The programmed National Flying Club Ancenis race had to take place from Cholet due to the liberation site not being available for the 2019 season. 

The third race of the season for the National Flying Club was held on the 15^th June from Cholet with the 3500 birds liberated at 7am into a fresh South-South West wind and although rain showers plagued many parts of the country, the expected speed for the winning pigeons was 60mph or more. As it transpired the overall winner did indeed reach 1790 yards per minute which is just over 61mph.

Steve and Denise Wiggins from Basingstoke expected a five, to five and half hour fly for the birds to cover the 290 miles to their loft, so when their widowhood cock appeared from nowhere and flew straight into the loft at four hours forty-four minutes. They knew he would be a good one as he had shown previous form just three weeks ago by winning 7^th Open Messac with the CSCFC, but they did not expect to win outright. It was not until four thirty, when a friend called say they were top of the leaderboard, that they realised just how good their time was and a tense couple of hours follwed , with all the family repeatidly checking the website to watch the northern times coming up one by one, just short of their velocity. They were over the moon when they received confirmation that they head provisionally won the Premier Distance Club in Great Britain, especially because their three-year-old granddaughter had asked Grandad Steve to “win the big race” for her birthday, which was one that very same day.

As a boy, Steve and his brother lived in Putney and caught stray pigeons which were housed in tea chests. Their father, seeing the keen interest his boys had shown in the pigeons, decided to buy them a small garden loft with which to race their birds, but as their teenage years advanced, their father “Wiggo” gradually took over as they went on to other things. One such distraction was Denise, who met Steve at school aged 13 and they have been together ever since, being married for the last 46 years. When they were first married, they lived Carshalton, London and as they had a decent sized garden, Steve asked Denise if she would mind if he put up a pigeon loft. “Not at all” was her reply and from then on, they both became involved in the pigeon sport, together and Steve said that he could not do it without her. 

They soon put together a winning team of birds, raced on the widowhood system and one ambition his father held was for them to win the Fulham Open which was a huge race at the time. Steve entered his cocks and won first and second that day, making his Dad really happy for them to have achieved the win. Subsequently his Dad, known locally as to his friends “Wiggo”, passed away over 20 years ago, which is when Steve lost interest in the birds and consequently, he and Denise moved to Spain for a few years. But the pigeon bug had bitten him hard and Steve began to help one of the locals in Spain to race his birds whilst all the time keeping a keen interest in the UK Pigeon Journals. Eventually they returned to the UK and moved to Basingstoke to be near their sons, which was just over five years ago, and once their homemaking was complete, a new twentyfour-foot loft was constructed which is when the search for quality bloodlines began. 

Steve had decided the De Raul Sablon pigeons were putting up good performances and would also make a good cross for most other middle-distance families, so he acquired a few from Mick McMurchie in Fife, who also had Peter Veenstra “Mr Blue” lines which soon began winning for them in their local club and federation . But their heart was in channel racing, holding the Classics and National racing as their main goals in Basingstoke, with the first major win being with Central Southern Classic FC in 2018 from Bergerac and now, just one year later, adding a first open National Flying Club. 

They race just fifteen widowhood cocks, although Steve had seriously considered racing on the Roundabout system, until he met his old friend Frankie Carson at the Epson Show who advised him the stick to what he knew best. At the end of January, he couples pairs them together with the hens and allows them the rear one youngster before going down on eggs for their second round. They are then parted as they reach the tenth day of sitting and the cocks will sit for a couple of days before a few training tosses three weeks prior to the first club race. Like most of us, they have problems early season with hawk attacks so once the first race is completed, the cocks exercise around the loft for an hour, morning and evening. Compact Disks are hung around the loft area to deter the birds of prey which Steve feels are very effective along with a watchful eye. The cocks are fed in their nest boxes and are never broken down after a race, which Steve is convinced is most important. “Once they have gone too low in energy, it is over for the season” he said, and channel races should be once every two weeks. He plans to keep two teams of cocks next season in order to ensure this essential rest.

Denise, known by her family as “Dee” is the loft organiser of the partnership, and will complete all the required paperwork for the racing loft as well as tending to the stock, young birds and any sick or injured pigeons. She will use honey on an open laceration and has been known to make splints for broken bones. She is just as keenly interested in the pigeons as Steve and really likes the social side of the sport, especially marking days at the Classic which they say is run very efficiently and is a great day out. They have made some very good friends there and Dee said Secretary of the Classic, Claire Norman, was the very first person to call to congratulate them on their NFC win. 

The old bird racers are now being prepared for the Bergerac race in three weeks with the CSCFC, having been left with their hens to go to nest. They have only had five races up to date but the partners will be happy concentrate on their young birds after just one more channel race with the widowhood cocks. The youngsters have been on the darkness system from April until June and are looking really well. Steve likes to train them well but is happy to stop the cocks after three or four races, whilst racing the hens until the end of the season.

They have bought quality stock birds with channel racing in mind, going to Geoff Kirkland and Mark Gilbert for particular lines. Indeed, they had purchased a double granddaughter of “Euro Diamond” from Mark which unfortunately escaped over Dee’s head one blustery evening at the loft. But once he recounted the loss to Mark, thinking it may get reported to him via the ring number, he replaced the pigeon free of charge with one exactly the same way bred, which Steve said illustrates the generous nature of the man. 

There is no doubt going to be further National and Classic success achieved by this very affable husband and wife partnership, and considering the general rule is that it takes five years to build a team to race the channel, in five years they have won two already, so I am sure many more will follow.

1st Open S & D.Wiggins, Basingstoke

1st Open S & D.Wiggins, Basingstoke

1st Open S & D.Wiggins, Basingstoke

1st Open S & D.Wiggins, Basingstoke

1st Open S & D.Wiggins, Basingstoke

1st Open S & D.Wiggins, Basingstoke

1st Open S & D.Wiggins, Basingstoke

1st Open S & D.Wiggins, Basingstoke

1st Open S & D.Wiggins, Basingstoke

Section A

First section A was D & D Mc Fadden with a two year old widowhood hen having her 7th channel race of the season. She has been a consistent hen for Darren and this year has been clocked in all of nationals and won Carentan in the club earlier on. Incidentally the cock she is paired to was 1^st section in the NFC Fougeres race so they are obviously well motivated.
She is a gift pigeon from Mark gilbert and Nigel Langstaff from their joint breeding project.
Her sire is a son of “Southfield Champ” 1st Open NFC Saintes when paired to a daughter of Koopmans “Ermerveens Hope”. Her dam is from a top breeding son of Harry x 139. a winner of 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th NFC etc. 139 is also a daughter of “Southfield Star” 2nd Open NFC Saintes. Second section was J May & Son  with a direct Belgium Blue Hen from the “Pitbull” family of pigeons. She is raced on roundabout and this was her second channel race of the season after racing and winning inland and be being a very consistent performer.  Third section is  Dave Bridger of Littlehampton who timed a three year old Pencil cock bird now named 'HB' which is flown on Dave's own version of widowhood. This cock had previously had four inland races this year with his only other channel race being from Le Mans last year. His pedigree shows him to be very inbred to M&D Evans 'Shadow' of Vandenabeele bloodlines, with a double grandchild featuring on both sides of the pedigree when crossed in with a big dose of Janssen. He returned in excellent condition which is a credit to the convoyers and NFC transport. Mick Skidmore came in four with a seven year old Busschaert cock raced on the widowhood system. In 2014 he won 19^th sect 24^th Open from Bergerac with the CSCFC, 20^th Sect Fougeres, 14^th Sect Ancenis and 38^th Open 5^th Sect Saintes in 2015. In 2016 he was 11^th Sect Messac and 9^th Sect Messac in 2017. Last year he was 5^th Sect Ancenis and 3^rd Sect Sigone NFC.  Fifth section was C T Ayling with a yearling De Klaks pigeon from a pair of gift pigeons bred by Kevin Bakes. The father has two wins to his credit and the mother was daughter of “Bomber Boy” and “My Little Diamond”. This pigeon came second the week before from Coutances and was sitting on 10 day eggs. He sends his congratulations to the winner and would just like to thank Kevin Bakes for two nice pigeons.

Section B

I have been asked to highlight that if members are entering on line they should check that they have received a confirmation Email or if entering by post, they don't leave it to the last minute which could save confusion and disappointment at the marking stations. This report for Section B, was kindly compiled by Bill Edwards; Mike Moody of Southampton had the winner of section B and 2^nd Open Cholet National. Agonisingly Mike led the field on the early times for a while and Mike would like to congratulate S & D Wiggins and all the section winners. When he saw his name at the top of the leader board he had everything crossed and was excited but in reality he did not expect to hold on to top spot due to the weather and he thought that he would be caught by the further flying birds picking up speed, after leaving the coast where his loft is situated. He was surprised and delighted that he only dropped one place to 2^nd Open. It turned out to be an even result with 7 section winners in the first 10. The bird that came for him was a two year old hen raced natural and sitting 5 day eggs which has previously been 31^st open Classic as a youngster and earlier this year 1^st Club 6^th Fed. She was his first arrival from Cholet with the BICC, after not racing as a yearling due to him working away from home. She is bred from a cock that was purchased at Blackpool Duif Auction and a Robert Pugh hen that also won 13^th National and carries the lines of his “License to Thrill” cock.

Second section was Graham Rann and Daughters on the Isle of Wight with a two year Dark Hen raced natural and sent sitting 10 days. The hen is a granddaughter of Graham’s “Faithfull” that won 8^th International Agen and also a granddaughter of “Jackie’s Pride”, 1^st NFC Tarbes for Trevor Hazel on the Island. Third is George Willet from Portsmouth who said “Firstly, I would like to congratulate the winner S & D Wiggins on a great performance. My pigeon is photographed here outside K & J Zerafa’s loft with Steve Vaizey of Fareham who is the breeder of this good hen. She has won 3 x 1^st clubs and many good federation positions, also some good positions in the classic’s and nationals before today race from Cholet. Her sire is a De Raux Sablon who has bred some very good one loft pigeons for Steve, her dam is a Leo Heremans hen, who herself won racing and being a granddaughter “Golden Safier” and “Lady Safier” Fourth is John Good also from Portsmouth who clocked a five year old Van Camp X Van Rijn widowhood cock. It was the cocks second channel race of the season with the other being Fougeres National. Prior to that and in between Nationals, he was raced North with the Southampton NR Fed. Racing weekly with no training, John has no fear of racing from the North and changing to South when it suits and he finds that the birds cope well and it sharpens their homing instinct by racing from different directions, so he competes from the North with his local Milton Club and South with the NFC. Taking fifth section is Mick Bunny from Portchester. Mick clocked another yearling that was gifted to him by his good friend Bill Ahern of Neesdon, being a Jan Arden X Southwell from the best of Bill’s Barcelona pigeons. Mick had 10 youngsters gifted to him by Bill and this is the second one to record 5^th section B, NFC in consecutive races

