STAFFORDSHIRE MOORLANDS & DISTRICT FEDERATION

by Thomas Garvie

Well yet another season has drawn to a close. Some will say none too soon, others will say the opposite but either way it has been a quick year and the birds are really well into the moult now. Well ours are as all our birds are reared naturally. I know a lot of fliers who always use the darkness system with young birds but it is something I have never contemplated using as I always felt it was trying to turn Nature around. Plenty of folk are quite happy using this system so I suppose it is up to each individual member what they do with their birds.

When I first started racing well a few years in to it I had never heard of the darkness system as nobody in my club had ever used it but those that did speak about it always said that young birds flown on darkness never made the grade as yearlings. I know lots of good fliers who race well after the youngsters reach the yearling stage and beyond but I also know men who try darkness with youngsters but insist they have a bad year when they get to the yearling stage particularly when they are asked to fly the channel. Opinions are divided but in any case it is not for me so the outcome as yearlings does not concern me.

Our fed finished with a 5 bird classic instead of a normal fed race and it was flown from Carentan. I suppose when it gets to this stage of the season natural youngsters will have no chance of flying this race, well I would think not if they are anything like ours. They would need a new coat of feathers glued on to them and even if you did send them they would have no chance against youngsters with a full set of feathers. Also, I myself see no need to get our young birds to Carentan as I am happy to get them to the coast at Poole as by then they will have had plenty experience. I think it is all about having them learn the ropes about getting out of the basket and flying home. I have to admit when I raced in Scotland they would always fly the full programme because a lot of the time they would not always get to fly too far as in a lot of cases they were being brought back to a shorter racepoint. Occasionally they would get about 145 miles in them whereas down here they start about 100 miles so after about four or five races that is about enough as when they get to Poole it is over 180 miles and that is plenty. These are just my own opinions as everybody has their own ideas as to how far birds should go and how much schooling they actually need.

Going back to the race, the birds were liberated at 11-00 am after a one day holdover because of bad weather on the Saturday and they were up in a south west wind, which I am told was very strong [we were away at the time so were not able to check the wind]. I was told that some members had very bad returns but then again I know some personally who had great returns so the wind was equal for everybody and there can be no complaints. Well there shouldn't be. You have to accept the race controller's decision as it is a very difficult job and there never seems to be a rush of takers for this important post. Until you try it then don't knock it because nobody can get it spot on every time. I think Roy does a great job and having recently spoke with Roy he said when racing had finished it was the first weekend he had actually slept and when he woke on the Saturday he actually felt relieved that it was over for another year. He likes the job [must be nuts] but imagine how it must feel every weekend when a race is approaching and you have to try and watch for the weather and check with as many other race controllers as possible and then try and watch for a window when you can try and get the birds up so they have the best chance of getting home. I did it for a season in Scotland, well assistant controller, but at the time the then race controller never had a computer so I was constantly checking the weather and watching online for other feds liberating their birds. I can assure you it is a very time consuming task and a high pressured job for which you get no thanks only criticism when it does occasionally go wrong. As the AGM is not yet upon us it is not too late if you want to get your name in for the job but I doubt if there will be many takers apart from Roy, who I sincerely hope is still planning to continue for a while yet.

Drifting back to the race, 34 members entered 140 birds in the classic [there were plenty other birds just sent from the clubs in their race but they chose not to enter the classic] and winning the race were Lomas & Shufflebotham from Berryhill. Well done to them. Runner up was L Claughan from Packmoor and District. The winners flew approximately 259 miles in 4 hours 54 minutes. Having looked down the full result for the classic I do see my friend Roy Jones has actually timed two and I do like a race controller who has faith in his ability and enters his own birds in races so he is certainly not going to take silly risks with his own birds. Well done to all who timed in from this race. The winning velocity was 1547.856 also winning just under £600 with the runner up doing 1537 winning just over £200 so yet another race where you can win a tidy sum.

A few club notes now starting with Ipstones where 6 members sent 30 birds and winning here was K Champ on 1521 with a young cock, next were R & J Goodwin & son on 1356 with a young hen, taking the next two club places were Burton & Jones on 1335 with a cock and a hen next on 1302. I would like to thank Mr J White for sending me the club results every week [but if possible could you please give me some info on the winners each week or something about the birds as it makes for more interesting reading]. Macclesfield now where 6 members sent 51 and taking the red card again is the future looking ace young Joe Flood [14 years old] clocking a Flor Engels x Jansen on 1539. The lad bred the bird himself off birds given to him by D Parsons of Manchester and fellow club member Stuart Goldstraw. Joe also took third and fourth places to cap off a great race and year with velocities of 1398 and 1391 with a Vandenbeele hen off Boulton and Perry from Newcastle and a Staf Van Reet he also bred himself but Martin Hough in second place prevented a clean sweep on 1536. Martin bred this cock with the dam being a Staf Van Reet from the late Fred Russ stock with the sire being a Duggins Jansen. The club's old bird inland averages were won by Rick Geary & son with Kev Moore being runner up., Rick and son also won the water averages with Martin Hough being runner up. This consistent team won the combined averages as well and in his first season racing young maestro Joe Flood won the young bird averages with club PO Kev Bowers being runner up and again I would like to thank Kev for his continual sending plus providing some very good info on the winners and their birds. Unfortunately I cannot seem to find the BlytheBridge or Meir results as Roy seems to have amnesia lately as I just recently told him he never sent the Poole results. You can now see the pressure he is under as he forgets everything but he did manage to send me one snippet and I was as surprised as he was when he gave me the Alton result for this race. The winner was his close friend John Cresswell. While telling Roy the result John was still well inebriated and much the worse for over indulging in the demon drink and the only words Roy could make out were "I've done it at last", then "fifty pound a pair" was ringing in Roy's ears. Roy says he has to feel sorry for his poor wife who is married to a man in this state. 7 members sent 42 birds to the race and J K S Cresswell won on 1504, next was M Brindley on 1483 then D Hayes & son had the next two on 1470 and 1376. It would be nice if the club could send results every week as it only takes a few minutes each week as I have to put all the time in. Thanks Roy for sending me all the results [when you can remember that is]. Last club [but not least] is my own club Hayfield IOC where 3 members sent 17 birds and having a fantastic race was J L Gibb winning on 1332. Jim was also fourth in the club and this bird was actually the last bird in the club that was clocked on the day and had a velocity of 1315. Taking second and third was Mr Nanny AKA Steve Warhurst on 1330 and 1325. The members told me that they had all been ringing around each other asking if they had any birds home yet and the answer was no when within a space of about five minutes four birds arrived, two for Jim and two for Steve. As I said, that was it on the day but the following morning Jim clocked another two and these were the only six birds home. The velocities for Jim's two morning birds were 783 and 606 so it was a tough race.

