MIDLANDS NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

MIKE LAKIN

Midlands National Flying Club Coutances             

Albert Farrow Looks Likely to Make it National Win No.2

In a Really Tough Race.

When the 850 members or so basketed their birds for the MNFC’s first race of the season for the Club’ inaugural race from this race point most who had looked at the weather forecast knew full well that the excellent 9,000 plus record breaking entry in the convoy had very little chance of a Saturday liberation. This proved to be correct as the day was interspersed with heavy down pours and low cloud in many parts of the country.

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny here at the home end but this would mean nothing if the weather was still poor either in France or on the route home and after consulting with the Club’s weather advisers who said that to liberate would be something of a gamble and as we in the MNFC aren’t into the gambling game the decision was soon made to holdover and wait for a better forecast on the Monday morning. We were confident that with only 18 birds per crate and plenty of corn on board which is supplied by one of our sponsors namely Country Wide corns that the birds wouldn’t be suffering from their enforced stay in France.

Monday morning dawned quite brightly once again but this time the weather was good right through with a fresh West North Westerly wind blowing at the racepoint which made the 7.15am liberation an easy decision to make. The forecast was for the wind to become more northerly as the day progressed and hopes were high for a good steady race to be the end result with good birds featuring prominently from several of the Club’s Sections.

As fanciers waited it was clear that it was going to be a tough one with 20 mph North Westerly winds on the exposed English Channel. This definitely took its toll with returns being very spasmodic for most of the members.

Albert Farrow the Probable 1st National Winner

The Probable winner was flying to the South East section loft of Albert Farrow of Irtlingborough. The deadline to go to print has made it impossible to get any further details on the likely winner which has recorded a velocity of 1226.2 for the 231 miles trip. This equates to a speed of just 41 ½ miles per hour and further highlights just what a hard fly it was for the pigeons. A quick look at the leader board shows up some exceptional performances from pigeons that their owners should be extremely proud of because there are no fluke results on hard days such as this one. I hope to get all of this information for the full report in a week or two’s time.

Help me to help You

I once again appeal to all members whose birds appear in the top four placings within your section on the attached Leader board to contact me by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. of by telephone 01782 624440 to give me a few short details of your leading bird and a nice photo if possible. Readers should realise that when I took on this job 13 long years ago there was only 4 sections so it was reasonable to contact the 16 fanciers to get details of the top four birds from these sections. Today the task has multiplied threefold and so I need you to help me succeed in the task. So if you want a little of the well deserved limelight get in touch, if you don’t then please don’t complain when you get next to no coverage.

MNFC Diary

MNFC ‘ONE LOFT’ Update

The latest news is that the birds are in well and weather permitting are going out to exercise on a daily basis. The ‘darkening System’ is in use which should ensure that the pigeons will be competing in the races with a good wing and feather condition as is essential to achieve maximum performances. The birds are on the Schroeder + Tollisan ‘Health Programme’ which the Loft Manager says is keeping the inmates in treat shape.

In a few days the Unikon ETS rings will be fitted and a full list of the birds on the loft will appear regularly on the MNFC website to show how participating fanciers how their birds are doing.

The Next Planned MNFC Training Flight.

A quick reminder for those who have signed up to the training scheme that next scheduled date is Wednesday the 1st June and the longest lib site will be from either Blandford or Poole as following reliable feedback from one or two fanciers including Mrs Jenny Mills the Dorset Fed President who told me that the locals consider Lydhurst to be a ‘no go’ area due to the high hawk infestation.

Many thanks Jenny.

CLICK ON LINK BELOW

MNFC Countances Provisional Result

Mike Lakin