NATIONAL FLYING CLUB
by Drew Callan, Press Officer
Young Bird Coutances National 2016
Good afternoon folks, as I write this the last 2 races of the 2016 race programme for The National Flying Club have been and gone, and for better or worse that is your lot until May next year. This last race turned in to a bit of an epic even before the strings were cut, with the convoy being 6 days in the basket before the team got the window needed to get them up and away. Now, despite the fact that we should all take comfort from the knowledge that the birds were in the hands of the best in the business and on a state of the art transporter, there were very real concerns about the condition of the birds as the wait rolled on. Added to this was the real worry voice by many about there being 29 birds in the crates, which was within the guide lines for the size of the crates but perhaps in hind sight not ideal for the length of time they ended up being in the crates for. As you can imagine I speak to a lot of fanciers when doing the race reports and the overriding query was why we didn’t use the bigger transporter with more crates available and have fewer birds in a crate. This is not something I was or still am in a position to answer, but I can assure you it will be discussed by the committee when we reflect on the season at the next meeting in October.
I have written before about how if the wind is in your favour on the day you should ride your luck and if the opportunity allows it then fill your boots. Each season we see fanciers doing just this, and it tends to be the case in each young bird race certainly in the past 4 years and this year it’s no different. We can see from the provisional top 10 that Section G has dominated, and this is a highly competitive section in any race and they certainly showed their class on the day, and in a real bit of racing where relying on luck alone would not have gotten you very far.
Nigel Templer, 1st Open NFC Coutances.
Top of the heap, and I would imagine enjoying the view from there we have the Bristol lofts of Nigel Templer. I have written before about this gentleman and the ability he has to get a grip on the middle distance channel races at national and classic level although having said that he also topped the section and was top 10 from Tarbes this year. Nigel clearly had his team spot on and when the final result is published it will become clear the scale of the demolition job that his birds have done on the section and open result. This is nothing new to Nigel, and is similar to the result that the loft achieved from Carentan back in 2013 in what I think was the first race I covered as the Press Officer. On that occasion Nigel had the birds dropping in as if they were racing from Littlehampton, and clearly had them on song as they were right up the front to take the first 4 in the Section and 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th Open. This season has seen Nigel at the front in all the races and as a result he will have a haul of silverware to collect at the National presentation included the much coveted National Averages. This reflects the high level of consistency that he has raced at this season.
The first bird across the pad to clinch the 1st national spot is now known a ‘Nicky’ after Nigels long suffering better half who he will freely admit is a massive help and support around the birds and in his life generally. The national winner was a gift bird from John Gerrard and she has been 1st and 4th club already this season for Nigel. This is not the first time he has provided the loft with what have turned out to be good pigeons, and Nigel would like to thank him for that. This young hen’s sire is a direct Mandelartz bird and is called,appropriately, ‘Champion Producer’, as he is the sire of many winners. The dam is a Bosua x Danny van Dyck, her sire is ‘Flo’ - son of Kliene figo and the dam is from a brother to "Cannon and super breeder ‘Sita’, Dam and g/dam to 4 x 1st national winners.
The second bird recorded which was right on the tail of the national winner, was also from birds on loan from John. The sire is a Schlechtriem brothers of Holland and the dam is a Mandelartz hen bred last season. The third of the 3 quick clockings was home bred and is a Gerrit Lahuis pigeon bred from a son of Brian Milkins "blue pair" and a daughter of Nigels ‘Gerrit pair’. Both these pairs have bred Section winners in the N.F.C. and Combine winners for Nigel and other people, and are down from the Dirk van Dyck lines. Nigel would like to thank his good mate Ron Davis for his help in the young bird season and wants Ron to know that he is well worth a fiver a week. Nigel was keen to highlight excellent condition of the birds on their return, a reflection of the care given to them during their extended stay in the baskets.
Taking provisional 2nd open and 1st Section D we have the consistent lofts of P and D Clarke.
