NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan, Press Officer

National Notes - March 7th 2013

Good morning folks. After 10 days of dry, bright cool days it was a bit of a downer to look out the window to rain and mist... mind you to be honest I have woken up to worse!!! I was hoping to start getting the racers out more regularly but the forecast is wet and dull until Sunday then north-east winds and snow early next week so they will be confined to barracks for the next week or so.

Last weekend I was in Belgium and Holland and noticed quite a few kits going over where the sprint boys were clearly taking advantage of the weather to knock a few cobwebs off the cocks before Quiverain and Noyon start in a couple of weeks. I have always thought this was very early but then I read in the BHW that the North-East boys kick off with a trainer on the last weekend in March. Good luck to you boys but take care you don’t knock the edges off them too early.

We are now putting the finishing touches to the handbook before going to the printers at the start of April. We are hoping to have it in the post to members by the end of the month but please don’t panic about it as you will have it in plenty of time. I know that last year I had a few members ring up in a bit of a flap because they hadn’t received their handbook by the first weekend of domestic racing. All members who have paid their fees by the time of the book being ready will have one posted to them, but if you are not one of the 2425 fully paid up members could you please get subs in before the 1st of April to get your handbook in time. To be honest if everyone is paid up it makes life easier for Sid as all the handbooks can be sent from source automatically in one go rather than having to chase up single random handbooks from late payers.

Members have so far ordered almost 96,000 rings from the national. I just wonder how many will be in the young bird national in September? As a point of interest members have also bought 2425 of the special A gold rings so there will be a nice pot of prize money to compete for from the Young Bird national. Good luck to all who have put their faith in their own selection abilities and let's hope you get a bit of luck on your side on the day. Can I take this opportunity again to remind fanciers of the rule change which means only NFC issued rings can be entered in the young bird national this year so if you fancy a go then get in contact with Sid quickly as I know the rings and gold rings are going fast and he is selling them on a daily basis.

Some members will be aware that we launched the bare bones of our new website last season and the intention has always been to develop this during the closed season and have an all singing all dancing version ready for this new season. Sid has been working with IT people to make this happen and we are almost there and we are looking to get it online and fully functioning in the next few weeks. We want to use the website as a platform for members to keep up to date with club developments and news as well as to get in touch with officials and committee members when needed. Personally I would like to see it evolve to the point where members can put their own virtual loft visits and write-ups on there and to develop the social media side of it by building on the discussion forum facilities the current website has. The committee would like to thank you for your patience as we get the website set up and I appreciate that people have been looking to have it earlier but we need to know it is up to the demands, needs and expectations of the membership.

I mentioned in a previous article about looking at section changes for the future and I asked members to have a think about what changes they think might benefit the National long term by improving birdage and competition. When I wrote about it I didn’t expect to have several lengthy conversations about the topic at the Dutch Spring fair in Houten.  As it happens there were quite a few National members and committee members there so it seemed like as good a place as any. What came out of the conversations was basically that there was no need identified for wide scale restructuring, more a case of a few tweaks to identified areas and this mirrored the conversations I have had with some of the committee members. All of the suggestions that were put forward from the chat in Houten included splitting Section E along the 0 meridian to the Thames to encourage a bigger member participation from the top corner of the section. The fanciers who talked to me about this pointed out that the national send from that area did not reflect the potential birdage as many fanciers felt that they had no chance of having a fair run at section positions for 90% of races so opted with their feet and competed in alternative classic channel races with other organisations. Another suggestion was to pull down the southern boundary of section M to around Whitby and that would help bolster the chances of fanciers up at the top reaches of the National such as the members of The Toft Hill Sportsman club. It's good to be getting this input and feedback from members as when the sub committee meets soon we have a starting point for our discussions. If you want your thoughts to be put on the table then get in touch with me.

One final thing from me… thank you to the people who got in touch about the Marley Westrop article. I have taken on board the other names suggested and am slowly working my way through them. If you have anything you want to have included in the column then as usual I am on 01926 817796 or email:

Cheers,

Drew Callan,

PO National Flying Club.

