1st Open Welsh National Ramsgate

Paul Warr-Townley & S Evans

the second race in as many weeks was held for the Welsh National F.C. from the eastern coastal town of Ramsgate in Kent ,and following the hard Maidstone race a week earlier the  numbers  were only  slightly down from the first race, as we  braced ourselves once again for the flight of  200+ mile journey  back into Wales with the lorry arriving on site at joss bay in Ramsgate in the early hours the boys were fortunate to have a few hours sleep as we awaited for the morning to open up and discover what the day had installed for us weather wise day break and on site the lads reported that the skies above  were providing broken blue cloud and a moderate south westerly  wind ,however hampering any chance of an early liberation was the outbreaks of rain reported to be heavy at times, which were being experienced in and around the London area and down through the m4 corridor as far as reading and with so many federations on the south coast also being held back by such conditions thankfully all the race advisory committee’s  were  keeping in constant communication and  once the opportunity of releasing was available each could liberate in rotation with the confidence of avoiding the possibility of clashing ,

with the weather predicted to be clear from the south as the morning wore on and with these federations below us still unable to liberate until such time that the weather improved further north, for us the skies had broken the rain had cleared away therefore on checking again throughout the route showing vast improvements, and with the  convoying team happy on site the go ahead was given to cut the strings at 09.45 and release the pigeons in their care into a light south westerly wind

Paul Warr- Townley & Steve  Evans

with an anticipated arrival time of four and half  hours plus anticipated due to the head wind and as this time pasted and nothing was recorded  we new in light of the conditions we were once again in for the long haul as the wait went on ,with the first pigeons finally coming to light in  the south eastern   boundaries of Wales  ,on the 4hr 45 min it was  sometime later ,after finalising all the calculations that  the winner was final confirmed in the Blackwood area at the  loft of one of the nationals newest  members in Paul Warr-Townley and Evans ,who consist of members Paul, Paul’s son also named Paul and Steve Evans they verified their arrival a  4yr old cheq widowhood cock duly name "National David" after the local late fancier Dai Evans, at 14.44.o3 with a winning velocity of  1186 the  winning pigeon whilst on one side comes from  the loft of Dai  Evans on the sires side is crossed with pigeons from another long time local partnership of Jeff Davies and Haines from Pontllanfraith, this cock on previous occasions has already gathered a portfolio of achievements at club and federation level, with three previous 1st`s to its credit ,on winning such race the partnership also reward themselves with a free entry from one of our  sponsors and established one loft races "The derby Arona Tenerife " in this years race series

for 2nd and 5th  open we remain in the Blackwood area at the loft of past national winners   Dai Davies & Kim Coombes timing  in  two 2yr olds recording velocities of 1183.8 and 1163 ,the first on the clock is a roundabout blue cock which up until this race had achieved minor club and federation positions the origin comes down from two highly successful continental lofts on the dams side she is a  direct Leon Boers and previous , 1st national winner from Lillers approx 260 miles  and crossed with the Kannibal lines from the van dyke pigeons  the partnerships 2nd arrival is a blue pied hen which is 100% original Leon Boers and also contains highly profiled winners of the past in her pedigree inc 1st welsh combine for the Davies and Coombes partnership

for 3rd we head down to Newport to the partnership of Mr Mrs K Beresford and son timing in at 14.33. with a velocity of 1180.7 the partnerships arrival was a yearling roundabout blue hen originating from the loft of Ron Walsall from Stoke on Trent and comes down through the Vandenabeele lines ,although as a yearling she hadn't really made an impact until today she did however record a few minor club positions in the past ,the partnership were also fortunate to time in a second arrival for 6th open with another yearling cheq hen on a vel of 1159.

unfortunately we were unable to contact the  4th place winner who was just behind by a decimal at  the loft of graham Nash in the Abertillery  who timed in  a yearling at 14.45 with a vel of 1180.5 ,maybe if the opportunity arises we will be able to cover the details of this pigeon in future reports

so that’s the two inland national events over and yes without doubt they were both difficult races to overcome both with the weather and the losses incurred thankfully a few more did come through the following morning but sadly there was still some substantial losses reported by some lofts over the following days , but hopefully things will get better know as we head over the channel and head south through southern France  ,

at the time of typing out this report we have been approached by the WNRF committee who transport the welsh national pigeons for approval to alter the planned races from Falaise and Le-Mans and revert back to the familiar liberation sites of Fougeres and Messac ,this is proposed in light of the difficult racing in the past weeks and based on giving the pigeons the opportunity of being transported and liberated with the Solent federation pigeons and will be convoyed in our own crates with the usual 25 pigeons per crate as both organisations are Geraldy compatible ,which based on numbers ,would be an advantage at this stage of the racing season ,this would additionally  give the convoy a pull across the channel and a line for  their onward journey onto welsh soil .,so after consulting with the WNFC we as an organisation we approved their proposal for the benefit of the pigeons .

on behalf of the national we must pass on our thanks to the NWHU distance department namely Linda Buckley who once again came to our aid to confirm distances for us on the Sunday morning ,once again showing nothing was too much trouble for her to help us out. So a big thanks from us all.

As always the top ten pigeons

1 PWarr-Townly&evans.1186.243

2   Davies & Coombs,. 1183.886

3   Mr & Mrs Beresford & son. 1180.706

4 G Nash. 1180.557

5   Davies & Coombs. 1163.256

6 Mr & Mrs Beresford & son, 1159.606

7   Frampton & Price. 1159.253

8   Frampton & Price. 1156.769

9 G & M Clayton & Lovell Bros, 1156.117

10   K Ashman. 1154.100

Tom Harris