STAFFORDSHIRE MOORLANDS & DISTRICT FEDERATION
by Thomas Garvie
Well, here we are at the penultimate race in the old bird season and it is a short comeback race from Hullavington before the final race from Saintes. With this race being so close to the marking for Saintes, which is on a Tuesday, I wonder how many folk, if any, would risk sending their Saintes candidates to this race because even at a short distance anything can happen and there is even the possibility of a holdover, which in July you would not think remotely possible but of late the weather has been terrible. On the day of the race the weather was bad at the race point and the birds had to be held till afternoon so it would have been risky to send the Saintes birds. I never even contemplated sending ours to Hullavington as they had some training and they have been out flying with the young birds for the past two weeks. They certainly keep them going and they have also been flagged when out alone so I am confident they are fit enough to go without sending to Hullavington
As I am writing this today and along with the last two days the rain has been incessant and the winds would blow you away, which in mid July is ridiculous. You expect to be worrying if it is too warm for birds but they certainly will not be hot in this weather. It is so bad just now we cannot even let the young birds out and thus we are behind with training but hopefully it will pick up a bit so we can get in some more tosses before the first race. If the weather does not greatly improve then there is the chance we might not get sending the birds to the first race but hopefully we will still have time to catch up a bit. They have had three tosses from twenty miles and four from about ten miles so it is not too bad but we want to get a few tosses from Stone before the racing. If we could get them there at least three times then I think that would be enough but to do that then the weather has to vastly improve.
As I mentioned, the birds had to be held till afternoon and the convoy of 1334 birds which were sent by 116 members were released at 13-00 in a west south west wind. A new name at the top of the fed was S. McDermott from Stafford who won with a three year old cock on a velocity of 1558 for the 88 mile flight to his loft and he had another two in the top ten on 1531.3 with a three year old cock and 1530 with a seven year old cock [had to look at that twice, not many birds last that long]. Taking the next two fed places was excellent flier K Pettitt from Blyth Bridge who is never far from the top and his two birds flew 102 miles with speeds of 1549 with a two year old cock and a yearling hen on 1541. Challinger & Collett from Meir were next on 1540 with a three year old cock. G. Sargeant from Stafford was next on 1536.9 with a two year old cock then we had M. Dlaczyszyn from Newcastle on 1536.1. T. Woolrich & Son from Packmoor were on 1531.2 with a two year old cock. Need Bros from Berryhill took the tenth spot on 1530 with a two year old hen. That is the top fed positions so well done to everybody who competed.
The sections were made up with the west section where 66 members sent 786 birds and this section was won by race winner S. McDermott but there were a few clubs from this section that did not send. The north section had 22 members sending 228 birds [the top ten in this section all went to Poynton and this club always does extremely well so maybe somebody from there would like to send some info on all the winning birds?] but winning the section was P Stanway. The east section had 28 members sending 320 birds and winning this section was the ever consistent K Pettit.
Before I do a few club results I would like to again mention the fed website which is www.moorlandsfedpigeons.co.uk and it is here that ALL clubs should send their results and it is on the fed website where you will always see the race liberations FIRST.
Some clubs now starting with Ipstones who I wish would send some info along with the results as it would only take a few minutes but they had six members sending sixty birds and first and second was D Glover on 1514 with a two year old cock then a four year old cock on 1500.6 and then narrowly in third place was K Champ on 1500.5 with a yearling cock and fourth were R & J. Goodwin and son on 1494 with a two year old cock.
Macclesfield now where seven members sent 77 birds and having another outstanding race were father and son Rick and Simon Geary who took the first four places on 1507, 1506, 1497 and 1496. Their first bird, which has carded many times this season, was a widowhood cock Soontjen x Rietvink which they bred themselves. Their second pigeon was again a two year old widowhood cock which won the first Hullavington race and is a Soontjen x Hybrecht. Their third bird was a yearling widowhood cock which won the Messac race for them and is a Soontjen x Vandenabeele and their fourth bird was a yearling Staf Van Reet x Hybrecht and this bird was 1st section Fougeres with the NWCC. Well done to this partnership. The prize money must be accumulating now Rick [not that you care about the money Rick].
Blythe Bridge now and five members sent 78 birds and first and second here [which was no surprise] was K. Pettitt on 1549 with a two year old blue cock and this was also second fed. His second pigeon was a yearling hen on 1541 and this bird was 3rd fed. The next two places went to M/M A Hargreaves with a three year old cock on 1518 and then a two year old hen on 1516. This partnership fly extremely well but it seems an impossible task to beat K. Pettitt at the moment.
Meir had ten members sending 108 pigeons and taking the red card were Challinger and Collet on 1540 with a grizzle cock [have to admit I like the grizzles myself]. Next were Adams Brs on 1519 with a blue cock, and third and fourth were P G Shore and son [another new name to me] and they were on 1506 with a blue hen and then a blue pied hen on 1493.
Last but not least my own club Hayfield IOC and six members sent 39 birds. Taking yet another card was our own sprint wizard of the skies and right honourable gentleman JL Gibb who won with a four year old cock on 1475 and Jim was also third with a two year old cock on 1410 [that pays for another bag of corn Jim which is more important than turning the heating up]. In second spot were the pearly king and queen otherwise known as David and Jean Ashby on 1467 with a six year old cock on 1467 and fourth spot went to Chris Mourne on 1398 with a yearling cock. Liz and I sent three birds to this race because they were no use earlier in the season and we thought they might do better in another race but they were just the same as earlier in the season ie: still no use.
For those members who do not have a computer I have a copy of the president's July ramblings which are as follows:
Greetings All.
By the time you get to read this newsletter the last race of the 2011 season will be well under way (and for some it will already be over) and I hope we finish off with a cracking race. If we do then all I can say is “Congratulations to all those involved with race advising, convoying and liberations” for a season that has been as near perfect as it possibly could be. I know we have had one or two hard races to cope with but these were largely due to the North East winds that were blowing at the time.
Young Birds are now the order of the day and no doubt you will all be putting the finishing touches to your training programmes. I hope the week gap between the two seasons has helped this year.
Whilst talking about Young Birds you will all remember our secretary sent a note out a little while ago advising you that we would have to put the birdage costs up for the young birds due to some clubs not putting the correct number of birds in the crates. The cost of sending two transporters to inland races (on occasions only taking four or five crates) was something the Federation could not stand and equally it was obvious that the subject of “numbers of birds in crates” was one that the Federation members felt very strongly about.
When I became President one of the things I promised to do was to listen to the views of the members and on this occasion I have carried out that promise and done something about it.
In conjunction with the members of the Transport & Finance Committee the Federation has purchased a 17ft trailer which is currently being professionally racked out and will be ready for action in time for the second YB race, at the latest. This will mean we will have the capacity to transport a total 4352 birds with 17 birds per crate, 4096 birds at 16 birds per crate and 3584 birds with only 14 birds in each crate. This should mean we have sufficient capacity with one transporter and the trailer to meet the Federation’s requirements for the YB season.
Obviously I am not expecting you to only put 14 birds in each crate for inland races - I am expecting you to use your common sense and give the Federation a fair crack of the whip.
The new transport arrangements will also mean that there will be no need to increase the YB birdage costs!!!!!! That is unless clubs go stupid about the number of birds they put in the crates.
Now a timely reminder about the closing date for the receipt of your Entry Forms for the 5 Bird Carentan YB Classic to be flown at the beginning of September.
Well that is about all for now but again if you have anything to see in print or anything about your club send it to me. I am sure there must be somebody in all the clubs who could send a few lines about their performances as it would not take up much time, so come on, get it sent 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 73317. Bye from TG.