John Halstead with Nyland Natalie
Topping Section C and 3rd open we have the ever present loft of John Halstead, from Gillingham in Dorset. To underline his skills and the quality of the birds housed John topped the section in both nationals that day young birds and old hens. The loft had the pleasure/pain of actually leading the race for 25mins with his blue chequer hen. This hen had been to two previous YB races of 80 and 123 miles and was within an hour of the winner on each occasion. She was bred from a cock from the late Ken Hine mated with a lovely hen on loan from ex NFC president Stan Dangerfield both birds carrying another NFC figurehead Peter Titmuss bloodlines. This hen named Nyland Natalie was raced on John’s famous Darkness System, and on the sliding door method; with the cocks and hens separated most of the week but allowed to run together for a couple of hours before basketing. The feeding system has been changed slightly for the YB racing this time with 75% of the food being Countrywide’s new ‘Super Junior’ young bird mixture which contains a wide variety of smaller grains. Harkers Hormoform precedes this each day. John’s young birds have been in form most of the season and on the Sunday before the NFC birds were liberated John was 1st 2nd and 3rd Dorset Fed with these 3 birds almost 50 ypm clear of the 4th. Well done John on your continued success.
Wile and Lias
Taking 4th open and settling for the runner up spot in Section G we have the loft of Wile and Lias. This Father in law and son in law partnership Garth Wile and [ son in law] Steve Lias, fly in the Bristol area and are members of Towers S.R Combine and the Hartcliffe and District with the Bristol Federation and fly very well in both clubs. They also have a decent track record in national races and I have had the pleasure of speaking to Garth before. They would like to congratulate Nigel and Nicky on this fantastic win and also Ronnie who puts a lot of effort and work in to the birds. The little lady who was first to the loft is a blue hen who is a granddaughter of Brian Milkins national winner ‘Teds Lad’, crossed with a Van Dyke bred by Nigel Templer. During the course of the season she was AWOL for 2 weeks and ended up in South Wales where she was cared from by a fancier from Cardiff. The partnership have lost the fanciers number but would like to say many thanks for all the help he gave the hen. When she returned home and was suitably rested she had a few short club races and then in to the national.
Richard and Dan Gelder
Topping the westerly section J and chalking up an excellent provisional 5th open we have the top racing loft of R Gelder and Son. Richard and Dan race a mean pigeon across all levels of competition and on this occasion clocked a blue cheq hen that is Cooreman x Sapin. This little lady has been consistent throughout the young bird season and she has been well up on the Federation result on a few occasions this season. The partnership are also provisionally 3rd section with another hen who is direct out of their Section winner from Fougeres this season, being Gabby X Hooyman. The partnership would like to thank the convoyers for the excellent condition that the birds returned in.
Taking provisional 6th open and 3rd Section G we have the Withywood loft of Terry Cleverley. Terry sent a team of 10 young hens to the race and the first pair of feet on the board belonged to a Leo Van Rijn x Van Loon. The van Loon side of the breeding originates from Silver Shadow birds he purchased from Ponderosa and these are flying well for the loft. The parents of this hen have started to turn out some decent birds with some scoring well last year and this year. Terry feeds a young bird no maize mix and to this he adds some G10 pellets, and the young birds get this throughout the season. All the young birds are raced naturally, they are never darkened and are kept together and allowed to pair up if they want, and this little lady was just starting to nod to a young cock bird in the days running up to basketing. As with all the young birds she was raced well in the run up to the national, and Terry empties the loft each week and all fit and healthy young birds go to all the club races to get experience
Close on his tails we have another section G loft taking 7th open and 4th Section G, the Shepston Mallet loft of Bruce Miller. Bruce sent 6 and had 3 on the day. The first on the result for him is a good representation of the best up to date winning middle distance blood. On the Sires side we have the best of the Drapa pigeons including a grandson of Drapas Pockerface Olympiad x Racket winner of 5 x1st prizes . On the Dams side is the blood of Hardy Krugers Black Pearl Olympiad x Carrie, sister to the Sun City winner 2009. These birds are direct imports that Bruce obtained through Les Green.
