NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan, Press Officer

Young Bird Coutances National 2016

Good afternoon folks, as I write this the last 2 races of the 2016 race programme for The National Flying Club have been and gone, and for better or worse that is your lot until May next year. This last race turned in to a bit of an epic even before the strings were cut, with the convoy being 6 days in the basket before the team got the window needed to get them up and away. Now, despite the fact that we should all take comfort from the knowledge that the birds were in the hands of the best in the business and on a state of the art transporter, there were very real concerns about the condition of the birds as the wait rolled on. Added to this was the real worry voice by many about there being 29 birds in the crates, which was within the guide lines for the size of the crates but perhaps in hind sight not ideal for the length of time they ended up being in the crates for. As you can imagine I speak to a lot of fanciers when doing the race reports and the overriding query was why we didn’t use the bigger transporter with more crates available and have fewer birds in a crate. This is not something I was or still am in a position to answer, but I can assure you it will be discussed by the committee when we reflect on the season at the next meeting in October.

I have written before about how if the wind is in your favour on the day you should ride your luck and if the opportunity allows it then fill your boots. Each season we see fanciers doing just this, and it tends to be the case in each young bird race certainly in the past 4 years and this year it’s no different. We can see from the provisional top 10 that Section G has dominated, and this is a highly competitive section in any race and they certainly showed their class on the day, and in a real bit of racing where relying on luck alone would not have gotten you very far.

Nigel Templer, 1st Open NFC Coutances.

Top of the heap, and I would imagine enjoying the view from there we have the Bristol lofts of Nigel Templer. I have written before about this gentleman and the ability he has to get a grip on the middle distance channel races at national and classic level although having said that he also topped the section and was top 10 from Tarbes this year. Nigel clearly had his team spot on and when the final result is published it will become clear the scale of the demolition job that his birds have done on the section and open result. This is nothing new to Nigel, and is similar to the result that the loft achieved from Carentan back in 2013 in what I think was the first race I covered as the Press Officer. On that occasion Nigel had the birds dropping in as if they were racing from Littlehampton, and clearly had them on song as they were right up the front to take the first 4 in the Section and 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th Open. This season has seen Nigel at the front in all the races and as a result he will have a haul of silverware to collect at the National presentation included the much coveted National Averages. This reflects the high level of consistency that he has raced at this season.

The first bird across the pad to clinch the 1st national spot is now known a ‘Nicky’ after Nigels long suffering better half who he will freely admit is a massive help and support around the birds and in his life generally. The national winner was a gift bird from John Gerrard and she has been 1st and 4th club already this season for Nigel. This is not the first time he has provided the loft with what have turned out to be good pigeons, and Nigel would like to thank him for that. This young hen’s sire is a direct Mandelartz bird and is called,appropriately, ‘Champion Producer’, as he is  the sire of many winners. The dam is a Bosua x Danny van Dyck, her sire is ‘Flo’ - son of Kliene figo and the dam is from a brother to "Cannon and super breeder ‘Sita’, Dam and g/dam to 4 x 1st national winners.

The second bird recorded which was right on the tail of the national winner, was also from birds on loan from John. The sire is a Schlechtriem brothers of Holland and the dam is a Mandelartz hen bred last season. The third of the 3 quick clockings was home bred and is a Gerrit Lahuis pigeon bred from a son of Brian Milkins "blue pair" and a daughter of Nigels  ‘Gerrit pair’. Both these pairs have bred Section winners in the N.F.C. and Combine winners for Nigel and other people, and are down from the Dirk van Dyck lines. Nigel would like to thank his good mate Ron Davis for his help in the young bird season and wants Ron to know that he is well worth a fiver a week. Nigel was keen to highlight excellent condition of the birds on their return, a reflection of the care given to them during their extended stay in the baskets.

Taking provisional 2nd open and 1st Section D we have the consistent lofts of P and D Clarke.

John Halstead with Nyland Natalie

Topping Section C and 3rd open we have the ever present loft of John Halstead, from Gillingham in Dorset. To underline his skills and the quality of the birds housed John topped the section in both nationals that day young birds and old hens. The loft had the pleasure/pain of actually leading the race for 25mins with his blue chequer hen. This hen had been to two previous YB races of 80 and 123 miles and was within an hour of the winner on each occasion. She was bred from a cock from the late Ken Hine mated with a lovely hen on loan from ex NFC president Stan Dangerfield both birds carrying another NFC figurehead Peter Titmuss bloodlines. This hen named Nyland Natalie was raced on John’s famous Darkness System, and on the sliding door method; with the cocks and hens separated most of the week but allowed to run together for a couple of hours before basketing. The feeding system has been changed slightly for the YB racing this time with 75% of the food being Countrywide’s new ‘Super Junior’ young bird mixture which contains a wide variety of smaller grains. Harkers Hormoform precedes this each day. John’s young birds have been in form most of the season and on the Sunday before the NFC birds were liberated John was 1st 2nd and 3rd Dorset Fed with these 3 birds almost 50 ypm clear of the 4th.  Well done John on your continued success.

Wile and Lias

Taking 4th open and settling for the runner up spot in Section G we have the loft of Wile and Lias. This Father in law and son in law partnership Garth Wile and [ son in law] Steve Lias, fly  in the Bristol area and are members of Towers S.R Combine and the Hartcliffe and District with the Bristol Federation and fly very well in both clubs. They also have a decent track record in national races and I have had the pleasure of speaking to Garth before. They would like to congratulate Nigel and Nicky on this fantastic win and also Ronnie who puts a lot of effort and work in to the birds. The little lady who was first to the loft is a blue hen who is a granddaughter of Brian Milkins national winner ‘Teds Lad’, crossed with a Van Dyke bred by Nigel Templer. During the course of the season she was AWOL for 2 weeks and ended up in South Wales where she was cared from by a fancier from Cardiff. The partnership have lost the fanciers number but would like to say many thanks for all the help he gave the hen. When she returned home and was suitably rested she had a few short club races and then in to the national.

Richard and Dan Gelder

Topping the westerly section J and chalking up an excellent provisional 5th open we have the top racing loft of R Gelder and Son.  Richard and Dan race a mean pigeon across all levels of competition and on this occasion clocked a blue cheq hen that is Cooreman x Sapin. This little lady has been consistent throughout the young bird season and she has been well up on the Federation result on a few occasions this season. The partnership are also provisionally 3rd section with another hen who is direct out of their Section winner from Fougeres this season, being Gabby X  Hooyman. The partnership would like to thank the convoyers for the excellent condition that the birds returned in.

Taking provisional 6th open and 3rd Section G we have the Withywood loft of Terry Cleverley. Terry sent a team of 10 young hens to the race and the first pair of feet on the board belonged to a Leo Van Rijn x Van Loon. The van Loon side of the breeding originates from Silver Shadow birds he purchased from Ponderosa and these are flying well for the loft. The parents of this hen have started to turn out some decent birds with some scoring well last year and this year. Terry feeds a young bird no maize mix and to this he adds some G10 pellets, and the young birds get this throughout the season. All the young birds are raced naturally, they are never darkened and are kept together and allowed to pair up if they want, and this little lady was just starting to nod to a young cock bird in the days running up to basketing. As with all the young birds she was raced well in the run up to the national, and Terry empties the loft each week and all fit and healthy young birds go to all the club races to get experience

Close on his tails we have another section G loft taking 7th open and 4th Section G, the Shepston Mallet loft of Bruce Miller. Bruce sent 6 and had 3 on the day. The first on the result for him is a good representation of the best up to date winning middle distance blood.  On the Sires side we have the best of the Drapa pigeons including a grandson of Drapas Pockerface Olympiad x Racket winner of 5 x1st  prizes . On the Dams side is the blood of Hardy Krugers Black Pearl Olympiad x Carrie, sister to the Sun City winner 2009. These birds are direct imports that Bruce obtained through Les Green.

