LES J. PARKINSON'S
NEWS-REPORTS-ARTICLES
My intentions were not to pair the old birds up and race the full programme on the widowhood but it lasted until the last old bird race before the first channel race and I decided to pair them. I looked at the hens and the older ones have flown well over the channel plus only starting with 18 cocks, one coming back skin and bone and not picking up so had to go and two hitting the wires something had to give. Something must have been at the back of my mind when I sent them to that last inland race because I had the hens out on the Saturday morning and then with the holdover again in the evening and then Sunday which I had not done all season. Then on the Tuesday they had their first toss and came better than I expected beating me back, only just because as I was about to turn into the drive I saw them coming over next door's house. So after that it was in the basket twice each day so that I could get them into the Mangotsfield race and then into Fougeres if all goes well.
Changes
The channel season for the Northern fanciers was a bit of a “Where are we going” because the channel race points were suddenly changing and the RPRA were getting a bit of a headache. The plan was to go to Carentan for our first channel race but that was changed to Lessay and then the local Mayor decided that he didn’t want so many transporters in the town so it was off to Falaise. We have to ask ourselves if the places are left clean and tidy, which I suspect they would be, it makes you wonder why we are no longer wanted. There are of course the odd days when there are events in places where we liberate so the facility in such cases cannot be used. As it happens the whole weekend was a disaster with many finding a lot of empty perches over the weekend. I suppose it had to happen after such an easy inland programme in much the same way that it did a few years ago when we had a similar inland programme. They had no real chance to build themselves up in preparation for a long hard fly and many suffered in the process. It was far from a good weekend because the Mangotsfield pigeons suffered as well so it was not a case of them getting knocked down but I would suspect the atmospherics were not on the side of the pigeons. Yes it was a bit hazy in places and the birds were not flying so it was not the normal weather that stopped them. Small team fanciers did suffer because many had their teams severely knocked back and at this time of the year that is not what we need. We sent 15 and had 4 on the night, some did better on percentages and some did worse with odd ones not even getting any on the day. When I was getting ready to rise next morning I was thinking there would be a few on the loft, not the case because only one was waiting to be let into the loft and only one more before 8am and by 4pm when the rain started we had no more and that was it for the day. I was talking to David Wilkinson and he was telling me that he had 13 of his 17 on the day mind you he has always flown a good channel pigeon, runs in the family with his dad and uncles doing the same in years gone by. I spoke to several pigeon men about the race and the general consensus of opinion is “That’s pigeon racing for you” It’s now Wednesday and still no more which appears to be the case all over the country, we keep asking “Where do they go” but we can never come up with an answer.
Velocities
The subject of winning vels came up after all the blow homes we have had this year and what vels do I think are the best to buil;d a team of pigeons on. The problem is the pigeons have not had to put any work in at such high vels and when they come up against a head wind the majority are not reliable. If you are looking for a good reliable pigeon to cover all eventualities 1100 to 1300ypm is a good place to start. The lofts that have won this year into the North West will win when the vels drop because they have them right and that's what matters. But on the other hand a lot of the pigeons that have won will go down when the going gets tough, not all but many, it happens year after year. How many times do we see pigeons win a race and then go down within weeks, mostly it is when they have to work at it, they cannot cope. We had a pigeon that won Mangotsfield and the late Roy Smith said, "Take no notice of that win it will go down when the wind is on its nose" and ion the Monday lunchtime meeting at Fodens, going back a good few years now, we were sitting round as usual and the late and great pigeon fanciers George Stubbs said the same thing. Me being comparatively new to these fanciers (25yrs) was a bit put back so the next race I sent him again to the same race point and he was hours behind. After that I kept an eye on them and they were right, more often than not when the going gets tough the tough get going and more often than not the blow home brigade are left behind. Winning fanciers all have good pigeons in their lofts that will win no matter what the conditions. However the point is if you are building a team of pigeons it is best built on a team of winners in the mentioned velocity range.
