MIDLANDS NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

MIKE LAKIN

A SUPER ENTRY FOR CARENTAN - MAY 2013

MNFC Carentan winner Les Morris watching his birds exercise

Without a shadow of a doubt the MNFC got off to a great start to the 2013 race season with a’ bumper’ entry and a great win for Southport’s Les Morris. The Club is delighted with the send of 8,406 birds and the prize winners will be delighted with the £9,000 plus pay day. This matches up well with this season’s 5% increase in membership. The most pleasing aspect of this growth is the fact that the latest entry was the fairly even split between the East and Western sides of the organisation’s radius. This should lead to good racing in the future. Obviously the wind direction will ultimately dictate the result but as all experienced fanciers will know this is how pigeon racing works.

  

The birds were liberated on this occasion into a North Easterly wind being strong on the channel but nearer the home end the winds receded and in places actually started to veer to South Easterly during the later stages of the race. This allowed the more North Westerly fanciers to benefit and a dark cock named ‘26’  belonging to Liverpool exile Les Morris made full use of the opportunity by winning the race with a velocity of 1275 ypm. The bird is a result of various Vandenabeele sources, the winner’s sire being ‘The 78 Cock’ a superb racer and breeder which has won 1st & 2nd North West Combine from Portland and Carentan; the bird is of ‘Gaby 600’ lines I believe and acquired from ‘Myrtle Lofts’. On the winner’s mother’s side are the Koen Minderhout and Rik Cools Vandenabeeles. ‘26’ is already proving to be an excellent breeder himself with two offspring claiming 1st prizes.

The National winner

2nd Open on 1271 is another West section pigeon belonging to Liverpool fanciers Bauress & Murray, though the partners wish to give credit to their loft manager Sweeney Todd - not the ill famed barber but the fancier who helps to give the partnership a ‘cutting edge’. (I don’t know where I dig them up from.) The bird responsible being a yearling Grizzle cock which has this season been flown on the widowerhood system. This fine pigeon, though narrowly missing out in the main race, wins the ‘RP Belgica-Deweerdt’ Crystal Decanter for 1st Open Yearling National. Let’s take a peep at his breeding. Its sire is a Hofken based bird obtained direct from Verheyen whilst the mother is a Claessen x Ganus cross. Ron Irons has written more on this pigeon as he also won the Liverpool Classic Club being duplicated back from the MNFC race. I will attach this report on the LCC (see the end of this report) as I believe that this is the blueprint that other areas should be adopting by aligning with the Midlands National.

Bauress & Murray, 2nd West section & Open and 1st Yearling National winning the RP-Deweerdt crystal decanter

The Wirral is where the 3rd Open winner resides in the form of a 3 year old Blue cock owned by Bob Tudor. Bob tells me that his bird has been a very consistent performer and has won plenty of prizes for him and now has a 3rd Open MNFC to add to his CV. On the sire’s side is a winner of 1st Beeston Castle 2bird from Portland belonging to George Lawrence of West Kirby. This cock is a Gaby Vandenabeele x Wal Zoontjen. On his dam’s side is the blood of a very famous pigeon which is Walsall’s Barry Fellows cock ‘Bungalow Bill’ which many will be aware won umpteen races for Barry. I was informed that this was Bob’s first race with the club so not a bad start then, eh sir.

Bob Tudor

It’s a North West member who lays claim to 1st section and 4th Open and this bird belongs to Mr & Mrs Andrew Hargreaves of Moss Gate. You may remember that this partnership won the Vire National race last year so they appear to be taking the transition from sprinting to the longer distances from Northern France in their stride. Their section topper is a 3 year old blue hen being bred off a cock from Arnie Tonks which is from his superb Marc de Cock x Maurice Mattheuws stock. The mother is a hen from Derek Pedley and is once again of Peter Van der Merwe lines. Andrew informs me that the win was a real morale booster as the partners lost seven of their best birds from a short training flight and worse still was the fact that ‘Mystery Girl’ their National winner was included in the losses. I’m sure all fellow fanciers will sympathise with your loss. The latest ‘Champ’ is to be named after the partners newly born granddaughter ‘Eliza-Mae’.  

