<pre><pre>President: Nigel Rigiani Chairman: Mike Shepherd Patron: Mark Gilbert Fougeres YB National 1 st OPEN 1 st SECTION G Tony &amp; Carol Welch from Chichester With “Fontwell Blue” The Fougeres young bird and old hens National was our final race in the programme for 2014 with 141 members sending 1,007 youngsters and 52 members entering 200 old hens. With a one day hold over due to the inclement weather in the channel the birds were finally released at 7.50am on the Sunday. Even with the lovely weather conditions given, the west north westerly winds certainly proved a tester for young birds and old hens. Our thanks go to everyone at all marking stations for your help and time and hope you are available next season. Deserved Winners of the Fougeres Young Bird National are Tony and Carol Welch from Chichester. Fontwell Blue was a gift pigeon from Ian Crammond &amp; Nigel Langstaff from when we had a fly away earlier in the year. She has been trained and raced as trainers with the South Coast Federation and was the 4 th pigeon to our loft from CSCFC Guernsey race. She came back in real good condition so we decided to send her to Fougeres. Special contribution from Nigel Langstaff “Tony and Carol have had a great season in 2014 taking the first five in the section from Messac with the BBC, 1 st SECTION NIORT WITH THE BBC AND 2 nd SECTION 7 th OPEN BARCELONA WITH THE BBC WITH OLD BIRDS AND NOW TO TOP IT OFF ,WINNING 1 st OPEN BBC Fougeres young birds. The Sire of Fontwell Blue is a Grandson of Figo 1 st Nat Bourges 12,226 birds. This cock’s brother is responsible for breeding Kenny Abbotts 4 th OPEN BICC GUERNSEY AND HE IS ALSO THE GRAND SON OF Kenny&#039;s 1 st OPEN BBC CARENTAN. The Dam of Fontwell Blue is a Van Den Heuvel of the lines Kees Bosua being a Grand daughter of Muggie 2 nd Nat Le Mans 99,104 birds. This hen has bred some good pigeons in the past. Tony and Carol won the CSCFC Carentan young bird race with Little Blue in 2012 this is a little loft with a big reputation” Tony Welch. 1 st SECTION J 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th &amp; 5 th OPEN ROBBIE AND ANDREW WILTON (D WILTON &amp; SON) FROM Chadwell St Mary. Our 1 st pigeon taking 2 nd OPEN IS A CHEQUER HEN SOONTJEN X BRASSPENING bloodlines. The next 3 arrivals taking 3 rd , 4 th and 5 th OPEN ARE H &amp; P BROCKAMP BLOODLINES. All double grand children of Armstrong 1 st International Perpignan, 17,584 birds, and Euro Diamond 1 st Olympic pigeon Oostende 2007. All parents to these 3 pigeons were bred by Jutla Bros Penge lofts of East London. 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd pigeons are all hens and flying on the sliding door system. The 4 th pigeon was a cock flying to nest sitting 10 day eggs. Three generations of the Wilton Family. Robin Hampton from Bognor Regis is 2 nd SECTION G 6 th OPEN. FIRSTLY, I WOULD LIKE TO SEND MY congratulations to Tony and Carol on another top performance in the BBC. My bird is a Luc Van Coppenolle hen, she has been very consistent all young bird season and she has raced on the roundabout system, suits the hens but not the cocks. Robin Hampton. Topping Section D and 7 th OPEN IS DORIN MELINTE FROM HARROW. OUR FIRST PIGEON IS A BROTHER TO the Central Section winner from Perpignan Int early this season (BICC). We fly our young birds on the darkness system with morning and evening training around the loft (time permitting)! We try to keep a small team of birds. After the first young bird race we don&#039;t train young birds any more as we think it is not necessary and they only get around 7 training tosses before racing starts. They are fed on Verse Laga Superstar Plus and we add some Energy Plus from Verse Laga on the last 2 days before basketing. On return they get lots of protein (beans) if it was a hard race and Superstar Plus with 10% beans if it was a blow home. I would like to add that the pigeons arrived in good condition even after a 1 day hold over and a tough race and we had 3 on the day out of the 4 we sent. Dorin and eight year old Vlad Denis. Dorin Melinte Cesar’s brov. 2 nd SECTION J 8 th OPEN IS MARK BULLED FROM HARLOW. I TIMED A NATURAL HEN