ENFIELD CONTINENTAL FLYING CLUB

UPDATE

With the new season nearly upon us down at the Cabbage Patch the AGM arrived and after the meeting we had lost 5 Members Sahin Kurt, Georgie Dole, Peter Twyford, Geoff Barker & Paul Stone and we wish them all well in the future. We also had 5 new applications to join the club who were all accepted and welcomed to the Club. The new members were Ilie Branetu, Krystian Goral, Bob Brock, Arif Karibas who is keen as mustard and young Cassius Powell Davidson who is only 14.

We then heard from the Inter Counties Fed with a Proposed Race programme for this season, which was hoping for Channel Racing, but if we were unable to race across the Channel with the UBI Combine, changes would have to be made. Starting on the 16^th April.

OLD BIRDS                                                                                                                                      YOUNG BIRDS

16^th April Stoney Cross,                                                                                                                    23^rd July Stoney Cross

23^rd April Stoney Cross,                                                                                                                    30^th July Blandford

30^th April Blandford,                                                                                                                           6^th August Yeovil

7^th May Honiton,                                                                                                                               13^th August Stoney Cross

14^th May Guernsey UBI Combine                                                                                                     20^th August Blandford

21^st May Blandford                                                                                                                            27^th August Honiton

28^th May Falaise UBI Combine T.B.C                                                                                                3^rd September Blandford

4^th June Honiton                                                                                                                               10^th September Carentan or Falaise                                                                                                                                                            or Guernsey UBI YB Combine.

11^th June St Philberts UBI Combine T.B.C

18^th June Honiton

25^th June Poitiers UBI Combine T.B.C

2^nd July Stoney Cross

9^th July Falaise UBI Combine T.B.C

16^th July Bordeaux UBI Combine T.B.C

With everyone eager for racing to start the members made use of the training that the Club was offering so that they would be fit enough for the first race.

Race 1 arrived on the 16^th April with the racepoint being Stoney Cross which is between 80-86 miles to the members. At the end of marking 9 Members had sent 140 birds which were liberated at 10am in a Light South East Wind and with a total birdage of 1909 in the Inter Counties Fed.

Taking top spot in the Club was Billy Watkins with a Blue Yearling Cock “Billy’s Bullet” bred by Mark Edwards Clocking his 6^th win having previously taken the following positions 1^st Club Stoney Cross, 1^st Club Blandford, 1^st Club Blandford, 28^th Inter Counties Fed, 1^st Club Yeovil & 1^st Club Honiton as a Young Bird.

2^nd Club was Billy Watkins with a Chequer Pied Cock Bred by Mark Edwards.

Taking 3^rd& 4^th Club was Steve Holloway with a Blue Pied Soontjen Cock and a Blue Chequer Van Reet Hen x Busschaert bred off Steve Sheffield bloodlines.

5^th position Went to Algis Tiataurus with a Blue Chequer De-Klak Cock. Finally in 6^th spot we have Steve Holloway with a Blue Pied Lambrecht Hen from Geoff Barker.

Race 2 the following week was flown once again from Stoney Cross with 10 Members sending 166 birds which were Liberated at 8.15 in a North East Wind.

Taking the top spot once again was Billy Watkins with the Blue Yearling Cock “Billy’s Bullet” bred by Mark Edwards Clocking his 7^th win after previously winning 1^st Club Stoney Cross last week as well as winning 1^st Club Stoney Cross, 1^st Club Blandford, 1^st Club Blandford, 28^th Inter Counties Fed, 1^st Club Yeovil & 1^st Club Honiton as a Young Bird. In the runners up spot we had Steve Holloway with a Dark Chequer Cock of Alwyn Hill & Padfield bloodlines. Billy Watkins then took 3^rd & 4^th with a Blue Cock bred by Simon Schofield & a Chequer Pied Hen from Bill’s old pied family crossed with Johnny Chipperfield bloodlines. 5^th Club was new member Bob Brock with a Blue Pied Hen bred from Alby Stockwell stock acquired when he moved to Clacton. Finally in 6^th Spot was Peter Glass with a Blue Gaby Vandenabeele Cock from Keith Roe stock.

