FOUGERES NATIONAL

8th September 2012

Raceday:- The birds were liberated at 8am into a light easterly wind, changing slight south easterly more inland with good forecast over the UK. We were hopeful of a good race for our young birds racing the channel which are no doubt always tricky races and upon reflection I feel the weather was kind and we had a good race. An excellent race it turned out to be with three of the seven section winners appearing in the top ten open positions and six in the top fifty open.

YOUNG BIRD NATIONAL

1st  Open 1st Section H was Glen Moon, St.Helier, timing after 1hr 28min to record a velocity of 1466ypm.

Glen says, "As I had to visit my native city of Sunderland on the 7th September, this meant unfortunately that I was not at home in Jersey C.I. for the Fougeres Young Bird National. I did however send to the race and asked a fellow club member (Brian Stubbs) if he would time in for me should I be lucky enough to have birds in on the day. Before I continue, I would like to thank my wife for looking after the birds, Brian for timing in and Martin Hayne for collecting our birds and taking them to the marking station. Now about the bird, a light blue chequer hen whose breed would be best described as Heniz 57. Sire was Mr Peanut, named by my grandchildren due to his liking of peanuts! His bloodline was part Vandenabeele from Paul Osbourne of Alderney, part Jan Aarden and Jannsen from Paul Davies of Jersey. The dam side was Flor Engels from Will Healey of Jersey and Venner of Street, Somerset also Des Coulter pigeons. The Venner/Coulter pigeon was bred by Mick de Carteret of Guernsey. At the beginning of the season I bred eighteen young birds, twelve being 1st round, six 2nd round. The first twelve I trained really hard; some would argue too hard! I lost three of those twelve off the loft and the remaining nine I sent for the first training toss to St Malo but did not see a bird for three days. After three weeks only three young birds had returned. These I continued to train, two to enter in the Young Bird National and one for the Channel Island Gold Ring race from Messac. The light chequer hen was 2nd club on the 1st Young Bird race (here were only three birds in the Island on the on the day, 2 being mine) and from then on she was outstanding in training and so I told anyone who would listen that this would be the pigeon to beat!!! Even so I was surprised and delighted to hear she had won the National. Members will recall that at the beginning of the season many birds were killed by foxes. One was my previous Poitiers National winner  Hawk-Eye, also Mr Peanut an up and coming bird. He did however sire this year's winner Miss Peanut, also named by my grandchildren Jessie-Jay and Jaxson Byatt."

Glen Moon

1st Open BBC Fougeres YB.

2nd & 8th Open 2nd & 3rd Section H was Tom Scott, Trinity, Jersey timing after 1hr 30min & 1hr 33min to record a velocities of 1453ypm & 1406ypm.

Unfortunately we have not been able to obtain details of the winning birds.

Tom Scott

Tom Scott's hen

3rd Open 1st Section B was Spracklen & Thomas, Dorchester, timing after 3hr 32min to record a velocity of 1443ypm.

Neville timed a lovely hen now named Rosie. She was flying to the perch in what was her second race, her first race being the National Flying Club's Fougeres young bird race the previous week. Rosie was Neville's first bird from this race winning probably 7th Section C. As Fougeres is 174 miles Neville trained his young birds extensively before jumping them into the National. This year the young birds were fed all they wanted, no short measures, and they were given the normal vaccinations and treated for respiratory and canker. Rosie's breeding is exceptional. The sire is a son of Mark Gilbert's Southfield Pau named 'Silver Fox'; this stock cock has bred Neville some lovely birds including a yearling to fly Tarbes. The dam is a real beauty called Lisa Lou and is a daughter of Roger Lowe's My Little Diamond winner of 1st National; this hen has bred prize winners in all competitions. Neville would like to congratulate the winners of the the race and thank the officials of the Weymouth clock station Jim Peters, Graham and Mary Ayles, Phil Hutchins, Jane Johns and Diddy Dave. All of these fanciers work very hard to make this clock station run extremely well.

Diane Spracklen (Neville's wife), Neville, Hayley (daughter), Lilly (granddaughter) and Lisa (daughter)

 

4th Open 2nd Section B was Terry Vincent, Dorchester, timing after 3hr 33min to record a velocity of 1441pm.

