National Flying Club

NFC ALENCON

Report by www.elimarpigeons.com

Following a one-day holdover, the National Flying Club’s Chief Convoyer Geoff Allen liberated in Alencon at 6.45am on Sunday in a very, very light south-west wind, the birds clearing instantly. The wind picked up en route and a fast race ensued, with those in the east holding the advantage. There was another excellent turnout with 885 members entering 7,067 birds so the race was going to take some winning. The breakdown was as follows - Section/Entries/Members:

A - 484/62; B - 520/62; C  - 246/32; D - 433/88; E - 1,572/158; F - 241/ 34; G - 598/74; H - 436/59;    I - 438/52; J - 578/78; K - 754/79; L - 767/107; Race Totals - 7,067/ 885.

1st Section E, 1st Open goes to Mr & Mrs Ralph Tofts of Bishops Stortford. Ralph flies in partnership with his wife Jane, who mostlylooks after all the paperworkand the young birds. She has her own team of babies every year so there is a bit of competiton on race day, not only with the club but with each other, and last yearJane’s babies came out on top! Ralph, who built his first loft in 1998 and started racing young birds in 1999, timed a yearling de Klak widowhood cock having his first channel race. The dam is a stock hen from Rambo Dancer and Pied Dancer and the sire is a retired racer. He only raced inland, winning three times 1st in the Thames North & Eastern Counties Flying Club, two Stansted club wins and many prize cards. Ralph feeds Versele Laga and uses de Weerdt vitamins and medications. The National winner, who was taking his first ever position, had five inland races as prep and was in excellent shape on landing. He will not race again this year and they have yet to decide if he will ever race again. The Tofts clocked 6 out of 8 birds between 11.07 and 11.45am and this result follows hot on the heels of their 2nd Section MNFC Tours last week. Some other top positions won include: 1st & 2nd Open MNFC Portsmouth; 1st NE Section L&SECC Sennen Cove; 1st NE Section L&SECC Plymouth; 8th Open YB National; 8thOpen St Nazaire National. They are now thinking of trying some long distance racing. Congratulations to Ralph and Jane on a terrific performance.

Ralph & Jane Tofts with granddaughter Daniella, who has called their national winner Rocket after her own nickname.

1st Open NFC Alencon.

Daryll Luxford of Horley, who started flying again in 2005 after a break of 10 years, wins 1st Section A, 4th Openwith a 3y blue cock racing to 3-day old chicks. He isJanssen TBO. Grandmother is The Sultan, responsible for over 50 first prize-winners, and the dam’s grandsire is a half brother to the Wonder Boys. FedNatural widowhood and Gem’s Sporting mix, he flew two Guernseys and Tours with the Classic as prep, winning 2nd club from Tours in the East Grinstead club (section and open positions to be confirmed). Daryll had 5 out of 6 home – all in good condition – and his winner will probably go to Saintes or Tarbes next year. Also last weekend, Daryll won 7th South West Section, 9th Open Tarbes Classic.He is a previous winner of 2 x 1st and a 4th Open London & South East Classic, and his ambition is to win NFC Tarbes and consistently top the section. Daryll said: ‘This season, I have been able to spend much more time with the pigeons whilst convalescing after a brain operation and minor stroke at the end of last year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Doug Gatland, Keith Barber and Guy Mullen for all their help with supporting me to race in a number of different ways.’

Daryll Luxford's winner.

Wearn Bros of Ramsdean win 1st Section B and will probably take several other top ten section positions. First bird timed is a yearling natural cock fed a basic mix of Versele-Laga PLX with Bayers Diet. Breeding is Colign & Ganus of Holland and he had had 3 previous national races this term being their first bird from Fougeres. He has won 1st club Exceter and scored in the young bird classic. Jimmy said he was thirsty on arrival and he will now possibly go to the Saintes NFC race. The weekend turned out to be a very long one for Jimmy as he was competing in three races: BICC Pau International (still waiting), CSCFC Tarbes 538miles, clocking 7 birds on the day from a 5.30 lib, plus obviously NFC Alencon, where actually he thought he was late. Some other top positions won in the NFC recently include:3rd and 6th open NFC St Nazaire; 1st section 16th open Tarbes; 10th section Tarbes; 2nd section 12th open, 5th section 25th open, 6th section 26th open, 14th section 76th section Alencon; 1st section, 2nd section, 4th section, 6th section, 10th section, 14th section, 15th section, 16th section, 17th section young bird national 2007; 1st section Dax. Their ambition is to win 1st Open Tarbes.

