NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan, Press Officer

Old Bird Falaise National - September 2014

This year in conjunction with the young bird race The National Flying Club gave its members the opportunity to enter old cocks alongside old hens in the old bird national. The convoy was liberated as a whole with the young birds and old birds all up together with the young birds hopefully being able to draw on the prior experience of the old birds in the convoy when it came to facing the water. Like many fanciers I have long held the belief that the old hens’ race was just an opportunity to pull a few old hens out of their duties as widowhood hens, give them a few chucks with the young birds and drop them into the race basket. Last year I think I mentioned that I was impressed at the single minded focus, not to mention skill that was needed to hold old birds in feather and condition this long, and this year the result only goes to show how true this is. The lead birds clocked this year have, without exception, been earmarked for this race all season and most have been in race mode since April and that takes skill and decent birds.

With the conditions and wind on the day it was clear that the lead birds would be out to the west and this is where we found the winner, but a few game birds found and held a line that allowed the lofts on the western side of the Solent to stamp a bit of authority over the proceedings.

There cannot be many members who are hoping for an east wind in a channel race in September, but then there are probably not many members with the approach and mindset of the winner of the Old Birds national. The loft claiming the top spot of 1st Section C and 1st Open is a West Country legend and pigeon pin up the one and only Mike Staddon. Mike clocked a 6 year old hen now called Falaise Queen to clock up the 3rd National win of his career and although he has lost count of the exact number he believes that this is the 34th 1st Section C win that has dropped on to the loft.

Falaise Queen was raced on pure widowhood all the way through the old bird season from start to end and Mike had picked her out to be one of 16 8 cocks and 8 hens that he was going to keep ticking over and be prepared for the old bird national. As with the other hens, she was kept on her toes with 4 races in the Combine with the young birds and then sent on the nest to the race. In the end Mike selected what he thought were the best 10 of the initial 16 to the race and his wealth of experience and faith in the ability of his birds meant that they were sent with a quiet confidence that with a bit of luck, which Mike got with the east wind, the loft would have a good race. History now shows the strength of Mike’s convictions and confidence, when Falaise Queen swung round the loft 24 minutes ahead of the hoped for ETA. She was still full of fly and had used her wealth of channel experience and the pull of her first nest in quite a few months to get her nose to the front of the pack and keep it there. She is, as you can imagine, bred from the right stuff. Her father is bred by Chris Gordon of Snydale fame and her mother was bred by Mike’s good friend Sheldon Leonard.

To underline the confidence with which the team were basketed Mike had 3 others close up behind to finish very high up in the section, so his instinct was right. The birds are fed on a range of Versela Laga corn depending on the job being asked of them at any particular time. Mike is an advocate of natural health and resistance in the birds and supports this with the use of all natural products and supplements such as cider vinegar. These are purchased in the local supermarket as Mike feels they are of top quality as they are for human consumption and more importantly as there isn’t a picture of a pigeon on the bottle they are more realistically priced and still do the same job.

Mike would like to congratulate the winners in the sections in both races as each bird home had to work hard. He would also like to thank Trevor Cracknell and his team for the excellent job they did in very trying conditions; his birds were in excellent condition which helped them with the task that lay ahead of them. He would like to give special mention to his club mates and friends Brian and Christine Frost who are always willing to get the birds to marking for him and to the team at Frome marking who do an excellent job of putting the birds through.

Claiming runner up spot and topping their section we have J Atrill and Sons who notch up 1st Section B and 2nd Open. The partnership now consists of the two sons, Kenny and Martin who race a team of birds that they have moulded themselves from a range of good honest birds. Their winning pigeon is a 2010 Mealy hen. She was lightly raced as a young bird and won the club at Falaise this year during the old bird racing programme and also claimed 2nd Carentan in club so she knows her way across the water. Her grandmother is a Delbar bred by the Natural Breeding Station, and her grandfather is a Verhaagen brought by their late father Mr J Attrill as a stock bird and has bred many club winners and fed positions. Her mother was the brothers’ best racer in the loft as a young bird winning 1st club and 50th fed from Fourgeres out of 1,670 birds; she has also had wins from inland along the coast from Kingsdown and Exeter and good positions from France as a yearling. Unfortunately she was badly injured in France and is now retired from racing which might turn out to be a godsend. Her father was a red cock bred from a Dave Sherry hen and Martin Norman cock that the partnership bought in 2007.

Kenny and Martin Atrill doing their dad proud

Taking 3rd Open and 1st Section G we have Sheldon Horn. He would like to send his congratulations to Mike Staddon on winning the OB race, and said although no one likes a hold over the birds returned in good condition, allaying the fears of many fanciers.

I told Sheldon to include anything he wanted and he hasn’t let me down!! He would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people. He only flys with the National Flying Club and the Devon, Cornwall and West Somerset Continental Flying Club, a club which is growing from strength to strength with about 80 members. It was initially set up with National racing in mind and a big thank you must go to John and Sandy Westicott, his club secretaries for the fantastic job they have done. Secondly to Geoff Every who used to race pigeons and anyone in the south-west will know he was a first class pigeon man. Geoff gave up his time to clock Sheldon’s pigeons for this race as he had to work and is hoping he might get bitten by the pigeon bug again as he is missed in the sport. 

Sheldon and Rosie Horn

Sheldon flies just outside of Section D and this was a good race for the clock station with Paul Naum taking 1st section 6th open in the old birds and Dan Hockings taking 2nd section 12th open in the YB race - this is Dan’s second season and I’m sure he will win the NFC very soon. He says with stiff completion like this it only drives you on to keep trying harder and he is delighted to have won 1st Section G. The birds are initially flown to a sort of roundabout system, with no strict regime, allowing them to go together when they need more motivation and moved to a different loft for pairing as the season progresses to the longer races. Sheldon’s first bird was a hen called Quantock Daisy. She has flown consistently well this year. Trained in the club, her first National race being Messac and then Saintes where she timed in to be 157th open. She was home bred from a red cock from Mike Gore’s 1st and 4th NFC Vire which Sheldon purchased from him many years ago and they have produced some good results for the Horn loft including 1st  and 2nd  section D and  16th  open Saintes, crossed with a Red Hen from good friend Dave Woodland. Dave has some fantastic distance birds. The dam was from a hen gifted by Pete Clarke as an egg from his grandson of Nelly. Dave and Pete have not had their usual good seasons so it’s nice that they can put their names to this bird he says thanks guys.

Lastly a big thank you to Sheldon’s daughter Rosie, who not only helps out at the club young bird sale but also spent the day waiting in the garden and timed in his 1st bird from Tarbes. Rosie is pictured holding the now fittingly named Quantock Rosie. This is a Brugemann hen and worth a mention as she has flown in every national race this season and only been out of the top 500 once, her best results being 105th open Tarbes and 470th  open Saintes; she finished 252nd open from the same race last year. A super hen and once you can keep them past the yearling stage, he says they start to come in to their own.