Colours
I had a few calls about the coloured pigeons that were included in one of my articles a few weeks ago and I also had an interesting email that shows how the sport can work. “Hello Les, Your reference about the mosaic pigeon, as a young man in 1964 I was loft man for a local business man. On the death of a Nottingham fancier he bought all of his birds and one pair always bred a Union Jack in each nest we never paired these together. Then in 1965 a veterinary Dr Gerald Stovin who was also a breeder of pedigree cattle and pigeon fancier placed a letter in the BHW asking owners of these birds to get in touch with him with a view to putting on an exhibition at the People Show in London. He was amazed when we sent five because there were only 12 in England sent. When bred from with a mate that was not related they bred a multiple winners to Perth. Alas the gaffer moved 8mls away in 67. I had pigeons from 1949 to 2012 when I developed terminal liver cancer all my birds were given to picked local fanciers of note. Then in January 2014 following a scan it was found whilst the cancer was still there it was dormant and only a healthy immune system would not start it up again. Yes Les my best birds were offered back and the last week has seen me converting my tool shed in to a loft. However without help I can't race as my wife developed COPD she trained and cleaned out for me and a great help will be lost now. Les cheers Ron J” It is a fact that there are always pigeon fanciers willing to help out when needed and I am sure that this goes on in all parts of the country. Well done to the fanciers concerned help is very often needed to keep the sport going.Club/Fed newsFirst news this week is from the Macclesfield race from Wincanton when 11 members sent 151 birds. Martin Hough clocking a yearling widowhood cock claims the red card on 1320ypm with the dam being his number one stock hen from Roger Suttons from his National winning lines the sires the Farah/Diba lines from Syndicate Lofts bought by Martin from Doncaster at the Baron & Blakey sale. Rick & Simon Geary are 2nd with there all pooler on 1316ypm with a 4yo widowhood cock bred by themselves and is a Sootjenn x Vandenabeele through birds from John Keywood and Trevor Brinnicombe, this cocks a 5x1st prize winner for them plus many more positions in the top four. Roger Bowers having a good season is 3rd & 4th both on 1307ypm, his first is the 2yo cock that scored in the National the week before and is a Sootjenn bred by him out the stock loft. Roger’s second in the clock is a yearling cock from the Shellens lines and also out of the stock loft this bird was 3rd in the Staff Moorlands breeder buyer last year picking up a very nice £300 for him, both Roger’s pigeons are raced on the widowhood. The members send a big well done to Martin on this win which also has him winning the Staff Moorland yearling classic a big achievement after having a cat attack his birds last Wednesday and killing one with most the others having a night out. Thanks to PO Kevin Bowers for the latest club news. In the Moulton FC 6 members sent 47 selected birds to Falaise that was not the best or races but as is always the case some get them and some don’t. Once again the red card goes to Peter & mike Child who I don’t think have been beaten in the club yet this year or up to the time of these notes going on the PC. Their winner is a 2yo chequer cock recording a vel of 1291ypm. 2nd goes to Mr & Mrs Chris Herbert with an 08 bred Slatey cock while the top four are completed by a 4yo chequer cock and a yearling chequer pied cock both racing to the lofts of Mr & Mrs Roy Croxton with vels of 1238.7/1238.5ypm. The Middlewich 5B result from Falaise shows Mike O’Hare & Ron Woodward’s loft coming into form at the right time for their now preferred races at National level. They started well in the NFC by being well up in the race from Carentan where they are 6th section L 33rd open on first birds but that will change with the final result. In this race their winner is a slatey yearling hen having her first look at the channel and records a vel of 1308ypm. Her Sire is a Frans Vanwildersmeerch cock from Bertie Fletcher stock who was bird of the year in 2007 with North West Classic while her dam is De Klak from Mr & Mrs Turner of Crewe who had a clearance sale a few years ago when they were at the height of their winning and has since bred many winners. We have a couple of mother and son partnership’s in Middlewich with this week’s 2nd prize with a vel of 1253ypm goes to one of them and they are Carol & Robert