FLYING TO THE PERCH. SHE has only 3 flights to go as I don&#039;t fly the darkness system. She was my first timer from Guernsey last week winning 1 st CLUB PROVISIONAL 64 th OPEN. The Sire is a Janssen bred by my very good friend and top top flyer, Robbie Wilton, direct from his Tours Classic Winner. Robbie has bred me some outstanding pigeons over the years and I consider him the best fancier I know. The Dam is a top stock hen from my Red Bull family. She has already bred me a 1st Open BBC Fougeres winner. The pigeons were in very good condition in what was a very testing race for young birds, the wind blowing strong NNW up here in Harlow. Congratulations to all who timed and the Committee of the very well run British Barcelona Club for some great racing this season. Mark Bulled. 9 th OPEN IS MR &amp; MRS JOE LANGBRIDGE FROM SIDLESHAM. JOE CONTINUES HIS SUCCESSFUL YOUNG BIRD season after taking 8 th OPEN FROM GUERNSEY WITH THE CSCFC LAST WEEKEND. Our pigeon from Fougeres is yet another member of the Surprise gift from Derek Reid and his good Lady. This one being a hen who will be called Elaine. Now we have the pair from their Janssen Family aptly named Del-boy &amp; Elaine. Speedy Langbridge. 1 st SECTION A 10 th OPEN IS THE GOLDEN GUY FROM THE GOLDEN MILE RICHIE THOMAS FROM Portsmouth. Richie has shone with his young birds since the season began, winning the Dorset Fed OPEN RACE FROM GUERNSEY THEN TOPPING THE CSCFC BREEDER/BUYER RACE WINNING £2,000 AND NOW 1 st SECTION A FROM FOUGERES. Congratulations to the winner and everyone else in the race. The pigeon I timed was bred out of the Fourgeres Classic Winner 2007 and the dam was a Kipp pigeon and son from Frank Sheader. The young birds are raced on my own babyhood system and they were fed on Mariman corn from Kevin King. I would like to say thank you to my lovely wife Jayne for training my youngsters. Richie Thomas. Denis Smith from Bethnal Green 2 nd SECTION D. DENIS TIMED A NATURAL COCK ON THE SEMI widowhood system. This cock was Denis&#039;s first timer the previous week from Guernsey and wins the station pools. The breeding is via John Craske of East London X Denis&#039;s LNRC Stonehaven Combine winner. Its a half brother to his 3 rd OPEN BBC FOUGERES OLD BIRD. The young birds are trained everywhere and had 20 training tosses before the first race. Denis Smith. 2 nd SECTION A IS A FELLOW CLUB MATE AND SOMEONE WHO WORKS NON STOP IN MY LOCAL CLUB COLIN Edwards from Romsey. My 2 nd SECTION WINNER IS A DARK CHEQUER HEN FLOWN ON THE DARKNESS system. This was her 5 th RACE BUT 1 st time over the channel. She is a really well bred van loon bred down from Chicago and Dever from Ponderosa UK Stud and a dark cock of super breeding gifted by Mannor Lofts and my original Van Loons responsible for many winners. I was lucky enough to clock a second bird a Van Reet to be approx 6 th SECTION. I would like to thank Clare for all the work she does in a very efficient and friendly manner. Colin Edwards. Winning yet another BBC Section just to try and outshine Andy Parsons at the dinner is Mark and Julie Gower from Fordingbridge 1 st &amp; 2 nd SECTION B. MY FIRST BIRD IS A VAN RIJN/MEEDER HEN SENT unpaired, she is on the darkness system however has got a little tatty with her feathering in the last week before the race. She has had four inland races no further than 81 miles with a couple of training tosses 50 miles against the wind to try and build up some stamina &amp; fitness for this race. I purchased her at an impressive Van Rijn loft visit in February 2012 &amp; her breeding is full of Dutch winning genes at the middle distance however often this doesn’t translate in to English channel racing, thankfully it did on this occasion. My second bird timed 4 minutes later is a Mark Gilbert Rutz/B Denny x De Weerdt pigeon, again sent as an unpaired darkness young bird but only having one 60 mile race then 4 x 50 mile training tosses against the wind as preparation. She turned up in great condition and looked as if she could fly it again, unlike my first bird. Her breeding is from a G/son of Ivo (Rutz) x Brian Denny when paired to a Dtr of Southfield Treble. I