MIDLANDS NATIONAL FLYING CLUB
MIKE LAKIN
VIRE
Glory for Mr & Mrs Andrew Hargreaves
As was discussed in the provisional report, both of the final races of the 2012 Old Bird season which were flown on the 23rd July had great anticipation placed upon them as the forecasters were confident of a good racing day. Let’s face it, this season has been something of a washout in every sense of the word and a year that many will be glad to see the back of! So a true racing day was something for fanciers to savour. The light North Westerly winds over much of France were to turn to more of a Southerly direction as the birds headed to the home lofts, which obviously favoured the longer flyers. This was reflected in many excellent performances.
In truth the birds had to fly with very little aid en route as the wind was almost non existent over much of the journey home. One bird which found ‘the going’ to her liking was a 3 year old blue hen belonging to the North West section’s Mr & Mrs Andrew Hargreaves of Moss Gate, which is situated just to the east of Stoke-on-Trent. This hen managed to generate a velocity of 1397, which was an average speed of just under 48 miles per hour, to become the latest Midlands National winner from Vire, beating 4,507 other entrants. Her breeding is rather hazy as though it is known that she was bred from a hen acquired from Jack Walker from Cannock off his M & D Evans ‘Shadow’ Vandenabeele line, the father is something of a mystery because her sire is a cock which returned to the Hargreaves loft minus his ring after the sale of the partners’ Janssen x Felix Pauwels sprint team a few years ago. So Andrew is rather uncertain of pedigree because the man who he thought had bought the bird assured the partners that this pigeon was still in his loft! It is of little surprise then that Andrew and Linda have named their winner ‘Mystery Girl’. She is an excellent racing pigeon and included in her previous wins are 1st Staffs Moorlands Fed from Blandford against 2,500 plus birds and 6th North Staffs fed from Portland 4,500 birds. The bird was sent sitting a 3 day old baby which Andrew had slipped under her the day before basketing and obviously this was the ‘turbo charge’ which enabled her to perform so well. I must say that this is a popular win locally for a grand couple who are a credit to our sport.
MNFC President Roy Jones (left) congratulates Mr & Mrs Hargreaves
In 1st South West section 2nd Open is a fancier that has flown brilliantly over the past few seasons and this is Peter Shaw from Wolverhampton. The bird which did the job for Peter is a 3 year old Stichelbaut which is now named ‘I need a dollar’ because on the morning of basketing Peter took him into the kitchen for his wife Sandra to give him a kiss for luck and the song ‘I need a dollar’ was playing on the radio and the pair of them ended up dancing and singing to the song. So after a dance with Pete and Sandra, off the bird went. The bird is a real star performer being the local club’s ‘Bird of the year’ and winner of the MCC ‘Gold Wings Trophy’ for the best bird of the year in 2011. For this he won the prize of sending 3 birds to the Sun City Million Dollar Race. He was sent to the Midlands National for the first time on widowhood. ‘I need a dollar’ has always drawn prize-money and gives his all in any wind so is obviously a bird that we all dream of owning. Just maybe the Shaw’s Sun City entries will win them a few thousand dollars!
3rd Open and 2nd SW section is Pete Tanner & Son from nearby Penn which is on the outskirts of Wolverhampton. The partners in fact fly in the same club as Peter and Sandra Shaw and wish them their warmest congratulations. The Tanners have enjoyed a great season with 1st Band B and 2nd Open from Fougeres with the MCCFC and have won 14 first prizes and a host of other club and fed cards. The bird that won for them is another top bird which has already got 10 x 1st to his name. He is a Wim Moens bred widowhood cock but this time he was given his hen the day before basketing and given a mix of maize, sunflower hearts and energy mix. I was informed that the partners use all the products of one of the MNFC sponsors Carr’s Aherb and feed the birds on Versele Laga and Natural corns and also like to give their pigeons Hormoform and small seeds.
It was the over into the South Centre section where we find the 4th Open winners, Mr & Mrs John Passey and family. Their bird is an M & D Evans based Vandenabeele. She is half sister to their 16th fed winner from Saintes just two weeks earlier. She was raced on widowhood earlier in the season but paired recently and sent to Vire sitting 12 days old eggs. John’s brother Alan and his daughter Zoe, who is a great help to her dad I’m told, and flying under the old family named of Alf Passey & Sons were also 4th South Centre section. The Passeys really believe in keeping it in the family because the bird they clocked is a full sister to the section topper and just like her sister is a widow hen sent paired up and sitting.
