National Flying Club

ANGERS

Report by www.elimarpigeons.com

The National Flying Club’s second race of the season, from Angers, got underway last Saturday when Chief Convoyer Geoff Allen released approximately 6,000 birds at 8.05am into a light north-west wind.

The thrill of winning 1st Section A, 1st Open went to the loft of L & G Sullivan, P. Potter & T. Reeves of Brighton. The partnership actually comprises brothers Lee and Gary Sullivan and Paul Gent (Paul Potter and Tony Reeves have not beeninvolved since 2006). Lee and Gary have been in the sport since they left school some 24 years ago and Paul started in the late 80s. The winning pigeon is a yearling cock named The Boss.

Lee and Gary Sullivan and Paul Gent.

The cocks are on a PLY system. All widowhood boxes are covered with ply. Attached to the ply are 16 V-perches. Each day 3 perches are taken down, leaving the cocks to fight for a perch. Before basketing, the V perches and ply are removed to let the cocks to their boxes and hens. They change their feeding methodsaccording to the wind and weatherbut all are fed on Versele Laga mixes. The winner is Gaby Vandenabeelefrom Gordon Bros & Sons of Ireland being a grandson of the ‘Prize Cock’, the ‘Open Hen’, ‘Roman’ plus Siss 264, all bred down from M & D. Evans’ stock.

The National winners in celebratory mode.

He had one inland race straight in at 154 miles in a NE wind and 2 Guernseys, dropping with the winners. He came back as though he had been nowhere and will be stopped now before returning to race as a 2y.Lee said: ‘In the previous 3 years we had won 50 x 1st club and 17 x 1st feds plus 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th & 8th Open BICC Wadebridge 2698 birds. This is our first season at channel racing only, as we had won all in front of us at sprint racing, so we joined our local Brighton and Worthing 5 Bird Channel Club. We have won 2 x 1st and 1 x 2nd in Guernsey races, and also sent to Messac with our otherclub winning 1st, 2nd, 5th & 7th club, 6th & 9th fed. We would liketo thank everyone who has rung usor sent us messages in the Pigeon Chat Forum and all the members of the 5 bird club, and a massive thank you to Mike Lycett and the breeders of our winner, the Gordon Brothers& Sons from Ireland, also Jeff and Eddy. Now the funny story to this win is that Gary had a dreamevery night from Monday that our pigeon would cross over the Palace pier on Brighton seafront and would win us 1st open national - he even told club members at NFC marking station on Thursday. We told Gary to leave the cheese alone at nights! How wrong we both were.’Loft returns were 4 out of 6.

The National winner.

1st Section B goes to F. Bartlett & R. Jones of Southampton in Hampshire. Fred Bartlett was the uncle who passed away a couple of years ago leaving Rob Jones, who is 35 and has been racing since he was 12. When he first started racing it was on the north and south, with Fred going to the south road club and Rob to the north road club, which were two of the strongest clubs in Southampton. With the north road fed slowly fading away, the loft concentrated solely on south road racing and the fed has been won many times since. Now onto the winning bird for 1st Section B. He is a yearling blackcock that has won 1st prizesand scored in the fed many times such as when he came with loft mates this year to take the first 5 in the fed in a head wind and last year to take the first 15 in the fed in a head wind, so as you can see, head winds suit the Bartlett & Jones lofts. This yearling cock was the first bird timed to the loft from the Central Southern Classic Lessay race. He is from their old family which they have had since the early 1980s crossed with the Van Loons from their good friend Brian Bolton. This cross is throwing out fed winners galore. He is a lovely cock described as handling ‘racey, like a powerhouse’and isof medium size with a nice pearl eye. All birds are raced on Natural-Hood, which is the same system on which Rob’s mate Ritchie Thomas from Portsmouth has won 2x1st Classic, many fed wins and 1st yearling derby in the Classic. They share all their race tactics with each other and say the season has only just began. All birds are fed Rob’s own mixtures made up from corn bought from Brian & Viv Wall of Gem at Chichester, Versele Laga bought direct and Willsbridge from Tim Jones at the BBC marking or Nigel Langstaff at Fontwell (who flies as Crammond & Langstaffand is 2nd open in this same Angers National).

Rob Jones & Asa Williams.