We stay in Section G for the next loft on the result, with Derek Taylor claiming 8th open and 5th Section. Derek clocked a blue hen raced on the darkness system and lifted straight of the perch without any additional motivation. Her sire is a Grondelar cock purchased at The Doncaster show from The Oorary Stud of Gerald Delaney. This cock was sat in an aviary all last year and not paired up at all, I bet Derek won’t be doing that with him next year. The dam of the blue hen is an Engels hen bred off birds that Derek purchased direct from the Engels loft in Belgium. It was on the recommendation of Jules Engels that Derek bought in the Grondelars as they claim this was the best cross that they had ever put in to their birds, so Derek thought he would give it a go. The nest mate to this little hen has been 1st and 2nd for Derek this year, and all race birds are fed on Willsbridge super widowhood and depurative, both young and old birds. Derek is in the process of rebuilding a strong team after moving a few years ago due to his wifes health, if this result is anything to go by then he is on the right tracks.

The ever present Roger Lowe

Claiming top spot in section E and 9th open we have the ever present Roger Lowe from Reading. Roger certainly filled his boots and has the 1st 3 birds in the mighty section E. As always, Roger sent a team that was immaculately prepared for the job at hand, in this case he sent 25 darkened hens to represent the loft and had 7 on the day, 5 the next day and1 the following day. His section winner is  a direct daughter of his best hen ever - My Little Diamond, dam and grand dam of many winners including section and national winners being a NFC winner herself in her only race ever. She also bred Nemesis, a winner of 1st NFC in 2012, and also bred The Main Man, winner of 2nd and 3rd  open NFC Saintes. His second bird is a granddaughter of My Little Diamond from Diamond Che ( a grand son) when paired to Golden Diamond - a direct daughter when paired to The Main Man ( a son ).The  third bird is also a granddaughter from Shining Che, a son of Carlos who is a son of Eijerkamps Che when paired with a daughter of My Little Diamond when paired with Diamond Che, sire of the second bird clocked. As you can see Roger has built a very successful family around My Little Diamond that is standing up well to the rigors of national racing.

Roger was very impressed with the condition of the birds after a six day hold over, so full credit to the all the team involved. He would also like to pass on his congratulations to Nigel Templer on winning the national race and clinching the national averages.

Rounding off the provisional Top 10, and claiming 6th Section G we have the loft of C and J Howse and Parsons. This is what Chris had to say:

Firstly we would like to congratulate all the winners but especially Nigel on his fantastic season he has had. Our bird we timed is a darkness hen who had been sat on eggs for 10 days at the time of basketing.  She is bred from direct Ponderosa birds that were purchased jointly with our friends Richard and Anna Crowley and Green and are kept here and young birds are sent each year over to Portugal for the partnership to race. These birds have been winning from the start for us all so I will be going back to purchase some more before they close. All young birds were raced weekly with the West of England Combine and trained midweek and fed on the Versela Laga brand of corn’.

Chris and Jane Howse

Around The Sections

We are a bit light on details for some sections from this race. Some people are listed as ex-directory, some have no current number listed and some have not responded to requests for information. This is a recurring problem in this race each year and I think that part of the problem is that quite a few fanciers go on holiday once the national programme stops. If you are missing from the report please feel free to contact me with details as always.

Section A

Topping the section we have R Broome and grandson, followed by J May and son.

Garry Moody clocking up another Section win.

Section B

Taking the honours in this race is the ever present Garry Moody, one of the most reliable and consistent lofts on the south coast. The section topper has a bit of experience about her already, she was 77th  fed Portland 1354 birds, 2nd club, 4th  fed Guernsey 1425 birds beaten by a loft mate and 3rd  club 3rd  fed Portland 1469 birds beaten by 2 loft mates when the loft  took the first six in fed. So as you can imagine she was sent with a great deal of confidence. She is bred from a Hardy kruger cock bought at Blackpool two years ago and a hen bought from a late bred sale who was bred by D an D McFadden. The Moody loft had a second bird on her tail and she is a bit special, having been bred to succeed. She is a granddaughter of 4 NFC winners; their own NFC Cholet winner x Jason Ross’ NFC Saintes winner bred one of the parents and then their NFC Cholet winner x Dave Waterhouses Saintes winner. This little lady represents the best of The Solent Pigeon Mafias best bloodlines and this stood her in good stead on the day. As with her loft mate she hasn’t been held back just for this race, previous to the national race she has chalked up 2nd  club, 32nd fed kingsdown 2184 beaten by a loft mate, 5th  club , 17th  fed Guernsey beaten  by 4 loft mates and 16th  section 43rd  open Guernsey BICC 1693 birds. When the loft took the first 6 in the Federation from Portland this little lady was amongst the first drop of birds but they have a six bird rule in the club and fed so wasn’t given a position. Garry would just like to add a big thank you to Emily and Lee as without them in would be impossible for him to be able to race pigeons.

Runner up spot goes to the Mannor lofts of M, C and J Norman.

Team Mannor Lofts.

Their first bird is a De Rauw Sablon chequer hen bred by Roger Lowe. This was her third channel race, she started off from Guernsey with the Solent Fed, then on to Coutances with the CSCFC being 124th Open before being sent to the National. On each occasion she was in the top three birds to the loft. Their second pigeon a blue pied cock provisionally 50th Open was also a De Rauw Sablon bred by Roger Lowe. He was also on his third channel race taking 26th Open CSCFC Coutances. Out of the 10 being sent the partnership had 6 home on the day.

Section C

Runner up in Section C is the loft of C A Riley.

Section D

Top loft in section D is the P and D Clarke partnership who have been consistent all season. Pete and Dan would like to firstly pass on their congratulations to Nigel Templer on a great win.

Their young bird section winner was flown natural this year. The sire is a Gaby Vandenabeele of M & D Evans, and  he himself was a winner of 2nd  open Somerset One Loft Race. He has bred one loft hotspot winners and club winners for the partnership and he can now add section winner to his CV.

The dam of the section winner was bred by Paul Bamford of Pembrokeshire from P & J Roziers from their Wall Street bloodlines. The partners  were very happy with the condition that their youngsters and old hens came back in good condition after 6 days in the crates and would like to pass on their thanks to the convoying team for their efforts in very trying conditions.

Pete and Dan Clarke with Brian Reene.

Runner up in the section is the loft of Mr and Mrs Hodge. Their 2nd section D winner is a blue hen raced on the darkness. She has been a very consistent young bird racing in the Devon Cornwell and West Somerset club, this club is producing a lot of excellent national birds and is proving excellent schooling for the birds in the area. The full brother of this hen won the DCWSFC breeder-buyer and £600 the previous week so hopes will have been high for the hen when she was basketed for Coutences. The breeding is Drum lines of Syndicate lofts. The partnership would like to congratulate all the winners from this race as they all worked hard to get home.