Section C

First was Mike Staddon of Crewkerne who kindly sent me the following details; “I am delighted to record my 40^th 1^st section C in the NFC as I now only fly NFC and Crewkerne and District with the WESR Combine. The first two NFC races for me were a big disappointment. I lost 10 pigeons in the two races, and I was way behind the leaders. I used to use Versele/laga mixtures, mainly Champion Plus, but it is quite expensive, and I wasn’t happy with the droppings of the pigeons on these mixtures. This year, after great thought, I decided to go back to basic mixtures. In my opinion there is far too much small stuff in all the Belgian mixtures, especially for channel racing into the UK. I firmly believe the Belgian mixtures are contributing to the losses suffered in the UK. Pigeons don’t work back next day after hard races any more.  But I’m glad to say my “work backs” have improved 100% since they went back to basics and I don’t feed maize any more.  I had quite a shock when I was out shooting last winter and saw loads of dead and dying wood pigeons after they had been feeding on mouldy maize from the cover crops. Apparently, it is very toxic when damp. The section winner came back from the north, as is often the case when racing here with south in the wind, closely followed by a yearling hen 28 seconds behind the section winner.  My 2^nd section winner was bred by Ray Scrivens the National President who is a great friend, thanks Ray. The section winner is my best hen at the moment. She has been my first pigeon in all the national races 2019 and in 2018 she was second section C Sigogne, 6^th section Coutantes. 2019 23^rd section C Fougeres, 11^th section C Messac and now 1^st section C Cholet. She is beautifully bred from my very best stock so hopefully she will go to Tarbes next week, depending on her condition.  I sent 10 to the race from Cholet and all 10 on the day. Thanks to the convoying team and the new Race Controller for the excellent condition of the pigeons. Congratulations to all the section winners especially Bob McKie in the north section at 500 plus miles, brilliant”. Third section was John Halstead of Nyland nr Gillingham with a four year old blue hen, sitting for 12 days. This hen was a gift from Paul Liman of Essex and she has been a really good performer each year. This season she has been 1^st Club from Carentan and 28^th Section 190^th Open BBC Fougeres 2005 birds. Previously she has had 2 x 2^nd 1 x 3^rd and 1 x 5^th Club along with 4^th Section 45^th Open NFC Coutances (old hens) 1135 birds, and 11^th Section 57^th Open BBC Coutances 1858 birds. She was so keen to get back to her eggs that she tried to jump out of the basket each time that the flap was opened. Fourth was the very consistent partnership of Neville & Diana Spracklen who can be seen pictured with the next generation of pigeon fanciers in their family. They timed one of their Daniel Ariens which have been a very successful family for them. In fifth place was Mr & Mrs.Hodges with a blue cock of John Gerard's blood lines. The cock is raced on total widowhood and feed on Van Robaeys mixtures. Some of his results this year are 2nd club 229 pigeons arrived with the winner 13th combine 2,069b, 4th club 334 birds arrived with winner 28th combine 2,641b, 11th club 382 birds 35th combine 2,726b. They would like to congratulate the open winners S &D Wiggins and all the section winners plus a special mention to club mates John & David Staddon and Merek Chwedoruk who both had a fantastic race.

Section D

A big thank you to Gill McClements who gathered this information; Chris Stevens and Sue White topped the section and Chris said “I'm over the moon to win 1st section D , this is my last season racing due to my partner Sue having Pigeon Fanciers Lung  and it is certainly a pick me up. The winning bird was gifted to us from previous multiple NFC winner Andy Mabin and is a grandson of his NFC Poitiers Open winner. His hen was lost three weeks prior to this race so he was sent looking at another hen. He has been a consistent bird who would always arrive in the middle of the field. I race weekly with the Honiton SRFC who took the first Five places in the section which I think will a long time until repeated again. All my birds are raced with the Devon South Road Fed which provide excellent racing week in week out. I feed a basic widowhood mixture and treat for Canker, Coxi and worms before the season begins, thanks to all the hard workers at the Kingsteignton marking station” Second section was Tony Churchill who timed in a dark chequer cock raced on semi widowhood, his breeding is R Goodier Jos Thone x Premier stud Van Dyke and has been a very consistent bird in club and national races. Third section was Alan Harwood from Sidmouth who clocked a dark chequer widowhood hen which has been his first bird from the two previous nationals this year. She is bred from stock gifted to Alan as eggs by John Halstead of Gillingham, for which he is very grateful. Fourth section was R Goodier & sons with a chequer pied Arien Verrecht roundabout hen bred down from stock purchased from Ian Stafford. She has several Club and Fed wins to her credit. Fifth section was Simon Cordery who clocked a Leen Boers roundabout cock gifted to Simon from James Cook, Tumley lofts on his first visit there in 2017.

Section E

First section was Gary Inkley and the brains of the outfit “Stanley”. They timed a three year old blue widowhood cock, which has been a consistent pigeon all his career with previous positions including 22nd UBI Combine Exeter as a young bird in 2016, in 2017 5th UBI Combine Carantan, 16th UBI Combine Exeter, 50th UBI Combine Poitiers and 97th Open NFC Messac. In 2018 he had a few club positions plus 1st Section 2nd Open BICC Alencon 4900 pigeons. This was his third consecutive channel race this year, and he was early next morning from the difficult NFC Fourges race returning with a couple of secondries missing, consequently he was given a week’s rest then into NFC Messac, and last week had a 12 hour fly from Cholet with the BBC. His sire was bred by Peter Fox of Syndicate Lofts being a son of “Mario” who in turn is a direct son “Di Caprio” (Leo Heremans/Dirk van Dyck) when paired to “Ivy”, a direct daughter of the “Saffier Couple” of Leo Heremans. Dam of their section winner is again Syndicate lofts stock, being a gift from top Swansea fancier Andrew McFenton, containing all the old bloodlines of Drum, Gerrie, Dutch Master and Agent Starling. “I would like to extend my congratulations to the overall winners S&D Wiggins and all the other section winners” said Gary on behalf of Stanley and himself.

In second place was Roger Lowe who raced nine widowhood cocks and eleven widowhood hens with three hens arriving before the cocks. Firstly, “the 903” being inbred to “My Little Diamond” sire “Diamond Che” bred by Nigel Langstaff from a son of Eijerkamps “Che” when paired with a daughter of “My Little Diamond”. Dam “Gold Diamond” again a daughter of “My Little Diamond” when paired with her son “Main Man” sire of last season’s NFC winner from Sigogne. 903 already a winner of 2nd section, 20th BBC Fougeres 8th section 19th Open CSCFC Coutances and 3^rd section 4th open NFC Coutances and only a two year old.  His second bird, also a two year old, the 835 is inbred to “My Little Diamond” again sire “Diamond 005” direct son when paired to “Million Dollar Man”. This pair have bred a host of winners 1st fed and 1st section winners in the NFC. The dam the one is a daughter of the “Main Man” and is winner 1st fed and 1st CSCFC Guernsey. 835 winner of 16^th section  57th open BBX Bordeaux 4th section 8th NFC Coutances. Well done to the winners and all the section winners lets hope for a good race next time also. 

Fourth section were Brian and Dick Chitty who started racing with their father in 1954. Brian is now 77 years old and Dick is 73 years old and they had a few years racing North separately before joining together in 1986 and have been racing on the South road ever since with quite a bit of success in Club, Fed, Nationals. The hen GB16A00124 first to their loft, has had some previous good results in the NFC. Their second bird was clocked 8 minutes later with 6 out of 6 birds home on in race time.' 24' is a Hardy Kruger bred from pure parents obtained from Premier Stud chosen by Kerry Melonby. Fifth section was Ron Lacey with a red chequer Jan Theelan called “Red Mist” which was bred from stock purchased from Geoff Clare before his recent emigration to Australia. “Red Mist” has flown all three NFC races this season.  Ron keeps a modest team of 22 pigeons at seasons start, sending to National races for his entertainment and enjoyment. After 75 years of flying, this is the best performance in the National Flying Club that Ron has ever achieved. Ron joined the NFC in 2003, after 60 years of flying North Road. Ron sends his congratulations to Steve & Dee Wiggins for winning the race.

Section F

First section F were the overall winners Steven & Dee Wiggins, who have no doubt received many congratulations on their win. I personally would like to thank them for their warm welcome and I hope to see you at the presentation in November. Second section was J & P Parker who tend to shy away from publicity. They race a very consistent pigeon and one day I hope to encourage James to enlighten us with a little more detail. Third was B Sherman & S Wells with a pigeon from their own family which they call “Sherwells”. He is third generation of birds that originate from Jimmy Shepard “Southwells” one side and a grandaughter “Southfield Darkie” when paired to a grandson of “Euro Diamond”. They would like to congratulate all the winners and the runner ups for getting  their birds in good time as it has been a very testing time flying the channel this year. Mr & Mrs Paul Kenny & Family clocked a red cock bred by Roger Lowe which has been raced on widowhood to take fourth section and in fifth place, F J Quin sent me the following details; “Congratulations to S & D Wiggins. It is nice to see our section leading th efield and encourages others to try harder and have a go. My own birds came well from this race and had 12 from 16 home. The first bird is from the lines I have had from my good friends Sanderson & Ramshead of Padiham Lancs. Top class and roll on the big on from Tarbes”.

Section G

First section G 6th Open are Dave & John Staddon from Ditcheat. This performance comes hot on the heels of my visit to see the lads last weekend after they won 1st, 2nd & 3rd West Section 1st, 2nd & 3rd Open from the BICC national race also from Cholet. They are clearly the loft in form. After another very happy call with Dave, he sent me through the following text. "Hi Chris, well what a week for us. Firstly, our clean sweep of the BICC Cholet National last weekend and now 1st Section G Provisional 6th Open NFC Cholet. We also timed a second pigeon within a minute who will take provisional 3rd Section and 8th Open. An extremely pleasing result. We sent 10 birds and had 9 on the day. Our section winner is a beautiful yearling cock who has already scored 1st Club 2nd WOESRC Bedhampton 3293b earlier in 2019. He is raced as are all of our birds on Chaos widowhood. His breeding is from the best of our Mark Gilbert pigeons, the sire is a grandson of Southfield Supreme and the dam is from our amazing Miracle Pair who were both bred by Mark. She herself was a big winner on the road before injuring a wing and being put to stock. Our 2nd bird also a yearling cock taking provisional 3rd Section 8th Open, is an incomer. He was bred by our clubmate Miraslaw Chwedoruk, better known as Merek and Merek himself won provisional 4th Section 9th Open in this same race, so we send our congratulations to him. I bought the cock at our Glastonbury Flying Club Breeder Buyer 2018. He went on to win 8th WOESRC Littlehampton 1580b, 17th WOESRC Bedhampton 2579b and 26th WOESRC Eastbourne 840b. He also won 1st Breeder Buyer Winning £1200. He now collects a top national position. We would like to conclude by congratulating Mr & Mrs Wiggins on their fine win and all the section winners many of which were in the top 10 in the open. We would also like to thank the Chairman for his personal letter, a very nice touch on behalf of the NFC. In second place are S Luff & Walker Bros who timed a yearling cock now named “Cholet Lad” which was flown on widowhood System. Having seen the times appearing on the leader board they calculated what time they needed to be up there with the leaders. Due to the heavy rain in the area they were thinking that they would be lucky to get a pigeon, when they noticed about 40 birds heading their way, which appeared to be looking for somewhere to land, they couldn’t believe their luck when one pealed of and landed on the loft, the others carried on in the direction of Wales. The breading of “Cholet Lad” is just right for the job, his sire being bred from a good old racer they call “Fred” because they could always really on him turning up when the going was a bit tough. He is a previous prize winner from Messac, Niort and Bergerac and his breeding is through “Lucky 848” De Rauw- Sablon x “George” sire of Brockamp Euro Diamond. Dam of “Cholet Lad” winner of the club breeder buyer race being Bred by Ivan Hoftan Gloucester, from his Janssen based family. Also winner of many prizes including 14^th Sect, 15^th Open CSCFC Old Hens Race Guernsey and 2^nd Sect C, 3^rd Open BBC Old Hens Fougeres both in 2015. They would like to congratulate Steve & Dee Wiggins on winning 1^st Open, and Dave & John Staddon on winning section G. Also, thanks to the NFC race team for giving us a good race with 32 of our 36 entries home before nightfall despite the rain in our area. Third was Miroslaw Chwedoruk from Whitcombe, fourth Mr & Mrs G & M Wile & S Lias in  Bristol and Nigel Templar in fifth place.

