<pre><pre>Carentan National 1 st OPEN 1 st SECTION E Dave Garnett, Glenn Moore &amp; Bren Withers from Gatley With “Linda’s Legacy” The first National of the season saw 248 members sending 2,130 birds across the CHANNEL TO CARENTAN. AFTER WHAT SEEMED TO BE A NEVER ENDING WEEKEND FOR EVERYONE DUE to such inclement weather, the birds were finally liberated on Monday 4 th May at 8.10am in to a southerly wind which turned south south easterly across the channel. On behalf of the marking stations I would like to thank all the markers and helpers for a great job done. Reminder about clock paperwork. If using ETS you must return your ETS print out and verification paper with your 4 digit verification number on it and if using conventional clocks you must return to me your race rubbers, clock sheet, clock print out and your verification paper with your 4 digit verification number on it. Warmest congratulations goes to the Winners of the Carentan National Dave Garnett, Glenn Moore &amp; Bren Withers from Gatley also 1 st SECTION E. GARNETT, Moore &amp; Withers 1 st SECTION E 1 st OPEN BBC CARENTAN WITH A BLACK HEN NOW NAMED Linda’s Legacy. The partnership has developed over the last two years with thoughts on competing in more National type races and that is what the partnership are now doing. The pigeons are all raced at Dave Garnett’s but the stock are housed at separate locations. The racing is mixed with this winning hen being on the roundabout system there are 18rs in all. With having a three man partnership they can work the pigeons between them but Bren is there nearly all the time and with being a joiner has made many alterations and improvements to the lofts. All the work is now paying dividends and the team are looking forward to entering more of the National races in the coming season. The feeding is mainly the Caesart mixes used as and when needed. In this race the winner is the Black hen but then two more arrived with the chequer hen not trapping straight away and the nest mate to the winner arrived and after chasing the hen up and down the roof the cock went in and the hen followed. The winner actually flew Carentan as a young bird with the North West Classic. There is some very good breeding behind this hen with on one side being a grandchild of the multi winning “Snake” winner of over £8,500 as well as being sire, grandsire etc to lots of winners. Also on the same side is “The 81” breeder of 5 x 1 st SECTION WINNERS AND 1 X 1 st OPEN National winner which is now extended. On the other side is also great breeding with “Flying Ebony” “Super Blue” “Black Lady” etc. The lads would like to add that both parents were purchased off the Elimar auction site. (thank you to Les Parkinson for this report). 1st Section C 2 nd OPEN MELVYN &amp; MARION FAIRFAX AND LIAM MEADEN FROM Langport. First of all, we would like to congratulate Garnett, Moore &amp; Withers for winning. Also, a big well done to the markers at Salisbury and the Convoyers on keeping the birds in tip top condition and giving us a good race. Melvyn has been flying with his wife Marion for over 50 years. Their first club was in Bridgwater at The Three Crowns South road club. After a while they began to race North road as well as South. In 1991 they won 1st section C in the BBC from Nantes also in 1992 they won 1 st OPEN GUERNSEY YOUNG BIRD AND A CAR WITH THE C.S.C.F.C. Grandson Liam began flying with grandad 7 years ago and is so keen still he now lives with his grandparents and loves doing the birds everyday. In 2009 they won 1 st SECTION G 63 rd OPEN FROM ALENCON WITH THE N.F.C. IN 2011 THEY CAME TO THE DECISION TO GIVE UP the North road after winning Thurso 5 times. Over the years they have won many Club prizes including 7 x 1 st in the Club last year. Our first bird is a bird we swapped as an egg from fellow member Aisling Kelway and her father. This pigeon is a Mike Parker (of Glamorgan) pigeon Elsacker based, crossed with a Mick Betts pigeon. Our 2 nd pigeon is one of Liam&#039;s older birds a black Busschaert cock crossed Cannon and Tony Hustler. Overall we sent 6 clocking 5 and the last one came the next morning. 3 rd OPEN 2 nd SECTION C MARTIN WILLIAMS FROM HEREFORD. I WOULD LIKE TO START BY congratulating Garnett, Moore and Withers on their win. My first bird is a Roodhooft x Koopman 3 year old hen and she is raced on the “Magic” Roundabout. She has won 2 x 1 st in the Club. She isn’t the most consistent, but on the right day she can perform. Her sire has bred me 2 x 1 st and 1 x 3 rd SECTION WINNERS IN THE NFC. I had a time set for these birds of 3 hours 40 minutes, and five minutes later she arrived, straight through the open doors. Another bird arrived with her, and then headed due North, I wondered if it was the winning pigeon? Returns were very good, I sent 5 and clocked 4 in 12 minutes, last bird in arrived 2 hours later. After having two poor Fed races on Saturday, due to poor weather conditions, it was nice to see pigeons coming so well after 4 days in the basket. I pass on my thanks to the Convoyer. 