1st Section B for Wearn Bros.

Wearn Bros set-up.

1st Section C are Frank & John Halstead of Kington Magna in Dorset. This is their 10th Section win in the NFC, and this 2y chequer widowhood cock has now won his section for the second time, having been 1st as a young bird from Chale in 2006 in similar windy conditions. Earlier this season he was 9th Section 40th Open from 3026 birds in the Central Southern Classic Lessay race in an east wind. As a yearling he was 1st and 2nd club from Fougeres. He is a son of the Dorset Dart, their ace Busschaert cock who won 6 firsts and 2 x 1st Federation against 1870 and 3070 birds back in 2001 when the Halsteads lived in Staffordshire. The Dorset Dart was crossed with a Vandenabeele hen down from M&D Evans bloodlines. John has so far won 8 firsts this season including twice first in the Dorset Federation. This would have been 10 firsts but for ‘66’, the very good Verheye widowhood cock owned by club mates Terry and Helen Davis of Bedchester who, in only their third race with the NFC having only joined this season, are 2nd Section C. ‘66’, whose parents were gifted to the Davis’ by John, won the first 2 races in the strong Gillingham (Dorset) club this season from Yelverton and Picauville beating the Halsteads into 2nd place both times.

John Halstead.

Keith Loversidge-Jenkin of Wiveliscombe in Somerset takes 1st Section D with a 2y blue cock flown natural and driving his hen to nest. He is a Janssen Van den Bosche of Albert Babbington and Bobby Lane lines. He has been knocking on the door before though just short of the prizes and his prep was two land races and one channel race. Feed here ischicken pellets and barley with oils added. Keith clocked all four of his entries and the second bird will also be very high up in the section. His winner was in very good condition and had had to fight to stay on line as it was blowing a gale. He may now go to NFC Saintes.

Gordon Seeney of Harwell in Oxfordshire wins 1st Section F with a yearling cock who was re-paired for this race and who was scoring for the first time. He is a Berlange Delbar x Soontjen whose last race was BICC Falaise on May 17th from where he came back from Cheshire in an Amtrak box, so that’s two section winners in this Alencon event which went astray earlier in the season! Feed is 2/3 Gerry Plus, 1/3 Marimans all year round, fed once daily. Gordon had ten out of ten home but remarked that his bird had worked very hard and had lost nearly all his body weight. Gordon has been a fancier since 1970 and has won the section in the NFC twice before, as well as 1st NE Section in the CSCFC. His aim is simply to keep on improving.

Bill Morris of Elmore in Gloucestershire wins 1st Section G with a 2y cheq hen, always raced natural, sent on two eggs, one having chipped out during the night prior to basketing. She is bred from Invincible Spirit lines and has been quite a consistent bird without scoring. She flew a hard BICC race a month ago and was fed on an Irish type mixture with extra maize and seed. When she arrived on the loft she was nervous and took about a minute and a half to trap but was in good condition. All being well she will be going to Tarbes with the NFC. Bill had very good returns of 11 out of 12, and his 2nd and 3rd birds will be well up in the section.  Bill started with 6 late-breds given to him in 1967, which were kept in an old tea chest. He raced in Weston super Mare for 20+ years being the secretary of Banwell & District for 18 of those years. He moved to South Wales in 1990 where he raced birds until moving to Yorkshire in 2000. He returned to the West Country in late 2003 when he moved to Elmore and has been racing to this address since 2004. The birds are now just coming into their own and earlier this year another of his hens won the Yearling Derby Messac with the Central Southern Classic Flying Club. It is Bill’s ambition to win NFC Tarbes, and also the RPRA One Loft Race for a second time as a pigeon bred by him won the 2006 RPRA One Loft Race; a similarly bred bird won a Hot Spot in 2007. Bill finished by saying that he believed that the birds were late until his good friend Ivan Hofton of Gloucester rang to congratulate him! He says he is indebted to Ivan for driving him to marking stations.