Section H

Having a great season up to now is Hubert Walker and Les Rodgers who are both delighted with their latest section win.  She is a yearling widowhood hen and was on her second trip over the channel. Previously she flew the difficult’ Fougeres race arriving back the next morning. Her sire is a grandson of ‘Big Smithy’ and ‘Mucking Fagic’, the dam was bred by their good friend Ian Stafford from Stanley.  Hubert and Les both agree that these lines are really starting to show their worth over the channel for them. Second are C Crick & Son who’s first bird is a yearling chequer pied widowhood cock known as 'Roger'. Which was bought in a charity auction at the Epsom Spring Show in 2018 and bred by Roger Lowe. He only had two races as a youngster last season, and his performances have gradually improved as the distances have increased, this was his third channel race and first time in a National. Third section was John Black who timed in a two year old Red Chequer widowhood cock. The sire was bred by Gosling & Jarvis in Essex and the dam was bred by Terry Robinson of Cuffley from his Brian Denny cross Motivator lines. He was 5th section Coutances and 12th section Ancenis in the NFC last year, one for the future I think John. Fourth was A Smith from  Harrowden and fifth is Slawomir Chabrowski with a two year old widowhood hen of his best stock hen via Kris Czaplinski from Kendal.

Section I

First section I was Micky Lennon with a Hardy Kreuger which was 6th Section and 90th Open Messac. This is only the second time from Cholet winning 1st Section and his brothers have also scored in the Midland National. Previous section winner John Passey came in second and said “Our bird is a blue yearling hen, raced on widowhood and has now been named “Archie’s Girl” after our grandson. She has always been consistent without really threatening the prizes. Her Sire is one of my brother Alan’s good racers, who I had back off him when he stopped racing. He is a winner both inland and in the section of the MNFC. He is from Geoff Kirkland’s Flor Engels crossed with a long distance hen, that we had of Geoff’s Kipp Lines. Her dam is from Pat Frisby of Burbage, a really top racer that scored well out of the poor MNFC Ancencis race in 2017. Many thanks once again to these top racers, as well as being really genuine people. I would like to congratulate the conveyers and race advisory team on a good call for this race. Although some were caught up in rain, returns were brilliant, we ourselves had 24 of our 25 birds.  Also, I would like to congratulate Mickey Lennon, whom I rate as one of the best and most knowledgeable fanciers in the country. It’s certainly no disgrace finishing behind Mick”. Eddy Froggatt was third with a three year old blue hen. Her winning sire was out of “The Thas Pair” and her dam from the “Broken Wing Hen” who also took prizes in the NFC. She is down from the “Young Couple” of Peter Fox and “Wonderbar” with “Golden Girl”. Clive Yates, who still races as M Yates & Son was fourth with a two year old dark chequer cock which was soaked through when he dropped, but must have been ok as he was treading his hen with in second of trapping. He is bred off a Mark Gilbert Deweert cock that has bred 2 fed winners paired to his Dutch hen, bred by Batenburg. She has bred winners with eight different cocks from 1st Fed at 51 miles to an RPRA Rose Bowl winner from 450mls. Clive had 12 out of his 14 entries on the day. Fifth was Peter John Bicknell and can be seen in the photograph holding his pigeon.

Section J

Graham Clift was first section J and wrote; “My first bird a yearling cock has put up some good performances to date only having three races as a young bird being 19th West of England South Road Combine 1,788 birds. This year, flying in two separate organisations, 8th Severn Valley Fed 1,045 birds, 10th Fed 1,000 birds, 13th Combine 1,836 birds and now provisionally topping the Section from Cholet. My good friend Steve Bennett from Bristol gifted me two top class hens one of which is the dam of the bird I timed from Cholet the sister has bred me two section winners in the CSCFC & BBC. They are Gerrit Lahuis x a daughter of The Nearly Cock 2 x 2nd National, the sire is a grandson of Brian Milkin's famous blue pair purchased at his bereavement sale. When the cock arrived he was soaked with pink wattles having come through heavy showers particularly on the western side of the country. Of the 18 birds entered I had 16 on the day which turned out to be a good race considering the conditions. Second section was Mr Brian Lawrence and third section were R Stokes & Son with a blue widowhood two year old cock who’s nest brother was 3rd SW section 8th Open MNFC the previous week. Their sire is a winner for them being 3rd open MNFC Coutances 8900b, 12th Open MNFC Portsmouth 7100b and 1st Shropshire fed 1900b, the dam is “Farlow Sadie” twice a winner of the Shropshire Fed from Carentan and Messac. She also won the RPRA western region Queens Diamond Jubilee race Carentan against 5000 plus birds  Fourth were Mr & Mrs G W Kirkland who timed a two year old blue cock sent sitting after being on total widowhood all season. He came right on line but in pouring rain and of the 12 entered they got all 12 home on the day. Fifth section were Price Bros & Son  

Section K

First section were C & E Lee who had a wonderful race and will have three pigeons in the top 10 of section K. All their pigeons are flown on the roundabout system with the first pigeon being a two-year old cock which is a great-great grandson of “The Drum”. This came about when local flyers, Mr & Mrs Wright retired from the sport, they gifted two great grandchildren of The Drum to this partnership and their first pigeon was bred off this pair. They would like to thank Mr & Mrs Wright for their gift. Second were Mr & Mrs Foulstone and Bill had a good race with his first pigeon being a widowhood hen full of top breeding. This pigeon has two National winners and two international winners in her bloodline and it was her first time over the Channel this season. “Her sire is from the Gordon Cock whose sire won 1^st National Tarbes. The dam is our Melinda Hen from Sjaak Buwalda whose dam won 1^st Holland National. This pair have bred Fed winners, winners’ section and grandparents to section winners. The Dam of our hen is from a son of farmer George who won 1^st International for Mr and Mrs Cooper. The Dam to the hen is our Bobby Hen who was bred by Bob Bessant out of noble 1^st International. Our Hen came wet as did others but returns were very good”. Bill would like to congratulate C & E Lee on their wonderful performance. Third section is Richard Holden with a single widowhood cock as his entry which was having its third National race of the year. This is a gifted pigeon from Mick and Robert McGrevy and he would like to say "thank you" to that partnership. It just goes to show that you do not need a lot of pigeons, you just need quality! Fourth section was Fred Ellis and in fifth were L & S Gash. Luke's first pigeon has already topped the Fed from Marlborough this season and is bred out of two gifted pigeons, the sire being a B & P Winter pigeon and the dam gifted from Pete Lee.  Luke would like to say thank you for the good condition the birds arrived home in and on speaking to him on Sunday morning, he had 16 birds back out of 20.

Section L

G Bowyer won first Section L with "Lavender", so named by granddaughters Lucy and Daisy while still in the nest last year. Second and fifth was Roger Sutton who said; “Although the northern birds encountered some showers most fanciers had excellent returns but with considerable gaps between arrivals. My two year old widowhood cock has flown all three National races and he returned early evening on the day in the first National race. He was then first back to the loft at Messac taking eighth section and once again first back to the loft from Cholet, being probable 2nd section. I would like to congratulate George Bowyer on winning the section but interestingly my cock is 25% George's Tarbes cock bloodlines. Another point of interest is the fact that George and I have been friends for over 50 years both joining Congleton West End SFC in the same year 1966. Crehan & O'Connor was third section with the wonderful pigeon “Cease Fire”. John is so confident in this pigeon’s ability he said that if he is right, it is the only one he needs to send. Time after time he has proved John correct and is quickly becoming a super star amongst the Jan Hooyman pigeons which John races as Team Hooymans UK. Well done John for seeing this birds’ talents and gaining the best out of him. Fourth were the partnership of Mills, Rice, Abbott & Duffy with a hen that has won 1^st Wincanton, 4^th North West Grand National, 14^th section Vire and 4^th section Ancenis. Her sire was bred by R & B Smith and the dam from J Foster via his “Paramyxo Cock” lines. This pair have produced a number of winners for them and since the formation of this partnership they have topped the North West Combine 12 times and once each prior to the partnership.

Section N

In Section N only three birds got home on the day. Bob McKie of Blackhall Mill near Newcastle timed his very consistent five year old Chequer Cock “Timba” to top the Section and add more to his tally of  Section N positions. He has now scored 2nd & 4th section Ancenis, 5th Section Messac, 8th Section Fougeres and 1^st Section Cholet. Trained only to 250 miles in 2015 he has only ever had five National races with the Sportsman FC. His sire is bred from the very best of Brian Denney blood via Alan Astin of Carnforth. His Dam is a Jan Arden from the stock loft of Peter Virtue of Cockburnspath. “Timba” was sent feeding a 16 day baby. Bob's second bird, a two year old hen will win 3rd Section & was bred by Allan Astin (Ken Hines bloodlines) and this was her first ever race. Trained 200 miles she was sent sitting over the top at 23 days and was timed at 20.10pm. for the 544 miles. Birds are fed on Vanrobaey No39 & No35. Second section N was Jeff & Matthew Walton of Coxhoe with their chequer hen 320 flying 530 miles. This hen topped the section in 2018 from Ancenis and was sent feeding a 6 day old youngster. Her sire is from Peter Virtue of Cockburnspath & her dam is a Jos Thone' via the late Brian Long. Birds are fed on Vanrobaey No39 & No35. Third was the very consistent loft of  M Anderson & Sons with B Blackett & Son fourth and fifth section.

Section O

In 1^st Section and provisionally 316^th Open we have the Cleator Moor loft of Allan Graham and Co. This team consists of Allan, his son Gavin and good friend Paul Byers and the lads concentrate on channel racing but have had a difficult time getting their birds in form this season and have missed the first two national races, so not a bad result considering they jumpped their birds into 530 miles. Their bird is a four year old hen having only her second channel race, which has previously won 2nd Fed, 2nd Amal and 14th Cumbria Combine from Messac.  She had been flown on the roundabout system in the early part of the season, having five races with the Copeland North West Club before being repaired on the 25th may and sent sitting 10 day eggs. Breeding wise she’s out of a home bred cock paired to a grand daughter of “Syndale Express”. Once again Dave Travis from Kendal is just pipped for the section win. Dave sent three birds to this 508 mile race and managed to clock one on the day, with the other two both arriving before seven the next morning. Dave’s birds are flown on the natural system and this game dark hen scored at Messac and also scored at Messac and Ancenis last year. All three of Daves birds are Cowood Southwells. Taking 3^rd Section O we have another Kendal fancier in Kris Czaplinski. Kris has had a tough year this year with a very heavy work schedule taking its toll on his hobby. He sent two birds to this NFC race and clocked one on the night with the second early next day. His section prizewinner took a week to return from Fougeres earlier this year but is obviously back to peak fitness. He was flown on total widowhood and is Roy Davies and Henry Mair bloodlines. This bird has a win in the Lakeland 2 bird from Carentan and a 3^rd Federation Messac to his credit. The winner of the previous two NFC races in section O, Bruce Blamire, entered three birds in this race and takes 4^th Section on this occasion, clocking his two year old pigeon after eleven hours and forty four minutes of flying. Bruce is also from the South Lakes town of Kendal.