4 th OPEN 2 nd SECTION E RICHARD SPOONER FROM STAFFORD. WHAT A NICE SURPRISE TO FIND that I’m provisionally 2 nd SECTION E 4 th OPEN IN THIS RACE. I only race widowhood cocks and as I want them for the long races in July the first race in the BBC is too early for my system. However, as this is my last season with pigeons and I have no young birds, I put some spare hens in a young bird section and thought I’d have a try at racing lesbian hens. I must admit, I was very unsure of the outcome, so much so that being tight fisted I didn’t put ETS rings on them as none of them had been in a race before, let alone across the channel. It turned out a very enjoyable race, from basketing at Penkridge on Thursday with the good atmosphere that exists there, all the fanciers are willing to help which makes a great difference. Special thanks to John Garvey who has taken over as I/C. Without him Penkridge and Section E would be sunk. Friday night was like taking a step back in to the past, going to Stafford clock station to have my clock set. Something that has been lost with ETS. Many thanks to Stan and Pete Stopka for setting it and reading it off on Monday afternoon. While talking of thank you’s the whole team involved in the liberation did a wonderful job on what was a terrible weekend for racing. Congratulations to Dave Garnett and partners for being 1 st OPEN. WHEN I SPOKE TO DAVE on Monday evening he was still trembling. Just think Dave, if Anne and I along with Brian Littlewood hadn’t talked you into joining the BBC this could have been my 7 th SECTION WIN WITH THEM!! The photo shows my 3 year old light chequer hen who had to wait half an hour after being clocked for her “girlfriend” to turn up. 5 th OPEN DAVE HARRIS FROM NEWPORT, SHROPSHIRE. THE BLUE COCK &quot;DESSIE&quot; IS A SON OF a cock brought from Des Phillips of Telford bereavement sale, his mother a Soontjen from the Tommy Edwards cock when paired to the mother of the loft, this pair have bred 2 nd Lessay MNFC, 1 st Shropshire Fed Wincanton and 2 nd Shropshire Fed Messac. The grandmother to this cock when paired to the Gauty Cock have bred multiple winners at all levels for me and others in the area, I fly two families Soontjens, my own family blended over the years from Evans and Walker, Doug Nesbitt and others, Busschearts from John Preece and David Ellams of Telford bloodlines. “Dessie” has been a consistent cock flown on widowhood, he was 23 rd OPEN CARENTAN and 20 th OPEN MESSAC WITH THE BBC LAST YEAR AND HAS HAD NUMEROUS POSITIONS IN BOTH the NFC and MNFC up to 400 miles. There were five other birds timed within thirteen minutes of one another, after being in the basket for four days, shows they had well cared for, thanks to those concerned. Pictured with me is Kyle, my little helper, he does the darkness young birds. Karen, the loft Manager (she picked the father at the sale and has a good eye for new blood, picking up many bargains over the years). Megan, she helps on the admin side, inputting birds on to the computer programme, adding rings on the ETS clock and even helps at the Club. Thank you all for the support that makes these results possible. 1 st SECTION D PETE WELLS FROM DUNSTABLE. MY 1 st pigeon &quot;Little boy blue&quot; as a yearling came 1 st SECTION D 2 nd OPEN CARENTAN BBC PLUS MANY MORE POSITIONS. HE IS GRANDSON of &quot;Spitfire&quot; x M Vink bred by my good friend Simon Schofield. I had six birds home in approximately 1.5 minutes. The birds all arrived home in excellent condition and a credit to the convoyer Mr Nigel Rigiani. Pictured with me in the photograph is my good friend &quot;Sugar&quot; from Malta. 2 nd SECTION D MR &amp; MRS E UPTON FROM NEWBURY. EDDIE RACES WITH HIS OWN FAMILY OF pigeons and is a very hard taskmaster with all the racers flying the programme. He sent two pigeons clocking his 3 year old blue cock bird at 10.58. 