North West Classic Club

The North West Classic Club had a fantastic turn out for the first Portland race of the Season with 92 members sending a total of 949 birds and total prize and pool pot of over £2500. The birds were liberated at 8.45am into a very light south west wind in brilliant sunshine by Peter of PBTS after consultation with Race Controller Roger Sutton. The race was a fast one with reports of full returns and the 210 birds shown on the final result confirmed this to be the case. All three sections were represented in the first six positions and prize and/or pool monies of £2500 was split amongst 43 pigeons with no one section dominating.

Brian Holland 1st & 5th Section C and 1st & 13th Open. Report submitted by Brian Holland. Brian Holland of Wigan strikes gold with a 2yr old blue widowhood cock of the Flor Engels bloodlines. This cock now named Dancing Brave claimed 1st section B and 1st open North West Classic Portland flying 204 miles and taking just 3 hours and 19 minutes to record a velocity of 1800 yards per minute. He was 15 yards per minute clear of his nearest rival even having lost a minute at the home end. The sire is a direct son of Flor Engels Champion 584 whilst the dam is a winner of 17th open NWGN Sartilly 335 miles winning £212 also 5th open NWGN Nantes 435mls winning £365 and The Stewardess Cup for the 1st nominated hen. She is also dam of 3rd open NWGN Falaise 335mls winning £250 and now the dam of a 1st open North West Classic Club winner. The 2nd pigeon in the clock claiming 5th section B and 13th open is a cheq cock we call Dodger who was 7th club 12th amal 13th combine Yeovil a few weeks ago. Dodger is the nest mate to our best yearling, a white cock called Young Elvis who followed Dodger in once again in this Classic race.  His CV for this year reads 2nd club 2nd amal Kempsey 96mls, 3rd club 16th amal Cheltenham 112mls, 4th club 6th amal Yeovil 176mls, 7th club 18th amal Portland 204 miles and now 7th sec 27th open North West Classic Portland. This nest pair are the only two birds bred from stock cock Elvis in 2006 due to his eggs getting smashed.  Elvis escaped from the stock lofts last year but returned two hours later trapping like a rocket when called, hence his name, Elvis return to sender. The Dam of Dodger and Young Elvis is a grand daughter of our super breeder Blue Sapphire bred by the crack pigeon fliers the Leadbeaters from Rugeley. This cock has absolutely filled our lofts with top prize winners both sprinting and at the distance. One cock off him NWHU01N3266 has gone to the Rugeley Lofts this year after winning many prizes in club and amal as well as 9th sec 11th open North West Classic Tours 450mls then 2nd sec 7th Open North West Classic Saintes 545 miles winning £254. I race my own family of birds, which I have blended, from the finest bloodlines obtainable in order to create a versatile family of sprint to middle distance birds. These are Flor Engels direct and from Jozef and Dirk Evenapole Belgium, Marc Pollins direct and from good friends Brian, David and Barry Leadbeater from the Midlands, M and D Evans Vandenabeeles direct and from good friends Charlie McArdle and Terry Archbold of Liverpool, also Walter Docx from McArdle and Archbold.  Brian’s Staf Van Reets are from John Hankey Wigan, Janssens from Harrison and Hull of Preston, Smits Van Winkel from Gary Spavin Lancaster and a few old Wildermeerch lines back from Brian Leadbeater and Dave Hart Liverpool. For the ease of the bone all old birds are flown on total widowhood and the birds are fed on a mixture of corns from John Winstanleys corn store in Bryn, Wigan and Nigel and Julie Byrons Blue Sky Feeds in Golborne. All the birds are cleaned out once per week on Saturdays, which is my day off work and while the birds are away at the races. My good friend Gary Spavin of Lancaster where I have my birds regularly screened for the common pigeon ailments looks after the birds’ health. I also use Gary’s herbal teas and tinctures on a regular basis and I would like to thank Janet and Dave Hull of Preston for taking me up to Gary Spavins 2yrs ago. I am sure that it is my conscientious approach to my birds’ health and the long-term benefits of Gary’s herbal system that has helped my birds to race more consistently in recent times. I have not been out of the top six positions in any race this Season in fact I have won 4 of the first 8 club races and have topped the Amal and Combine. Also Janet, Dave, Beryl and Gary Spavin have become very close friends of mine over the last 2 years not forgetting Ian Peddar of Garstang and all these Fanciers figure prominently in the open result. Thank you all and a special thank you to John Hankey of Wigan who has been a close friend since I was in short pants and we still chat regularly at weekends. Good luck to everyone for the rest of the season and most importantly enjoy your pigeons. Win, loose or draw there is always next week and as Mike Lycett says you’ve got to be in it to win it and as Teddy Foster says never let it be said your mother bred a jibber.