Section F

Tony Crook

Coming out on top is the Newbury loft of Tony Crook. The section topping hen was bred in the racing loft in January from a love match. This year Tony decided as an experiment to breed of his racers as well as the stock team. He lets the racers choose their own mates as he thinks it helps them race that little bit better. Anyway, his results this year have shown him that the young birds bred from the racers have raced better and he has had better returns with them when compared with those bred in the stock loft, so this is a practice that he will continue next year. He races the team on darkness and feeds them Bamfords corn. The birds he races are a combination of Roland Janssen, Van Reets and Hofkens , these are all bred across  each other with no thought given to bloodlines purely performance.

Jill Webber holding their good racing young hen.

Taking the Bridesmaid spot is the Oxfordshire loft of Alan and Jill Webber. This partnership are also the back bone of the busy Steventon marking station and are real workers for the sport. They have had a really good season and in the run up to this national were close up in other classic channel races. Their  young bird is a blue chequer pied hen that has flown five club races, and the week before the national race was entered into the British Barcelona race also from Coutances, winning 2nd section, 3rd  open. She was in such good condition on her return that they decided to send her straight back with the National, but had they  known then that the birds would be in the basket for six days Alan is definite that they  would not have sent her. From basketing with the BBC to returning from the NFC race she spent nine days out of thirteen in the basket, that she could then perform as she did is testimony to the care she received from the respective convoyers. This hen is one of a batch of 10 bought from Roger Lowe, who has told them that the breeding is Lou Wouters x Freddie Vandeheede. Alan and Jill were absolutely delighted with this performance, to have a bird with two second section positions in one season was beyond their expectations.

Dave Downing.

Section H

Claiming top spot in section H we have the loft of D Downing.  On this occasion the section topper is a chequer cock bred from a Hardy Kruger stock pair the sire being a grandson of Black Power and the dam a granddaughter of Black Pearl. These were introduced the last year to race against his established team of Vandenabeeles and they are starting to perform well. The young bird team were bred in February and raced on the traditional darkness system and fed on Versele Laga Gerry Plus and Superstar Plus with added Gems supplements. They have raced well this year winning several times in the local club and three times in the M11 Club and also 2nd and 4th Section in the last BICC Guernsey race. For the winner this was his 4th race having previously flown consistently in two club races from Bedhampton and Purbeck and also Guernsey with the BICC. He was showing to a young hen when basketed for Coutences and in spite of the long holdover was still keen on his hen when he returned although very tired clearly having flown hard on the day.

Taking runner up spot is the successful partnership of Colin and Adam Crick who are no strangers to success at national level and are consistently at the top in the shake up for section honours.

Section I

Taking top spot in my own section we have the loft of Paul Fletcher. The winner here is a chequer cock that has flown consistently through the young bird programme having had all races leading up to basketing for the national. He is classically bred, containing the best of the Clive Yates wildermeersch which as we all know are the best of the vintage bloodlines of this family. This particular young cock is bred down through Clives MNFC Tours national winner. The uncle of this section topper was a section winner himself from Saintes with NMFC this season, so they have no fear of the channel. Paul has just recently restarted in the sport and would like to express his gratitude to Clive for all the help and quality birds he has provided.

Paul Fletcher.

Runner up in section I is the loft of Lourens Londt, who won this race a couple of years ago when it was another trying one, and is now re-establishing a lift of birds after moving last year, it hasn’t taken him long to pick things back up again. Well done Lourens.

Section J

Taking runner up spot behind Richard and Dan Gelder we have the Alveley loft of Ray Scriven. Ray is one of the committee men for the National is never afraid to stick his hand in the air and volunteer his time to aid the national. Ray had a racking race, with 8/9 home promptly, mind you in the Young Bird national from Guernsey last year he had 20/20 on the clock. The first home from a Boshu Janssen x Mark Gilbert Rutz, and his 2nd bird is Cattrysse via Billy Price from Newport x Mark Gilbert again. The birds are not darkened, but from the 1st August he puts on lights in the young bird loft until 9.30 at night. He doesnt mess about with the young birds when it comes to training, he starts them at 15 miles and within 4 chucks they are 70 miles down t motorway at Bristol. Well done Ray.

Pete and Cynthia Hagland

Section K

Topping section K and being runner up in the old hens race we have the ever present loft of Pete and Cynthia Hagland. This partnership are no strangers to success at this level and race a mean pigeon out to 550 + miles. Pete is just starting to re-establish a team following a recent house move and an operation on his back, but these results would suggest that he is just about there.  Incidentally, this result marks the 14th Section in in national competition?quite some achievement. The young chequer hen who took the section honours was bred for the partnership by their good friends Bob and Jamie Languish from Chorley, which happens to be in Lancashire but Pete says he can overlook that fact as it’s not their fault!!. He has a second bird right behind the section topper who was bred by another good friend Andrew Haywood from Huddersfield.

In preparation for racing the birds are given at least 2 good training chucks a week Pete will take them 20 miles to meet his good friend Colin Dixon who then takes them a further 20 miles. This keeps them fit and on their toes.

Runner up in the section is Gert Sandu.

Section L

Topping the section is E Taylor. Runner up spot goes to the loft of K Morris and Son.

Section N topper for Mc Sween and Sexton

Section N.

These young birds had it all to do, with a 400+ mile fly in front of them after a 6 day stay in the baskets. However, cometh the hour, cometh the man and these little warriors who were sent brimful of confidence and expectation didn’t let the fanciers down. Top of the pile we have the loft of Mc Sween and Sexton. They clocked an absolute stonking little cheq pied hen to take the bragging rights. This little lady was definitely bred right, being a granddaughter of  Lionheart he is an absolute legend in the UNC from distance races and has to his credit 8 turns in the UNC result including 3 times on the day from Bourges all of 566 miles. His best result was 2nd open UNC, and it is the last remaining son from him that bred the section winner horses for courses. Her dam is no slouch herself, having won the NEHU Young Bird Futurity race in 2006 and she is a vandenabeele x Martin Ali Busschaert. The partnership fly the young birds on the darkness, and I addition this year they were kept separated and only run together for an hour or 2 before basketing and after the race. Before the national they had 3 days together and the hen was nodding to a young cock and spinning around in a nest box. To keep them ticking over during racing they had 9 chucks from 50 miles and in preparation had 3 races through to Worksop a distance of 106 miles. The team were then lifted from 106 miles in to 402 miles.

Jim Nicholson

Taking runner up spot we have the evergreen loft of Jim Nicholson, a legend in his own lifetime. He has consistently strung together an impressive set of results from the longer end of the race programme and against big birdages as well. Well done gentlemen.

