Parkinson 250

LES J. PARKINSON'S

NEWS-REPORTS-ARTICLES

We had a pigeon reported dead at Chorley Green in Cheshire, which is probably 20mls from where we live at Middlewich. I have reported my views on pigeons reported by none fanciers in the past and there have been quite a number who have not been satisfied. The latest man who reported in this case a ring via the RPRA was Patrick Thirsk who had 10 rings that were all reported at the same time. Because it is good to see none fanciers reporting pigeons or in this case the rings I always believe that we should reply to them and in this case it was easy because he had an e-mail address on the report sheet. A few days went by and I received a phone call from Geoff Jones at Crewe who was telling me that he had also received notification of a dead pigeon via the RPRA. As I say I did e-mail Patrick but Geoff also phoned him to be told that one of the rings was mine and that I had sent an e-mail regarding the report. Other fancier’s who had one reported dead at the same time were Dave & Joan Pullin of Whitchurch and they had also replied. These were the only three fanciers who had communicated with Patrick up to the time of Geoff’s call. The phone call brought the reason that these rings were reported to light and that reason was because Patrick has a metal detector and spends his time looking around the countryside, maybe to unearth hidden treasures. On this occasion he unearthed 10 rings from under a tree and reported them to the RPRA, which I thought was very good of him. Patrick also told Geoff that other people on the same search for anything that they could find found others. I don’t know if they reported their finds but at lest Patrick did and there are now 10 fanciers who know where one of their pigeons went missing. Many thanks to Patrick for taking the time and trouble so that we fanciers at least know where that pigeon has now gone and one less that we think went because it was no good. When I sent Patrick an e-mail I also got a reply and he was saying that he always reports rings and is always glad to help and we as pigeon fanciers do appreciate that help.

Twice never before?

Mr & Mrs Paul Kendall

Over the years we have met many fanciers around the world and one of the nicest couples that you could wish to meet are the close team of Paul & Helen Kendall. My problem is I speak to so many people and a lot of the information I get is through telephone conversations or more recently the Internet and the instant messenger forms of communication that are available. So on this occasion I have gathered some information on this year’s top winning loft of Paul & Helen Kendall have lived and raced their pigeons for many years in the small village of Wantage in Oxfordshire England. They have the proud distinction of being the only fanciers in England to win two first open Grand Nationals, Pau in 1992 and Tarbes in 2010 and two second open Grand Nationals from Pau. This is at a distance of 571 miles and 581 miles (980 km). Paul started racing on his own at the age of fourteen keeping about twenty birds and racing south at the same address as he is now living and racing from. In 1969 Paul won two first sections and a third section with the National flying club, so he is no stranger to success, also winning 2nd section, 3rd open Pau with the Central Southern Classic FC with “Classic Lass“.

Geoff Cooper and Paul Kendall

Although Paul and Helen race in their local club it is National racing that gives them the greatest pleasure and excitement. The big time really started for Paul and Helen when in 1992 they won the National Flying Club Grand National from Pau, the National Flying Club Grand National is the most prestigious race in the UK, the birds have to fly the channel late in the evening and they have a coastline fronting well over 300 miles (480 km). They clocked a five year old widowhood cock called “Holloway Boy” to win first section (provincial) F first open. These National races from France are very hard for the English birds they have to cross the English channel after flying for many hours and as the light is fading. The courage and determination of these birds is amazing. After “Holloway Boy” won the National Flying Club Pau Grand National, Paul exchanged some birds with Harding Bros from Peasedown St John, who had won the Grand National from Pau in 1994 with “Ashgrove King” and with Geoff Cooper also from Peasedown St John, who had won many top National Flying Club positions, including 1st open Grand National from Tarbes 570 miles (964 km) “Ashgrove King” was bred by Harding Bros from Geoff Cooper stock. D. Parkins a good friend of Paul and Helen bred “Holloway Boy” from Willie Clerebout stock. In 1998 a son of “Holloway Boy” when paired to “Classic Lass” was 4th section F 80th open National Flying Club Pau, the following year the same pigeon called “Double”, was 2nd section F 20th open Pau. One of Paul and Helen’s best racers and breeders is “Morning Glory”. His sire is a son of “Holloway Boy” 1st NFC Pau when paired to a daughter of “Ashgrove King” 1st NFC Pau. Geoff Cooper bred the dam and she was a daughter of “Jayne” a top racer and breeder for Geoff. “Jayne” was from a brother to “Titch” a top racer and breeder for Geoff, “Titch” being the Grandsire of George, Geoff’s Tarbes Grand National winner. In 2000 Paul and Helen sent of team of six cocks to the National Flying Club Pau Grand National and they clocked five in race time.