Mr & Mrs Hargreaves

 

Back to the Wirral now to a partnership that are no strangers to success in the form of Jones & Thomas, a real couple of ‘likely lads’. Their bird which is 4th West section and 5th Open, so Rob tells me is a 2 year old Van Loon x Le Fab, which is short for Le Fabre Dhaenean but I bet he can’t spell it being a home bred Merseysider. Come to think of it, I’m not sure if I’ve got it right either. Anyway it’s a good pigeon however it should be spelt!

Robbie Jones

 

Right up behind are Shavington’s Mr & Mrs Terry Williams just one yard behind on 1263. They will be 2nd North West section and 6th Open. The bird is a 2 year old widower cock being a Peter van de Merwe x Peter Veensra pigeon with the parents being bred by Oldham’s Stuart Ward who is a friend of Terry and his wife. Isn’t it nice to have friends who breed you good pigeons? This chequer cock had already showed his potential when winning recently in the local club Audlem H S.

Terry Williams

 

Barnes & Walmsley of Lytham have the honour of having the inaugural new North North West section topper and it is a cracker which wins 7th Open for the partners so a nice big shining cup will be ready for collection by the partners at the end of season Prize Distribution at Doncaster, a fine performance with a velocity of 1262 for the near 316 mile journey. Whilst talking to Brian Barnes he informed me that this was their first crack at racing in the National so they certainly got off to a flying start. The section topper is a 2 year old widowerhood cock and is of Cassaert x Kees Boshua breeding. The partners have enjoyed success locally for years with their Maurice Cassaert birds. I have visited Maurice who lives in Nechin which is near to the French border on a couple of occasions and he is a fine man and wonderful fancier.

 

Barnes & Walmsley

It’s then the South West section’s turn to take centre stage with a quartet of pigeons. In 1st section 8th Open is Oliver Knowles of Summerfield. There is a team of helpers at Summerfield made up of Jon & Sammy Tracey the Loft Manager and Oliver’s son Alfie. Their bird who recorded a velocity of 1258 is once again a Van der Merwe cross but on this occasion it is also partly Van der Rhee. It was the bird’s third cross channel race. These Van der Merwe pigeons are certainly making a big impact in the UK.

The Knowles gang

2nd section and 9th Open is the famous Rugeley loft of Leadbeater & Sons. The lads bought their bird from a Teurlings sale a few years ago and its origins are from Liverpool’s Porter Brothers. John Porter, who is a friend of the ‘Lebbies’, must have tipped them off that he was giving a good one to the sale and he wasn’t kidding because in 2011 it won 13th Open from Tours and was ranked 6th MNFC Ace pigeon that season. It wasn’t raced in 2012 due to being mauled by a hawk but his latest win proves he is back ‘firing on all cylinders’.

Close behind in 3rd section and 10th Open is another top notch loft that of Eric Jones of Overdale in Telford. For years know Eric ably assisted by his brother have been popping up with good birds. So this is yet another notch on their belt.

In 4th section and 11th Open are great friends of mine in the form of Glyn and Chris Machin who live on The Rock Telford which is ‘spitting’ distance from Eric’s. They finish just .2 of a yard behind their neighbour’s pigeon. The bird doing the damage on this occasion is Chris’s ‘Pink Un’ and he is predominantly Steven Van Breeman with a little touch of Francois Struyff if I’m told correctly. Glyn and Chris have raced these Van Breeman lines for years now and they have served along with their base Busschaerts this vastly under rated loft proudly for years.  As proof of this they have twice in the past been the MNFC Old Bird Average winners. This was after years of being dubbed the ‘Shropshire Sprint Kings’. Yes I’ve known this couple for years going back including some great nights in the ‘Royal Exchange’ with Nev and Ant Cooper and Derek Smith. I can tell you much knowledge, ‘tittle-tattle’ and other gossip were truly ‘exchanged’ over a few pints going back to when Glyn and I both had dark hair!

