NFC Young Bird Guernsey For the 2015 season the National Flying Club moved to Guernsey for the Young Bird and old Hens national race. This seemed to be a popular choice with members who stepped up to the mark and sent a strong entry in both races. The weather at this time of year is more unpredictable especially when there is a channel involved, and as it turned out a heavy, leaden sky and cold conditions on the Saturday were not a good combination so the race team led by ‘Cock Crow’ Kelly made the decision to hold over, confident that Sunday would allow a liberation and good racing. The birds were fed and watered and left to rest with plenty of space in the crates and safe in the hands of a dedicated convoy team in preparation for what lay ahead the following day. Sunday saw the sun rise on a much improved day along the line of flight and the strings were cut in readiness for a liberation after a few last minute checks and double checks. With everything being in order along the route home the birds were up and away at 9.00 in to a light easterly wind, with the combined convoy getting up in to the blue skies and clearing instantly. With the wind direction the boys in the West Country were favourites to steal the show, but as I have said before when the wind is favourable you ride your luck – however, the birds need to be up for it as well and if the two combine then some members will take the most of the opportunity to fill their boots. As in all races there were some truly heroic performances put up by these little bundles who made the most of the good racing conditions. One loft that was certainly up for it and showing fantastic form in the run up to this race were the eventual winners, the Plymouth loft of Lucas and Hill. Paul and Clare have had a phenomenal season and this is reflected in their results in domestic racing. The partnership have had pigeons for four years now with a fascination for rare colour racing pigeons and colour & race genetics, but were merely pigeon keepers at first, with a suspicion that they believe race and colour genetics are linked.

1st Open NFC Guernsey Young Bird national

The couple only started racing pigeons a year ago with The Plymouth & District RPC and like most novices they had to learn to crawl before they could walk. Their first season saw them successfully getting their birds home and only losing two birds during their shortened young bird race season, although that sounded good to them, they were mostly at the bottom of the sheet and dreamed of the Club & Federation performance wins they observed in Young Birds, that were mainly dominated by Richy Elliot in 2014.

The 2015 season brought new hope when they were benevolently offered guidance, help and one to one assistance by Richy and his wife to be, Helen. Loft layouts were changed, tried and tested methods were introduced and some performance pigeons were added to the loft, from super stars like Ken Lewis, Eamon Kelly and Alistair Hogg (Sunny Lofts). Guided by Richy Elliot’s, “System R” Race Method, the pair worked exhaustively to his routine and were quickly propelled this season to new heights, winning the most Young Bird Races In the Plymouth Continental Federation, the most money from the Fed’s Gold Ring Breeder Buyer race from Bedhampton, taking four out of five prizes, scooping £5850 of the total £6500 that was up on offer and at least three Combine wins.

The focus for the season was mainly on the Gold Ring race but the ultimate prize would always be the National Race across the water. Birds earmarked from the start by Richy as the ones to have an opportunity to excel at the crossing, if conditions were right, were bred by the Lucas & Hill partnership.

Paul and Clare with Richy Elliott

The young cock that has brought home the success from Guernsey for the partnership, claiming 1st Section D and 1st Open National is a stunning looking Black White Flight cock that has been called “System R”. He is bred from two superb breeding birds that

were originally kindly on loan from the Plymouth based Luscombe & Allen partnership and Multi National winner, Mike & Nobby Henley from Kingsteignton. He is a Janssen X Jan Aarden. Their second bird in the clock to claim 8th Section is called “Fireball” was the one the team fancied to take the win and was pooled well, so they feel there is more promise for future races across the pond from their home bred birds.Given te wind on the day, this bird must have hit for home immediately on release and I doubt if he saw more than a mile of land on the journey.

Feeding was made simple and easy, keeping the birds strong and in peak condition with mostly protein and all natural products in the water. The racing teams health was taken care of by a simple procedure of removing any birds that looked like they needed attention and placing them in a quarantine pen for observation but more importantly Paul’s microscope testing to correctly identify the cause of illness was implemented almost daily. Once a problem was found the bird was treated and if possible it was allowed to rejoin the team but had to keep up and not disrupt the overall team progress, else it was moved to the stock loft.