Section P

Once again conditions didn’t favour the east side, but that’s national racing, and the diehard exponents from this section acquitted themselves admirably. Leading the way was Bruce McAllister who’s consistency will surely be rewarded at open level soon. Bruce said “My first bird is a two year old blue cock racing widowhood. His breeding is Van Dorp from Holland through pigeons purchased from Davis Parsons. Although the winners were doing a mile a minute on the coast our area had a difficult race.  I sent 20 and had 11 when I went to the club, had two more when I returned and one more next morning”. Pat Newell is there again at 2nd section. Pat timed a yearling hen bred from pigeons direct from John Searle. This latebred hen was sent sitting around 10 days had 2 races as sub including Guernsey. This year she has once again been consistent flying 3 or 4 channel races. No firm plans for the rest of the year according to Pat but possibly another of the shorter BICC races. Mick Sontag and son from Harlow are there again this time for 3rd section, here’s what Mick had to say; “I found the race slightly frustrating at because at 11.45 thought I was going to win the National but half an hour later I realised it was out of the question although I thought I could win the section. When I eventually timed in at 14.52, I didn't know whether to phone the NFC verification number or the Samaritans! The pigeon was a two year old which had three channel races as a yearling and three this year, though only round the 300 mile distance. The races have been quite tough with the wind and weather conditions, but this game blue cock never seems to be phased by anything. After speaking to Mark Bulled he has informed me that this bird is bred from the very best long distance lines of Cecil and Mark Bulled and will now be set up for a 500 mile race”.

Fourth section are Trevor and Adrian Wilson who said; “Not a bad race for us getting two out of three on the day and all yearlings too. Our first bird is our little blue yearling hen, called “Nice Surprise”. As a baby she won 3rd Blandford, 2nd Yeovil,1st Yeovil, 6th section with the NFC from Coutances and 226th open B.I.C.C Gurnsey 2. Her sire is our Grizzle Jean Willems stock cock, “First Blood” so called as he was lot one in Jeans first ever sale. Jean only raced 12 cocks and this family of birds have been closely inbred for around 100 years as the family was also his fathers inbred birds. Her dam is a Koopman, daughter of top stock cock “Verious” bred and raced by C&G Koopman. A winner of 9th section 10,171 birds, 31st 12,389 birds, 28th 10,811 birds, 94th 18,543 birds, 79th 13,008 birds. He is half brother to “Magic Man” the bird to beat over 10,000 birds. He is sire and grandsire of birds to win for us right up to 9th open B.I.C.C Falaise etc, we only breed one or two rounds from him each year. He filled his eggs this year at fifteen years old”. Coming in fifth place is the partnership of Mr and Mrs Hawkins from Bishops Stortford. They timed a two year old latebred cock which was trained but not raced as a young bird. As a yearling he was raced inland, before having the two Le Mans races at the end of the old bird season. This year he had been to Messac with the NFC before this latest effort. Bred from their good cock “Domino” 28th and 34th NFC Tarbes and as previously reported, he is bred down from mark Bulled’s “Die Hard”. On the dam side he is from an House of Arden hen, which is a daughter of “Blue Badge” from the Padfield Family. Certainly, bred for the job and if not sent to Tarbes this year, he is definitely one for the future.

Section Q

Perry Liddle put together his usual comprehensive report for the Cornish members. He writes; I would like to thank the fanciers who timed from Cholet for making this one of the easiest reports that I have compiled so far, due to the number of birds that have scored previously. Leading the way with 1^st Section Q, Provisional 460^th Open, was Mervin Elliott of Hayle, who timed his three year old blue chequer cock, at 15:04 to record 1,087ypm. This cock, now having his third trip across the water, was flying to10 day eggs. He is a Honeysuckle Janssen X Hereman-Ceusters and he has been a wonderfully consistent bird for Merv, having flown NFC Messac last year, as well as winning 1^st Section 302^nd Open from Fougeres four weeks ago. Merv was delighted with the performance when we spoke on Sunday morning and he was rightfully very proud of his bird’s achievement and of course having a Double Section winner puts Merv in a wonderful position; as he builds his channel team. Well Done Merv, another great performance into Cornwall. Second Section Q, Provisional 461^th Open was the Angwin Family of Penzance, who timed their 2yo blue chequer white flighted hen, flying to 18 day eggs at 15:10 to record 1,085ypm. She is bred from their old distance blood being bred from the good cock that flew Tarbes last year; a blend of their old Hofkins when crossed with a son of Chris Gordon’s “Snydale Express”, which won 1^st Open Tarbes at 725miles in 2005, with the dam being pure Hofkins. John described how the hen was sitting so tight that that she would hardly let her cock bird near the nest. I must say hard luck to the Angwins, because after an 8 hour fly they were beaten by only 2 ypm for the coveted 1^st prize. Third Section Q, Provisional 466^th Open was Jake Waldock of St Austell, who timed his yearling dark chequer cock, sitting on 9 day eggs, at 15:03 to record 1,053ypm. His timer, has been timed in each of this year’s NFC Races, winning 319^th Open Fougeres, 303^rd Open Messac and now 466^th Open Cholet, so as he has made my life easy, I shall call him “Cut N Paste” in future! Jake describes his family as good all-rounders being based around the blood of good multi performance channel birds and “Cut N Paste” contains an eclectic blend of blood including the lines from David Vowles, “Untouchable” from John Halstead, “Silvia” a Spanish Diploma of Merit Award winner from Bill Stribling as well as the Southwell lines of “Lady Jane” a Double Spanish Diploma of Merit Award winner and Jimmy Shepherd. Obviously delighted, Jake certainly has a real good one for the future. Fourth Section Q, Provisional 480^th Open was Mervin Elliott again, this time with a 3yo dark chequer cock sitting 10 day eggs. Vandenabeele X Hereman-Ceusters cock at 15:42 to record 1,008ypm. This cock was having his third trip across the water having flown Ancenis last year as well as being Merv’s second timer from Fougeres on that occasion winning 3^rd Section 336^th Open. Another great team performance from Merv, who is certainly proving to be the man to beat from across the water this year. Fifth Section Q, Provisional 499^th Open was Keith Frost of St Austell who timed his good 2yo blue bar cock, driving to nest, at 16:29 to record 892ypm. Keith is having his usual top season in our local St Austell Club. Normally his team of Frans Zwols pigeons hold all before them, but on this occasion, his timer is from Ian Camron of Lincolnshire bloodlines. Continuing with this weeks’ theme, as well as being the winner previously of 2 x 3^rd Club as well as 1^st Club and Federation, he was also 3^rd Section 296^th Open from Messac.

Section W

Firstly, all the NFC members sending from the Cwmtillery marking station would like to  congratulate Howells & Johnson for winning 1st section with the same bird that was previously 2nd section in the Messac race . A two year old blue hen that had previously been 80th Messac in 2018 and 100% Geoff kirkland from a grandson of “The Snake” when paired with a pigeon down through the "The Streeter", bred and raced by Frank Bristow in Horbling, which had won twenty first prizes in the club and topped the Federation five times. The dam was first section J 9^th Open NFC against 8,635 birds which was also from Geoff Kirkland “Snake” lines. G.Treharne & son were second with a two year old blue hen which is an Eijerkamp Van Loon bred from a son of “Lady Elanora” and a granddaughter of “Kain” a sister of our 1st National Saintes winner. The hen has previously won 12th open BICC Le Mans as a yearling and is raced on the roundabout system. Mark Sparry is third section with a four year old chequer cock which is bred from “Southfield Supreme x Deweerdt bloodlines originating from Mark Gilbert. This cock has previously won 3rd section Tarbes in the hard 2018 Tarbes NFC race. Fourth was D Jones with a yearling cock and from fifteen sent he had thirteen home, so he enjoyed an excellent race. Fifth section was K Lloyd & S Bagnall with a seven year old chequer Busscheart cock raced on the roundabout system and has won 3rd Failaise, 6th Messac, 4th Fougeres, 13th West Sect Bordeaux, 229th Open MNFC, 8th West Sect Messac, 11th West sec plus many more prizes for this very consistant racer. They entered three and got all three home.

1st Sec A-D & D McFadden, Cranleigh

3rd Sec A-D Bridger, Littlehampton

3rd Sec J-R Stokes & Son, Cleobury ...

1st Sec N-Robert McKie,Newcastle up...

1st Sec P-B McAllister, Nr Buntingf...

1st Sec K-C & E Lee, Mansfield

2nd Sec H-C Crick & Son, Stotfold

5th Sec A-C T Ayling, Havant

1st Sec E-G Inkley, Uxbridge

1st Sec L-G Bowyer, Congleton

3rd Sec B-George Willett & Son, Por...

1st Sec J-G Clift, Tirley

1st Sec H-H Walker, Newark

2nd Sec N-J Walton & Son, Coxhoe

1st Sec G-D & J Staddon, Ditcheat

3rd Sec H-John Black, Stotfold

3rd Sec C-Mr J P Halstead, Nr Gilli...

2nd Sec A-J May & Son, Hambrook

2nd Sec I-Mr & Mrs.J.Passey & Famil...

1st Sec Q-Mr.M.C.Elliott, Hayle

1st Sec I-M Lennon, Nuneaton

4th Sec A-Mr M J Skidmore, Havant

6th Sec P-M.Sontag & Son, Harlow

1st Sec B-Mr Michael Moody, Southam...

1st Sec C-M R Staddon, Crewkerne

3rd Sec C-Neville & Diana Spracklen...

1st Sec O-Allan Graham & Co., Cleat...

5th Sec I-Peter John Bicknell, Sout...

5th Sec C-Mr & Mrs.Hodges, Templeco...

2nd Sec E-R J Lowe, Reading

2nd Sec L-J R Sutton, Congleton

6th Sec E-R F Lacey, High Wycombe

5th Sec D-Simon Cordery, Sidmouth

5th Sec H-S.Charbrowski, Wellingbor...

2nd Sec G-S Luff & Walker Bros., Du...

1st Sec D-Mr C Stevens & Sue White,...

7th Sec P-Trevor & Adrian Wilson, M...

The final race of the 2019 season for the National Flying Club took place from Coutances on the 7th of September when 395 members sent 3246 young birds and 195 members also raced 915 old hens. The birds were liberated at 7:00am in a light north west with a more westerly wind in the channel veering NNW further into the country, they cleared immediately and true to form the first birds to be verified were in the Portsmouth area.

