MIDLANDS NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

MIKE LAKIN

The Club’s 50th Anniversary: Will it be a Truly Golden One for the Members?

2015 is the 50th anniversary year since the first race was flown by the club in 1965. Since this time the club has ridden through many highs and lows. I believe like the club’s committee that we are about to enjoy one of the truly ‘golden’ eras. 2014 certainly was a good year with the membership up in numbers and most of the races showed a significant increase in birdage. Recently the Committee made the bold decision to purchase a second articulated Geraldy built transporter and also a further two ‘pods’ which means that the club can now convoy up to 15,000 birds in comfort. Also and just as importantly, if we had been able to have used two articulated transporters for the first two races in 2014 instead of the three which we actually used we would have saved in the region of £3,000. So now we can mix and match our transporters to cater for our members' birds in the most economical of ways. Obviously the smaller vehicles won’t be lying idle because they will be needed to either feed the birds in or actually used to convoy to races such as Bordeaux or when there is isn’t a sufficient need for two large transporters to be employed. In this way we will be truly cost effective in the future and these savings will filter back to the members by way of extra prize money. So members of the MNFC can rest assured that their valuable birds are travelling ‘1st class’ to arrive at the race points in good condition. I for one am sure that often poor returns can be attributed to inadequately ventilated and often overcrowded transportation. Like all top athletes the MNFC believe that our birds need to travel in comfort in order to achieve their best results.

A Golden Anniversary Cash Boost

The club thanks to good housekeeping and the more recent increase in birdages has enabled the committee aided by the sound advice of our accountant Tim Mourne to put an extra £2000 per race into the prize pot for 2015. This means that if we get a similar sends in our first two races of 2015 to those that we achieved in 2014 then the prize money will be well in excess of £10,000 and this doesn’t take into account the additional prize pot of the 2Bird Nominated races which gave a total gross pay out of nearly £10,000 last season. This figure is no doubt more than many other ‘Specialist Clubs’ pay out in total! This extra £2000 bonus is based as a ‘Golden Anniversary’ bonus for 2015 but if the finances allow it will roll on into the future. This will be solely dictated by you our and our competing members continue to support us in healthy numbers we will be able to repay your faith with increased cash prizes. The bonus money will be paid out on a sectional pro-rata basis as we have found that this is the best way of providing prizes, with every area of the club receiving a share of the benefits. Since we adopted this system of dividing the prizes more into the sections that the club has increased in popularity and support which has now given us the fairest  racing that the club has enjoyed certainly in my years of being a member of the club. This has resulted in a National organisation that is now regularly won in a wide variety of locations. Just think back a few months when races were won in Yorkshire, East Anglia, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, the West Midlands and Liverpool. I say could it be more equal? Then throw in the fact that the Young Bird Gold Ring Race was won up into Lancashire, truly great stuff.

The Financial Accounts

Without doubt the 2014 Balance Sheet is very encouraging with a continuing upward trend in profits which has allowed the club’s committee to put more cash on offer for the 2015 race season. The old saying though that a ‘little knowledge can be dangerous’ is amply highlighted with many members thinking that the club is sitting with over £130,000 in the bank. If one looks a little closer at the figures it clearly shows that the club had ‘current liabilities’ of nearly £90,000, made up largely of monies still not paid out for the final races of the season at the end of September. So though the club is in a very healthy position we are not sitting on a fortune. When you further realise that in October of each year the club has to purchase rings at a cost of in excess of £20,000. This explains why the club needs to have a good balance to trade until the subscription fees and ring sales inflate the ‘coffers’ once again.

AGM Propositions

On the ‘thorny’ issue of the AGM propositions a few members resent the committee from offering their opinion but the majority do value their guidance in making the correct decision and/or explaining why the proposal is  ‘Out of Order’. This is usually because it conflicts with present MNFC rules in regard to the management of the club. With regard to the remainder of the proposals it is left to the members to decide where to place their X it really is your choice.

I must admit that I personally hope that Proposition 3 gets carried to enable the further flyers to test their pigeons at the longer distances if that is their wish. I must admit that Proposal 7 does concern me as though the idea might be good in theory it does smack a little of ‘Big Brother’ and could be interpreted if passed that members doubt both the Convoyers’ ability and honesty. Believe me the lads who are in charge of the Midlands Nationals birds are good and vastly experienced at their job and care deeply about the birds in their charge and so are therefore surely worthy of our trust. Besides if this proposal were to become a rule then what would happen if there was a problem filming a liberation? It makes you think doesn’t it?

By the time you read this over 60,000 rings will have been sent out along with nearly £10,000 worth of Gold Ring sales. So indications are good for an excellent race in 2015. We will have plenty of Gold Rings with us at Blackpool so if you fancy a flutter come and buy a few. Talking about the Blackpool Show, it will soon be upon us and I hope that members along with perspective new members will come and see us in our new location which is I believe is on the Ballroom Balcony alongside the MNFC’s ‘Flying Back to Nature’ stand. Which with the RPRA support is our way of creating more interest in animals and nature in general and hopefully a more balanced generation will emerge in the future with a few of these young people carrying on the pigeon sport.

Young Archie Lakin doing a bit of 'Flying Back To Nature'

Finally my congratulations to Kingsmead Technical College who it was recently announced have won a West Midlands Region RPRA Long Distance Award for timing their single entry from the tough NFC Tarbes race in 2014. A fantastic and richly deserved award.

The pupils of Kingsmead with their RPRA Award winning pigeon

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