Mr & Mrs Jimmy Dickens 2nd, 3rd & 4th Section B and 2nd, 3rd & 7th Open. Jimmy and Susan Dickens are a real danger in any race they compete in and this Portland race was no exception as they clocked three birds in under a minute. First in the clock was a red yearling cock that has previously scored at Yeovil 1 where he was 1st club, 2nd Warrington Fed, 2nd South Lancs Combine, 2nd Central Lancs Combine West and also at Portland when he was 2nd club, 3rd Warrington Fed, 3rd South Lancs Combine. His breeding is SVR from Jimmy and Sue’s original family, the Terror lines, when paired to a daughter of Stranger the famous Albert Marcelis racer. Two seconds later they clocked a 2yo hen also a Terror line SVR crossed this time with a Vandenabeele. This was 2nd club, 2nd New Lancs Fed and 3rd South Lancs Combine at Cheltenham then went on to win 1st club, 1st New Lancs Fed, 1st South Lancs Combine, 1st Central Lancs Combine West at Yeovil 1. The third pigeon to be clocked was a Terror line SVR hen that had 3 x 1st prizes as a yearling and this was her first prize this year as a 2yo.

Peter Heywood 6th Section B and 17th Open. Peter clocked a Janssen hen flown natural sitting 10 days. This yearling hen was 3rd Section & 61st Open in the Bamfords Gold Ring Spectacular race last year and this year has won 1st Bamber Bridge Open Shrewsbury, 7th club & 9th fed Shrewsbury and 29th Fed Cheltenham. Her Dam was bird of the year in north-west Lancs Federation and also bred the Preston Westside Futurity winner in 2005.

Ian Peddar 1st & 6th Section C and 4th & 11th Open.  Following on from his double NWCC Open wins of 2006 at Lulworth and Lessay Ian Sherman Peddar this time wins 1st Section C and 4th Open.  His winner Snapewood Slayer is a Schellens-Van-Reet blue widowhood cock who has been a consistent performer this year winning 1st Kempsey, 1st Cheltenham and 1st Lune Valley two bird. Ian then clocked Snapewood Classic, a blue widowhood cock of the Colign Ganus x Hession SVR lines that was the NWCC open race winner from Lulworth in 2006. These bloodlines have flown consistently well for Ian since their introduction. A man that prefers to let the pigeons do the talking, his wins in open races and two bird clubs are as good as anyone’s in the Northwest. The pigeons are flown on the dual widowhood system with both sexes flying equally as well. No blind anti-biotic treatments are used at this loft, preferring to use Gary Spavin’s herbs and having his bird’s health regularly checked. Ian feels that one of the biggest problems in the fancy today is the blind treatment and misuse of anti-biotics.

Gary Spavin 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Section C and 5th, 8th, 9th and 10th Open. Flying 243 miles four pigeons arrived together and were in the clock in a flash for Gary Spavin of Lancaster. Taking 2nd section 5th open on a velocity of 1777.7 is a blue chequer widowhood cock of Heremans-Ceusters breeding. Being a grandson of the Witpen AS a winner of 18 1sts and sire of many winners including 1st national. Next in the clock on a velocity of 1776.8 and finishing 3rd section and 8th open is a blue chequer widowhood cock of Dirk and Louis Van Dyck and contains the blood of the famous Kannibal 1st national Asduif K.B.D.B.  Third to be clocked with a velocity of 1775.3 and winning 4th section, 9th open is a blue chequer widowhood cock of the same breeding, containing the blood of Den Bourges 2nd national Bourges 40.401 birds. On a velocity of 1774.5 winning 5th section 10th open is a blue chequer Janssen cock bred by his good friends Dave and Janet Hull from the Preston partnership of Harrison & Hull. When I spoke to Gary he was very pleased with the way the pigeons had come in the race as his time is very limited due to the present workload he has with his herbal products and pigeon screening service, spending more time with other peoples pigeons than his own.