Terry writes: "The morning of the race for Fougeres was rather exciting in respect the weather conditions could actually be kind to our birds. Not many have been this season. I would like to say a big well done to the Channel Island lads, especially after the unfortunate incident in May where they lost a lot of their good birds. This being my first full season of racing after a gap of 25yrs, I decided to breed 20 young in my first round, this was from my 5pairs of stock birds and some from yearling racers from the previous year. When the young bird season started I had 15 left to race after losing a few in training. I made a bold decision to race all 15 in the first race. I was then left with 13, and one injured. The rest of the season I split the 12 birds into two teams of six and senton alternate weeks. The Guernsey Open in the Dorset Fed saw 6 birds sent, then 4 birds to Carentan in the CSCFC and I had all birds back on the day from both races. Fougeres was next so 4 birds were sent. My chequer Janssen Hen 4th Open 2nd Section B was bred out of stock birds from Ponderosa Stud out of very old blood lines of Janssen-Arendonk. I have an open loft and race with the natural system, with my wife Linda helping out with the training tosses. After a race I like to feed trapping and conditioner mix because of the easily digestable small grain and they love the linseed and aniseed. I am building his team and looking forward to next season and entering birds in the longer distance races."

Terry Vincent

 

5th & 9th Open 1st & 2nd Section C was Mr & Mrs G & M Wile & S Lias, Bristol, timing after 4hr 34min & 4hr 40min to record velocities of 1424ypm & 1394ypm

Garth and Steve’s first bird is a Willy van Houte bred down from birds bought from L.P.W. The sire has won in club and been high in the national results winning over a £1000 this season, and the dam is a widowhood hen which was 2nd in the Tours young bird race run by Geoff and Cath Cooper. The birds returned in excellent condition which they thank the B.B.C. for.

Garth Wile and Steve Lias

 

6th Open 3rd Section B was Mr &Mrs M King, Blandford Forum, timing after 3hr 40min to record a velocity of 1418pm

3rd Section B, 6th Open goes to Mel & Sue King Blandford, Dorset with their good young Vandenabeele  hen that last week won 1st Section C from the National Flying Club Fougeres.  Sire is Stourcrest Mordred a grandson of Stourcrest Centaur 1st Section, 4th Open N.F.C Messac. Centaur is also a half brother to Stourcrest Eros 1st Open N.F.C Nantes and Stourcrest Athena 1st Section, 9th Open N.F.C Herstal. The dam is a full sister to Stourcrest Eros. This line is directly responsible for breeding 4 x 1st Open National winners and 3 x 1st Open Classic winners plus many 2nd, 3rd, 4th Open winners and many 1st section winners etc, and is full of the blood of original purchases from M & D Evans in 1999 out of Shadow, Jester, Carrie, Maclaren, Nat Fideelke, Golden Boy, Amber Louise, Devon etc. The young birds are raced to the box perch and not separated or widowed with a few just showing to each other. All are fed on Wilsbridge mixtures.

Mel & Sue King

7th & 10th Open 4th & 5th Section B was Michael Ward, timing after 3hr 44min & 3hr 47min to record velocities of 1410ypm & 1392ypm

Michael Ward of Winterborne Stickland timed a blue cheq Biss cross cock. This bird had flown with the NFC Fougeres the previous week and was his second bird home, arriving at 18.14 - potentially 8.5 hours on the wing.  This was a hard race for some in Dorset and the West Country, although the race itself did not appear to have taken anything out of him and he was sent back to Fougeres driving his hen. The bird is bred from a pair of John Halstead’s family of Jim Biss pigeons, coming down through Turban bloodlines and Nyland Ashley 1st Section 2nd open BICC Barcelona. These birds were purchased from John when Michael restarted racing in 2008 following a 15 year break. This pair has bred winners at both club and Fed level, and 7th sec 24th open CSCFC Messac, 9th section 41st open CSCFC Bergerac. Michael said that he was extremely pleased with his result: “Being honest about it, Spracklen & Thomas have been on fire this year and to have been within touching distance on a couple of occasions and to be sandwiched between Mel King and John Halstead in this race by any measure cannot be that bad!” he added. This is Michael’s first year racing with the BBC and NFC, and he got a taste of being in the top ten winning in his first race 4th section 4th open BBC Carentan with a 3y blue Vandenabeele cock called Ivan-ho named after his good friend Ivan Mills, who has helped Michael with numerous gift birds and ample fatherly advice to establish his racing loft. The bird is bred from a mix of Mel & Sue King’s and John Halstead birds; this bird has also won 4 club 1st. Michael’s second race was the BBC Fougeres charity race where he recorded 2nd & 6th section 120th & 180th open with another Vanenabeele a 2y blue chequer cock, which also won this year 4th section 19th open NFC Fougeres, again this bird being bred from John Halstead stock.