Our third old bird race of the season was flown from Blandford, approximately 100-105 miles to the members. For this race 8 members sent 131 birds which were liberated at 8am in a Light North Wind. Taking the top 2 positions was Steve Holloway with a Blue Lambrecht Cock & a Grizzle Hen whose Sire was a Van Reet & the Dam was borrowed from Peter Wells of Dunstable. Third spot was Billy Watkins with a Blue Cock bred by Simon Schofield. Fourth was Steve Holloway with a Dark Chequer Lambrecht Cock. Algis Tiatauris took 5^th with a Dark Chequer De-Klak Cock. Finally in 6^th Spot was Billy Watkins with “Billys Bullet” This Cock bred by Mark Edwards is now a 7x1st prize win after previously winning 1^st Club Stoney Cross last week as well as winning 1^st Club Stoney Cross, 1^st Club Blandford, 1^st Club Blandford, 28^th Inter Counties Fed, 1^st Club Yeovil & 1^st Club Honiton.

Race 4 was flown from Honiton, a distance of just over 140 miles to all of the members. On the Saturday morning I received the usual call from Dave Housden with this week one saying that the birds had been let go at 7.30am in a North West Wind. Continuing his excellent run of form was Steve Holloway taking the top 3 Positions with a Blue Chequer Lambrecht x Van Reet Hen, this is Steve’s first ever win with a Hen and he is keeping them locked in Hen Boxes which seems to be stopping them from pairing up. Steve’s next two was a Dark Chequer Geoff Barker Lambrecht Cock who took 4^th Club Yeovil the week before. And a Blue Chequer Van Reet Hen who took 4^th Club Stoney Cross earlier in the season. 4^th Club was John Figueira with a Chequer Pied Busschaert Cock. 5^th Club was Algis Tiatauris with a Blue De-Klak Cock. Finally in 6^th spot was Billy Watkins with Billys Bullet” This Cock bred by Mark Edwards is now a 7x1st prize win after previously winning 1^st Club Stoney Cross last week as well as winning 1^st Club Stoney Cross, 1^st Club Blandford, 1^st Club Blandford, 28^th Inter Counties Fed, 1^st Club Yeovil & 1^st Club Honiton as well as 6^th club Yeovil the previous week.

Attracting new people into the Sport.

One of our old members Don Stocking, who no longer keeps any pigeons of his own but still shows an interest in the Sport has recently been doing School Visits to try and attract new people to the sport. He recently has been doing visits to his local school which is Drayton Park Primary School which is situated less than a Mile away from the Arsenal stadium. For these visits Don borrowed Pigeons, Show Pens, Baskets, Clocks, Etc from Billy Watkins & Steve Holloway. In total Don gave a speech to 2 Classes from Year 3 and 1 Class from Year 4, with over 100 Children in total involved in the visit. According to Don, all of the Children loved seeing the pigeons and asked lots of questions as well as most asking to stroke the pigeons. Hopefully a few more visits to the school will take place again very soon to keep the children interested. Don has been doing school visits now for over 25 years and will continue to do so. For those that don’t know him. Don started in Pigeons in 1977 and raced in partnership with Henry Klys until 1981. In 1982 he was asked by Jack Dixon of Kentish Town if he was interested in going into Partnership which remained until Jack’s death in 1996. During this time they won 11^th LNRC Thurso 1986 as well as Runner up in the L.N.R Fed 1987 Morpeth Gold Cup, with other wins in the Club & Fed. Jack Dixon was a top pigeon fancier in his own right having previously won the prestigious Tommy Long Trophy in the past. Don said that he was just the apprentice learning from Jack during this time whilst doing the training etc. After Jack had passed away Don was then approached by Roy O’Donnell and then they flew in partnership from 1997 to 2015 when Don packed up. During this period several top positions were taken including 2^nd North Thames North Road Combine Hexham, 4^th NTNRC Arbroath, 6^th NTNRC Stonehaven, 8^th LNRC Berwick & 9^th NTNRC Berwick. Over these 19 years they flew in the following Clubs. Wood Green H.S, Enfield 5 Bird as well as the Enfield Continental Flying Club.

Don Stocking in 1988

Don Stocking in 2022 at Billy Watkins House

In the next Write up.

First UBI Combine Race, as well as the BICC & BBC.

Until Next Time, Take Care

Jamie T……..