition and another from 2024 was the best white at the USA National Exhibition.
In 2021, I joined with Charles Long to show birds. We entered at the 2021 USA National Exhibition and got Best and 2nd best corona, 4th and 6th best consort, Best Gloster and eventually Best Bird in Show.Â
An experience that I will never forget.
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Last year 2024 at the USA National, I had the honor of stewarding for a very good friend of mine Darren Gill. What a time we had reminiscing over old times. It was great to see Darren again.Â
I now mostly promote the Gloster Canary in the USA and mentor young newcomers to the hobby. In 2023 one of the guys that I am helping, Hassan, won 2nd Best Corona and Best yellow and the USA National and another, Sandy won Best Consort and 2nd Best Gloster. Sandy repeated this win with a different bird this year.
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I have judged the IGBA show twice and the UK National twice, If I have one more ambition it would be to judge the IGBA one more time.
I thank the IGBA for the opportunity to tell my story, I could have written much more and mentioned a lot more people. I have made some very good friends along the way and would love to meet up with you all at least one more time. Thank you everyone for the friendship that you have shared over the years. Â
God bless you all. –Â Alan Dean [Member D934]