M. Ward

 

Other Section Winners

Section E

1st Section 12th Open Dave Harris, Newport timing after 6hr 37min to record 1376.718ypm. The section winner is a Soontjen hen line bred from a Keith Gaut cock and a Tommy Edwards hen both of Evans and Walker lines. She is a grand daughter of Dave's 2nd Midlands National Cock.

Dave, Megan and Kyle Harris

2nd Section E, 13th Open Mr & Mrs A Shore, Crewe timing after 6hr 32min to record 1376.612ypm. Another outstanding performance by this top National performing loft

3rd Section E, 17th Open P. & S. Harris & Daughter, Telford timing after 6hr 35min to record 1367.875ypm. Again, a great race for Pete & family rounding off an excellent year with the BBC.

 

Section C

Completing a fantastic race, adding to their earlier timings which claimed 1st & 2nd Section, was  Mr & Mrs G & M Wile & S Lias who timed 2 further arrivals after 4hr 44min to record 1372.8 & 1372.7ypm to take 3rd & 4th Section.

Section A

Dominating Section A was John Attrill of Salisbury who timed four arrivals to take 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Section, timing after 4hr 12min, 4hr 12min.4hr 14min & 4hr 165min to record velocities of 1337.4, 1337.1, 1329.1 & 1322.8ypm. Johny “Eastwind” Attrill’s first bird clocked was a blue hen bred for me by SG Diebel Kreplin of Germany from his Reyneart/Figo lines same way bred as last year's 1st Section 4th Open BBC YB National. Second  bird clocked is a blue hen, sire Bosua x Van Osh 555 State Express bred by Crammond & L angstaff full brother to their french YBderby winner (won £10.000), dam daughter of Nightmare, a Bosua. Third bird was a cheq wf cock. Sire Gaston Van De Wouwer, dam Reyneart Figo, last year's BBC Fougeres nat 1st section winner 4th open. Fourth bird was the 1st bird home but would not come in and lost 4 minutes chasing hens, losing them 2 minutes, and is a son of Nightmare bred by Crammond & Langstaff, the best bird John has ever owned. John would like to say well done to the winners and all involved at the BBC for a great race as he had good returns with 38 from 45 as of Sunday following last week's NFC Fougeres where he only had 11 from 60 same way bred as these birds, and well done to Mark & Clare Brown on their section win. "Mark handled my birds at basketing and said he was impressed with the German birds, saying, 'they will do well'!

John Attrill

 

Section D

1st Section was A. D. Crook, Newbury timing after 4hr 52min to record 1277.0ypm with a Staf Van Reet. Sire Blue Pd Brownlee, Nee & Ward, which has bred many winners for the loft with two or three different hens, inc BBO fed winner 2012. The section winning youngster was raced on the darkness system, fed Bamfords corns and trained regularly out to 30miles. Dam of the section winner (now stock) was formerly a race hen and bred 2 x 1st federation winners in one nest with a race cock. She is from WA Mardon lines and is half sister to 1st Section 3rd Open NFC Cholet 2011 and half sister to 7th Section BBC Bordeaux 2011.

A. D. Crook

2nd Section was Mr & Mrs Jeff Hull, Luton timing after 5hr 41min to record 1276.1ypm. Jeff timed a young cock which has only had two races prior to this race, trained to Dorchester, and bred from a pair of yearlings. Sire is Van der Merwe x van Houte and dam is a Soontjen x Van Loon. G/Sire has 3 x 1st Club places, 3rd Fed Poitiers 5th Section 24th Open Bordeaux BBC and was bred by K. Lawson and fed on Beyers Elite corn.

Jeff Hull

3rd Section was Mr & Mrs Carrick & Son, Chesham timing after 5hr 25min to record 1269.8ypm. Another great section performance for this top BBC winning loft.

Section G

1st Section was Mr T & Mrs C Welch, Chichester timing after 4hr 22min to record 1165.0. A great result for this multi performing loft to add to their success in the recent CSCFC race.

M M T Welch

2nd Section was R Hampton, Bognor Regis timing after 4hr 31min to record 1106.5ypm. A great performance in section G considering the wind on raceday.