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NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan, Press Officer

AGM Report - January 2014

The National Flying Club held its 2014 AGM on Saturday 11th January at the usual location of Alveley in Shropshire. A combination of illness and a few long standing commitments meant that a few of the regulars were missing from around the committee table but it was business as usual for the remainder of us under the guidance and gavel of our chairmain Mick Mc Grevy. The members had been presented with a total of seven propositions on which to vote and all were carried with a healthy majority in all cases which reflects a confidence in the committee and how they manage the club for the members. There were no big shocks amongst the proposals; some were a result of an audit of the club rules that had been undertaken by John Preece at the request of the committee and these have now been updated and brought in to line with current thinking and practice. The most significant of the rule changes I think has been the deletion of Clock rule 15 which required at least 6 competing clocks for a clock station to still be allowed to function. In reality this is not practical and I know from personal experience sometimes there are only 2 or 3 members who use my local clock station and I know they might not compete if they were required to travel to another station. The existing rule did not allow for the convenience and flexibility that the National Flying Club has been affording members over the past 4 or 5 seasons. Another significant change was the positive response to the proposal that allows non NFC rung young birds to compete in the young bird national. Members will now be allowed to enter these young birds at an additional fee of £3.00 on top of the existing race entry fee, so let’s hope members support this when it comes to the young bird national in September and remember that from this year, old cocks can compete alongside the old hens for an old bird national race.

Another area that was discussed by the committee at length was the cost of maintaining the 11 marking stations that are available to the members for each race. The treasurer provided facts and figures that showed a wide discrepancy in the cost of running each station and which helped to explain the £9,000 that it cost the NFC to subsidise these marking stations. It is in the interests of all members to keep the costs down as the savings can be fed back in to prize money for members. The general feeling was that if we are to maintain this number of marking stations then it was up to the members to step up to the mark and for more of them to volunteer their services at each of the marking stations. At Steventon, where I mark my birds, it is not uncommon to see people jump on to help out and I always give an hour of my time when I attend as do other committee members such as Richard Howey and Mark Gilbert. We give our time for free and I am sure that this happens at most marking stations across the country, but the figures don’t lie and at present we have marking stations that cost an average of 14p per bird and marking stations with comparable or less birdage that cost 55p per bird to run. The committee have now addressed this with the aim of maintaining a standardised cost per bird for each marking station and the secretary will be writing to station I/Cs in due course. I think the key to this is having more people involved providing their time voluntarily. Alongside the standardised charges the committee have also implemented a necessary increase in the marking fee so for the 2014 season members will be charged a £2.00 marking fee per race, an increase from the £1.00 fee that has been in place for many years.

The committee then moved on to revisiting the race programme that had been set at the previous committee meeting in October. Several committee members had been contacted by members who were concerned about the first race being from Fougeres, with members being at the mercy of domestic race programmes that would only be around the 160 mile mark. The committee were aware that members in the southerly sections would only be looking at a race at around the 110-140 mile mark if we went to Carentan and this was noted, but felt that the race would still be well supported by all section as the birdage for 2013 showed. In the end the committee felt that Carentan should be substituted as the first racepoint as this was on average 60-70 mile shorter and was seen as a fairer option for the birds and fanciers so early in the season. So the members will now have the following race programme to compete in during the 2014 season:

24th May   Carentan

7th June     Cholet

21st June    Messac

4th July       Tarbes

26th July     Saintes

6th September Young bird and old bird national Fougeres

The final main point of discussion was the feedback from the section sub committee with proposed section changes. If you remember we implemented this at the 2013 AGM with the function of the sub committee being to collate and consider suggested changes to the current sections. It was made clear that the process would be driven by the members and they were encouraged to approach their committee delegates with their views and concerns. These would then be brought to the full management committee who would look at the merits of each in terms of financial viability and being in the best interests of the club. I stated at the time that we were leaving ourselves wide open for change but we felt that in terms of transparency it was important for the process to be given an opportunity. Well here we are 1 year later and there were 2 proposals on the table for discussion. The first of these was to create a new section comprising of the county of Cornwall with the section boundary being the county boundary. The main concern with this proposal was the two resultant sections the new Cornwall section and the remainder of the current Section D would have a low birdage that would detract from the prestige that should be associated with winning your section in the National Flying Club. It was also felt that it would not be in the interest of the club to sanction the creation of significantly smaller sections, and this was reflected in the majority of feedback that members have given to committee members.  The second proposal was to split Section E vertically along the 0 Meridian. This section has been a bone of contention for quite a few years and I find it a particularly interesting one. It is fair to say that the section is poorly represented the further east you travel and numerous reasons have been offered, but to try and redress some of the balance the committee is strongly supporting the new marking station in Kent and we have had a national winner from it this year. Furthermore, the general view has always been that the members in the east are unhappy with the current size, but the membership has been less that vocal about bringing in change through the current sub committee route and with the exception of one or two lone voices the  feedback garnered by the committee has been that the members at present are content to leave things as they are. In the end the committee felt that neither proposal was viable at present and will not be putting them for mandating to the membership. The committee noted that some members will not be happy with the decision, but would like to assure all members that the issue has not been whitewashed over merely for the sake of maintaining the current status quo. The reality is that cannot justify affecting a change that is not currently seen as being in the best interests of the majority of members.

As with all AGMs the posts are vacated and there is the usual stampede by interested parties to fill the posts that they felt were poorly executed during the previous year - or not as the case may be. All post holders were returned to carry on the hard work for another year, a reflection of the confidence that they are held in. At committee level all current representatives were returned with the exception of Section J where it was all change with both Ray Scriven and John Preece stepping down to be replaced by John Barnet and Geoff Kirkland. On a personal note I think Ray will be sorely missed as he has the memory of an elephant and is always willing to speak his mind, but he has decided that he needs to scale back on what he does and realises that there is much more to he enjoyed in life. Ray, if we meet up in Holland again this year I will buy you a pickpot or a hot dog.  John Preece has only been on the committee for a year but has undertaken a sterling job in shaking up our rule book and streamlining it. Richard Howey raised the issue that he may not continue after next year as the representative for Section H , but it is hoped that he will continue as he brings a sense of fair play and a wealth of experience to the meetings and will always speak up for the interests of his section members. Once more we are without a representative from Section B so if you fancy giving it a go then we have our next meeting in April, and I appreciate it is a long drive up to Shropshire but you could lift share with your neighbouring reps and it is only 3 times a year, and the bonus is that you get your photo taken with Paul Naum and Eamon Kelly… a gift that money cant buy.

Finally, I would like to briefly thank our sponsors for 2013. Van Robaeys have done a fantastic job at supplying top quality corn that befits the quality of the athletes in the basket, and I will return to them later. Hartwells gave us fantastic support in 2013 and provided us with a car for the members to compete for, and their support continues in 2014 with the amazing offer of 2 cars to compete for again with each member having a free single bird car nom.

So folks, there you have it. As I write this it’s only 10 weeks before the commencement of domestic racing in my area and a mere 16 weeks until we compete for the car from Carentan in the opening race of the 2014 season. May I wish you all luck and remind you that somewhere out there we have 7 national winners and 2 car winners waiting to be discovered… Good luck to all.

Drew Callan

NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan, Press Officer

November 2013 Report

Good evening folks, as I write these notes the clocks have just altered and soon I will be seeing to the birds in the mornings and some evenings with the aid of a head torch. The birds don’t seem to be half as bothered as I am and to be honest I look forward to the weekends more so I can get out amongst them and I am always taken by surprise at how some of the young birds and yearling cocks are shaping up as they pull through the moult. Each year I have struggled to get a few of the darkness young hens through a full wing moult and I have tried every trick in the book to no avail, so this year I pulled them up from racing 2 weeks early and touch wood- It seems to be working. All of us will be up to our oxters in feathers at the minute and its not surprising as each pigeon has something in the region of 13,000 feathers to replace. I try and sweep up at the weekend to try and keep on top of it and I am still amazed at the amount of feathers still knocking about… roll on the end of the moult.

