NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan, Press Officer

Messac 2016

For the second race of the 2016 NFC programme the birds were at Messac, a distance of 380 miles or so to the middle of the club radius. The weather once more dictated things along the line of flight and with very poor conditions along the line the birds were treated to one more night in France under the care of Trevor and the team. Not to be deterred, Cock Crow Kelly was up and about and doing his homework to try to determine a lib time, and he had the strings cut and birds away at 9.40 on the Sunday morning in to a still, sunny sky. The lack of wind at release was to change to light North Easterly along the course of the race. On any race day the wind direction will be a benefit to some but a burden to others and to be fair any east in the wind will have a big bearing on the outcome and velocities.  I have written before about filling your boots when the factors all fall in to place and favour your neck of the woods and a little bit of luck rubs off on you. But, as I have been told before ‘luck is where preparation meets opportunity’, in other words it takes more than a bit of a helping hand from the weather conditions on the day. In fact, when you read about the national winning bird you will realise that the Pym family had a bit more luck than usual as the winner had been hit by a peregrine over the water on the way home. So, as the race panned out it was clear that the West Country boys filled their boots with style, with only Eddie Bateman up in Birkenhead getting in on the act to stop the Cider Swillers taking all of the top 10 positions.

1st Open NFC Messac

1st Open, 1st Section D

On to the winning pigeon and partnership now, Mr and Mrs Paul and Marilyn Pym and son Richard. They clocked an absolute stonker of a pigeon to claim the top spot in Section D and the national. The yearling blue bar cock came screaming off the water bang on line and hit the back of the shed with a bit of purpose. I will let Paul tell the rest as he is a naturally quiet man who doesn’t say much!!!

First of all we would like to thank all of the kind people for calling around or phoning us on our amazing win, it has been over-whelming, it made me cry with joy.

Second, thank you to all of the committee members and Officers-in-Charge of marking stations around the country, without you good people, us members of the National Flying Club would be lost. Well done, every one of you. In particular I would like to mention the marking team at Kingsteinton, nothing is any trouble to them even providing corn paid for out of their own pocket to ensure the birds could be fed when being basketed. It is no understatement to say that we couldn’t compete without all your efforts.

Third, and more important of than all of the above people, is the Chief Convoyer of the National Flying Club, one of the best in the country by far, and one of the most dedicated for the job.  Well done and thank you and your team.  My birds, under your charge have always come home in good condition.  I know what stick you get Trevor, but it is never from the winners, only from the ones that the wind did not suit on the day of the race.  None of our first 4 birds went for a drink straight away, which proved to me they had a good drink in the crates.  I was the Chief Convoyer for the National Flying Club a few years back, so I know what you have to do to feed and water, well done.

Fourth, I have had pigeons for most of my life, since I was 5 or 6 years old.  By the time I was 14 years old, I would buy corn from the mill, cracked maize, barley and wheat, all mixed together.  My birds in those days still won from 400 500 miles.  That corn cost 2 shillings and 6d per bag.  Now it is £17.75 per bag.  My bird looks no different now than they did then.

Fifth, down to the race.  Having heard of the liberation time, I went on to the Exeter Airport site for the weather report for the day.  It was mist, slow to clear, light Easterly wind, up to 6 miles per hour.  I then looked at the National Flying Club handbook to see what time I would need to get a decent bird.  I kept looking at the clock, hoping that any minute I would get a bird - that would be great! I was looking South down the Exe Estuary towards Exmouth, when I saw a bird up very high near the clouds, going like a rocket, all by itself.  Before I had time to think ‘I wish that was my bird’ he folded up and dropped like a stone, right through  the traps, my heart was thumping, I could tell he was having a go.  About ten minutes after verifying the bird, the text messages started and then the landline, it did not stop, I rang my son, Richard, he was out with his 4 daughters at a horse show.  I said to him to have a look on his phone and see what is happening.   It was not long before he was back at the loft, with the words ‘you are leading the NFC’.  I was speechless for once in my life.  It was many hours later, before we were told that no-one could catch us now.  My heart was racing, what a thrill.

Now to the bird.   A yearling blue cock.  As a young bird, he had no training at all, just flying around the roof and ranging.  One race to Purbeck, 60 miles.  I sent 16 young birds, no training, all home, most club members lost lots of birds.  This year - no training, 4 club races, then straight into the NFC Fougeres race.  He returned well and in good time.  I sent 20 birds and got 19 home.  One weeks rest, then no flying at all.  On the Sunday, 5 days before the Messac race, he was let out with all of the other cocks, morning and night, for one hour.  Bath if he wanted to.  All of my birds exercise well if fed on a light mix, they go off like a kit of young birds.  We had 16 back out of 20 from the race, all in good condition, but 3 had been attacked by hawks on their way home that day, including the winner.  One afternoon the birds were flying around the roof and relaxing, enjoying a bath, a hen sparrow hawk dropped into our garden scattering the birds all over the sky and had pinned down a bird in the bath.  Other Birds hit the house, flying into the windows (one of which died), one hit the pylon wire, which also died. This happens often!!

I keep all different strains of birds.  This bird is from a long line of winners for Richard and myself.  The sire was bred down from a pair of Bob Fenech’s Coormans. The dam was from the House of Aarden, Steve and Leslie Wright.  We race them on my own system, which I call the madness system.  This is my first year on this system and I am very pleased with the - so far.

This is such an honour and one I have been dreaming of all of my pigeon racing life.

Also I would like to thank my wife and family for all of their help and support all of these years.

Daniel Hocking knocking on the door again.

2nd open 1st Section G

Taking runner up spot by a slim 4 YPM we have the ever present Daniel Hocking. I have been doing this job the same length of time as Daniel has been back in pigeons and each year without fail I have written about his performances. Daniel has one single aim in pigeons and that is to win nationals, and he definitely has the right mentality for this with everything being sent to national competitions on a regular basis. Daniel would like to pass on his congratulations to Paul Pym on his winning pigeon another great win in the west.  On the afternoon of the race Daniel was watching the birds being verified on the computer as the race unfolded and realised that he  needed one to be in with a chance and with that his  hen dropped on to the roof and in. She is a full sister to last weeks 10th open provisionally from the BICC race at Alencon. She's bred from the lines of Derek flowers Giessen lines and his Natalie lines. She has been flown lightly with the Devon Cornwall and west Somerset Continental flying club, with this being her first time across the water. He would like to say thanks to all down at the club for their congratulations, they all have a good laugh at the Watchet clock station and now have two section winners in as many races. Thanks to Paul Naum who sorts out what ever needs sorting from corn to clocks to getting the birds to Frome (he just isn’t too hot at getting a round in though).3rd open, 2nd Section DWe have the partnership of Williams and Paterson. I have been unable to contact them on the phone number that I have.4th Open, 3rd Section DWe have the partnership of Jackson and Nash. I have been unable to contact them in time for the report to go to press.

Team Spracklen.5TH Open, 1st section C.

Topping the competitive section C we the consistently high performing loft of Neville and Diana Spracklen. This marks the partnerships 20th section winner, and the little lady to reach this mile stone is a little yearling hen of  De klak cross Southfield Supreme lines. She is the granddaughter of Roger Lowes 'My Little Diamond'. The week before the national she was 4thclub, 9thfederation from Coutance so was fighting fit for this race. She has flown on the roundabout system along with 18 others that they entered for Messac. The partnership clocked four in 9 minutes and had 15 on the day with one the next morning. They would like to say thank you to Eamon Kelly who does a brilliant job as race controller, Diddy Davis and Tony swain who take our pigeons to the marking station. They would also like to congratulate the race winners and all the section winners.

Mr and Mrs Wilkinson and Son6th Open, 4TH Section D.

In 6th open we have the partnership of Mr and Mrs Wilkinson and Son. The partnership clocked a 2 year old cheq cock who was being raced on a semi widowhood system. This system was taught to them by their good friend Dave Lee from Reading, and they would like to acknowledge their thanks for all his help. The bird in question was gifted to them by another successful racing partnership down in that neck of the woods Steve and Lee Luscombe, and to prove the quality of stock the second bird for the Wilkinson team was hatched from an egg that the Luscombe partnership gifted to them. Anyway, the cock that was first home winning 6th open and 4TH Section D  was also the same bird that won the Plymouth Classic Club that duplicates out of the NFC- by 40 minutes from NFC Fougeres and has come again to top the Classic club. On both occasions he also won the ‘100 Club’, so not bad going for the first two races. He has been a consistent bird right through his career and was sent with confidence by the partnership  - and this was rewarded. The partnership would like to say thanks to the Luscombes for providing some excellent birds and to the fanciers in section D who all scored in the open result great flying froma dedicated group of people.7th Open, 2nd Section G.Taking Bridesmaids position we have the Bristol lofts of Stephen Moseley. The bird bringing home the honours this week is a 2 year old widowhood cock that is mostly the old fashioned and reliable Wildermeesch bloodlines that have served Stephen well, with a dash of Frans Zwols brought in to try as a cross. This cock has been the model of consistency all season and has regularly been Stephen’s choice to carry the pools and noms. The week previous to Messac he came well in the CSCFC race and should lift a bit of money for the loft so confidence was high for him to do well and he did not disappoint, and his nest mate was on his tail to be the next bird over the pad. Stephen uses Van Robaeys corn across all the birds and has a health programme based on advise and products from De Weerdt, although he is a big believer in keeping the colony happy rather than having to seek a cure. The loft had a good race with 6/8 and they all came in excellent condition.

2ND Section G for Stephen Moseley.

8th open, 5TH Section D We have the loft of Underwood and Prettejohn.  Mike and Robbie clocked a dark cheq yearling cock from Messac. He was lightly raced as a young bird and this year he only had two inland races at 115 miles and 160 miles before going to the NFC.  His sire is bred by Jimmy Jackson of Widnes from his Red Barcelona lines, and his Dam is  from Louella Pigeon World, being a direct daughter of the Rode Pau X Zuster Valandas and was  selected especially for the partnership to be paired to the Re Barcelona cock.

Back in the winter Mike Hannaford brought his good friend Alan Bates of Hartlepool for a loft visit, Alan particularly liked the cock in question and tried to bring him home. That was a pretty  good bit of  picking Al when are you down in the Midlands? The partnership think it only right to call the pigeon "Hartlepool Al" in appreciation of the masterclass in selection.

The lads are now fully focused on National racing and do not compete in domestic club racing, choosing to use them as opportunities to train the birds. They know , as Sunday proved, that to get a good national bird they need to have the lead birds coming off the water having come across in a straight line from Messac. They know that dog legs eat up dead miles and to this avail they have taken to training from off the water, using the services of a friend who has a fishing boat. They hope that by taking the birds out a few miles in to the sea and liberating them they will have greater confidence and also learn to look out for land marks that will help them race in to the right area. Another bonus according to Mike is that there are much fewer chances of getting a peregrine strike out at sea. When I spoke to Mike he was relaxing on a sun lounger in Corfu, as he said he needed a week away from the stress of racing in partnership and getting beat by Paul Pym but as he said at least he was beaten by a gentleman!!

Auditioning for the next Littlewoods Catalogue!!

Claiming top spot in the far flung section L we have the Birkenhead lofts of Bateman Brothers and son. The loft, under the management of Eddie Bateman had a dream race with 3 birds entered and on the clock in as many minutes to claim 1st, 2nd and 4th section. This I think was the performance of the race and was also commented on by the national winner Paul Pym. The section winner  is a Blue Pied Hen Lefebre Dhanen X Van Reet. This hen raced on roundabout has carded every year it has raced with North Wirral Federation or the West Cheshire Federation. Very consistent hen. Her nest mate was the Batemans first arrival from the last MNFC race from Coutances which figured well in the West Section

Eddie Bateman a big performance on a big day.

The second arrival also raced on roundabout and is from their  old Lefebre Dhanen  family that has served them well over the past 20+ years. She scored well inland with 8th  Fed from 90 miles, 10th  Fed 90 miles, 11th  Fed 194 miles and 29th  Fed 137 miles. The third of the three entries dropped with the 2nd bird but messed about. She too is a Blue Hen, also on roundabout.  This yearling hen is another Dhanen X Van Reet cross and was a good youngster for the partnership last year and to date has had 3rd  Fed 137 miles, 27th  Fed 183 miles and 28th  Amal. This girl will be one for the future I think.

All three birds were jumped from 190 miles to 389 miles and it certainly didn't do them any harm and into a North East Wind. Bateman Bros & Son consists of Eddie (the main man) and His brother Alan and son Jack. Although Jack and Alan don't participate now Eddie still maintains the name. The week before Messac they won the old bird averages in the strong North Wirral Fed with birdages from 800 to 1000 birds a week. Eddie races both cocks and hens on roundabout and enjoys all racing with a liking to channel racing. They have won the strong Chester 2 Bird and are always a threat in the North West Combine.

This performance by them was a dream result but Eddie admits to not seeing any of them arrive (need to go to spec savers Ed). Les Jones was on hand to help spot the birds. Only sending three and to get them so close together flying up to double the distance of some members is truly remarkable. When you consider the hen third to the loft last time as she wanted to get back in the young bird loft, this has to be one of the best team performances in section L. What is most remarkable I think is that Eddie chose the three entries based on them being the first three back from the inland race the week before clearly a loft in form.

Well done Eddie, Alan and Jack ( and Tracy) a much well deserved performance that has been commented on and much admired by fanciers all around the country.

John and Dave Staddon

10TH Open, 3rd Section G

Finishing up the top 10 we have the father and son partnership of John and Dave Staddon.  This is what they had to say.

’First of all we'd like to offer our congratulations to Mr & Mrs Paul Pym and son Richard on their fantastic victory. A nicer man you couldn't meet, so well done Paul. Well done to all the Section D flyers who made the most of their opportunity on the day and put up some great performances as well as Daniel Hocking for winning our section. Finally congratulations to all the section winners and especially Bateman Bros & Son, a fantastic day at the office. We were delighted to time a yearling dark cheq cock to take 3rd  Sec G 10th  Open. He is a Widowhood cock and had previously flown Coutances with the CSCFC and then Fougeres NFC this season. He has previously won 3rd  HLFC Hamworthy with over 500 birds competing. He had really tried hard on arrival. He is bred from a Son of Geoff & Cath Coopers Woolongong 1st Int Pau who we bought at Blackpool and paired him to a daughter of Annie our own 1st BICC Carentan winner. So this cock carries 3/4 Cooper blood and 1/4 Mark Gilbert. His next race will be Ancenis NFC.

We enjoyed a good race on a stiff day and timed 15 of our 27 entries in one hour and at the time of writing have only two birds adrift. Once again all birds returned in great condition as usual.’

D and K Jones -1st and 2ND Section A.

Around The Sections

Section A

Going double top from Messac we have the Havant loft of D and K Jones. The partnership had a very good race, and would like to congratulate Paul Pym and family on winning the race in style on a hot and testing day. The first 2 over the pad, and taking 1st and 2ND Section, are both bred by the top UNC loft of Homer and Williams. They are the super fast Herman Ceusters and this blood have had an immediate impact on the loft since they were introduced a few seasons ago. The third bird that the partnership had over the pad is a son of their top racing cock called’ Dad’s Lad’ who won this race back in 2012. The partnership would like to compliment the convoying team for looking after the birds  - they all came back in top order and were out spinning around the next morning.

J M Fisher

Section B

Topping Section B we have the Wimborne lofts of J M Fisher. The bird that came for Jim is a Hermans Ceusters bred by Derek Spoors from County Durham, Derek has been the source of quite a few good birds for the Fisher loft over the years. This 2 year old widowhood cock hasn’t been hammered with weekly racing but has been taken slowly and carefully. However he has already managed a few good turns including 5th and 14th Dorset Federation from Fougeres, 37th section, 132nd open CSCFC from Coutances and now 1st section B from Messac with the NFC. Jim would like to give a special thanks to his dad for all that he taught the young Jim when they flew in partnership, this is where Jim cut his baby teeth and learnt the essentials for being a successful pigeon man. Jim would also like to thank the race team for taking excellent care of the birds and also the open winner and section winners on a real racing day.