3rd Section was D Farr, Bognor Regis timing after 4hr 35min to record 1095.3ypm. Another great performance in section G considering the wind on raceday.

OLD HENS NATIONAL

1st  Open 1st Section H was Tom Scott, St.Trinity, Jersey, timing after 1hr 31min to record a velocity of 1433ypm

Unfortunately we have not been able to obtain details of the winning birds.

 

2nd Open 1st Section B, was committee man and former BBC President Dave Whitefield, Dorchester timing after 3hr 39 to record a velocity of 1397.3ypm

Dave writes: "GB 09 N 42481 was bred by Nev Spracklen. his lofts are approx 5/600 yards from me and 42481 came in to my loft as a youngster but refused to settle back at its home so was duly transferred. As a youngbird she went to two races, Carentan CSCFC 66th Section 380th Open and Carentan NFC were she was 2nd bird to the loft. As a yearling she was again raced with the NFC to Fougeres. She was 3rd bird back to the loft and Messac 2nd back to the loft. 2012 flying the birds on natural (I only raced the cocks - that's me being lazy), not having to be concerned about nest condition!! Come the last race of the year I entered 2 old hens, having destroyed all eggs and potted the birds sitting. 42481 seemed adamant she was not going to move from her nest in the corner of the loft. She had had a couple of 10 mile tosses with the probability she would be entered. I picked her up on Thursday for basketing and as Cilla would say, 'surprise surprise', there was a 4 day old youngster, which was the key to her success. Only ever having been raced in Classic, National and B.B.C. 42481 is a De Klak. Sire is Jack son of Blauwe Witpen. Dam is Surprise Lady Borgman De Klak 1st section 16th open NFC St Nazire 8696 birds for the Nev Spracklen loft. Congratulations to Tom Scott, 1st Open old hens & 2nd open youngbirds. Thanks to our secretaries in their 1st year, to Chris King who gave us good racing and the markers whom without your help it would be a nightmare."

D. Whitefield's 2nd Open OH National

3rd & 4th Open 1st & 2nd Section E was Mr & Mrs Crathorne, Middleton flying 362mile in 7hr 43mins to record a velocities of 1374.3 & 1374.2ypm.

WOW, on a day when a lot of lofts struggled to find an arrival, here we have one of the longest flying lofts in the race dropping two together. Quality at its finest.

 

5th Open 2nd Section B, was Spracklen & Thomas, Dorchester, timing after 3hr 45min to record a velocity of 1361ypm.

 

6th Open 1st & 3rd Section B, was M Brown & Son, Poole, timing after 3hr 42 to record a velocity  of 1337ypm.

 

7th Open 2nd Section H, was Glen Moon, St.Helier, timing after 1hr 39min to record a velocity of 1296.8ypm.

 

8th, 10th, 11th,  13th & 15th Open 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th Section B, and a fantastic team performance with his old hens timing five birds in five minutes was M R Staddon, Crewkerne, timing after 4hr 20min, 21min, 21min, 24min & 25min to record velocities of 1285.6, 1279.7, 1279.7, 1267.0, 1260.5ypm

Again, WOW.... Look at this for a team performance on a tough racing day.

 

9th Open, 3rd Section E was Mr & Mrs A Shore, Crewe timing after 7hr 28min to record 1285.0ypm.

Other Section Winners

Section H

3rd Section H, Tom Scott Trinity, Jersey timing after 1hr 42min to record 1276.3ypm.

 

Section C

1st & 2nd Section C and 14th Open was our secretaries Mr & Mrs Mark & Clare Brown, Hungerford timing after 5hr 1min to record 1263.0ypm, firstly timing a yearling chequer hen racing to her first eggs of the year, a grand daughter of their good 33 cock who topped the Two Counties Combine twice in his last year's racing in 2006, before they moved south and retired him to stock were he became a prolific breeder. 2nd section was a 3yr old blue hen, half sister to their 1st open National Flying Club Messac 2010, a top performer for the loft and winner of many prizes at club & fed level, including scoring approx 18th open BBC Help the Heroes open race.

 

Section A

1st Section P Priddle, Southampton timing after 4hr 11min to record 1243.463ypm

Top performance in section A.

2nd Section Ben Smith & Father, Southampton timing after 4hr 17min to record 1222.5ypm

Another loft who have flown consistently well in all BBC races this year.