A real form loft fills 2nd NW section and 5th Open, Rochdale’s Anthony & Simon Hughes on 1374 who clocked a yearling roundabout hen which was having her 4th channel race of the season and has previously won 2nd Amal & 2nd Combine from Fougeres. These lads have been flying with devastating effect for a couple of years now with their Janssen based team of birds and if you give them an inch they will take a mile. On this day we saw an absolute ‘master class’ in middle distance pigeon racing from this father and son team and their team of pigeons. Their other placings were 3rd section 14th Open, 4th section 16th Open, 5th section 19th Open, 7th section 28th Open, 9th section 36th Open, 11th section 61st Open. They clocked their first 9 birds within 15 minutes, all in the first 102nd Open positions. Let’s make no bones about it, Rochdale is one of the least advantaged locations but they do say ‘good pigeons make good positions’ and Tony and Simon certainly have good pigeons! Many congratulations lads. To put the cherry on their cake the partners win the NW section in the ‘Yearling Elite’ race. The next North West loft was to the Manchester loft of G. Holker & Sons. Their bird is a Johan Belser x Gaston Van de Wouwer. His hen is a granddaughter of Johan’s ‘Den Oscar’ and Gaston’s ‘Kaasboer’ so it’s clear to see that this 2 year old chequer hen that was sent sitting 14 day old eggs is bred in the ‘purple’.
In 6th Open placing we have another loft that is in form and this is Shaun Bowden & Son of Whiteheath who are enjoying a grand season racing with the MNFC and look good for 3rd SW section when they clocked a yearling Chequer cock with a velocity of 1372. In 2nd section &7th Open is the SC section loft of Paul Thumbwood of Atherstone just 2 yards behind the previous pigeon. Paul was very quick to say much of the loft’s success is down to his Dad which is where the birds are kept. Paul actually lives 13 miles away so Dad’s help is invaluable. Paul’s 2nd section winner is a widowhood hen and is Wim Moen x Janssen bloodlines. She had been 1st club 4th fed only a couple of weeks previously so was fancied to do well. The loft’s second timer, which is 22nd Open, is in fact a half brother to the first timer. Yet another team of in-form racing pigeons are likely to win 8th Open and 4th SW section. This is Rugeley’s Madgin and Son. Lee and his Dad have been in the winner’s enclosure now several times this year. The latest performer is yearling blue cock which the partners call ‘Hey Jude’. This pigeon has been very consistent this season winning 1st club 9th fed from Carentan. Then has won high placings from both Fougeres and Tours with the MNFC. The bird is from their M & D Evans Vandenabeele stock.
The famous Glascote loft of Clive and Donna Yates take 3rd SC section and 9th Open position with an inbred granddaughter of ‘Golden Gaby’ from Myrtle Lofts crossed with Clive’s famed Wildies. This hen’s mother is a double section winner for the Yates team. Rounding up the top ten placings is another South West section team that of Leadbeater & Sons who are a loft with more previous than ‘Billy the Kid’. On this occasion the ‘Lebbies’ clocked the winner of the ‘Yearling Elite’ £25 pool race which will ensure that the corn bill will be no problem for a while.
George & Neil Inger take 1st NE section and are 11th Open. Their bird is a 3 year old Pencil cock of Hereman Ceusters bloodlines which Neil got from his Belgian friend Marina Vandevelde. Its grandsire is in fact a Belgian National winner. I believe the widow hen that is paired to their section winner topped section I with the NFC from Saintes on the same day. What a ‘super couple’. Must be worth a pair of latebreds eh Neil? The 2nd NE section winner is to a loft that are showing excellent form at the moment and this loft is Farrar, Son & Peters who recorded 1356 with a 2 year old blue hen which is of Andre Roodhoft breeding. She is from a ½ brother and sister mating of ‘De 036’, an Ace pigeon in the Antwerp Union. A very familiar name fills 3rd section and that is G & S Daykin & Son. One or two have suggested that Gary is having a ‘lean’ season. Well if 3 x 3rd section is a lean year it just highlights the loft’s reputation. The bird is a 2 year old blue cock and his grandparents on both sides of his pedigree are the Double National winning pairing. This pigeon has been one of the loft’s star performers this season. The 4th section winner is a Roosen bred bird for Brian & Sue Stone. He was sent noticing his hen but not driving hard. This cock has won two races earlier in the season and was their second bird from Fougeres.