C:\Users\patrick\Pictures\COUTENCES YB2016\john gladwin

John and Theresa Gladwin

Section P

Claiming bragging rights this week in section P we have the loft of Gladwin, Jarvis and family. Being one half of Formula 1 lofts these guys have a formidable stock loft containing the absolute best of the best so its no surprise to see them up with the leaders. This is what John had to say:

Firstly I would like to say a very well done to Nigel Templar and John & Dave Staddon on very good wins in a tricky race, For me it has been a bit of a strange race from start to finish with the long hold over and the change in wind on the day of lib, I had gone into the race with pretty much everything as I had planned and wanted it to be, my whole y/b season had been geared towards this race and I had treated them very different to what I have in the past by only giving them a couple of inland races by only sending some each week and training them myself. The weekend before the race I did not send them but trained them from 40 miles Saturday, Sunday, Monday letting them go at 6:30 in the morning all 3 spins they came very well, so I was confident I had a good team that was in good form and the ones I had been sending inland had been holding there own so confidence was high at the point of sending them.  But as the days past you start to worry more and more about the birds stuck in the baskets. My first pigeon is a Formula 1 lofts bred Frans Zwol x Rutz & son The sire is a direct son of The Power and New Princess from Rutz & Son. The power racing won 2nd Perpignan, 21st Tarbes, 32nd Perpignan and many other prizes and was 4th national ace cock in 2010. New Princess is a super stock pigeon being bred from 1st national Barcelona and the 4th international ace pigeon 2005. She is breeding many good birds including 9th national Marseille, 43rd national Barcelona, 18th National Marseille etc. The dam of my first bird is Frans Zwols that we brought in as part of the originals in 2010 and she has become an ace breeder being from the Boy & Queen lines. My second pigeon which was 22 minutes after my first pigeon and looks like being only beaten on a decimal for 2nd place is a Formula 1 lofts bred Frans Zwols, the sire is a brother of Space shuttle he is turning into an ace breeder being sire g.sire to many winners including 1st section 26th open NFC Fougeres and 2nd section, 2nd open NFC Ancenis, and now 3rd section NFC. Space shuttle was a wonder racer winning 1st nat Mid fond 2009, 1st WENC 2010 1st, 2,461 birds, 1st 1,505 1st 1,011 birds, 2nd 10,276 birds, 2nd 1,334 birds plus much more.   The dam is a daughter of Amor ( ace son of Tip top junior) and Dream Girl 200 (A full sister of The 3 Musketeers/D’artagian).  A lot of the credit for this season needs to go to my Wife Theresa who has stepped in and done a lot for the pigeons this year for me, she has become particular attached to the Young birds as she has been feeding them and having them out and then training them from day one this year.  All birds was put on darkness though some of the later bred ones which includes my first pigeon which was an April hatched young bird did not really catch the darkness and have moulted pretty much normally.

Runner up behind John, Theresa and the team we have the loft of C R Kavanagh.

National Notes roundup.

Just a few bits of information for the members.

Firstly, a few dates for your diary. The annual NFC prize presentation and dinner will be returning to Torquay this year. It will be held in The Imperial Hotel on Saturday 26th November. If you have never been you are missing a treat and a great night. If you are interested then the details are on page 50 of the handbook. If you wish to book accommodation then that needs to be done directly through the hotel, and payment for tickets needs to be doen by sending our President Mick Mc Grevy a cheque. If you collected trophies last year in Telford could you please ensure that they are returned ASAP to the appropriate place, details are again on page 50.

And whilst you have your diaries out you might want to take a note of the shows we will be attending this year:

22nd OCTOBER WELSH RACING PIGEON FANCIERS TRUST SHOW AT PENCOED COLLEGE.

29th OCTOBER EPSOM PIGEON SHOW AT EPSOM RACE COURSE.

5TH NOVEMBER NEHU SHOW SOUTH SHIELDS.

12th NOVEMBER DONCASTER SHOW AT THE RACECOURSE.

And of Course The Blackpool Show in January.

Sponsorship winners.

Over the winter months I will be writing a bit more about the various lucky sponsorship winners in more detail. For now I would like to quickly mention those who have kindly sponsored our racing this year. Both Premier Lofts and Foxwood lofts who have sponsored the section winners this year if you have been a lucky winner then please contact these two sponsors directly to arrange the selection of the donated young birds.

Well done to the 3 car winners this year, it made for a very interesting season watching the various competitions unfold.

We also benefitted this year from Paragon Pigeon and Avian Range sponsoring a range of prizes across the sections and of course Carrs for once again sponsoring their excellent products in the Young Bird and old hens races.

We would also like to thank Gran Canaria One Loft Race for their sponsorship prize in the Saintes race. Thank you one and all for your continued support and generosity.

And finally, I would like to leave you with a personal message from Phil Curtis, our chairman:

‘On behalf of the committee and myself may I thank all the IC’S, markers and helpers at all the marking stations for their sterling efforts this year. Your efforts are very much appreciated. To Peirce Transport, Richard and Bob the driver for all your hard work in ensuring the wagons were on time and the help you have given me. Trevor and Barry the convoyer’s in what has proved a difficult season for all race convoyer’s throughout the country, for the great condition the birds have returned from the races, without you all the hard work of the fanciers would be in vain.

On a personal note in what has been a difficult first season as chairman due to my health may I thank all the committee and members for their support in the times when I have needed you and there have been plenty. ONE TEAM ONE FUTURE. Look forward to seeing you all in Torquay.’

One final point, we are hosting the on lone auction off the young birds that were raced this year in The French Young Bird Classic race run by John and Louise Mc Gee. You will be able to view and bid on the birds on our auction website www.nfcauctions.co.uk from 23rd -30th September. You will need to register on the website before you can bid. Go and have a look as these are the best of the best and you might just get a bargain. Also, if you have a few latebreds or spare birds for sale, or you are thinking of selling a few young birds next year, why not put them on our site, all details are on there and it couldn’t be easier.

Right that wraps up the young bird race. Next week I will be putting together the race report for the old hens national from the same liberation. If you have not heard from me then please contact me on one of the methods below with details of your bird if you are top 10 in the open result or top 2 in your section. Look forward to hearing from you.

As always I am on 01926 817796

or if you are shy .

Drew Callan

NFC Press Officer.

 

 

 

 

NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan

Old Hens Coutances 2016.

Having enjoyed an extended stay in France being kept company by the young birds entered for the young bird national the hens were up and away in a joint liberation to compete in their own mini national race. The whole convoy had it all to do, but as was the case with the young bird result the 18 Section G members who meticulously prepared and sent 69 birds to compete against the 1,114 old hens in the race made the most of the helping wind on the day and that is where the lead birds were to be found when the feathers settled with 5 in Section G in the Provisional top 10 result.

1st Open NFC O/H Coutances

Taking top honours, and backing that up with 2nd place in both the open and section we have the father and son partnership pf John and Dave Staddon. These two gentlemen deserve a pat on the back for this result as they only sent 3 old hens to compete. These guys are starting to make this race their own as they were run close last year, losing out to a top drawer performance against the wind by Micky Watts. I have said before in previous race reports for the old hens national, I admire people who will keep a team of hens, regardless of size, ticking over with this race in mind. Personally, I am glad to put the old bird programme to bed in July without having another race 7 weeks later. Also, and again it bears repeating, there are fanciers within our ranks who see this as a ‘mickey Mouse’, tin pot national. Having covered this race for 4 years now I would disagree as the efforts the competing members go to getting these hens spot on at the wrong end of the year are impressive, and at the end of the day you can only compete with the birds that are put in the race, whether that is 1,114 or 10,114 you still ned to be at the front to win.

So, with that in mind let’s look at the winning birds. Being naturally shy and retiring by nature Dave doesn’t often get heard so I will leave it to him to tell you about the 1st and 2nd Open and Section G winning hens:

‘ It was the most wonderful end to the NFC flying season for us, especially after the long wait for the liberation. We have had a marvellous season and this was a fantastic way to finish. I think I am right in saying this is Dad's 3rd win in NFC races the previous two when flying with his brother Mike. This is however my first NFC win. We have been very close with 2nd,3rd & 4th  open in the last year or so. It's good to get over the line.