"Morning Glory"

The highlight was “Morning Glory” winning 1st section F 2nd open. In 2001 “Morning Glory” was 10th section F, 82nd National Flying Club Grand National San Sebastion, and in 2002 1st section F, 2nd open National Flying Club Grand National Pau, winning the coveted National Flying Certificate of Merit for having a bird in the first 100 of the open Grand National, plus the National Flying Club Averages and the Langstone Gold Cup. This was a dream come true. Paul and Helen also raced a good cock called “Peasedown Genes” the sire was bred by Geoff Cooper and Geoff being a half sister to Mark Gilbert’s Dax International winner also bred the dam. “Peasedown Genes” won four top National Flying Club positions, plus winning the section in the BBC Nantes National.

Mark Dorrington with Litton Glory

In 2007 after talking with Geoff Cooper and Mark Dorrington of Litton Somerset another exchange of birds took place. One of the exchanges was a brother to “Morning Glory” which Mark Dorrington paired to a hen from his Jos Thone bloodlines, which is a direct daughter of “Maximus” alias “The Cerafin”. A young bird from this pairing called “Litton Glory” was sent to the Tarbes Grand National/ International with the National Flying Club and was timed on the day, flying 581 miles into the wind, to win 1st section F, 1st open Grand National/International.

"Litton Glory"

Paul also clocked a second bird later that evening to win 3rd section F. 7th open. This bird was inbred to “Morning Glory” and is called “Glory Times”.

"Glory Times"

Paul and Helen only sent two to this race and clocked two that evening, when there was only 27 birds clocked on the day. They were also the furthest flying lofts to clock on the winning day. Paul and Helen race all there birds on a standard widowhood system. They have a small loft, starting the season with 27 cocks flying to 24 boxes; the cocks have to fight for their boxes, with some sleeping on the floor. Before the birds were sent to the race they had their hens for about ten minutes. Paul and Helen do not routinely treat for anything, only if they think there is a problem. Paul feeds Garvo corn for racing. It was a pleasure to visit Paul and Helen and see these marvelous birds, “Morning Glory” is now thirteen and is fit and well rearing a young bird, defending his nest like a yearling. This shows the vitality of this family of birds and I’m sure Paul and Helen will have more success in the near future. One of the positive aspects of this story is how a good family of pigeons can be bred from good fanciers exchanging birds between each other, with no money ever changing hands. Thanks to our friends for supplying the above information on one of the UK’s great racing teams.

Dam of "Litton Glory"

Feedback

The piece from Chris Knowles and my own views on National racing have brought in quite few comments and all of the opinion that the NFC now have too many races and in general with the other clubs there are far too many National races. It has been pointed out that for any fancier who wants to compete in them all they have to have a big team and most cannot afford to extend the team that they are currently racing. However I do look at the races from the NFC committee’s point of view and that is they have expenses to meet and to a certain extent they have to be met by having the income from the races. There is of course the other source of income and that is through subscriptions but the more those subscriptions go up the more none flying members are likely to resign. The term “Dead wood” is very often used in clubs and that refers to those members who never compete but all clubs have them and their subs are as valuable as the next person’s. Yes when you have transporters they cost money and therefore you need races to cover those costs. The other gripe fanciers are having is the international race, again I have always believed that is the way forward and considering the number of races that the NFC have competed in at this level they have done extremely well. However when they were racing from Dax I believe that was the limit and the extra miles for the Tarbes race is proving one step too far. I will be very surprised if the committee go for another international race because when you take everything into account on face value they have lost out in the birdage stakes. Just as I got this far on the subject Chris rang to say that he was surprised at the interest these comments had made and it goes to show that fanciers are looking at other parts of the sport as well as their own birds. Personally I have come to the conclusion that if the NFC are going to lose out on their own entries if they go with the international then it is best left to the other clubs who compete at that level. The birdage in the NFC has gone down considerably since I started racing with the club and there has to be a level where the club are going to suffer. It is a costly club to run so all the income no matter where from is required to keep ahead of the game. I have spoken to fanciers who have resigned and asked why when it is the premier club in the country and most have the same view and that is they can win more prize money elsewhere for less cost. That does wind me up a bit because winning in the NFC is the ultimate place to win if you are racing pigeons in the UK and even though it has been poor at times the money does not come into the equation when I am sending my birds.