Carson. They clocked a 3yo blue pied hen out of their O’Hare & Woodward stock paired onto a Janssen, this one was 2nd Fougeres as a yearling and is raced on the widowhood. DJ&CJ Wilkinson are 3rd with David clocking a blue cock on 1240ypm and is bred off the very good Taveirne-Rigole hen “Paige” who has won some really good prizes. Mr & Mrs Dave Healey are finding their form and in this race clocked a 3yo blue cock who on the sire’s side is out of the stock they purchased at the Foster sale at Northwich a few years ago. The dam is a Janssen from their old Borgman lines that they brought in a few years ago. The 5B also had a race from Mangotsfield where Mr & Mrs Dave Healey had an even better race taking 1st & 4th on 1257/1197ypm. Their winner is a yearling chequer cock being out of the red cock from Richard Kirkbride when paired to a daughter of Billy Whisker’s “Flypaper Cock”. Their 4th prize winner is blue cock bred from their Foster stock and has won quite a number of prizes including four prizes this year and also five lots of pools even when he was not in the prizes. 2nd goes to W Wilson & Son who saw home a blue chequer Jan Aarden cock on 1218ypm ahead of 3rd placed Alan Groom who clocked a blue cock raced on the traditional widowhood system recording a vel of 1206ypm. Old Lodge HS were at Yeovil on Sat 17th May flying competing in the Lymm Federation and Central Lancs Combine. The Red Card went to the partnership of Harrison and Hull with 2yo chequer cock known as “Caspen” and flown on the widowhood. This Louis Cooreman cock son of “The Pencil Cock” was also 6th federation on this occasion. Previously he has 1st club and 3 x 2nd clubs plus 4th fed and 2 x 9 th feds. Tommy Jackson was 2nd club and Bill Pearson took 3rd and 4th club with 2 birds bred by Jamie Langrish of Chorley from his race team. During the closed season the members of Old Lodge HS decided to look for inland transport on the days when the club channel races were on so that they could resurrect the open races that they used to organise. During the 1990’s and early 2000’s these had proved a massive hit with the local Fanciers with birdage of up to 600 entries and although times had changed it was thought that they may still be some call for them. Transport was duly found with Anthony Evans of Cheshire and a race programme organised Portland 31st May, Cheltenham on 14th June and 28th June and Wollaston on 12th July. The first three races Portland and the Cheltenham’s would be for old birds only and the Wollaston would be an any age race for both old and young birds. The first open race took place on Saturday 31st May from Portland when local fanciers entered a total 326 birds giving a total payout of £474.50 in prize and pool monies. Mr and Mrs A Gregson took the top spot with a yearling Heremans Ceusters cock winning £85 in total. This blue cock is through London fanciers J & S May and contains the bloodlines of Rossi, Spinneke and Euro. His previous performances this year are 3rd club 187 birds & 15th fed 1989 birds Tewkesbury plus 6th club 227 birds & 17th Fed 1969 birds Yeovil. The next three positions all went to Mr & Mrs Jennings and Son of Chorley who clocked three Micheal Van Lint Hens flown on a semi roundabout system winning the partnership a total of £240.90. All three hens have previously scored for the Jennings family in both land and channel races. The cheq hen taking 2nd Open is a Granddaughter off Amos and Christine and has previous won 3 x 1st Clubs and a 1st Fed. The 3rd open is a Granddaughter of Attila and Boris and was sent pooled through, this hen was 9th Open Bamfords Gold Ring Race in 2012 and then was 1st Club and 1st Fed Messac as a yearling last year. The hen they clocked next to take 4th Open won 2 x 1sts as a youngster and was 2nd Club at Niort last year. Phil Brand of Bamber Bridge was 5th winning 47.50, Keith and Trish Ohara took 6th winning 12.50, Mr and Mrs Gregson 7th, Harrison and Hull finished 8th winning 65.45, Bill Pearson was 9th winning 15.00 and Mr and Mrs Jennings and Son 10th. Next Open is Saturday 14th June from Cheltenham marking is Friday the 13th at The Victoria Hotel, Lostock Hall, Preston. 5.15pm till 6.30pm. Also tickets are now on sale for another attempted resurrection. The Old Leyland Midweek Ticket Race is back as the Old Lodge YB Ticket Race, this is 3 birds per ticket £10 and a maximum purchase of 4 tickets to be raced from Poole on Monday 25th August 2014. Tickets must be ordered and paid for by 27th July 2014 further details contact Janet 01772 467882. Thanks for the update on the open race Janet.