had another bird come 15 minutes later and one the next morning and ended up with a disappointing 4 out of 16. Well done to the race winner Mr Welch and all those who had good returns. A special thanks to my wife Julie and good friend Andy Parsons (recently deposed king of Salisbury) for help with training. Mark and Julie Gower. Malcolm Beech from Upton On Severn 1 st SECTION C. MALCOLM STARTED RACING IN THE LATE 1960&#039;S with his brother in Law, not knowing the front from the back of a pigeon. In the early 1970&#039;s he moved and set up a loft of his own. He never intentionally set out to concentrate on distance racing, but feeding heavy and training North, South, East or West depending where he was working. The pigeons seemed to perform better when racing over 6 hours. Malcolm is racing on the darkness system for the first time this year. (His version). The pigeon is a gift pigeon from fellow club member Shane Harvey. It is a Walter Dox cross Imbrechts which was sent sitting. He had 2 birds on the day, the 3rd out of the 4 sent dropped as we were talking to him on the Wednesday evening. Malcolm has asked us to thank everyone for the good wishes he has received. A special thank you to Wayne Boulton and Terry Minton who with out there support would have given up the sport. We personally and all the members of Pershore &amp; District FC would like say its an honour to race in the same club as Malcolm, who is the nicest person you could ever meet. He supports the club week on week but has only taken a clock 3 times to which took 3 rd Severn Valley Fed Fougeres and 13 th Severn Valley Fed Messac. Well Done Malcolm. Thank you to Paula and Martin Fitzpatrick for sending this article. Malcolm Beech 2 nd SECTION C FOR THE SECOND TIME THIS YEAR (HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE THIRD TIME LUCKY IN 2015) IS Raymond Beaconsfield from Marlborough. Once again this bird is bred from Ponderosa Uk Stud Janssens. The parent birds are a grandchild of Pioneer and the other parent is a granddaughter of Rinaldo, both reds. This is the first time these birds have made an effort in a race, although in Club racing they have always homed well, but never won. Raymond Beaconsfield. 3 rd SECTION B IS JOHN HALSTEAD OF KINGTON MAGNA WITH A JANUARY HATCHED PENCIL WHITE FLIGHT COCK, now named Nyland Marcelo. This cock, flown on the Darkness System and sitting a small youngster, was having his third trip across the Channel. He was 62 nd in the Dorset Fed Open Guernsey and was also timed from the CSCFC Guernsey. His sire and dam were bought from a sale in the Midlands where they had bred a 400 mile Federation winner and are of the Albert Marcelis bloodlines. His nest mate was sent to the French One Loft, and although he had been missing for 4 or 5 weeks he returned in time to be entered in the final race of 294 miles and finished 26 th OPEN. His sister was 1 st CLUB FROM BATTLE THE DAY BEFORE FOUGERES. John Halstead. Paul Davies from St Clement, Jersey 1 st SECTION H. I TIMED A CHEQUER HEN BRED FROM A PAIR OF NEST mates given to me by my friend Glen Moon. Glen and I have exchanged pigeons over the years instead of buying them. Glen gave me an egg last year and it won 1 st SECTION, 11 th OPEN FOUGERES and 2 nd SECTION, 23 rd OPEN BORDEAUX THIS YEAR AS A YEARLING. I have only been racing 4 young birds due to heavy losses and have won 5 out of 6 young bird races. I thank Clare Norman once again on behalf of the Channel Islands for taking our birds to the marking station. Paul Davies. Runner Up to Paul is Glen Moon from St Helier. The last race of the season didn’t get any easier for the Channel Islands guys with only eight young and three old birds back on the day. Personally mine was a decent race having four out of five birds return. I would like to say a big well done to Section winner Paul Davies, Paul deserves to succeed in the sport as he works so hard at it. The bird he timed in I believe is out of two eggs I gave him which is from my chequered cock 55 (bred for me by Paul) a BBC National Winner in 2009 Poitiers which unfortunately was killed at Poole docks by a fox. On the hens side, also