Pride of the Potteries One Loft Final
A Wonderful Day for Mylie Jo
On Saturday the 7th of September 311 birds were released at 9.40am by the MCC convoyer Brent Brammer from Carentan into a North Westerly breeze which strengthen and turned into a more Northerly direction on the open channel. Armed with these facts and the info from Brent it was clear to any experienced fancier that this was going to be a stern test for any bird including ‘our class of 2019’. This fact was later highlighted by the percentage of birds recorded by the National and Classic clubs that day. Make no mistake the races held on that day were all tough uns.
The managers though were confident that our squad of birds were well prepared for the task and after a flight of 7hours and 18minutes a young Chequer cock arrived looking as ‘fresh as a daisy’ and belonging to the Mylie Jo team entered by Sheffield’s Rob Bean dived onto the loft and claimed the £13000 1st Prize. Then one second less that 7 minutes later two Blues were spotted screaming through the sky and they never stopped until they landed in front of the ETS traps in my life I have never seen two birds race harder to get home with the Trent Valley lofts syndicate bird recording a time of just a single second before the Blue belonging to Leon and Lewis Yemm of Lymedale Lofts. Gentlemen both of those two birds are pigeons to be proud of!
The owners of the winning bird George Waller and Robert Bean
A close up of the race winner looking in great shape.
The Trent Valley Syndicate all smiles after their birds 2nd placing
Louis and Leon Yemm the owners of the 3rd placed bird.
Mylie Jo's bird he race winner enjoying a little titbit after arrival.
A further 10 minutes elapsed before a pigeon entered by Matt Williams of Chateaux Lofts recorded 7 hours 35 minutes to fill the 4th slot. 5th and 6th positions were clocked by two syndicates in the names of Patch and Isaac and though I can’t be sure I think the bird entered by team Isaac looks like a good bet for the £1000 Ace pigeon Prize. In 7th place we saw another bird from Trent Valley Lofts clock 7hours 43 minutes. The ‘Grumpy Old Men’ syndicate finish in 8th slot and hopefully it will make these grumpy chaps smile when they receive their prize. 9th is claimed by the Manchester Boys’ just in front of local fancier Johnny Hooton. The full result can be found on our Facebook group page or our website www,prideofthepotteriesoneloft.co.uk
Matt Williams of Chateaux Lofts looking cool after claiming 4th prize
At the close of play as the evening drew in with a beautiful sunset there was 41 birds safely back in the loft and all of the 40 prizes on offer had been claimed. So all in all it was a ‘great day at the office’ with many, many coming to witness and enjoy the event and to talk pigeons and eat the massive free buffet and barbeque which was prepared and cooked by Mo Hanif, his wife Rachel and their family we quite simply can’t thank them enough. They are a credit to both themselves and the sport, so much so that we consider them as part of the team that is rapidly becoming a real force in UK One Loft racing.
A few of the fanciers awaiting the birds home coming
A think even our severest critics must grudgingly accept that the ‘New Kids on the Block’, the Pride of the Potteries One Loft race has ‘come of age’. Yes, though it was pointed out to us at the beginning of the year that we are ‘years behind’ some of the more established One Loft races. We truly accept this fact, but folks shouldn’t be hoodwinked into thinking that our team is ‘green behind the ears’ as we have fanciers managing the loft that have won 3 National races and won Ace Pigeon Awards at National levels and taken top prizes in other worldwide One Loft races. Add to the fact that we have a top medical advisor in the form of Gary Spavin and Schroeder -Tollisan products when medication is required.
Can you spot yourself on this photo and having a good time
These facts clearly indicate that we are building on a firm base which is rapidly becoming a major player in the world of One Loft pigeon racing. At a loft where everything is done for the welfare of both the birds that are entered and the folks who support us. We have and will no doubt continue to make little mistakes, but we will learn from them and iron out these errors in our quest to offer fanciers the very best deal in One Loft racing. As I have said from the very beginning our race offers ‘£ for £’ and ‘pigeon for pigeon’ the very best deal in this type of racing. Don’t simply believe me, go and get your calculators out and do the sums for yourself. If we hit our ceiling limited of 750, we will challenge all of our competitors with prize money totalling in the region of £45,000. Whether this can be achieved though will be down to the number of people who support The Pride of the Potteries One Loft Race in 2020.
Mo's team who provided the barbeque for our visitors, These guys are a massive part of our race's success. Thank you
The feedback which we received from the people in attendance really made us all feel very proud with comments like “I’ve never seen pigeons trap as well from a One Loft race” and “The birds homed in excellent shape”. Several people have already booked in with us for our next venture into One Loft racing and judging by the amount of entry forms that were taken the future looks quite rosy and as our catch phrase goes ‘We don’t wish to be the biggest, but we aim to be the best!
Pat Smith another one of our biggest supporters presenting the Loft Manager with a cake that she made to mark the final
A close up of Pat's delicious cake. How can we fail with supporters like these?
A glorious sunset closing a very memorable day. Our thanks to all who made it such a great success.
Foot note
At the time of writing this report we have over half of our final entry back home including a bird entered by the Smallwood Primary school which will win the special £50 schools prize and now they are being prepared for the sales which will be on the Elimar website in a few weeks’ time. Our thanks also go out to the MCC especially Brent who looked after our birds so well. If it’s good tried and tested pigeons that you are looking for to strengthen your loft keep an eye out for the Preliminary sales notices which will appear shortly in your favourite magazine because they birds have all proved their worth and though many will have good pedigrees they certainly aren’t just ‘paper pigeons’ so I can only recommend them very highly to would be purchasers.
Mike Lakin.