Topping Section I is a loft that has made a habit out of claiming top prizes in these later old bird channel races, J D Fretwell. John clocked a stormer of a hen to win the section and to end up provisionally 4th Open as a bonus. The hen that came forJohn first from Falaise after the protracted holdover is a pure Marcel Sangers, bred from two direct Sangers pigeons.
She is definitely bred for what was asked of her, being a full sister to John’s red hen that was 1st Open BICC Guernsey in 2012, and this pair have been responsible for numerous winners at all 
levels for the loft over the years. The sire is a direct son of Flaming Red, out of a daughter of Apache, so he is a closely inbred back to Apache who was a top breeder in the Sangers loft. The dam of this pigeon is a daughter of Jumping Jack, Ace Pigeon in National Long Distance in 2005 when he was paired to a daughter of Frans Van Nistelrooy's Marianne. This hen will now go into the stock loft with her sister Simply Red the BICC winner. John would like to congratulate his fellow section winners in what was not the easiest of races, with many empty perches on the night.

John Fretwell

In 5th Open and taking bridesmaids spot with 2nd Section B we have the ultra successful loft of Mr and Mrs Waterhouse. In the past 2 years I have spoken to Dave with such regularity after the nationals that I am considering asking his to be godfather to my next child!! The biggest compliment you can pay this couple is that on race day there are a few big winning national lofts in the area who need to know the Waterhouse loft’s time before they can relax. On this occasion the first bird home for Dave and Lisa is a hen called Fontwell Lady who they purchased at the C S C F C last year in the breeder buyer. She was bred by the top loft of Crammond and Langstaff. Dave reckons it was the best £50 he has ever spent as she went on to be 3rd open 3rd section C S C F C Guernsey Y/B also winning £2000 breeder buyer so not a bad investment. Fontwell Lady has gained many positions club and National level in a very short racing career and now she has clocked up 2nd section and 5th Open Falaise. Dave was very happy to see her home as she had spent 5 days in the basket but came home in superb condition. She was sent sitting 10 day old babies which clearly kept her focused during her prolonged spell in the baskets. The partnership would like to thank all concerned in the National Flying Club for looking after the birds during their time on the lorry.

Dave Waterhouse holding Fontwell Lady

In 6th Open and topping section D we have Mr and Mrs Naum. Paul is one of the busiest men I know, balancing a full time job with being Treasurer of the NFC and more increasingly being used as Paul Hollywood’s stunt double for The Great British Bake Off. Despite all this he still finds time to compete in the nationals. Paul is the most national minded fancier I know and I am sure that if you cut him in half - and I would think there would be a few volunteers for that - you would see NFC running through him like a stick of rock. Originally from the glorious North West, Paul now lives in Somerset having moved there because he heard you got more for your money and to show the locals how to fly the channel. This year Paul has had his birds on a back to nature system with them spending a large part of their day on an open hole, with his usual focus being solely on competing in the National Flying Club. Paul is a big supporter of the Devon, Cornwall and West Somerset club which trains regularly off the south coast and the Isle of Wight in preparation for channel racing. He prepared a strong team for this race as he does every year, and this time he took advantage of being able to send cocks as well. Speaking to Paul soon after the race he was pleased with the condition that the returning birds carried, but like most of the other fanciers was looking to have a few more of his team back.

In 7th Open and 2nd Section I we have the well established national racing loft of Mr and Mrs J Passey who fly in to Appleby Magna on the Warwickshire/Derbyshire border. Unfortunately I was unable to contact them to gain any information on the bird.

Roy Guest

In 8th Open and 2nd Section G we have the loft of R Guest. Roy clocked a yearling chequer hen who was having her first ever first competitive race, so a real baptism of fire. She is a 2013 late bred bird rung last September with an old ring. She trained this year with young birds and the West of England South Road Combine to Littlehampton before being lifted in to Falaise, where she had to spend the extra time in the basket which she clearly handled very well despite her very real lack of experience. She was basketed on a two day old youngster, which kept her focused and made her eager to get home. She set a great pace and got to the front of the pack, and it resulted in Roy gaining the best result that he has had in the National. The hen is bred from descendants of birds gifted to Roy by Ted Lock of Nailsea, which Roy has tested and sorted in to a family that likes the channel on a hard day.

Martyn Yandell and his 9th Open hen

In 9th Open, and staying in section G where we have another loft taking advantage of the wind to be 3rd Section G, Martyn Yandell. Martyn only joined the national a couple of years ago as he liked the appeal of competing against the best in the country. This yearling hen was having her fourth trip over the water this year having already competed with NFC to Carentan and Messac, so there was no questioning her fitness or ability to fly the channel.

Martyn would like to thank his good friends Garth & Steve of the Wile & Lias partnership for the breeding of the bird being a Sivere Toye x Bosua. This result brought some much needed cheer to the Yandell household as only 48 hours earlier they lost their much loved Border Collie of 11 years Holly. She would always be Martyn’s side in the garden whilst waiting for the birds to return, no matter where they were racing from. Although there was much upset all the family take a big interest in the birds and were so happy to see Martyn get in the frame from this latest national and it has proved to be a tonic and something to celebrate.

Martyn would like to thank Stuart “The Hammer” Wilcox for getting the birds to marking and congratulations to all the winners in both races on the day. Also a very big well done to the convoying team as the convoyer had an extremely difficult set of circumstances to deal with and handled it admirably.

Mike Johnson

Topping out the provisional top 10 with 10th open and 3rd Section we have the lofts of M Johnson. Mike is one of those fanciers who likes to roll his sleeves up and get involved. He is currently the long standing Secretary of the Milton Homing Society and races South with the Solent Fed and North with the Southampton & District NR Fed. The little lady who brought the glory this time is a dark pied, and was bred by Steve Gilchrist, a fellow club member, out of Marcel Braakhuis birds bought in from J. Bulger, Liverpool. 

This year she has been an unraced widowhood hen throughout the OB season and was trained with the YBs with the National in mind. She has always been predominantly a widowhood hen and her racing has been irregular. She has raced from the East, West, North & South in her career being clocked from Saintes and Bergerac. This season prior to the NFC she was sent training in all the Solent Fed Young bird races up to Yelverton plus the Old Hens race from Guernsey with the CSCFC and raced on widowhood for this race. Despite the holdovers and all the driving about the hens sent by Mike took it in their stride and he had 6/6 returns on the day, and all returned in good condition.

In Mike’s view extending the OB season into September is a boon for a small team fancier such as himself and next season he will be hoping to enter Widowhood cocks as well as the hens and he is sure it will gain in popularity as fanciers start to plan for it. Let’s hope he is right.

