PILL RPC PRESENTATION NIGHT

Tom Harris

The Pill Racing Pigeon Club held its 2012 annual presentation night on Sat 9th Feb at the Seamans Mission Club in Newport, where over seventy fanciers, families and friends were once again invited to attend a free function. All the proceeds to cover the costs of the evening were once again generated throughout the year by the secretary’s wife Gaynor who raised the funds through the bonus ball scheme.

The trophy table

Glyn Picton, in the absence of our chairman, took on the roll of master of ceremonies once again and thanked the congregation present for supporting club throughout the year and for attending to congratulate the winners of the past racing season. The guest of honour for the evening was Edward Watts, chairman of the Mission to Seafarers Club, who has not only supported the club and provided a solid foundation for the club to thrive over the past years, but has also got involved with the activities that the club stage throughout the season.

Before any presenting took place, however, we were informed of a tragic and fatal accident that had taken place earlier on in the day, when a local family from the Pill area of Newport had been involved in a car accident abroad. Everyone took a time out as a mark of respect for those who had lost their lives, by holding a minute’s silence.

Edward was then invited forward to present the awards to our 2012 winners. First to the table was Rob Poyner who received an award for 2nd in the two birds club, followed by G Morgan & Son 1 x 2nd, S Arthur and Son 1 x 2nd 2 x 2nd two bird club and the Pill RPC novice trophy in his first year in the sport, J Cox 2 x 3rd 1 x4th, Hadden & Son 2 x 3rd and 2 x 4th, S Jude 2 x 1st 1 x 3rd plus the longest old bird race trophy for 1st Bonn (added to this honour was also winning 1st open Welsh National Flying Club Bonn), S Proctor 1 x 1st 1 x 2nd 2 x 3rd, R E Cooke & Son 3 x 1st 1 x 4th. Then it was Kidd & Cooke who, after suffering from quarantine restrictions imposed on his loft which totally halted his old bird season, bounced back to winning ways with 2 x 1st 4 x 2nd 3 x 3rd 4 x 4th. Picton Bros & Son were next up as we moved closer to our higher prize winners of 2012 with 3 x 1st 4 x 2nd 3x 3rd including the Brussels winner’s trophy. Third highest prize winner went to T Fleming with 4 x 1st 1 x 2nd 3 x 3rd 1 x 4th, and then we moved on to the runner up John Newbury who had a highly successful year scoring 4 x 1st 7 x 2nd 4 x 3rd 3 x 4th also winning the Lillers old bird trophy and the overseas averages.

It was then time to clear away the remaining trophies and a large number of these went to one loft, that of the Hawkins family headed by Tom, Ray and Richie. They had an outstanding season at club, federation and national level with the added bonus of 1st national Folkestone 2 young birds to their credit. They were presented with the following performances and trophies:  6 x 1st 6 x 2nd 5 x 3rd 11 x 4th, the combined averages old and young birds timing in all 25 races, the T Harris Senior memorial trophy for Folkestone and Maidstone young bird averages, the B Upham memorial trophy for all Folkestone and Maidstone averages, the prestigious Mission to Seafarers Folkestone old and young birds averages and the highest prize winners award. With this the family came forward, joined by the younger generation of the outfit who are also regulars on basketing nights, to great applause from the congregation.

Just two more presentations remained to take place. The first was on behalf of Rob Poyner, whose future mother-in-law had sadly passed away just weeks before this event. The family had kindly donated a shield for annual competition named as the "Selina Dorothy memorial shield" in her memory, which will be flown for via a young bird knock-out scheme. Yvonne came forward to present this new award to this year’s recipient Tom Fleming along with a cash prize of £100.00.

The final presentation then took place. It’s a sad time in any club when one of its members decides to call pigeon racing a day, but when one of the principal workers in the club does such a thing then it’s even worse, however Tommy Fleming gracefully bowed out after one of the best seasons he’s had since coming into the sport a few years back, and to mark the occasion all the club members contributed to presenting an engraved glass tankard to a tearful Tommy and wished him well in the future.

It was then time to entertain. The lights were dimmed for our resident disco Cindy to take us into the early hours, and this was only interrupted for the traditional raffle, and a buffet once again put on for the members by Gaynor.

Glyn Picton endorsed the feedback after the buffet by paying tribute to the secretary and his wife for all the hard work they had put into raising the funds, not only to cover the evening but the time they had spent throughout the year and on the day preparing every little detail to ensure everyone had a good evening.

On behalf of the committee and members of Pill RPC we would like to thank everyone who came to our presentation night to congratulate the club’s 2012 winners, remembering this is a very competitive club and one of the largest clubs not only in the WNR Federation but within the WHPU. To win any award is solely due to hard work and the keenness to win. So on finishing, we know a few had travelled a good distance to be there with us on the night and we thank them for making the effort. All that remains is to wish everyone a trouble free and successful 2013.

The Hawkins family

Edward Watts (r) with J. Newbury

T. Fleming

Picton Bros & Son

S. Arthur

S. Jude

R. Poyner

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