We stay in Section G for the next loft on the result, with Derek Taylor claiming 8th open and 5th Section. Derek clocked a blue hen raced on the darkness system and lifted straight of the perch without any additional motivation. Her sire is a Grondelar cock purchased at The Doncaster show from The Oorary Stud of Gerald Delaney. This cock was sat in an aviary all last year and not paired up at all, I bet Derek won’t be doing that with him next year. The dam of the blue hen is an Engels hen bred off birds that Derek purchased direct from the Engels loft in Belgium. It was on the recommendation of Jules Engels that Derek bought in the Grondelars as they claim this was the best cross that they had ever put in to their birds, so Derek thought he would give it a go. The nest mate to this little hen has been 1st and 2nd for Derek this year, and all race birds are fed on Willsbridge super widowhood and depurative, both young and old birds. Derek is in the process of rebuilding a strong team after moving a few years ago due to his wifes health, if this result is anything to go by then he is on the right tracks.
The ever present Roger Lowe
Claiming top spot in section E and 9th open we have the ever present Roger Lowe from Reading. Roger certainly filled his boots and has the 1st 3 birds in the mighty section E. As always, Roger sent a team that was immaculately prepared for the job at hand, in this case he sent 25 darkened hens to represent the loft and had 7 on the day, 5 the next day and1 the following day. His section winner is a direct daughter of his best hen ever - My Little Diamond, dam and grand dam of many winners including section and national winners being a NFC winner herself in her only race ever. She also bred Nemesis, a winner of 1st NFC in 2012, and also bred The Main Man, winner of 2nd and 3rd open NFC Saintes. His second bird is a granddaughter of My Little Diamond from Diamond Che ( a grand son) when paired to Golden Diamond - a direct daughter when paired to The Main Man ( a son ).The third bird is also a granddaughter from Shining Che, a son of Carlos who is a son of Eijerkamps Che when paired with a daughter of My Little Diamond when paired with Diamond Che, sire of the second bird clocked. As you can see Roger has built a very successful family around My Little Diamond that is standing up well to the rigors of national racing.
Roger was very impressed with the condition of the birds after a six day hold over, so full credit to the all the team involved. He would also like to pass on his congratulations to Nigel Templer on winning the national race and clinching the national averages.
Rounding off the provisional Top 10, and claiming 6th Section G we have the loft of C and J Howse and Parsons. This is what Chris had to say:
Firstly we would like to congratulate all the winners but especially Nigel on his fantastic season he has had. Our bird we timed is a darkness hen who had been sat on eggs for 10 days at the time of basketing. She is bred from direct Ponderosa birds that were purchased jointly with our friends Richard and Anna Crowley and Green and are kept here and young birds are sent each year over to Portugal for the partnership to race. These birds have been winning from the start for us all so I will be going back to purchase some more before they close. All young birds were raced weekly with the West of England Combine and trained midweek and fed on the Versela Laga brand of corn’.
Chris and Jane Howse
Around The Sections
We are a bit light on details for some sections from this race. Some people are listed as ex-directory, some have no current number listed and some have not responded to requests for information. This is a recurring problem in this race each year and I think that part of the problem is that quite a few fanciers go on holiday once the national programme stops. If you are missing from the report please feel free to contact me with details as always.
Section A
Topping the section we have R Broome and grandson, followed by J May and son.
Garry Moody clocking up another Section win.