Birds are trained regularly down the motorway,mainly against the wind as they can get a 40-mile toss east or west for less than an hour’s driving. The only additivesgiven are the Aviform products that have helped them win hundreds of first prizes averaging 20-30 first club each year plus fed, national, classic and section wins. They won the section in the BICC only a few weeks ago and their previous wins include 1st open Nantes National 10,000 birds winning a new car with a hen that the following year againwon the car nom in the Classic; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th open BICC Falaise; 1st open old Hens Classic Guernsey; 1st open SMT Combine 8100 birds Le Mans; 1st, 2nd, 3rdWessex Combine 1000ypm; first 3,first 4, first 5, first 10 and first 15 in fed racing plus 3rd & 5th open Nantes BBC national winning anew motorbike. A good hen last year won 2nd open Classic Cholet winning the 1st open Yearling Derbyand she was champion YB in the Classic the previous year winning 5th open,a T3 Clock, the Gold Ring and an ETS system from Ray Knight at Unikon. Rob added that this system has saved his bacon twice now as he didn’t see his BICC section winner come this year and for this race he was at his nephew’s wedding when the bird arrived. He had his mate Asa Williams timing in for him but Rob’s dog did a runner and Asa had gone looking for him whenthe first bird arrived and so he missed him by a few minutes. Rob would like to congratulate hisgood friends, the Sullivan brothers of Brighton on winning the race and Crammond & Langstaff on being 2nd open as they were 3rd open Classic the previous week. While the race was going onRob kept leaving the wedding to go to the toilet to make and receive phone calls on his mobileandwas getting information from Gary Sullivan and Bill Norman telling him how the race was going on via their computers. Rob said it was very inconvenient of his nephew to get married on a National day!

1st Section B.

1st Section C was won by Brian Woods of Shaftesbury, a veteran fancier of 56 years. What’s more, he timed a veteran, a 7y cheq cock. He is a Renus Laban, a family based on de Klaks, and is a half-brother to a Classic winner. He was obtained when they took the transporter over for a service; he bought 6 young birds and was presented with 9. He was racing celibate and has not been paired at all this year. Brian doesn’t train because of the hawks but the cock has been across the water with the Dorset Fed and flew NFC Fougeres when he was 3rd bird to the loft. He has been a very consistent pigeon that has won prizes but he is now loft shy and doesn’t want to trap, and he has no incentive to do so being celibate. He is now going into the stock loft having earned his breeding box. Brian says he feeds whatever he can get hold of that’s cheap plus Versele Laga widowhood and Willsbridge depurative plus a bit of hemp and a few peanuts. The birds have clear water at all times. A previous winner of Nantes Classic and a BBC Gold Award with a Dougie G for four times Palamos, Brian’s returns were 100% by 5pm.

1st Section C.

1st Section D are Franks & Baker of Tiverton, a ‘new’ partnership having come together in September 2005. Henry Franks has been racing pigeons since 1978 and over the years he has won many races. He has twice previously won the section, the last being in 2002 when he was 1st Section 10th Open from Saintes. Henry was brought up on a farm and is a natural stockman. His greatest thrill in pigeon racing was the first time he clocked a bird on the day from Pau. The best birds he has had were the old Delbars and the Busschaerts and, in recent times, Van Reets. Alan Baker first became involved in pigeons in 1971 when at the age of 19 he was asked to become secretary of a club when the only pigeons he was aware of were those in Trafalgar Square. He started racing in 1979 and won his first two races. He has flown pigeons in South Wales, Yorkshire and now Devon but his real interest has been the eye, to the detriment of all else; he believes he is the only person other than his ‘hero’ Bill Carney that can read the pigeon’s capability by the eye; he freely admits to having ruined many a good pigeon by studying the eye! By coincidence, in 2003 at the NFC YB sale Alan had bought the young bird donated by Henry Franks. When Alan moved to Devon in late 2004, he could not find anywhere to put up a loft, and eventually when he did find somewhere he was badly let down by the person supplying it. He had never met Henry but rang him for help and Henry put up Alan’s loft for him! They then invited each other to see their respective birds. Henry was the first fancier Alan had met who could pick his best birds in the hand and Alan was the first Henry had met who could pick his best just by using the eye glass. The partnership was born. The winning cheq cock was hatched on Boxing Day 2006 and as a YB flew consistently. This year he has already won the club from Lessay and was 3rd section, 4th open WECA. He is flown on the roundabout method. The sire of this cock was bought at the Welsh show in Aberdare from Stuart Wilcox. Stuart’s partner Raymond Modveld had bought the loft of a Dutch fancier who had finished racing and put up for sale the birds he did not wish to keep. Alan told Stuart when they purchased the bird that it would breed winners for them! He is very well bred, though the partners are not well up on the continental scene. The pigeon comes first and if they like it, it’s nice to have a good pedigree behind it; the important thing for the partners today is to put similar types together regardless of breed. The parents of the sire are from Beute & Son, Holland. The sire is Jonge Bange V96, which, according to the pedigree, is a super breeder, father to amongstothers ‘Arveladze’. V96 is a son of Vechter V 93 out of the No 1 pair of Beute & Son 36 x 36. The dam of V95 is from Eijerkamp & Son. The tail g.dam of the 1st Section is ‘Ace Commander’, 1st ASDUIF JONG 1995, a daughter of Red Commander and Schoon Voske V94. The dam of the winning pigeon is a Klaus Krom from Brian and Sue Stone of Belper, down from their originals. Brian and Sue have been fantastic friends to Alan, having kept his birds for him for 12 months before he got a loft up in Devon. Alan says they have some top birds and he would recommend them to anyone. In 2004 prior to Alan moving to Devon, he had the privilege of Bill Carney visiting his loft and Bill picked out this Klaus Krom as Alan’s number one hen. This is a good partnership, Henry is becoming a top racer and Alan has the ability to identify the breeders and what velocity and distance they will perform at. At the end of this season they may re-evaluate the way forward. They do feel that with favourable conditions and a bit of luck, they are capable of winning the coveted 1st National!