With the racing season put to bed it is the time of year when we make alterations to the loft and its contents. In some cases it will be out with the old and in with the new and for the lucky few it will be a case of as you were, unfortunately for some fanciers it will also be carry on regardless. This time of year is often referred to as the silly season due to the number of sales being held and it is good to bear in mind the advice of ‘buyer beware’ and take care not to buy a pig in a poke even if you do like bacon!!For those of you who are looking to supplement your breeding stock the National Flying Club Committee is putting together a truly mouth watering selection of birds from the top lofts in each section. In most cases these will be latebreds from 2013 but there will be a few pledges of 2014 young birds, but rest assured they will be from consistently high performing lofts who will be giving of their best for The National Flying Club. The sale will be on the club website but bidding will be open to all, and the plan is to have it up and running by early December so start saving your pennies or alternatively change your behaviour to get off the naughty list. You could be getting yourself a young bird off a national winner….now that is some stocking filler!!

Another reason this time of year is referred to as the silly season is because it is the start of the meeting season when wit and wisdom can often go out the window. I have said it before but it does no harm to reiterate it here, The National Flying Club has at its helm a strong, focused and committed team of men on the committee who have the singular aim of ensuring that it is managed positively and properly and on the whole the membership seems to have placed their trust and faith in them, and rightly so. The role of the committee is to ensure that the club is run for the benefit of the members and to take the club forward. To this end we have to make decisions as a committee on matters that may be detrimental or otherwise to the running of the club. Usually these are financial matters and the membership would find them quite boring to be honest and the experience of the committee is put to the test on these occasions to ensure the right choices and decisions are made. I think the small numbers of propositions we have received to date reflects the confidence of the members and the fact that the management of the club is in good hands. I feel that as a result of this the rumour mill works over time and we get members and non members picking up on third hand comments that they think have been made in a committee meeting, or as was the case at Steventon marking station earlier this year, we get accused of having ‘private’ committee meetings to discuss things. Ladies and gentlemen let me assure you that the committee operates with complete transparency and in the interests of the club at all times and we will endeavour to keep you informed at all times .One such topic that has flourished  from the  rumour mongers in the restructuring of sections. Of the back of the Committee meeting in April I mentioned in my column about throwing the topic of section boundaries open to the members and any changes suggested would be genuinely considered by the committee and put to the members for voting on changes. At this point in time I can hand on heart state that despite what you might have heard second, third or fourth hand the committee have received no recommendations from members, so Section D will not be collapsed in to neighbouring sections, Section I will not be stretched East and West and Section E will not be getting split down the middle. If you need a reason as to why then its simply because the members- or certainly the vast majority- seem to be happy with what they have in terms of section boundaries. How do we know this?- because members  have been letting the committee  know that they are happy with what they have, so unless they want change and indicate this I think that the status quo will remain. The committee know that we can’t please everyone all the time but it won’t stop us trying.

To kick off the silly season in style the committee held a meeting on Wednesday 23rd October in the usual venue in Alveley, Shropshire. The main purpose was to put the 2013 season to bed after reviewing it and doing the initial ground work for the 2014 season. As is always the case with these meetings a lot of ideas were bounced around and picked apart and as the mist cleared the committee were in a position to put forward a series of innovative ideas that will take the club forward into the 2014 season stronger and keener.