M Shipp

Taking runner up spot is M Shipp from Sunny Portsmouth. Buddy clocked a little yearling hen having only the second race of her life. She is a granddaughter out of champion Ray, so her bloodlines are the best of the Kees Bosua pigeons .Her lack of experience clearly never held her back and based on this she is one to watch out for next season. Buddy would just like to say well done to the winner on such a hard day.

Section C

Runner up was the loft of P Stoodley. I have been unable to get info on the pigeon or fancier in time for the report to go to press.

A top result on a tight day Steve and Paul Kulpa

Section E

Taking the bragging rights this week we have one of the most under rated lofts in the section Steve and Paul Kulpa from Reading.  The 1st section E winner is a 6 year old celibate hen raced on a system they have devised over the years and is proving to be devastatingly effective it clearly gets the best out of the hens. She is of Janssen x De Klak breeding. Her sire was bred by Hans Eijerkamp & Sons and was a direct son of Mister Bond, winner of 1st national Bourges 10221 birds. The dam is Sophia who was the winner of 1st open NFC Fougeres 2004 and now a top stock hen, she is dam to 6x1st  federation winners. Her breeding is from the successful line of Hans Eijerkamps Bartoli. 116 is a regular position taker, but this the first time she has reached the top spot, and didn’t she do it in style  - topping the section with 50 yards to spare on a real working velocity day?.that was no mean feat.

Preparations up to this race were inland sprint racing up to the first NFC race, after which she was given a week off and then back to Messac. She arrived after her 6 hour fly in perfect condition, and after a quick drink and a fuss, she looked none the worse for her journey back to Reading. All birds are fed on Versele Laga widowhood mix and given the Aviform products in the water throughout the year. The lads had a blinding season last year at all levels and are rolling that over in to this year. Well done gentlemen.

Taking the wooden spoon from Messac we have The Winkfield Wonder Mark Gilbert. Mark once more had the birds on form and at the front of the back, and the first over the pad on this occasion was a 3 year old who will have seen a few miles in the race basket.

Section F

Taking top honours in the section we have the Devizes loft of Frank Quinn. Frank is a regular NFC competitor and thinks he last won the Section  when we were competing from Dax international. The section winner is a two year old hen flown separated, she has been consistent  for Frank but she hasn’t yet  set the world on fire. She flew out to Saintes as a yearling and was 38th sect in the NFC .She was bred from two birds given to Frank by Andy Parsons of Salisbury fame - many thanks Andy from Frank. The sire was killed by the hawk last year so there will be no more bred this way sadly. She will carry on racing this year with the aim being to compete from Tarbes in July. Frank would like to thank the convoying staff as the birds came back in great nick, and he had 7/9. Also, all the winners and his many friends who phoned.

Gordon Seeney and his loft manager.

Taking the wooden spoon from Messac we have another one of the sports grafters and someone who will be familiar to anyone who uses the Steventon marking station. Mr Gordon Seeney. The little bridesmaid has been a consistent bird for the Seeney loft and Gordon reckons she gives him one good race each year and this might just have been her weekend for 2016. She is a Soontjen x Filmstar family good to see the old Tasker haeltermns blood is still doing the job that was expected of it by its late originator. The loft have had some good racing this year in the Didcot and Wantage club and ahe also achieved 2nd,3rd, 4th and 5TH Section in the NFC.

The Tarbs-inator.

Section H

Taking the honours on a real racing day we have a real racing man with a proper family of birds that thrive on working days Mr Richard Howey. This section topper is bred for the job and has some real quality national performance pigeons close up.  This is what he had to say:

‘I have been involved with pigeons since I was a small boy ( some sixty years ago) my grandfather kept Flying Tipplers which flew from dawn to dusk and sometimes into the night never to be seem again.

I started with my own pigeons at eight years of age and was that keen my junior school teacher wrote on my end of term report “If only pigeons were lessons Richard would be top of the class”

I won my first club race from Berwick at twelve years of age. The following year while on holiday in Northumberland I met the first of three exceptional fanciers who helped to guide me along the path to success. The first being John Carmichael who’s family of Carmichael X  Kirkpatricks are the base of my pigeons today.  I learnt a lot from John on how to breed, train, feed, and race natural pigeons.

The second fancier was Brian Deacon of Byfield, Nr Daventry, by now pigeon racing had moved on and widowhood flying was the way forward, Loft design, and how to manage widowers was always a great talking point with Brian, when Brian died Mrs Deacon gave me Brian’s Lady Patricia Two 1st Section 6th Open NFC Pau winner which is the Grand Dam of my 1st Section NFC Messac winner.

The third fancier is John Barnett of Natra Herb fame who came to my home to have a pigeon photographed saw what I was feeding and told me I should get into the 21st Century with my feeding. The following season I took note and timed my good hen After Time 2nd Sect 33rd Open from NFC Tarbes 624 miles on the day clocking at 10 14 52 in the dark this was when the pigeons had maximum hours of day light with the race being flown the nearest week end to the longest day. After Time is also related to the Section winner.

A few details about the winner, his sire is a Jan Arden called The Lance Corporal  which was loaned to me by Clive Brown of Alconbury when he left the sport for a couple of seasons, this pigeon is a multiple winner at MNFC and Club level with many prize cards to his name. The dam was 1st Section 13th Open O.H. NFC 2012 and had flown Tarbes earlier that summer, parents are Champion Rockie 1st Section 27th Open NFC Tarbes and Lady Patricia Two as previously stated.

Where possible I use very little in way of supplements and natural when possible the winning cock was bred in August 2014 and trained and raced the following season as far as Le Mans with the BICC. Since 2007 I have reared all my youngsters after old bird racing. I would like to thank my good friend John Tyerman for sharing his JT Mix with me as I have had a 1st  this year, and 1st ,2nd  & 3rd  section last year, since I started using it in the spring of 2015.

My other interests are gardening, training and working gun dogs, game shooting, and anything to do with the countryside.’

Second spot section H is claimed by Terry Roughton. The timer on this occasion was the same hen that topped the section for Terry from the same racepoint last year with the NFC and she very nearly made it 2 in a row.The 4 year old hen called ‘Lou’ was raced on roundabout with this race being her target. Previous results for this hen are 10th section, 25th  open Fourgeres MNFC 2013,. 2nd  section, 56th  open Alencon BICC 2014, 2nd  section 208th  open Ancenis MNFC 2014, 5th  section 612nd  open Vire MNFC 2014and 1st Section Messac NFC in 2015 a bit of  a tidy little pigeon there.She is Soontjens hen,  bred from  stock that was acquired from the late Rocky Dolby from Chatteris. Well done Terry, you have something a bit special there.

Section I

Topping my own section we have one of the most consistent NFC lofts in the Midlands Mr Terry Durrows. Terry is always a dangerous competitor and is a past national winner from Saintes and is always knocking around the top of the section competing for top honours. The section topper is a repeat performer, having topped the section from Saintes, and being 6 years old he has a shed load of previous form including twice topping the federation and winning 13 x 1st prizes from all distances. He is bred from a pair of Janssen birds that originated from Ponderosa Stud. The team of widowhood cocks were given a few inland races to get them fit and then in to the channel races. The birds are fed Versele Laga corn along with clean water and a clean loft to promote natural health and resistance. Trevor races the classic widowhood system with the hens being shown before basketing , and from Messac he had 14/16.

Runner up spot went to Roy parkes. Roy also clocked an experience, 4 year old widowhood cock. He has been very consistent inland for the Parkes loft and has topped the federation. However, the Messac race was the first trip of his life across the water and it certainly didn’t phase him. This Felix Pauwels x Kees Bosua cock was fed on Vanrobaeys corn and given his hen for 1 hour prior to being basketed for Messac.

Kimberley Shaw holding their section topper.

Section J

Topping Section J we have the Wombourne lofts pf Mr and Mrs P Shaw. This loft is on a of form at the moment, having just topped the MCC in h run up to Messac.This is another example of a bird being bred to perform at the top level. This section topper has been a solid performer for the Shaw loft and now goes by the name of Cavalry. He is bred direct from a cock that was 2nd Open MNFC and also a winner of an RPRA award. He was paired on to a daughter of ‘Dancing Queen’, the top racing hen for close friends Arnie and Sylvia Tonks.

Hot on the heels of the Shaw loft section winner we have the loft of Alex Stewart who claims runner up spot. The loft clocked a 3 year old red hen who was raced on the roundabout system and going over the pond for the first time this season. She was given 3 inland races in the run up to the start of the national programme to get her fit and ready. Alex and his dad Jock would like to pass on their congratulations to Pete and Sandra Shaw on topping the section.

Alex Stewart holding 2nd Section J

Section k

Coming out on top in the fiercely contested Section we have the former Blue Riband winning loft of Shackleton and Son. Peter and his dad clocked a 4 year old cock to claim the bragging rights this week. The sire of cock is himself a previous section winner and was purchased by the partnership in  a Breeder/Buyer sale. He was bred by Don Mc Cartney from Carnforth, a keen and successful channel flyer himself.  This cock went missing around the loft after being retired. The dam of the latest section winner is the lofts best breeding hen containing all the best of WLG bloodlines including The Marvel Hen and a son of Grey Gem.

Team Shackleton 1st Section K

Runner up spot goes to K Fields. Keith was on sentry duty at the lofts and the blue 3 year old widowhood cock come racing up the middle towards the loft and in his birds ‘he came like a miler’. The boy that brought the glory is bred from a cock loaned to Keith by his very good friend John Dudhill, and this was paired to a hen from Ron and Nigel Dennett. Keith comes from a long line of fanciers and has a breeding book that can be traced back to 1926, although there was a mishap when Uncle Bob misplaced it around 1951. He has served a sound apprenticeship and this is reflected in his attitude today, by his own admission the birds need to state their intent early on, and to this end he gives the yearlings a fair bit of work to see what will stand up to it. Over the years the Fields loft as done it all, won federations, combines and the coveted Richmond Cup but Keith is now well and truly in love with national racing and sees it as a completely different game in terms of mental approach and satisfaction levels.

Keith would like to thank John Dudhill for all his help and camaraderie over the years and to the Shackleton partnership on topping the section. He would also like to say a special thank you to Nev from Portland who he has known for the past 20 years. On channel race days Nev will advise him on the condition of the channel and predict where the birds will hit landfall and how conditions on the channel might impact on their progress and Keith would be lost without his input and advice.

1ST Section N

Section N

The birds at the top end had it all to do on the day and in Section N in particular they had the wind on their nose or shoulder for the duration of the race. However, as is the nature of national racing there are always exceptional feats put up by our little feathered friends. Top of the heap from Messac and taking 2nd Section as well we have the father and son partnership of John and Steven Best a very apt surname on this occasion. The partnership are new members of the NFC and fly all of 471 miles into Stockton that is a long way in that wind and heat. They timed the section topper at 5.19 am and she was followed in at 6.03am by her loft mate, so these birds must have been pretty close to home at nightfall on Sunday and were up with the larks to finish the job. Both were hen’s flying on roundabout, their first a 2013 late bred called “Gem Stone” was previously 5th Section N from Fougeres two weeks earlier, that's 900 miles in two weeks!!

Their second bird comes from the Crehan & O’Connor bloodlines of RIP& Mystique. These have proved very successful for the partnership. John was telling me that he really fancied this hen. They also timed a 3rd bird at 8.57am to take 8th Section.

Just a brief mention of a very game little bird in at 3rd .This was to the loft of the very consistent Barrie Blackett of Butterknowle who timed a very promising yearling at 6.13am, not bad going for a Yearling and one we will hear more of in the future.

Jimmy Varty and Grandson Matthew

Section O

We have another feat of endurance in to Section O and a well deserved section win for a very game bird. The winning partnership consists of Jimmy Varty, his son James and James' son Matthew. All three are very hard workers for the sport with young James taking on numerous roles at club, Fed and Amal level.  They fly in Flimby Homing Society with all three being life long fanciers. They are all very keen and especially love to race their birds from across the channel. This is the first time they have entered a national race and, although their bird was a bit later than they'd hoped, they are chuffed to bits to clock on what was a very hard race into this part of the country. Welcome aboard gentlemen, and what away to mark your arrival in national racing.

Their section winner is a two year old chequer hen bred by Egremont fancier David "Sugar" Wilson and is of Jos Thone, bloodlines. The partnership is a member of the Cumberland Social Circle and every year the Circle purchases six young birds to raffle to the members. In 2014 the youngsters were purchased from Sugar Wilson and the lads won this hen. She has flown very consistently at club level and scored last year from an inland race. She has been flown natural and sent sitting on ten day eggs at the time of basketing. James informed me that she may be aimed at the Old Hens National in September. Congratulations lads.

Steve Coxall

Section P

Topping the new Easterly section we have a loft that has been at the top for a long time- Bruce McAllister. Bruce is almost as well known for the quality of the stock that he houses as he is for his results. I could not contact him for more information in time for the report going to press.

Second section is the loft of Steve Coxall.  The first arrival is a 3yr old widow hood cock and this is overdue as he has been a fantastic racer since a young bird. He's been the first bird to the loft on many occasions picking up multiple cards at club and national level for Steve. His sire is a green eyed cock that is full brother to Mark Bulleds’ 2nd NFC Messac winner from his 'red bull ' family of sprint pigeons that Mark has cultivated with devastating results. On the dams side the mother was purchased from Steves good friend Gary Inkley . This hen has proven herself as a fantastic breeder being dam to 2nd  open Midlands National Flying club, 1st  fed 2000+ b , 1st  fed 1500+ b and multiple other top national positions for Steve and others.

Padfield Brothers- long distance maestros

Section W

Coming out on top this week is the same partnership who won the section from Fougeres, but not only that it is also the same pigeon. This 3 year old roundabout cock was having his third race of the season, having had a 166 mile pipe opener from Maidstone then Fougeres with the NFC  when he came to top the section. Then he had a bit of rest, just worked around the loft and in to Messac to again top the section. That is 2 section wins in 2 completely different types of races. As you would expect, a pigeon of this quality has a bit of previous, Last year as a two year old he was clocked at 5;10 in the morning on the 3rd day we had the first 3 birds into Wales and he was the third  - he was 5th  Single bird National Pau 2015 also  with 55th  open BICC Pau International.  He is also impeccably bred, as you would expect. On the Sire side he is from a son of Dave - he was 1st  and 3rd  National Tarbes and won the Gold Cup for bird of the year. Dave was paired to a Daughter of Padfields Invincible 2nd Barcelona now with Steve Wright at the house of Arden.On the Dam side it's a hen from their very good friend Dave Impett. The sire of the hen is out of Lee's Star when paired to the Goldmine hen and the Dam was out of his famous Katie's Star.

Vince and Dave clearly have the birds up on their toes and must be relishing the longer channel races with the current form the loft is displaying. Alongside this their birds are continuing to make their mark with the national winner for the Pym family being 50% Padfield.

Taking Bridesmaid spot is the top flight loft of G Treharne and son Stuart. This loft has tasted national success before in the old section and continue to be a force to be reckoned with. The bird claiming the runner up spot on this occasion is a two year old cock flown on roundabout.  Its sire is a direct son of Top Star of Raoul Verstraete when paired to a direct daughter of Ivo of the German partnership of Rutz and Sons. This little fella is out of the top drawer in terms of breeding and I suspect we will get to hear more about him in the future.

Right then folks,that is your lot for this week. I would like to once more reiterate the point that you don’t need to wait for me to contact you for information. If you are in the top 10 in the open or top 2 of your section based on the provisional result then please email details and a phot by te Thursday following the race. Or phone me if that is easier and I will take details over the phone. I want to give well deserved publicity to all the appropriate birds and fanciers, but I need your help in this. This week I have once more been helped in my quest by a merry little band of helpers so thank you for all your efforts in making contact with all the winners.

Finally, Champion of Champions League results from Fougeres is now on our website.

Go and see who is in the running for the Hartwells car.

As always, I am on 01926 817796 or if it’s not beyond you .

Cheers,

Drew Callan

NFC PO.

NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan, Press Officer

NFC Saintes 2016

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I hope you are keeping well. Last week end saw the penultimate race in the old bird race programme for the NFC when the birds were at Saintes which is just shy of that magic 500 miles to the middle of the club radius. This race is a good Derby Race distance and each year it sees some magical performances being put up across the width and breadth of the club by fanciers and birds that are at the top of their game. This race saw another good shout from ‘Crow and the team’, the weather around the lib point and a few miles along the route delayed liberation until 9.00am when they were libbed in to no wind. The wind remained light, and west/south westerly along much of the route but as the day progressed we saw it swinging round to a more westerly direction and certainly when the birds were working up through England to their home lofts the strength picked up and was gusty at times. This later liberation obviously ruled out any day birds to the farther flying members, but that is the nature of competing at a national level, and the second morning saw a lot of very early birds who could not have been far away on the night.

The race itself was a nippy affair and the lead pack certainly did not hang around this allowed a good spread of section winners in and amongst the first cavalry charge. As with the Saintes race each year there are the usual suspects vying for the bragging rights and this provided another occasion for lights to be brought out from underneath bushels?something most fanciers are reluctant to do!!

Taking the top spot, claiming 1ST Open NFC and topping Section B on this occasion we have the Gosport lofts of Mr W Edwards. There is a bit of a story to this as Bill had planned a short break away as a birthday present to his wife, and they were schedules to leave home at 7.30 on the Sunday morning. This meant a bit of a scramble to get some details and explains the absence of the usual high quality photo from Chris Sutton but this will follow.  However, via a series of emails and the assistance of Paul Ayling we managed to get a photo of Bill and some details before he went to relax and unwind. The winning pigeon is a yearling cock raced on widowhood and is described by Bill as very consistent, and was the lofts first timer from the NFC Fougeres race earlier in the season. He is bred from Bill’s well established family of Haeltermans bred around the famous Film Star of Frank Tasker, with a touch of the ever present Vandenabeele blood in there. The cock was bred from two racers, and Bill has both of them still in the team in fact his dad was the third of his three entries home that night. When it comes to naming the national winner, Bill has not yet decided on whether to call him ‘Oakdene Dream’, or ‘Oakdene Expected’?he is letting Chris Sutton decide, although he feels that ‘Dream’ is more appropriate as it is a dream come true. Bill has had a lot of success with these birds and says that alongside his Paul Stobbs Soontjens birds they have excelled this year racing both cocks and hens on widowhood. Bill admits to being very bad at waiting for birds so decided to tidy up the young bird aviary. Whilst he was doing this he heard a flutter of wings and turned to see the cock on the trap, and he is convinced that the cock winked as he went over the pad  -  which I wouldn’t be surprised at as he was 5 minutes earlier than Bill thought would be a very good time!!

Bill says that when he looks at the achievement of the game yearling cock and the household names that are behind in on the result he feels a bit like Chris Coleman and the Welsh football team.  Speaking to a few fanciers during the course of the race we were all of the opinion that given the early velocities and the wind, the provisional race leader would not hold on for long. But not only did the cock hold on to retain top spot, but Bill clocked a second of his 3 entries not too far behind the first. Bill usually gives away the young birds from his race team each year, and this year a club member was moving and Bill gifted him 12 or so young birds , and you guessed it in that batch were the 2 of the national winner. Bill started in partnership with his dad, and in total has been 55 + years working towards this, so now he knows how to do it we all expect him to it again soon. He would like to thank his wife Jan for being the loft manager during all the years he had to work away she has been the one racing the team and very successfully as well especially in the marathon international events where they have been twice 2nd open so Saturday was nail biting for him as he has been leading a national before only to be pipped at the post.

Bill Edwards -1st Open NFC Saintes.

Taking 2nd Open and claiming top spot in Section E we have a man who has made this race his own over the past 4 or 5 years Mark Gilbert. This  year is no exception and Mark has plastered his name all over the result with bird close up to claim also 3rd Open, 2nd Section; 7th open, 5th Section, and another 5 birds in the top 20 of the open. I spoke last year and in previous years about the result of the Winkfield loft at this distance and in this competition being an absolute masterclass in middle distance racing at the highest level, and this year is no different. Mark has once more made us catch our breath with the sheer, undeniable quality of craftsmanship displayed Mark from this race. To say that Mark is on fire is an understatement look at his results this year at international and national level competition. You do, of course, need the toys to play with the boys and these birds will represent the absolute cream of middle distance bloodlines incorporated by a master stockman in to a formidable team that competes consistently at the leading edge of the competition. As you would expect these birds were bred right and will be jam packed with performance birds. The first pigeon across the pad to win the section was a yearling cock out of Kanibal Barcelona who himself was 4th  International Barcelona and 26th  International Perpignan.

The second pigeon claiming runner up spot was a hen out of Southfield Star, 2nd  national NFC Saintes when dropping with the national  winner. The mother is out of Southfield Champ the Saintes NFC winner. So this little lady was certainly engineered to succeed from this race point.

Mark Gilbert effortlessly brilliant.

Taking 4th open and topping Section H we have the Saffron Walden loft of Patmore and Rayner. Chris and Keith saw home a 2 year old widowhood cock now named ‘Jane's Boy’ after Keith’s wife Jane who had a lung transplant January 2015 and is doing well. The sire of ‘Jane's Boy’ is a son of Keith Rayner's No1 Stock Pair of Vanhee bloodlines, and the dam a grandaugther of ‘Monty’ who was 1st BICC Montlucon for David Coward Talbott, and she is of Black Giant bloodline the best of the old Van Wanroy blood lines. Chris is as pleased as punch having sent the pigeon to 3 Channel races with the EECC, the last being Pithivers 276 miles where ‘Jane's Boy’ had 10 hours on the wing 2 weeks prior to Saintes. Chris was saying that the unsettled weather this season has seen their birds struggle to come in to any kind of form, and that it is only over the past 10 days or so that the partnership have seen form creep in to the team.

Chris Patmore holding ‘Janes Boy’

5TH Open and 3rd Section E goes to one of the finest middle distance lofts in the country Roger Lowe of Reading. This is another loft that always carries a bit of form and in the past couple of weeks he has been amongst the leaders at national and classic level. Roger sent 25 birds to Saintes 16 widowhood cocks and 9 widowhood hens. His first timer was a hen and  she has won many prizes over the last three seasons inc 29th sect 499b, 213th open 2641b, CSCFC Messac ,19th  fed East Prawle 1999b, 20th  fed Honiton 2200b, 18th sect 359b, 31st open BBC fougeres 1892b,8th  sec 651 b, 34th  open BICC le mans 1936b, 29th  sec 169b, 78th  open BBC Bordeaux 675b, 43rd sec 376b, 132 open BBC Messac 1562b, 76th  sec 848b, 160th  open BICC Poiters 2701b, 2nd  fed Carentan 1494b ETC. she is bred from ‘DIAMOND SUPREME’, a son of  My little Diamond when paired with mark Gilbert's Southfield supreme winner of 1st  international Dax Her  dam  is  ‘DELIGHT’ -  double granddaughter of My little diamond, Delight is a winner of 1st sect, 1st  open CSCFC Carentan , 4th  sec, 33rd  open BBC fougeres, and 2nd  sec, 2nd  open NFC national fougeres.  Roger had 20 home on the day with 2 next morning so turned out to be a good race for him. He would like to pass on congratulations to the winner on a fine performance and says roll on the next NFC national from Tarbes.

Roger Lowe

Taking 6th Open and 4th Section E we have the loft of Garry Inkley. Garry is always one of the lofts to step thigs up a gear once we get to the business end of the season, and has an enviable record from Saintes having put his name on a few bits of silverware for his results from here. Garry timed a 3year old widowhood hen of Koopman bloodlines that was having her fourth channel race of 2016. She has previous channel form having won the Dorset Fed "Mad Hatters" open race from Guernsey as a youngster and other open positions in both the BICC and NFC. Garry would like to take this opportunity to congratulate W.Edwards on his great win and the northern fanciers on some terrific performances when both the conditions and available hours of flying time were against them.

Garry Inkley

Claiming the next 2 spots in the open for 8th and 9th open and doing the double top in Section A we have the national winning loft of Crammond and Langstaff. Ian and Nigel once more had the team on their toes and they did not disappoint. These two gentlemen once again proved to be the dominant force in section A from Saintes taking provisionally 1st  and 2nd  section, 8th  and 9th  Open with their fabulous team of middle distance widowhood cocks. Nigel and Ian have now won a remarkable 9 times first section A in the last 10 years from Saintes and of course were overall winners of the Saintes NFC in 2015.

Crammond and Langstaff

This year’s winner of 1st section A is from the partnerships fantastic Bosua x Van Osch family, a two year old widowhood cock, their second timer was a three year old grandson of The Machine and the Golden Monar bred by James Parker and Ian Stafford. This year the cocks were motivated for Saintes by being given their hens the night before marking, obviously with great effect as they recorded 27 pigeons on the winning day flying 353 miles. Feeding of the cocks is Vanrobaeys corn via Roger and Greg Sutton - (Racing Exclusive and Non Stop) which has been a change to previous years but with the same devastating results, no doubt 2017 will see Ian and Nigel trying to make it 10 times Section A winners and who would bet against them?

Rounding of the top 10 and topping the very competitive Section F is the Oxfordshire loft of Sherman and Wells. The lads have moved things up a gear over the past few years in national racing and I remember talking to Steve last year after The Saintes race and he was telling me about their 3 year plan for Tarbes which was due to be tested from Tarbes a couple of weeks later and in that race they were only beaten in their section by the national winner himself Mr Eamon Kelly. Their winning bird was flown on widowhood, and he is called ‘The Banker’. As a young bird he was put in the Southern Classic young bird sale where no one wanted him, maybe because Tony Cowan jokingly said ‘here is a bird from two bankers from Oxford’ , that’s why they call him the Banker. He won as a young bird and as a yearling now as a two year old he has won Sec F 10th open Saintes National. He was bred from a gift bird from Curtis Wall & Lunt and a bird from R Evans Gibson and partners top channel men from the North east. The partnership would like to thank everyone who congratulated them on the section and open success.

Steve Wells with Eamon Kelly’s silent partner.

Around the Sections

Section B

Claiming runner up spot, but taking consolation from being beaten for top section honours by the bird that went on to win the national we have the loft of Wearn Brothers and Neilson. These guys fly a tidy pigeon and are jostling for honours in any race they enter, but I am really struggling to get any information on them so I might have to change my tack on this one.

Priscilla Hodges AKA The Boss

Section C

Topping the section we have the partnership of Mr and Mrs Hodges - a loft that I am sure were not out of the top 3 in the section last year, so its good to see them pop up in the run up to Tarbes. They clocked a 2 year old cock that is raced on their version of the Chaos system, and he is a full brother to the bird that topped section C from Ancenis last year. The parents are the best of the Sheldon Leonard blood, being a Vandenaheede x Daniel Aerens, and for the short time they have been breeding in the stock loft they have made an impression on the racing performances.

Runner up is the Shaftesbury loft of B Woods, this is a family with a strong racing pedigree in the area as Bryans brother has had the pleasure of speaking to me on several occasions over the past 2 years. The bird that Bryan clocked is a 2 year old chequer cock called Golden Boy who was 2nd Section and Open in the CSCFC Fougeres race on the last week end in May previous to turning in a good performance from Saintes. After the CSCFC race he was just exercised around the loft twice day and then lifted in to Saintes. His breeding is Soontjens x Vandenabeele, from a pair that were bought at a Squeaker sale in 2011. Golden Boy was not put in the race basket as a young bird, and was lightly raced with the Dorset Fed as a yearling before going to NFC Ancenis to finish his season. This year he went across the channel twice before being sent to Saintes with confidence.

Golden Boy 2nd Section C

Section D

Taking top honours is a loft that races a handy pigeon at national and classic level Richard Goodier and sons from sunny Devon. Their section D topper was a Chequer Cock which has been raced on roundabout all season, then being paired up especially for Saintes, where  he was sent sitting 10 day eggs. He is a reliable performer with a couple of first club and was 3rd section D last year. He was bred by Richards good friend Malcolm May from Epsom , his grandparents include "just a kid" 1st UNC Sootjen and "Bosco cock" 6th National Tours , 9th National Chateroux , sold to China for 22,000Euros.

All birds where paired up at the beginning of February rearing two youngsters with the hen being removed when youngster is 15 days old. Birds are fed on a mixture of Versela Laga corns depending on the forth coming race , energy corn was added to feed 3 days before basketing. The Goodier birds are raced and trained with the Devon South road Federation , convoyed by Chris Stevens who Richard says has turned out some faultless liberations this year. All birds were slow to show form this year after a lot of loft moving and new lofts being erected, they seem to have found form at the right time, with the loft topping the fed in the last 2 races and now 1st  section D. The team performance was fantastic with 7 birds home on the day and 4 more early next morning in which was a testing wind for all in section D members. All birds returned in good condition, and the team would like to say thanks to all at the Kingsteignton marking station and also thanks to David Coward -Talbot and team at Belgica Deweerdt who provide a first class service look after the health of their birds.

Runner up in Section D is the loft of Mark Beer. Unfortunately I was unable to get in contact with Mark before the report had to be completed.

The Section winner for R Goodier and Sons

Section F.

Taking the runner up spot is the loft of Lloyd and Kelly. Eamon clocked a yearling cock that he has high hopes for in the future. He was bred by Maurice O’Donnell in Ireland and is bred from the best of the Jos Joosens birds - Chris has sourced these directly from the fountainhead in Belgium. Eamon had 11 on the night and the remaining 3 early next morning, so has to be pleased with that. He would like to congratulate Bill Edwards the winner and Mark Gilbert on another top drawer team performance. Mark, Eamon says he is truly devastated that you were second national again but says you are probably used to it by now!!

Eamon Kelly on a rare night out.

Section G

Winning 1st Section G were the West country partnership of John & Dave Staddon of Evercreech in Somerset. This is what Dave had to tell me. "Firstly well done to Bill Edwards and all the section winners.

We are absolutely over the moon to win Section G for fifth time in the last two years, especially from this Saintes race as the wind was pushing gale force from a westerly direction all day. We were not in a good position for the section never mind the open. However our team of birds mainly held their line and battled against the wind to arrive at the loft at consistent intervals from a southerly direction, which was very pleasing. Our winning yearling hen which we have now named Shapway Galaxy, came dead straight and was really going for it. She is a widowhood hen flown on our version of the chaos system which we are continually tweaking. She has already been a good hen this year winning 2nd Club 4th WOESRC from Bedhampton with over 5,000 birds, then 10th West section 42nd Open Falaise BICC 3695 birds. She will now be prepared for the Tarbes National which is our main focus of the year.

A special thank you should be offered to Mr Graham Poyner of Newport, South Wales. Graham kindly reported one of our yearling cocks flown out from the previous Ancenis race. He cared for the cock for a week, nursing him back to fitness before dad drove up the motorway and met Graham at Magor services to collect the young cock. Graham asked why dad wanted the yearling cock back so badly................the answer being he was paired to Galaxy and we needed him back to give her motivation to race from Saintes. So thank you Graham, without your kindness we may never have won the section with Galaxy.

We like to name all our Section G winners with a name beginning the G. Galaxy is bred from a Geoff & Cath Cooper Cock which is a son of JW. This line can be traced back by Geoff to pigeons he bought from August Tavierne & Andre Vermote. The dam of Galaxy is a daughter of Mark Gilbert's Southfield Pau. We have been enjoying a good season of races with the NFC this year and look forward greatly to the Tarbes Blue Riband event and the young bird/OH nationals.

Once again the convoyer, race advisor and weather advisor did an excellent job for the members on yet another tricky weekend of weather. Good pigeons being timed in all sections. At the time of writing we have 28 from 32 entered and the birds were in great condition. Thank you to everyone of our friends in the sport who have rung us, text or used the internet to pass on their congratulations. We really appreciate it."

J and D Staddon

Second Section G goes to the partnership of Howse and Parsons. The bird they timed was a dark chequer widowhood cock on his fifth channel race of the year including all NFC races.
He is a pigeon who Chris had to persevere with as a young bird  it failed to return on the day from the majority of races and as a yearling it was reported and brought back by courier from last year's NFC fougeres, but this year he has been really consistent being in the first three to the loft in all channel races. He has clearly learnt something when he has been away and is rewarding the partnership for their patience.
His sire is a grandson of the partnerships cock ‘Merit Man’ - NFC merit winner and grandson of Joe Raeburn’s NFC winner Gwen.  The dam is a daughter of the 58 cock, an NFC section winner and sire of section winners. After experimenting with new feeding system last season, the team have reverted back to their original feeding system as they felt the pigeons were lacking stamina for the hard races, and it seems to have paid off. Finally they would like to thank Eamon Kelly on the splendid job he is doing in such difficult weather conditions, also the convoyer for the excellent condition the birds return in.