a National winner from Fougeres BBC 2012. Paul paired these two next mates together to keep the blood lines but he had so many young bird losses he decided to put these on the road and BINGO a section winner!! Funny thing is the bird I timed in is bred through the same hen as Paul’s young bird! The sire of my bird is bred from my top blue cock which has won two old bird Sections this year from Fougeres and Niort BBC Nationals, it was also 3 rd OPEN NIORT THIS YEAR. Well, that’s another BBC race season over and I must say I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. A big thank you to the committee and BBC members, also a lady who mustn’t be left out is Clare Norman for all her hard work (I hope you enjoyed your tour around Poole docks on Wednesday looking for the Jersey birds!) Glen Moon. WINNER OF SECTION E IS JOHN RICHARD FROM WHITCHURCH, SHROPSHIRE. THIS YOUNG HEN IS BRED from our versatile family of LUC VAN HOECKE pigeons, she had four races to 120 miles, then jumped over 200 miles to Fougeres, She is flown on darkness, but not paired just flying to her perch. All our young birds fly twice a day just around home, with no training after the first race. They are fed as much as they want, medication if required. Thanks to the B B C for looking after our birds so well, sent two to the race both home in very good condition. John Richard. 2 nd SECTION E MR &amp; MRS ALAN &amp; CYNTHIA SHORE FROM AUDLEM. GB14N48838 – DARK PIED COCK was bred from a cock given to me by Andrew Lawley out of his Vandenabeele stock and his dam is the last daughter off my old Pau pigeon ‘Danny Boy’ winner of NFC Meritorious Award from Pau (3 times in first 200). This is the first race that this young cock has had having only been trained privately. He was paired up and given a youngster prior to the race. We don’t race our young birds hard as our interest is in the longer races and we believe they need time to grow and mature. GB11N26510 – Blue Bar hen was only raced as a young bird and has been privately trained this year with this race in mind. Her sire is one of John Barnett’s Marriott line who was 3 rd SECTION 51 st OPEN BBC Bordeaux. The dam of this hen GB08Z12844 was only raced as a young bird and then kept for the BBC old hens races. She was 6 th SECTION 23 rd OPEN 2009: 1ST SECTION 3 rd OPEN 2010 AND 1ST SECTION 6 th OPEN 2011 THEN RETIRED TO STOCK. All our old hens are used as widowhood hens and then prepared for the old hen races. Racing them at the end of the season gives us an idea of their abilities and whether to retire any to stock. Alan and Cynthia Shore. Fougeres OH National 1 st OPEN 1 st SECTION D Chris Gadsden of Toddington With “Cowbridge Girl” The winner of the British Barcelona Club Old Hens race is Chris Gadsden, the owner of Cowbridge Farm Toddington in Bedfordshire. (Report kindly made by Neil Hartley). Celebrating his first ever National win, Chris was particularly pleased by the performance of the first two home as just one month ago these same lightly raced hens took 1 st and 2 nd SECTION 24 th and 25 th OPEN MNFC VIRE AGAINST 5,081 BIRDS. ON THAT DAY THEY WERE PAIRED TOGETHER FEEDING A 10 DAY OLD Pouter youngster and were timed on the same second. For the Fougeres race they were sent feeding a three day old Fantail youngster. Both fancy breed youngsters were supplied by Chris’s daughter Zoe. The British Barcelona Fougeres OH winner is a well-balanced medium bodied yearling hen and has always been a top racer but poor trapping as a young bird in 2013 robbed Chris of a number of Club and Fed wins. As a young bird, she showed a glimpse of her true potential when taking 9 th SE SECTION, 48 th OPEN MNFC CHALE AGAINST 4000 BIRDS. THE BRITISH BARCELONA OH WIN FURTHER CONFIRMS that Chris Gadsden’s high regard for this hen’s racing ability was fully justified. His 2 nd SECTION D 6 th OPEN WINNER IS A 2YO CHEQUER HEN AND ALSO HAS STRONG RACING CREDENTIALS, having won the MNFC Ace YB Award in 2012 in the SE Section, taking 7 th OPEN ACE YB. BOTH hens were bred by Chris Gadsden and are mainly of the “Lightening Fast” Cooremans strain which were obtained originally direct from the first ever Louis Cooremans UK auction sale at Sheraton Hotel in Blackpool. Chris confirmed that has added to his Cooremans from other sources, but he has crossed something special into his Cooremans to produce the two winning hens. He wasn’t forthcoming on what the cross was, but judging by his results it must have done the job. Make no mistake the British Barcelona Fougeres race was a tough test for the birds with a high proportion of empty perches on the night. After a one day holdover the wind switched round to North West and it was a stiff six hour fly for the 250 miles to Toddington. 