Henry Franks & Alan Baker.

The father and son team of Dave & Ben Taylor of Sutton win 1st Section E with a 2y blue chequer hen. Dave has been in the sport for 46 years and Ben has been keen for the last four. This is a widowhood hen who was racing on a simple system with the hens being in a section on their own and exercised once each day. They are fed Versele Laga Super Widowhood plus multivits. They don't treat the birds blindly, however they are treated every couple of months for canker. The winner is a gift from Frank Carson, who gaveall his young birds to Ben, and it was having only its second race of the season and fourth altogether. Returns were 14 out of 18 and the winner now heads for NFC Alencon. Their second birdwill also be in the top handful of the section so all in all they had a really good race. This is a small back garden loft and they do not keep a lot of pigeons. They do not club race locally, choosing instead to race with the NFC and the L&SECC.

Dave Taylor and son Ben. Photo courtesy of Terry Peart.

Mr & Mrs J & R Wheatley of Stoford, ably assisted by their grandsons Connor and Daniel, won 1st Section F. Mr Wheatley first became interested in pigeons about 60 years ago when a Mr Arther Kirbey of Chorleywoodmoved opposite to where he used to live. He helped him with his pigeons and later got some of his own until going into the Army. Soon after coming out, the pigeons came back into the garden and he has kept them ever since. On getting married, his wife Joyce also became interested. They timed a 4y blue widowhood cock. The widowers are fed with a spoon having about 3/4 of an ouncein the morning and 1/2 an ounce in the evening. A good widowhood mixture is used with some sunflower hearts used for the last three days before basketing. Multivitimins aregiven once a week. His breeding is 75% Staf Van Reet from a cock purchased at a sale inBirmingham from Ken Berry of Enford Hill’s Blue Boy, a g.son of "Dave’s Boy Rocket" which was bred byMr & Mrs Beardsmore. Dam of Blue Boy is "Super Girl", bred from ag.son of Jan Grondelear's "Stuka". He has flown Fougeres with the National this year where he was their first bird and has had some other prizes including 40th sect 368th open National St Nazaire, 6th sect 46th open National Messac and a 25th sect F. He was in perfect conditionon arrival being full of himself and flew for an hour and a half the following morning. Mr Wheatley will be looking towards Alencon with the National for him next providing he is still bouncing. Loft returns were 100%. The winner arrived at 14.26, their next bird not until 15.20 and the other two came at 15.26 and 15.34. Mr Wheatley said: ‘All had had a good fly and all were in perfect shape. The National transportersmust be 1st class and also the convoyers.’ Some of this loft’s best results in recent years include 1st Wessex South Road Combine Guernsey, 4th sect 6th Open National Pau, 1st sect 7th Open National Nantes and 1st Sect 28th Open National Nantes.

Mr & Mrs Wheatley and grandsons.