Section H

Taking 2nd spot is a Jamie Mitchell, a name that is new to me. Jamie clocked a yearling grizzle hen who has a bit of form and channel experience to her name already despite her age. Previous to Saintes the hen has been 5th and 9th Section and 385th and 27th open from 2 BICC races and 5th club, 25th Open UBI CombineCarentan. She is a Brockamp based bird with the bloodlines coming via Jutla brothers of London. Jamie would like to thank Jack, Shakey and Vic for all the help they have given to him with the pigeons.

Jamie Mitchell

Section I

Topping my own section we have the national winning loft of Clive Yates. This is what he had to say about his latest section topper:

‘My section winner is my champion cock in my eyes anyway. Last season he won the West Midlands RPRA Rose Bowl for the best performances over 450mls, and he also won 3rd section Fougeres with the NFC this year.

Last season he had 5 channel races on the result in all, he won 1st section Saintes NFC 480mls, and  a couple of weeks later I sent him to MNFC Bordeaux and  I timed him in at 9 .03 at night after 14 half hours on the wing north wind 540mls only 16 birds on the day. When he lands he all ways spins, I have never seen him tired. His sire is bred by Mark Gilbert x My Battenburg hen. The coal mine I worked at was closing so I was made redundant, I thought I would treat myself, so I went to the Battenburg sale. I picked the 2 I liked and managed to buy them both, I would say 80% bred off them have won.

In April I had 5 taken off the loft by a BOP, so when I started to train the old birds, all the others would race out of the crate, but he would walk on to the flap have a good look around for 10 seconds before flying off. Most days he will just be lying in his nest bowl for most of the day, he is a real character.

The wind while waiting for the Saintes birds was bending the trees very strong west, but he all ways come on the same line, wings back dives in like a dart.

I timed 4 in on the night and had 11 out of 12 on Sunday morning, they started dropping in at 5 am. This was another good call by the men in charge, well done.’

Clive with his g/daughter and new puppy Rusty.

Taking runner up spot is the loft of Rob Rome, no stranger to top honours at national level. Many readers will know that Rob had two removal sales at Blackpool and Ireland last year which attracted a lot of buyers including those from top lofts in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.  The reason for the sales was to allow Rob and his family to move home.  This was due to a change in work location (from Gloucester office to the London/Croydon office).   Everything seemed set, the house sale was agreed in October 2015 last year and after finding a new property in East Sussex the combined sale and purchase was agreed for completion on the 9th December last year.  All arrangements had been made with the removals company, a lorry and arctic trailer had been organised to remove the loft and many local fancier friends had agreed to help Rob disassemble the loft prior to removal.  Then disaster struck, Rob’s buyers walked away and the whole deal fell apart.  Rob’s home was put back up for sale in the Spring, however, to date a buyer has yet to be found.

Rob had only kept the dozen or so birds that had scored well at NFC Tarbes, BICC Agen and BBC Bordeaux in 2015 along with some mates and these were meant to be the 2016 stock birds at the new location in East Sussex.  When an early house sale wasn’t looking likely, Rob decided to couple these birds as normal and prepare them with the later NFC races in mind, until such time as the house was sold.

So back to the Saintes race, the winner of 2nd Section for Rob is a hen of pure class, beautiful in the hand with a shine like an oil painting.  She is a hen that proved as a yearling she could put many hours on the wing and home in bad weather.  However, when returning to the loft she looks like she hasn’t seen a basket.  In 2015, she had one 90 mile race prior to entering NFC Ancenis where she scored 6th Section 259th Open.  Unfortunately, she then injured herself and was stopped for the year.  In 2016, and noting her strong endurance, Rob has prepared this hen in an attempt to compete for the Mark Gilbert Trophy (Best Average with an individual pigeon in all NFC races).  In 2016, to date, racing every 2 weeks, she has scored: Fougeres (250 miles) 61st Section 1358th Open, Messac (283 miles) 21st Section 452nd Open , Ancenis (317 miles) 8th Section 145th Open and now Saintes (430 miles) 2nd Section 109th Open.

As you will be aware, Rob searches for bloodlines that can win in big competition from the start to the end of the programme (60 to 600 miles) and in particular those lines that can win in head winds.  The breeding of this hen comes from the lofts three main lines as follows:

SIRE:  “Ace Fideel 415”, bred by Patrick & Dimitri Houfflijn of Belgium.  An amazing breeder in the Rome lofts of 1st Club, 1st Fed, 1st National Section from 181 to 606 miles.  He’s also responsible for a terrific line in the UNC for Freddy Gray winning 2nd Fed Bourges 580 miles 2014 and 1st Fed Reims 500 miles 2015.  Another son was 15th Open BBC National Bordeaux 487 miles in 2015.  This cock was a yearling and only had 7 ½ flights in one wing.

“Ace Fideel 415” comes from the same Houfflijn Fideel and Geronimo lines that bred “Fabia” 1st National Section and Car Winner from Tarbes 606 miles for Rob in 2015.  He is a direct son of 122/08 that was a terrific racer in the Houfflijn lofts, winner of 14th National Brive 16,815 birds and 29th National Tulle 7,467 birds.

DAM:  Dam is home-bred from the lofts best lines (Carteus, Houfflijn and Kings-Cup winner Champion Reimus).  Her sire is “Zatopek Junior”, a Fed winner as a latebred carrying nest-flights.  He is direct from an inbred Son of “Zatopek” winner of 1st National Ace Pigeon Long Distance Entente Belge and 2nd National Ace Pigeon KBDB for Silvere ToyeRob would like to thank Alen Gibb, Graham Clift and Paul Hyatt for helping Rob get the birds to the National marking stations.  He’d also like to sincerely thank his good lady, Faith, for managing the birds during the week and his father Robert SR Rome for looking after the stock birds and breeding the racers.  Rob would like to make a dedication to his mum, Eileen, who is very poorly in hospital at the moment.

Rob Rome the t shirt is available in a range of colours!!

Section J

Taking the bragging rights from Saintes is the Stourbridge loft of Arthur Jones. The bird doing the honours this week is a 3yo dark cock always flown on widowhood. Previous performances of note are -  2015 24th  Sect, 176th  Open NFC Fourgeres, 17th  Sect, 92nd  Open NFC Messac, timed 3rd  bird Ancenis, timed 3rd bird from Saintes  for 29th  Sect 364th Open. 2016 1st bird  Messac NFC and will have a good position, 1st bird Ancenis NFC provisional 8th  Sect, 28th  Open. As you would expect this tidy racing machine is bred right. His sire is a son of ‘Canberra Prince’ -  1st Sect, 34th  Open NFC Tarbes when mated to a home bred De Keyser hen. His dam was a gift from Arthur’s late good friend Billy Tregonning of South Wales from his outstanding long distance family.

Arthur Jones Section J Topper

Runner up spot goes to Graham Clift. His timer from Saintes is a two year old cock, a late bred in 2014, he is very well bred. The sire being a son of Southfield Supreme when paired to a daughter of Mark Gilbert's "Melissa" 1st International Yearling.  The dam is from a son of Farmer George, 1st International Bordeaux when paired to another daughter of Melissa.  Graham would like to offer Congratulations to all the winners, and the race team as the birds returned in excellent condition.

Graham Clift

Section K

Topping the section in style with the only bird on the night is a man who is no stranger to national winning success Eric Higginbottom. Since moving back up to God’s own Country Eric has made his presence felt and continues to do so with yet another section win. The winning bird is a 2 year old Red Chequer cock who
has  had only two races this year and was the first bird to the loft from Ancenis on 18th June before winning Section K at Saintes on 2nd July. His sire and dam were purchased from Taylor Bros, New Biggin, Newcastle.  His sire is a full brother to Moonlight Express, 1st UNC Bourges 595mls from King and Queen, and his dam is a tidy pencil hen , her sire is from Titus when paired to his own  sister. Her dam is the Red Rising Sun hen, dam of many winners up to Bourges 595mls.

Eric Higginbottom

Runner up is the Bradford loft of S Harrison and Son. The loft clocked in a 3 year old widowhood cock of Ponderosa bloodlines being a Delbar x Muller cross, so definitely bred for the job that was asked of him. He was away to Saintes last year but was just outside the cards having flown it on the day. The cock had all the NFC races this year leading up to Saintes and then in the last couple of days all the other cocks in his section were removed and he spent some quality time with his hen from the day before basketing. The race team are fed to appetite on Garvo corn, with both the Sprint and Marathon mixes being utilised, depending on the distances being flown, and as is normally the way now with distance widowhood the birds are never broken down. Steve would like to give special recognition to the late Billy Goddard who was a top Bradford fancier. Billy passed away in 1992, and was the mentor and very special friend to Steve as he was learning the ropes as a fancier. Steve still puts in to practice each day the skills that Billy shared with him.

Section L

Doing the double top in the section at 500+ miles takes a certain set of skills and a team that has depth and quality but that is what Roger Sutton has achieved from Saintes flying up in to his farm on the outskirts of Congleton. Roger is no stranger to topping the section at this level, and is an ever present threat especially when we tip over in to ‘proper racing’. Unfortunately I have received no further information in time for the report.

Section N

The late liberation due to the weather left these far flying  birds with a compulsory night on the tiles and an early start on the second morning to make their home lofts. Looking at the early times and the bundle of early risers peppering the result it was clear that these birds were sent ready for the task at, and I think its fair to say that if they had been given a clear, early morning run at it we will have seen some magical 600+ miles on the day stuff last Saturday. Top of the heap in the section we have the loft of Bob Mckie, one of the growing band of passionate long distance national flyers who ply their craft in that corner of the world. Bob is, of course, well known as the secretary of the Sportsman FC which was created to encourage greater participation in National racing across the North East.

Section N winner

Flying 636 miles Bob timed a 2 year old Cheq w/f  hen named “Philippa” at 8.51 am on the second morning. Sent sitting a small baby she came unexpectedly out of the North and quickly entered the loft and although a lot lighter her general condition was excellent. This was only her second ever competitive race, her first was the Fougeres National (456 miles) in May when she arrived early second morning to take 5th Sportsman FC, 7th Section N, 1750th Open from 8756 birds.

Philippa is predominantly Jan Arden. Her sire is of Brian Denney bloodlines Tuff Nut/Dark Jan x Maxi/ Dark Jan. The Dam is an outstanding stock hen from Peter Virtue of Cockburnspath and is heavily influenced by the Invincible Spirit bloodlines and Peter Thorpe lines. Peter Thorpe being one of his best ever performers which unfortunately fell foul of the Peregrines that plague the area.

Runner up is the partnership of Mc Sween and Sexton, but I was unable to contact them before the report was completed.

Section P

Top of the heap from Saintes we have the loft of Bruce McAllister. Bruce saw home a well fancied, reliable and successful 5 year old hen. Her sire was bred by his good friend Terry Robinson and is of Tuff Nut and Snydale Express bloodlines. Her dam is home bred and is heavily inbred to Jos Thone ‘Emperor’ lines. This little lady was raced natural, and has been on the system all season. She was sent covering a pair of eggs and Bruce was delighted to see that she went back on to them  and is now pencilled in for Tarbes all being well. The race team are currently being fed Gem Super widowhood mix and it certainly seems to be doing the job. Bruce had a great race with 2 more only a few minutes behind the section topper, so they won’t be too far away when the dust settles.

Bruce Mc Allister and grandchildren.

Runner up is a loft that has been in the top few in the section each race this year in the NFC programme Steve Coxall. The pigeon that Steve timed first today is a 2013 blue w/f cock that has been a very consistent racer across the channel all his life, being the first back to the loft on many occasions. He's scored multiple positions at National level and Steve is now weighing up if he's going to Tarbes grand national or not - a tough call. His breeding is of good friend Dave Paine of St Neots houben blood lines crossed with Steves own family. He is raced full widow hood and hopper fed on the Versela laga IQ Range of food. Steve would like to congratulate the winner and  also Arthur Jones on winning section J, Chris Patmore on  winning section H and of course Bruce for section P.

Steve Coxall

Section W

The Welsh convoy had it all to do against the wind on Saturday but this did not deter some gallant performances. Doing a double top and convincingly winning the section is the partnership of Graham and Stuart Treharne. These guys are having a phenomenal season at all levels and are ever present in the shake up at national level. The first bird over the pad to win the section is a yearling cock Eijerkamp van loon whose nest mate topped the fed as a young bird , his sire is a double grandson of silver shadow and his dam was 1st  section J Saintes NFC and 1st  welsh south road national in 2014. These two were the first young birds bred from her, she is bred from their son of Kain. The second bird is also a yearling cock a full brother to our recent ancenis national winner and NFC section winner he is bred from ‘Alans lad’ their  2012 Saintes national and Gold Cup winner when he was paired to a daughter of ‘Nadira- the  double international winner for Lothar Leissmeister. Both birds were raced on roundabout and this was their fourth channel race of the season.

G and S Treharne

Taking 3RD Section and continuing their run of form is the loft of Padfield brothers. Vince and Dave saw home a 2 year old chequer pied cock. As with all their race team, this Cock was raced on the roundabout system all the year after rearing a pair of young birds, he was put on the roundabout after sitting his second round of eggs for 10 days.

He was lifted straight off the loft to Maidstone, 166 miles then he had two overseas races. From his last race prior to Saintes he was returned on the Monday with the Welsh North Road Fed when they were unable to liberate. He was then sent to Saintes two weeks later, he was left to run a day and half with his hen before he was put in the basket and taken for marking.

He was one of the fancied pigeons and was a Car bird in the NFC where he finished 3rd section in this race. He is a Full sister to Patsy 1st Pau National and Claire 1st pigeon into Wales and 17th Pau International 2015. This Cock is bred in the purple full of distance champions her Dam was bred by the House of Aarden the sire is the Famous Padfields Invincible and the Dam a Daughter Of Invincible Spirit ( Lady Invincible) This hen was presented back to the Padfields by Steve Wright and is proving her worth at stock. The Sire was purchased from Dave Impett of Blackpool from the best of his Bruggermans, his  sire is the no 1 stock cock 239 when paired to ‘Christine’s Star’ 13th Open NFC Tarbes 747 miles. This cock was also sire to the Padfields first pigeon in the BICC Pau international last year.

3rd section W for Padfield Brothers

Right folks, that will have to do for now. We are within touching distance of ‘the’ race of the season for many from Tarbes and I wish you all the luck in the world if you are dipping your toe in. Don’t forget to take part in the Hartwells Car nom run in conjunction with Mark Gilbert and Eamon Kelly, remember it is   unlimited so don’t be shy. We are also only on race away from seeing who will win the Champions of Champions League and claim the Hartwells car. As it stands we have 5 sections represented in the leading 5 places, including Section N and W. I will do a bit more on this for next week.

As always, I am on 01926 817796 or if you are shy .

Drew Callan,

NFC PO

NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan, Press Officer

Fougeres 2016

For the first race of the 2016 campaign members had to wait an additional 24 hours due to the weather conditions through France and out in to parts of the channel. The following morning we were greeted with a much better prospect of having a race as the conditions were much better along the line of the flight well up in to England itself. There were some showers moving across the Midlands and these were predicted to be heavy in places but scattered and moving through quickly. With this ‘thumbs up’ along the line ‘Cock Crow’ Kelly called for strings to be cut and the convoy were up and away in to good sun shine and a light SW wind, with these conditions expected to prevail over much of the route home. With the wind remaining light the convoy took full advantage and the provisional results indicate that they came straight up the Cherbourg peninsula and cut out for home maintaining fairly straight line. As you would expect the Section B boys were in the right place at the right time and have taken 6 of the top 10 positions. This race saw competition to top the new sections and I am pleased to say all sections were topped on the night on what turned out a tight race for some members from the North Midlands northwards so well done to those members who topped the new sections in their maiden season.