G Holker and Sons 1st Section A and 6th Open. Flying in the Swinton area of Manchester brothers Jeff and Hank compete with Whitefield Club and Irwell Valley Federation. They race predominantly four breeds of pigeons, Flor Engels, Janssens, Lindalaufs and their original family of Busschearts. These birds have been responsible for some great channel wins for the Holker brothyer over the years including 1st NFC in 1997 and 1st Open NWGN and 2nd Open NWCC. Whilst they prefer channel racing Jeff and Hank think that the Portland races in the NWCC are a great addition, complimenting the existing channel race programme and allowing members to keep their land birds going whilst over organisations are over the Channel. They have always flown their birds on the roundabout system as they believe their hens to be every bit as good as their cocks. The bird that finished 1st Section A and 6th Open is indeed one of their roundabout hens. Bred by a good friend in Belgium, this 2yo hen was 1st Portland the week prior to the NWCC Portland and had previously been 2nd Cheltenham.

A Boon 2nd Section A and 14th Open. It was a yearling hen flown on a semi widowhood system that Alan Boon clocked. This hen is bred from a pair of Ralph Greenwood birds purchased at his entire clearance sale, the hen by Alan and the cock by his mate Albert Langslow. The pair of stock birds are paired together and Alan and Albert share the youngsters between them. Three weeks ago Alan thought his cocks were becoming a little bit jaded so he turned his widowhood system on its head putting the hens in the box section and the cocks in the perched section flying the hens on widowhood. 

Bonicci, Pasaila & Curtis 3rd Section A and 18th Open. The partnership clocked a yearling Dutch Verbree cock that had previously topped the Fed as a young bird and been 18th Open in the Bamfords Gold Ring Spectacular. Full brother to this cock has won two races this Season being a consistent pigeon.

J Crehan & O’Conner 4th Section A and 19th Open. Details written by John Crehan. He is a 3 yr old widowhood cock, from my number one pair of Peter Van De Merwe Janssens previously breeders of 7 x 1st fed winners to date, he has topped the fed before and was my best young bird in 2004, well done to my fellow club members G.Holker & Sons, A.Boon, and Bonicci, Pasaila & Curtis.We are all flying members of Kersal Vale HS and it  just shows what a strong club it is with its club members taking  the top four positions in the section.

G Buckley 5th & 6th Section A and 20th & 22nd Open. Gavin timed in two widowhood cocks both gift pigeons, the first a Janssen bred by Pat Duffy of Bolton was 2nd club Portland the week prior to the NWCC race. The second a Ritvic was bred by G & G Bennett of Rochdale and this is one of Gavin’s consistent racers. Gavin enjoys competing with the NWCC because of the strong competition that there is in the club. 

Result System. The results are published onto the NWCC website www.northwestclassicclub.com by Sunday afternoon, which takes some effort, by Andy, Les Parkinson and myself. Each of us adds the result data from our respective marking stations into the NWCC laptops and then it is emailed to a central computer for it to be collated and a final result compiled. This is the new technology that the NWCC invested in two years ago and it is now operational, we still have a few snags at the moment which is why birdage etc is not printed on the result but we hope to have this perfected as the Season goes along. Members just need to appreciate that getting the result out within 24 hours of the race takes the officials most of their Sunday morning and that they are working hard to ensure the Membership have results published online the day after the race.

Race Programme 2007

26/5/07 Fougeres, 02/6/07 Portland, 09/6/07 Messac, 16/6/07 Portland, 23/6/07 St Nazaire, 30/6/07 Portland, ? /7/07  Niort (Will be liberated either 13/7 or 15/7 no Saturday Liberation due to Bastille Day in France), 01/9/07 Swainswick, 08/9/07 Portland ( Open Race), 15/9/07 Picauville incorporating the NWCC Gold Ring Race 2007.

New Applications 2007

The Classic is open to lofts flying at least 407 miles from Nantes within the radius of 2.00.00 W on the eastern boundary and Open on the Western boundary. There are three corridor sections each with prize monies and pools as well as open prize money and pools; the NWCC paid out nearly £23,000 during 2006. The NWCC is unique in that offers specialist racing both on land and channel thus catering for all Northwest Fanciers. Members wishing to join the NWCC should contact the Secretary Andy Galley, 16 Hibbert Cres, Failsworth, Manchester. M35 0RQ Tel 0161 657 1897, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. website www.northwestclassicclub.com Subscriptions for 2007 are £15 and the joining fee is £5. Come on get your applications in and compete with the best for the rest of this year.

My contact details. Janet Hull 205 Brownedge Rd, Bamber Bridge, Preston, Lancs PR5 6UT

Tel. 01772 467882 or 467794 Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.