Jacques Tournier

I was talking to Peter Fox about the old Tournier strain so he sent me the story on this family and what a story it is. The only problem from my point of view when I get a lengthy article with so much material in it I tend to speed read it and miss a lot of the points out. The article was written by Jan Hermans and covers this great fancier from when he was born in 1901 right up to the many winners that came from these lines. This would be a good serialised article so that fanciers could read and take it all in. when I was talking to Peter about this article he did say it was big and went deep into the family, how right he was.

Young birds

When we returned from our break away the main job was to get the young birds back into training and my only training now available is with Alan and stand in Malcolm so on the Monday after we returned they went into the basket for their third toss which was their second at 30mls. The day started good but turned bad and they were well split but by the end of the day 30 of the 36 were back in the loft. When I opened the blinds next morning there was another on the platform and a short time later two more arrived. So those three had a rest that day while the others went back to 30mls and again they were not all returning together. The first arrived on 40mins then there was a break before anymore came and it was 30mins later when the bulk came together as if they had just gone out for their daily exercise. They were all back from this toss but the three from the day before had still not returned. They will have another couple of tosses and then I may stick them into the mid week club at just short of 70mls.

Moulting

As you know I have returned to the scraper and started to clean the pigeons out every day and found it much easier. So with cleaning out this way the feathers were not building up in the loft but after being away for the week there were plenty behind the boards in the loft. I stand boards at certain points in the lofts for the feathers to go behind so that they are not flying everywhere both in and outside the loft. Even Elizabeth has pointed out that there have not been as many feathers about this year. Anyway what I have noticed is that some have gone into a heavy moult while others are showing very little in the way of signs to show that they are replacing their coat for another year. I have looked closely at the pigeons to see if there is any connection with the way they moult. Why have some gone into a heavy moult while others are not, there has to be a reason. So I started to look at the breeding and found that those that had sprint lines in them were moulting quicker and heavier than those with full distance breeding. Might be the way I am looking at it but that’s the way it looks to me, the distance pigeons appear to be steadier in the moult. The distance pigeons are also looking and handling much better than those with sprint line sin them. However those with sprint lines are going to be looking much better and finished before the distance team.

My mate. part 3

Phew that was close I must get back high up in the sky out of its reach and look for my way home. I feel so weak without food and water but I must keep going back to my box where my mate is waiting for me. I have never been away for so long and the sky is now black and I am losing my way again. I can’t see the sun to get back on line again but I must keep going. There are some strangers I think I will join them to see where they are going. That’s good they have found food I can now get some food inside me and get some strength back. This is not as good as I have when I am in my own home but I do need as much as I can eat. That is better but where do I find the water now there must be some nearby. I will follow these strangers because they look as if they know what they are doing and where they are going. I feel heavy after all that eating but at least I now have food so can get my strength back. These strangers have taken me straight to water and how good that feels after going without for so long. I must rest I feel as if I am going to burst open I must have had to much food. As I rested I could not help but think about my mate back home and how my babies were doing. I hope she is managing to look after them on her own. I should be there with her looking after them, why did my master send me away, so far away from my mate and home where I want to stay. All I could do was to think about my mate so I must start to fly home again but I feel so heavy. I wish I had not eaten so much if I hadn’t I would have been able to fly home. As I opened my eyes I could see my master down below, was he looking for me, no it was not him and I could not understand him. I had been with my master for a long time and knew what he was saying. It is getting too dark for me to fly so I will rest a bit more and as soon as it gets light again I will fly off towards home again. As it came light I was feeling much better and the heavy feed had now nearly all gone and I was feeling much better. The sky was now clear and I could see the light in the sky and my way home so I began to fly faster all the time thinking about my mate at home. I could no see lots of water but could I fly over it all in one go, I must there is nowhere to land once I start. Have I got enough energy to keep going all I can see is water so I must keep going? As the water disappeared below I began to feel good again and I could now land if I wanted to but no I must go on. Just as I felt I was safe again I was being chased in the sky, it was coming so fast I had to get out of the way. As I dived down I felt a tug on my back but managed to hide in some trees, part of my tail feathers were missing. I must not move he is still flying above and may see me; I don’t want to get in his way again. I stayed there hiding for quite some time until he had gone and then I left the tree and started to fly homewards again. As I flew higher and higher everything was looking better even with half my feathers missing. I was beginning to feel better because I had seen this place before but it was not my home where I needed to be. I had been flying nearly all day and was getting hungry but something told me I must keep going. as I saw more places that I new I began to feel even better, I was getting close to home where my mate would be waiting for me with our babies. How much longer would I have to be flying before I was home, I must keep going even though I am feeling tired. I could see my home I had made it back to my mate my home was there and my master was waiting for me. I could hear him calling me in as he had so many time sin the past so I rushed down and into my home. Where was my mate I couldn’t see here, I needed her where had she gone, I could see my babies in the nest but my mate had gone? Where had she gone I had to look for her but then just as I went back into our box she came to me. I was happy again I was at home with my mate and my master was stroking my back so we were all happy and content at last.