3 rd SECTION D IS A BLUE CHEQUER 4YO HEN WHICH HAS PERFORMED CONSISTENTLY IN NATIONAL RACES WITHOUT winning any big prizes. Her best performance before this was also from MNFC Fougeres in 2011 when she took 22 nd SECTION 115 th OPEN FROM 5,900 BIRDS. SHE IS SIMILARLY BRED TO THE 1 st OPEN OH WINNER. Cowbridge Farm is rapidly becoming a major hot spot for national wins. It is a remarkable fact that this is the third National win from Fougeres recorded at the farm in the last two years. Ron Fullbrook also has his loft on the farm and won both the Queens Diamond Jubilee race in the MNFC and the NFC OH race from this racepoint in 2012. Chris Gadsden has completed the hat trick of wins in 2014 with the British Barcelona Club OH race. He also won the OH race in the L&amp;SECC in 2006 with the highest velocity in the race and has won the UBI Combine on a number of occasions. Chris flies to a 40 foot by 30 foot L shaped loft set in open countryside and keeps 120 birds in total split equally between racers and stockbirds. Cocks are flown on widowhood. Hens are flown celibate. Chris confirmed that he had kept pigeons, both fancy and racers since he was five years old, but only started racing when he was in his 40’s in 1997. Previous to that he was a show jumper and also trained greyhounds. He was successful with greyhounds, winning Open races and racing at local tracks but came out of the sport in the early nineties due to limited opportunites to race. Asked if experience in Greyhound racing helped in conditioning his pigeons, Chris readily confirmed that there were some significant crossovers and good stockmanship is important for both sports. Chris still has dogs and regularly attends County shows to show and race his Lurchers and Terriers. Cowbridge is mainly a hobby farm, but rare breed pigs are reared to take to market and also horses are broken in to the saddle. Chris runs his successful C&amp;S Carpentry business from an office at the farm and it has been going for over 30years. He is a busy man and says the secret is to keep on the move. Chris has had to cope with some serious setbacks in pigeons due to predators of all descriptions plaguing his lofts. On one occasion he lost £20,000 worth of pigeons from his stock loft as a result of an attack by a mink. These animals pose a growing threat and are appearing more frequently in the traps with 12 caught recently. There have also been losses from polecats and foxes. Peregrines and Sparrow Hawks also pose a frequent threat when his birds are out. Chris wishes to sincerely thank both past and present members of Leagrave club for their support in his hour of need. When Dunstable Priory club finished he was refused entry to other local clubs due to the level of his success and it was only Leagrave members that voted him in and kept him in the sport. He also wishes to thank his good friend Ron Fullbrook for all the support he gives with the pigeons and with the other stock on the farm. Last but not least Chris recognises that he could not have achieved the success he has had without the support of his wife Leanne. Asked what he saw as the biggest challenge to his future success, Chris pointed to the difficulty of replenishing quality stock. He feels that top quality stock is becoming increasingly harder to find. Chris Gadsden. 1 st OPEN &amp; 2 nd SECTION. Chris Gadsden 3 rd SECTION. 