Bill Morris.

1st Section H, 2nd Open goes to Her Majesty The Queen’s Royal Lofts in King’s Lynn. Loft Manager Carlo Napolitano timed a 2y blue w/f roundabout cock, which hadwon on the south earlier in the season, but in the last National race this pigeon went up to Liverpool and was returned in a box! His dam was bred from a son of 1st National Pau for Mr Slocombe in 1995, and the grandmother flew Pau in 1995 and is from a cock who won Lerwick three times, twice for Carlo and once for The Queen. Also in the breeding on the dam’s sideis Sandringham Lightning raced by Alan Pearce, and elsewhere you will find Filmstar. The sire of this section winner was bred by Bob Reeves.Carlo hashad pigeons since he was 9 years of age and has been racing competitively since 1972. He does everything more or less on his own except for help once each week with the cleaning and a bit of help with the training on the north; the south roaders he trains himself. He uses a lot of barley at the beginning of the week with the racing mix starting on Wednesdays. Garlic is added to the water and so is Orego-Stim. The section winner returned in ‘absolutely wonderful condition’ and loft returns were 6 out of 8 in good time.

Carlo Napolitano.

Eddie & Julie Froggatt of Abbots Bromley win 1st Section I. They have been around pigeons for as long as I can remember and are both good workers for the club having, amongst other things, run Crewe marking station for over 20 years. They timed a2y chequer widowhood cock who races to a section containing 12 boxes but just 5 cocks. They have a hopper of horse beans in front of them all the time and are also given a widowhood mix but nothing else, indeed Eddie was saying that they have had no precautionary treatments at all this year. This cock was 5th in the club the week before and in fact has been in the clock for three consecutive weeks. His sister was 2nd section from Fougeres, beaten by half a yard. They are Vandenabeele/Kanabaal with the mother being a sister to the Champion of Holland. One the same way bred as the damwas sold for £15,000. The dam is a real good breeder for Eddie with others off her also featuring well up in the big races, thedam being from the Young Couple of Peter Fox that have bred many very good pigeons. Eddie reported his winner as being in brilliant condition on arrival, adding that he could tell he had tried hard but as soon as he’d had a drink he was bouncing around the loft. He won’t race again this season, however.

Eddie Froggatt.

Cliff Pritchard of Netherton wins 1st Section J. Cliff started with pigeons in 1963 but in 1981 found out that he was a diabetic so had a break. He started again 5 years ago and nowadays is helped by a friend and his wife. He clocked a 2y blue Smit van Winckle/Pauw Bros widowhood hen who flew Lessay and Fougeres as a lead up to this. Cliff, who mixes his own corn bought mostly from the farm, timed 5 out of 8 but was saying that whenever he noms one it goes missing, and that was again the case here. He is considering Saintes for his winner but will take a look in a couple of weeks and see how well she is flying around home.

