PRESS RELEASE
BTS 23 22 September 2017
TRAINS and BOATS and PLANES
The above may remind many of my readers of a recent popular song title but it also more than adequately describes the journey you have to make to get to the beautiful island of Capri a place we have just visited for our annual holiday. You may have seen some of the photographs we posted on the Federation website (www.moorlandsfedpigeons.co.uk).
The planes, I suppose, are fairly obvious as you have to fly to Naples, Italy to catch the boat that takes you over to the island but the train may not be quite so obvious as this takes the form of a funicular railway which transports you up from the Capri harbour to the main square where you can experience your first beer of the holiday after a fairly long and arduous journey but believe you me it really is worth all the effort.
However, we are back now and reality has hit us with a mountain of post containing all the information we need to produce the Federation race results plus the Breeder/Buyer and Gold Ring races that were flown while we have been sunning ourselves in Capri I think we will take the first Train and Boat and Plane and go straight back!
Well, one can dream can’t one!
The first beer in Capri
Since we got back, rather late on Tuesday 19 September, Jill has been busy sorting out the paperwork (and in some cases, it did amount to just scraps of paper) and the outcome of her efforts, as I sit here at my computer, is that the Yeovil Federation race result has been completed and is up on the website, together with the 2 Bird Jackpot race that accompany it.
The Breeder/Buyer race result is complete and we are just awaiting confirmation from the RPRA that all birds have been correctly transferred and then that result will be published on the website hopefully tomorrow (22 September) morning.
That will just leave the Gold Ring race result to be calculated but I imagine the pigeon grapevine has been working overtime since the race was flown and that a “guesstimated” result has been widely circulated. Nevertheless, we will do our very best to get the official result out as quickly as possible but remember there is a lot of work and money involved so we don’t want to make any mistakes which could undoubtedly bring a lot of disappointment to any fanciers who thought they had won a prize and then had to be told they hadn’t. We really will work as fast as we can.
What has become abundantly clear is that the SMDF Race Team has maintained its reputation for providing the best racing available in the UK (and that applies to both Inland & Channel racing). From what I have seen on the Internet and in the Fancy Press, the racing provided by the SMDF will stand comparison with any other organisations and will be the envy of most, if not all. I am sure that all the Staffordshire Moorlands & District Federation members would endorse my opinions and say a huge “Thank You” to all concerned.
Beautiful Capri
As I said earlier I have been looking at the internet and reading the Fancy Press since we got back to see what has been happening whilst we were away and it seems that Federation members have been performing out of their socks in some of the National & Classic races and deserve recognition in my ramblings.
The Moorlands Boys + One claimed a very creditable 6th place in the MNFC One Loft Race and Messrs Cresswell & Jones followed them in 7th position, both birds on the day when there were only 7 on the day a very hard race. George and Mark Greenwood won the NWCC race from Carentan and also took 3rd spot with Martin Hough coming 2nd.
Well done to all of you, glad to see you were keeping the Federation flag at the top of the mast whilst we were away.
I’m sure I have missed many more outstanding performances from Federation members and for that I apologise but if you let me know of your achievements I will make sure they are recorded in future articles.
Creative photography of Capri
I will also give full credit to the winners etc of the Federation run Breeder/Buyer and Gold Ring races in my next piece after you have all had time to see the result on the Federation website.
It is now Friday morning and we have just received confirmation from the RPRA that all the Breeder/Buyer race birds had been transferred correctly and so the full result has just been posted on the website.
So that brings this week’s piece to an end and we can continue with the Portland & Gold Ring results, which will be on the web as soon as they are finished.
Cheers for now.
Brian T Smith
Press Officer SMDF