1 st SECTION J 2 nd OPEN OLD HENS STEVE COXELL FROM ONGAR. FIRSTLY CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER with the strong NW wind he has timed a pigeon truly coming home to win! My 1 st pigeon timed is a yearling hen raced natural feeding a week old baby. She has previously flown the channel 5 times this year and has been very consistent, she is bred from two pigeons given to me from good friends Mark Bulled and Andrew Wilton. On the sires side Mark’s sprint family of reds and on the dams side D Wilton and Sons fantastic old Jansen family. Many thanks to every one concerned in the race, my old hens came very well with great returns. Steve Coxell. 1 st, 2 nd , 3 rd &amp; 4 th SECTION G IS MR &amp; MRS MICK AND LYN CHAPLIN FROM WEST END VILLAGE, Woking. The winning hen a 3 year old of Burgher/Wildemeersch lines is full of winning genes from both sides of the family. She was having her first race of the season after being a widow hen and was sent sitting 16 days. This was only the fifth race of her career and she had previously won in O/H races 12 th Vire L&amp;SECC &amp; 73 rd Guernsey BICC. She and the second hen behaved oddly and in that that wanted to trap in the YB section. The YB’s had a hard race and our first YB which arrived with the third O/H sat on the house roof for over an hour. Only 18 widowhood cocks and their hens are kept and only the cocks are normally raced during the old bird season and 35 youngsters have been bred this year mainly from the widowhood cocks and the small stock loft which contains 5 pairs. At the end of the old bird season the hens are allowed to remain with the cocks and they are raced in the BBC, NFC and BICC O/H races. Mick and Lyn Chaplin. 1st Section E Brian &amp; Sue Stone from Belper. GB13Z50762 blue hen is one of our best hens from 2013. As a young bird she won on land then 16 th Sec 62 nd OPEN MNFC 3,986 BIRDS. THIS YEAR SHE won 1 st SECTION BBC FOUGERES THEN 19 th SECTION 217 th OPEN MNFC VIRE. We tried to get her sitting 4 days but she laid in 4 days so she went on a two day old young one to win 1 st SECTION BBC ONCE AGAIN. SHE IS A GRAND DAUGHTER OF PETER VAN DER MERWES CHAMPION COCK Replay. We sent 5 birds got 3 on the day 2 next morning all in excellent condition on arrival after a hard RACE. WELL DONE TO THE CONVOYER. Brian and Sue Stone. 1 st SECTION A JIMMY WEARN &amp; ERIK NEILSON OF RAMSDEAN. FIRSTLY, WE WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE both winners. Our Section winner is a Van Reet who we timed from Guernsey Classic Old Hens last weekend to take 9 th OPEN. Second in the clock is a Dutch pigeon from John Gerard who we also clocked from Guernsey Classic to take 6 th OPEN POSITION. Third and fourth pigeons to arrive we a De Klak and Vandenabeele. Erik Neilson. 1 st SECTION C DEAN WILLIAMS FROM CLEOBURY MORTIMER. MY SECTION WINNER IS A STAF VAN REET X Koopman Van Dyke. She was sent to Fougeres paired to her cock bird and sitting a 1 day old youngster and an egg. This pigeon is quite exceptional as she originated from my brother Kirk’s loft who raced her for 2 years topping the Fed twice and taking other Fed positions then she was broken in to my loft where she has been a very consistent hen. It doesn’t matter what way the wind is blowing she will be one of the first to arrive at the loft. Some of her previous achievements have been 35 th SECTION 131 st OPEN MNFC VIRE 5,500 BIRDS, 90 th SECTION 319 th OPEN MNFC FOUGERES 8,500 BIRDS, 10 th SECTION 56 th OPEN MNFC MESSAC 8,000 BIRDS, 1 st SECTION 2 nd OPEN MCC PORTLAND &amp; 7 th SECTION 50 th OPEN MNFC VIRE. I’ve been racing pigeons since 2001 and my old bird team consists of 24 widowcocks and 24 hens. I only joined the BBC this season and have participated in two races, this one winning the Section and Messac where I took 7 th SECTION 21 st OPEN. Kirk and Dean Williams. 