1 st SECTION B MERVYN WATERS FROM SALISBURY. THIS 4 YEAR OLD BLUE COCK WAS BRED OUT of a Gabby Vandenabele and Flor Engles. This bird has flown well in previous races and taken some nice positions. The sire is a Gabby bought from Martin Mitchell and the hen an Engles from LPW. I would like to say a big thank you to the people in charge of these birds over a long period. I was a little concerned as we all were for the time spent in the baskets. The birds returned in impeccable condition, as good as they left my loft. Once again thank you to who looked after them. 1 st SECTION A LEE &amp; MAUREEN DYER FROM NETTLESTONE, IOW. (WRITTEN BY GUY REED) This is a pleasure for me to write about Lee Dyer and his mother Maureen who timed there first National Section winner, a Blue Slatie 3 year old hen, now named “Lens Hen”. The name came about when Lee’s late G/Uncle Len Hodges, a very well known all rounder here, told Lee that this hen would be a good’n in the future. The dam was a hen Lee rescued after a call from a non fancier, and was from Billy Flannigan from Ireland. The sire is part SVR. This result is a proud moment for this keen and competitive duo. Maureen and Lee are very liked and active in all aspects of the sport. Lee is the youngest member on the Isle of Wight and is always helpful in anyway he can. With his self employed building work and a family currently growing in to two, means Lee is very busy, but with the racers housed at Maureen’s, it mean’s mum’s daily chores around the loft are invaluable. The team have had a lot of success at Club level and in recent years Lee and his mum have been steadily accumulating some National and Classic prizes. Their goals have been modest rising to the challenge of beating some of their more seasoned local colleagues, although I know Lee often says “if I could just beat Mark Gilbert I will be happy”, so it seems they can now raise the bar even more! I know with this partnerships enthusiasm, they will no doubt be adding more deserved results to their credit. This weekend also gave them yet another club win in the Solent Fed race. Well done Lee and Maureen. 2 nd SECTION B RAY THOMAS FROM WEYMOUTH. MY TWO YEAR OLD HEN WAS BRED FROM A gift pigeon from Martin Hayne. Her sire is an Ad Schaerlaekens x Herman Ceusters. The dam being a Meulemans from the Ponderosa UK Stud, inbred to Donkere prins, brother and sister pairing, I was very lucky because a batch of birds about 20 came from the Portland direction right over the top of my loft and she dropped out of them. The birds were in perfect condition when they came home so thank you to the Convoyers for looking after them so well. The boys up the Club said it must have been a tailwind as that is my nick name “Tailwindthomas. 2 nd SECTION A PETE ABROOK FROM THORNESS, IOW. (WRITTEN BY GUY REED) ANOTHER Stalwart of the Island was Peter Abrook who is no stranger to the winner’s rostrum having had many top accolades at Club, Classic, and National Events, most recently scoring 1 st OPEN CLASSIC GUERNSEY OB 2014. PETER IS SECRETARY OF COWES AND DISTRICT CLUB. Peter’s first bird was a red chequer cock Bricoux and has been his first bird twice this year. Peter has high hopes for this bird’s future as he is only a yearling. (thank you to guy for Lee’s and Pete’s reports). 1 st SECTION J BRUCE MCALLISTER FROM FURNEAUX PELHAM. WHEN THE LONDON AND SOUTH East Classic Club folded last year, I decided to join the British Barcelona Club this year to give me options for the Channel. This was my first race with the Club. Beginners&#039; luck, hope it continues. My first pigeon is a 3 year old chequer cock. A consistent pigeon but nothing special yet. He is bred for the distance from a Martin Mitchell from Dover cock and a Bert Shepherd hen. He will be earmarked this year for Tarbes. I sent 20 to the race and had 16 home on the night and several others since. The birds were well spaced out. 1 st SECTION G MIKE ARMITAGE FROM ASH. MY HEN WAS RACING TO 3 DAY OLD BABIES. SHE had been flying in the Lion Brewery Midweek Club and had been coming quite consistently taking a few positions including two first in her flying career. The Grandsire of this pigeon comes from the blood lines of a pigeon called “Red Rum”. I was fortunate enough to clock four more pigeons soon after clocking the hen. 2 nd SECTION G MR &amp; MRS JOE LANGBRIDGE FROM SIDLESHAM. MY 5 YEAR OLD BLUE PIED Cock “The Blind Chicken” or “Martin” is from my Janssen family. As a yearling he was 1 st CLUB BY 40 MINUTES FROM FOUGERES, 21 st Solent Federation. He has flown consistently to Bordeaux and Bergerac several time taking minor positions. Weather Report. After a problematic two days due to poor weather conditions Monday as forecast presented a good flying day. At first light skies over the Cherbourg Peninsula were overcast producing some showery activity. Conditions soon improved as broken cloud moved across the peninsula from the west allowing Nigel to liberate the BBC convoy at 08:10. The channel was clear and visibility 20 miles plus and excellent conditions prevailed over England. Winds came mainly from the south with some westerly influence reaching about 18 mph over the open sea. This resulted in a good race for the BBC convoy. Steve Appleby Clare Norman. Tel: 023 8057 3919. Email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. </pre></pre>
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