1st Open, 1st Section F

Top of the heap in a close finish we have the father and son partnership of J and P Parker. I have spoken to James on a few occasions over the past 4 years following national successes and I believe that on each occasion it has been a hen that has done the damage for the partnership. The young lady that came to do the damage and claim the glory for the Reading loft now goes by the name of National Beauty and as with all national winners she is most definitely bred for the job with some top pigeons close up in her pedigree. The sire of the Hen is a Gaston Van De Wouwer ( Kaasboer lines ) and the Dam is a double granddaughter of The Machine ( bird of the year in both the up north combine and the north east homing Union 2010 ).
The Hens this year have been put on a Widowhood system based on the Frank Bristow system and in the closed season the loft has been changed to benefit the limited time that James has. The partnership share the workload, with James racing team of 16 hens and his dad Pete taking charge of the cocks. James will be the first to admit that he prefers hens as they respond better to the limited time he has available and thrive on it. The Hens were trained three times at approximately twenty five miles and then sent to two inland races and one short channel crossing as trainers
I was taking to Pete, the senior partner, and he was telling me that this was the first competitive race of the season for the birds as an administrative error on his part saw the wrong birds wiped of the ETS system and they were only put back on the week before. He said they had no worries lifting them in to the national as they were the picture of health and were ‘bouncing’ at home and exercising well they were telling the Parker boys that they were up for the job. The impression I get from speaking to James previously is that he really does his homework and has travelled far and wide to learn about nutrition, feed systems and how to achieve optimal health and he has put what he has learnt in to practice.  He now has the philosophy of watching the birds to see what they want and to adjust and tweak it daily if need be. The birds diet is determined by work rate and the appetite the birds are showing. To this end, James mixes what he needs to meet his requirements from a range of Van Robaeys corns. Alongside this he has always sourced the best bloodlines available and my memory suggests that it was the Jos Thone birds that were winning well for him previously and these are still very much abundant in the loft. However, over the past couple of years he has made it his target to upgrade the blood in the loft and to this end he has brought in some top drawer bloodlines.

If you wanted any evidence about whether the hard work and obsessive attention to continually improving their knowledge of health and nutrition then come along to a national marking day at Steventon. When Pete turns up with the team for that race they are immaculately presented, the hens are set up to a tee and as you put them through they pulse with nervous energy. Their quality is unreal and each one is in the same condition, set up and fuelled right to do the job being asked of it. The partnership would like to congratulate all the section winners and the National Flying Club on returning the birds in good condition.

To demonstrate how we all need a bit of luck to win a national, James was concerned in the run up to the national that the hens were not eating well and were just picking through the grains without any gusto. On the morning of the basketing he had them out at first light and they flew their hearts out, so much so that James had told his dad just to send cocks to the national as he did not think they would drop. However, as he was getting in his van to go to London he noticed a few of them dropping. These 10 hens then went to the national and the rest is history had they flown for 2 minutes longer James would have been left for work and the winner would not have been at the race.
Finally James and his dad would not have been able to realise their dream without the help from Ian Stafford and Charlie Ward. They would like to thank everyone that took the time to phone and send messages of congratulations, especially Mark Gilbert and Roger Lowe two very sporting gentlemen.

2ND Open, 1st Section E

Taking Bridesmaids position in what was a tight scramble for top honours we have the ever present Winkfield lofts of Mark Gilbert. As you would expect from Mark this bird will have been bred right for the job being asked of it. The first bird over the pad pigeon Mark got was a yearling cock, he topped the BBO federation the previous week from Portland against 3200 birds so was clearly on his toes. When I talked about being bred right have a look at this. The father is of Southfield Champ the Saintes National winner in 2010, when paired to a hen called Joy a daughter of Dirk Van Dykes Kanibal that Peter Fox from Syndicate loft kindly loaned him. The mother is direct from Jan Hooymans, from a brother of the famous Harry called Rooney when paired to a daughter of Harry. As you can see the section winner is jam packed with the top middle distance lines available. Mark would like to congratulate the overall winners and all the section winners in the race.

Mark Gilbert

3rd Open, 2nd Section E

For the next spot we travel back to Reading to the loft of a man who is always dangerous at any distance Roger Lowe. Roger is almost as well known for his choices of headwear as he is for his performances and also for making Eamon Kelly more famous than he already was good work Roger. Sending 30 birds, 19 widowhood cocks and 11 widowhood hens Roger had 28 arrive home on the day. First bird to the loft is a yearling cock and he is  already a winner of 11th  fed 2236 birds.
His sire is bred by Freddy and Jacque Vandenheede, and is now named new kid on the block being a grandson of their Trigger Finger. He is sire of many winner Inc 1st sec, 3rd  open BICC Le Mans 1936 birds, and  3rd sect 7th  open NFC Ancenis 5710birds. These birds are having a big impact at the Lowe lofts. The dam is Orbital Delight, full sister to Fast As Lighting winner of the BBC national by 25min.
She is a winner of many prizes including 2nd  sect, 3rd  open CSCFC Carentan 1946birds,
4th sect, 5th  open NFC fougeres 5408birds. She is a Janssen x Lou wouters both parents bred by Sheldon Leonard.
Roger would like to congratulate James and his father Pete on winning the race and the race advisor Eamon Kelly on a good lib under tricky conditions.

Darling and Ede improving their stock.

1st Section B, 4th Open

Taking top spot in Section B and finishing up in the top end of the result from Fourges for the second year running we have the partnership Darling and Ede. These two guys have only been together for a short while and Darren feels they are still in the process of getting a team together to allow them to be serious contenders at the top level. So far their results have been impressive and they are definitely a loft to look out for on national days. Darren and Tony would like to congratulate the winning Loft... Close but not close enough...They  was leading the Fougeres National for the 2nd year running,  last year finishing 2nd and  this year 4th.. 3rd time lucky next year? Their section winning pigeon was is an Andreas Drapa, and the Mother was bred by the man in 2nd place none other than Mark Gilbert. Unfortunately the mother was sold late last year when they were reducing numbers so someone’s loss is another's gain. The partnership race on roundabout and the National was only the birds 2nd race of the season so hopefully signs of things to come. The boys would like a special thank you to Tony's son and their silent partner Harry. With Tony backwards and forwards to London all the time Darren with a young family in the middle of a house move, Harry is always on hand to help out. They know couldn't have done it without you Harry, and Darren says you will get a raise in your wages as a result of the work you put in.

Roger Lowe

5th Open , 2ND Section B

Taking second spot is the loft of M Collins. When I was speaking to him to get information he was sat enjoying a picnic lunch whilst waiting for birds from the CSCFC race, sounds like an ideal afternoon to me. The bird that got him the top 10 finish is a blue 2 year old cock that was racing natural this year as he hadn’t the room to have all the birds on widowhood so needed a plan B. The cock took to the system very well and was sent to Fougeres covering 10 day eggs. He is bred down from a top Hession stock cock when paired to a daughter of Tony Mardons ‘Toey’. He has flown two races this year - from Portland and Kingsdown and went fresh to the first national race of the season.

Maurice Collins

6th Open 3rd Section B

Staying in Section B we have the former national winning loft of Mr and Mrs Waterhouse. This is a team who are always at the front of any national or classic race and are consistent throughout the programme at any distance and at national or domestic racing.  The first timer is a yearling cock now called Harry’s Boy. He is another one bred for the task being asked of him and is a half brother of the partnerships recent National winner from Saintes  - sharing the same father. Harry’s Boy was a consistent young bird last year and has continued in the same vein this year and has been on the fed result. Dave tells me that Harry’s Boy is really looking forward to NFC Messac.

Dave Waterhouse amongst the winners again.

7TH Open, 4TH Section B

Wearn Brothers and Neilson are once again up amongst the lead birds. I was unable to get any information from the before going to press.

8TH Open, 5th Section B.

We move to the Isle of Wight now for the next bird, to the loft of Mr E Rann. This family have a fine tradition of racing on the island and have a performance  pedigree that is impressive. Unfortunately I was unable to get in contact with Mr Rann in time to include his bird in the report.

9TH Open, 2nd Section F.

Taking runner up spot in Section F we have one of the most consistent small lofts currently competing at National Level- Cosmin Talas from Oxford This year he started the season with 24 widowhood  cocks, half old ones and half yearlings. The breed he keeps is only one and that's "Cosy's Rockets" which are doing well for me at the moment.  these have been put together using the best bloodlines available and using the basket to select the best. Cosy sent a team of 9 pigeons from which 5 had been over the water previously and 4 were going over for the first time. Cosy would like to congratulate the winners of the race James and Pete Parker. He would  also like to say a big thank you to Jill and Alan Webber for running the marking station, they are doing a fantastic job, and  well done to Eamon for a brilliant job he is doing. He has a kiss for one of the three of you but won’t say who you will have to wait until Messac marking to find out!!

10th Open, 8th Section B

Finishing off the top 10 we have the loft of J and T Austin. Unfortunately I was unable to get in contact with them before the report went to press. If they could get in contact with some details I will include them in another report.

Cosmin Talas and his loft manager.

Around The Sections.

Section A

Topping the section from Fougeres we have the partnership of Skidmore and Goble  from Havant. The section topper is a cheq pied hen with plenty of previous and a few miles under her belt in 5 years of racing. The little lady has previously won 27th and 33rd open from Bergerac with the CSCFC, this year she is starting in a similar vein and has drawn on her experience in classic and national racing to get to the front and stay there. Well done gentlemen.

Skidmore and Goble.

Runner up is one of the gentlemen of the sport and someone I look forward to talking to Mr Lou Severe. The first timer from Fougeres is a Vandenabeele cock bred for him by Richard Horton who Lou describes as his favourite drinking partner. Since having a few very bad outbreaks of YBS a few years ago the decision was made by Lou not to breed any young birds again himself, but instead to bring in a small team of around 20 each year. For the past few years the bulk have come from Richard and this is the case again this year with 12 coming from Richard and an additional 6 being purchased from Peter Reeves. Lou has a philosophy now of making things a s easy as possible with the birds and to help this the team is raced celibate and the cocks have 90 minutes in the morning, followed by the same for the hens. Then the young birds have a couple of hours in the afternoon and everything is done and dusted by 4.00. All birds get Versela Laga corn and all old birds get a good work out in the nationals and classics. Lou sent 25 to the race and had 18 in the loft within 30 minutes. The section cock was on the subs bench for a bit recovering from a broken toe he picked up at the start of the season, but showed he was match fit by winning the club from Coutances the week before  Fougeres.

W Woods.

Section C

Topping Section C is the Shaftesbury loft of W Woods. Bill won the section from Cholet last year and comes up trumps again this year from Fougeres. The bird to take the honours is a 2 year old widowhood cock, and like te rest of the team he is given an open loft twice a day and left to come and go?if they fly they fly?it certainly isn’t doing them any harm. Bill has built a family based solely on the basket and confesses to not being a great keeper pf records he says that he won his first race in 1953 and wrote down the ring number, distance, wind direction etc of the winner and lost it off the lost it off the loft 3 days later so hasn’t bothered with detailed records since!! However, the family he has today has in the mix somewhere some wildermeerch and some Houben along with some blood from his brother who also flies a tidy bird. Bill has been a member of The National Flying Club since 1958 and admits to being one of the remaining old guard in the clock station a sign of the times I think.

Stuart Laws

Runner up in Section C is the consistent loft of Stuart Laws. This is a loft that isn’t afraid of the big boys and punches well at national level. Stuart had national success the first season I took up the post of Press Officer and is amongst the top birds again. The pigeon is a Hartog x Vandebeele Hen. The sire came from Mr Hartog himself John Gerard. The dam was Vandenbeele, with the bloodlines originating from Colin Crowe in Scotland.
Stuart would like to thank John for taking my birds to Frome for the marking. He feels that since John has been a member of the Upton Flying Club it has really livened the club up with plenty of fun and banter. He has organised 2 breeder buyers and been a great worker for the club. Stuart is going to name the bird "DJ" after John who is also known by the members as "Donkey John"?not sure I want to know why!!

P and D Clarke

Section D

Topping Section D on a day when the birds had to work to get in to the area we have the Taunton loft of P and D Clarke. The section D winner is a 2 year old roundabout hen . Her sire is a direct son of Dave and Vince  Padfield’s BICC  St Vincent national winner and the dam is  a direct daughter of 'ffion' 9th  open Barcelona for the Padfield boys. This was clearly a day that suited these birds as the Padfield loft topped the new Welsh section on the same day. These bloodlines form the basis of the Clarke loft and have been responsible for a few national results lately.  The section topper was sent to Poole and Chale with the DCWS flying club as training races only. The partnership would like to say well done to the winners and also their own club members for some great results in the section.

Graham Wilson.

Taking the wooden spoon in the hotly contested Section D we have the Exeter  loft of Graham Wilson. The timer here is a blue checkered white flight hen and the strain of the bird is a Jan Aarden based Anton Schutz, with the parents of this yearling pigeon being bred by Louella Lofts. She didn't receive any training for three weeks prior to the race, so she really exceeded Graham’s expectations.  All the pigeons in the Wilson loft are flown on the roundabout system. Graham would like to express his sincere thanks to the national flying club convoyers for the excellent condition of his pigeons on their return home.

Section G

Taking top honours is the Bristol based loft of Nigel Templar. Nigel is no stranger to success at this level, and in fact in the first race I covered as Press Officer he made my job very easy indeed by doing a demolition job on the section and open. He houses the best sprint/middle distance bloodlines from Holland and Belgium and races these right along the line in the middle distance nationals and classics with devastating results.

Janet and Ken Wilcox.

Runner up in section G we have the ever present loft of Janet Wilcox, ably assisted by husband Ken. This   5 year old blue widowhood cock has been a very consistent prize winner in club, combine and national races. In 2013 he scored 118th open NFC saintes , 2014 230th  open Saintes NFC, and in 2015 118th  open Messac  .  THE parents are both bred by Geoff kirkland from his old Alfons Bauwen family which over more than 30 years have given the wilcox loft much success. The cocks grand sire was "Thermal King ", 3 times Pau on the day 556 miles and he in turn was bred from pigeons they had from Geoff in the mid 80’s. This family continues to produce very consistent birds, the kind you can sit and wait for in confidence if nothing befalls them enroute . The partnership mostly  race their birds their on widowhood  from the age of 2  onwards as they  find they become more mature and race very well up to the age of 7 or 8. The team is fed on a standard widowhood mix in evening, with a teaspoon of depurative with Carrs oil added each morning, the birds are never broken down.

Section H

Topping the section is a new member of the National Flying club, but definitely not new to winning- Mr Pete Chamberlain who races in leafy Northamptonshire. He certainly broke his NFC duck in style by topping the section and having the birds fall in from Fougeres. The topper is a 3 year old Van Reet x Janssen hen raced on round about. The birds are basketed off the perches for channel racing so that they travel calmly and can have all the fun they want when they get home!! The Chamberlain loft is very must middle distance focused and Pete likes to compete right out the line up to 400 miles at classic level. Pete was very pleased with the condition of the birds and had 6/8 home. Welcome aboard Pete.

John Black.

Runner up behind the Chamberlain loft is the consistent national loft of John Black. The bird clocked from Fougeres was a yearling dark cheq widowhood cock bred by Paul (Eddie the eagle) Loom from Wyboston Bedfordshire. These two lofts  swapped 6 young birds last year and this is the second one from the batch to get 2nd section in a national, not a bad average I think I would be asking for 12 next year John. The loft sent 12 birds and clocked 7 in just over half an hour and his overall returns were good, John commented that they were in excellent condition when they returned so thanks to the NFC team that looked after the birds, He would like to say a special thanks to Kevin Grace and his team at the Brassingbourne  marking station. Finally, well done to J&P Parker on winning the national and congratulations to all the section winners.

John Hambidge.

Section I

Taking the honours this week is a man who is getting quite a taste for national racing Mr John Hambidge from sunny North Oxfordshire. John was top of the heap twice last year and is continuing on from where he left of. John has been putting together a distance family based on a few Denny birds and in to these he has put some Van Reet blood to ‘gee’ them up a bit. The pigeon that topped the section is one of these crosses and this two year old widowhood cock is at the age where John will be asking a few questions of him in the channel races. This isn’t too bad a start I should think. John had a 2 year old hen less than a minute behind this guy and this little Jos Thone hen is what John describes as ‘a handy little bird’, winning him some money last year from Bergerac.