Section B
Taking the honours in this race is the ever present Garry Moody, one of the most reliable and consistent lofts on the south coast. The section topper has a bit of experience about her already, she was 77th fed Portland 1354 birds, 2nd club, 4th fed Guernsey 1425 birds beaten by a loft mate and 3rd club 3rd fed Portland 1469 birds beaten by 2 loft mates when the loft took the first six in fed. So as you can imagine she was sent with a great deal of confidence. She is bred from a Hardy kruger cock bought at Blackpool two years ago and a hen bought from a late bred sale who was bred by D an D McFadden. The Moody loft had a second bird on her tail and she is a bit special, having been bred to succeed. She is a granddaughter of 4 NFC winners; their own NFC Cholet winner x Jason Ross’ NFC Saintes winner bred one of the parents and then their NFC Cholet winner x Dave Waterhouses Saintes winner. This little lady represents the best of The Solent Pigeon Mafias best bloodlines and this stood her in good stead on the day. As with her loft mate she hasn’t been held back just for this race, previous to the national race she has chalked up 2nd club, 32nd fed kingsdown 2184 beaten by a loft mate, 5th club , 17th fed Guernsey beaten by 4 loft mates and 16th section 43rd open Guernsey BICC 1693 birds. When the loft took the first 6 in the Federation from Portland this little lady was amongst the first drop of birds but they have a six bird rule in the club and fed so wasn’t given a position. Garry would just like to add a big thank you to Emily and Lee as without them in would be impossible for him to be able to race pigeons.
Runner up spot goes to the Mannor lofts of M, C and J Norman.
Team Mannor Lofts.
Their first bird is a De Rauw Sablon chequer hen bred by Roger Lowe. This was her third channel race, she started off from Guernsey with the Solent Fed, then on to Coutances with the CSCFC being 124th Open before being sent to the National. On each occasion she was in the top three birds to the loft. Their second pigeon a blue pied cock provisionally 50th Open was also a De Rauw Sablon bred by Roger Lowe. He was also on his third channel race taking 26th Open CSCFC Coutances. Out of the 10 being sent the partnership had 6 home on the day.
Section C
Runner up in Section C is the loft of C A Riley.
Section D
Top loft in section D is the P and D Clarke partnership who have been consistent all season. Pete and Dan would like to firstly pass on their congratulations to Nigel Templer on a great win.
Their young bird section winner was flown natural this year. The sire is a Gaby Vandenabeele of M & D Evans, and he himself was a winner of 2nd open Somerset One Loft Race. He has bred one loft hotspot winners and club winners for the partnership and he can now add section winner to his CV.
The dam of the section winner was bred by Paul Bamford of Pembrokeshire from P & J Roziers from their Wall Street bloodlines. The partners were very happy with the condition that their youngsters and old hens came back in good condition after 6 days in the crates and would like to pass on their thanks to the convoying team for their efforts in very trying conditions.
Pete and Dan Clarke with Brian Reene.
Runner up in the section is the loft of Mr and Mrs Hodge. Their 2nd section D winner is a blue hen raced on the darkness. She has been a very consistent young bird racing in the Devon Cornwell and West Somerset club, this club is producing a lot of excellent national birds and is proving excellent schooling for the birds in the area. The full brother of this hen won the DCWSFC breeder-buyer and £600 the previous week so hopes will have been high for the hen when she was basketed for Coutences. The breeding is Drum lines of Syndicate lofts. The partnership would like to congratulate all the winners from this race as they all worked hard to get home.
Section F
Tony Crook
Coming out on top is the Newbury loft of Tony Crook. The section topping hen was bred in the racing loft in January from a love match. This year Tony decided as an experiment to breed of his racers as well as the stock team. He lets the racers choose their own mates as he thinks it helps them race that little bit better. Anyway, his results this year have shown him that the young birds bred from the racers have raced better and he has had better returns with them when compared with those bred in the stock loft, so this is a practice that he will continue next year. He races the team on darkness and feeds them Bamfords corn. The birds he races are a combination of Roland Janssen, Van Reets and Hofkens , these are all bred across each other with no thought given to bloodlines purely performance.
Jill Webber holding their good racing young hen.
