MIDLANDS NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

MIKE LAKIN

AGM Report - January 2014

On Sunday the 5th January the club held its AGM at its headquarters ‘The Clock Warehouse’ Shardlow. As was expected it was another quiet one as is the norm when a club is going well and going from strength to strength. After our balance sheet was accepted and signed unanimously our Accountant Tim Mourne said that the Committee with the compliance of the members have done wonders since the ‘dark’ days of 2003/04 when the club lost a colossal £50,000. Since this time the Committee aided by Tim’s advice have removed this debt and bought (with the help of several interest free loans) £120,000 worth of Geraldy transporters, which was criticised by many at the time but in truth was a major factor in getting ‘the good ship’ MNFC firmly back on track. Since then it has been a case of sensible management and good transparency which has been the key to our success in getting a healthy bank balance and to establishing ourselves as the leading force in British pigeon racing.

The Club’s officials and Committee were re-elected almost en bloc with exceptions including myself Mike Lakin taking over the reins as General Secretary replacing my wife who due to health issues has had to step down from her position of Subs & Ring secretary. I will be combining the job of P.R. and telephone enquiries etc. General Secretary sounds rather grand but in truth it stands for ‘general dogsbody’. The other addition is in the form of Brian Smith who is a partner in the highly successful R, & B. Smith partnership. Brian’s ‘signing’ is good news for the West region who I am sure will represent his area well. Sadly we have lost Graham Cook (ESE section) and John Burtoft (North section). The committee thank them for their efforts and accept their resignations with regret.

The door is always open to good volunteers especially the sections which are poorly represented to assist in carrying on the good work. We were informed that a possible new recruit is being lined up for the East section but has yet to be confirmed.  

Brian Smith (centre)

The full list of AGM Proposition results are at the end of this piece. The one that I personally was sad about was the members’ decision to put the Northern Boundary back to 54.30.00N. Obviously existing members and members accepted prior to the AGM will remain as members but for the moment at least the door is now closed I’m afraid. I am personally disappointed because I feel that if fanciers wish to test their birds at distances up to and well in excess of  600 miles, then we should be supportive but that is just my opinion and obviously I am in the minority. We have in fact just received a letter from one of these North East members applying for a clock station for South Shields which invites all North Eastern members to use these facilities. I am sure that this will receive the ‘green light’ and will be included in the 2014 handbook list of clock stations. Also on the list will be the new station in Hull which will serve the North Humberside membership which like so many other areas is showing a healthy growth in numbers.

The 2014 race programme will be flown on the corresponding weekends as in 2013 with the first race taking place on the 24th May.

The Programme is as follows:

Old Birds Carentan, 14/6 Fougeres, 5/7 Ancensis, 26/7 Bordeaux/Vire

Young Birds 30/8 Portland and 13/9 Carentan

The birdage prices are as 2013 with the exception of the Portland race which is reduced by 50p to £2.50p. Some will no doubt still grumble about the cost compared to local club prices but I ask you does your local club pay out thousands in prize money like the MNFC?

What else is new? Well the club has selected a small committee to fight the possible use of drugs and other illegal substances within the MNFC. To this end we intend to consult with other Classic Clubs and a few mainland European countries for the most up to date advice available. Clearly the Midlands National is doing everything it can to make sure our sport is ‘clean’.

I have left what I believe to be the very best news until last and this is that in 2014 the club will be holding races in conjunction with the full race list above. These races will be called ‘2 Bird Nomination’ races. Though all entries obviously also have to enter the full race. All of the ‘2 Bird Nominated’ races will have their own separated race result with a beautiful trophy and diplomas awarded to the winning birds in both Open and Sections. The entry cost will be £10 which will be paid out in its entirety less a small printing cost and so the prize money with your support will be excellent. This idea will see all fanciers being able to nominate what you believe to be your two best birds and race on a ‘level playing field’. This will hopefully quell the argument that many have against big senders. This will now give everyone the opportunity to prove in as fair a way as it is possible to prove who has the best pigeons bird for bird! Don’t be surprised though if some of these big hitters still appear prominently because I know many of them and they are excellent fanciers also.

This idea is something of a throwback to the old days when fanciers tended to only send what they considered to be their best performers. Times have moved on though and today by and large domestic club racing from France is pretty much a thing of the past.

So come on folks get those 2 bird nominated entries in and prove how good your best birds are! Remember and think ‘do I want to win a 2Bird Nominated National Race?’ I will write a more in depth piece regarding what the club believe to be a very popular addition to our racing calendar.

Right, on to the ballot result. I won’t comment other than to say I think you can see that the voters have firmly expressed their feelings by the wide margin in regard to the majority of propositions.

Propositions

1 - 212 in favour 12 against

2 - 25 in favour 192 against

3 - 101 in favour 91 against

4 - 18 in favour 201 against

5 - 14 in favour 201 against

6 - 20 in favour 196 against

7 - 187 in favour 27 against

8 - 183 in favour 26 against

9 - 203 in favour 13 against

Old Bird race programmes

1 - 94 votes

2 - 129 votes

Young Bird Race Programmes

1- 111 votes

2 - 107 votes

The variation in votes numbers is due to abstentions

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