Around The Sections

Section A

The honour of topping this section goes to A M and L Light.  Adam, the son of the partnership sent me the following information: ‘The pigeon we clocked was a 2009 bred Gaby Vandenabeele cross,  who has been a steady pigeon for us over the years, picking up the odd club and fed cards, but this is by far her most notable performance to date. The sire to the pigeon, bred by Peter Stubbs of Redhill, was brought in the excellent Horsham RPC breeder/ buyer sale in 2008, which continues to excel under the stewardship of club member Steve Vizor. The dam is a ¾ Gaby crossed with our old stock. The hen was sent to the race paired to another hen (who was also sent), and both were sent sitting a 12 day old YB. This hen along with her mate had Lyndhurst and Blandford at the start of the year, before being put away for the rest of the OB season, and then along with the other 16 sent from another section were then sent to Blandford and Kingsdown with the South Coast Federation in the YB season, prior to going to Guernsey in the BICC and then Truro with the Fed all on consecutive weeks. Unfortunately due to being at work I missed the race, but my father who plays an active part in the operation and is usually known as the “loft manager”, was present to sort out all the necessaries, for which as always I am very grateful for. I am advised that they looked tired upon arrival, but generally they looked fine by the time of my arrival in the evening and considering the extended time that they had in the basket, I was happy with their condition, which I think is testament to the facilities available and the efforts of the guys on site.’

The Section A topper for the Light partnership

2nd Section goes to the Chichester lofts of Louis Severe. Louis clocked a 2 year old grizzle hen that he bought at the CSCFC sale, and she was bred by the shy and retiring Tony Cowan. Louis races all his birds on the celibate system and doesn’t keep a very large team by most people’s standards. The hen has been described by Louis as being a steady, consistent bird who doesn’t have the head or temperament for sprinting, but will get herself nearer to the front on the slower races. On the day of the national she was in her element as the east in the wind ensured it was a real working day so she responded accordingly. This is where the luck comes into it as if the wind had been southerly and therefore dictated a faster race the hen may not have pulled off the result  that she did.

Section C

Runner up in Section C is the consistent national loft of Spracklen and Thomas. Unfortunately I was unable to contact them in time to get information for the report. The team have moulded together a very reliable team of birds to compete at national level right through to Tarbes and in recent years. Nev has added the best of the best from Mark Gilbert to improve on what he has.

Neville with 2 of his apprentices

Section D

Runner up is the Honiton loft of BP Reene and Son. I have been unable to contact them in time to be included in the report.

The Kulpa Boys

Section E

Top dogs in the mighty Section E this week is the Reading partnership of S and P Kulpa. Steve and Paul fly a consistently good pigeon at all levels and it is their ability to race hens very well that has always caught my eye. Once again in this race it is a top class, highly experienced 5 year old hen who has earned them the bragging rights. The little lady in question known as ‘70’ is already a double inland winner plus scorer of regular positions in the federation result. She has also scored well in the CSCFC, she won 5th section 16th Open classic 2 weeks ago beaten by 4 loft mates, she was also 9th section 11th open classic as well, so she is obviously a bit classy and the quality of pigeon that you need to be sending to represent you at national level. She is bred from their long established old lines of Meulemans via Ponderosa UK stud crossed with De Hough pigeons from Holland. Her full brothers and sisters have won multiple 1st prizes and scored well up to 450 miles for the partnership. At these lofts birds are fed VerseLaga corn and Aviform products are added to the water to help maintain health and vitality amongst the birds.

As with all the hens that the lads entered, they started racing in April and apart from 1 weekend they have raced every week. At the end of old bird racing, the hens are given one 30 mile training toss a week, and all other exercise is around the loft where they will fly for 45 minutes morning and evening. ‘70’ along with all out entries returned in excellent condition despite her time in the basket, so Steve and Paul would  like to say thanks to the convoyers for looking after the birds so well.

Taking the Bridesmaid’s position of 2nd Section E we have the partnership of Mr and Mrs Chaplin. The winning bird is a 2 year hen and she has earned her keep by having spent the O/B season as a widow hen. She  was having her 3rd race of the season after being paired up at the end of the O/B season and was then prepared by the partnership to compete in the series of old hen nationals and classics that are now available to fanciers. She is a Burgher/Van Loon and was one of a team of 9 that were entered, with all them having returned on the day and  all were in good condition after spending 5 days in the basket. 

Only 18 widow hens are kept for the cocks and they are kept on semi darkness and only fed barley till the end of the O/B season when they are paired and expected to compete in all 4 National channel races.

Mr and Mrs Chaplin

Section F

Taking top honours we have the Oxford loft of Leon Hall. In the corresponding race last year Leon had the birds on song and this resulted in a cavalry charge of early birds in both the old hens and young bird nationals. This year he returns to the top of the heap with another fine performance with a hen that Leon’s grandchildren have now called ‘Three Times a Lady’ as the loft has won the section in the old bird national for the past three years. The section topper and the 2 birds close behind are all Eric Ceulemans, all bred down from the Fed Cock, bred and raced by Mr N Sibley of Boston Lincs. The Fed Cock was the winner of 38 1st prizes, winner of 10 1st Feds plus RPRA Sprint Champ East Midlands in 2008, North Road.

Leon sent his birds feeding young birds for the 1st time this year, so they were very keen. The Ceulemans have been very good servants for the loft and excel at middle distance national racing, as can be seen from the fact that the loft has won the section 3 years on the trot with their old hens, plus other positions in the national races.

Team Hall Leon with his grandchildren and loft helpers

Second Section F goes to B Chupka, but unfortunately I have been unable to get any information in time for the report to be sent off.

Roger holding Little Sarah with Little Sarah

Section H

The fanciers in Section H had it all to do for this race with no favours being given by the wind. Claiming a hard fought 1st Section this week we have the loft of R Strowger. This little chequer hen, that Roger has now named ‘Little Sarah’ after the granddaughter of a friend, was purchased at the Norfolk and Suffolk Championship club fund raising night in 2011. It was donated by Colin Smith of Ipswich which was bred down from some of his national winning bloodlines. She has been a very consistent pigeon considering she is a widowhood hen during the early part of the year and then being trained with the young birds. As a young bird she was 6th club. 13th ACFC Portsmouth, 1st section, 51st open, 1st federation Guernsey 261 miles BICC. She then went back to Fougeres with the NFC, 294 miles a week later but took 3 weeks to work with her keel smashed up. As a yearling she went to Guernsey with the BICC winning 2nd section 31st open 6th NSCC. This year she was 1st Norfolk and Suffolk championship club Woking. She went back to  Guernsey with the BICC winning  1st  section, 8th  open. Then she went to Falaise with the NFC being in the basket for 5 nights a racing into a head wind north easterly winning 1st section, 54th open. She has been a busy little lady chalking up a set of impressive performances.