Rounding up the South west section we see Barry & Dot Ricketts win 5th section 13th Open with a 3 year old cock named ‘Alfie’ which has previously won three 1st prizes and other club and Fed diplomas. Proving the birds form the previous week ‘Alfie’ won 1st Open with the MCC. Once again we have another example that you don’t have to spend the earth to get a ‘good un’ as Barry bought this cock at the Severn Valley Breeder Buyer for the princely sum of £20. Barry and Dot wish to say ‘’thanks Stu’ to Stuart Harford who bred their bird.

Barry & Dot Rickett with their fine pigeon

 

The 3rd & 4th North West section placings are filled by two great partnerships in 3rd we have Geoff & Barbara Kirkland arguably the most famous National winning fanciers in England. For years now the Kirklands have been winning National races with abandon. Their latest bird is a Marieka Vink Koopman pigeon bred by the Kirklands’ great friend Monty Buxton. The bird is a 3 year old and he is a ‘serial’ prizewinner.

Geoff Kirkland

4th section goes to one of the new champion lofts, The Rochdale Cowboys A & S Hughes but let’s get something straight, these lads are no cowboys they are the real deal and their birds continue to put up fantastic results. Not only were the father and son team 4th section but also timed their next three pigeons to win 6th, 9th and 12th section. Simply wonderful flying guys.

  

I would now like to tell readers of one of the great performances of the race and this is the 2 year old blue cock owned by Hatfield’s Mally Robinson which Mally rather unkindly calls ‘Fat Bastard’. Perhaps he should be renamed ‘Fast Bastard’ because he certainly ignored the North East wind to record 1st North section and an incredible 24th Open with a velocity of 1241. Over the last few years Mally and his good lady Sylvia have built up a team of pigeons that have flown exceptionally well in the MNFC and wins include 1st YB National in 2011. Mally and Sylvia would like to express their thanks to good friends Hartshorne & Robinson for their help with the training.

Mally Robinson

 

In 2nd North section on 1217 is another good fancier in the form of Nigel Laycock of Womersley. Nigel and his son Ryan (who I hear doubles up as dad’s bodyguard) have built a formidable team of pigeons. Their first bird highlighting this fact admirably. He is an Eric Limbourg yearling and he is a double grandson of ‘I’m Spartacus’ who is a direct son of ‘Black Opium’ that was sold to a Chinese fancier for ‘mega bucks’. Nigel’s yearling is closely related to his hen which was 1st NFC section K from Saintes when only two section birds were recorded on the day. I’m told that the bird has already scored twice in the Yorkshire Progressive HS this season and he is a real character in the loft. Once again the ‘Apple and Tree’ saying being proved correct! It is worth noting that Laycock birds also filled 5th and 7th section placings with velocities of 1207 and 1205 respectively. A great result on a hard day.

Ryan & Nigel Lacock

 

Brown & Jones of Balby grab 3rd North section position with a grand three year old blue hen which is a beauty with good balance. She is bred down from a fine old Van de Weyer  cock which is called ‘Old Favourite’ and most of the loft mates are related to the is old warrior. Their timer like the rest of their small team is raced on the Roundabout system and obviously she likes it!

Paul Brown of Brown & Jones

 

Fenwick and Howard strike for 4th North section. I visited this loft a couple of years ago and I must say they have a formidable loft of pigeons this has been reflected in the amount of times their name appears prominently on the MNFC results. The bird ‘flying the flag’ on this occasion being a two year old blue hen which Rob got off a ‘pigeon chat’ swap. Can you guess the breed? Surprise, surprise it’s another Peter Van der Merwe pigeon. Obviously these birds are the ones for the MNFC at the middle distances anyway. The hen herself is flown on the roundabout system and has been very consistent this season and has appeared on both club and fed results.

Rob Fenwick & family

The Belper loft of M & J Gaunt, which is a well known name in the area as other members of the family also race with much success, takes 1st North East section with a velocity of 1216. There bird is also a 2 year old blue hen. The bird is Janssen based and the sire was purchased a couple of years ago at Blackpool and was from the German combination of Mack & sons.