I had been staying at Portsmouth myself to attend a family wedding and left to make the journey to Brighton at around 10:30 on the Saturday morning. I spotted a kit of around 50 pigeons coming straight off the sea, heading north and was thinking they might be National Flying Club pigeons when Linda pointed out another large batch of two or three hundred coming from the direction of the Isle of Wight, only to be followed by another several hundred pigeons, strung out in a line, also heading north.
The winning young bird flew to the loft of Malik and Khan, also known as “Team Ace”, situated right at the top of the A3 in Tolworth London and just two minutes later it was followed by a loft mate to take first and second open, with yet another a few minutes later to be ninth open provisional. They were delighted to win the National Flying Club and when I arrived I was met at the door by Imran Malik followed by his son Ibrahim who said “my Dad was going to take me fishing this morning, but he said we had won the big one, so I don’t mind not going” Whilst Imran was making a cup of tea his partners Atif and Fez Khan arrived, and we discussed the fact that they use the darkness system with their young birds which were sent sitting fourteen days with regular training.
They had previously won the BICC from Falaise this season with the old birds and at that time they told me they like to keep around forty young birds and will train them very hard as they are looking for every opportunity to test them. “They will go to every federation race available with two national races at the end of the season. They are raced on the darkness system so they are in good feather throughout and when moving them over to the race loft at the end of the season, they will be confident they will perform as yearlings having proven themselves. Sometimes small third round of about ten youngsters hatched in May, will be tried with plenty of work and some of their best prospects have come from these.”
They are good friends with Jan Hooyman and their first bird “National Ace” is bred from “Harry” lines on the sires side when paired with a daughter of “Tip Top Junior” and “Queen of Rekkem” which are Frans Zwols. Their second bird “Nearly Ace” is also half Jan Hooymans “Harry” line when paired to an inbred cock around “As Euro” of Augst Jansen. “Harry” is renowned in the pigeon world as is “As Euro”, “Tip Top Junior” and “Queen of Rekkem” so the partners have really invested their money wisely. Imran had treated his son Ibrahim to a special hair style and was sporting the Nike Swoop cut into the side of his head, which of course means “Just do it” which I thought was very apt as the loft can now add the big one to their list of achievements.
Just six miles over to the north west is the loft of Ken Wise in Isleworth and after leaving the young bird winners I made my way over as he had timed a two year old hen to win the Old Hens race and he had also timed a young bird which was third open so he too had a very good race. “To be fair” said Imran Malik “Ken really sets his hens up for the Nationals, and his young bird was also 8th Open BICC from Guernsey a couple of weeks ago so he should be proud”. Indeed, he is and he would like to thank his long standing friend Dick Evans for breeding him the young bird. Dick had bought a very special pigeon from Peter Veenstra and sent a daughter down for Ken to race which has certainly proven her quality, being twice in the top eight competing in major young bird races.
Ken has had pigeons from Myrtle Lofts for many years and all his own birds are bred around those with one very special bird being the grandfather of his loft. He had bought a young bird direct from “Shadow” in 2006 which do not travel too well during the delivery and when it arrived Ken thought he was going to lose him. But he turned himself around after a couple of days which earned him the name “Shadow of Death” and he went on to breed winners from the first nest at all levels right up to National and Open Races. His winning hen “De 376” is a double granddaughter of “Shadow of Death” with “Champion Shadow”, “De Bandiet”, “Comick Girl”, “Rolls Royce”, “Queen of Diamonds”, “Benetton”, "One so wonderful" and “Mistress” in her pedigree plus her dam won 1st SW Sect 1st Open London South East CC and won a RPRA Award in the London Region for best young bird.
He races his old hens on a roundabout system but as room is tight, he adapted the system to suit his requirements. A long aviary about a metre wide runs the full length of his loft with plastic sheeting attached to prevent the birds seeing each other when out for exercise. Just inside the section he has built two cupboards, one either side of the entrance to the nest box section, in which he places the hens when the cocks come in to prevent contact during the week although for this last race, they were paired and sent sitting eggs. He saw this system being used at Dave and John Hawkins loft and is an ideal solution in a small loft set up. In 2018 he was 1st sect, 2nd Open N.F.C. Old Hens from Coutances with an inbred “Champion Shadow” pigeon and 1st sect 2nd Open B.I.C.C. Old Hens from Guernsey with an inbred “Jester” & “Carrie” pigeon from his direct M & D. Evans bloodlines. Ken Wise and Team Ace would like to thank everyone involved in organising the race.

News and views to me Chris Sutton on 01530 242548 or 07792 356330 email .

1st Open Malik & Khan, Tolworth

1st Open Malik & Khan, Tolworth

1st Open Malik & Khan, Tolworth

1st Open Malik & Khan, Tolworth

1st Open Malik & Khan, Tolworth

1st Open Malik & Khan, Tolworth

1st Open K Wise, Isleworth

1st Open K Wise, Isleworth

1st Open K Wise, Isleworth

1st Open K Wise, Isleworth

1st Open K Wise, Isleworth

The final race of the season for the National Flying Club was held from Coutances on the 7th September and the Convoyer reported that he arrived on site at 3:30pm on the day before, with the birds settled in place for the liberation. By early morning the rain had cleared as predicted by our weather advisers and at 6am, whilst the sun was rising, they prepared for a liberation. Winds were north westerly and as some members birds would have a ten hour flight, the liberation took place at 8am local time into a clear blue sky. Visibility in the channel was also clear and with sea temperatures in early September being warmer than the rest of the year, he had no doubts that the birds would cross in large batches. Dom said a huge thanks must go to all concerned in the liberations and the information he receives from various NFC members willing to be available in the early hours to assist him. My personal thanks go to those who help me to compile these reports by sending in the information by email for each section.

Section A

I was pleased to see that Darren May, who has collated the information for section A all season, was rewarded by winning first section in the young bird race. Racing as Mr & Mrs May & Son of “MAY PIGEONS” He said “he is a lovely checker cock whose sire is one of our top racing cocks “Bullseye” who won three 1st and two 3rd Federation and is a grandson of May Pigeons super sire ‘Spiderman’. His dam is a granddaughter of Danny Van Dyck’s ‘Kanon’, and is a half sister to one of our best racing cocks ‘652’ which won 1st federation four times, 1st Combine and RPRA Southern Region Sprint Award. This youngster is a darkness baby raced to the perch and had been raced in every inland race beforehand. His nest mate also won 2nd Southcoast Federation on the same day. Mr & Mrs Kevin Cooper from Liss was second with D Turner in Dorking third. Fourth was P Fyfield, from Bordon with an unpaired hen bred from a pair of 09 pigeons. The dam was from his Eric Tate originals from Ash and the sire was from good friend Mick Tuck, which was gifted to him in 2008. He got 3 out of 4 on the day which was especially pleasing with as it was his national A ring which he always put on a young bird from this pair. Fifth section was Mr & Mrs Brian Wall in Bedhampton.
Winning the old hens race was Tony Baughen for the second year running. As an OAP Tony has to be selective about what big races he competes in and the old hens national is the one that gets most of his focus each year. His winning pigeon is a blue Koopman natural hen that was sitting on a three day old youngster when she was basketed. The sire and dam of the 2016 hen were a gift from Tom Powers for the help that Tony gave when Tom was moving to a new house. As Tony only has a small set up all the pigeons have to race including the parents of the winner and as it happens her mother arrived back at the loft a few minutes later. Tony would like to congratulate all of the winners in this race. Second were Mr & Mrs May & Son of May Pigeons with a yearling hen which has raced the entire OB channel season this year and was raceing to a 3 day old baby. Her sire is a direct son of “Supersire Spiderman” when paired to a direct daughter of ‘Nieuwe Olympiade’ of Leo Heremans and her Dam is granddaughter of May Pigeons ‘Supersire Spiderman’ Third was D Roberts with Fred Hall and daughters fourth followed by D Turner in Fifth.

Section B

In section B, another member who has been a great help all season topped his section. Bill Edwards always sends me a very comprehensive report and this time he said “It gives me great pleasure to report that myself, Bill Edwards and partner Pat Harris had the first bird in Section B and 8th Open. We would like to congratulate the winners, Malik & Khan on a superb performance, and all the prize winners. We would like to thank Gary Moody who bred our section winner, a Blue Van den Bulck cock from two Grandchildren of Kittle. We were lucky enough to draw him as a Breeder Buyer in the local 100 club and he flew in the very hard Guernsey race returning a week later, his next race was the National. He was flown on darkness to the perch and we expected it to be a testing race with the liberation in our opinion being at least an hour too early for youngsters at this stage of the season but he came on a straight line from due South, off the water to be the first bird clocked in the country and for quite a while was leading the field. Taking second place is former Langstone Gold Cup winner Kalvin Legg. Kalvin clocked a Blue hen, bred down through birds from Kenny Wearn and contains the blood of Brian Denny and Mark Gilbert. She was raced on Darkness and sent sitting, having laid her first egg on Tuesday and Kalvin slipped another 2 pot eggs under her for extra motivation knowing that she would lay her second egg in the basket, which obviously worked. Third is top Pompey flyer Jason Ross and in fourth is another top Pompey flyer and no stranger to the top of the National and Classic results, Dave Waterhouse. Dave would like to congratulate all the winners in what turned out to be a very testing race. His bird is a blue Leo Herman’s cock sent sitting 5 day eggs and fed on Super Power Widowhood corn. Dave is moving to a new location and will be having an Auction sale at the Epsom show in October where there will be some available the same way bred as his timer. Winning fifth Section B is the hard working and most respected husband and wife partnership of Claire and Martin Norman from Southampton. They are secretaries of the CSCFC, the BBC and are also an integral part of the Southampton NFC marking team. Claire and Martin had a very good race, timing 4 of their 6 entries within 34 minutes and finished with 5 of their 6 entries home. The chequer white flight cock that was clocked first had already been 9th section CSCFC Guernsey and flown Fougeres with the BBC. He was bred by Roger Lowe and is a son of one of his top widowhood cocks that has 6 top positions in National and Classic races, the best being 2nd section 5th open CSCFC Messac and contains the bloodlines of “New Laureaat” “My Little Diamond” “Harry” and Raw de Sablon. Their youngsters have performed with distinction this year taking 1st, 2nd, 5th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th Section in National and Classic racing and in the BBC Fougeres YB National 5 positions in the top 84.
For the old hens race 1st section B, 8th open is Buddy Ship of Portsmouth. Buddy clocked a 2 year old Blue Kees Bosua daughter of “Ray” that had been 1st Open BBC twice. She was sent sitting eggs being re-paired having won the 100 club and 3rd BBC Fougeres earlier in the season while separated. Second is Elvin Booth from Gosport. Elvin would like to congratulate all the winners, both old hens and young birds. Elvin’s bird is one that was gifted to him by his uncle, Brian Woods of Shaftsbury when he started in the sport 2 years ago. She is a blue Vandenabeele that has been lightly raced this season with the old hen’s races being her target. He lost her mate mid-season and she spurned any attempt to pair until recently and was sent to the race sitting 3 days on eggs. Third is Cyril Hallet from Portsmouth who clocked a Blue white flight hen bred by Armstrong, Shergold, Johnson and Moon from Sunderland and was sent sitting 14 days on eggs, he would like to congratulate all the prize winners and to thank Georgie Willett for taking his birds to the Marking. Fourth were the Grand National winning partnership of Jimmy Wearn and Eric Neilson of Ramsdean and fifth is the Holbury lofts of Keith Davison. Keith clocked a 2yo Blue hen bred from Willy Jacob’s Jansen stock and has previously taken 3rd Portland and 7th Section Guernsey OH, CSCFC.

