Well, since we got back from Blackpool it`s been busy busy busy getting the birds out for baths and exercise now that the shooting season has finally ended. We have paired up our stock birds and had our first youngsters hatch today, 5th March. On Friday 7th Feb John and our son Connor laid the floor for our 2nd Barcelona loft due for erection the 15th Feb but on Thursday the 14th Feb we got a call from our friends from Wales saying they had car trouble and could not make it. Ooops as that afternoon our kind neighbour Gell and his son Fabian and our son Connor took all the heavy stuff up on the tractor ready for the next day. Anyway on the Friday evening a friend of ours, Malthieu, popped in (also a pigeon nut!!) and asked where the new loft was, so we explained what had happened. Malthieu said, “No Problem”, one of his favourite sayings as nothing is ever a problem, and he turned up Saturday morning with 2 of his brothers, their children, brother-in-law etc etc. In the end there were too many so some went home again but, as I`ve said before, the French will really help you out when you need it.

The structure of our new loft

After 2 ½ hours all the framework was up, then it was lunchtime - and the French always stop for lunch 12 till 2pm. It`s like religion. Anyway, once they were fed and watered they returned and put the trusses on for the roof so a total of 5 hours. John was then able to manage on his own and he`s been out there every day since with the help of our son (when he`s not at school) doing the felting the tiling and then of course once it was weathered. All the internal work began getting it ready for our 2008 entrants.

On Saturday 1st March John took the 2 hour drive down to Dieppe to meet a good friend of ours, Kevin Rennisson, the son of our very dear friends Paul and Janet. Well they are more like family as Connor calls them Nanny and Grandad. Janet hasn`t been too well lately so from all the McGee`s a speedy recovery Janet, get yourself out here for a bit of rest. We won't make you clean the birds out I promise.

Anyway back to Dieppe... John was to meet Kevin to collect our first intake of youngsters. He left at 4 am to meet Kevin at 6. At about 5 to 6 I got a phone call from Kevin saying that they hadn`t even sailed yet. He got on the boat and went straight to sleep and didn`t hear any announcements, by which time it was too late, so I had to ring John and break the news, so John drove home again and eventually caught up with Kevin at about 10.30. So thanks Kev for bringing the birds out to us, it is a big help. Anyway we got there in the end. The ybs belong to Chris Williams from Trowbridge and they have settled into their new home very nicely (see photo below).

On the 12th March we had one of the biggest disasters ever to happen to us our stock loft was destroyed in the wind. We had 95mph winds. When we got up that morning we lifted the shutters like we always do. I went to make coffee and John looked up the lofts like always and shouted, “Lou, the stock loft's gone”. Not that politely as you can imagine. We went running up the garden and the shed was everywhere. The wind had got under the roof and lifted it like a tornado. There were 46 dead youngsters everywhere, just blown out the loft, it was just awful. Luckily,  I say luckily, some of the stock birds were trapped in their boxes but we have lost over half, birds you just can`t replace and it broke my heart seeing all our dead youngsters strewn over the garden.

We had a phone call this week from Gary Inkley and they will be bringing their birds out to us in May. Also Bill Woodall, a good friend of ours from Dover, is bringing his birds out in April. Chris Williams took his birds down to John and Linda Tyerman`s house and spent some 3 hours looking at John`s birds and he wanted me to thank them for making him so welcome. We also have some of the German fancy participating in our race. Thorsten Daum, one of the top German fanciers and his good friend Karl Dunther from Dumfries, Scotland who himself is a double Scottish National winner with the Thorsten Daum pigeons, have entered.

Some more good news. We have been in contact with Byron Weaver from Florida and are in the processes of sorting out the shipping details as there will be many coming from the States this year so it really is turning out to be an International race. We can`t wait.

On Tuesday 18th March we drove down to Adinkerke to meet Janet Hull and her husband Dave. It was lovely to meet you both as they bought their birds over to us and also 6 belonging to Les Parkinson so there`s another 10 places gone.

John Tyerman has been chatting with Sid Collins who is the chairman of the INFC and he sees this as a fantastic opportunity for all Irish long distance enthusiasts to compete from Barcelona and he is very  keen to get a team of Irish pigeons from the best National fliers. We also have 2 Dax International winners sending to us - Brian Shepperd of Trowbridge and Mark Gilbert. Some other top fliers are John “Mr Barcelona” Wills, Albie Deacon, Mick Bunney and Ronnie Williamson from Ireland so we are getting really excited. Thank you all so much for supporting our new venture.

We have had a few e-mails from different fanciers enquiring about the race even from Canada and Norway so let's hope we get the birds as it will make some really interesting racing having several different countries competing from our Barcelona Challenge loft. Andrew Skrobot from Canada is very excited by our new venture. It's quite unbelievable him and two other fanciers from Canada want to send their birds to us, come over to France go with John to the marking station, watch the birds go through to transport then get this, they want to fly to Barcelona, watch the liberation, then fly back to us and watch for their arrival. As Andrew says, “This is a once in a lifetime opputunity”.

SOME OF OUR 2008 YBS LOOKING OUT - BARCELONA NO PROBLEM!!!

As I mentioned in my last article, you can now send a reserve bird for every paid bird then if your activated bird goes you have a replacement on site to step in. If both birds are still here at the end of young bird racing then you can activate your reserve bird to go on and race as a yearling and then be prepared as a 2 year old for Barcelona. Where else could you go to compete in one of the most prestigious races on a level playing field - NO channel!! We really do see this as a golden opportunity.

We have our club meeting on the 29th March so I will post our race programme shortly after. This Sunday the 23rd March we have to register the electronic rings at our club then all birds will be rung with them so after all training flights and races you can log onto the web and check your birds' progress.

As always take care of each other. As always we would love to hear from you. Our number is 0033 321 049851 e-mail john.mcgee320@orange.fr our website www.thebarcelonachallenge.com

Lou McGee