Important factors contributing to the partnership's success this season compared to last year is the new Super Star Young Birds of course, the correct loft, which was donated to them by Richy, his winning methods, routine and meticulous microscope work ensuring birds stay healthy at all times and the most surprising to Paul and Clare, less training than the year before. Training for the Guernsey National was done on a different line of flight route and the birds were also liberated once 8 miles out to sea before basketing. Future racing sees Paul and Clare looking to breed all distance performance birds that are rare and unique in colour by normal racing pigeon standards. They hope to have Andalusians, dominant Opal and Barless Blues in the race team for next year, proving their mettle and worth against the rest. All this said and done they are under no illusion that they think they know anything more than anyone else and are simply in it to enjoy pigeon race at the highest level, possible for them. Runner up spot falls to John and David Staddon, this is a loft that is never far away in any national or classic race and were clearly on form with near misses in both the young bird and old hens nationals, claiming runner up in both. In topping section G they are repeating their performance from the young bird national last year, but have improved 2 positions on their open result so maybe next year will be the year gentlemen – fingers crossed. We would like to congratulate the winners Lucas & Hill on their brilliant win and all section winners who put in some excellent performances. The partners are rightly very proud of our young cock, who was only beaten by one excellent pigeon in the whole convoy, which made the most of the early east wind available on the day to pip them to the post, the winner flying approx 90 miles west of

our loft. They have now aptly named the cock Close Call, as he came close to going double top. He was bred by Jimmy Davies in partnership with their good friend Paul Titcombe of Portishead, himself the winner of NFC Cholet in 2014 and the provider of many winning pigeons to the Staddon lofts. These lads share some stock pigeons and the resulting youngsters bred from them go in to both their race teams. This cock was bred in Jimmy's loft and entered by Paul into the Paulton Flying Clubs breeder buyer sale, and was duly bought by john and Dave. He is a pure Patrick Van Den Abbeel from pigeons purchased from Andy Gregson. He was placed on darkness and has raced every week with the WOESRC. He was sent to Guernsey for the Paulton Breeder Buyer two weeks previous where he won 6th position. He had just started to look at a hen on the two days prior to basketing and this being their favoured motivation they weren't surprised to see him drop from a great height like a peregrine in full stoop, no circling and straight in. The partnership would like to say a huge well done to ‘Cock Crow’ Kelly and Trevor Cracknell for holding the birds on Saturday and giving us a very fair race on the Sunday in perfect weather. Eamon has made some difficult calls this season and got everyone spot on. What fairer race could you have than the Young bird winner near Plymouth and the Old Hen winner in Southminster Essex !!! They would like to finish by saying well done to the race winners on a stunning result.

John and David Staddon

We return to section D now for the next two positions in both the open and section results. This performance was notched up by the loft of V and D Harvey. The loft is now run by Duncan, but he maintains the racing name that he competed so successfully in with his late father. When you have considered how impressive such a result is, then get out a map and look at where Lands End is, as that is where Duncan lives and races to, with the loft being 800 yards from the Atlantic. To just get birds returning to this area is an achievement in its own right, without hoping to do well in national

competition. Forget about the easterly winds on this occasion, because it takes birds carved from granite to race in to here, helping wind or not. As with the national winner for Lucas and Hill, I doubt if these two young birds saw any land on their journey home, they must have hearts of lions to face out in to the water and head for home. Duncan has had success in the past at national level, I personally remember him winning the Section in the past with a Kuyper x Padfield bird, and this is what he now focuses on, and he says he was pleased to see the NFC return to Guernsey for this race as it gave the Devon and Cornwall members a better chance to be in the race.

Duncan Harvey holding his 3rd and 4th Open winners

As with any loft looking to compete at the top, Duncan continually looks around for different birds to try, with some succeeding but many not. He puts a lot of faith in birds being bred from stock that has been well proven in the basket and not too far removed from working birds, his experience is that these provide a much higher percentage of good birds. The first bird in the clock is a Van Lint x Wildermeersh, with the Van Lint originating from Louella stock and the Wildermeersh from Phil Wilson bloodlines. The second bird following in on its tail is a Vandenabeele bred from a pair that Duncan purchased from Crammond and Langstaff on the advice of his good friend Doug Gatland. As expected, the pair are very well bred with the sire being a grandson of Eisenhower and the dam being closely related to one of Ian and Nigels section winners. On the day of the race Duncan observed that it was similar conditions to when he and his father won the Section in the first Young Bird national they competed in which was also from Guernsey. History can now show that the loft came close to doing it again from the same race point. Duncan and his dad were inspired to join the NFC after Percy

Thomas won the national in the mid 70’s – this got them fired up and wanting to compete at that level as well. So it is fitting that their name is on this prestigious trophy that bears his name on a few occasions, this is a hotly contested trophy and is awarded for the first bird in to Cornwall from the Young bird national. Duncan races his birds on a unique system, they are kept natural but his business is selling cut flowers and his workshop is next to the lofts. As a result if he is working until 10’clock at night then he will have the lights on which will shine in to the young bird loft – giving them a longer day. The result of this is that they will have cleaned up nicely in the moult by the time the young bird national comes around. In recent years Duncan has had to breed a bigger team to allow for the constant attacks by peregrines. Their presence has also impacted on training, which they noe get less of, with them not usually venturing past 20 miles, although this year they had 2 club trainers from 40 miles. The two birds had a race from Yelverton and Honiton and then in to Guernsey where they did him proud. Duncan would like to congratulate the winners of both races and all the section winners.