Section C

In section C Mel and Sue King once again took the top spot for the 39th time with a Caseart X Vandenabeele. Sire is a grandson of “Nasdaq” bred by them from stock loaned by Brian Goodwin. The dam is “Electra” herself winner of 2ndOpen C.S.C.F.C YB beaten by loftmate and is the dam of amongst others, 1st Section, 5th Open N.F.C Tarbes. G Dam 1st Section 1stOpen B.I.C.C Le Mans 2019 and is G daughter of “Shadow” 100% M & D Evans Vandenabeele. They also won fifth section with their second bird and would like to congratulate the winners Malik & Khan. Second and third places go to Danny Lanahan with a half brother to his CSCFC winner from Coutances earlier this year, it was his fifth race and he has been his first pigeon the last three races. Unfortunately, he doesn’t trap to well and is normally clocked behind loft mates and on this occasion it took three minutes to get through the bob wires. His second pigeon taking 3rd section was bred by a fancier in Lier market who also bred his section winner in the CSCFC YB race from Coutances last year. “It’s my second year with young birds and I think they have flown well. I don’t race on the dark or widowhood, just let them run together completely natural. Next year I will be trying the darkness system for the first time so am excited to see if it really is as good as everyone tells me. The 12th and final race for my youngsters will be the Thames national Messac next week. I will then be concentrating on getting the birds through the moult and into condition ready for the open shows held by John Gerard at the Upton Working Men’s Club in Poole. John is also taking bookings now for his trip to Belgium next year” Neville & Diana Spracklen was fourth and a huge thanks goes to them for all their help this season. Sixth is John Halstead of Gillingham with a chequer white flighted cock on the darkness system and sitting eggs. He was bred from a son of “Nyland Ashley” 2nd Open Barcelona 2008 mated with a daughter of “Nyland Maurice” 1st Open BBC Palamos and took 1st Club 12th Dorset Fed 993 birds 2 weeks earlier. It was Neville and Diana Spracklen who won the section in the old hens race and said they would like to congratulate the winners of both National races and the section winners. They clocked a granddaughter of “Southfield Supreme” from their super breeder “Golden Wonder” and this is the 6th section winner to come from him. The mother is a daughter of Roger Lowe’s “My Little Diamond” and they are looking forward to racing her next year as this was only her third race. Second and fourth was Mike Staddon from Crewkerne with John Halstead third and fifth. John takes 3rd Section C with a blue Vandenabeele yearling hen sitting a 6 day old baby. She was 11th Section 96th Open a fortnight earlier in the CSCFC Guernsey and had shown her ability during the old bird season winning 1st Club Yelverton and 5th Club Carentan. Fifth Section was a chequer yearling hen granddaughter of Ashley also sitting a small baby and having been 21st Section 120th Open from CSCFC Guernsey. Seventh Section was a 3 year old chequer hen which had been 2nd Section from BBC Fougeres the previous week and had actually won 1st Section NFC old hens in 2017.

Section D

R Goodier & Sons won section D who said “I am over the moon with winning section D NFC Coutances YB which was a hard race for us in Devon & Cornwall, the bird timed was a chequer cock raced on the darkness system. His Sire is my Breeder/Buyer winner from 2018 which was bred by Karl Page, Plymouth and the Dam was a daughter of our 1st Section D NFC Saintes winner. He has been a consistent bird for us this year and came back with plenty left in the tank. All youngsters are fed on Versle Laga corns to suit the up and coming race” Second was Alan Phillips with a blue hen is off his Alan Newton of Wales cock and a hen from Daniel Hocking, she was flying to the perch but was showing up to a cock and pairing up in the corner. She has also won club positions inland prior to Coutances. Third was Chris Williams with a dark chequer cock which was a gift from Andrew Mabin and Chris would like to thank him very much. He was especially pleased because this bird had not really shown any from on the inland programme and has been his last bird for the last two races. Fourth was Mr & Mrs J McClements with a chequer cock bred down from their 2018 1st Open Cholet winner and 2019 3rd Open winner from Messac, he was sent chasing a hen to nest. Fifth was A W Harwood from Sidmouth who had a great race clocking 7 out of his 10 entries. This youngster was a daughter of Alan's 3rd Section NFC Cholet this year who in turn where from eggs gifted to Alan by John Halstead, Gillingham for which he is very grateful.
Old Hens section D winner Tony Churchill was over the moon winning the section from Coutances with his fancied hen. Its great end to which has been a tough year health wise for Tony. The hen was bred by fellow club member Richard Goodier and is of his Vandenabeele x Jos Thone family and was sent showing up to a cock and has been consistent all year. Second was Simon Cordery who clocked a Roland Janssen hen which won the section from this race last year so close to making it a double. She was sent sitting 14 day eggs and is a great channel racer. Duncan Kittow was third and fourth with a bird bred from a 17th Open French YB Derby winner paired to gift hen via John and Lou McGee who ran the Derby for several years before returning to England. Fifth was Mike Henley with a Aarden Van Roy, a gift from Tony and Mary of Ponderosa Stud, which was sent sitting 14 days on eggs and paired to a young cock. Mike had given up watching for his single entry and had closed the loft, he was in the greenhouse when she landed and he caught her outside on the drinker. This hen was missing four and a half weeks from the bad NFC Fougeres race this year.

Section E

Section E saw the winners of the young bird race taking the first two positions with their Jan Hooyman pigeons and Ken Wise, winner of the Old Hens race being third. Alan & Gary Young were fourth and Steven Buckle from Northwood in fifth place. Second section Old Hens was John Donovan & son with a hen sent showing to a young cock. She is bit of a loose woman as he lost her original cock the weekend of the 1st BICC any age race from Guernsey and she had been sulking for 10 days and wasn’t interested in anything at all until another young cock showed an interest and her manner changed completely. She was 101st open from the BICC Any Age race and has had a number of channel races this season being amongst the earlier pigeons to the loft on several occasions. She has been sent unpaired to all her races until the young cocks started to mature. Her sire is a Widowhood cock bred down from the Bullen Families “Reggies Boy” the Dam is a granddaughter of Matt Rakes “Indy”. Third was Laz Gorman who would like to thank Kevin and Christopher Rooney of County Down, Northern Ireland for breeding him this Jef Luyten’s pigeon. Roger Lowe was Fourth with Terry Hadley fifth.

Section F

In section F Mr & Mrs S Guy from Tadley took top spot with J & P Parker clocking three close together to take second, third and fourth with NFC winners Steve & Dee Wiggins from Basingstoke taking fifth position with a young blue cock whose sire is “Wiggo’s Mr Blue” which is also the sire of their NFC Cholet winner. His dam is a direct Stefaan Lambrechts and they are looking forward to race 2020 with their new bloodlines. They would like to say well done to Malik & Khan on the great race they had and all of the section winners. Simon Hughes won the old hens and also fifth with hens he had prepared the especially for CSCFC race from Guernsey where he won 1st section 27th Open and for this race, they were sent on 3-5 day squabs. They were in super condition so did expect another good race from them but as time ticked by, his ETA of 4 ½ hours passed so he thought his chance had gone. The winning bird is bred down from his great stock hen “26” being a great granddaughter, the sire is a very good racer having some good performances in Classic and National racing, the dam is a De Klak hen from Ron Crook. B Sherman and S Wells second and fourth. Kieron Marcham was third.

Section G

Winning section G was S S Whittle in Bristol who would like to say well done to Malik and Khan on winning the race. Winning their section has put the icing on the cake as they have had 9 firsts, topped the Bristol federation and won the West of England combine this year. Their winning pigeon is bred from Syndicate Loft on the sires side and Van de Bulk via Mickey Collins for the dam. They would like to thank Peter Fox and Mickey Collins for the top class pigeons and Country Wide for their great selection of corn. Second was R & R Wilton from Street with C & J Howse from Devizes third. Fourth was Mr & Mrs D Peart in Gloucester and S Moseley won fifth position with a youngster bred from a blue Wildemeersh x Frans Zwols with the dam being off of the granddaughter and grandson of Brian Milkins' National winner "Ted". The old hens winner was W G Harris with Mr & Mrs Kerr second and third their fird bird was a yearling blue cheq hen sitting 18 day old young birds. She had earlier been 17th Open CSCFC Guernsey sitting the same young birds. The partners had sent six old hens to the race and had them all on the day. They have four birds in the top 10 of the Section and two of the four are grand-children of the partnership’s remarkable hen “Champion Izzy”. 2nd Section was bred from a son of “Izzy” who had scored in the CSCFC Bergerac races, paired to a Cooper hen bred by club-mate Alen Gibb. She is a half-sister to “Izzy” being from “Izzy’s” grand-father paired to “Izzy’s” mother. All of the Kerr’s entries had flown on roundabout for all of the West of England Combine and all of the NFC races except Tarbes. Fourth was Nigel Templer with a two year old widowhood hen which was trained and raced with the young birds after he lost her partner racing. Her sire is a direct son of my Gerrit Lahuis pair responsible for many prize winners, when he was paired to a hen called "The One and Only" as she is from a son of the “Olympaide 003”, when paired to a daughter of the "Blue Euro Hen" Nigel would like to congratulate the winners of both young bird and old birds in a sticky race, well done. Fourth was M Hathway with Mr & Mrs D Peart fifth.

Section H

In section H C Crick and Son from Stotfold won the first three positions with their first being bred by Nigel Templar of Bristol and purchased at the Epsom spring show in the RP Breeder/Buyer Auction. He has performed well winning two club races this year and being beaten by loft-mates in two other club races. Their second and third pigeons are both Coreman hens which have been consistent performers through the season. Dexter Thomas came fourth who said it was a good tough race although he did think the northly wind was going to be too tough for the young birds. But just a couple of minutes later “one popped out of the sky” which he thought was magic. She is half sister to his 2014 section winner “Lucky Star” which is from Peter van de Merwe bloodlines. Danny Pullman in Stony Stratford was fifth. The Old Hens race was won by Jack Ramm with a yearling bred by stock off of Chris Smith in Chesterfield and has already won twice this year. First from Vire being 7th Federation and then from Fougeres being 13th Federation. From Nort Sur Edere he was 2nd club 15th Federation. Second was R Eccles & Son with a yearling blue hen was having her first race flying to a perch in the young bird section of the loft. She was bred from a pigeon they bought at the bereavement sale of K.Hine, which is a J.Shepherd x M.Gilbert. The mother is a Herman Cuestar who is a granddaughter of Jackpot. Third was Andy Talmer with a hen that was originally purchased by M. Brighton of East Yorkshire as a youngster and is M. Westrope bloodlines. She ended up in my garden following a smash young bird race from Buckingham and finally entered my loft after three days. She was transferred over to me and had one race as a yearling. This season she had three races before this, her first time over the channel and was sent sitting 10 days. A special thanks to Saffron Walden marking station, especially Chris Patmore and John Searle your work is very much appreciated. Fourth place went to Danny Pullman who races a small team of pigeons. “I normally over winter just twelve pairs which is made up of five stock pairs and seven pairs of racers which I race natural. My friends of 25 years Robert and Mac Mckillwrick of Spilsby, only race Widowhood cocks and without doubt are the best widowhood flyers that I have had the privilege to race against, but I have found through experience that my hens can race just as well as my cocks if motivated right. These two hens are half sisters and my young hen that finished fifth section is the daughter of my first old hen timed. This current team of pigeons I have had for over twenty five years and are selected totally on performance birds, buying winners I can afford which are paired winner to winner. Just one other point is that I race in the Milton Keynes SRFC in the mid Northants fed and in my club I have two of the hardest fliers to beat. Their names are Barry Graham, Secretary who is also in the NFC and John Cave who is in the Midland National. I rarely beat them as me and John are the most westerly fanciers in our Federation. I hope this is not too much info but I would like to thank you again and hope that this isn't the last time I have the pleasure of doing well in the NFC as the last time I flew in the National was nearly twenty years ago due to work pressure and working away from home for Aston Martin as a senior team leader of special projects for twenty seven years. I retired from my part-time work a year ago to concentrate on my pigeons” Fifth were Rusted & Hayward from Baldock.