What a week this was. The weather was not kind and I did not envy Phil Curtis the job of racing advising. We would like to congratulate Phil on doing the best job he could in the difficult circumstances. We all know you can't keep everyone happy in a national race but we think Phil did a good job in trying conditions, as did our convoyer Trevor and his assistant. All our birds returned in fantastic condition. They had been well looked after, so a big thank you to the convoying team and the NFC transporter one of the best on the road.

We sent 3 old hens to the race and were delighted to time our first two arrivals bang on our expected time within 2 minutes of each other. The national winner has been named ‘Shapway Glory’. She is a yearling hen from the Hereman Ceusters/Louis Thijs family. Both her sire and dam were bred by Paul Titcombe of Portishead. The dam was a prolific racer for us winning 1st, 3rd & 7th WOESRC with up to 5,500 birds competing plus 1st Breeder Buyer & 1st Combine Open. The sire was a son of Paul's NFC Cholet winner, so you can say she was certainly bred for a race of this type.

Racing widowhood, Glory was lost from the difficult Alencon BICC 2 race earlier in the year in which we lost 8 hens and subsequently returned approx 3 weeks later. She was given time to recover before being sent to the Saintes NFC race where, not at her best, she was clocked on the night at about 7.45pm to win 65th  Sec 595th  Open. She was then sent to Le Mans BICC where she was our first bird winning 11th Section 395b and 388th Open against 3944b in a west wind. Since then she has been allowed to pair up and has been trained weekly in the WOESRC young bird races as well as a few short 15 mile southerly tosses a couple of time a week. She was sent to this race feeding two large youngsters, she was uneven in her wing moult having 5 to moult in one wing and only 4 in the other, so that blows that theory out of the water !!! Surprisingly, with the east in the wind she arrived at the loft from the east and was going like a bullet and trapped without hesitation. What a sight and now a national winner who also recorded the fastest velocity from the whole convoy. It is unusual for old hens to beat the youngsters but she did it and we are very proud of her.’

Well done Gentlemen, those little ladies did you proud.

Mr William Morris

Staying in Section G , and claiming 3rd section and 3rd open we have another seasoned performer at national level in the loft of William Morris, I would like to thank his daughter Ann for emailing the details to me complete with photograph. The little lady who was up with the leaders is described as being medium sized, and at 5 years old will have a few miles under her belt. Throughout he racing career she has been a consistent bird for the Morris loft, and it has been noted that she favours racing with east in the wind with hazy conditions, so she was in her element in this race. Her sire was a good bird of NEHU lines and her dam is a stock bird from Mickey Griffin of Gloucester.

In 2014 she was 4th NW Section, 42nd Open OH. In 2015 22nd NW Section, 23rd  Open OH, both of these races were from Guernsey with the CSCFC. In 2015 she was also 3rd club Bordeaux 499 miles on the day. This year she took 14 days to home from the CSCFC Pau race and was left to recover with this race in mind. She was sitting a pair of eggs for 7 days when basketed for Coutances and although having dropped 5 flights she looked immaculate. When she was verified online, for a good while Mr Morris had actually thought she had won the race but ended up a very creditable 3rd Open 3rd section G.

Taking 4th Open is another establish Section G loft, Mr H Eades.  This is yet another long established loft with a sound record right along the line. The timer on this occasion was a 2 year old Vandenabeele hen. She had been raced successfully during the old bird programme taking a few prizes through to combine level, and at that time of year she was raced on the roundabout system. However, she was repaired for the old hens national and was sent feeding a 10 day old youngster. She was given 3 combine races with the young birds to keep her ticking over in the run up to basketing for Coutences.

Claiming top spot in Section J and an impressive 6th Open we have the Gloucestershire lofts of Trevor Cooke. Trevor  would like to start by congratulating all the other winners after the birds being in the baskets for six day’s this was going to be a difficult race for all. He flies  this Janssen based hens team  on widowhood, and  they have been very consistent for him over the past few years by helping the loft  to be the top prize winner in the club and claiming  Fed and  classic prizes and breeding winning birds.

On the day of liberation, Trevor was at work when he found out that they was up which meant him having to leave work to set up the ETS and thought he had left plenty of time to do this. However, when he arrived home he noticed that there was six birds on the loft , after sweating and a few harsh words to himself as he walked down the garden, thinking ‘I missed the hens’, he noticed that these were young birds that sat out from the night before. But five minutes after getting the young birds in and switching on the ETS and making a cuppa of tea the first hen dropped. The second hen was close on her tail and came in like a rocket to the extent that Trevor was thinking to himself she wasn’t going to be able to stop but she hit the trap and was in. The rest of the hens came back just as good as the first two.

The birds were gifted to Trevor by his good friend Wynne Jenkins from south Wales, who also has excellent results again in Club, Fed and Nationals. As the birds were in the baskets for six days Trevor would personally like to thank the convoyers for looking after the birds as they arrived home in excellent condition.

Nigel Matthews

Taking 2nd spot in section J and 6th open we have the loft of Nigel Matthews. Nigel clocked a Chequer hen of Mark Gilbert bloodlines going back to Southfield Supreme, Marks Dax International winner in 2004, with her sire being a chequer cock off Mark Gilbert bloodlines, winner of 6th open Messac and 14th open Tarbes 2011 . He is also a full bother of 1st section, 2nd open Tarbes. This little lady was sent sitting eggs for 14 days at the time of basketing and this clearly did the trick and kept her mind sharp during the extended stay in the baskets. She is no one trick pony, as 2 weeks previously she was 1st Section BICC, so she was clearly fancied.

Ronnie Wilson


Claiming top spot way up in Section L, and a commendable 7th open we have the loft of Wilson and Iddon. Speaking to Ronnie about the performance, he was telling me that the section topper is a yearling Vandenbrande hen. She was racing to the young bird loft where she had been all season, and was effectively treated as a young bird including being darkened early in the season.  For this race she was paired to a young cock and sitting fresh eggs, and had already won a few prizes this year prior to going to the old Hens national.

To show you how pigeons can make fools of us, Ronnie was saying how he had ear marked 6 hens for this race right at the start of the season, and the plan was to have them going to the race on 8 day old youngsters. For added motivation the cocks would be taken away 4/5 days prior to basketing  - this all went to plan  but on basketing he want happy with one of the  hens so to make up the numbers the section topper was chosen as a last minute substitute off the bench! Mind you she was bred right, and the 6 days in the basket never really touched her and it’s no surprise as back 2014 ( I think) when they were in the basket until the Tuesday and libbed in a n/e wind her sister was 6th Section and 61st open. The loft had a good race with 3 more hens back by early next morning and all in good nick.

Kevin Wintle with his welcoming committee

We go back to Section G now, for 8th Open and 5th Section, which goes to S and K Wintle. The timer was a blue  Van Den Bosche hen who was sent on four large babies!!! She was bred by the Partnership from a gift pair from Ray Hunt who Kevin met on a trip to Belgium. She has been a good hen over the channel for the loft including in 2014 as a yearling she was 50th open,  7th section Fougeres  NFC with a holdover being their only entry. In 2015 she was 6th club Littlehampton, 1st  club Messac and two weeks later she was their only entry at Niort where she was 1st club Niort by 39mins, 4th combine Niort and 1st open combine Niort winning £200 then stopped.