Brian Harris and grandchildren Next up, at 5th open and claiming the bragging rights for Section J we have the partnership of Brian Harris and Son. This has been a top loft for a long time and have maintained a respectable level of consistency at all levels of competition, and this win is not unexpected. Brian would like to dedicate this win to his late dad, Bernard, who would have been so proud of the performance put up by their birds. The blue hen is a Darkness Youngster out of their Dutch Frans & Annie Van Pinxteren birds, known locally as 'Pixies', obtained in 2004 from John Birch via Brians good friend the late John Knowles. They are a combination of De Klak/Gus Hofkens/Louis Van Loom with a touch of Jan Aarden. The winning hen which they have named Isabel, and her nest-sister who arrived 11 minutes later for provisional 9th Section named Skyla after our two Granddaughters were bred from a 1/2 brother/sister pairing both sired by the partnerships No1 stock cock NL-322, one of the original Dutch ring birds from 2004 and Sire/G Sire and G.G Sire of numerous Fed and Club winners.

The section winner was so full of energy when she arrived that she did a few laps of the neighbourhood before landing, a sure sign the birds had been cared for by the convoyers, but not what you want to be watching on a national day! Brian would like to thank all the friends and fanciers who have rung to congratulate them on their win, and to pass on their Congratulations to the Winners - Lucas and Hill of Ivybridge. The partnership would like to thank the convoying team who had done a marvellous job in maintaining the condition of the birds.

Williams and Hassall – doing what comes naturally!! Claiming a magnificent 6th Open but having to settle for 2nd Section J we have the loft of Williams and Hassall. Jean and Bill are two of the nicest, most genuine people you would want to meet or talk to. They have had a stonking year at national level and crowned it by winning the trophy recently donated by Mark Gilbert for the best average by a single bird over all the old bird nationals. Now that is some ask, and this unassuming partnership from the West Midlands have stepped up and won it in its inaugural year…now that is a bit of class – and these aren’t big team senders. The young hen that came for them from Guernsey is an early bred young bird, so was on ‘natural darkness’ and was just beginning to flirt with a young cock, spending a couple of days in the corner of the loft being called to a bowl. She was having the 7th race of her career, so no worries about her fitness levels. She is certainly bred right for a top drawer performance, being a half sister to their St Nazaire section winner through the mother. Like the other top performance birds she is based on their long established Busschaert family, but on this occasion they have put across in to them. The sire of the 2nd section hen is a Walter Docx cock that they received from Mick Webster and Bill liked the look of him so bred from him, simple really. The partnership look for condition and fitness when selecting birds to compete, and Bill believes that if a bird has these two things then you don’t need to lose sleep over how many races a bird has had under its belt previously. The partnership would like to congratulate the Harris partnership on topping the section and all the other winners. I look forward to seeing Bill and Jean

at Telford for the presentation, and Bill has promised to buy a drink for the first 10 people who shake his hand.

Wile and Lias In 7th Open and 2nd Section G we have the partnership of Wile and Lias. Garth Wile and his son- in- law Steve Lias fly as a partnership as Mr and Mrs G and M.Wile and S.Lias. They fly in the Bristol area and are members of Towers South Road Club, and the Hartcliffe and District, and they fly very well in both clubs, The pigeon which came to claim 2nd section has been consistent for the partnership and has chalked up 2x 2nd clubs this season plus 15th Fed. For Guernsey she was flying to a 14 day old youngster which would have kept her head on the task at hand. Incidentally,the cock she was paired to also won the club the week before the national race so motivation definitely helps. The sire to this hen is from a good race cock of Nigel Templars -"46"- who had plenty of good prizes including 1st section and 5th open BBC.The dam to the 2nd section winner is from the Gerrit pair of Nigel Templars and has bred Steve and Garth 2 x1st Combine winners plus other prizes in club and National races plus brothers and sisters to the Dam has bred top birds including section and Combine winners – she was definitely bred for the job. Steve and Garth have had an excellent young bird season being 1st , 2nd , 6th , 8th , 9th and 10th section and 2nd , 3rd , 7th , 9th , 10th and 11th open C.S.C.F.C Guernsey 1,471 birds, and 15th open B.B.C Ancenis and 7th and 8th gold ring Bristol Fed without club positions which are too many to list. So the loft definitely had a bit of form about it and I am sure there was a buzz around the place on the day of the race, which proved to be well founded.