John Black 

Runner up, taking 2nd Section H and following on from his impressive result in the young bird national is John Black. The hen that John got from Falaise national was a blue/pied hen bred by Johnny Chipperfield of Herne bay in Kent. Both her parents were purchased from Alan Darragh of North Ireland, so she should be no stranger to hard channel racing. She didn’t have the greatest of starts to her racing career and was lost as a baby early in the season but came back towards the end. She then had three training spins and rested for the winter. This year she was left with the young birds trained with them she had four training races then across the water for the first time turning up trumps with 2nd section. She has shown what can happen if you have faith in a bird and invest some time and patience in them like John did. 

Section J

In a race like this skill, experience and time served in the trade are all of benefit, and this is definitely the case with the 1st Section J winners, Mr and Mrs Kirkland. The hen that the partnership timed in the Old bird National is a mealy 2 year old Ceulemans hen. This young girl has a bit of form and class as last year as a yearling she won 2nd section in the same race, but has gained from the experience and this year in a more trying race she went one better for pole position. She has been a very good hen right from a young bird for the Kirkland loft and has also been to Saintes this year 511 miles prior to being set up for the last national of the programme.

Barbara Kirkland holding 1st Section J

Taking the runner up spot is the Tewekesbury loft of Booth and Roper. These gentlemen are having the season of their lives, and have been in the mix in a string of national races this year. They have always been a consistent channel loft chalking up a string of performances to their lofts located on the edge of the Cotswolds, but as I said to Mr Booth when speaking to him they have really stuck their heads above the parapet over the last few seasons. The partnership sent two birds to the race and timed both within 5 minutes to take provisionally 2nd and 3rd  J section and 16th  and 21st  open. The 1st bird is a blue chequer yearling hen from the Brian Sheppard lines crossed with a Jan Aarden from LPW. She was sitting eggs but was then given a ten day old youngster on the Wednesday, the day before marking. The 2nd bird is a 5 y.o. Blue chequer hen who is bred from a Pouw Bros cock and their French hen. She raced to a youngster. Both these hens have flown with the BICC and the NFC in the last few weeks. Trevor and John would like to thank Ray, Eric and Chris and all the helpers at the Alveley marking station. Also thanks to their friends Lionel Brewer and Bill Lewis (Mr Tarbes) for helping out by taking their birds to Alveley. The partnership has enjoyed a very good season flying with the NFC.

Booth and Roper, having a top season

Driver, Dawson and Dawson 1st Section, 11th Open Falaise

Section K

Topping this far flying section and producing what I personally think is the result of the race we have the lofts of Driver, Dawson and Dawson. These gentlemen topped the section and finished just outside the top 10 on a day when they shouldn’t have been in with a sniff of a prize. Having spoken to Robert the youngest and better looking member of the partnership I was struck with the zeal and focus that he had for distance racing in to the north east without any drag for company, this is what he had to say about the performance: “We first joined the NFC with the Sportsman in 2012, and the first race we ever flew was the old hens’ race. We sent 5 hens that year, and we clocked a half decent pigeon to put us 15 sec K and 79th open in a testing race you could say. After that, in 2013 we had a go at the first three NFC races. We then missed the 2 long races before setting a team of hens up for the old hens’ race. We started with 15 hens but because of the moult we found we could only send 12 however it was a good race as we clocked 3 hens in 2mins 41 seconds, the first being 11th sec K and 37th open and  the other 2 hens had been in the top 50 of the open. The birds made good velocities that day with good returns. Moving on into the 2014 season we again tried our luck in the first three races before missing the 2 longest races. Next, as we had the year before, we started to set a team of hens up for the last national race. We had a team of 20 hens to start with but only 15 made the cut for the race as the moult had caught up to them again. We always try and have the hens sitting 10 to 14 days for this race as I think it helps to delay the moult. Leading up to the race these hens received 3 x 90 mile trainers from Pontefract, a couple of 40 milers and on the Sunday before being marked for the race I gave them a 20 miler then left them to sit quiet. On the Thursday morning “4.30am” in the morning, with a headlamp on, down the allotment picking the hens off the nest, I noticed that a couple of hens had chipped, the hen that came was  one of those hens. We ended up sending 14 hens to the race as I missed one and she was left sitting. The drive down was good, and marking well ran with the birds marked. Breakfast had, it was time to drive the 2hrs back home with fingers crossed for a good race. After the long hold over and a late lib into a N.E wind I expected a 10 hour fly up to Newcastle. With it getting dark at 8.00pm, it did not give the birds a big window to home. Following the NFC web site watching the times as the birds made their way up the country I knew it was going to be a tough race and a bird to us before 7.15pm would be a good time.  Racing hard, straight south at 7.05pm she appeared once around and in. After verifying the hen and learning we were standing to top section k on a hard N.E wind on a day we should not have been at the races was unbelievable. The hen now named Terry after Terry Jobes of Doncaster who bred her, is of the Casaert x Thas strain through the Frank Bristow lines. The hen has always been a trier picking up cards as a YB, winning as a yearling, then topping section k as a 2year old. I could of named the hen The charity hen as Terry would not take any money for the YBs he reared for me so I made a donation to the charity his wife Hillary runs which enables sick children and their families to take holidays. I would like to  say a big well done to the  convoyer as the birds returned in good condition, and to the members of the Sportsman, the best well ran club in the north east, see you all on the 22nd  of  October. Drinks are on my 2 partners!”

The history making hen, 1st Section K, 11th open NFC old bird Falaise

Claiming 2nd Section we have the lofts of Newton and Down who fly in to the Doncaster area. Despite leaving a message on the land line I have not received any information at the time of doing the report.

Mr and Mrs Howman, 1st Section J

Section L

Taking the top dog tag for the Falaise race we have the top loft of Mr and Mrs Howman. The hen that came for them from Falaise was a 4 year old who has predominantly raced in the old hens’ national races and was always a solid performer. This year she was raced on double widowhood through the old bird season and was paired and sitting 12 days when she was basketed for the race. They told me: ‘The sire is bred from one of our very best breeding hens, "Black Gold" the 2006 winner of the South West one loft race. The dam is our "Lucky 13" Hen who has performed superbly from the Old hens’ nationals with 2nd, 10th, 26th, and 31st Open to her name and was bred from Bubbles the 2006 Europa one loft race winner. The section winning hen now named "Faith" was 4th section 23rd Open MNFC Vire in July this year and has shown she is capable of big results in top company.’ The partnership are looking forward to testing her offspring when she is put to stock in 2015.

Runner up is the loft of Derek Jones from Wrexham. I had not received any information from Derek in time to include in the report.

Young Bird National catch up

I had not received any information from a few of the fanciers who had been successful in the young bird Falaise race in time for inclusion in the race report. I am pleased to say that I now have this information.

Grizzle hen, 1st Section K Young Bird Falaise

1st Section K, 9th Open Eric Higginbottom

Eric had for many years carved a name for himself racing into Sandhurst in Berkshire, and is a previous national winner from Saintes. After the death of his wife 3 years ago he relocated back to the Sheffield area where he had been born. A bungalow was purchased near to where his niece lives and Eric started to put together a team to compete in national competition.