This year Kevin had some high hopes again for her from across the channel, but after being sent to Fougeres with the combine, she came home two weeks later  with a very bad injury, a deep cut above her leg and she was limping very bad. It makes you wonder how they get home with some injuries.

She was left to heal on an open loft, and after a month or so she was flying the skies out and   was trained lightly with the young birds.  She was then sent to two young bird races and then she went across to Coutances with the NFC where she is provisionally 5th Section G.

She is also breeding the goods and her young has scored last year and this year.

Kevin would like to thank Ray Hunt, Derek Taylor and Nigel Templer for birds he has had from them, and the birds from them that were crossed together have done well for him.

In 9th open and claiming the Bridesmaids spot in section L we have the Congleton loft of fellow committee man Roger Sutton. This is what he had to say about the hen:

"Each year I leave about 15 yearling hens in the young bird loft.  These are then exercised and trained with this year's young birds.

Towards the end of the old bird season they are given a few land races and this year Vire late on with the Midland National. They are still trained with the young birds and went to Frome.  Sent to Yeovil as trainers with the Wrekin Federation and four were selected for the Old Hens National.

The 2nd section winner had a 6 six day old youngster, her first ever young bird."

Derrick holding yet another Section winner

Rounding off the top 10 and top spot in Section W we have the North Wales loft of Derrick Jones. This gentleman is no stranger to success and year on-year he turns out top results, and with running a farm time is a precious commodity so the results are all the more impressive. The section topper won first Yeovil this year for Derrick, then came home two weeks later with half her tail feathers missing. She was put by to recover and as with the winner of Section L, was brought off the Subs bench for the old hens national, Coutences was her first race since then. Her sire is the son of the ‘42 hen’, a flor-Engles -  she is dam of 10 first Feds, first open MNFC Tours, 3 x1st  sections and 3 x 2nd   sections in the MNFC. The section winners dam is a direct gebr Heesters and is a daughter of their first national winner. Derrick had 7/10 on the day, so they were clearly up for it.

Around The Sections

Section A

Topping the section we have one of the gentlemen of the sport, Lou Severe, who I have had the great pleasure of speaking to on a number of occasions. Lou likes to keep thing simple around the birds and they seem to thrive on it.  He doesn’t keep any stock birds after having a rethink a few years ago. He now buya couple in from various sources but the majority of his young bird team each yaer is bred by his good mate and drinking buddy. The hen in the clock this week is the same grizzle hen who has been 3rd and 2nd previously from the old hens nationals. She had been to Tarbes earlier this year, but had made a hash of it so she was repaired and sent to Coutances sitting 8 days and came and topped the section, she must have known Lou was disappointed with her. She is bred by Tony Cowan and Lou bought her at a breeder/ buyer sale he can clearly spot a good one!!!

Lady Mary- top racing hen for Jon Eveleigh

Taking runner up spot is the loft of Jon Eveleigh. The loft had 2 birds in quick succession and they were also mother and daughter. They are from Jons Southwell based family that go back to the birds of Albie and Jan Deacon and Jimmy Shepherd. In their background are such stalwarts of the Southwell strain as Baby Spice, Ginger Spice, Millennium Supremo, Boomerang and Southern Dancer. The first bird of the pair is known as ‘Lady Mary’ and has an impressive track record including being 215TH from Tarbes last year.  Both her and her daughter were lightly raced this year with the Old Hens national in mind and had a couple of races to keep them ticking over. Jon races natural and at the start of the season will flag the team to get them up to race fitness before he starts the road work. Both these ladies were sent sitting 10 days and came racing hard to the loft from due south. Jon says they were in great condition, which isn’t a surprise as these old families thrive on hard days so I doubt if the 6 days in the baskets would have bothered them at all. After being in the sport since 1955 this is Jons last season racing and he had hoped to gain a ticket in his last race, so the girls never let him down. At 79 years old and after 60 years in the sport he is not quite ready to walk away completely and will keep a few pairs to keep him occupied, I wish you well Jon.

Johnny Attrill with his son and Daughter

Section B

We go to Salisbury and the successful lofts of Johnny Attrill for the winner of Section B. This is what he had to say about his latest section winner:

My 1st Section B winner is a daughter of Nightmare, his top racing and breeding Kees Bosua cock. Her nestmate was 3rd section last week in the BBC old hens national and a full brother was 1st section in the CSCFC this year. Nightmare has bred winners every year and is  a winner himself  of 5x1st section, 2x2nd section,  4th section, 9th  open and 11th  open NFC Cholet 8700 + birds  in a n/w wind ett., and he has also won 3 RPRA awards.
This year he was paired to direct kees bosua hens on loan, one of which has just been sold to
Taiwan for a four figure sum. John Gerard has been trying to buy this cock for a client in Taiwan offering a four figure sum - he is not for sale John but thanks. Nigel Langstaff and Ian Crammond offered a four figure sum for him to return to Fontwell where he was bred but he is only 6 and has a lot more breeding in him yet and he has earned his place in my lofts winning me several thousand pounds. Anyhow back to the race well done all winners young bird and old and all at NFC.’ Well done Johnny.

Steve Harris of Mr and Mrs Harris and Daughter

Taking second spot is Mr and Mrs Harris and daughter. Steve is currently soaking up the sun but I managed to get brief details and a photo thanks to his daughter. I will get further details from Steve when he returns from Portugal. I do know she is was bred by his dad and sister who compete as S and L Harris, and is bred from their NFC section winner another one bred for the job.

Staying with Section B I want to tell you about the fancier in 5th Section. Andy Boxall does things a bit differently; he races to a 10 foot loft and races only 10 old birds and each year only breeds 6 young birds to race. This makes his willingness to compete at national and classic level all the more impressive. The hen he clocked is a 2 year old hen bred down from Frank Sheader Soontjens with the blood lines of Silver and Gold in the mix.  He is a big fan of Aviform products and they get used in the loft all year round. This will be Andy’s last season for a year or 2 as he is moving and the new house needs some work, so the birds will have to take a back seat.

Andy Boxall and his loft managers.

Section C

Taking top spot and claiming the double having won 1st Section in the young bird race we have the Dorset lofts of John Halstead.  John also achieved this feat 10 years ago in 2006. This time he brought out a seriously good bird in the form of Nyland Falaise, a blue pied Marcellis hen which won 1st Open BICC any age Falaise in 2014 by 132 ypm. She has previously won several top six Section positions including 4th Section CSCFC Coutances 2 weeks earlier but races best when feeding a four day old baby. The plan was to send her back to the BICC but the time in the basket prevented this so she is now finished for the season.

Taking runner up spot is the loft of T Vincent.

Nyland Falaise

Section D.

Taking top spot on a day when these gam birds had to battle to get home we have the loft of Wilkinson and Son. Racing out of The Plymouth & District R.P.C. won the 1st D Section with a Recessive Opal White Flighted Hen, GB15N29189 also securing them 1st Club & 1st Classic Club locally.

Their 2nd bird home, a Blue Chequer Hen, GB15S40857 earned them a 3rd Club and 3rd Classic Club, which was 13th Section in an extremely difficult race in to the West Country’s Section D.

Their second hen was bred for them by an avid National flyer and good friend, Graham Buck, whom also heralds from Plymouth and is a past National winner! In 2015 another close friend, Steve Luscombe, also a past BICC National Champion, offered John four eggs, and they hatched three healthy youngsters at the end of March. These were raced right through the Young Bird Programme that year and they in turn ended up rearing two birds, one from each pair.