Taking the Bridesmaid spot is the Oxfordshire loft of Alan and Jill Webber. This partnership are also the back bone of the busy Steventon marking station and are real workers for the sport. They have had a really good season and in the run up to this national were close up in other classic channel races. Their young bird is a blue chequer pied hen that has flown five club races, and the week before the national race was entered into the British Barcelona race also from Coutances, winning 2nd section, 3rd open. She was in such good condition on her return that they decided to send her straight back with the National, but had they known then that the birds would be in the basket for six days Alan is definite that they would not have sent her. From basketing with the BBC to returning from the NFC race she spent nine days out of thirteen in the basket, that she could then perform as she did is testimony to the care she received from the respective convoyers. This hen is one of a batch of 10 bought from Roger Lowe, who has told them that the breeding is Lou Wouters x Freddie Vandeheede. Alan and Jill were absolutely delighted with this performance, to have a bird with two second section positions in one season was beyond their expectations.
Dave Downing.
Section H
Claiming top spot in section H we have the loft of D Downing. On this occasion the section topper is a chequer cock bred from a Hardy Kruger stock pair the sire being a grandson of Black Power and the dam a granddaughter of Black Pearl. These were introduced the last year to race against his established team of Vandenabeeles and they are starting to perform well. The young bird team were bred in February and raced on the traditional darkness system and fed on Versele Laga Gerry Plus and Superstar Plus with added Gems supplements. They have raced well this year winning several times in the local club and three times in the M11 Club and also 2nd and 4th Section in the last BICC Guernsey race. For the winner this was his 4th race having previously flown consistently in two club races from Bedhampton and Purbeck and also Guernsey with the BICC. He was showing to a young hen when basketed for Coutences and in spite of the long holdover was still keen on his hen when he returned although very tired clearly having flown hard on the day.
Taking runner up spot is the successful partnership of Colin and Adam Crick who are no strangers to success at national level and are consistently at the top in the shake up for section honours.
Section I
Taking top spot in my own section we have the loft of Paul Fletcher. The winner here is a chequer cock that has flown consistently through the young bird programme having had all races leading up to basketing for the national. He is classically bred, containing the best of the Clive Yates wildermeersch which as we all know are the best of the vintage bloodlines of this family. This particular young cock is bred down through Clives MNFC Tours national winner. The uncle of this section topper was a section winner himself from Saintes with NMFC this season, so they have no fear of the channel. Paul has just recently restarted in the sport and would like to express his gratitude to Clive for all the help and quality birds he has provided.
Paul Fletcher.
Runner up in section I is the loft of Lourens Londt, who won this race a couple of years ago when it was another trying one, and is now re-establishing a lift of birds after moving last year, it hasn’t taken him long to pick things back up again. Well done Lourens.
Section J
Taking runner up spot behind Richard and Dan Gelder we have the Alveley loft of Ray Scriven. Ray is one of the committee men for the National is never afraid to stick his hand in the air and volunteer his time to aid the national. Ray had a racking race, with 8/9 home promptly, mind you in the Young Bird national from Guernsey last year he had 20/20 on the clock. The first home from a Boshu Janssen x Mark Gilbert Rutz, and his 2nd bird is Cattrysse via Billy Price from Newport x Mark Gilbert again. The birds are not darkened, but from the 1st August he puts on lights in the young bird loft until 9.30 at night. He doesnt mess about with the young birds when it comes to training, he starts them at 15 miles and within 4 chucks they are 70 miles down t motorway at Bristol. Well done Ray.
Pete and Cynthia Hagland
Section K
Topping section K and being runner up in the old hens race we have the ever present loft of Pete and Cynthia Hagland. This partnership are no strangers to success at this level and race a mean pigeon out to 550 + miles. Pete is just starting to re-establish a team following a recent house move and an operation on his back, but these results would suggest that he is just about there. Incidentally, this result marks the 14th Section in in national competition?quite some achievement. The young chequer hen who took the section honours was bred for the partnership by their good friends Bob and Jamie Languish from Chorley, which happens to be in Lancashire but Pete says he can overlook that fact as it’s not their fault!!. He has a second bird right behind the section topper who was bred by another good friend Andrew Haywood from Huddersfield.