The Section K winner is a Grizzle hen, now named Miss Sensational. She is bred from 100% Peter Fox Syndicate Lofts pigeons, sire being a half brother to Erics 2010 Saintes National winner. His sire is from Blue Diamond and Blue Spirit Vandenabeele. On his dam’s side is Majestic & Fantastique. The section winner's dam's sire is Waalre and her dam is the Diego hen, two of Peter's top distance stock. She was trained privately with the rest of Eric’s young bird team, all of which had been on the dark system, then given four training races with his local Club, the last one being from Portsmouth one week before the national. Now it was up to the birds and after five days in the panniers his confidence of getting an early one was starting to ebb, then bang, out of the South she came racing, raced round the loft for three minutes before pitching on the landing board. Joe McKeon who came all the way from Great Yarmouth to watch the race and Eric could not believe the fantastic condition she was in. She could have raced another hundred miles, so Eric would like to say well done the convoying lads.

2nd Section F  J and P Parker, Reading

This is what James had to say about their latest performer:

‘Firstly I would like to congratulate the open winners and Eamon Kelly the section winner. The sire of the youngster is Iron Man, a son from Primus Blauwe Prins the De Rauw Sablon cock we purchased from the Pros Roosen entire clearance sale. He was the no 1 son in the sale off Blauwe Prins who went on to sell for approx. 156,000 euro. Blauwe Prins was a brother to Den Dromer of Gerard Koopman. Primus Blauwe Prins won for Pros Roosen before we bought him but even better was his breeding capabilities. There was only ever 1 son raced from him and this was Northern Rock who had a 1st federation approx. 3000 birds and a 4th  federation approx. 2800 birds, these before he went on to win The NEHU Futurity Race from  235miles, winning over £5,000. Dam of Iron Man was Golden Ali, dam to a multitude of big winners. She was a direct dtr to Arien  Verreckts Golden Pair who are  responsible for over 40x1st provincial winners and at least 5 national winners . Dam of the youngster is a dtr of our no 1 stock cock the Machine who was the UK record priced pigeon when we bought him in 2011. He was raced by Marshall, sons and Smith and had a 4th and 6th Up North Combine out of Bourges - 585 miles. He is a De Rauw Sablon x Brockamp. The Machine was paired to a dtr of George, sire of Euro Diamond, the no 1 pigeon for Dr Brockamp.’

It is clear that the hen was bred for the job, and with the quality of performance stock that Pete and James have amassed, combined with their ability to race a good bird I think the team are in for an interesting time in the coming years.

2nd Section E 11th Open

It is good to see the name of Mr and Mrs K Hine appearing again on the result of The National Flying Club. The baton has been passed on to the next two generations who are doing their father and grandfather proud. The first bird was a blue cheq hen, which was raced on the sliding door system. She is out of a cock which is same way bred as the loft’s 4th open BICC Guernsey young bird national last year, which is Ceusters lines and the hen is a Huybrechts and is a daughter of Peter Sabba’s top hen Briggette. All of the loft’s winning sprint lines have come from Peter Sabba this year, with Peter having loaned them some top quality birds this year. Thanks Peter, they say. This hen has raced every race in the young bird programme and trained from any point on the compass. Feeding is Versele Lag Junior Plus with grit and minerals as and when required. The team would like to pass on their congratulations to the winner and Roger Lowe - known as Princess in certain quarters - for yet another 1st section. 

Eric Churches holding 2nd Open Y/B Falaise

1st Section I Y/B Falaise for Lourens Londt

And so we put another season to bed, and hopefully look ahead to the various shows and events that mark the social side of our sport. Just as the birds are sat going through a good moult and having a well earned rest, so too should we fanciers be stepping back from the pressures and strains - many self imposed - of the racing season. Remind yourself what your family looks like and why you fell in love with your wife in the first place - they put up with a lot from us. Personally speaking I am looking forward to visiting a couple of lofts, and to seeing the birds emerging out from the moult with a new coat of feathers and looking like champions. We will soon be in to the silly season where birds at auctions go for silly money because they come with laminated pedigrees peppered with the next must have families, whilst genuine clearance sales of experienced and successful fanciers often go almost unnoticed and poorly supported.

To finish, I would like to thank all those people who have helped me to report on the various races this year, by being prompt with emailing details (you are getting better) or with helping me to track down fanciers who may have changed contact details. You all make the job so much less stressful. To the fanciers themselves I doff my cap at you for the lengths you go to compete successfully at the highest level in the best club in the country. I would like to thank especially those few fanciers who have been in the shower or the bath when I have called and have put up with the inconvenience, and finally to the fancier who was, in his own words ‘having a tickle on the missus’ when I rang and understandably arranged to ring me back.

Enjoy the off season folks and buy wisely or if you are my mate Dave, make sure you give the rings to a top winning loft next year.

. Telephone 01926 817796.

Dew Callan

NFC PO

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NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan, Press Officer

2014 Presentation

Trevor Hazell, Tarbes Blue Riband winner.

I start this article off the back of three nights of hard frost with the thermostat in my car showing minus 5 when I was leaving for work. The birds seem to relish these conditions and a drop in temperature tends to see them tighten up in feather and start shining in their new set of feathers.  It is that time of year again when I see the birds at either end of the day in the dark with a head torch and all the while that we have no snow and ice it’s not too much of a hardship but when I forget to take out the drinkers and I get caught out with a cold snap that freezes the drinkers morning become less fun. I know of some fanciers who will have paired up or will be doing so over the next few weeks. Good luck to them and I hope they have  a good lay out and hatch. I am not looking to pair up any time before early February and that’s one of the aspects of our sport, it’s very much a personal choice as you are the management committee and you make the decisions for your own loft.

Just a few bits of housekeeping whilst I remember. Firstly, with regards to the handbook, this time last year the committee was looking at the future of the handbook and specifically the content and access. We realised that  considerable savings could be made by moving away from the glossy, high quality product that we had been sending out to the membership, especially in the cost of postage. To achieve this we looked at promoting the handbook as an electronic document that could be downloaded from our website and quite a few members had taken advantage of this. At the October meeting it was apparent that a quite a few of the membership were concerned about the rapid transition we were planning and so we have listened to the members and for the 2015 season we will continue to send out a handbook to all members with all the information needed to allow them to race next season.

