The latest adventure for the welsh national flying club once again saw their entries heading south across the channel to Messac once again under the control and guidance of the Solent federation who have agreed to  transport our welsh pigeons to the first two of five cross channel events ,and after the success and outstanding condition in which they returned just two weeks ago  from Fougeres we must  congratulate them for taking care of our pigeons ,which if they hadn’t no doubt our numbers would surely of been lower than we actually achieved for this race with 480 pigeons basketed and on route to the south coast to liaise with the transporter with the transhipping of pigeons from one lorry to another by the Solent members who done a sterling job on our behalf the lorry departed for the onward journey to the ferry and onto the race point in Messac a flying distance to us here in Wales approx 265 miles with the pigeons arriving safely on site by mid day Friday we all sat and anticipated an early start the following morning, as the conveyors report will state ,early Saturday morning on site all was good and with a clear line and aided by blue skies and a light southerly wind the convoy of approx 1,700 pigeon combined by three federations were airborne and on route for home with favourable conditions up through Devon and Cornwall and adjoining counties the weather at the home end wasn't that good as the poor conditions that were expected to come in from the west by the forecast had moved considerably quicker than anticipated as fanciers report different areas of the valleys closing in with light rain reducing visibility down to a few hundred yards ,however this didn't seem to make much of an impact on the returns as the pigeons recorded high velocities with the winning pigeons being confirmed at some  of our  furthest flying  lofts in the Abergavenny and Pontypool areas ,taking the honours of 1st open Messac were the husband and wife partnership of Shane and Kelly Lewis from Abergavenny timing in on 4hr 26 min with a velocity of 1859.8 over 262 miles the winning pigeon was a yearling cheq white flight hen which comes down through the Vandenabeele lines direct from the well known partnership of M & D Evans, this game hen was originally on roundabout during the early part of the year then the birds were repaired for the channel ,however at the time of basketing for this race she at that time had not repaired therefore she was actually flying to the perch. Shane informs me that in her short racing career she has 2x 1st clubs plus many minor awards to her credit on winning the race the winners also receive an entry to the years DERBY ARONA TENERIFE ONE LOFT RACE which along with the previous two wnfc winners will make up a syndicate of 2017.

Shane & Kelly Lewis

Taking 2nd open we go slightly south to Pontypool where Adam Owen continues his successful run with  a yearling blue cock on a vel of 1854.2  ,which was bred by local fanciers ian and Tracey Bromley ,this cock was flown on roundabout before being repaired for Fougeres and therefore sitting a newly hatched yb in the nest on basketing for Messac ,even though this loft has acquired some handy positions over previous weeks at club federation and national level, prior to this race this cock had only achieved 3rd club Swindon ,but was up for the job on this occasion

for 3rd open we head to the Cardiff loft of Peter Goodright who a 2yr blue Gaby Vandenabeele , hen on 1828v which bloodlines originates from the well known partnership of m& d evans she sent to the race on the roundabout ,system and although to date hasn't recorded many club or federation positions she has however flown consistently through the old bird programme

in 4th we go to the loft and partnership of mr & mrs Ian and Tracey Bromley from Pontypool  ,who timed in yearling chequer cock roundabout bred down from the lofts of Scammel and Peploe dtr double gold cup hen ,and on the sires sired the famous nearly cock is once prominent.