Next up is a loft with nothing to prove at any level of competition Clive Yates of Tamworth. The loft has recently moved up to the challenge of 500+ mile racing and whilst the old family is still the base of the loft there has been heavy but clever investment in new blood to help compete at the very top. The cock that came for Clive is a widowhood cock with a bit of performance already under his belt. He won the RPRA west midlands rose bowl best performance over 450miles last season, winning 1st section NFC Saintes 478mls, 12th open Bordeaux MNFC 546mls 16th  section Messac NFC and many more prizes including winning the club from 51mls. His sister was Ace pigeon last season in the MNFC so it’s a strong family trait.

His sire is bred by Mark Gilbert and his dam is the good Dutch hen bred by Batenburg, two new families brought in to do a job and they are succeeding at this. The cock came home with pink ceres and wattles where he had battled through some heavy rain to get back. Clive would like to congratulate all the winners in the race.

2nd Section I for Clive Yates

Section J

Top of the pile this week in Section J we have the West Midlands loft of R Gelder and son.  Richie and Dan clocked a yearling Gabby x Hooymans. The section topper was a consistent young bird for the loft, winning a few prizes, and has carried this over in to the yearling stage of it’s career. The bird was raced on roundabout and if this result is anything to go by it has a good career ahead of it.

R and G Gelder.

In runner up spot we have the Herefordshire loft of Joe Baker. The bird was flying to the far West of section J just 12 miles from the Wales border between Hereford and Hay on Wye, and I don’t suppose she had much company. She is medium build of Vandenabeele breeding the loft is 80% Vandenabeele with the rest longer distance birds, most of the birds are from M&D Evans but this one is out of a cock bought in 2005 from Jutla Brothers and a Louella hen all the grand parents of the hen were bred by Gaby. The hen was the fancied bird and has been the most consistent from the NFC over the last 3 seasons she was 2nd club Niort as a yearling 400miles and was second club last week from 110miles. She is raced on roundabout as is the rest of the team. 6 birds were sent by Joe and he had 4 on the day with the section hen’s yearling daughter arriving at 8:30pm with the last 2 before 7am on Monday to give full returns. Joe has been a club member for just 3 years and this is the first time he will make the published result so he is understandably over the moon to get a bird out in the wild west but as he says its special birds that you need to fly in the NFC and this is her 3rd season so she must be getting the hang of it. The plan now is to get more of the same to support her. Finally, Joe would like to pass on his congratulations to all the other prize winners.

Joe Baker

Section K

Topping the longer flying Section K we have the Mansfield loft of Mr and Mrs Wright. The team sent 4 and had all 4 in 1 hour. The sire of the hen was a late bred cock, out of a pigeon called De Hollander from Howard Jackson, which was brought by Michaels good friend Pete Lee of Warsop  and he was paired to a hen from the lofts old established family. The nest mate has 5th section 11th  open Carentan  with the N.F.C. and the hen has also claimed 7th  section, 23rd  open Messac. Not a bad nest pair? The 3rd bird home  is a good bird which should have topped section K at saintes last year for the partnership but came home without ETS ring on. The loft have topped section K at saintes and Acensis before, and have said that they will keep on trying their best. They like the design of the N.F.C crates because the birds have water on 3 sides and always housed in good condition. Michael was going in to hospital last week for surgery and like any true pigeon man was complaining about it being during racing and hoped it didn’t interfere too much with the racing programme!!! I am sure all members wish you a speedy recovery.

Mr and Mrs Wright partnership.

In runner up spot we have the partnership of B and N Neal. Their first bird is a blue Hardy Kruger hen which comes through Premier Stud stock with Tiger Woods on both sides of the pedigree also Da Vinci, Catwoman, Nelly and Bailey in the mix as well. She set out to impress from an early age and she was Jim's favourite youngster in the team last year. However, she took a knock late on in the young bird season so was never sent across the water so Fougeres was her first crossing at 365 miles, but that didn’t hold her back. She came back a little tired but looked fine an hour later. The partnership got four from ten on the day two next morning, all had worked hard a couple looked like they had gone around some bad weather but were in great condition.

B and N  Neal.

Section L

Taking the bragging rights this week and doing it in style we have Lol Gant of Stockport. Lol is another new member this year who has gone and topped the section at the first attempt. At a spritely 70 years old Lol has been a committed channel man for all of his racing career, and the recent change in partnership arrangements has given him the impetus to try competing with the National Flying club and guess what he loves it. Lol had a great baptism and had 5/5 including 3 yearlings who were getting a bit of experience for later in life. He has been taken under the wing of local long distance ace and good friend Brian Littlewood and you could ask for no better mentor. Lol is having a few details and a photo put together to be sent to me and I look forward to writing about this achievement later.

Taking runner up spot is the partnership of Gavin and Glyn Buckley who are always a time you need to know at this level and of course won the National last year. And as if that wasn’t good enough they collect my mate Pete Hackings bin up in Halliwell in Bolton and he really rates them as binmen!!. Their bird on this occasion is a Braspenning 2 year old roundabout hen with a bit of previous form. Her best positions so far is 1st  fed, 3rd Amal Cheltenham against 2614 birds, 8th  fed, 16th  Amal Yeovil 2556 birds and the week before the NFC  she was 6th  fed Portland. She is a very consistent hen inland always being in the first 5 back to the loft this was her first ever channel race and was their main pool bird she is also provisionally 1st  Lancs York 4bird club. Her dam was a 2003 bred Braspenning coming from the lines off De felle,  she also bred 2x1st   Amal winners and is also the grand dam of 2nd  L fourgeres and 3rd  Section L, 3rd  open fourgeres. Her sire is a 2013 bred Belgium cock who is starting to make a mark. The hen returned in excellent condition as did all their birds but all had pink wattles where they had meet some rain nearer to home. The partnership would like to congratulate the overall winner and Loll Gant the winner of Section L.

A touch of class 2nd Section L

Section N

Having the honour of topping another new section in the first race id a partnership from The North East who are no strangers to competing in the NFC. The partnership of Driver, Dawson and Driver have raced a few tidy birds at the distance and seem to have a knack of getting hens to perform for them. "Section N is one of the latest new Sections created by the NFC for the
start of the 2016 season. The partnership were top prize winners last season in the Sportsman FC. The partnership stopped club racing a couple of seasons ago to concentrate on National racing and already have a 1st Section K from the Old Hens race in 2014 however this win will mean a great deal
more to the partnership. The loft entered a strong team of 24 well trained birds and timed their Blue Pied hen now named "Wor Lass" at 20.48 pm doing 1187.81 ypm and flying 458 miles 381 yards. Absolutely top racing in the conditions that some of those at the top end of the club had to face on the day. ’Wor Lass’ was bred by the partnership in 2012 from a pair of birds which originating from McCardle & Archibald of Liverpool she was a very fast young bird and consistent old bird but after an accident in the loft in early 2015 when she damaged a wing was rested for the season. This year she was despatched to Fougeres with confidence sitting 14 days on eggs after a tough training programme where she had excelled. Robert Dawson is a hard task master and feeds his birds on top quality feed and minimum supplements. He is a strong advocate of mixing his feed from the Vanrobaey Premium Range."

The 1st section topper in Section N

Runner up on a trying day was the partnership of M Anderson and .The partnership are no strangers to distance racing and have been competing in the old Section K for quite a few years. They thought the 3 birds that made it on the day were all good pigeons and congratulations to the owners of the other 2.  A few more turned up for them  the next day none the worse for the experience, and of the 15 they  sent they ended up with 13 home . The first bird has been to in excess of 520 miles and so far hasn't had a night out in either the NFC or BICC. He is always flown on widowhood. The partnership don't compete in NEHU organisations apart from sending young birds for the experience to 150 miles. They much prefer to do their own thing and have been doing so now along with their good friends Brian Hicks & John Rumney for the last 11 years. 

Pete Robinson the history maker

Section O

This new section encompasses some of the hardest terrain to try and race pigeons in to so I take my hat of the select band of men who have stepped forward to take up the challenge. I only hope their actions inspire others. The history maker on this occasion is Mr Peter Robinson, and the bird who put his name in the history books is a very experienced 5 year old cock. He is home bred from birds gifted by the late Harry Densham of Stanley Co Durham of mainly of Staff Van Reet bloodlines. This cock has been a very consistent performer at the distance, he has flown the English channel at least 12 times and scored nine very good positions in his 12 crossings. Always flown on the widowhood, for this race he was given his hen on Tuesday evening and was basketed at 4-45 am on Thursday. His hope is that more Cumbrian fanciers will support the National Flying Club and make this new section a success. If this happens then hopefully the N.F.C. will look at marking stations to help the Cumbrian fanciers.

Taking Bridesmaids spot is a loft that is no stranger to success and has been  household name for many years I refer off course to Ian Parsons. Ian sent three birds to the race and got two on the second morning. His first bird is a two year old grizzle which flew the channel twice as a yearling. She is a Jos Thone bird with both parents bred by Ian Stafford and purchased from Border Lofts. She was clocked at 5.38 on Monday morning after flying 436 miles. Richard Hodgson, who forwarded the information on behalf of Ian would like to personally congratulate both Ian and Peter Robinson on their performances and hope that these endeavours up here in section O will give others the will and hope to have a go at National racing. I will second that.

Team steptoe

Section P

Taking the top honours is the father and son partnership of R and N Steptoe.  The section topper is a 2 year old blue pied widowhood cock, a previous winner of 2nd Truro and  4th kingsdown as a yearling.
His sire a son of their top racer/ breeder "41" 1st SMT Combine and g/s of 1st  NFC Carentan. His dam is   ‘Dicks Dream’ -  1st NFC Carentan, and she is also dam of 1st  South Coast fed 1st  Wessex combine Carentan 1830 birds, 1st Surrey Fed etc. This guy was definitely bred right and stepped up to the mark when asked.

Colin Fagg

Runner up is the former NFC winning partnership of Fagg and Nicholas. Colin and Linda clearly have the birds for this type of racing and once again a Frans Laermans comes to the front and writes the partnership in to the history books of The National Flying Club again. The history maker this time around is a direct Frans Laereman, one of a batch purchased in 2013. She has had two club races up to 100 miles and two channel races from Boves (129 miles) with the East of England Championship Club prior to going in to Fougeres with the NFC. She is raced on the widowhood system with the cock always there on arrival.  Like all the race team, she is fed a combination of Versele-Laga and Vanrobaeys widowhood mixes.

Section W

Topping the new Welsh section at the first time of asking is a partnership who are quite good at this sort of thing and have set a few records racing pigeons in to Wales Dave and Vince Padfield. The section winner is a 3 year old cock who was sent to  Maidstone(166 miles) off the loft  without any training just getting fit around the loft and then lifted in to Fougeres and he came to win the new Welsh Section. This is a system that has evolved at the lofts from necessity due to the high levels of losses and casualties from hawk attacks when they tried to road train.
Last year as a two year old he was clocked at 5;10 in the morning of the 3rd
day  from Pau International when the lads had the first 3 birds into
Wales and he was the third he won 5th Single bird National Pau 2015.He also claimed
55th  open BICC Pau International.

On the Sire’s side he is from a son of DAVE, he was 1st and 3rd National
Tarbes and won the Gold Cup for bird of the year. The dam is a Daughter of Padfields Invincible, 2nd   Barcelona now with Steve Wright at the house of Arden.

They had a second bird close up who will not be far away in the section, and this 2 year old had the same preparation as the section topper. Now take a look at this or breeding - Sire is son OF INDY 1ST  and 8TH Open NFC Tarbes for Matt Rakes, and the dam is the mighty ''IRON LADY'' -  what  a racing  machine. She has won -2009 39th Open, 2ND West Section BICC Pau International 2nd  WDGCC. 2009 61st West Sect BICC Alencon.  2011 Barcelona BICC 11th Open, 3rd Sect. 2012 Barcelona BICC 35th Open, 4th. 2013 Barcelona BICC 8th open, 3rd sect. She is the first pigeon to fly 3 times over 750 miles in to the UK in race time in the Barcelona International. So we will expect big things from this young man in the future.

The team were raced on roundabout after rearing round of young birds, and were run together for a couple of hours prior to basketing. They had 30/40 at the time of talking to Dave.

Dave and Vince Padfield

Stepping up to the mark for provisional 2nd Welsh Section is a man who is always dangerous in what ever organisation he chooses to compete in Mr Derek Jones of Wrexham.  His first timer is a Blue hen, with her  sire being a double RPRA award winning Staf Van Reet, purchased at Mr R Kent, clearance sale.
Her dam is  the A ring hen, raced as young bird only winning 1st  section, 4th  open, 1st gold ring race, MNFC Carenten. Her Dam was the ‘ 42’ hen, the best hen that Derek reckons he has ever  owned. She in turn is the dam of 1st open MNFC Tours, plus 3x 1st section winners and 3 x 2nd section winners in the MNFC. The Sire of the A ring is a Wildemeersch and an RPRA award winner, bred from Jim and Carol Dutton stock. These bloodlines have stood up to the challenges that Derek has thrown at them and have thrived on it.

Derek Jones

Right folks, that’s all for me. The first race has been and gone and I hope you all enjoyed it. At the very least I hope it gave you an indication of where you birds are at and I hope its close to where you expected. For those of you entered in the Champion of Champions League I hope you got off to a good start.

Once again, can I remind you that if you are top 2 in the section or top 10 in the open don’t wait for me to contact you feel free to send me the info by the Thursday following the race to the usual address.

As always I am on 01926 817796 or .

NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

by Drew Callan, Press Officer

2016 Tarbes

The Blue Riband race of the 2016 season saw the birds once more at Tarbes ready to take on the challenges of competing from this absolute bruiser of a race point. As usual, once the birds were liberated fanciers across the country would come alive with hope and expectation for some it would be time well spent, for others their dreams will have been put on hold for another year. The early lib gave hope for a clutch of day birds, but the heat in France was to be the undoing of many of the convoy and they were slowed down sufficiently in their journeys home to ensure all but a brave few spent a night under the summer stars. I feel that if we had the race on the traditional date in early July when we have around 30 minutes more daylight then a few more warriors would have been home for the night. A  look at the early morning timings shows that they were about in decent numbers and there were quite a few who must have been up with the larks and getting home ward again to warm the hearts of  few fanciers who were up and about waiting. The race itself definitely fitted in to the mould of a classic Blue Riband race with 7 section winners in the top 10 and a few absolutely stonking performances that coated the birds and fanciers in fairy dust. One such bird was the bird that stood up to the challenge and claimed the top spot flying a fantastic 712 miles in to the western reaches of Section L. The loft that will step up and collect the most coveted set of silverware is Mike Locke who flies up on The Wirral. Originally from County Armagh, Mike came over to The Wirral with his family as a young boy and I can report than he now sounds like a local. Mike is probably one of the best distance loft in the UK and no stranger to winning at the highest level and has been doing so for many years. He timed a small to medium Strawberry mealy hen, beautiful in the hand, lovely balance with excellent pectoral muscles -  Just the job to fly and win at 712 miles.  She now goes by the very apt name of ‘The Phoenix’, following on from a year of trials and tribulations that Mike and his family have faced.

The Phoenix shortly after arriving home.

The breeding is Van Bruaene, and Mike has cultivated these birds with wise crosses of different lines of Van Bruaene since the initial purchases 35 years ago from Albert Bennett of Church Stretton himself a winner of 1st Open TNFC Pau, and from Bobby Mayo of Chester, and to this day birds from both men heavily influence the bloodlines that Mike has such devastating results with. By the way, Mike was really humbled when Albert rang him to congratulate him and to thank Mike for continuing to improve the strain.

 Bred in 2014, this hen flew all stages to 200 miles as a young bird. As a yearling she flew a bad smash from Fougeres winning 2nd Federation and 3rd  amal and 2 more channel races, all in good time and always arrived very fresh. This year she had 4 races to the coast on RABT then sent with the MNFC which after a 9 day holdover was liberated from Bedhampton. She was re paired the day after Bedhampton and laid out in 9 days. She was sent to Fougeres sitting 8 day eggs and had a 10 hour plus flight and was then set up for Tarbes and sent using Mikes special system for distance hens. The grandsire of this hen is ‘Bordeaux Wiggins’ 1st  Section 7th  Open MNFC Bordeaux on the day winning an RPRA award for the longest flying bird on the day. She also has other Van Bruaene lines via Brian Denneys (Tuff Nut ) X Van Bruaene, 5th  Open TNFC Tarbes. The same day as this years epic win, her full sister was 2nd  West section MNFC Bordeaux and the section winner of this race is also from Mikes birds. This loft wins at all distances and in very good company ie. TNFC, MNFC North west Combine, Chester 2 bird Specialist club, Beeston Castle 2 bird Specialist club , the latter 2 being won on a regular basis and several times taking 1st and 2nd. 