Mr & Mrs Gregson's Old Lodge winner
Winsford PO Mel Bratt tells me that the phone has not been ringing with information for the latest races for the club on the winning pigeons at the time of submitting this report. Winsford had 217 pigeons entered for the comeback race from Mangotsfield race. Richard Ormandy gained first place with a velocity of 1291ypm. In 2nd place were Mr & Mrs Albert Austin who timed in a 2yo Frans Vanwildemeersch pied cock to record a vel of 1289ypm, this consistent cock won twice last year, both times in north west winds. In 3rd & 4th positions are Jones Bros with a vel of 1264/1249ypm. No information on these pigeons this week. The club also raced their main race from Falaise in the South West Federation 83 birds were entered. Leading the way with one of his Grizzle family was Harry Vernon with a velocity of 1213ypm. In 2nd position were Mr & Mrs Albert Austin on 1200ypm with a 4yo blue cock on widowhood which has prized many times including 3 times over water. In 3rd was Richard Ormandy vel 1189ypm but no information on this one. In 4th are Lionel & John Goostrey whose 2yo cock clocked up 1184ypm. This cock is housed with the young birds with the sire being a past winner of Middlewich 2B while the dam is a Vandenabeele from M.D. Evans. In the Mid-Cheshire Falaise race saw a disappointing entry of 20 pigeons which saw Jones Bros entering 3 hens resulting in a 1-2-3, with velocities of 1291/1268/1246ypm. In 4th position with the performance of the day for Alfie Farrell recording a vel of 1176ypm, he keeps sending every week and got his just reward. Sorry for lack of information on the pigeons, but the telephone stayed silent Mel Bratt. Now we move on to the first of two races for the South West Cheshire fed starting with the big race of the day from Falaise when 50 sent 322 to be liberated at 8.30am in a north west wind. The long standing winning partnership of Dave & Baz Mellor take the red card with their entry from the Greenbank club. Crewe West End winners Mr & Mrs Richard Young have their birds right and are 2nd & 10th fed. Making the first three in the fed from three different member clubs are Mike O’Hare & Ron Woodward who finish 3rd. While 4th 5th & 6th all go to Mick Stockton ahead of fellow club member Peter Berry 7th. Carol & Robert Carson are 8th with the remaining top ten position of 9th going to Ken Powell. Two clubs missed the cut in the fed and they are Joe Glover who tops the list in the Hankelow club and Winsford winner Harry Vernon. Winsford members missed out on the first channel race for the fed bot took the top two positions from Mangotsfield when 62 members entered 785 birds that were liberated at 13.00hrs in an east wind. Those two top places went to Richard Ormandy who got the upper hand on Mr & Mrs Albert Austin. Greenbank winner Tommy Hulme is 3rd followed by fellow club member Styeve Parkinson 4th. The remaining fed positions go to Crewe West End members staring with the clubs red card winners once again Mr & Mrs Richard Young 5th & 10th with 6th going to Mr & Mrs Keith Lovatt. 7th A Davies with Mick & Wendy Mellor being 8th & 9th. Hankelow missed the cut again in this race with the same winner being Joe Glover while Mr & Mrs Dave Healey won the Middlewich 5B. In the Middlewich FC the red card went a yearling blue cock who flew the National FC young bird race last year. His sire is a Gaby Vandenabeele x Clive Riley cock who topped the Cheshire Combine and was 6th in the Three Counties Combine 5,755 birds last year among other top prizes. The Dam is a Staf Van Reet crossed with the lines of Ken & Mark Cliffe and was 10th Sect L, 100th Open NFC Fougeres in 2012 and has prized several times in Eccles 2 bird Club. DJ&CJ Wilkinson are 2nd & 3rd after David clocked a Red Hen direct out of 1st National winner “Red Bull” and was paired to a good winning line she was a 1st prize winner in an earlier race and a past Middlewich 2B winner. The other is a blue cock which is a direct son of the Taveirne-Rigole 1st Combine winner, both these are raced on the widowhood. 