Europa Classic

I have been watching the trapping for the Europa birds so asked Derek what was the difference because they have never trapped so well. He was saying that because they do not go to the Edinburgh race of 300mls he has changed the feeding system. I am now wondering what is going to happen in future years with Derek now looking for a loft manager to take charge of the birds while he is away on his other projects. It took him a few years to learn how to keep the birds in good health and disease away from the lofts and has done a good job while others have been failing. But as he said he is only a phone call away no matter where in the world he is.

Dave Garnet Charity auction

The birds are still coming in for this charity sale and the calibre is still good but what we need now are more details so that the interested parties can weigh up their options. Here are another ten with the latest donations come from Derek Jones the master flyer from Holt who will no doubt have a good one for the sale. Richard Grasyon has promised one out of last year’s section Saintes winner. Frank Tasker is donating a matched pair for the stock loft so a good bet with those two. Dave Garnett is adding a second bird direct out of his BICC section winner from Alencon this year. Wignall & Barnie, Ronnie Wignall won 1st section NFC last year plus many other prizes. Jeremy Wright won the section in the NFC many times and I have spoken to him many times and met him at the big presentations, a real nice person. Here’s a great chance to get one off Bob Fenech the UK home of the fast flying Coormans that are making their presence felt around the country. Clarke Bros, Lol Standbrook and Fred Tilson of Wrexham are all good winning fanciers who are donating to this course unfortunately at the time of putting these notes together I have no further information on the later three.

Winning lines

I must say before I start that this next piece sticking with winners it is not being written for publicity for pigeons that we have in the stock loft and if the Editor wants to charge me for this because he thinks it is an advert he can do. The reason I am using a pigeon called “Full Try” is because I know a bit more about the line and the winnings that his offspring are doing. Over the years we very often see about pigeons that are producing winners but they are now past their best breeding and many times not filling eggs. For those who do not know “Full Try” was a National Ace Pigeon racing to the loft of a fancier whose results were not amongst the best on the continent. I was actually at a loft in Belgium and the fancier concerned who is a very good on was telling me that fanciers on the continent could not understand why Vandersanden had purchased this pigeons. But I listened to what fanciers had to say and it kept crossing my mind that this was exactly the type of pigeon that you want in the loft. You must remember that he won the long distance award and the fancier was not a known winner. That tells me that the fancier had a real gem and after handling this pigeon I could understand why. You must also remember that when I handled this pigeon it was in the early days of being in Vandersandens stock loft. I never commented to these fanciers about what I really thought about “Full Try” but to me this pigeon was an outstanding racer at the distance in what could on continental loft performances be an average loft. This pigeon stood out in a loft head and shoulders above the rest therefore it had to be a real good pigeon. I also believe that somewhere along the line the offspring of such pigeons start to shine and in the case of “Full Try” they are. Now to the sting in the tail, Vandersanden sold him to the Far East and I dare bet that he wish he hadn’t now because his offspring are really shining. I have used “Full Try” as an example because I know him but I dare say that there are many other pigeons that have been in the same position. I have also seen some National winners that have received publicity far beyond their worth and there has been a fortune spent on them with following performances well below expectations. It is a fact that there are many winners whose offspring do not make the grade because they are never all going to achieve the greatness that they have achieved. However one thing that you can be sure of is somewhere along the line their genes will show and be missed because they are a couple of generations down the road. National performance pigeons are already credited to the lines of “Full Try” but they are not receiving the genuine publicity that they deserve. One thing you can be sure of is that more National winners will come along after his bloodlines have been an influence in other generations of racing pigeons. There was a pigeon called “Nationaal I” whose bloodlines have influenced at the very least 7 x 1st National winners and no doubt there are others but how many fanciers have gone for those lines? “Nationaal II” is not following on after being a National winner and breeding a National winner in “Blauwe Ferdy” and who knows how many others there could be that have not yet been credited to such pigeons.