Former NFC San Sebastian winner Joe Raeburn of Melksham lands 1st Section G. This is Joe’s 21st year flying and he is helped by his wife Debbie and two children, Alex who is 15and Aimee who is 14. Joe says that this season has been hard as his work haskept him away from home,with him leaving at 5.30-6.00am and returning around 7.00-8.00pm. Most nights the pigeons don't get much flying around home and he says a big thank you to his family for playing their part. He timed 39, a 2y blue cock flown on widowhood. He is a double grandson from Joe’s ace racer Gwen, 1st open San Sebastian, being from a half-brother and sister. On the sire side a son of Vend, 1st open Pau, when paired to Gwen. On the dam’s side is his best stock cockof Cattrysse breeding when again paired to Gwen.

Joe Raeburn.

This is 39’s fourth race this season. He has had two inland with the West of England South Road Combine and this is his second channel race with the National.He has always been a consistent birdto the loftand he will now be sent to NFC Tarbes. Joe’s feeding this season is Gerry Plusmixed withBucktonsIrish and then three feeds before therace they get widowhoodfrom Bayers mixed with Bucktonsconditioning seed, i.e eightparts widowhood/two parts seed. Joe always gives clean water, which has been left to stand overnight (if he can remember) and when the birds arrive home they get a mix of glucose, marmite and honey in the water. Joe added that his birds have been in very good condition on arrival from both NFC races this season but they seem to be hungry and he asks the question: are the birds getting enough food or are there too many birds in a crate? (We contacted Chief Convoyer, Geoff Allen, in the light of Joe’s comments and Geoff told us that he feeds just over an ounce per bird.)

1st Section G.

1st Section H goes to Brian & Cornelia Long who have a very good team based on National performance pigeons over many years. This winner is a grandson of The Red Barcelona, winner of 1st National 4th International Barcelona, 23rd National 75th International Perpignan etc. The dam is a daughter of 1st National Limoges winner Vale Cahors. The partnership clocked another in a matter of seconds, which isa grandson of The Cerafin, 1st National Limoges paired to a daughter of Lucas. Either of these pigeons could have taken 1st section.The pigeons are paired and left to rear a youngster for about 10 days, after which they are separated. At this time the hens are on their own. They are locked in boxes with water, grit and food on the front of each box at all times. When these hens are right they will fly the skies like a team of youngster that are enjoying their freedom. An important point is that these hens have two places, either the sky or their box; they are not allowed freedom in the loft. Cornelia likes racing the hens because she feels that they are more genuine than the cocks and easier to handle. They also give more commitment when it comes to the longer races. This is a cracking system to race the hens on that will see them go from April through to September no problem at all. The cocks are never allowed to tread these hens and to make sure that does not happen there is a board put in the boxes when the hens return from the races to only allow them standing room. This system stops the hens from laying and that is the reason why they will go through a longer racing season. The pigeons are selected on a good body and they have to have very good feather quality. Both partners keep an eye on the pigeons at all times and say a pigeon will tell you if it is not right. It may not clap out of the loft as it would when in peak condition, or it may not look happy and content in the loft. When a team are sent from these lofts they are sent with top condition in mind and when they return they are following one another through the doors. Love of home wins races and the pigeons certainly have a love for home at these lofts. What Brian did say when I was on the phone was that we should all fly against the best as this is the way forward. We wish Brian all the best during his illness.

Brian Long pictured with LJP, Elizabeth and Cornelia.

1st Section I was won by John Hambridge of Chipping Norton, a fancier who can count on 47 years’ experience, who clocked a 2y red hen. She has not been raced since a young bird but this year was tried on roundabout and was John’s first pigeon out of Picauville where she finished 3rd club. John feeds an all round mix; he used to feed the more expensive w/h mixes but that did not suit his change of racing system. She is a bit of a mongrel being half Staf van Reet, quarter Jan Aarden and a quarter Kirkpatrick and had had three land races and two channel races this year prior to this race. John is of the view thatfanciers try to race pigeons far too often and come unstuck because they are overdone when it comes to the national races. His winner will now be rested before going to MNFC Saintes, around 500 miles, John’s favourite distance. John remarked that on the same day from Lessay he timed 8 out of 8 in 30 minutes so it was a different story to the national, adding that pigeons which arrived from Angers the next day looked as if they’d had a real hard race and covered a lot more distance.

John Hambridge.

