RAMSGATE - SEPTEMBER 2014

by Tom Harris

Friday 12th September and proceedings were underway for the last race in the Welsh NFC programme from Ramsgate in Kent, an average distance of 200 miles to most lofts within the Welsh borders. With everything completed and the last pick up taking place shortly after 9pm, the convoy made an uneventful trip along the M4 corridor and M25 to the liberation site in preparation for the Saturday morning liberation. Saturday morning and whilst conditions on site and along the line of flight were good to go, the liberation was put on hold whilst we waited whilst other federations within the line of flight gradually cleared, creating an almost clear path through for our pigeons to travel. At 11.20 with everyone happy at the home end and on site and after a final check of all before us the strings were cut, releasing the birds into broken blue skies and a helping east north-easterly wind, indicating a fast face was on the cards.

Leading the field this week is the Bargoed loft and partnership of Hall & Macullam timing in at 14.59 to record a vel of 1631. The winning pigeon a cheq pied hen is bred down through the Kees Bosua lines from the premier loft set up in Belgium, of which both parents were purchased back in January at auction at this year’s British Homing World show in Blackpool. The story I’m hearing is that upon returning back home from the show both purchases turned out to be hens, therefore the partnership went back to the vendor and went on to purchase a cock, which sired this performance pigeon. The hen clocked has been to every race throughout the programme and has recorded a vast array of honours at club, fed and national level leading up to this race. Just two weeks ago she claimed 1st club 1st Newport breeder buyer from Maidstone and the sum of £400 which coincides with this week’s performance of 1st club 1st WNR Federation 1st open WNFC along with yet another 1st prize in the second part of the Newport breeder buyer this week winning a further£ 500 for the partnership, bringing her total winnings in two races to £900 plus the added bonus of not only winning prize monies for 1st open Ramsgate, she was also the partnership’s fancied entry being pooled up to £5, resulting in a good return on their initial investment.

Hall & Macullam - 1st Open Ramsgate

For 2nd and 3rd open we remain in the Bargoed area, this time at the lofts of the multi federation and national winner of I Davies timing in two hens both of which originate from the Jack Cornes Galaxy Lofts stud. The first of Iddy’s arrivals was a young cheq pied hen at 14.59 with a velocity of 1630.11 followed by a young blue hen at 14.59 recording 1629.8. Regrettably that’s all the information I have on these pigeons at the time of going to press.

For 4th open we drop down the valley to the Blackwood loft of D Thomas who also timed in two arrivals with only seconds between them, the first at 14.59.8 recording 1629.7 closely followed in by his second arrival recording 1629.6. The first arrival, a cheq hen, comes through pigeons gifted by Brian Newton based around pigeons obtained from the retired multi-national winning partnership of Morris & Lucas.

Sadly it’s this time of year when gathering information becomes awkward as most fanciers have locked the loft up for the year and have gone away for a break so apologies on the lack of information regarding some of the leading pigeons.

So there it is, the curtain has finally come down on yet another successful year’s racing. On behalf of the committee of the Welsh National Flying Club, we would like to express our thanks to our convoying organization the Welsh North Road Federation for supplying us with excellent racing and returns throughout. Also the officers and committee of the North West Homing Union for their prompt action, especially Linda Buckly whom I have been liaising with closely over the past months in regards to the need for new distances. We must also praise our many club secretaries and members who took on the task of supervising and accepting our WNFC entries through their respective clubs. This arrangement, we are pleased to say, has since brought in new and old members throughout the year and seems to have worked well. Also to Chris Sutton our official photographer for travelling the country to cover the winning photos. We appreciate that there are still one or two photos to do but rest assured, these will be done shortly. However the main acknowledgement for achieving the best performances has to go to John Watkins  and Will Holpin our race advisory committee, also our convoying team headed by David Humphries who do endless and sometimes thankless work to ensure that the birds are cared for on site and released in the best conditions possible.

It is know with all the prizes allocated that we can look forward to the presentation night on Sat Dec 13th at the Seamans Mission Club in Newport, when once again we acknowledge our members’ 2014 performances as they receive their accolades and awards. To date, 50% of the tickets have been reserved so once again we look on track for another great turnout on the night.

Here are this week’s leading pigeons.

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