WELSH NATIONAL FLYING CLUB

Tom Harris

             B WALKER & SON 1ST OPEN NATIONAL PAU

After overcoming the initial disapiontment of having to bring the birds home and cancelling the previous race from messac due to poor weather ,members once again basketed for the blue ribbon event from pau a distance of arrox 590 miles sponsored by the welsh north road federation
with just a handful of entries cared and prepared to take on such a challenge from southern regions of france the birds were handed over to the convoying organisation the central southern classic in frome and the south bound journey for close on 700 pigeons began
news was recieved that after a smooth channel crossing and a steady run down to the liberation site stopping off at various pionts to feed and water the convoy, they finaly arrived at the planned liberation site late morning on thursday on arrival the convoyers realised that they wernt to be alone ,as gypies had settled on the site ,so a decition was instantly made to revert back to the old site in pau just a short journey away liberation news at dawn on friday the convoyers were greeted with low thich fog lingering overhead and light drizzle ,therefore the thoughts of an early liberation were beyond the organisers control and an update on the situation was scheduled for 8am in the hope that conditions would of improved ,at the home end we heard news of this holdup and with the following days in the pau region forecasted to start in the same format of mist and fog early doors clearing as the morning went on ,over the next few days there was a plan to cut the strings at 1pm ,to give the pigeons the chance of heading northwards to the messac and fourgeres area throughout the afternoon ,and by liberating at such time it ensured that no pigeons would have time to make the channel by nightfall saturday morning at the home end ,members were indicating that if the leading pigeons had risen early they were estimated to reach the southern counties shortly after midday ,and onto welsh soil by late afternoon early evening so the wait continued for those participating
as the afternoon went on we studied the cscfc website to find that two gallent pigeons were recorded around 11am in chichester and newport on the i.o.w ,and with a few more pigeons being recorded gradualy north during the afternoon and after adding a few hours on expectations were high that we would record a welsh entry by nightfal

 Gary Walker of b walker&son  1st open Pau

as evening turned to night hopes were fading along with the light as nothing was recorded and all our expectations faded ....until , 9.30 pm i recieved a call from g walker & son of caerleon in newport who informed us that he had timed in at 21.17 ,the ironic storey behind this arrival is that like most ,gary assumed that it was to be an early start the following morning and locked up the traps for the night ,and planned to leave the lofts which are at his mothers home and head home himself ,it was only by chance that before finaly heading to the car he decided to have one final check ,and to his surprise he noticed a small dark figure patiantly sitting on top of the trap awaiting entry ,which turned out to become the winner of the welsh national f.c pau race 2016
the winning pigeon is a dark cheq 3yr old hen of the kipp x geoff kirklands bloodlines which was one of a kit of ybs bred and gifted by steve jude from cwmbran in 2013 .this year she has been entered in every race both inland and overseas scoring 3rd club fourgeres and in past years as a yearling and 2yr old had flowm marberg on the east route

on two occations a distance of 512miles with the winner verified and by the close of the winning day only the one arrival was confirmed ,the following morning (sun) arrived and with it e were experiencing mist and rain and hardly any visibility as we waited any possible further arrivals ,this wait went on through out the morning and well into the afternoon , when we heard that john gauvain from maerdy in the rhondda timed in one of his two entries,at 15.15 which got to be said he truly fancied prior to basketing ,as he pooled them both through to the limit of £15 and both £5 and £10 nominations ,
John arrival is a 3yr old dark cheq w/f hen which is bred down through a double g.son of the invinsible spirit lines from louella crossed with john own original hanssene  pau national winning lines going back to 2007 ,as john doesnt domesticly race his pigeons in a club on a weekly basis they were trained gradualy up to approx 30 miles and swindon 75 miles before entering the wnfc fourgeres race (26o miles) when she experienced 9 1/2 hours on the wing ..greater distances over the past years is nothing new to this pigeon as previous performances for this game hen also include 3rd wsrn tarbes unfortunatley as the race came to a close at 5.30 m on wednesday it was just the two pigeons that had come through so we congratulate both lofts for achiving the ultimate goal from such a distance and through some hard weather conditions to return home

1 BWalker&Son,. 675.791 25:31:24 588,27 W13N02558 £60.00

2 JGauvain,. 493.976 35:26:52 596,1662 W13T03447 £40.00 ABCDEFGHIJ £203.25 £243.25

so whats next ,well next week we head back across the channel to saintes ,a distance of just over 400 miles when we come under the supervision of the the nfc so hopefuly we will get a good turnout for this race ,following on from there the old bird national programme comes to a close when we take on the challenge from bergerac convoyed by the cscfc once again ,with basketing on monday 11th july with a liberation excpected on the friday to finish and after consulting with the walker family ,its been a week of mixed emotions as we hear and regretably pass on the news that in the days following the race and after a long illness, Gary's mother who from her hospital bed named the pigeon "sunrise ",sadly passed away on the thursday morning ,so on behalf of the national committee and members we pass on our deepest condolences to the family at such a sad time

Tom Harris