Secondly, the Blue Riband race from Tarbes has been moved from its traditional and long standing place in the race calendar. When it would have been pencilled in to be on the weekend nearest the longest day to allow the birds to make the most of the daylight as they travelled home, it is now moved to the last slot in the programme and has been swapped with Saintes. In the two years I have been Press Officer I have never witnessed a decision from the committee that has polarised fanciers so much. Of the many phone calls and conversations I have had over this the majority have been on the side of keeping the race where it has been. There is some confusion as to why the race was moved and some fanciers have pointed out that there is only 23 minutes difference in the available daylight so there shouldn’t really be too much of a difference in terms of giving further flying birds a real punt at doing something magical on the winning day. Some fanciers are concerned that we might not get to see repeats of the feats achieved by the likes of Chris Gordon, the Shackletons, the Winters, the Bush brothers , Alwyn Hill, and not forgetting the performance out of Tarbes this year by the Fussey loft  tucked away up in Bridlington. There was also concern about holding the condition of the birds for an additional 3 weeks and wrapped up in this was conversations with several dyed in the wool long distance lofts who revolve their lofts around the Tarbes race and who regularly fill the clock. This included talk of the rhythm of the loft amongst others, and an acceptance that it wasn’t just a case of pairing up a bit later to hold the wing. We will have to suck it and see with this one folks, I am sure the lofts looking at sending a team will already have started the planning, and I hope to see your names on the result.

Finally, we have a new trophy to fly for from this coming season onwards. Mark Gilbert has very kindly donated a top quality trophy to be presented to the bird with the highest winning velocity over the first 5 old bird races including Tarbes. To win it the bird needs to be on the result sheet in each of the 5 races, a mammoth task and not one for the fainthearted but what a trophy to have your name on. So from next year members will have something else to aim for and to try and win. Good luck, only the best will be left standing at the end of the programme to go forward for this trophy.

The last weekend in November saw the bold and the brave gather in God’s own country for the annual prize presentation evening. This year members descended on Harrogate and stayed in the comfort of The Majestic Hotel, perched high above the town overlooking the splendour and elegance of the Spa town. The weather was again kind to us and it stayed dry and mild over the weekend. I am not sure whether it was a case of God shining on the righteous or the devil looking after his own!! This year I opted to leave the kilt at home on the advice of our chairman as he felt that particular corner of Yorkshire wasn’t the safest for a man in a skirt, and also our president was worried that people might have mistaken me for Kelly Malone after they had had a drink or two. So in the end I bowed to their collective age and wisdom and to be honest I don’t think my enjoyment was hampered by it, although I can’t speak for others.

Once again, the array of silverware on display was breathtaking and had been beautifully prepared and laid out by Jolliffes, who do a magnificent job each year.  The main guests of honour were Mr and Mrs Farrow who are in charge of The Royal Lofts and Mr Chris Sutton, who had a rightful place at the top table as recognition of the sterling job he does photographing the various national winners throughout the year. They were joined on the top table by a variety of committee members and post holders and their wives. Before the presentation got underway there were several speeches and during these there was a real spark in the air and no one was left in any doubt of the passion felt for the sport and what it meant to be a competitor in The National Flying Club.  The last time I saw grown men this close to tears was on my wedding night, but that’s a story for another time, perhaps next year at the presentation in Telford.

Right folks, that is all from me for now. I would just like to thank the people on my table for their company on the night. They were all a pleasure to be with and made for a very enjoyable few hours. I have lined up a few loft visits over the winter so I will report back on those.

As always, or 01926 817796

Drew Callan

NFC PO

The illustrious Andy Parsons winner of the coveted Oliver Dix and Langstone Gold Cup.

O’Hare and Woodward collecting the coveted Lancashire Rose Trophy - a fine swansong.

Gerry Clements collecting Section L Bird of The Year Trophy. My dad taught him all he knows!

Max Hawthorn, Section I, who had a phenomenal race from Tarbes.

John and Dave Staddon who collected another fine haul of trophies.

Dave Fussey, who recorded the furthest flying Tarbes bird in race time - 751 miles 1693 yards.

Mr and Mrs Waterhouse, winners of the Saintes National.

Mike Whitcombe, Young Bird national winner.

The highly successful Ron and Nigel Dennett, winners of a very fast Carentan National.

G and S Treharne, flying the Welsh flag with top section J positions.

Rob Rome collecting The T Clarke Memorial Averages Trophy

Eddie Froggett still completing at the top after 60 years

Fagg and Nicholas

Cosmin Talas, a rapidly rising star in the NFC.

The Chambers family a well kept Midlands distance secret

3 section winners in the Old Bird National - Paul Naum, Geoff Kirkland and Driver, Dawson and Dawson.

Andy smith, a top national performer and Tarbes Section winner in Section H.

Mark Gilbert reaping the rewards of his hard work

Mr and Mrs Titcombe, Cholet National winners.

Andy Mabin

The man who brought it all together NFC Secretary Mr Sid Barkel

The brains behind the brawn, the wives of the Committee members.

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NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan, Press Officer

October 2014

Morning folks. I am just in from the lofts where I have been emptying the lettuce boxes of all the feathers that have gathered in the corners this week. I saw this a few years ago in Verhallen’s loft in Belgium; he had them upside down in corridors and they were excellent feather traps, so I brought the idea home with me. There are fewer feathers to empty this week, but they aren’t in short supply just yet as I remember reading somewhere that a pigeon has approx. 13,000 feathers and each of these gets renewed. Looking at the birds in the aviaries they are sparkling, with the racers being a bit ahead of the stock birds in terms of where they are in the moult. This year I kept my young bird team natural and they are just pushing up their last couple of flights and I need to remind myself that a few of the new crop of yearlings are flattering to deceive. They all look like champions at this time of year with their new suits on, especially with the sun on their backs.

We are now caught in between that time of the season when we are looking over our shoulders at the season just gone and looking forward to the new season. Some of us will be looking to invest in new stock or knocking a few holes in the loft as alterations. It is also the time to be thinking about what your aims and ambitions are for next year, and to consider if you and the birds are up to the task. Personally, I hope that more fanciers step up to the challenge of national racing as I think that it offers the greatest reward in pigeon racing. I would really like to see more participation from existing members, and I don’t mean members finding another couple of birds to enter alongside those already earmarked. I will never understand why someone joins a club and doesn’t compete, but in each race the national and classic clubs will only have around 50% of members competing. If you are one of the fanciers who fall into this group then make 2015 the year you compete. I can assure you that the buzz of clocking from a national is electric and highly addictive. You might just surprise yourself and you could be looking at a section winner in your loft that you didn’t really know you had. Get involved!!!

Last year the National Flying club teamed up with Hartwells Car Dealership to offer its members the opportunity to compete for a brand new car. We chose to allow each member a single nomination to go some way to levelling the playing field a bit. The car was won by Danny Seedwell who competes in Section E. This year we built on our relationship with Hartwells and together we went one better and offered the members two opportunities to compete for a car in two different races. From the off, we had fanciers - many of them not even members of The National Flying - saying the cars would be won on or near to the south coast and that fanciers north of the Chilterns didn’t have a chance. Well, history now shows that nobody bothered to tell fanciers or birds in the further flying ends of the club’s radius and as a result the two Hartwell cars were won by lofts that relied on years of experience and skill rather than luck  to bring home the prize. The first car was won by the Section K partnership of Pearson and Dransfield with the hen that won the section for them last year, so was no slouch and clearly fancied by Frank to carry the nomination. The second car was also claimed by giants in the sport, Mr and Mrs Kirkland who fly into the top corner of Section J. Geoff and Barbara took delivery of their new car on Thursday. It was left to the capable hands of Committee member Roger Sutton to do the lovely task of handing over the keys on behalf of The National Flying and Hartwells. Well done Geoff and Barbara, and it shows that the car can be won anywhere within the club so let’s hope that fanciers grab the chance to compete for a car next year.