Mr & Mrs Pritchard

Nigel Laycock of Womersley near Doncaster wins 1st Section K. Nigel had this to say: ‘My family have always helped where they can, but due to us running a boarding kennels they are always busy, so I do the birds myself. I cannot remember not having pigeons. I started when I was a young lad catching them in barns and trying to settle them in only for them to go straight back when let out. My section winner is a blue natural hen bred in 07 off two birds from Eric Limbourg. The sire is directly bred from his No 1 stock cock the Slimmen when paired to the Superchild. The dam is from a son of the Louis who is from the lines of Louis Vanden Eynde and a half sister to the Super Mario of George Carteus. I look after my birds well and work them hard. My hen has had a race each week including the hard first Northern Classic race. I feed differently to many people. I give different mixtures each day. A pigeon must eat well every day when being prepared for an overseas race, so the want to eat must be stimulated. Feeding the same feed or even the conventional build up to basketing methodis a thing of the past.I would like to thank Louis Hinchcliffe and Andy Crowther for supplying not only me but also the fanciers of Yorkshire with quality feeds. The wind was relentless all day,which took the birds east. All my birds came straight out of the east working back into the wind and when they dropped they had worked hard but were in good order.My winner will possibly go to the NorthEast Provincial’s race from Lessay in 3 weeks’ time.I sent a team of 50 pigeons that have never raced until this year.I have not raced for a couple of seasons so it’s a matter of finding the quality pigeons and sorting the wheat from the chaff. On the night I had 32 back from my 50. My aim is always to perform to the best of my ability. My problem isn't the birds. In the right hands they are good enough to perform at the highest level year in year out. It's me. I once did an article on Eric Limbourg with the heading, "The motivation of the man is more important than the motivation of the pigeon" and it's a fact!!!! Over the years I have won what there is to be won sprint racing, federation championship races, opens etc and enjoyed every one of them. I have been top prize-winner in four different federations also theWhitley Bridge 2 bird Championship Club. In 1995 I was 1st Northern Classic from Rennes withClassy Lass, which gave me the honour of being asked to write an article for the Squills. I moved to my present address in 1996 and to be honest set myself too much on, and althoughwinning many 1st prizes, I have not won a fraction of what the birds I house are capable of.The best pigeon I have ever raced is my Hartog cock Steady Eddy. He was in theclock every time he went over the channel and among his performances were 35th Open Picauville M.N.F.C., 3rd Open Tours M.N.F.C. and 1st Sec K 29th Open Saintes N.F.C.This performance, I think, was my best ever aseverything was against him flying 547 miles, near on 200 miles further than the winner. Now inthe second National Flying Clubrace that I have ever sent in I have managed to win1st SectionK3rd Open. Pigeon racinghas brought many ups and downs to methroughout the years. Thebiggest gift though is the friends that I have made along the way. Pigeons bring people together from all walks of life - rich, poor, black, white and everynationality and religion.We all live the same obsession and through this we are as one. To my many friends,we don't hear or see as much of each other as we should but your friendshipsare cherished and there isn't a week goes by when you’re not thought of. Thanks for the phone calls of congratulations and stick at it, you might be next.I would like to finish off by congratulating Mr & Mrs Tofts on their win, many congratulations to you, also the loft manager at the Royal Lofts on his performance. All the other section winners well done also, you can only do what the day will let you. Many pigeons put up gallant performances and are never heard of but the good fanciers notice them.’

Nigel Laycock.

Neil & Glynn Buckley of Rochdale win 1st Section L with a 2y blue hen prepared especially for this race. Theychanged their system this season and this is the first time she has been paired this year. She was sitting 4-day eggs, which were the first she has had in her life. Hersire is their best channel pigeon, winner of Bird of the Year, 1st Amal 4th Lancs Combine Niort over 500mls, and also 18th, 19th & 21st Combine Niort. Her dam, of Kirkland breeding, had 2 x 1st clubs at the distanceand then 3rd Lancs Nantes at Portland before being stocked. The section winner has been consistent being timed on a regular basis and has been in the top 200 of the national. She went to two National races last year and then the first National this season from Fougeres, returning injured, and this was her first race since then, though she had had plenty of tosses. Feed here is Versele Laga Super Widowhood and Superstar mixed with farm beans and barley. They has 8 out of 12 home when I spoke to them and Neil said that he has never seen pigeons come back in such good condition. He believes that with the new transporters there are better returns and because the birds are in better condition it is easier to get them ready for the next race. Incidentally, two weeks prior to the race the pigeons were not quite right so they had them tested by Stuart Gabrial, who found a yeast problem. They treated and the pigeons were totally different after three days so they would like to thank him. Glynn and Neil have flown together for 25 years, however Neil is leaving the sport for a couple of years so would like to wish everyone all the best, though he will be back. Meanwhile their winner now heads for Tarbes.

A full report on every NFC race appears on www.elimarpigeons.com shortly after every race.