. On the morning of the race Mike was up and about with the dawn chorus, and went down to his lofts not really expecting a bird so early but as with all of us was hopefully optimistic. Nearing the lofts he noticed the bob wires pushed aside and thought, ‘oh no,’ thinking a cat etc had got in. Hardly daring to look Mike eventually did and saw a Tarbes arrival looking back at him as if to say ‘where the hell were you?’ That arrival was the Kings Cup winner Phoenix.

Feeding for the race birds is mainly Gerry Plus with added Irish Mix but before sending to a distance race feed is changed to Versele laga fat mix with added peanuts. All corn is supplied by P&C Tilstons from White Cross Farm feeds. All  the birds are fed to appetite as Mike wants them for the short end of the season and wants fuel in the tank and flesh on the bones for when its need as was the case from Tarbes. Mike would like to thank all those who have congratulated him on his win and to congratulate in turn all the section winners and any fancier who times in. I would like to thank Geoff Blackhall for his help in getting this information collected and sent to me, thanks Geoff.

Taking top honours in Section J and runner up spot to Mike is the Telford loft of Malcolm Hope. Malc and Mike are good friends and regularly swap pigeons with each other. Now, if this little lady had a bit more lick on her side and had gone one better in the result there would have been some party and she will have pulled off a unique double. The reason for this is that the section winner for Malc is "Piaf", his BBC Bordeaux winner from 2015. This class act was sent on the same condition as last year on a 7 day old youngster and it clearly worked as motivation because it got her to the front of the pack. On arrival, Malc had to double check her ring number as she was very fresh and in excellent condition -  a credit to her constitution and the care given to her by the race team. In preparation for Tarbes she had a couple of inland races to limber her up then a short channel race 5 weeks before the main event. Then she only had a few short training chucks with the young bird team 2 weeks running up to basketing before being sent off to Tarbes.

Mal would like to mention Bob Briscoe and Brenda and Martin Benting at Donnington club for dealing with the formalities that allow him to compete at the level he does.

Piaf 2nd open Tarbes for Malc Hope.

Topping Section P and having the pleasure of going to bed as a national winner on the Saturday night after being amongst the first to verify we have the loft of Tom Williams. In this game you get to talk to some very interesting people and Tom is one of these. This is what he had to say:

‘Firstly I would like to give thanks to the workers of our sport at Chichester marking station where I take my birds for the NFC races.  It is a first class marking station run in a first class manner.  Secondly to Tom Firmager and his helpers at Bromley clock station.

My bird who was 1st section P and 3rd open at 562 miles with only 6 on the day flying 14 and a half hours on the wing is now named Son Of Seagull.  He is a two year old pied widowhood cock.  His sire named Seagull is a gay pied who was presented to me from Dave McSween from Sunderland.   Seagull is a double G/Daughter of Wearside Lass who was 1st 24th 40th and 78th UNC Bourges.  The G/Father on the dam’s side was Lionheart who was 2nd 47th 73rd and 142ND UNC Bourges.  His dam was bred from a Mealy cock named Finley who was 1st Northern Classic 544 miles from Saints then second Northern Classic the next year.  The Dam was presented to me by Don Pickard who races in the Barnsley fed.  Thanks lads for those fantastic birds.  I have sent birds to Dave McSween and to Don in return for the birds they sent me.

As a young bird Son of Seagull was not raced just trained into the wind, North East South and West about 14 times then left to grow on.  As a yearling he had four channel races with my local club then he went to Saintes with the NFC 390 to me. He did win one of those club races and very consistent in the others.  He flew Saintes with the NFC in 9 and a half hours when I clocked 7 of my 8 in 45 minutes to gain 129th 175th and 187th open with 3740 birds in the race.

As a two year old the plan all along for them seven birds and the other 5 was Tarbes with the NFC.  They all had two short inland races with the midweek at 84 miles then into France with the BICC from Falaise 171 miles when Son of Seagull was my 1st bird in 4 hours 45 min.  Next race was Alencon 203 miles when he was 2nd bird in 6 hours 49 minutes.  Then the birds went back to Alencon 2 when he was my 2nd bird in 6 hours 57 minutes.  I then had my birds checked by the vet Henk De Weerd as I thought they were not on song properly when it was reported they had a high canker count  I treated them with TriColi STOP that clears up 99.8 % of canker in just three hours.

Now they were ready for Saintes at 390 miles with the NFC.  I sent the 9 of my remaining widowhood cocks - I start with just 12 - they were up at 9am.  Son of Seagull was my 3rd bird on 10 hours 52 minutes and I had 7 of the 10 on the day and two next day.

Tom Williams 3rd Open Tarbes

I now had 3 weeks to get them ready for Tarbes 562 miles.  I took them to Devils Dyke at Brighton on the next Saturday and put them up at 6 50am to fly the 45 miles home.  The next Friday I took them to a place we in Orpington call suicide ally, we call it that because if the birds are not right they can take hours to do the 20 odd miles.  They did it fine in 32 minutes.  Their last toss next day was again Devils Dyke at Brighton 45 miles.   They beat me home and they were now ready to show me what they are made of at the race of the season for me Tarbes with the NFC against all the greats of our country.   Mark Gilbert being number one in my eyes who I never dreamt I could beat.  My Son of Seagull proved me wrong and put his heart and soul into it all day long for 14 and a half hours to get home on the day with just 6 other gallant birds to take 1st section P and third Open Tarbes at 562 miles.  What will say in my mind is the fact that all night long I was the winner until the morning when two fine birds beat me into 3rd place and I congratulate both of them birds and their owners on a stunning performance.

Just to finish I feed my birds on Versele-Laga corn, I use the Henk De Weerd health programme and I do not have any theories.  I go along with Geoff Kirkland -   If they are good birds they win races, if they are good stock birds they breed winners.  Geoff taught me this theory a long time ago when I went to see him to learn how to race pigeons at the distance.  Thanks Geoff, I will never forget that wonderful day with you all those years ago.  I have two others to mention who helped me in long distance pigeon racing.  I class these two men as my very dear pigeon friends; they are Bob Donaldson and Jimmy Gibbon who have both won the UNC from Bourges.   You were good teacher’s lads and I was a first class student who hung on to everything you taught me.  Thanks a million.

‘Lucky ‘ 1st Section B for Mark and Julie Gower.

Topping Section B and a very impressive 4th open we have the loft of Mark and Julie Gower. The little lady who took the section honours has a bit of a story to her and I think demonstrates the patience that good distance fanciers show.  she was born with a weak left leg, and when she is tired her foot goes in a clench and she then walks on her knuckles, this was  only noticed when she raced as a young bird and  the partnership  thought she would never make it as a racer! As a yearling in 2014 they sent her to NFC Messac and she never returned, a week later Mark received a phone call from The Cornish Bird of Prey Centre saying a farmer had brought her to them. Apparently the farmer saw a peregrine take her from the sky to the ground and was about to devour her when he chased it off. She must have been frightened silly after being caught by a falcon only to be taken to a bird of Prey centre !! She was fairly damaged with a big hole through the skin on her side and on the top of her head, they  sent for her and when they opened the box she was in a pitiful state but with a bit of care she healed up, mind you she would not go out of the loft for 6 weeks though! 

In 2015 she had a couple of short channel races and then NFC Ancenis race and came quite well, she then went to NFC Tarbes in that year to be my first bird home and finish 58th Open. This year she maintained her consistency and after each race and “hobbled” through the trap on her weak left leg like Long John Silver ! She had 2 short channel races and then to NFC Ancenis again where she took 12 hours to come home. Mark decided to just exercise her around the loft after that with a couple of 50 mile trainers on a Saturday afternoon. All year she has been on a roundabout system and then re-paired for this race sitting 7 day eggs when she went. Seeing her come on the night is a sight that the partnership  will never forget especially as they knew it had turned in to  a hard old race.

She is a Noel Peiron pigeon bred from a pair Mark purchased from Noel direct while on a trip to The Fugare show in Belgium ( good friends Guy Reed & Andy Parsons & Mark go there every other year mainly it seems to have meaningful conversations late at night while drunk in a bar about long distance racing) !! Mark would like to say well done to Mr Locke and his gallant pigeon and a thank you to good friend Andy Parsons for his advice given during their long chats about distance racing ( even though he sometimes doesn’t know he’s given it ) and his lovely wife Julie who helps with the young birds & texts him  when any late pigeons come home while he is at work

.

Mel and Sue King

Taking 5th open, and the 5th section winner in the result we have the ever present lofts of Mel and Sue King who ply their trade in section C. Their  latest section winner is a Casaert x Vandenabeele hen called “Stourcrest Belatrix” her sire has won for them 1st  Section NFC Cholet, 2nd  Section NFC Cholet and 4th  Section NFC Saintes he was bred from two direct Casaerts on loan to the partnership from Brian Goodwin. Her dam is a Vandenabelle from their multi-national winning family based on The Shadow of M & D Evans she won 2nd  Section, 2nd Open  C.S.C.F.C Young Bird Truro beaten only by a loft mate. All birds are fed on Country Wide corn from A James.

Mel and Sue would like to congratulate the winners and all the section winners on a fine performance, to have 7 section winners in the first 7 open positions must prove this was a very fair race. So well done to all involved.  

Nigel Templer holding ‘Hey Joe'

Topping section G and claiming 6th  open spot is a loft that is better known for racing a top middle distance bird, but has dipped his toes in to proper racing Nigel Templer.  The bird that topped the section was gifted to Nigel as a young bird in 2014 by Joe Raeburn which he is truly grateful for and has now named ‘Hey Joe’ as a thank you. The breeding is the best of Joe’s family, with the sire being his Saintes section winner from last year and the dam has got "Gwen" running through her veins.

This season this cock has been 7th  section, 26th  open Messac,9th  section and 124th  open Saintes and now provincially 1st  section G and 6th  open Tarbes flying 578 miles on the day, - all these with the N.F.C.

Nigel wants to thank Joe for a truly gutsy pigeon, small in stature but big in heart, [the bird not Joe]. Nigel says it is a different feeling doing so well in a race of this calibre and he could n’t stop smiling for a day or two. He would like to congratulate the fanciers above him especially the first two doing 6 and 700 miles brilliant - well done and a good job by the race.

Phil and William Curtis-1st Section K .

Taking top spot in Section K, 7th open, and one of the stand out results of the race as they only had a single entry is the NFC Chairman Phil Curtis who races with his son William. Phil is a man of few words for a Yorkshireman but I eventually got this from him:

‘First of all on behalf of the committee may I congratulate all those who timed in on the day of liberation, truly wonderful birds on a hard day with a head wind and extremely hot in France. To those that kept battling on further north and were eventually to become the winners of 1st & 2nd Open to Micky Locke and M? Hope,  congratulations and you must be very proud of your birds.

Well it was very close in Sect K and no doubt the 3 birds, ours, Barry & Pete Winters and Nick Adshead must have travelled up this side of the country a long way together. Special mention to Nick’s bird Millie which was 1st Sect, 16th Open last year and now 3rd Sect, 11th Open.

Our 4y/o widowhood cock has been a very consistent bird, he was our first bird from both Messac and Ancenis this year, a little bit of the pace when the birds were coming back from the west side of the country. Last year he was 5th Sect Ancenis and 2nd Sect Saintes, 28th Open. After Ancenis our focus was on Tarbes although it took a lot of will power not to send him to Saintes. In the days leading up to basketing he really came in to himself, chasing wood pigeons on nearby houses, going in other sections and chasing cocks, playing me up by not coming in, generally being full of himself. William spotted him coming, clapping as he approached on the same line as when he came from Saintes last year. This is what pigeon racing is all about and why there is no greater feeling than waiting and watching for a bird to arrive from a NFC race. He is bred in the purple, his sire bred by Mark Gilbert is G/S of Southfield Supreme and Perpignan 06, his dam bred by Brian Denney is a daughter of Charm, 5th Open NFC Tarbes. Thank you to you both for helping to achieve one of our dreams. It only seems like yesterday when my granddad George Rowbottom put me in partnership with him in the late 60’s and we had some great times. Looking at pictures of him before Tarbes, with the birds he timed in from NFC San Sebastian races in the 30’s and of his wonderful hen the Pride Of Granton, one of the greatest birds to have ever  flown in the YMR, gave us hope that our Cheq cock would earn a picture of himself alongside them. ‘

What Phil neglected to mention is that this game cock now called ‘Williams Boy’ was their sole entry and was well fancied by Phil and William and so was pooled accordingly.  He was also in the Car nom and has duly won it for the partnership some achievement at 736 miles. Last year it was won by Rob Rome at 606 miles with his great little hen Fabia who finished ( I think) 15th open. This time round The Curtis boys have pulled off the same trick but at 6th open. Phil and the committee would like to thank all those involved in the sponsored car and Hartwells for their support.

We stay in Section K for the next 2 positions and 2 more top long distance performances.  Claiming Bridesmaids spot we have the loft of Pete and Barry Winter past winners of the Blue Riband race with Little Gem a few years ago. These guys live for Tarbes and the preparation is meticulous, and it nearly paid of this year as they had a second bird close up that is just outside the top 10 but worthy of a mention.   Their first arrival was a latebred in 2014, not raced until 2015 where she was raced with the YB's, her 5th race was in the NFC Guernsey Old Hens National.  Lightly raced in 2016, set up for Tarbes she was sent on her first nest of 3 day old young birds.  She was bred for the job, being a daughter of a full brother to Little Gem when paired to a direct daughter of Little Gem.  

Their second arrival being a Dark cheq 2013 cock who was sent driving, a condition that suited his nephew Little Gem.  This cock being of pure Chris Hebberecht descent, bred from Little Gem's Sire to a Hebberecht hen bred by Jimmy Mark up in Scotland from his Axl line of Hebberechts. Peter and Barry would like to thank Jimmy for breeding this hen for them.

Milly the top Tarbes hen for Nic Adshead.

Next up for 3rd Section K and 9TH Open we have the loft of Nic Adshead. Nic has developed a reputation from this race point over the past few years and this year is no different. Once more his first timer was Milly who won the section from Tarbes last year. This year Milly was sent sitting 18 days on basketing and was was only lightly trained this year with the local club and only one channel race from Falaise the week before the Tarbes National.  Milly is bred from a Half brother to Mark Van Den Bergs 1st International Bergerac winner, Sanne, when coupled to Nics current best Breeding Hen Ulrike, who was bred by Menne and Daughter from their super breeder Paul. Well done Nic, this little lady was once more up with the leaders  - you have something a bit special there. I make no apologies for mentioning it again, but what could these 3 section K birds have done with 30 minutes more daylight?

Team Staddon 3 generations of good looks and ability.

Topping off the top 10 and taking Bridesmaids spot in Section G we have the partnership of John and Dave Staddon. This is what an understandably elated Dave had to say:

"Drew we are on cloud nine. It was one of our goals to time a day pigeon from the Blue Riband Tarbes NFC Grand National. This year with an early lib, we got our chance and our little yearling hen stuck at it, to be timed at 21.21 for the 560 miles in rapidly darkening conditions. What a thrill. We have named her John's Joy as it really made dad's year to see her drop in. She was raced widowhood and had three BICC Channel races plus Saintes NFC before Tarbes. We think the current NFC race programme gives us a chance to condition our birds better for the long races and we sincerely hope the Tarbes race remains on its current date. She is bred from two pigeons bought from Geoff & Catherine Cooper. A son of JW also the sire to our Saintes Section winner this year and her mother is a daughter of George 1st Open Tarbes NFC for Geoff and Catherine. We'd like to offer our congratulations to the winner and all section winners, with a special mention for that man Nigel Templer. A fantastic flyer at the middle distance who nailed this Tarbes race with a fantastic day bird into Bristol. Well done Nigel and your champion pigeon ".