2nd NE section is filled by Mansfield’s Ron & Nigel Dennett. We normally see their name up in lights at the longer distances but it looks as if their bird is already in top form as it was in the top ten of section K with the NFC just one week previously, yet another hen, this time a 3 year old blue w/f and she is 1/2 sister that has won a gold medal from Messac. She records a velocity of 1213 and not far behind the Gaunt’s section topper. I can truthfully say that this loft of pigeons is as good as any in the country when the longer races come around and they don’t keep an army of birds either. it’s ‘quality not quantity’ with these lads that’s for sure.

Ron & Nigel Dennett

3rd in the NE is yet another previous National winner in the form of Shirebrook’s Andrew Newton. His bird is just pipped for second spot by .3 of a yard. Once again the timer is a hen and yet another 2 year old. This hen obviously loves the ‘boss’ and the photograph endorses this fact. I’m sure that the ‘boss’ loves her as well as the week previously she won 1st NMCC from Carentan. There is little doubt that Andrew and a good few more certainly know what makes a good hen ‘tick’.

Andrew Newton

New Houghton is the location of the 4th NE section winners, a father and son partnership Dovaston & Son competing with the MNFC for the first time and they break the sequence by timing in a blue cock Van Loon bred by Ray Lander I’m informed and he recorded a velocity of 1205. Though the pigeon is once again a 2 year old he has already won a 1st and 2nd prize this season and won 2nd from Falaise in 2012. All in all it certainly did seem to be a good day for the 2 year olds!

Dovaston & Son

Looking at the new North North West section once again in 2nd position are Leach Brothers of Hebden Bridge and once again it is another 2 year old doing the damage this time in the form of a Mealy cock which finishes in a very creditable 75th Open.

A yearling blue hen is in 3rd spot for Vaun Baker of Todmorden. It really is good to see these further flyers getting on the result and being able to compete in a section offering a reasonable chance of success.

In 4th section in the NNW is Peter Heywood of Chipping who clocked an ’07 blue hen which has some good wins on her CV. She is M & D Evans based pigeon having the lines of Shadow, Jester, Carrie, Gentiel and Crystal in her breeding.

Peter Heywood

I am always happy to see a helper of the Midlands National being rewarded and one of these people has won the South Centre section recording 1208. That man is Bill Marbrow the farmer from Whitwick. Bill was one of the people who helped us to purchase of the MNFC’s first Geraldy transporter and what a wise buy it has proved to be because without doubt the Club’s ability to offer 1st class transporting conditions has helped the organisation move forward and built us a good reputation for looking after our members’ pigeons. The Committee of the MNFC will never forget that Bill. The pigeon that has done the trick for farmer Bill on this occasion is a celibate yearling pied cock bred from Mr & Mrs Kirkland stock and a brother to him has already notched up 5 wins for his owner. It looks like you have a super pair of breeders there sir! Bill also took 3rd section as well 1200 ypm, so a good day in Whitwick!

2nd in this section are Summers Brothers & Daughter and like Bill they clocked a yearling grizzle cock on 1204. Unfortunately I have no further details on this pigeon or the 4rd placed bird belonging to Erdington fancier C P Mahon; both were left message but up to now no response. So apart from telling readers that it is a yearling blue cock I have no further details I’m afraid. I do wish members who have birds in the first four positions on the leaderboard would either send me an email or give me a call with the details. It’s a simple case of helping me to help yourselves. One man who has done just that is Jim Dutton of J & G Dutton who take 5th place in the South centre. The bird certainly has an impressive pedigree being bred from Stuart Innett stock being a son of ‘X Factor’ 3x1st Fed as a baby when paired to a daughter of Stuart’s 2007 Vanroabaeys race winner. Jim says “This cock has done us proud over the last couple of years and in our first ever MNFC we got 16 out of 20 home’’.

Heading out East now and though the conditions didn’t favour this side of the country we still saw some excellent performances. In fact it is worth studying the results for the most disadvantaged locations because the ones that shine on these days have exception National pigeons, birds that have an inbuilt ‘sat nav’ fitted. These are the ones we should be on the lookout for if we hope to do well in National racing.