Top of the class in the North section is Bill Hague of Doncaster who actually gave us the ‘old 1, 2’. The first bird on 1358 is a grandson of the Dutch combination Bleeker’s ‘Zidane’ which is of Janssen x Van Loon bloodlines. On his dam’s side she is a daughter of ‘De Keizer’ winner of 14 x 1st prizes and a former 1st Provincial Ace Pigeon and full brother to the World famed ‘Figo’, both of these cocks belonging to A. & H. Reynaert. What fantastic breeding! The 2nd section winner is from Bill’s fabulous Vandenabeele stock loft, a 3 year old grandson of Gaby’s ‘James Bond’, the National Bourges winner. His dam is ‘Trudy’ a fine breeding hen from ‘Vital Bliksem’ which Bill sold on PIPA for a huge sum a while back. This cock was from Gaby’s ‘Bliksem’ x a hen from Noel Lippens’ ‘De Vital’ the 1st Ace Long Distance pigeon. So it’s clear that Bill Hague is racing with quality stock. 3rd and 5th North section is Dave & John Hawkins. Their first bird is on 1355 just 3 yards behind the section winner. These lads have enjoyed a superb season with the club. Their bird is from the ‘42 cock’ a previous section winner from Alencon when paired to a daughter of ‘Golden Gaby x Lady Bliksem; this hen has previously won 6th section from Tours for the partners. 4th section is Rob Fenwick with a yearling hen raced on the roundabout system and she is the same way bred as his previously reported 3 x National placed cock. The breeding to recap is Nigel Laycock Soontjen x Vandenabeele, her sire being ‘Home James’ and the dam the much famed ’64 Hen’. This loft is one of the area’s most consistent lofts.
I wish to give a mention to Keith Fields of Goldthorpe. Keith has been a good flyer for many years. In 2011 Keith was very poorly and but for his good friend Geoff Stables who cared for the pigeons Keith would have had to retire from the sport. It is fitting that the 2 year old widower cock is part bred from Geoff’s Van Loon lines x with a Peter Van de Merwe purchased at Blackpool a few years ago. The bird was on his fifth trip over the channel this season.
It was a familiar name at the top of the East section that name being Frank Bristow of Horbling. Frank clocked a 3 year old Ceulemans widowhood cock. Frank thought he had a good timer because he was 4 minutes in front of his good yearling hen which won 1st section from both Carentan and Fougeres earlier in the year. Well now she has a 2nd section to go with her two previous section wins. What a little cracker! In 3rd and 4th section is our Scottish friend Ian Cameron of Broadholme. Ian has over the last few years been very successful with the MNFC and had a good weekend from both Vire and Bordeaux. Ian’s 3rd East section winner is a 2 year old chequer cock which won 4th section last season from the same racepoint. He is a Camphuis x Herbots/Van Loon. His dam is now at stock after winning 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 7th section with the MNFC and topping the Lincs Fed against 4,700 birds. The 4th section winner just one minute behind his loftmate is Dark Chequer Peter VD Merwe from a Darren Peters cock x a hen from the Macaloney ‘Dream Pair’. 5th East section were Mr & Mrs Derek Taylor who timed a 3 year old cock on his first channel crossing and he appears to have enjoyed it. The bird is from two birds off Steve Sutton of Rawcliffe Bridge. The sire is a double grandson of Evans & Cuthbert’s super breeder ‘5454’. This Middlesborough based team are something of ‘One Loft’ specialists with both excellent placings and a car being won by their ‘Burn toft’ pigeons. The dam is ‘Killer x Dream Machine’ blood. ‘Killer’ won no less than 14 x 1st Fed and is a RPRA Award winner. While ‘Dream Machine’ topped the Fed 3 times with birdages of 3½ -4½ thousand birds.