Europa Classic

The third hot spot race should have been from Nantwich and we were all prepared to go but the weather was not as good as it should be for such a race so Derek headed off towards Whitchurch to try and pick up some good weather to liberate. Now on to the manager’s report for the race. “The remaining 946 birds were loaded on to the state of the art Geraldy/Mercedes Transporter on Thursday evening, drinkers on and rested up for the night, ready for a 4 am start for the driver, the weather forecast was not great so we would have to be careful! on the way up the M5 \ M6 route the weather was Dawning into a lovely summers day up to Birmingham, but by the time the transporter had reached Stafford it was very grey and total cloud cover, by the time we had got to Stoke it was raining and indeed rained continuously right to Nantwich! By which time it was 0730. With the forecast being for rain for the rest of the day in the north west of England, We decided to try and get a race from a shorter distance, so went west into the Welsh border region, firstly to Whitchurch, where the weather was still not fit to liberate into! And then heading south towards Shrewsbury on the A49 where our many phone calls were telling us the weather was clear and fine with a strong tail wind, and sure enough just before the Transporter reached Shrewsbury the Sun came out and the weather cleared, the Transporter was Immediately pulled onto an open Field and the birds were liberated just before 9am.The Guys back at the loft were warned this was surely a mile a minute day for the 95 mile Journey ahead, Sure enough 100 minutes later the gathered crowed at the loft saw the first batch of 100 birds dive out of the sky straight onto the trap as they literally ran into the lofts and the awaiting feed! These were quickly followed by batches of about 50 at a time, as it seemed to rain pigeons for 5 minutes at the end of which 95% of the birds were home! And some of the crowed were indeed amazed at the spectacle most of which commented they had never seen pigeons trap like it ever before in their life! Not just a few, but also hundreds and hundreds knocking the back of the trap out!! Indeed it is now obvious to all that these birds need to go farther to test them but of course we cannot do this without some decent weather. However we will now be increasing the food input of the birds, and increasing the distance of the daily training, also if the weather permits we will train one day this week to Nantwich to make up for the fact we had to go short for the hotspot just gone that was indeed scheduled for Nantwich. Congratulations to the prize and pool winners this week see separate result for full details. As from next weeks hot spot all birds that have not been paid for will be pre fixed BFS which of course stands for ‘Bird For Sale’ so if you have not paid for your reserve birds, beware as from next week we will be actively trying to sell these birds to others, which will include advertising them for sale! So you have been warned guys! IF YOU DON’T PAY FOR THEM, YOU CAN BE SURE SOMEONE ELSE WILL!! Pools & Nominations for the 3rd Hot spot race from Shrewsbury are as follows. A 44 x £2.00 = £88.00 minus 15% (13.20) = £74.80 = 1@ 37.40 1@ 22.44 & 1 @ 14.96. B 41 x £3.00 = £123.00 minus 15% (18.45) = £104.55 = 1 @ 52.27 1 @ 31.36 & 1 @ 20.91. C 41 x £5.00 = £205.00 minus 15% (30.75) = £174.25 = 1 @ 87.12 1@ 52.27 & 1 @ 34.85. D 28 x £10.00 = £280.00 minus 15% (42.00) = £238.00 = 1 @ 119.00 1 @ 71.40 & 1 @ 47.60. E 17 x £15.00 = £255.00 minus 15% (38.25) = £216.75 = 1 @ 108.37 1 @ 65.02 & 1 @ 43.35. F 19 x £5.00 = £95.00 minus 15% (14.25) = 1 @ £80.75. G 18 x £10.00 = £180.00 minus 15% (27.00) = 1 @ £153. Total pools/noms paid out less 15% are £1,042.10. Pools & nom winners for this 3rd Hot Spot are as follows. 29nd Leighton & Williams with GB10T29522 win ABCDEFG £613.91. 58th Seaskaters with GB10B24087 win DE £136.42. 73rd Long Family with IHU10S86615 ABCD £177.47. 88th G & K Jones with GB10A20315 ABCD £114.07. Prize winners, 1st Kelly Van Boxmeer Sparkes with GB10X34184 £250. 2nd Cooneys Gang Synd with GB10V46070 £200. 3rd Harbour Rockets WHU10T06050 £0. 4th Alfie Tyler SU10S774 £150. 5th Venturer PHLP with GBX1034287 £0. 6th Kelly Van Boxmeer Sparkes GB10X33935 £100. 7th Bamfords Bidders WHU10D02850 £50. 8th Steven Mitchell GB10X33288 £50. 9th Bamfords Bidders WHU10D02826 £50. 10th Owlview Lofts GB10Z58369 £50. 11th Shengshi Beijing GB10X33236 £50. 12th Japp Koehorn NL10-1461191 £50. 3th & 5th prize non activated pigeons prize money goes to 11th & 12th positions. Best of Luck to you all from The Europa Team”