In preparation for racing the birds are given at least 2 good training chucks a week Pete will take them 20 miles to meet his good friend Colin Dixon who then takes them a further 20 miles. This keeps them fit and on their toes.
Runner up in the section is Gert Sandu.
Section L
Topping the section is E Taylor. Runner up spot goes to the loft of K Morris and Son.
Section N topper for Mc Sween and Sexton
Section N.
These young birds had it all to do, with a 400+ mile fly in front of them after a 6 day stay in the baskets. However, cometh the hour, cometh the man and these little warriors who were sent brimful of confidence and expectation didn’t let the fanciers down. Top of the pile we have the loft of Mc Sween and Sexton. They clocked an absolute stonking little cheq pied hen to take the bragging rights. This little lady was definitely bred right, being a granddaughter of Lionheart he is an absolute legend in the UNC from distance races and has to his credit 8 turns in the UNC result including 3 times on the day from Bourges all of 566 miles. His best result was 2nd open UNC, and it is the last remaining son from him that bred the section winner horses for courses. Her dam is no slouch herself, having won the NEHU Young Bird Futurity race in 2006 and she is a vandenabeele x Martin Ali Busschaert. The partnership fly the young birds on the darkness, and I addition this year they were kept separated and only run together for an hour or 2 before basketing and after the race. Before the national they had 3 days together and the hen was nodding to a young cock and spinning around in a nest box. To keep them ticking over during racing they had 9 chucks from 50 miles and in preparation had 3 races through to Worksop a distance of 106 miles. The team were then lifted from 106 miles in to 402 miles.
Jim Nicholson
Taking runner up spot we have the evergreen loft of Jim Nicholson, a legend in his own lifetime. He has consistently strung together an impressive set of results from the longer end of the race programme and against big birdages as well. Well done gentlemen.
John and Theresa Gladwin
Section P
Claiming bragging rights this week in section P we have the loft of Gladwin, Jarvis and family. Being one half of Formula 1 lofts these guys have a formidable stock loft containing the absolute best of the best so its no surprise to see them up with the leaders. This is what John had to say:
Firstly I would like to say a very well done to Nigel Templar and John & Dave Staddon on very good wins in a tricky race, For me it has been a bit of a strange race from start to finish with the long hold over and the change in wind on the day of lib, I had gone into the race with pretty much everything as I had planned and wanted it to be, my whole y/b season had been geared towards this race and I had treated them very different to what I have in the past by only giving them a couple of inland races by only sending some each week and training them myself. The weekend before the race I did not send them but trained them from 40 miles Saturday, Sunday, Monday letting them go at 6:30 in the morning all 3 spins they came very well, so I was confident I had a good team that was in good form and the ones I had been sending inland had been holding there own so confidence was high at the point of sending them. But as the days past you start to worry more and more about the birds stuck in the baskets. My first pigeon is a Formula 1 lofts bred Frans Zwol x Rutz & son The sire is a direct son of The Power and New Princess from Rutz & Son. The power racing won 2nd Perpignan, 21st Tarbes, 32nd Perpignan and many other prizes and was 4th national ace cock in 2010. New Princess is a super stock pigeon being bred from 1st national Barcelona and the 4th international ace pigeon 2005. She is breeding many good birds including 9th national Marseille, 43rd national Barcelona, 18th National Marseille etc. The dam of my first bird is Frans Zwols that we brought in as part of the originals in 2010 and she has become an ace breeder being from the Boy & Queen lines. My second pigeon which was 22 minutes after my first pigeon and looks like being only beaten on a decimal for 2nd place is a Formula 1 lofts bred Frans Zwols, the sire is a brother of Space shuttle he is turning into an ace breeder being sire g.sire to many winners including 1st section 26th open NFC Fougeres and 2nd section, 2nd open NFC Ancenis, and now 3rd section NFC. Space shuttle was a wonder racer winning 1st nat Mid fond 2009, 1st WENC 2010 1st, 2,461 birds, 1st 1,505 1st 1,011 birds, 2nd 10,276 birds, 2nd 1,334 birds plus much more. The dam is a daughter of Amor ( ace son of Tip top junior) and Dream Girl 200 (A full sister of The 3 Musketeers/D’artagian). A lot of the credit for this season needs to go to my Wife Theresa who has stepped in and done a lot for the pigeons this year for me, she has become particular attached to the Young birds as she has been feeding them and having them out and then training them from day one this year. All birds was put on darkness though some of the later bred ones which includes my first pigeon which was an April hatched young bird did not really catch the darkness and have moulted pretty much normally.