Martin Williams of Hereford, a fancier for 28 years, takes 1st Section J with a yearling widowhood cock racing to a young bird loft with pipo boxes. It is a Jimmy Weeder of Liverpool Jan Huybregt x Andre Roodhooft, Belgium, which were introduced last year. Feed was a measured amount of Natural Maxi Widowhood. A winner of a 1st and a 2nd as a young bird, this season it has had 4 inland races, then 2 weeks ago Picauville with Hereford & South Shropshire Fed where it came 3rd Fed, 26 yards in front of next Fed pigeon. Martin described its condition on arrival as ‘good, full of life’ and he will probably go to NFC Alencon next, Martin adding, ‘I don't think you can plan your races in advance, you have to study your birds flying at home on a week to week basis’. Martin is a previous winner of 1st Welsh National YB,1st in aOne Loft race, and took the first 3 positions in section of a Central Southern Classic race. He won 54th Open NFC Cholet 2007 and is going in the right direction to fulfil his ambition of one day winning a NFC race. Loft returns were 50%.

Martin Williams.

1st Section J.

Lord & Day & Jordan of Barnsely win 1st Section K with a 2y hen raced on widowhood. Brendan Day has been racing since 1975 and son-in-law Jon Jordan since 1999. Their hen had been on darkness from New Year’s Day before being paired on May 2nd with the cock then being taken away after sitting 5 days. They use this system on a team of hens specifically for Channel racing. Feed here is Versele-Laga Gerry Plus and Best No Beans. They get as much as they want morning and evening, but they find they do not eat as much as they would like so when they have eaten that up they give them a groats, Red Band and Hormoform mix, followed by a product which they find indispensable called Power Mix by Paloma. It contains vitamins, minerals, grits and sprouted seeds and the pigeons love it. They then finish off with a good helping of redskin peanuts. In the water they use Belgica products, Belgasol, Belge Tee and BS. The hen is a Gaby Vandenabeele being a great grand daughter of Logan and Ebony on the sire’s side and Benetton and Saffron on the dam’s side and two hens that were inbred to Sisi that Mark and Dickey Evans brought in and loaned to a friend of theirs, John Swift. John gifted the parents of the winning hen to them as late-breds and after he returned the hens to M & D he let them have the two cocks. She had raced to the coast this season and this was her first channel race. She was not raced as a young bird as she was a late-bred. As a yearling she only raced to the coast 200 miles on the natural system. This year they intend to give her a real try at the distance. They have not decided on her exact plans as they had a bad race from Fougeres losing 5 out of 10 entries, and they only have a small team of 14 cocks and 9 hen, but they think Alencon will be next and then will finish with Saintes. They say Angers was a hard race but fair and the birds had to work hard. They had 2 out of 6 on the day and three next morning. Like any National flyer they want to win the National but winning 1st Section was their main ambition and now they would like to repeat it. They added that if work permitted they would also like to fly with the BICC but at present they cannot get the time to go marking in Manchester. This loft had a spate of getting 16th section and could not get above that position – they have 5 section diplomas for 16th section – then in last year’s young bird National from Guernsey they won 2nd, 8th and, yes, 16th section. And when they last looked at the NFC website for this Angers race their second pigeon was in 16th section! Their best open position has been 47th open Fougeres in 2007. They would like to thank the people that make the national races happen, from the secretary down to the markers and clock station officials. Brendan is a club and federation secretary and understands the work and preparation involved in organising a race (be it, he says, on a much smaller scale) as he says that without their work people like him could not compete in our win races.

Jon Jordan (L) & Brendan Day with five-year-old Maisie Day-Jordan, who has her own loft.

Winning 1st Section L for the eleventh time is Roger Sutton of Congleton. Roger had 6 out of his 10 entries in the clock and will probably also take 2nd and 5th section. His 1st bird is a 3y cock on widowhood and the 2nd and 3rd are hens on natural. The section winner is an exchange bird bred by Joy and Sheffield and previously won 35th section, 188th open in the recent hard Midland National Falaise. Roger feeds a widowhood mix, no breakdown, adding a fat mix in last two days The widow team have 5 land races then the channel every two to three weeks and receive lots of training. His winner arrived in great condition, showing no sign of stress and will probably go to Alencon NFC in two weeks’ time. A fancier for over 40 years, he says that one day, if conditions are right, it would be nice to win a National.

Roger Sutton, left, 1st Section L.

A full report on each National race can be found on www.elimarpigeons.com