MIDLANDS NATIONAL FLYING CLUB
MIKE LAKIN
The Midlands National ‘Makes another New Signing’
At the latest meeting of the Club it was revealed that the Transport Committee had been in negotiation with Geraldy to purchase an extra unit which has a 96 crates capacity. The other great news for the membership is the fact that our haulier Francis Transport has funded the purchase of the flat bed lorry which the unit will be fixed to at the German based company. While the MNFC will buy his Volvo lorry which will provide us with essential back up and also make us more logistically effective.
Some may question as to the reasons behind the decision? Well the Midlands National can proudly announce that for the fifth year in succession the membership of the club has increased. This is an incredible fact as we must be the only pigeon organisation in Western Europe that can stake this proud boast. To cater for these extra members we will need extra Marking Stations (which I will talk of later in this report) and so to get down to the ferry port in good time to feed the pigeons we need to be able to feed the pigeon in more efficiently. This season we expect over a hundred more members to be entering pigeons in our race so we could see record entries in 2016. Yes it is an exciting time for the Midlands National Flying Club and its members. Now we can cater for more members in comfort because it is good to bear in mind that the Committee flatly refuses to overcrowd our crate numbers because we believe that the pigeons deserve to travel in the luxury that befits racing athletes.
New Marking Stations
Well as it has already been announced the North West sections will have the option of an extra station to get there birds marked which will be at the premises of Alan Bamford the corn producer which is based in the Preston area. We are most grateful to Alan for what I believe will be a first class marking station.
The Committee also invites members of one of our newest sections the North Centre section to provide us with volunteers willing to run a new station in this area which will enable these members to have a convenient location to get their pigeons marked. So come on folks help us to help you on this one. For anyone wishing to contact the Club with more details then give me a call on 01782 624440.
Clock Station Computerised Imputing.
Thanks to the efforts of our computer expert Peter Humphries working closely with our computer supplier and maintenance company Tineke has devised a programme to enable Clock stations to download the information and send it directly to the new Race Secretary Jon Dodd which is surprisingly simple to carry out all you need is a laptop and then get the programme added to it. It was demonstrated at the recent meeting and it seems both impressive and simple. This will make producing future results much quicker to achieve. It is planned to contact clock officials to offer the programme and a demonstration to each of our stations and many will find it also very useful for their own needs as it has many add ons including personal pedigree facilities and can be useful for domestic club uses. So when you get the chance take up this free offer which will be of great assistance to both the MNFC and yourselves.
ETS Updates
It is very important that members get their ETS systems updated for the new season after decisions made recently by the RPRA. Unikon and Bricon systems automatically update when put into a base clock I’m told but Taurus clocks must be done individually so if you have a Taurus system I advise you to contact your supplier for more information.
MNFC Training Scheme
It was reported that there has been a good take up of places for the scheme but there is still room for you and your pigeons so if you wish to get your birds trained up with a made to measure training programme then get in touch and purchase your season ticket which will cost £110 for a crate which can contain up to 25 birds and with 8 training flights from either Marlborough or Lyndhurst it is considered to be great value for money. Each side of the MNFC will have a separate liberation and so will be ideal education for novice pigeons especially yearlings. I have been asked what the MNFC training offers that domestic club racing doesn’t already achieve. Well let’s look at this one a little closer. Well it offers two extra opportunities to get a training flight from the coast prior to the first MNFC race. This could be vital for many fanciers because it offers options when the weather conditions on Federation race dates are either risky or unfavourable. It also offers the chance for inexperienced birds to be thoroughly prepared for National racing with the MNFC because being transported in a vehicle that a bird is not used to it can be highly stressful no matter how luxurious the transport is. Another thing that I see as a big plus is training from a location that that may be slightly off-line to the normal local club route is an extra bonus for future cross channel racing. Additionally in the case of Young pigeons what a good thing it is to get an early experience of the Geraldy transporters. The fact that the birds will be liberated on a separate basis will aid the birds to home but also teach them to think rather than just follow the tail in front of them to get near to their home. This will surely stand them in good stead for future National races later in their careers.
John Fretwell formally receives his trophies for winning the 2015 Bordeaux race from Roy Jones the Club's President.
Stephen Gubbins and his grandson collecting their trophy for winning the South East section from Bordeaux from the President
2016 Race Marking for Bordeaux and Vire
In the light of the recent event regarding the Club’s ‘Double Header’ races from Vire and Bordeaux the committee has decided to put in place a few simple conditions to ensure that there is no chance of birds being placed in the wrong crates. These conditions are:
All Bordeaux birds must be marked by a table which will only mark Bordeaux pigeons and the crates for these Bordeaux birds must be clearly marked and kept well away from the Vire race birds. These easy directives MUST STRICTLY BE ADHERED TO AND WE APPEAL TO MEMBERS TO MAKE SURE THAT THESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE CARRIED OUT AND REPORT THIS MATTER TO THE MARKING TEAM If THEY SEE ANY WRONG DOINGS.
One station has already decided to mark their birds at different times which are laudable but if the above instructions are fully complied with I see no necessity to take such a measure. So come on folks the ‘Double Header’ is a proven good idea let’s make it a more secure one.
The Queen and Midlands National ‘Flying back To Nature’ Young Bird Sale
Peter Farrow the Royal Lofts Manager approached some of the successful fanciers who attended the 2015 Prize Distribution and he got some young birds pledged from many of the ‘cream’ of the MNFC. His efforts and the generosity of these donors there will be a sale of these young birds which will appear in the pigeon press in the next couple of weeks. It will be a phone in sale so keep your ‘eyes peeled’ to get a bird off one of the finest lofts in the U.K. The ‘flying Back to Nature’ fund is a very worthy cause to try and promote the image and profile of the racing pigeon and try and encourage a few youngsters to join our ranks because we certainly are in need of this new blood. So get your cheque books out ready!
2016 Handbooks
The books should be with all members by the mid to late April time and once again a small number of Committee members have volunteered to pack and post them out as we have found this to be the best way to get them out as in the past we had quite a number go AWOL. This is an annoying and expensive issue as the handbook is an expensive item which a couple of people work hard to subsidies by getting adverts in to take the ‘sting’ out of the cost. Proving once again that the MNFC has a number of real workers within its ranks which work for no rewards and who are a major reason behind the MNFC’s recent success story. While on this subject I hope that Eric Millner is now feeling better after being taken unwell at the last meeting. This makes us realise that we are all getting older and we are always looking for younger members to join our ranks but just like a good football squad we only want the right players in our team.