3rd Section Mr & Mrs C Lever, Romsey timing after 4hr 56min to record 1094.2ypm

Section D

1st & 2nd Section Roger Lowe, Reading timing after 5hr 10min & 5hr 11min to record 1230.1 & 1225.6ypm.

Top performance by Roger, following up on his recent success in the CSCFC & NFC races.

3rd Section J Baron, Luton timing after 6hr 8min to record 1188.9ypm.

Section G

1st Section J M Armitage, Ash timing after 5hr 14min & 6hr 1min to record 1134.6 & 987.3.

2nd Section Mr T & Mrs C Welch, Chichester timing after 5hr 8min to record 993.1.

YB GOLD RING/VOUCHER RACE

1st, 6th & 15th  Open, 1st, 3rd & 4th Section B, was JP Halstead, Gillingham, timing after 4hr 2min & 4hr 9min to record 1389.1, 1349.5 & 1149ypm.

This dark chequer cock wins his second gold / nominated ring in 2 weeks as he also won the CSCFC Carentan SW Section nominated ring. Raced on John’s Darkness System he was sitting for 2 days at basketing. He is bred from a son of John’s 2009 BBC Barcelona winner ‘Untouchable’ when mated with a beautiful dark chequer Brockamp hen supplied by Stewart Knowles of Widnes. This hen was bred from a son of Brockamp’s ‘Tiger’ winner of 1st National St Polten 9990 birds, to a daughter of ace cock 113, the first ace long distance pigeon in Germany in 2008.  

John Halstead's 1st BBC Fougeres Gold Ring

 

2nd Open, 1st Section E was Mr & Mrs A Shore, Crewe timing after 6hr 59min to record 1376.6ypm

Again, this top national performing loft picks the right bird to lift a top award

 

3rd & 4th Open, 1st & 2nd Section C, was Mr & Mrs G & M Wile & S Lias who timed two arrivals after 4hr 44min to record 1372.8 & 1372.7ypm

 

5th Open, 2nd Section B, was S White, Devon timing after 4hr 6min to record a velocity of 1363.0ypm.

Great performance into Devon

 

6th Open 3rd Section C, was RD Dominey, Bruton timing after 4hr 19min to record a velocity of 1358.8ypm.

 

8th Open 4th Section C, was M Williams, Hereford, timing after 5hr 46min to record a velocity  of 1339ypm.

 

9th Open 5th Section C, was D Owens & C Jones, Bridgewater timing after 4hr 35min to record a velocity of 1333.7ypm.

 

10th Open 1st, 3rd & 4th Section A was John Attrill, Salisbury timing after 4hr 15mins to record 1322.8pm.

 

11th Open, 1st Section D was AD Crook, Newbury timing after 4hr 52min to record 1277.0ypm.

Other Section Winners

2nd Section E was Graham Jones, Cannock timing after 7hr 0min to record 1273.4ypm.

 

2nd Section A was K Davison, Southampton timing after 4hr 7min to record 1228.7ypm.

 

2nd Section D was Gary Bentley, Leighton Buzzard timing after 6hr 13min to record 1170.8ypm.

 

3rd Section E was P James & Son, Whitchurch timing after 8hr 12min to record 1158.2ypm.

 

4th Section E was J Richard & Son, Whitchurch timing after 8hr 30min to record 1114.4ypm.

 

6th Section C was M/M M& C Brown, Hungerford timing after 5hr 46min, to record 1099.6ypm.

 

3rd Section D was M/M Carrick & Son, Chesham timing after 6hr 19min to record 1090.7.

 

1st Section G was JM Armitage, Ash timing after 5hr 58min to record 994.6ypm.

 

2nd Section G was M/M JN Langbridge, Chichester timing after 5hr 25min to record 916.8ypm.

 

Secretaries' Notes:-

Anything relating to the British Barcelona Club, please post to:- Mark & Clare Brown, 16 Inholmes Common, Woodlands St.Mary, Hungerford, RG17 7SX as we still have a lot of info going to past secretaries which just delays things.

We have struggled to get hold of a few of the winning fanciers again. Some have not been able to get their notes to us in time. Please if you do finish in the first ten open or first three of your section in the provisional results, send us some information and pictures to get your rightful rewards in the reports

Don’d forget to order your tickets for our annual dinner/dance evening

Regards

Mark Brown

Press Officer

British Barcelona Club