From those babies, the Opal Hen was mated on the 21st February 2016 and then she was put on the roundabout system. She was only lightly raced as her cock bird was racing at the same time and they did not want to upset him, as he was doing well racing from the National races across the water.

Deciding to give the Young Bird National a try this season with a pair from their junior team, John and Gladys also committed to enter a couple of Old Hens and a good decision this proved to be after having already accrued a brilliant set of results in the Old Birds this year with the National.

The Opal Section winner was mated up and was sent sitting 14 day eggs on the day of basketing. The Chequer hen was raced in the same way as the Opal hen but she flew home to a 5 day old baby, unfortunately when she arrived home John could see she was damaged and on examining her, it was probable she had been hit by a bird of prey en route to her young one.

The Wilkinson’s have a 22ft by 8ft race loft with 4 sections and a small race team of birds occupying it, consisting of only 9 old birds and 2 two pairs of stock birds. So all in all, winning D Section is a beautiful result to compliment their already outstanding results in the National Flying Club conveyors, as the birds were home in excellent condition, including the one that was Old bird National this year, which consisted of some respectable D Section results: 29th & 45th Fourgeres, 5th  & 14th Messac and 2nd  & 83rd Ancensis.

John and Gladys Wilkinson would like to firstly thank their generous friends for helping to put them on the map for the prestigious Grand National Racing in the Plymouth area and also the damaged. Thanks to Paul Hill for getting the info and photo.

John from the Mr and Mrs Wilkinson partnership.

Claiming runner up spot is NFC Treasurer Paul Naum, Paul Hollywood lookalike and ceaseless worker for the pigeon sport. Paul had a great race on a difficult day and his first handful of hens chalk up 2nd, 3rd,6th and 10th . It says a lot about the man that he never mentioned this when we spoke on the phone. The hen he clocked first is a 3 year old hen who had actually never been in a basket before in her life until 6 weeks before the race. This was her first time across the pond and she certainly chose a difficult race and extended stay in the basket for her first taste of national and channel racing. She is bred from Pauls old Janssen family that he has had for 35 years, and can be traced back to a pair of birds that were knocked down to him by Tony Cowan in a an auction for Albert Tarleton. Well done mate.

The Kulpa Boys not just good looking.

Section E

Taking the top 4 spots in the very competitive section E we have the Reading loft of Steve and Paul Kulpa. These 2 gentlemen are, I feel the finest exponents of racing hens in Britain and probably further afield. They have developed a system over the past decade that is quite simply devastating, and I wrote about this at length in one of annual studbooks last year.

The partnership clocked 6 of their 10 entries within 28 minutes and had 8 on the day with the last 2 arriving together early the next morning. Apart from the birds having a few less feathers there were in very good condition after 6 days in the basket, so thanks to those looking after the birds.

The 1st bird to arrive was a 6 year old from the partnerships long established Janssen x De Klak family. This hen already won 1st section E from the NFC at Messac this year. She is a direct daughter of “Sophia” who herself was the winner of 1st open NFC Fougeres 2004. Sophia is a g.g. daughter of Hans Eijerkamps Bartoli and mother of 6x1st federation winners for them.  The father to the section winner was bred by Hans Eijerkamp and a direct son of Mister Bond.

2nd bird to arrive was another of their Janssen De Klaks this time a 4 year old, whose sire was bred on the line of Hans Eijerkamps De Generaal, when paired to a Herman Beverdam Janssen Hen.

3rd bird to arrive was a 2 year old Janssen De Klak. Her sire is a grandson of Eijerkamps Bartoli and the mother was ‘68’ winner of 2nd open NFC Fougeres 2004, again on the lines of Bartoli. 4th bird to arrive was a 3 year old Van Loon. Both her father and mother are direct Eijerkamp Silver Shadow Van Loons.

Preparation for the NFC race consists of them racing every week since the start of April, with the federation & NFC. 2 weeks ago they went to the CSCFC old hens race, where the Kulpa boys took the 1st  5 positions in the section and placed 20 hens in the top 52 in the open result, they were then given a week off and into the NFC race. All the birds are raced on Versele Laga corn and Aviform products are used in the water.  Another top drawer result gentlemen, well done.

Section F

Topping the section from the Old Hens National we have Eric Illsley, local celebrity and all round good guy. Eric has had very little racing this season for a number of reasons but set up a strong team of hens for this race. The section topper is a 2 year old hen and is a cross between his established Jan Aarden family and a bird that Eric acquired from Mark Gilbert. He assures me that next season he will be back keen, lean and hungry and will be going toe-to-toe with the other section F boys for top honours.

Taking the runner up spot is the loft of Sherman and Wells. A few years ago these guys set themselves the challenge of having a proper go at national racing and set about putting together a family that would seriously challenge for top honours. I have to say, based on the number of times I  have written about them in the past 3 years they have really stepped up to the challenge. The hen that was first to the loft is from a Drapa cock x Koopman. She should have no worries about being up with the leaders as the week previously her sister was 2nd Section and 3rd Open in the BBC race.

Section H

Taking top spot is the loft of Andy Talmer. This is what Andy had to tell me:

Having moved and other personal reasons, this was the first time in 20 years that I have sent to a National Race, although I have stayed a member all that time.

At that time marking was at Reading Cattle Market, rubbers only and no ETS.  I had my birds marked at Bassingbourn and must say it was well organised and marking was very smooth. A special thanks to all the people concerned.

My pigeon is a Pure Bricoux yearling hen, bloodlines from Jim Kimmance of Liverpool, I have been lucky enough to have some great birds from him on two occasions and have established the loft around them.  She was sent sitting 12 days and was very keen on basketing day. She dropped 2 flights in both wings the week before and was looking a picture. This was only her 5th race of the season and the first time across the channel.

Unfortunately I had to work so did not see her come home and thankfully I now have ETS, which allowed me to time in. It makes all the time put into the birds so worthwhile and rewarding. I would like to give a special thanks to all the people who have called and sent me text messages of congratulations.’

John Black in the mix again for section honours.

Claiming 2nd section H is the loft of John Black.  This is another loft that has a high level of consistency at national racing and John is certainly no stranger to the top end of the result. On this occasion the bird he got from Counances was a yearling blue hen sent feeding a small young bird. It was her first race of the session as she was paired to a widowhood cock early in the year and was earning her corn keeping him warm and happy. Her sire is a Raymond Molderveld chequer cock and dam was a gift from ex National President Fred Sharman.

Section I

Taking second spot is the partnership of Mr and Mrs Grimsdell. Ray and Jean have been lifelong fanciers and throughout their time in the sport they have been consistently competing and winning against the strongest and finest competition. The timer on this occasion has improved on her 9th section in the same race last year and now goes by the name of ‘Jenaray’. She is a 3 year old hen and it is no surprise to see she contains bloodlines from Geoff Kirkland as these fanciers have a friendship going back many years. The sire is the one who contains Geoffs blood, and is Willie Thas down through ‘The Snake’. The dam is one of the lofts long established Meulemans family that has served Ray and Jean very well.

Ray and Jean Grimsdell

Section K

Topping section K we have the loft of R and J Hardy. This was the third channel race for this yearling hen that had been raced roundabout until this race when she was sent sitting on 7 day eggs. She is bred from a hen that was 1st Mid Yorkshire combine for the partners last year. All their returning birds were in great condition showing they had been well cared for and would like to thank the team involved.