Geoff and Barbara receiving the new Hartwell car from Roger Sutton

2014 section round up

After the original races from Falaise I was unable to get information from a few fanciers in time for the reports to go to press. Since then some fanciers have been in touch with details, which I will include below.

First up we have the well established long distance national lofts of Chris Gordon. The pigeon to score 2nd Section K 22nd open and 1st North East 700 mile club is a chequer pied hen. She is most definitely bred for the job of flying 335 miles, being a granddaughter of Snydale Express, the National Flying Club Tarbes winner at 725 miles. Chris sent 20 young birds to this race and got 10 back but acknowledges that all the channel racing has been difficult this year and this race was no different from the rest. She was raced on mainly Frazers (of Banbridge Northern Ireland) Champion Supreme mix then peanuts for the last few days. The young bird team are not trained after the first race and they are flown on the darkness system (which Chris don’t like, it is getting too far from nature). They are put on the darkness in mid April and taken off on the 6th of July. The oldest youngsters are three and a half months old when they go on the system and the hope is that by this time they can get a better understanding of the world around them (at least that’s the theory Chris works off). Chris would like to thank The National Flying Club’s race controllers for making a good decision under very difficult circumstances. 

2nd Section K and 22nd Open at 335 miles for Chris Gordon 

Taking 2nd Section L in the old bird Falaise race we have the partnership of Newton and Down, consisting of Mr and Mrs R Newton and Heather Down. The partnership clocked a Vandenabeele hen bred from two birds purchased off Alun Jones who is the proprietor of Red Star Lofts in North Wales. She was flown as a widowhood hen to keep her fitness levels up and in the run up to the race she was left with her cock for 2 days before basketing and this clearly gave her something to think about during the prolonged stay in the basket.

Heather Down holding 2nd Section K O/B Falaise 

Team Naum with the section D winner and Tommasina the duck

The winner of 2nd Section D was Brian Reene and Son. I initially had problems contacting Brian but we finally caught up and this is what Brian had to say about the race:  ‘First of all I would like to congratulate Mike Staddon for winning top spot 1st Open and all section winners, also Sheldon Horne 4th Open, Dan Hockings 12th open Y/Bs and Paul Naum for winning 1st section D 7th Open. We are all good mates as we all fly in the same club, Devon, Cornwall & West Somerset C.F.C. My 2nd section winner is a cheq pied hen, a small compact little hen that was 1st of 4 birds that I sent. All 4 were clocked to win 2nd 4th 10th 12th Section D, and my single entry Y/B homed the next day. So a good day at the office! All down to the care and attention the birds received on their journey and more importantly during the holdover.

My 1st bird is from a blue pied Busschaert cock called ‘The Bogie Man’, a fantastic racer for me. 1st bird to the loft in 7 National races with the NFC winning top 1% section positions (according to Paul O’Leary’s stats). He was 28th Open 9,434 birds, 176th Open 8,769 birds, 388th Open 7,476, 206th Open 9,686 etc. He was put to stock when he came home with 2 broken legs then his ring had to be removed. He was paired to a cheq pied hen from a full brother to Den Dromer when paired to a full sister of Dromer, an original Den Rauw-Sablon. Den Dromer was the most expensive bird of the sale of Den Rauw-Sablon. This hen was bred by Marc de Cock and was on loan to me from ‘Navigator Lofts’, a top West Country breeding and racing stud owned by Steve White. He is the best race controller I know. When Andy Hodge, 1st section 9th Open Y/Bs can say, ‘only lost just one Y/B in the last 2 years’ racing,’ maybe the NFC might think about putting Steve on their short list of race controllers? Finally to Paul Naum who wears the crown this year, ‘keep it clean mate, I’ll have it next time!’

Brian holding his 2nd Section D hen 

I had an email from John Clements who is well known for his love of distance racing up to International level. John drew my attention to a couple of pigeons who are just one good performance away from the much coveted and hard earned Certificate of Merit. John has one such bird; his pigeon was 5th Sect L 137th Open 2013 and 3rd Section L 97th Open 2014 and if it gets another performance of this nature it will qualify for the award. What I didn’t know as well about John’s performances was that he has, for the last two years, won the Greater Distance Single bird nomination NFC Tarbes. He is the only person to have secured this Tarbes award twice - the only other was the very talented Ron Ball of Northchurch who won  once from Tarbes and once  from Bordeaux in 2006 and 2011. We don’t think there has been another GDSBN flying over 700 miles. 

Right folks, that’s it from me. I have a few lofts in my sights over the winter months and there will be a very special article in the BHW Stud Book. Take care and enjoy a good moult.

As always, I am at or 01926817796.

Drew Callan,

NFC PO

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NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan

Press Officer

Hassall and Williams a well kept secret.

Last year Mark Gilbert presented a new trophy to the committee of The National Flying Club that was to be presented to the bird with the best combined average velocity across all the old bird races in the national race programme. This trophy was to be called The Mark Gilbert International Trophy and one thing was for sure, any member who got their name on the trophy would be rightly proud as this would be no mean feat as it required a bird to ‘compete’ in all the national races and not just home. Bear in mind it was for the highest combined velocity of a single bird and not the loft, and for this the bird had to at the top of their game across a whole season and also had to avoid the pitfalls that a bird faces racing home from any distance. Speculation was rife about where it would be won, and as was to be expected a few well know household names were having their names thrown in to the hat and there was even a few rumblings of whether it would be won and if so would it be with a respectable velocity. Well, as it turns out the trophy was won in its inaugural year, proof that it can be done - but there were only 4 birds left standing when the dust of the 2015 season settled and each of these 4 birds deserves a medal. The bird that came top of the heap and who will give their owners the pleasure of being the first names on The Mark Gilbert International Trophy belongs to the Section J lofts of Jean Williams and Bill Hassall. The partnership has been in the pigeon game an awful long time, starting up 25 + years ago after they got together as a couple. As often happens in situations like this, the result in question comes off the back of a high level of consistency at a chosen level of competition - be that at federation or national level. This is the case with Jean and Bill, they have been competing at the top end of the table at federation level right along the line for all of the time they have been racing together and have dipped their toes in to national competition occasionally along the way with affair level of success. The latest bird to bring success to the loft and lift the new trophy is a tidy, cobby little 2 year old blue cock now named ‘James the First’, after Bills grandson James. This is a fitting title as James lives down near Bristol and in the run up to Tarbes when James and his mum were visiting he was given the blue cock to single up at a Services near to where he lives and it seems to have worked. To underline the efforts that ‘James The First’ put in to win the trophy lets first point out that the winning velocity was 1105 ypm, with this being achieved over a 5 race programme where the shortest race was Fougeres which is. 288 miles to the Quarry Bank loft and the furthest being Tarbes which is all of 646 miles. Along the way he had the following positions:

Fougeres 288 miles, 64th Section, 469th Open

Messac -     321 miles, 139th Section, 910th Open

Ancenis  -    355 miles   40th Section, 439th open

Tarbes   -      646 miles, 1st Section 55th Open

Saintes -       469 miles, 27th Section, 344TH Open.