Firstly, the committee were of the opinion that the handbook as we know it had run its course, and we could see no way to take it any further forward. The handbook is most definitely something to be proud of and has come a long way and if imitation is the highest form of flattery then we need to say no more. The truth is that the effort required to produce the book at such professional standard was outweighing the end result and the benefits of having a hard copy book. Furthermore, we needed to be looking at the costs involved and how we could make substantial savings on both postage and production costs. These savings could then be ploughed back in to significantly increased prize monies for the members to compete for.  So for 2014 and subsequent seasons the book will be available electronically via the clubs website at no cost to the members. There isn’t really any part of the current handbook is put together electronically and as a result there is none of it that cannot be readily transferred on to electronic format so it seems daft not to make the logical step and reap the benefits. But fear not, we are not going completely electronic just yet. The committee are well aware that some members prefer to have hard copy for a variety of reasons, and we also know that some members do not have ready and convenient access to the internet although I think that this is changing. To support these members there will be a hard copy produced but members will need to request by ticking a box that will be included in the end of year forms sent out, but please be aware that the hard copy will be no different to the electronic version that some members will opt for. Also, to be honest the committee will be looking at possible costs for the hand book at their January meeting. So if you want a hard copy then it must be requested and, if you overlook this don’t be surprised when it hasn’t turned up in the post for the start of the season. We hope that the members quickly start to feel the benefits of embracing the available technology and the leap of faith the committee are asking you to take, and I think they will and who knows, if we get the on line voting option up and running, we might even see more people voting and getting involved with their club.

In terms of the nitty gritty of The National Flying Club and the reason that members join- the racing side of it- the committee have a few tasty developments.  But before we get onto that the members will want to know when and where we are racing in 2014; 24th May Fougeres,  7th June Cholet,  21st June Messac, 4th July Tarbes, 26th July Saintes and rounding off with the Young Bird and Old Bird Nationals on 6thSeptember.  The more observant amongst you will have noticed that we have an old bird national alongside the young bird national, the committee has decided to open up the old hens’ race and allow old cocks to be entered as well. This will give members the opportunity to enter a few old cocks as well, although they will be basketed separately to the young cocks, but all birds will be liberated together as is currently the case. The old cocks and hens will be competing in one race and there will only be one old bird national winner. Again, the committee have looked at ways to go forward and to meet the needs of the members and we feel that there is sufficient interest from members to get the opportunity to compete with old cocks alongside the old hens.

Continuing with the theme of increasing the opportunities to compete, the committee have reviewed the decision to only allow members to enter young birds carrying a current NFC issued ring in the Young Bird National. As a result a proposition strongly supported by the committee will be put out to members to vote on that allows a young bird carrying any ring recognised by the RPRA and issued in the year of the young bird race being competed in but with an additional fee of £3.00 on top of the entry fee. So hopefully the membership will get behind it and allow those members who do not buy NFC rings or like to buy in a draft of young birds every year to get back in the saddle and send to the young bird national.

The committee would like to pass on their thanks to the many people who give up their free time to help run the marking stations and clock stations throughout the season. In some cases, such as at Steventon where I mark, Jill Webber takes a days annual leave to help out at each race marking and this is just an example of many. So whether you are on the marking team or just give up 30 minutes of your time after your birds have gone through, the committee would like to say thank you for doing what is often a thankless job and I know that Dave Staddon, Pete Wells and Paul Naum would like to buy the teams that run their marking stations a drink at the National Flying Club Presentation. I know they are following the example set by Eammon Kelly so well done for leading from the front as always Mr  Kelly. This past season has also seen the establishment of as marking station in Kent that feeds in to Ash and the committee are pleased with how the members in the area are supporting this venture run by Steve Tilley and his group of hard working volunteers and it was a real delight to see a national winner coming out of the area this year. We can only hope that the support continues and we all need to remember that mighty oaks grow out of small acorns, so if you live in the Kent or South Essex area and are still not sure about competing in the national races next year might don’t you make that leap of faith.

For those of you still sitting on the fence about the presentation there may still be some tickets left so just phone Mick McGrevy. It’s truly a night to remember and you don’t need to be picking up a trophy to attend, and just to remind you it’s at The Palace Hotel in Torquay on Saturday 7th December. I mentioned in an earlier article that a few kind fanciers had said they would buy me a drink at the presentation but as I didn’t drink a monetary donation in lieu of a pint would be fine. That still stands but to make it easier to identify me I will be the Irish man in a black kilt who will be in the company of a Scotsman with a kilt- just make sure the right man gets the donation.