1st Section B Jane Johns from Weymouth. Jane is pictured with her Grandson Jack Homer and her yearling Blue Bar hen sent sitting on 10 day eggs. The pigeon is bred from new stock birds which Jane purchased from I Cousins &amp; Sons of Aberdare, Wales. The Sire is Belg (Herman Van Helmond) x with a stock pigeon bred by Andrew Loveday. The Dam is from her original blood lines Jan Aarden &amp; Busschaert from the Ponderosa Stud. Jane would like to thank her sister Mary Ayles for helping &amp; training her pigeons because this is Jane’s last season due to having pigeon lung. Also to Diddy Davies for taking the birds to the marking stations &amp; everyone who has helped &amp; bred pigeons for me over the years. Thanks to Kevin &amp; Chris White for taking the photos &amp; sending the write up. Jane Johns and Grandson Jack. 1 st SECTION H WILLIE HEALY FROM ST HELIER, JERSEY. THIS IS MY SAME 3 YEAR OLD HEN THAT WAS 1 st SECTION, 12 th OPEN BORDEAUX THIS YEAR. SHE IS OFF THE LATE JOE LETCHIO OF ALLOA AND GEOFF KIRKLAND bloodlines. I fly all my pigeons natural. She was sitting 12 days on eggs. Once again a big thank you to Clare Norman and also the convoyers as I found my pigeons in good conditions on their return. Good luck to all BBC members for the future. Willie Healy. Convoyers Report The final race for the BBC saw the 1005 y/b&#039;s and 200 o/h&#039;s loaded and off to the docks where they were fed and watered before loading on the ferry. Arrived at Quistreham docks at 06&#039;00 and the birds were watered for two hours before heading off to Fougeres, arriving at 11.00 am. Early indications were that there would be rain in the channel for the following day and no liberation possible. Saturday 30th August dawned just as our weather advisor Steve Appleby had predicted with 100% cloud cover and rain heading towards us from the south coast, so unfortunately for the final race of the year I had to hold over but the weather was looking good for a Sunday lib. Sunday 31st August awoke to clear blue skies and a light WNW wind but as the morning progressed cloud began to increase out to the west, with the stings cut a cloud covered the sun right on 07.45 which took a couple of minutes to clear hence the 07.50 lib time. The birds cleared very well in one batch to the North into blue skies as can be seen on the video on the You Tube link http://youtu.be/ycufhwV8cdA or just type in on the You Tube search BBC Fougeres. My thanks to all who have helped this year with the marking and organisation of the races, to Bill our driver, Mike Sheppard our Chairman and last but not least Clare the most conscientious and efficient secretary in pigeon racing this year. Weather report Saturday morning the channel was under full cloud cover carrying fine rain and drizzle. This development obviously created poor conditions on the flight path which resulted in the B.B.C. holding over at Fougeres. As expected Sunday morning presented us with good day of broken cloud and sunny spells. Winds were light from the west northwest over land but fresher over the open sea reaching approximately 15 mph. The channel was clear with visibility 20 miles and more. Despite the good weather conditions the race turned into a difficult one mainly due to the northerly element in the wind. Well done to all pigeons timed in. Trophies Please could all 2013 winners make sure all trophies are returned to me cleaned before September 13 th 2014. Dinner presentation Saturday 15 th November. Please could everyone who has reserved dinner tickets with me please forward on payment so I can send the tickets out to you. Anyone wishing to attend the dinner please contact me as soon as possible as there are now only a limited number available and accommodation at the Days Hotel is also limited. Ticket price is £35 per person. Bordeaux Trophy Winners V Shaw &amp; Son (J748) – The Master Jason Rigiani Memorial Trophy, The Jane Witts Memorial Trophy and the Peter Bennett Special Presentation Plate. M Bulled (J58) – The Guernsey Silver Can Trophy. M Gilbert (D1102) – The Betty Rigiani Memorial Trophy and The Sue Bradshaw Memorial Trophy. V J Richards (C1163) – Mr &amp; Mrs Hooper Trophy and The Leaholm Trophy. J S Storie (B829) – Whitefield Printing Services Trophy. J G Rigg (E756) – Jason &amp; Naomi Hart Memorial Trophy. W P Aherne (D540) – M/M W Stephenson Shield. P Newton (C556) – The Trevor Dodd &amp; Grandson Trophy. Mr &amp; Mrs D J Newman &amp; Son (D678) – The Trevor Cox Rose Bowl. W Healy (H361) – The N C Wilson Memorial Trophy. 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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