Section I

In section I Mr & Mrs R Stretton & Daughter from Rugeley took top spot with R J Perrott and Son second. Third was R M Taylor in Warley with Lourens Londt fourth with a blue hen he bred from his new stock via two top national flyers Geff Kirkland and Arthur Jones. Fifth was K L Elstone in Armitage near Rugeley. S Walton won the old hens race and also came third with Mr & Mrs J Passey second, fourth and sixth. M Wilson & Daughter from Nottingham came fifth with T & J Mather and S Haywood seventh. They timed a hen which was third section 14th open old hens BBC Fougeres the previous week. For this race she was on a five day old youngster and her wing position was only four primary’s left to moult. She was bred by Andrew McNaughton from Ireland.

Section J

The President of the National Flying Club Mr Ray Scriven topped section J and the same weekend he took second place in the Hurst Hill Breeder Buyer race from Carentan winning £2400. Second was Mr & Mrs Nigel Shaw with a young bird bred out of Paul Macaloneys stock. She has been very consistent all season and is wearing a NFC gold ring. Third place went to Oliver Knowles in Kidderminster with a crossed Van De Rhee which have bred them numerous winners over the years. This season they have won 7 out of the 8 young bird races in their club and four 1st federations plus the Federation Breeder Buyer. J & B Oakley were fourth with a hen bred directly from their number one stock pair of Wildermeersch which are responsible for over four generations of winners right up to section level in the national. This original pair were purchased as latebreds from the Woodfield Wizard Mr Derrick jones in 2010. She has shown good previous form being in the first kit to the loft the last few weeks taking club and fed positions. W Whitehouse from Dudley was fifth. B Harris & Son won the section in the old hens race with a blue hen which was bred from a Van De Merwe/Doesch cock paired to a Frans and Annie Van Pinxteren, De Klak/Van Loon/Gus Hofkens hen. This cross seems to work for tehm as a similar pairing bred their hen that won 2nd open 1st section J in last year’s Young Bird National. They were fortunate to be using ETS as helping to unload shopping they missed the hen arriving. They sent four old hens to the race getting them all back on the day but did not clock any of the seven young birds on the day. Thanks to all the markers at Alveley and the convoyers and race controllers who carry out a thankless job looking after the birds. Second was C Gough, who said “Congratulations to all winners on a testing day. My yearling chequer hen was bred by Andrew Gibbs of Stourport and as a youngster she flew three channel races in just over a month, completing a total of seven hundred miles. She was sent to the race feeding a twelve day old youngster, her first of the year and I had eight out of ten back in the day” Ray Scriven was third and fourth with his first being Cattrees family and been consistent all year. His second bird is from his Chris Preece family and sister to the first being only second apart as Ray found them both in the loft not timed as ETS pad did not work, so they had to be caught and placed over the pad in the young bird section. Fourth was Louis Yemm with Pete Barlow fifth.

Section K

Pete Howson won section K for the second time this season and proves "the apple never falls far from the tree" as his YB Section K winner is a daughter of his 1st Sigogne Section K winner when paired to his car winner! Pete had a good day with his returns as he got three on the day and three the next day, making a full house. Second and fourth was John Woods and this is the third race this season that John has appeared in the top 5 in Section K. This time his first pigeon is a Broeckz x Harthogs, his second is a Bosher x Rudy Desane. This is the second time this season that this particular bloodline has appeared near the top for John. Third and fifth section was L & S Gash who after having a good old bird session inland and across the water, they concentrated on the young birds which found their feet after a shaky start. Following a good show in the club and federation they decided to choose twenty to enter into the NFC where they managed to get 3rd section 23rd open and 5th section 31st open. Their first bird was out of their stock loft from a pigeon brought at Andy Newton’s entire clearance sale and a pigeon kindly gifted by Barry & Peter Winters. The second bird was out of the race birds and after all the positions we have had this year in the NFC, they are just missing that 1st place and the partnership of L&S Gash hope to do it in the near future. John McCall won first and second in the old hens after he had decided to choose four hens to continue racing with the young birds in preparation for this race. They were repaired to old cocks and was sent sitting 10-12 day old youngsters. His first timer is from direct Mark Bulled “Red Bull” lines and has won at this distance before. These have been fantastic pigeons from mark and John usually gets one or two each year to try. His second pigeon was sent as a kit of test pigeons from a guy on pigeon chat in 2017. This is the only one left but has flown well at channel every year. Steven light from Conisbrough was third with R & J Hardy fourth timing a three year old hen sent sitting 10-day old eggs, which has been previously flown on the roundabout system for the main old bird season. She was their first bird home from the Club Le Mans race, and she was bred off a cock which they had bought from Doug Shaw's sale for £2! Previous birds from this cock have topped the mid-Yorkshire Combine from Poitiers. In fifth place was Catch & Cartwright with a Vandenabeele hen which was sent to this race sitting 14 days and her preparation was as follows. Having been rested since the OB season finished, this hen had 2 x 15-mile training chucks and was then sent to Newbury before this National race.

Section L

Long term NFC Committee man Gerry Clements from Manchester topped section L with a blue hen whose sire won 5th section L 13th open NFC Ancensis, 3rd section L 52nd open NFC Coutances, 4th section L 96th open NFC Messac, 1st Lancs & York 4 bird club Messac, 2nd Eccles 2 bird Ancensis, 2nd Lanc & York 4 bird club Ancensis, 3rd Eccles 2 bird club Messac, 180th National Fougeres, 4th Lancs & York 4 bird Coutances, 5th Eccles 2 bird, 4th Lancs Social Circle Messac and his pedigree is packed with National performances of “Topstar” X & L Verstraete, De Graeve van Geert, Van den Driesshe. The dam is De Graeve van Geert x Chris Gordon. Second section L was Bruno Pollastretti with a youngster out of his family of Staff Van Reets crossed with distance pigeons Hagan/Brugman gifted from good friend John Wolfenden. Third were R & B Smith, flying 308 miles with a young bird bred by their great friend Gerry Clements with who they exchanged six young birds and still had all six when this hen went to this race, proving the outstanding class of birds Gerry keeps. This hen was raced on darkness then paired to be sent feeding a 10-day old youngster and she had her first race at the beginning of August. She was their equal first bird at Frome finishing 6th club. All our young birds were well trained and fed on a mixture of young bird mix widowhood racing mix with some fat mixture added. Her Sire was 11th section 295th open & 12th section 60th open, both performances as yearling before Hawked and put to stock. Grand Dam was 1st section 25th open NFC Falaise, 1st RPRA award over 250miles, sister to 1st section 79th open Carentan National 1st border Amal plus other performances and the dam of 6th open RPRA final one loft. Fourth was Henry Grey with a Van Loon Hen bred by George Church which was raced on Darkness System then paired natural. Henry would like to say thanks to George for the gift pigeon. Fifth was J B Newson & Son with a blue hen which has raced every week and was just pairing up before the National race. Its breeding is a Busschaert x Wildermeerch from original introductions via Derek Pedley from Fleetwood, which I have had for over 30 years. The sire won two 2nd and one x 3rd inland last year and then won the Lancashire Social Circle Fougeres race this year. The dam is a pigeon bought from Roger Sutton from Astbury near Congleton a number of years ago which has produced winning pigeons. The old hens race was won by Kevin Tagell who timed a two year old Van Reet Janssen x Willy Thas, originating from T.Hulme x Jan Aldut both from Sandbach. She flew as a YB 385th open, but then unraced used only used as widowhood hen until this year when she was kept with young birds and prepared for race with young bird team. Second was Alan Parker who has recently returned to the sport. His first bird was a yearling hen which has been over the channel five times and sent rearing youngsters. Her sire is a grandson of “Chippo” and her dam was a stray pigeon gifted by Tim Webster of Chorley from a grandson of “Euro Diamond” x Vandenabeele. Past NFC Old Hens winner Roger Sutton was third with Bruno Pollastretti fourth with a Hagen out of Serena lines again bred by John Wolfenden, friend and new partner next season. They have been very consistent over the channel and Bruno would like to thank John and George for all their help. Fifth was K & M Cliffe who timed a hen bred from a Brackenier pigeon. Grandsire of the Den Dax super breeder for Oscar and Koan Brackenier which is sire to Shrek 1 & 2, 2nd national, 5th international Dax also the sire of Little Dax winner of the 1st national Brieve. The grandsire, 1st grandson of the Super Ludo Duivin, mother of countless national and international winners. The grand dam is a daughter of the Ludo Biek super breeder of the Ludo Frans, 2nd national and 5th national and the Blue Ludo 1st national Narbonne and numerous other great national and international pigeons. One similar way bred was 15th Open Saintes National, 518 miles winning over £1300.00 for them approximately four years ago. The dam is pure Dave Impet of Blackpool. Super distance flier from ring numbers GB09J02624 sire of GB09J02642. The photograph shows Ken, my eighty-six-year-old father, holding the hen now named Pork Pie and my wife Nichola. Nichola has done most of the work around the home with the birds and deserves credit.

Section N

Dave McSween & Jim Sexton of Sunderland were 1st & 2nd Section N in the youngbird race with the only two birds timed in race time. They certainly set their stall out for this race, which is a must when flying 402 miles. Their family of birds are no strangers to success when tackling this distance with young birds. This year’s winner is from the section winner of the same race three years ago & their second bird is from last year’s section winner. Brian Wiemer & Son of Hartlepool were 1st 4th 5th & 7th Section N with their own family of “Van Wiemers”. Their winner is a 6yo Kirkpatrick White Grizzle Hen sent on her first young of the season. Allan & Carol Walker of Stockton were 2nd Section N with a yearling hen through John Logan of Hetton's Tammy Blair Aardens. which actually came as daylight faded. Third was Mc Sween & Sexton.Only two birds got home on the day of the liberation in section N.

Section P

Winning the Young birds in section P is V Belcher and son (Loft 2) from Plumstead, also 19th open with a Stephan Lambrechts bred from James Parker stock, which topped a great weekend for the two Belcher lofts with them coming close to winning one of the BICC races. Second was Gladwin, Jarvis and family from Leigh on sea, here’s what John had to say about their race “Firstly I would like to say well done to all the winners it was a tough days racing and all birds that made it deserve a perch. My first bird was a Formula 1 lofts Frans Zwols which scored in the first BICC YB race and was second federation the week before from Honition. The sire is a 2017 pigeon I bred for stock being direct from the “Prince of Rekkem” and “Dreamy”. This pair are responsible for four national winners in the last three seasons. Dam of my first bird was also bred for stock in 2017 and is direct from “Brother Frans” and a daughter of “Tip Top Junior” and the “Queen of Rekkem” Third section is David Coward Talbot from Chelmsford with a blue hen which has already been his first pigeon on a couple of occasions from club racing. Her Sire is bred by Steve Foster and is very inbred to Sagan of Patrick Boeckx. His sire Belg 507 son of Sagan x Belg 064 full sister to Sagan. His Dam is Belg 522 her sire is Mealy Sagan direct son of Sagan x sister of Kittel when paired to Belg 054 full sister to Sagan. Fantastic breeding of the Patrick Boeckx lines. The Dam is pure Maurice Hasendonckx down from Zomerjong x a daughter of Ziggy this pedigree full of high performance pigeons. Fourth section is Micky Watts from Southminster. Micky has a tradition of hitting these mid to end of season races hard, and with a lot of success. The pigeon Micky timed is one bred for him by club mate Jonathan Cowlin and is from his Zwols family. She had shown previous form in both club and fed this young bird season. David Coward Talbot had the next two positions with the Jutla brothers seventh timing a really well bred blue hen scoring for the first time but same way bred as some top pigeons. The sire is a son of Vandenabeele’s Rudi and the mother is a daughter of the New Kittel.