To wrap I have a few details of well placed birds from some of the national races this year. For a variety of reasons fanciers could not get me all the details in time so I will include these over the winter months as and when I receive them. First up we go back to the Messac race in June and the 2nd Section H pigeon for the Beech and Bond partnership, I have included the photo of (I think) Mr Beech holding  this fine Koopman/De Klak cross widowhood cock.

The smart set up of Beech and Bond, 2nd Section H Messac

Next we are a bit more recent, and it the old hens national result. Paul Baker secured 2nd section with a 2 year old dark pied hen flying to 12 day eggs. She is bred down from his old family based on the top distance lines of Geoff Hunt and Son, Bill Ishmael Kenyons and birds from the national winning lofts of Dave Delea. These have been selected over the years on performances in national and classic racing and the survivors have gone on to continue the family for Paul. She has already been to Tarbes this season so clearly had the fitness and experience to pull to the front, and was kept ticking over by regularly exercising with the young bird team.

Paul Baker's 2nd Section A old hens’ national

Finally, and sticking with the old hens race, I have the details of Chris Stevens hen to go with the photo that I managed to get in time for the original race report. The section winner is a yearling Busschaert bred down from birds gifted to Chris by Geoff Every from Nether Stowey when he came back in to the birds in 08 .The yearling hen was not raced with the old birds but had three training races with the Devon South road Fed during the young bird season from Salisbury, Lyndhurst and Bedhampton. Chris had a very good race, and got 9 on the day so thanks to the national for looking after the birds in all the races this year and thanks to his other half Sue White for her help throughout the year. Sue has won the section 6 times so Chris definitely has a bit of catching up to do yet.

Right, that’s it from me. Hopefully I will catch up with a few of you at the national presentation. Any news etc. to or 01926817796.

Drew Callan

PO National Flying Club.

NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan, Press Officer

April 2014

Last year's car winner Daniel Seedwell being presented with the keys for the car he won. This year the members will compete for a car in each of the first 2 races.

Afternoon all.  As I put these notes together the sun is at its zenith and I am sat on the beach in High Cliff, near Christchurch in The New Forest. I am looking out to sea and wondering how often my own birds pass within sight of here as they hit land on their way racing up country to my lofts in Warwickshire.  The past few days before going on holiday I marvelled at the sunshine hitting the lofts and the birds all buzzing in the way that only sunshine and warm weather can make them. We are now in to April and after a long, wet, poor excuse for a winter we are now at the sharp end of the pigeon year with domestic racing just having started for all clubs and federations and fanciers are starting to reap the rewards of a good moult, a good rest and excellent health. As always there will have been more losers than winners, but patience is the key and it’s a long season ahead and let’s hope that the elusive form comes when we need it most as it makes filling in a pool sheet more rewarding.

At my own lofts the birds have just been paired and will sit out a round of dummies before going on roundabout. This year I am trying very hard not to be bothered by the temptation of club racing and want to focus on channel racing at classic level and after having a strong word with myself 2 years ago I can look around the loft and see a lot of candidates for Tarbes from next year onwards, but as the late, great Billy Troughton, who was a top Irish national flyer, used to say the hardest part of national racing is getting the bird to the race pannier!!! On a personal level I am approaching it in a Buddhist sense with an emphasis on deferred gratification rather than immediate gratification. To help me with this I follow the philosophy and writings of  John Ghent, who writes with such passion about his focus on Barcelona and the single minded approach needed. I am now focused on national racing at the expense of domestic racing so let’s hope it pays off.