Runner up behind John, Theresa and the team we have the loft of C R Kavanagh.
National Notes roundup.
Just a few bits of information for the members.
Firstly, a few dates for your diary. The annual NFC prize presentation and dinner will be returning to Torquay this year. It will be held in The Imperial Hotel on Saturday 26th November. If you have never been you are missing a treat and a great night. If you are interested then the details are on page 50 of the handbook. If you wish to book accommodation then that needs to be done directly through the hotel, and payment for tickets needs to be doen by sending our President Mick Mc Grevy a cheque. If you collected trophies last year in Telford could you please ensure that they are returned ASAP to the appropriate place, details are again on page 50.
And whilst you have your diaries out you might want to take a note of the shows we will be attending this year:
22nd OCTOBER WELSH RACING PIGEON FANCIERS TRUST SHOW AT PENCOED COLLEGE.
29th OCTOBER EPSOM PIGEON SHOW AT EPSOM RACE COURSE.
5TH NOVEMBER NEHU SHOW SOUTH SHIELDS.
12th NOVEMBER DONCASTER SHOW AT THE RACECOURSE.
And of Course The Blackpool Show in January.
Sponsorship winners.
Over the winter months I will be writing a bit more about the various lucky sponsorship winners in more detail. For now I would like to quickly mention those who have kindly sponsored our racing this year. Both Premier Lofts and Foxwood lofts who have sponsored the section winners this year if you have been a lucky winner then please contact these two sponsors directly to arrange the selection of the donated young birds.
Well done to the 3 car winners this year, it made for a very interesting season watching the various competitions unfold.
We also benefitted this year from Paragon Pigeon and Avian Range sponsoring a range of prizes across the sections and of course Carrs for once again sponsoring their excellent products in the Young Bird and old hens races.
We would also like to thank Gran Canaria One Loft Race for their sponsorship prize in the Saintes race. Thank you one and all for your continued support and generosity.
And finally, I would like to leave you with a personal message from Phil Curtis, our chairman:
‘On behalf of the committee and myself may I thank all the IC’S, markers and helpers at all the marking stations for their sterling efforts this year. Your efforts are very much appreciated. To Peirce Transport, Richard and Bob the driver for all your hard work in ensuring the wagons were on time and the help you have given me. Trevor and Barry the convoyer’s in what has proved a difficult season for all race convoyer’s throughout the country, for the great condition the birds have returned from the races, without you all the hard work of the fanciers would be in vain.
On a personal note in what has been a difficult first season as chairman due to my health may I thank all the committee and members for their support in the times when I have needed you and there have been plenty. ONE TEAM ONE FUTURE. Look forward to seeing you all in Torquay.’
One final point, we are hosting the on lone auction off the young birds that were raced this year in The French Young Bird Classic race run by John and Louise Mc Gee. You will be able to view and bid on the birds on our auction website www.nfcauctions.co.uk from 23rd -30th September. You will need to register on the website before you can bid. Go and have a look as these are the best of the best and you might just get a bargain. Also, if you have a few latebreds or spare birds for sale, or you are thinking of selling a few young birds next year, why not put them on our site, all details are on there and it couldn’t be easier.
Right that wraps up the young bird race. Next week I will be putting together the race report for the old hens national from the same liberation. If you have not heard from me then please contact me on one of the methods below with details of your bird if you are top 10 in the open result or top 2 in your section. Look forward to hearing from you.
As always I am on 01926 817796
Drew Callan
NFC Press Officer.