We paid a visit to Chris Mourne to pick up a young bird he was very kindly giving us and Chris, who up to this race had been having a very good season, told me that he had still then never seen a feather from any of the five birds he had sent and he said two in particular were very god cocks indeed. So it sometimes does make you wonder where the birds go to and these three members, Jimmy, Steve and Chris only have yards of a difference in their loft positions and two time yet one doesn't. I know that being close means nothing really in races but the birds were probably all in the same basket so how do four make it home at once then nothing till next day when another two make it quite close together then that it is.

We paid a visit to Jim Gibb yesterday to take a couple of photos of him and his birds. It was mainly the winning cock from Carentan I wanted to see and I have added a photo of Jim holding him in his back garden but he also brought out a four year old cock to show me and added that this cock had won him at least eight races that he could remember and probably more if he checked his books. It was a super handling bird, extremely well built, as indeed sprinters have to be. The two Jim showed me were a bit moulty so they do not look perfect in the photos. For his age Jim has a very nice garden and when we were walking down to his lofts [wish I had taken a photo] the first thing I noticed was that his lofts were almost completely blocked off by huge trees right in front of the loft and also at the side. It made the lofts very hard for the birds to get into unless they swung round the house and came in from the other side but the trees are not in Jim's garden so there is little he can do about it. It is also a very steep climb down to Jim's lofts and he is struggling now as he has leg problems. My wife Liz asked him why he does not get ETS then he could watch the birds arrive from his patio. Jim said the price of running electricity to the lofts would be astronomical. Well in real terms to you and I that equates to about 50 quid but as Jim is tighter than two coats of paint then spending that is out of the question!

Jim Gibb with his Carentan winner

I asked Jim how he first got in to pigeons as I thought it might be a family thing but was surprised to learn that his first love was poultry and he only got into pigeons because a stray landed one day and was picking about with his hens. Jim reported the bird and said he would toss it once it had had a bite to eat and a drink but every time he tossed the bird it came back so Jim told the owner he would send it on the race transporter to see if it would come back to him or go back to its owner. When it went back to Jim he was smitten and he transferred the bird and that was the start of his racing career. That stray bird did eventually go on to win for Jim and that was way back in 1954 so he has had birds a very long time. Jim's birds are a cross between Soontjens and Mardon Staf Van Reets as he is only interested in sprint racing as he says he cannot be bothered now waiting all day and maybe not getting a bird at all. I told Jim that was the only racing we were interested in [racing from France] as it is a great feeling when you time birds in on the day from 500 plus miles so you can imagine how we felt timing 3 on the night from Saintes which is about 540 miles whereas sprint races are done and dusted in a couple of hours and that is the day over. Jim races his birds on widowhood and he puts his youngsters on darkness and he only treats for canker and the obligatory vaccination for PMV plus he one spots them once a year for lice and worms. Jim informed me that probably his best achievement was when a while back he topped the section from Messac and he has also topped the section with young birds. Jim's winning cock from Carentan was a pure Staf Van Reet.

Jim's super winning cock

Well that is about all regarding racing but I want to add a brief word or two about our last place we stayed in Morocco because I know I have at least one fan interested as he may visit their next year. After our fab time in Marrakesh we had a three and a half our drive to the coastal resort of Oulidia and the drive is not boring as there is so much to see and you actually drive through the vast fishing town of Safia. The driver informed us that about 80% of the world's sardines are caught and exported from here. We arrived at our hotel very relaxed and the hotel [La Sultanna] is absolutely stunning, as good as you will get anywhere in the world. The views were absolutely stunning as it has its own private beach in front of a beautiful lagoon and a few nights we ate at the edge of the lagoon on the jetty just as the sun was setting. I will add a few of the photos from here at a later date but it is a protected bird sanctuary and some of the birds were stunning. A few times we got a boat over to a small strip of land that keeps the lagoon seperate from the Atlantic and we had a picnic there and just spent some time relaxing and reading. We did climb down the other side to the beach there just watching the waves from the Atlantic crashing against the rocks but the beach here was gorgeous and you hardly met anybody except the odd fisherman. So if you are visiting Morocco and want to stay at a gorgeous beach resort which is not to busy then this is the hotel for you as away at the far end of the lagoon it reminded me of Blackpool beach, when it was busy.

That is all I have time for at the moment but as I said I will add a few photos of our hotel here in the next piece I write. If you have anything you want to send me about your club's prize winners or any outstanding performances during this past season then please send it to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or give me a call on 01663 733317 before 7pm if possible. Bonsoir from TG.