Okay, I have blown out the incense sticks and rolled up my meditation mat after drifting off topic for a bit so let’s crack on. All members of the NFC should now be in possession of the 2014 handbook. If you don’t have it and you think you have already paid your fees then get in contact with Sid or your Section delegate and we will get one to you, but there is no immediate panic needed as the racing is still a month away. You cannot help but notice that the handbook this year is different in its size and content. We have always prided ourselves on the high quality handbook that has been provided to all members free of charge, and I know that others have strived to equal it. This year we have started the process that will hopefully see us move away from a paper copy handbook to a completely electronic version over the next 2 or 3 years. We have now entered the era where we can enter our race candidates and then verify our birds online and we can even vote on proposals for the AGM, so it seems logical that we should complete the circle and have the handbook as an interactive electronic document. The immediate benefit of this will be a saving on the cost, as each book costs around £2.50 to post out and we send out 3700 of these. Now that is some saving and what the committee want to do is to feed these savings back in to the prize money and racing costs for the members. We will still have a paper copy available for members who do not have internet access or who are more comfortable with the non -electronic version, but the thinking is that members will have to indicate on the form when they renew their application that they would want a paper copy sent out. If you are happy with accessing the book electronically then you don’t need to indicate anything, in fact you will have probably paid your fees and ordered your rings online anyway. The current handbook is also lacking in the plethora of adverts that were in previous editions. This side of the handbook was always hard work and getting harder each year for the committee members who got involved in gathering the adverts. From this year we have gone back to basics and the handbook will contain what is needed to help the members compete in the race programme and very little else. Hopefully members will get on board quickly with this and we can reap the benefits from next season and continue to do so. I think that going electronic is the way forward and as the leading classic club we should be leading from the front.

Once again this season the members have the opportunity to compete for a range of additional prizes that are so generously supplied by our sponsors. Again this year we are lucky to have the good people from Meriden Animal Health supplying their excellent Orego Stim to the winners of 3rd and 4th in each section for all races. This is a top line product and can be found on the shelf of many top lofts and it wouldn’t be there if it didn’t work. An new addition this year is Premier Stud who have stepped up to the mark and have provided a £200 voucher for each section winner and over all race winner in the third race of the programme from Messac, this can be redeemed for a pigeon from the wide selection of quality stock that are housed and raced by Premier Stud. It seems fitting that the premier racing club in the country is associated with such a premier collection of bloodstock, so some members will be adding to their stock lofts courtesy of Graham, Derek and the team up in Yorkshire. I have no doubt the team at Premier will be delighted to advise and guide you in your selection at the end of the season.

On top of all this we have the chance to compete for a couple of cars this season… yes you read that right folks, we have the great good fortune to be joined again by the wonderful people from Hartwell Car dealership in providing this incredible opportunity. Last season we were able to offer members the opportunity to compete for a car in the Cholet national and Danny Seedwell took us up on this offer and for an additional 50p single bird nomination he walked away with the car and he proved that you didn’t have to win the race to win the car. This year Danny has the chance to do it again in the first race from Carentan, as do all other National Club members and arrangements are the same as last year in terms of a 50p increase in the birdage for this race making it £4.00 per bird. The good news is that if you are unlucky in winning the car nom out of Carentan then you have the chance to do it all again 2 weeks later when the National is at Cholet for the second race of the 2014 programme. Yes, you read correctly folks… 2 races, 2 weeks apart and incredibly 2 cars up for grabs. This is proper ground breaking stuff and it seems fitting that the National is the club that can offer this to its members. This would not be possible without the amazing sponsorship that Hartwell has offered and the hard work of one of its directors- namely Kevin Godfrey- who is himself a successful pigeon fancier and national member. So there you have it folks, some truly great prizes up for grabs and the chance to win two cars, ask yourself this who else could offer these opportunities to its members? So it’s up to you lot to get behind the committee again as you did last year and step up to the mark. Don’t make the mistake of leaving the car winner at home… fill those panniers.

Once again this year we are fortunate to have the food for the races sponsored and provided by Vanrobaeys. This is a company who are at the top of their game and the market leaders in quality pigeon corn. Testament to this is the condition that the birds maintained last year when on the transporter and without fail at each race members commented on condition that their birds showed on return. Make no mistake folks, your bird are in very safe hands when on the transporters and you can be assured that with the continued sponsorship from Vanrobaeys they will be receiving the finest pigeon corn to equip them for the task ahead when the strings are cut. The committee would like to pass on its thanks and gratitude to Vanrobaeys for their ongoing and very generous support.