Pete and Cynthia Hagland

Runner up spot goes to the top national racing loft of Pete and Cynthia Hagland. The partnership had a great weekends racing, with success in the Young Bird national as well. The dark cheq hen was worked hard alongside the young bird team in the run up to the race and will have been meticulously prepared by a master at the game. The effort and workmanship put in by Pete is evidenced by the fact that she was in top condition on return, the 6 days in basket hadn’t touched her.

Section N

The hens flying in to the top North East corner of the club had it all to do with the mid morning liberation, and I think if you spoke to the Section N members they were not expecting birds on the day, but being pigeon men they remained hopeful. As it turns out one little lady stuck with it and dropped in on the night to warm the cockles of her owners hearts. This game hen belongs to the loft of John and Stephen Best, a well established distance loft with a sound record across the channel. To cement this reputation they not only topped the section with the only bird on the day, but they also too 2nd and 3rd section as well.

The section topper is a  4 year old Soontjens x Jan Huybrecht who has  a bit of previous, including 2nd club, 3rd Fed from Lillers, 1st club, 2nd Fed from Rennes and 2nd Club, 2nd Fed from Roye incidentally all these were in a North East wind. Earlier this year she was also 1st club and 2nd Section from Ancenis with the NFC. To add to this she has now scooped 1st club, 1st Section and provisionally 11th Open NFC flying 380+ miles. She was raced all year on roundabout and then after UNC Lillers the team were repaired with the aim of sending a few hens to NFC Countances sitting on a youngster. The hens were trained with the youngsters to keep them ticking over in the run up to Countances.

Taking 2ND Section, and arriving when it was just getting light is another consistent hen. She is off a Maria Vandevelde cock containing the lines of Samson paired on to a grand Daughter of the top Vandenabeele cock Wittenbuik. I have no doubt she would have been in on the night if she had been given 30 minutes extra daylight to play with the day before.

Claiming 3rd section is another hen prepared exactly the same as the 2 loft mates that beat her. She is bred from and M and D Evans cock who is a grandson of Golden Gabby, and her dam is from some Janssens that originate from Petron lofts and contain the blood of Mark Gilberts Treble cock. All these are clearly bred from the best and it shows in their results. The partnership were impressed with the condition of the hens and would like to say a big thank you to the race team who did a magnificent job looking after them for the 6 days.

The Section winner for J and S Best.

Section P

Topping Section P we have the loft of Micky Watts who normally does a demolition job in this race and won it in great style last year against the wind. This year he had one of his hens at the front

again to top Section P.

Runner up is another loft that had made this race their own in recent years J and J Brady. Their 2nd section winner is a 4 year old mealy hen.  Her sire  was bred for the partnership  by Mr & Mrs K Hines, this cock as now bred 2nd  section Coutences NFC 2016 and 2nd  section Bordeaux 2015. The dam is from their direct Jos Thone pigeons that have performed for the team at all levels for a few years now. At 4 years of age she still carries the scars from a hawk attack and given the way she finished and trapped you would have thought that there was a hawk behind her!!

Micky Watts 1st Section P

Section W

Claiming Bridesmaids spot in the Welsh section we have the national winning loft of Fishlock Brothers and Son. This was their very first NFC race so as you can imagine they were over the moon to get such a good position. They saw home a yearling hen bred and gifted to them by Premier stud, bloodlines are Hardy kruger from the black power lines.  She is the latest in a long line of winners bred for the partnership by the boys at Premier which have won or bred birds to win at every level including 1st open national. They would like to congratulate all the sections winners and the overall national winners John and Dave Staddon and Nigel Templer. They have had the pleasure of meeting these guys on a few occasions and they are super fanciers at the top of their game right now. The team only entered 2 hens and had both home in super condition.

Right that wraps up the national racing programme for 2016. As has always been the case, many thanks to all those who have helped throughout the year getting updated contact details, photos etc to me when the fanciers themselves were unable to. Also, I would like to thank the fanciers who send me information before I get around to contacting you, you guys are now in the majority and make my life a whole lot easier between May and September. Again, and please keep this in mind for next year, please feel free to contact me if you are provisionally in the top 10 of the open or top 2 in your section. If I haven’t contacted you then it might be that the contact details have changed, and its not as someone suggested on Pigeonchat that they were being ignored. I personally aim to contact and give publicity to all the relevant peoek in each race, if I cant contact you I don’t make it up I leave that to other Press Officers. So, if I have missed you off the report it’s not because I didn’t try, contact me with details of the bird and I will include it in an article over the winter, I have  a couple of fanciers who have already done this. Also, if you know of a fancier (or yourself) who competes well regularly at NFC level then let me know and I will give them a bit of publicity.

Right, that’s all from me except to say I hope to some of see you in Torquay on the weekend of 26th November at The Imperial for our presentation dinner, it has an outdoor pool so bring you swimming trunks!!

As always,

or 01926 817796.

Drew Callan

P. O. NFC.

 

 

 

 

National Flying Club

Committee Meeting, held Wednesday 25th October 2006 at the Gainsborough Hotel, Kidderminster.

Report by Roy Stretton, Chairman.

The Chairman, Roy Stretton, opened the meeting at 9.30am.

Apologies were received from Geoff Cooper who has decided to stand down due to ill health. All present wished Geoff a speedy recovery.

Minutes of the previous meeting were read. Under Matters Arising regarding finance and contracts, the Chairman asked non-committee members and the secretary to leave the room while contract matters were discussed. After about 45 minutes all were asked to return.

Correspondence. Letters read out were mainly complaints about the 2006 young bird/old hens’ race from Chale. The Chief Convoyer, Colin Bates, was questioned about the liberation time. Brian Long, joint Race Advisor, informed the meeting of the events leading up to 1.25pm on the day of liberation. The chairman again asked Colin Bates why he had liberated so late. Colin replied that he thought the birds would do a faster time.

Accounts. Paul Naum, Treasurer, informed the committee that the NFC was in a healthy state financially with their being approximately £45,000 left in the current account, after all bills had been paid. Racing had broken even with over £120,000 prize, pools and sponsorship money paid out. The committee agreed that prize money was very poor. This is being addressed for 2007 with £5,000 already pledged. Paul also informed the committee that in-house savings could be made. Advertising was mentioned, also the cost of marking stations. For six races it had cost in excess of £13,000 to mark the birds. The NFC accountant, Brian Logan, has advised the NFC committee via Paul Naum to de-register for VAT. This was carried.

Transport. Brian Long, through the chair, explained to the committee that the contract between J. P. Haulage and the NFC was, as he put it, a tremendous deal but members were totally oblivious to this. Ken Hanby proposed that the Chairman and President set up a column in the Fancy Press to report on the facts. They agreed. It was proposed and carried that the Chairman deals with any transport problems that arise.

Dinner 2006. Doreen Kneller addressed the meeting. 170 dinner tickets have been sold, entertainment has been booked and the menus decided upon. Torquay has been booked for 2007 and York for 2008. Doreen was given a vote of thanks.

Proposals for propositions for 2007. All were read out and some were deemed out of order. It was decided to indicate alongside the propositions those that the committee support for the future benefit of the NFC.

Any other business. Ken Hanby requested that the President, Secretary and Chairman work more closely together to resolve any non-agenda matters. The Chairman thanked everybody for their attendance and wished them a safe journey home. The meeting closed at 5.30pm.

 

6/11/06