P and L Mc Mahon

Around The Sections.

Section A

Topping the section is the loft of P and L Mc Mahon. This Brighton based loft has an enviable record from the blue riband race and won the section from here in the early 2000’s.  Pete and Leon focus heavily on this race and each year a team is identified and meticulously prepared for it.  The partnership would like to start by congratulating the winners and all who timed in as it’s never an easy race. They personally love the feeling of clocking on the day, and to them that is what national racing is all about. Their section winner is a Jan Aarden x Wegan x Muller and  he was t the heir second bird last year. His sire was bred by Magic lofts’  Paul Stowell and is a  Machiel Buijk Jan Aarden, and dam bred by Ponderosa  Stud , and she is Wegan x Muller. The partnerships pigeons are hopper fed all year round and when racing starts they feed super star plus mixes with SS corn number one widowhood mix. The Tarbes team are pairs in the second week of March, they sit for 18 days then they take the hens away and then they  are on widowhood.  The team go to the first 4 national races then Pete picks out his final selection for the Tarbes team. This year their last race was Fourgeres with the BBC and then rested for Tarbes. Pete would like to say thanks to two top men for the help over the years  - namely Ron Dodds and Ken Abbott.

Second section is D and D MC Fadden. I could not get an answer on the phone number I have for them.

Section B

Second Section is the ever present loft of Andy Pasons. Andy has a formidable reputation in these sorts of races and his whole ethos revolves around the longer distance races, with the birds slowly prepared over their first couple of years of their lives with lots of private training at all pints of the compass. I was unable to get in contact with Andy in time for the report to go to press.

Mr and Mrs Hodges

Section C

Runner up in Section C is the loft of Mr and Mrs Hodges. I have written previously about the regularity with which this partnership is in the mix in any national race, but especially as the distance increases. Their timer on this occasion was a yearling hen raced on their own brand of The Chaos system. Her sire is from Sheldon Leonard in Ireland and is  Vandenaheede cross, and the mother is from their own established Camphuis family. The race team for Tarbes were given Garvo Marathon corn over the last 10 days leading up to basketing to increase the fat and energy levels.

Bob Brown 1st Section D

Section D

Topping the section is the very popular Bob Brown. Fellow NFC members were worried recently about Bob’s mental wellbeing as he was witnessed helping to load baskets at the marking, and as this is completely out of character they were understandably shocked and concerned. So much so in fact that a few photos were taken of the event for health insurance purposes. Bob, the lads would like you to let them know if you are doing this again so they can get Chris Sutton down to take some action shots!! Bob clocked a 4 year old hen sent on a freshly chipped young bird which wasn’t the plan as he likes them sitting up to time or just over on eggs but it did her no harm. This little lady was 6th section from Saintes a couple of years ago and is a consistent hen. She is a Jim Emerton based Stichlebaut crossed with a Pete Barker based bird. She was followed in by a bird that Bob rates as his best racing hen, having had 5 trips to Tarbes and never being outside the top 10 in the Section. She is similarly bred to the section winner with the addition of some Jim Biss blood. As a 2 year old this hen won the Pau Challenge for Section D. Both hens were lightly worked in the run up to Tarbes with a couple of inland races and  couple of the shorter channel races before Bob put the final polish on them for Tarbes. Speaking to Paul Naum, he was surprised at how good Bobs’ birds are as Bob himself can’t punch his way out of a paper bag!!

Taking runner up spot is Graham Buck, who is often to be seen on the ringer at Kingsteinton marking station. I think Graham was out enjoying the sunshine as I failed to make contact with him for details on the pigeon.

Graham Buck

Section E.

Topping the competitive section E we have a partnership who are no strangers to mixing it with the big boys. Bob and Anthony Besant. This is what Ant had to say :

‘ We were lucky enough to have had 2 day pigeons of 8 in total from the previous BICC Agen National 499 miles and won 4th and 7th Open National so we felt pretty confident that the birds were good enough to try and make it on the day from 563 miles, although with the slightly later lib than we would like and the days drawing in we knew it would be difficult for birds to get home.  When we got to nightfall and nothing we were slightly disappointed 6 brave birds had made it home which was very impressive.  It meant that we had a very early start the next day for when the race reopened at 5.09am.  Bob re-opened the loft at 5.00am and very shortly after “Ants Choice” entered the loft at 5.03am he must have literally been around the corner or even on the house roof over night.

“Ants Choice” is also full brother to “Stitch” the pigeon who scored 4th Open BICC National Agen 499 miles on the day a month earlier so he had some form.  They have been raced on the widowhood all season and have just got better and better.In terms of breeding the sire is “Diamond Prince” a grandson of “Euro Diamond” possibly the best distance pigeon in the world ever and “Indy” 1st / 8th NFC Tarbes and the dam is “Indy Anna” a grand daughter of “Indy” of Matt Rakes 1st/8th NFC Tarbes. Tarbes was our last race we didn’t know if we would make it as it seemed so far off from the early season but we kept in mind 5 cocks who had the experience and breeding to come well. The team are now on a well deserved rest until next year.’

Bob and Ant Besant

Runner up in Section E is the loft of Khan Brothers.  On this occasion they clocked a well fancied hen to take the runner up spot. She was sent sitting eggs and this was her 4th Chanel race this year. She is bred from Ace Lofts stock, with her sire being a son of IRDB x daughter from their famous Tipsey when paired to the mother of the L ring hen. The brothers would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the winner on a wonderful performance at a fantastic distance.

Khan Brothers

Section F

Coming top of the heap is the partnership of Sherman and Wells. This is a partnership with a definite plan to succeed atTarbes and this plan was put in to place 3 years ago and they are now reaping the rewards. The team would like to congratulate all section winners and Mick Locke on his open win from Tarbes which turned out to be a very hard race. Their section topper is the same bird that was 3rd section from Tarbes last years race. They got six birds home on the second day all Southwell based birds crossed with other long distance birds that they have handpicked from a few choice sources. Steve tells me that they  are shaping up to be a good family of distance birds which  the partnership like to call Sherwells. Well done gentlemen, keep it up.

Sherman and Wells

Runner up is the Devizes loft of F J Quinn. Frank would like to firstly congratulate all the winners in a tricky Tarbes race. His first timer is a  chequer cock  that was flown separated he scored from Tarbes last year being 11th  sec,  274th  open and was the 3rd  bird to the loft. Frank doesn’t call them a 500 mile pigeon until they have do it twice or more, so this guy can now be called one. he is 100% Wilf reed off Monmouth fame. Frank hopes he does not follow the route of all the 1st birds from Tarbes for the last 4 years who the hawk saw off before they had a chance to go back again. Let’s hope this fellow breaks the mould. He would like to pass on this best wishes to all the members in his section for the future.

Frank Quinn

Section H

Taking the top honours is the loft of T, E and J Stygall right out on the northern edge of the section up near Norwich. The winner is a 3 year old blue cock that is Bryden x Van Hee. The sire is from their old established Van Hee blood that has served them well on the north road and now on the south road. The partnership have now got some Brian Denny blood to put across the old family and they are now reaping the rewards. The partners use The East Anglian Federation is used for training purposes and they only get a clock set for the NFC races. The section winner had 4 inland races and Ancenis before Tarbes and went on widowhood, having seen his hen on return from a short toss two weeks before basketing and never saw her again until his return.The partners would like to congratulate John Barber who was 2nd section to them and they rate him as by far the best at this distance in their part of the world.

Team Stygall with The Boss in the middle.

Second section is the partnership of Barber and Wilkinson, with John Barber carrying the torch following the death of his partner. John clocked a 4 year old widowhood cock who was lifted off his box without having seen his hen. The last time he had seen her was when he came home from Pithiviers with the EECC 3 weeks earlier. The cock is steeped in the best of proven distance birds that have been tested out of Tarbes as this is John’s chosen race in fact he has not failed to clock since 2002 from the Blue Riband race.  Prior to this performance the cock was 5th Section Saintes I 2014 and 6th Section H from Tarbes last year. His sire is turning in to a top producer cock and is already sire to birds to score 2nd, 4th and 6th Section Tarbes.

The corner stone is the Jim Biss birds and in fact the cock can be traced back 5 generations to the mighty Turban. When a fancier who lives along the coast from John called Barry Dix packed in the birds John had some off him to put through the Biss birds. These birds originated from George Barr who lives in Ballymena in Northern Ireland and is a member of the Barr family of fanciers who have been top national men for many years in to Ireland. These birds clicked with the Biss birds and have served John well at the distance for many years. He has recently brought in a few select Jan Polder birds to put across the existing family, so watch this space.

John Barber - consistency from the distance.

Section I

This section saw the battle of The Titans, and it is the young Apprentice claiming the bragging rights over the Old Master, with Alwyn Hill nudging a head of Keith Bush. The section Topper for Alwyn is a direct son off the legendary Wing Down , and as you would expect he was paired on to a bit of class the dam of the section winner is ‘The Antonides Hen’. She is off a cock who got himself in to the clock from Barcelona at 850 miles. The section topper was on widowhood for the majority of the season but this year the cocks were repaired and he was sent covering 7 day old eggs. The second bird across the pad for Alywn is something a bit special, a real belter of a red cock who was at Tarbes for his 4th trip and he now claims a Certificate Of Merit for his efforts incidentally he is the third bird to win this prestigious award for Alwyn. This section win and clinching another COM will be a real tonic to Alwyn who has had ongoing health concerns and he has had to rely heavily on family to do the day to day care of the birds at times throughout the season, especially his grandson. He will have been on hand to put the final polish on the team in the run up to Tarbes and all the hard work has once again paid off.

Claiming second spot and with a cart load of subsequent timers we have the loft of Keith Bush. Keith once more peppered the result in a very hard race and had 7 provisionally in the top 20 of the section.  His first arrival was a 3yo hen on a small youngster, she was the third bird from Tarbes last year. Her sire scored from Tarbes a few years ago and he is the grandsire to Keiths second bird which was again on a small youngster and she was on her third grand tour being the third bird home from Tarbes in 2014. This demonstrates quite clearly that it is definitely a case of horses for courses. Keith is a very modest man and a result like this is an annual event and whilst he makes it look easy it is the result of meticulous care 365 days a year and the raw material he works with is the result of the basket being the selector at the distance, both north and South road over the past 60 plus years for the family.

Section J

Taking the runner up spot is The Potteries loft of Keith Pettitt, a recent convert to distance racing with the NFC, with this Tarbes being his first blue riband race.  Ken has raced almost all his life and has two families of birds to race that being Walter Docx from Joe Spedding a sprint ace and a few Vandanabeeles which are also sprint birds however Ken does not only fly these faster shorter races he sends through to Saintes 505 miles with his local club Blythe Bridge.
It was as a result of the efforts of his friend Michael Burden that Ken eventually came round to the idea of competing past the 500 mile mark, it has taken 4 years of gentle persuasion, then last year he said he was going to join and race in the NFC, so he did. He has sent to every race with the NFC this year always timing good birds in on each occasion. Then he sent 10 to Tarbes which is 680 miles. Michael took his birds to the marking as usual because although of retirement age Ken is a farmer and always busy.
Now Michael was totally amazed when he  got a text off his wife Shirley shortly after he timed in, a two year old Walter Docx at 10.19am on the second morning of the race, taking provisionally 28th  open, 2nd  sec. Then even more amazed that he timed another in at 14.32pm to win provisionally 75th  open, 5th  sec J. The second bird has had all races with the NFC this year and was timed after 10pm from Saintes and what is more remarkable is she is only a yearling of his blood. He is unsure what blood she contains as he broke her out after picking her out of his good friends loft Roy Jones, MNFC president, loft. That was some baptism of fire for Ken, and a good effort for a cock that is supposedly a sprint bird?.Ken mustn’t have told him. Well done Ken, and welcome to the Club. Thank you Michael for your help in getting this information.

Brian Littlewood picking up more silverware.

Section L

Claiming the runner up spot in your section behind the national winner is no small feat, and the man who achieved this in Section L is the loft of Brian Littlewood. I had the pleasure of speaking to Brian at the last NFC presentation dinner and it soon became clear that the man is one of the best kept secrets in distance racing in the NFC and his haul of silverware at 600 plus races is very impressive. Once again he is up with the leaders in a difficult race that his birds thrive on. I struggled to get a phone number for Brian as he is a celebrity in the North West, and when I eventually did get in contact he was at a private party in a Champagne and cocktails bar in Southport and was unable to give me too many details in time for the report to go to press, but Brian is in my sights for a loft report during the winter.

The section N winner taken less than an hour after her arrival from Tarbes.

Section N

These gallant birds had it all to do and, as with each NFC race the section N members have competed in this year, will have had very little company over the last 150 miles. From Tarbes we have the well established lofts of M Anderson and Sons who take the honours at a breathtaking 810 miles. The little lady who brought home the honours is a 5 year old hen with plenty of experience and a wise head a necessity at these distances. She is certainly bred for the job, with her ancestry including birds from Battenburg, Emiel Denys Brian Denny and Bruggeman brothers. The partnership had every confidence in her and knew that barring an accident on the way home they would get her. Ray was not at the lofts to see her come as he was 40 miles down the road with the young birds, that pleasure was left to George. You can imagine his excitement when he saw her drop knowing the distance she had flown. She was set up especially for Tarbes and was repaired and sitting 16 days on basketing, she had been raced on roundabout earlier in the season. She was trained with Central Yorkshire Federation through to Portsmouth and then had Fougeres and Ancenis with the NFC. She claimed 3rd section from Ancenis a distance of 522 miles to her home loft. The partnership is part of a cluster of likeminded friends who include John Rumney and Brian Hicks who are totally focused on proper distance racing at national level, and do not take part in local club racing. They believe is teaching the birds from an early age about flying on their own as they will need to have no fear of this for the extreme distance races they are wanted for later in life. The next challenge for Ray and George is to get one from Tarbes on the second day and who would bet against it.

Paul Walder

Section P

Runner up is the Sheerness loft of Paul Walder.  The timer is described by Paul as a game little hen, prior to her Tarbes success she was 1st club, 9th  fed, 33rd  Kent combine from Poitiers (340 miles). He don't normally race hens, usually just flying cocks but on the advice of the well known flyer Tommy Gilbertson this year he decided to put a couple of hens on the road, just as well he did really.

She has been bred for the job, her sire being a grandson of Brockamps champion 'Armstrong' and her dam is a Vanhee which he purchased back in 2011 in Blackpool from the Vanhee stand.

This race was bittersweet for Paul as he lost one of his best cocks which was going for his Certificate of Merit being 21st  and 35th  open in Tarbes in the previous two years.

Paul would like to thank the National Flying Club for making the new section 'P' and is hoping it gets the support it deserves. He would also like to congratulate the winner Mr Locke on a fantastic performance.

Section  W.

It just wouldn’t be a distance race without the welsh boys turning up for the party, and this year is no different. Topping the section we have the Abergavenny loft of John Smale, a giant of a man in Welsh distance racing on both the north and South routes during his 50+ years in the sport. John clocked a natural hen and she had previously been 12 hours out of Saintes 2 weeks previously and this must have set her up for Tarbes. John has to race natural as when he tried widowhood or roundabout the birds were decimated by peregrines when the exercised high and wide of the loft. I fact this year alone he has lost 48 young birds to hawks around the loft, and he made the point that 20 years ago he could rear 40 young birds and have a high percentage of these still in the loft as 2/3 year olds to compete from Thurso and Lerwick. Today he has to breed 150 young birds to have a decent team size as 2 year olds.  He forces the birds to fly for an hour twice a day and then they are locked away. He was really impressed with how the hen finished as the wind was a howling westerly on the nose and it was raining, but she was clearly made of the right stuff, indeed her father is a son of Padfield Invincible when he was paired on to a double national winner in to Holland.The dam is equally well bred containing the blood lines of Dave Impett and Wim Muller. He believes that there is too much emphasis put on different brands of corn rather than on the quality of pigeons that are housed. John will tell you that as long as the corn is clean and dry it will dop the job, but only if it’s put in to something that is up to the job.

Right, that wraps it up for the old bird programme, with just the Young bird and old Hens nationals to go in early September.

As always, I am at or 01926 817796.

All I ask is that you are sober when you call and not after 9.30.

Drew Callan

NFC PO.