Enfield Continental Flying Club

Since the last write up was written we have seen a lot of media coverage of the 75th Anniversary of the Normandy landings, and rightly so, as many brave people lost their lives that day as well as many more in the war from 1939-1945 as well as in the First World War. It showed on the news a single pigeon being released from the beach in Normandy to return to its home in Portsmouth to show the plight that the pigeons had to do in any weather, day or night on their release which more often than not saved countless lives. With that much media coverage i seem to think that we missed a lot of good publicity which could have promoted the Sport quite a lot. Could you imagine that if some of the Big Organisations had got together like the BICC,BBC,NFC,MNFC,CSCFC, the UNC etc and had a Memorial Race on the Saturday, you might have had 30-40000 birds all being liberated at once, the Coverage would have been immense and maybe we might have got a few more people interested in the Sport.

Now here is the latest news happening down at the Cabbage Patch. Our next race was a Channel Race with the UBI Combine which was from Le-Mans and the birds were marked a day earlier on the Thursday evening, and at the end of Marking 11 members had sent 80 Birds. On the Saturday morning i received the usual weekly phone Call from Dave Housden saying that we had held over, which i was expecting as the BBC were at Cholet and the BICC were at Poitiers and they had both held over. On the Sunday Morning i received the Call to say that the birds had been liberated at 6.45 in a Light South Wind. The Top 6 for this week was as follows. First Club was Peter Twyford with a Blue Busschaert Cock. The sire being gifted to Peter by Club Mate Jim Courtney and the Dam is from Peter’s successful Busschaert Family. 2nd Spot is Steve Holloway with a Blue Chequer Van Reet Cock. Third & Fourth Club is Geoff Barker with a Red Chequer Latebred Lambrecht x Maarten Vinkenborg Cock, who is a past winner of 6th Club Honiton and a Blue Chequer Joop Koch Cock who was in the top 200 of the BICC from Alencon earlier this season. 5th Club is Steve Williams with a Blue Hen who was purchased at a Breeder Buyer sale from Tony Kent of Ware. She was raced North as a Young bird then used as a Widowhood Hen last year before being trained throughout the winter and turned South Road this year. Steve also said that she has been on the Clock every race this season. Finally in 6th we have Billy Watkins with a Dark Chequer Cock bred by G Chalkley. On that same day the BICC Liberated at Cholet at 8.40 after being moved there from Poitiers due to the poor weather at Poitiers, and the Top 3 in the Club was as Follows. 1st, 2nd and Third all went to Billy Watkins firstly with a Chequer Cock who was bred from birds purchased from the BBC Stud, a Blue Cock bred by Ray Scrivener and a Dark Pied Cock from Bill’s Wells Fargo family which come from the Dunstable ace Peter Wells, who raced the Fantastic Pigeon Superlou who won 52x1st prizes.

Our next race was from Honiton, and for this race the birdage was well down with only 8 Members sending out of a possible 21. At the end of marking there were 108 birds competing in the Club. The winner for this Race was Club Secretary Steve Sheffield with a Blue Pied Busschaert Cock who is notching up his second win as well as having scored several other top 6 positions.

Steve Sheffield, with his wife Margaret, Son Craig and Grandson Reggie

2nd was Geoff Barker with a Lambrecht Grizzle Cock, a past winner of 2nd Club, 23rd Fed Honiton 3232 birds. This Grizzle Cock is already a Sire of a Double Fed winner for the Southgate ace Bob Taylor. Third Club went to Steve Holloway with a Blue Van Reet Cock. Fourth & Fifth Club was Geoff Barker with a Blue Lambrecht Cock, previously 1st Club, 13th Fed, 17th UBI Combine Carentan, 4th Club, 13th Fed Blandford, 3rd Club Exeter, 2nd Club, 17th Fed, 18th UBI Combine Exeter, 26th Fed, Honiton & 4th Club, 8th Fed & 22nd UBI Combine Guernsey. This Cock is a full brother to Steve Holloways “Pedro” 4x1sts and “Manuel” another top performer for Steve. Geoff’s 5th spot pigeon is a Grizzle Lambrecht Cock who has scored a 3rd Club from Blandford before as well as other positions. Finally, in Sixth place is Steve Sheffield with a Chequer Pied Van Lint Cock.

The season seems to be flying along now and I for one am missing Racing, as i have hardly raced for a few years now due to a Court battle that i was having with the local council which went on for nearly 9 years. That has now finished but at the property that i now live at, i believe it to be to small to be able to race the way that i want to as i have gone from a 67ft loft to a 20ft one and at the present time i only now have the Stock Birds now, and am aiming to move to a property with a bigger garden early next year so i can start with Young Birds in 2020. The only racing that i have or seen this year was to time in the other week for Steve Sheffield as well as watch the UNC liberate at Chelmsford the other week.

Enough about me now, let’s get on with the latest race result, and our next race was another Honiton which the members would fly between 137 to 148 miles. At the end of marking 10 Members had sent 134 Birds, which were liberated at in a South East Wind. Taking Pole position was Geoff Barker with a Blue Lambrecht Cock For those of you that read this write up, Geoff’s Lambrechts originate from the Lambrecht ace Bill Duckworth, who has sadly just passed away and we offer our Condolences to Bill Duckworth’s family and friends.

 In the Runners up spot we have Peter Twyford with a Red Chequer Busschaert Cock This Cock is already a winner of 3x1st’s and has scored at Fed level with birdage up to 2000 birds, and this is his 3rd top 6 place this season. This Red Chequer Cock is also a Grandson of Peter’s 1st UBI Combine Kingsdown. Third Club was Steve Holloway with the Blue Lambrecht Cock “Manuel” who has previously taken 2nd Club Blandford, 2nd Club Honiton as well as taking a handful of other top 6 places. This Cock is the brother to “Pedro” 4x1sts plus other top positions, both bred by Geoff Barker. 4th Club was Geoff Barker with a Grizzle Lambrecht Cock, a past winner of 3rd,4th and 5th Club from Honiton. Fifth Club was Steve Sheffield with a Blue Pied Busschaert Cock, past winner of 2x1sts plus several top 6 positions. Finally, in 6th place we have Steve Holloway with a Blue Chequer Van Reet Cock, one of the originals from 2015 when Steve restarted up in the sport.

Before I end this write up i would like to Congratulate a former Club member of ours Jimmy Davis for his 2nd & 3rd Section in the BICC from Cholet. Jim won 1st Open BICC Young bird National Falaise when he was a member of the Enfield Club.

Jimmy Davis 2nd & 3rd Section BICC Cholet.

Also, Congratulations must go to Mark Gilbert from his exceptional performance from Pau in the BICC, taking the first 8 positions as well as 4th, 5th and 7th Open International. I Have spoken to Mark several times as well as going to Southfield on a Loft visit, and he is one of the most decent honest fanciers who you would wish to meet, and a lot of fanciers could learn from him.

In the next write up BICC Agen, UBI Combine Poitiers, and UBI Combine Falaise as well as other events at the Cabbage Patch including Armed Forces Day Celebrations.

Until next time

Take Care

Jamie T.