A team that seems to have these type of birds is Frank & George Bristow who not only won 1st but also 2nd East section. Both of these birds are bred from direct Eric Ceulemans pigeons and both are yearlings hens which the Bristow’s favour for racing on the widowhood system. In fact Frank told my informant Dave that their first four arrivals were yearling hens that were racing back to retired racing cocks.

3rd East section is taken by Peter & Mark Beadle who timed an experienced 5 year old Herman x Busschaert hen that was sent racing on the roundabout system. This hen I’m told comes from a long line of winning pigeons.

The 4th place goes to the well respected Kingston Family from over in Hull. The bird is a 2 year old chequer hen with a very impressed ‘roll of honour’ already for one so young. She is named ‘North Moor Lass’ and as a youngster she won 18th section 127th Open from Carentan. As a yearling she won 1st section K , 1st NE 700 mile club and 3rd Open Old Hens NFC Fougeres. ‘Lass’ was sent to Carentan just showing to a new mate on the natural system.

5th East section was won by a partnership in Parkin & Black who were entering their first race with the club. The bird which has got them off to a ‘flying start’ is a yearling Busschaert widowerhood cock which is bred for cross channel racing so we could see more of both this partnership and the bird in the future.

Dropping down into the South East and winning this section is Smith & Wilson 1162 who under the guidance of ‘Badger’ Wilson have been making the opposision sit up and take notice since their turning South road in 2010. In 2012 in fact the partners were 2nd Open from Bordeaux with the MNFC and this season’s section winner was 7th section 20th Open from Bordeaux. Their birds are well prepared for the longer races as they are bred down from their old Lerwick bloodlines.

Badger Wilson

In 2nd SE section are the Lettuce farmers from Sandy in Bedfordshire the Montila Brothers who are better at pigeon racing than talking about their results. They truly do let their birds do the talking for them.

The Montila boys

3rd section is filled by Graham & Linda Bowes with a yearling widower cock just 2 yards behind Robert & Peter Montila on 1154. The Bowes bird is a Van Lint x Braspenning with the grandparents all coming from Robert Lotts of Lincolnshire. The bird gave warning of its potential when he was 2nd club earlier in the season.

4th South East section is won by another yearling Blue pied cock belonging to Gordon Raku and this bird flew both Chale and Carentan with the MNFC as a young bird so will be well versed in finding its home and with Jan Aarden x Venner of Street in its breeding could well feature again as the distance increases.

Gordon Raku

The second new section the East South East was won by Tommy Hawes of Kings Lynn. The winning bird is a yearling hen that had been specifically prepared for the race and was sent sitting 16 day old eggs. She is a Flor Engels pigeon and her father has previously bred two Federation winners and her G/Sire is a super breeding pigeon with one son alone winning 15x1st prizes. Though she has been flying in the inland programme this season she did prove her homing ability in last season’s Carentan MNFC young bird national My spy tells me that she won’t be raced again this season as Tommy is a Widowerhood cocks man. Tell you what Tom it makes you think doesn’t it? The bird also beat 172 birds competing in the Norfolk Continental Fling Club which duplicates back from the MNFC.

Tommy Hawes

In 2nd section we have Her Majesty the Queen under the care of Peter Farrow the Royal Lofts manager. The bird is a yearling roundabout hen and is a granddaughter of ‘Makita’ a Dutch National winner and is Janssen based. The hen was 9th section in the NFC Carentan race a few days earlier. Peter told us that he uses Gerry Plus mix and then changes to a stronger Sport mixture for the final few days. Peter had a great race with 8 sent and 8 home before the close of the day. This hen finished second to Tommy Hawes hen in the Norfolk Cont. F C. Talk about ‘two bites of the cherry’.

Alan Maile fills the 3rd & 4th section positions with two yearling cocks which were bred of stock from Mamwell Brothers but no further details were given as the Brothers aren’t big on the pedigree side of things. Both of the cocks have scored previously with the 4th section winner being Alan’s first bird in the 2012 MNFC Chale race. Alan sent 15 yearlings and got 11 on the day so he was well pleased as it was the maiden channel race for many of them. With regards to feeding, a standard widowhood mixture is used.