Just a quick word on marking stations. Please check your handbook to make sure that your local station hasn’t moved or changed its opening times from last year. Also, keep the number for the centre I/C in your mobile in case you run in to trouble en route to the station and have to contact them.  Also please remember that the marking fee is now £2.00 per race and not the £1.00 that it has been for a lot of years previously.  And can I ask you to please get involved and help out the markers, if you can give up 30 minutes of your time then the birds will go through quicker and the line will move quicker as a result, and please remember that all stations work to a deadline that is designed to allow the transporters to be on a ferry on Thursday night and time and tide waits for no man so please don’t be that person who turns up each race marking with 10 minutes to go and then moans about being in a hurry. The truth is folks that if we don’t support our marking stations then we run the risk of losing them and none of us want that to happen.

Speaking of marking stations, it was good to see the new Kent marking station getting a national winner last year and it was just reward for the hard work of Steve Tilley and his team of helpers and grafters. Steve has been in touch to let me know that the marking station has had a change of premises and from 2014 it will be situated at  TheGranville Arms, 83 Maidstone road, Rochester, ME1 1RL, with the I/C remaining as Steve Tilley.

To build on the success of last year the team have secured some fantastic sponsorship for the races this year and the details of the  various  sponsors are as follows and are for 1st birds into Rochester marking station:

Granville Arms, Rochester, £100 in 3 prizes £50 ,£30, £20 on Carentan 24th  May.

A. Wise Roofing, Rochester, £100 as above. Cholet 7th June.

Stimulate Bird Food, Hartlip, £100 as above Messac 21st June.

Fairseat Garden Centre, Fairseat, £100 in vouchers to the value of £50, £20, £20, £10 to be redeemed at the garden centre Tarbes 4th July.

Bretts Trophy Centre, Gillingham, £100 in 3 prizes £50, £30, £20 on Saints 26th July.

D.L Clarke Builders Ltd, Molash, £100 as above Fougeres 6th  September.

Benecare Fostering Ltd, Sevenoaks, £500 jackpot prize for any member having 1st bird into marking station on 3 out of the 6 races

And now a little info on sponsors who have been so generous .

Granville Arms is a local pub with friendly staff and customers alike and 2 minutes walk down the road to Rochester castle and cathedral. We would like to thank the owner and manager for letting us have our marking station there.

A. Wise Roofing is a local tiling and flat roofing company run by former partner of Steve Tilley, and rumour has it he is the better looking one.
Stimulate Bird Foods is the Kent stockist of Versele Laga corn run by last year’s Messac winners Fagg and Nicholas.

Fairseat Garden Centre nr Wrotham has everything from plants to sheds and is run by Andrew Marney and the beautiful Lisa.

Bretts Trophy Centre is run by Adrian Carr of Maidstone. They supplied trophies for last year’s marking station winners.

D. L. Clarke Builders cover all aspects of building work and is run by Daniel Clarke of Herne Bay club.

Benecare Fostering are a local child care company who provide a safe and protective environment for children and young people aged 8-18 and is run by two local pigeon fanciers.

So it’s up to the fanciers in the Essex and Kent areas to get behind the team and build on last year’s successes, and you have an enviable set of prizes to fly for ladies and gentlemen.

The final thing from me, I will be in Ireland for a few days immediately after the first race from Carentan. This means that the race report will be later in being completed but please contact me by email with your details if you are in the top ten of the provisional result or in the top 2 of your section.

Good luck folks, the racing season has been a long time coming but it will be fleeting. Enjoy your time in the sun if you will have been lucky enough to get on the result, and I wish you all the very best in all the races you enter. You are members of the greatest racing club, you are members of The National Flying Club so do yourself and your birds proud and get competing… fill those panniers and put your trust in the race team that works tirelessly to give you premier racing.

As always I am at .

Drew Callan

NFC P.O

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