Club/Fed News

The young bird season is well under way and there should be less young bird sickness about because they have now mostly settled down. The first result this week comes from Moulton FC secretary Chris Herbert with news on the Cheltenham race when 9 sent 124 birds. The red card this week goes to the Winsford Joker Mel Bratt who clocked a chequer hen recording a vel of 1293ypm. Harry Vernon is next on the list after taking the rubber off a grizzle cock on 1284ypm. Mr & Mrs Chris Herbert are 3rd after seeing home a blue hen on 1249ypm while Colin Bell is 4th after taking the rubber off a mealy hen to clock up 1239ypm. The first pool pigeon a chequer-pied cock was to the lofts of Harry Vernon while the second pools go to Mr & Mrs Phil Buckton with a chequer cock. In the Macclesfield race from Frome 8 members sent 147 birds that were liberated in a south west wind. Martin Hough on 1495ypm claims his second red card of the young bird campaign clocking a hen returning to the perch and bred by Martin through stock off Roger Sutton of Congleton fromhis national winning strain. Jill & Brian Smith on 1476.2 are second with a cock sent nodding and was bred by Paul Beck of Dukingfield. Mick Goldstaw is third on 1476.1 with a hen bred by fellow club members Rick & Simon Geary and they are also fourth with a hen bred by them that is a Sootjenn x Rietvick returning to the perch. The Lymm FC are now back on track with their first young bird race being from Kempsey when the birds were up at 12.50 in a north west wind. The top two cards go to Derek Woodward on 1327/1296ypm the first being a chequer w/f hen racing to the perch. This is an exchange from Tony & Shaun McDonough who have had a very good season in the Pelsall & District club. The next pigeon is a blue chequer hen off their Golden Gaby pair of Midnight and Little Star. 3rd & 4th go to Colin Sheffield with two Freddie Van Den Brande birds these being a blue cock and blue pied hen on 1281/1275ypm. Latest news from PO John Lawson with the Royal Wires is that 6 sent 113 to Cheltenham. The club had more birds for this race and John asks the question is it the weather or young bird sickness that causes the numbers in the first few young bird races to fluctuate so much or just not enough training for members to chance their birds in the feds first few races. It’s the Andy Noon & Geoff Callan partnership that are back at the top to take the first two positions. They are doing a vel of 1309ypm with a young hen out of their very good A & S Hughes stock while another hen takes 2nd with a vel of 1280ypm. Geoff Hanagan is 3rd club with one bred from his John Kirk breeding stock and Don Risley takes the next two positions. The Mid Cheshire fed saw 83 members send 1763 birds to Cheltenham when they were liberated at 11.40am in a west south west wind. For the third week in succession Eric Taylor racing with the Sandbach club has taken the top four positions and that must be a fed record. Eric was telling me that this has been a good run and for the first race of this trio of wins he had 6 drop together. Then in the second there were 15 and in this latest race two lots of five merged together above the loft the major problem being with them dropping together is getting them to trap. 5th fed goes to Ken & Stan Bosson just ahead of Middlewich winners Mike O’Hare & Ron Woodward in 6th & 7th positions. The day I received the fed result I had been talking to next on the list Bill Whisker who was telling me that the young birds are not trapping as well as they should be. 9th & 20th go to Tommy Hulme while Bob & Brian Smith from the Earlstown club take four positions starting at 10th. John Allbutt is 14th & 16th being split by the very good partnership of Noon & Callan who finish 15th from the Royal Wires entries. 17th goes to Alan Groom, 18th to Bagnall & Antrobus with the remaining position of 19th fed going to Dave Dickenson racing with the Winsford club. A few missing out on the fed result this weke and they are Acton Bridge winners Fletcher & Gobin who had a good one in a recent National race. The Crewe Premier winners are Mr & Mrs Geoff Mathews who are generally in amongst the fed winners. Mel Bratt continues to be a red card winner after topping the list at Moulton while Ian Cooper leads the way over at Rudheath with Mr & Mrs John Howman doing likewise in the Weaverham club. Now on to Rudheaths result from Cheltenham when the red card went to Ian Cooper with blue pied Busschaert cock vel 1278ypm. 2nd is the club sec Bob Hall with a blue Vandenabeele cock vel 1269. 