Southampton Marking Station
Based on the latest protocols and information available this is an update for those intending to enter the NFC races and have their birds race marked at the Southampton Marking Station.
Race dates.
4th July, Fougeres, Basket on Thursday 2nd July
18th July, Norte Sur Erde, Basket on Thursday 16th July
31st July, Pau (Friday), Basket on Tuesday 28th July
15th August, Fougeres, Basket on Thursday 13th August
5th September, Coutances YB & OH, Basket on Thursday 3rd September
At present the normal marking location at Sarisbury Green Social Club is not available due to the government restrictions. Although we are hoping that this will change in time for some National Racing, after going through several hoops and up many blind alleys we have managed to find an excellent alternative which we shall use for the first National Race from Fougeres. This will be at the Portchester Football Club, Wicor Recreation Ground.
We are making this decision now in order to give everybody intending to use the Southampton marking station plenty of notice of the new location rather than the confusion of not knowing where to go.
The NFC Marking Station for Southampton on 2nd July for the Fougeres Race will be, Portchester Football Club, Wicor Recreation Ground, Cranleigh Road, Portchester, PO16 9DP. If you use a “Sat Nav”, it is best to enter “Wicor Recreation Ground” as your destination. For some reason, using the post code gets you close but not the exact location, but getting there is in fact quite straight forward. If you are approaching on the M27, take Exit 11 for Fareham Central, keeping left if coming from the East and around to the right if travelling from the West. As you leave or cross over the Motorway, keep left and follow signs for A27 and Portchester. At the 2nd Roundabout along the A27 go around to the right into Cornerway Lane with the Seagull Pub on the corner, after quarter of a mile turn right onto Cranleigh Road and although it is a bit bendy, follow it to the end and the football club is on the right. We hope that we will get some signs made up to help guide people in.
At the time of writing these notes the RPRA Race Marking Protocol will require a few changes to our normal race procedure for safety reasons. The race markers will collect your birds from your car along with your ETS clock if used and will return it to you in your car. This will make the procedure more labour intensive and take longer. With this in mind we will start earlier and it will be necessary for people to form an orderly queue in the car park and also to arrive in sequence NOT on a first come first served bases. You will be given a time slot in which you must turn up with your birds. For this reason it is important that each entrant clearly adds a current contact number to their entry form in order to be informed of the arrival time.
This season the marking fee a minimum of £2.00 which has previously been included on the entry form has to be paid directly at the marking station. We are not sure how this will work at present but it is required to help subsidise the marking station costs.
Good luck to you all, Stay safe
Bill Edwards, I/c.
Kingsteignton Marking Station
New Marking Times are: - 13.00 hrs to 18.00 hrs.
Paul Pym, I/c.