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Just before I go and have a lie down in a darkened room I wish to highlight a couple of things:

I would recommend all readers take a look at the Liverpool Classic Club report which is attached to the end of this race article. In my opinion this is a BLUE PRINT to the future of pigeon racing at National level with regional clubs within the MNFC. Just imagine if your area had a similar duplication club. The sky is the limit and ensures all locations can look to a great pay day even when the wind dictates that it doesn’t suit your particular section.

Stop Press* The MNFC is proud to announce the figure for the Fougeres race this weekend with just a handful under 7,000 birds. So another bumper entry from the membership. This fantastic send will ensure another healthy prize pot for all sections. 

Liverpool Classic Club Carentan race flown on Saturday 25th May 2013

 

Hi, welcome to the Liverpool Classic Club. The second race was flown in conjunction with the MNFC when 303 birds entered by 41 lofts were liberated at 9:20 in a North East wind. In testing conditions the members put up some brilliant performances and will be high in the MNFC result. As usual the birds were in great condition when they arrived home, thanks to the transport facilities and the care bestowed upon them by the chief conveyor, Ian French. The members were racing for the usual £1300 in prize money and £456.90 in pools.

 

The race winners were Bauress and Murray of the Roby FC. This partnership consists of Jimmy Bauress, John Murray and silent partner Tod Sweeney. They timed their yearling Grizzle widowhood cock at 16:03, to record a velocity of 1271 ypm. They are trying to build a team for the Classic and National races and as most of their pigeons are yearlings they have decided to take it easy with them to get them to the 2 year old stage, when they will be more severely tested. This was only his 5th race of his life, 3 as a young bird, a land race this year then into this race. This method seems to be working for the lads. His sire is a direct Verheyen of Hofken breeding and his dam is a mixture of Ludo Claessens/Man O War/Van Loon from Mike Ganus. This pair have bred some useful pigeons; a sister to the winner was 2nd in the Liverpool Amal Gold ring last year, winning nearly £1000. He is also related to their 1st West section 4th Open MNFC winner from Tours and a winner of 4th West section MNFC Falaise. The winner is provisionally 2nd West section and 2nd Open in the MNFC race, what a performance!

 

The pigeon in 2nd place, also doing 1591ypm and only 1 second behind, is a Blue cock, another 2 year old bred by Bertels Corteel. He had minor prizes last year but has been very consistent this year, already taking 2nd and 3rd club from 4 races. He wins £300 prize money, £129.33 pools and the £275 single nom for a total of £704.33. The 4th placed bird takes £100 in prize money and £43.11 in pools, it is a 3 year old Blue cock bred from another direct Bertels Corteel cock. The dam is bred from a full brother to their 2006 North West Combine winner from Lyndhurst, this was bred by their close friends Williamson and Murphy of the Vauxhall HS, when paired to a Lambrecht bred by West Derby’s T & M King. Their pigeon in 6th place takes £75 pounds in prize money and is the full brother to the 4th placed cock. This gives the lads a grand total of £1494.88, a superb amount for a single race, with 9 more races this season they could swell their bank account even more.

 

In 3rd place is another partnership, Porter Bros of the Tailors Arms. This partnership consists of brothers John and Tony. Their pigeon is a 2 year old Blue cock flown on widowhood, he was bird of the year in the Tailors Arms last year and has many prizes to his credit, recording a velocity of 1589ypm, only 2 ypm behind the winner. He was a gift from John Blundell of Southport, who has bred many winners for himself and others and is from his Gabby Vandenabeele family. Porter Bros win £200 prize money and £86.22 in pools. The lads were also 10th taking £25 prize money, on 1583 ypm.

 

In 5th place on 1587 ypm and taking £75 in prize money are Williamson and Murphy, who had a hand in the breeding of the birds in 4th and 6th positions. In 7th place winning £50 prize money, on 1587 ypm are Miller and Sons. In 8th place winning £50 prize money, on 1587 is Vinny Maguire and in 9th is Stan Stevens, winning £25 prize money on 1584 ypm.

Ron Irons

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