Out West now and a familiar name, that of Derrick Jones who has now topped the section no less than 7 times in just 3 seasons and 2012 hasn’t finished yet. This latest winner is of Heesters Brothers lines and his sire was a half brother to their Double National winner. The cock has been 6th section from Tours and won 1st club 7th Fed from West Bay earlier in the year. A second bird was clocked which looks good for 4th section. Derrick told me that he had a good race with 9 birds clocked in ½ hour and all of his 23 entries were home by 3pm. Class flying from a class fancier. 2nd section is another ‘regular’ and this is George Pendleton & Son with a velocity of 1345. The lady responsible is a 2 year old Blue hen which was entered sitting the classic condition of 12 day eggs. In 2011 this Colin Lloyd Cattrysse x Janssen won 17th Open from Tours, proving her quality and she will present her owners with a cheque in excess of £1000. George tells me that her sister was timed just 7 minutes later and will win prize-money too. The partners are delighted to have all seven of their birds home in superb condition. This is the norm with the MNFC and highlights the care taken by our convoying team and our Geraldy transporters who are the ‘Rolls Royce in pigeon transport’.
3rd West section is one of my favourite partnerships and this is Heather Yates and Geoff Rogers. They were one of the founders in the early West section days and they are still often up there with the leaders. Their bird is a 2 year old roundabout hen that they acquired from Roy and Mally Wright of Doncaster who Heather and Geoff met and have become friends with since an MNFC dinner a year or two ago. The hen won 5th Fed from Carentan in 2011 and won 1st club from Frome earlier this season. She was left to sit with her mate for a few hours before basketing and it looks as if this added a few yards to her velocity.
I was delighted to see Lancaster’s Gary Spavin up with the leaders in his first effort in the MNFC. Lancaster is one of the furthest locations to compete from but Gary is a ‘class act’ and has pigeons to match. The birds are mainly based on the Hereman Ceusters and Dirk Van Dyck pigeons with a few Lambrechts and Smits Van Winckels. His first timer was having his first cross channel race and he seems to have had no problem getting home. Gary informed me that he had 8 birds clocked in 50 minutes, with 20 on the day and 3 early next morning, a good return for the 370 mile journey. When I asked Gary his secret, he laughed and said just local corn from Bamfords and Rising Bridge Mill with lashings of T3 Superherb. Gary was very complimentary of the way he was treated at both Mick Haslam’s Bolton marking station and Maurice McCartney’s clock station. He said ‘’Lancaster isn’t a favourable position for National racing but I would encourage local fanciers to have a go and try and put our patch on the map’’. I would both applaud and endorse‘Spav’s’ sentiments. There really is no ‘buzz’ like timing in a good bird from a National race.
On this occasion the South East section wasn’t favoured and accordingly they are a little lower down the result but many of the club’s best lofts in their area are very prominent. In 1st section is a previous winner of the MNFC in Bruce McAllister who actually finishes 3rd section as well as his first two birds arrived home together. The one which Bruce timed first is a Blue pied yearling cock. This was only his second channel race of the season; in the first one from Fougeres he won 19th section 40th Open. His sire is a Soontjen named ‘Champion 309’ which had the best average in the section in three channel races previously. On his dam’s side he is a grandson of ‘Ch. 24118’. This superb cock was previously 1st and 2nd NW combine from Niort. He was paired to ‘1681’ a daughter of ‘Vale Cahors’ who is also a National winner. This hen is also the mother of Bruce’s Falaise MNFC winner and to quote Bruce ‘’It’s all in the Genes!’’ How true sir.
In 2nd SE section is another multi National winning loft to Mr & Mrs Eric Corkett & Sons. Their bird is another Yearling and this bird is a Blue W/F cock which recorded 1343, just two yards behind the section winner but 1 yard in front of Bruces’s second timer. The bird is of Staf van Reet breeding and is from their friend Dean Bullock of Rippon. In 4th section are the ‘stars’ of the QDJ race Ron & Mason Fullbrook. They timed another of their fine little team of yearlings to record 1335 and they add the section’s Ylg Elite 1st to their kitty so very well done fellows. Next in the South East is Dudley Holmes and this guy is enjoying a great season. His latest performer is another yearling hen flown on the roundabout system. She is also bred in the ‘purple’, backing up Bruce McAllister’s previous comment about the genes. Her sire won 1st section on the north route from Dunbar with the NRCC as a youngster. Her dam was 3rd MNFC from Fougeres as a yearling. Dudley tells me that she only started racing this season late in June this year when she had three races down to the coast with an 80 mile toss in the midweek. In the week leading up to the Vire race she was trained three times at 50 miles then given her cock and well fed on widowhood mix and seeds for the last two days before basketing. Definetly ‘food for thought’ on this one.