To further emphasis the quality of the performance consider that he was 60 ypm clear of the next bird that was flying to a loft in Section E, some way short of the loft that James had to race home to.

Bill and Jean holding ‘James the First’ and ‘Mrs Jean’

This racing machine comes from a long line of performance birds that have been handled with care and precision over many years be two very talented fanciers. They have let the basket set the benchmark and along the way have not been afraid to bring in something special other lofts to shake things up a bit. James himself is the result of this, being the result of a cross from close friend and top fancier Andy Trumpeter that the partnership have put in to their family. He was not chosen specifically to compete for the trophy and in line with the lofts philosopy was being prepared for Tarbes, it was just incidental that he was the most consistently quick bird over all NFC races in 2015.

So, to go back to the start. When Jean and Bill started up as a pigeon partnership there was the joint decision that they would do things right from the off. With this in mind they did their homework and had a look around at what was winning where and decided upon the Busschaerts as the birds they wanted. A few were sourced from various places and put through their paces and quite soon a couple of handy birds started to emerge that would form the nucleus of the family that would still be a force 25 years later. Bill noted that the birds which were standing up to the test had a common pigeon in their pedigrees and so they sought out pigeons that were closely related to that bird, and when any Busschaerts were coming up for sale Jean and Bill would dig around to see if there was something worth buying that would compliment their existing birds. This approach served then well as they continued to produce a string of birds that kept them at the top in local club and Federation racing. Alongside this approach, the partnership was also introduced to Mr Andrew Hall who competed in Anfield Plain up in the North East of England and who flew very god family of Busschaerts. Bill has a sister who lived in that part of the world and so anytime Bill was in the area visiting his sister he would call in on Mr Hall, as it turns out Bills sister never did figure out why his visits to see her became increasingly frequent!! From Andrew the partnership initially introduced 6 young birds to race, and 4 of them won as young birds and continued to do so. He also gifted the partnership an unrung bird that went on to leave its mark along with its loft mates. These additions were rich in the blood of The Newton Pair and knitted in fantastically with the existing Busschaerts and through time the two strands became one team. The unrung Hall bird was to give the partnership a taste of success at national level when it bred a hen that came from NFC Nantes and landed on the roof of some neighbouring flats and wasted quite a bit of time before she came down and was duly clocked. She finished up being 4th Open and could have easily topped the national on that day.

What underpins the partnerships approach and continuing success is their breeding method. They will find a good working bird and carefully and meticulously pull its bloodlines back in through the family. This approach has ensured that they don’t lose the working lines and concentrate the more successful winning lines. ‘James the First’ will now have his chance to add a layer to the family line, as will ‘Mrs Jean’ who topped the section last year in a difficult young bird national from Falaise. These latest two performance birds will follow on from other illustrious forbearers such as ‘The Bordeaux’ Hen and ‘123’, who was a top Saintes racer for the partnership and then went on to leave their indelible mark on the family of birds housed at Quarry Bank.

The scaled down racing loft.

Until recently the partnership had a strong race team that had a depth of ability and performance to it, but as Bill told me time is now catching up with them and they are realistic about where their interests now lie. Personal health problems experienced by both Jean and Bill in recent years has also driven the changes, but they and the birds have risen to the challenge and the partnership are having the most fun they have had in years. In the past 5/6 years they have cut back considerably on the size of the team, but their drive and zeal is undiminished and instead they are focusing their energies on racing a smaller team, but at a higher level choosing to compete with The National Flying Club with a much more focussed approach. But old habits die hard, and as such the partnership still compete with The Victoria HS and Lye and District 2 Bird Continental Club as they relish the challenge of Specialist channel racing as they feel it separates the men from the boys.

With the downscaled approach the partnership have a significantly smaller team to manage, but the methodology remains the same. The birds are well schooled as young birds and yearlings, but this is done with care and no risks are taken as these birds are wanted for a job later.  At two years old a small team is aimed at Tarbes, and by small I mean 2 or 3 birds although their average send to any national race is 4 birds. The two year old birds in the team will have had little asked of them but will have been put across the channel to show them what it looks like. Now its time for them ’to take their coats off’ as Bill put it referring to them being expected to increase their efforts as this is what they are bred for and the partnership expects them to step up and be counted. With regards to the system used, Bill believes you need to get the fitness right and after that the system is immaterial. The partnership have tried all systems and were firm advocates of the roundabout system to give the hens a good workout, and looking at what hens have done for the loft its little wonder they like to race the little ladies. In recent years they have tended to lean towards preparing the Tarbes birds on natural, but they both remain flexible and will not baulk at swapping systems if they feel it will advantage certain birds. Let’s not forget that Bill was an accomplished fancier in his own right when he still lived and competed in West Bromwich before moving to Quarry Bank. At that time he flew a cracking team of widowhood cocks that were based on the old Fabry birds, and these birds enabled Bill to take on and Beat Breakaway when he was at his prime. The involvement with the Fabry birds led to Bill getting invited to the Royal Lofts after a conversation with The Queens Loft Manager at the time, but Bill never got round to taking him up on his offer.

It was clear from talking to Jean and Bill and looking at their wall of fame that they are a very well kept secret. They have consistently been churning out top results at all levels, including winning their section 4 times with The National Flying Club from Nantes, St Nazaire, Falaise and Tarbes. In fact Bill still has the blazer that he was awarded for winning the section on one occasion and this still gets worn with pride. This partnership is not finished yet; they possess a strong winning family that is providing success for many others as well, including top national performances in to Scotland and also on the Island of Malta. This last one something that is close to both their hearts, began when they met some Maltese fanciers at the Blackpool show a good few years ago and birds were gifted to them. Over the years there have been regular visits to Malta on an almost yearly basis but after racing has finished of course. The bloodlines that were feverishly sought over 25 years ago are still doing the business and they are still finding those good working birds that Bill cherishes so much that will continue to move the family forward. Here is to many more section wins - take a bow Jean and Bill the inaugural winners of The Mark Gilbert International Trophy. The secret is out of the bag now.