3rd is new kid on the block big John Stubbs starting back with a grand team of youngsters and this might be one of the Vandenabeele’s he bought in being a blue hen vel 1264ypm. 4th position goes to Jim Smith and is a chequer cock on 1262ypm. Malcolm went on to say that most reported good returns and with our birdage creeping up nicely it bodes well for a good young bird season. The first young bird race from Cheltenham for the Winsford HS saw 8 members send 159 birds that were liberated at 9amin a west wind. In 1st position is Dave Dickinson on 1324ypm with a hen whose sire is the Broken Wing cock bred direct off Derek Walker of Warrington Van den Bosche stock the dam is also the same lines. In 2nd 3rd & 4th positions on 1314/1314/1312ypm are Jones Bros with a blue pied hen paired up 3 days before going to the race with both parent’s being good during the recent old bird season. They then clocked a chequer hen prized in Wettenhall the week before and is flying to perch. Their next is a black cock paired up to their 1st pigeon 3 days before race and comes out of the stock loft. Club PO Rob Bebbington went on to say, “Dave Dickinson is at the top of the sheet again and it looks like he is going to take some shifting if anyone is going to take the 1st position. The ever consistent Jones Bros got there 3 together and looking at velocity’s you would think they were on ETS but all birds were clocked manually they must eat plenty carbs to clock there birds that fast lol” That’s it for another week Rob. The Wettenhall 5B race from Swainswick saw another impressive result from Jones Bros when they came home with 1st 3rd & 4th with their very imoressive team of Andre Clemens pigeons. The winner is a blue pied cock sent sitting eggs one week and is out of their good hen that was 1st Lessay this year. They then clocked a blue pied cock that had just been paired and is a brother to the winner. Their next in the clock is a red cock flying to the perch, the three vels are 1348/1326/1312ypm. Stopping a clean sweep are Mr & Mrs Albert Austin in 2nd position after seeing home a red Lambrecht hen racing to the perch. In the Sandbach FC it’s the same old story so far this season with Eric Taylor taking the top four positions from Cheltenham when 8 sent 248 birds. 1st & 4th are two blue cocks with the other two being light chequer Van Reet hens from Louella Pigeon World. The winning vels are 1377/1371/1368/1365ypm and once again to be fair any of the ten that dropped together could have taken the prizes. 49 members of the South West Cheshire Fed sent 778 birds to Swainsick when the birds were up at 10.30am in a west wind. The Crewe West End members had a good race taking eight of the ten cards on offer starting with Colin Lindop 1st 7th 10th. D Price is 2nd ahead of Mr & Mrs Keith Lovatt in 3rd position with Mick & Wendy Mellor being 4th fed. Dave & Baz Mellor top the list with the Greenbank club to come in at 5th followed by Manley & Lloyd 6th, Ken Parton 8th and Mr & Mrs Richard Young 9th. Only two clubs managed to get on the result this week and they are Jones Bros with the Wettenhall club while Roy Jolley tops the list over at Hankelow. The Middlewich 5B winner completes the list with Bill Whisker. In the Middlewich FC Mike O’Hare & Ron Woodward have now got their young birds going and they take the top two positions in the Cheltenham race recording vels of 1333/1326ypm. They are both from the Mark & Dickie Evans Gaby Vandenabeele’s with the sire of the winner being direct from Jumping Jack Flash x Foxy Lady with the dam being direct from The Combine Cock x Going for Gold. The second pigeons to be clocked is direct from Gaby 563 x Super Girl 310 while the dam is direct from Dream Maker x Gaby 562. Bill Whisker is 3rd on 1326ypm with one of the winning Busschaert lines that have flown so well for him in recent years. Alan Groom sees home a blue Van den Bosche hen on 1307ypm for 4th position to complete the list this week. The Middlewich 5B goes the same way as the flying club with the top two positions going to O’Hare & Woodward on 1297/1295ypm. The partnership had three drop together with the winner being a Staf Van Reet from their Mardon stock that have bred many good winning pigeons with this winner being from the Toey lines. They then clocked a Mark & Dickie Evans Gaby Vandenabeele whose sire is direct from National Fideel x Belle while the dam is out of Jonge Bitjer x Garbo. Their next in the clock was again an M & D Evans Gaby whose sire is direct from Shadow x Super girl 413 with the dam being direct from the Combine Cock x Going for Gold. 3rd & 4th go to Bill Whisker clocking up 1292/1243ypm, for quite a few years Bill has done well with his Starview Busschaert’s of John Hodgson whose main supply were the Highview Busschaert’s that did so much winning in the 80’s & 90’s with the big winner being “Highview Northern Pride” 3rd open NFC Saintes, 5th sec 15th open MNFC Nantes, 1st sec 12th open Saintes MNFC only four on the day in the section and he had the best co-eff in those two years of any National pigeon raced. Anyway that’s another story just crossed my mind that John had won so much with the “Highview” pigeons and they are now doing the same for Bill. Latest from Mick Barlow PO for the Blackpool Col is that they 344 birds away for the fourth young bird race of the season. Race controller Tony had them away at 12.15 which is a later lib than usual but a lot of rain was forecast in the Warrington area so a good decision. It was not the best of days for Mick Barlow who got a blue cock onto the landing stage but he would not enter the bob wires this was probably due to the loft being empty. So he decided to throw a couple of young birds in from the basket to entice him in but he went up to the house. Then back down and in but no beep from the ETS so into the loft to catch him and swipe him across the pad and he still won the club but missed out on a fed topper by about 20secs. But as Mick said it is the time in the clock that counts and no doubt we have all been there. Anyway Mick said it was nice to win the club with this Vandenabeele cross Karel Boecks with the egg’s coming from Phil Holloway a top Fleetwood loft. In fact Phil & Anne had 9 on the fed result the previous week so good flying to those two. 2nd & 3rd go to Chris Jones with two birds in three seconds and has had a quiet season by his standards this season. The winning birds are Van Loon x Janssen and a Janssen from Derek Pedley bloodlines. Chris was followed by Ron & Shirley Mott 4th followed by G. Parker 5th. There were good returns in this race but they were split up so it is now off to Hereford. Blackpool PO Mick Barlow also sent me the result for the West Coast Fed race from Shrewsbury when 84 sent 2405 birds. This is the first time that I have been sent this result so if there is another scribe out there covering this result please let me know and I can leave it out in future. I am not referring to the odd race but the whole of the actual fed result. The top two positions go to Brian Fisher racing with the Queens INV who was oddly enough by far the smallest senders in the fed. Fleetwood & Dist HS who were the next lowest senders see their winners Holloway & Colley 3rd 8th 12th 17th & 29th fed. Walter Riding is 4th 5th & 11th fed while Thwaites & Holloway topped the list in the Fleetwood HS to finish 6th. Blackpool Col winner Mick Barlow is 7th with the well known Derek Pedley from the Thornton CL HS is 9th. Blane, Edge & Blane are 10th with Staining HS winners P & J Churchill are 13th. Mr & Mrs H Pearson racing with the Pilling Inv FS had a good race collecting 14th 15th 18th 20th 24th 27th & 28th fed. Chris Jones is 19th with Roskell & Williamson having three very close together for 21st 22nd 23rd . Cornell Lofts who topped the list with the Martton Vill HS are 25th; J Grayston of the Stalmine HS is 26th & 28th. Club winners not making the fed result are Jones & Harrison from the Kirkham & Wes HS. The St Annes club were the biggest sende’s in the fed with 426 birds and their winners are Mr & Mrs Allen. The Warburton Bread Trophy winner is Brian Fisher. The 3 Charity races winners are Holloway & Colley on 1582ypm with the r/u being Mick Barlow on 1580ypm.

George Burnside 1st & 2nd Fed Whitchurch

Lofts of Mick Barlow

Ron & Shirley Mott and below their lofts

Ron Mott & Stuart Culbert