The Abertillery loft of Nichols son and grandson take the 5th open position with yet another yearling being recorded on a vel of 1805, the partnerships arrival is a yearling widowhood cheq cock ,of staf van reet bloodlines  purchased from local fancier Wayne Collier as a yb when Wayne moved house to west Wales ,this family of  staf van reets come down through the partnerships Nichols original pigeons which  crossed with the van reets of dean pallet,. Over the past two weeks this cock  had scored 1st club from Swindon prior Messac where he recorded his 2nd club win of the year

rounding off the top six we go to our 2017 wnfc Maidstone winning loft of g& m Clayton  & Lovell bros with an arrival recording ,dark cheq hen ,which was an unflown  late bred in 2016 and bred through the  nearly cock lines from Scammel and Peploe  x with the  sire of the original Lovell bros Bergerac national winner ,this hen being a late bred wasn’t race in 2016 as a yb but has flown all the inland and overseas races this year ironically the only motivation to enhance such performance was she was only flying to perch unpaired  as she refused to pair this year

running in line with the Messac race we also had the yearling race which enabled members to compete for additional honours within a separate race ,for a small cost of £1 per entry ,and a trophy sponsored by mr & mrs holpin wnfc chairman  ,and as a result,the lewis family scored the  double by taking also the yearling honours with the same pigeon that won the initial open race so congratulations to them ,and as for the winner the 2nd yearling open winner went to adam owen with his same entry that scored 2nd open in the main race  followed by mr & mrs bromley taking the third position ,this was something new for 2017 and added an additional interest of which  we believe it will be something that will grow over the years.

so we are now well into the overseas programme now as we look forward to two longest races being from Saintes 420 miles convoyed by the woesrc and Bergerac under the umbrella of the cscfc hopefully this will round off an old bird season when sometimes things haven gone our way weather wise as pigeons struggled to get home, but for every race there's a winner and we cant take nothing away from such performances and achievements by our membership

1 Mr&mrsLewis,. 1859.846 4:26:52 282,11 GB16V30236

2 AOwen,. 1854.249 4:20:59 274,1688 NW16C7163

3 PGoodright,. 1828.255 4:12:24 262,357 W14C06116

4 Mr&MrsBromley,. 1815.938 4:25:48 274,457 W16N03190

5 NicholsSon&G.son,. 1805.471 4:29:13 276,303 NW16S7760

6 G&mClayton&lovellBr,. 1801.496 4:27:53 274,376 GB16X21673

7 WHolpin,. 1797.648 4:39:0 284,1729 NW16B2697

8 Mr&mrsTMathews,. 1795.041 4:34:27 279,1609 GB13F30904

9 Frampton&Price,. 1768.787 4:34:5 275,795 GB14H43250

10 Mr&mrsLewis,. 1765.151 4:41:11 282,11 GB16V30155

yearling top ten

1 Mr&mrsLewis,. 1859.846 4:26:52 282,11 GB16V30236

2 AOwen,. 1854.249 4:20:59 274,1688 NW16C7163

3 Mr&MrsBromley,. 1815.973 4:25:48 274,457 W16T03190

4 WHolpin,. 1797.663 4:39:0 284,1729 NW16B2697

5 Mr&mrsLewis,. 1765.151 4:41:11 282,11 GB16V301555

6 Mr&mrsLewis,. 1758.688 4:42:13 282,11 W16T05415

7 Mr&mrsLewis,. 1743.347 4:44:42 282,11 W16T05497

8 AOwen,. 1732.026 4:39:24 274,1688 NW16C7141

9 Bainton&Evans,. 1686.574 4:46:8 274,345 NW16C6960

10 Bainton&Evans,. 1685.298 4:46:21 274,345 NW16C6812

convoyers report

Finished loading at 00:30 arrived at Portsmouth at 00:45 and watered birds. Arrived in Caen at 14:00. On route to messac blue skies no wind. On arrival at messac we had full sun, fed and watered birds. Tony phoned at 20:00 said that it's looking good for tomorrow and he would phone about 06:00 . We topped up water. Saturday Tony phoned at 06:15 said that the line of flight was good, on site was good we had a mackerel sky with full sun. Tony is to check some more liberations but start to get ready to liberate. Tony phoned back go when you are ready, we both decided to go at 07:00
Liberated birds at 07:00 into a very light south wind birds cleared well
On route back to the port we full sun all the way back, and the wind went to a south west wind
Hope you all have a good race.

Tom Harris