In the Old Hens race, the leading pigeon in section P was flown by Mr and Mrs Alan Truelove from Canterbury “the hen has had a quiet life as I have only raced hens in the NFC old hens race in the last two years. They are in with the youngbirds and the first trainer is when they start training also being on the darkness. She went training with the club to Blandford and has been coming well and was sent to the national sitting 3 day old youngsters. Her breeding is Phillipe Fredericks on the sires side, the line of Le Crack 40 and Super Sonique, the dams side is also Le Crack 40 as well as Calimero 2nd Ace Sprint Provincial. I started to get confidant about her when her nest mate Yul Bruner won 7 races in 7 weeks so maybe should be breeding more from the parents, but I only have a small set up with 15 cocks and 30 young birds so only sent the two old hens. Both returned in good condition as did the youngsters as it was a hard race so well done the team” Second was Mark Bulled “I timed a four year old Staf Van Reet bred by Mark Sands. She is a barren hen but had taken to some eggs so I gave her a small baby to hold her moult. This was her 9th channel race this year and she is always consistent, she was provisionally 25th BICC Fougeres the week before and was my only entry” Third are Trevor and Adrian Wilson who said “We are both very pleased with our third section win for our single entry yearling blue hen ‘Nice Surprise’ She is a very consistent little hen winning as a young bird, 1st Yeovil, 2nd Yeovil, 3rd Blandford, 6th section NFC Coutances, 26th open B.I.C.C Guernsey. This year 6th Honington, 14th section B.B.C Fougeres, 6th section NFC Massac, 7th section NFC Cholet. After young bird racing, she was repaired and bred a pair of babies, she went back into training 2 weeks ago in preparation for this race! Well done to all section winners, we think it was a day for the good birds to show” Fourth section is Micky Watts who had a mishap with a basket of hens for this race, but the flap came undone they escaped except for this one which went to Coutances, the other hens on return were rebasketed and sent to the BICC race. Mick timed one of this Vandenabeele hens scoring for the first time. Fifth is G & M Truelove from Canterbury, Jeff is the father of Alan, previously mentioned, and part of a greater Truelove family in and around Canterbury. Jeff timed a hen from the Red Barcelona lines of Jos Thone which came from 2 pairs from John Searle. Jeff is very much into enjoying the pigeons for a hobby and it was refreshing to talk to someone who enjoys the sport for what it is. Well done.

Section Q

My thanks to Perry Liddle who sent me his comprehensive reports for section Q all season “Leading the way with 1st Section Q, was Roy Mears of Bude RPC who timed his good mealy Bricoux hen to record 642ypm. Roy told me that this hen has been raced in the local Bude Club with the Devon South Road out to Chale and has been really reliable, being his nomination bird every week and in the clock on each occasion. She was purchased from the Natural Breeding Station and Roy explained that he has had a long association with the Bricoux strain going back to the 1960’s when he obtained a few pairs from Mr. Webster of Bodmin. Nowadays, likes to obtain a few Bricoux each year from the Natural Breeding Station, because they are such a beautiful type who really try to get home. Considering how consistent this hen has proved, she could be one to watch in the future. Hearty congratulations to Roy on behalf of the Cornish Fancy. Second and third are Lee Luscombe and Mr and Mrs Steve Wright, flying to Lee’s address in Roche who clocked their birds to record 594, 576 and 377ypm. Being bred by Steve and Lesley at the House of Aarden, as one would expect, these three youngsters are beautifully bred, literally soaked in the best modern-day Jan Aarden bloodlines. First in the clock was a blue w/f hen, a granddaughter of Padfield’s Blue Badge, Padfield’s Iron Lady, De Cas and a daughter of De Cas. Second was a chequer pied hen, the granddaughter of Padfield’s Gareth, Steve’s Favourite, a great breeding hen, grandmother of 3x National winners (who is a daughter of Padfield’s Invincible and marvellous stock hen Invincible Joop 84, who is also grandmother of 3x National winners), Black Rico and Black Rico’s Daughter. Finally, they clocked a blue chequer w/f, beautifully line-bred to the Barcelona Champion New Laureaat being from a son of Jelle Man when paired to his own daughter when paired to a daughter of Young Laureaat when paired to his own daughter. Considering the excellent young bird returns that the partnership have enjoyed flying with the NFC and the Devon South Road, they will certainly have a powerful team of yearlings for next year. Fourth was R. Williams and D. Paterson of Helston who timed their blue cheq w/f cock doing 393ypm. This youngster is bred from well tried bloodlines, being an eclectic blend of Gerrit Lahuis, Milkins Champion Stock pair, Kannibaal and Nigel Templar’s lines. This youngster was having his third race having previously flown Okehampton and Exeter with the Cornish Combine. Leading the way with 1st Section old hens was Harry Searle of Penzance RPC who timed his good yearling blue chequer hen to record 245ypm. Harry told me that this hen is bred down from a long line of Bricoux and Kirkpatrick based pigeons that have worked well over the years. The sire being the Unrung Cock, a Bricoux from Tony Collingwood and the dam being a Bricoux – Kirkpatrick cross obtained from Jack Trembath, that contained the line of Rob Roy as well as the best of the AR Hill Kirkpatrick’s, including a blue hen that flew Portsoy (535miles) on the day into Cornwall. After this good showing, Harry is hoping that he has a good one for the future, congratulations to Roy on behalf of the Cornish Fancy.

Section W

First section W was Derek Jones in Wrexham with S & B Cooke second. They timed a blue cock having his fifth race of the season of Herman Ceuster x Van Loon bloodlines. The sire was bred by Alan Maull from Olympiad 003 lines and the dam bred by S & B Goulding in Liverpool direct from the "Minger" who’s racing and breeding record is up there with the very best. They would like to say well done to the Convoyers as the birds returned in good condition again plus Malik & Khan on winning the race. Mark Sparey from Abertillery won the next seven section positions, so had a great race. The old hens was won by D Jones of Wrexham who also took second and third with Mark Sparey in fourth place. M & L Bowen from Rhyl came fifth with Paul Dolton from Abergele in sixth place. He said “I got into pigeon racing four years ago through a good friend of mine Peter Hughes of Trefnant whom I'm sure many will know as he's been in the sport for years. The garden shed was converted into a small racing loft and Peter provided me with the birds and has guided me all the way through. Right from the onset it was obvious that the garden shed wasn't really the long term option and with the promise of a new summerhouse for my wife I got my new racing loft. Needless to say a stock loft later my wife's summerhouse has turned into the pigeon head quarters with all my baskets and other paraphernalia needed. I have raced with some reasonable results at fed level but have made many mistakes along the way and I'm still constantly pestering Peter for guidance. I joined the National Flying Club in 2018 and started racing this year with them. The old hen was a 2016 bird that came from Peter her father was a Van Loon cock the mother being a Wades hen. She raced this year from Messac but didn't time in, so I decided to try her again in the Coutances Old Hens. Having introduced some different blood into my stock I am looking forward to having a full race programme in the Nationals next year and can only hope that I get in the results again. No doubt I will be back on the phone to Peter. Well done Paul and I hope your success with the NFC continues in the future, Chris.

Planning for the new season in 2020 is already underway with the NFC Committee with the first meeting on the 23rd October in Alverley. News and Views to me Chris Sutton on 01530 242548 or 07792 356330 email

3rd Sec E - K Wise, Isleworth

5th Sec D - A W Harwood, Sidmouth

1st Sec B - Bill Edwards & Pat Harr...

2nd Sec L - Bruno Pollastretti, Hyd...

3rd Sec D - C Williams, Plymouth

1st Sec N - McSween & Sexton, Sunde...

1st Sec H - C Crick & Son, Stotfold

4th Sec B - Mr & Mrs D Waterhouse, ...

3rd Sec P - D Coward-Talbot, Chelms...

4th Sec H - D Thomas, Wellingboroug...

1st Sec L - A G Clements, Mancheste...

2nd Sec B - K & S.Legg & Sons, Por...

2nd Sec B - K & S.Legg & Sons Ports...

1st Sec E-Malik & Khan, Tolworth

1st Sec C-M A & S C King, Blandford...

4th Sec D-Mr & Mrs J McClements, Pl...

1st Sec A-Mr & Mrs May & Son, Chich...

4th Sec C-Neville & Diana Spracklen...

2nd Sec J-Mr & Mrs N Shaw, Crewe

4th Sec A-P Fyfield, Bordon

1st Sec J-R Scriven, Bridgnorth

1st Sec D-R Goodier & Sons, Marsh G...

2nd Sec W-S & B.Cooke, Wrexham

1st Sec G-S S Whittle, Bristol

5th Sec G-S Moseley, Bristol

3rd Sec K-L & S. Gash, Mansfield

3rd Sec E-K Wise, Isleworth

3rd Sec L-R & B Smith, Warrington

5th Sec D - A Phillips, Tiverton

1st Sec P - Mr & Mrs.A.Truelove, Ca...

2nd Sec N - Mr & Mrs Walker, Stockt...

3rd Sec H - Andy Talmer, Woburn

1st Sec J - B Harris & Son, Kidderm...

1st Sec N - Brian Wiemer & Son, Har...

1st Sec B - M Shipp, Portsmouth

2nd Sec J - C Gough, Shrewsbury

3rd Sec B - C Hallett, Portsmouth

4th Sec H - Mr.Danny Pullman, Milto...

2nd Sec B - Mr Elvin Booth, Gosport

3rd Sec C - Mr J P Halstead, Nr Gil...

1st Sec K - John McCall, Leeds

1st Sec E - K Wise, Isleworth

5th Sec L - K & M Cliffe, Congleton...

1st Sec I - Kevin Tagell, Congleton

3rd Sec F - Kieron Marcham, Hermita...

13th Sec B - K Davison, Southampton

1st Sec C - Neville & Diana Sprackl...

4th Sec G - N Templar, Bristol

2nd Sec H - R Eccles And Son, Baldo...

2nd Sec G - Mr & Mrs R Kerr, Glouce...

1st Sec F - S Hughes, Swindon

7th Sec I - T & J Mather & S.Haywoo...

1st Sec A - A J Baughen, Liphook

3rd Sec P - Trevor & Adrian Wilson,...

3rd Sec L - R & B Smith Warrington

Race Controller Mr Paul Hill wrote “The Coutances 2018 Young Bird & Old Hens were liberated at 8:00 am in a light Easterly wind, of approximately 5 miles per hour, in gloriously clear & bright Normandy French sunshine. Winds for the 2,546 Young Birds & 866 Old Hens were variable from East to South-East with a strength of 6 to 15 miles per hour, with the latter being in the channel but otherwise they should experience a good clean run home to Blighty.

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