4th goes to Parkinson & Wilkinson who saw a mealy cock drop through the door. This is a grandson of the very good racing and breeding cock “Full Try” winner of 1st National Ace Pigeon KBDB in Belgium 2004 and also grandsire of 3 x 1st Nationals. The sire is a son of the excellent Taveirne-Rigole stock cock “Barcelona Boy” the lines of 1st National Barcelona x “King Barcelona” x “Gentiel” so good breeding all round. The sire is also a grandson of “De Narbonne” winner of many National prizes and also a son brother to 1st International winner. The West Coast Fed saw 60 members enter 1109 birds for the Bedhampton race when the birds were liberated at 11.15am in a North East wind. This is the type of race we are all looking for a 1200ypm race when the birds work for their corn. Top spot saw the ever present partnership of Ron & Shirley Mott from the Blackpool col add another red card to their collection taking 1st & 13th positions. Fleetwood & Dist winner G Anyon is 2nd & 14th. C Jones is 4th ahead of J McLellan who clocked two in 6 seconds for 4th & 5th and has a third entry in 7th place. Seen a lot of the Roskell & Williamson lofts from the Pilling Inv recently and again they are well up in the fed finishing 6th. Staining HS winners Paul Fisher & Son are 8th and also 20th with an entry in their other weekly club. Blane, Edge & Blane collect another red card in the Fleetwood HS and end up 9th fed while the Queens Inv winner P Hodgkinson is 10th. Mr & Mrs Reg Sarre from the Thornton & Cleveleys clocked a couple to finish 11th & 16th fed with PN Wyatt clocking three in 14th 17th & 18th positions. JB Riley is 15th and M Duckworth 19th. Just two club winners missed the top twenty and they are Dave Farrell over at Marton village and Kirkham & Wesham winner D Allen. Latest news from John Lawson on the Cheshire FC is that 9 sent 74 birds to the clubs first channel race of the season which ended up at Falaise a bit further than we would have been if we had raced from Carentan the Combine’s first choice at the start of the season. The race was held over until the Sunday due to bad weather on the channel and also in France on the Saturday. Anyway Saturday or Sunday liberation a lot of lofts had a bad race with big spaces in birds that were clocked in and many birds missing on the Sunday night. Moving on to the clubs result, Tommy Davies has the chequer hen that was 2nd at Portland the week before ending up 1st and is also 4th with a blue hen recording vels of 1317/1209ypm and are both from Oak Villa Stud stock. Bill Mather is 2nd with a blue cock on 1248ypm ahead of George Davies 3rd with a red hen racing on the natural system to clock up 1247ypm. Well done to the winners and let’s hope fanciers got most of their birds back in the following days. Prior to the first channel race the club had a race from Portland when 8 sent 117 birds that were up at 8.30am with a strong south west wind sending them home at a rapid speed. Bill Mather is 1st club this week his winner is a blue Willy van Hootte x Van Dyke cock racing on the widowhood to record a vel of 1890ypm. This 2yo also won last season and has scored this season at Mangotsfield. Tommy Davies is 2nd club with a chequer hen on a vel of 1879ypm, this hen is raced on the natural and bred from a stock pair off Oak Villa Stud. 3rd place goes to Don Risley with a blue cock that was 2nd club at Yeovil the previous week. This widowhood cock also won at Mangotsfield earlier in the season. 4th goes to Alan Thompson with a pied cock on 1874ypm and had another a few seconds later. Over at Kingsway 7 sent 113 birds when 1st club went to Mr & Mrs J Jones with a chequer pied widowhood cock on 1944ypm. This cock has won for Jim a number of times in the last two seasons he is a real good pigeon. 2nd & 3rd go to Steve Cooke with two widowhood cocks recording vels of 1918/1883ypm.
Holloway Family
Photos
Derek Woodward called in with a photo of himself and Peter Fox taken outside Caernarvon Castle on a recent trip to see Peter's pigeons. There are a lot of fanciers who have had pigeons from Peter and won with them but I suspect there are not many who have had the success that Derek has had with them because he is a hard man to beat.
Derek Woodward and Peter Fox
Les J Parkinson. 11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0NJ, +44 (0)1606 836036. +44 (0)7871 701585.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web site: www.elimarpigeons.com
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