Roger holding the first two home from Guernsey. Next up, and winning the mighty section E we have the ever present Reading Loft of Roger Lowe. Roger Sent 35 young birds and had 28 on the day and 3 the next day, so he had an excellent race. On the day of the race he had two birds arrive together, a cock and hen. As is always the way the cock started driving the hen, but luckily the hen went straight in with the cock followed but in his haste he missed the trap and landed on the ground then flew of costing Roger 2nd section . He had a third bird arriving five minutes later which looks to be 7th Section and 28th Open. All three of these are related to his main stock hen ‘My Little Diamond’, who is carving out quite a reputation as a breeder and is proving to be prepotent across several generations. The first bird is a grand daughter from a full brother to ‘Nemisis’ winner or the Young Bird national in 2012, dam is ‘Going For Gold’, winner of Central Southern Classic from Carentan by 5 minutes in 2011.The second bird a great grand son being bred from ‘lucky 13’, winner of many prizes including 3rd Ace pigeon National Flying Club last season, 15th open Tarbes this season 53rd open Tarbes plus many more. He is half brother to the ‘Main Man’ winner or 2nd and 3rd open Saintes National. The dam of the second bird is ‘Euro Supreme’, winner of BBC national Fougeres old hens in 2011. She is a grand daughter of Mark Gilbert's ‘Southfield Supreme’ when paired with ‘My Little Diamond’. As always with Roger the birds are bred right and sent in the best of condition to do the task asked of them.

R Stokes Claiming 3rd Section J and a very repectable 9th Open we have the Stourbridge lofts of R Stokes. The first on the clock is a little blue hen that was bred for him by his sons Dave and Ian. Her sire is a vandenabeele that was purchased from Graeme Warmans entire clearance, and the dam was bred by Ron Williamson. She is dam of many winners at club and federation level and through to 1st section MNFC and top open positions for the boys. The loft had 4 from 6 back in the race and they were pleased with the condition of the birds on return so well done all to the convoying team.

Alex Docherty holding 1st Section F

Rounding off the top 10 and claiming the top spot in Section F we have the loft of Alex Docherty from Swindon, he is originally from Motherwell but moved south to get a better drop and to top up his tan. Alex had this to say: "I would like to thank the convoying team for the condition of the birds". Alex sent seven and had all seven home within the hour. He has been racing pigeons in Swindon since 1980, and in that time has had success in the Section F winning twice and been second twice. Has also won the North East section in the Central Southern Classic. The Present family of birds are Koopmans, they're sprint middle distance pigeons and have been successful for him. The section winner is a Koopman blue pied hen from bloodlines via Premier stud. The sire is a winner from Fougeres at club level and 4th Wilts Fed. The Dam is was bred by E. Smith and D. Baker... "thanks Darren". The G/Sire was second section F Fourgeres NFC. He would also like to thank Keith Palmer for looking after the birds when he is away. I think that Alex will most enjoy having bragging rights over Eamon Kelly who finished behind him in the race, money can’t buy you something like that. Enjoy it Alex.

Around the Sections Section A Top of the heap in Section A we have the loft of D Turner, although it is now under the watchful eye of dad Clive. The section topper is a blue hen hatched April and bred from two yearlings that are in the race team. Sire is inbred inbred from the famous Toey Staf Van Reet lines originating from Tony Mardon stock. The grandmother of the section winner is something special, having been bought from Paul Janssen as a squeaker at Lier Market. She was an absolute racing machine for Clive having won 1st Saintes 22nd combine 1541 birds in 2010. In 2011 she was 16th Classic Bergerac, 4th Section 107th open 2455 birds BICC Tours plus 14th Saintes and many more positions . She is now producing the goods herself, she has turned out to be a star buy at an absolute bargain price. From what I can remember the Paul Janssen birds carry a heavy influence of Engels blood, but if I am wrong I am sure some one will correct me. The dam of the section winner is bred through a red Van Reet cock from Aliastair Muir. This cock is no slouch, having flown Tarbes 3 times in the LSECCC, with his best position being 9th open and he has won Bergerac twice. He was paired to the Paul Janssen hen. Clive has become a pigeon fancier accidentally after his son took an interest. When they came to building the loft it was pointed out that as his sons partner had a few cats then their house might not be the ideal location so it was located at Clives. Through time his son had less time to do the birds justice so Clive stepped up to the mark, and is doing a sterling job.

Clive Turner Second section is the Godalming loft of Mick Tuck. Micks 2nd section A is a Cheq Pied cock of medium size, being well balanced in the hand and was flown on natural. He was a race candidate after having come fairly well through the moult, and he was sent driving has hen to the nest. The sire is a Blue cock is one of best cocks from Micks old Eric Cannon stock with many top performances to his credit including 1st Combine Bergerac 450 miles. The dam is a Van Geel that has been introduced as cross in to the Cannons and she is also a winner from Bergerac.

Mick Tuck

Section B Claiming Bridesmaids position in Section B we have the Lordswood lofts of Mike Whitcombe, no stranger to success in the National Flying Club. Mike had an excellent race with 26/30 home on the day and 2 waiting to get in next morning when he got up.

The team were sent with high levels of confidence as the same 30 young birds had been across the channel the previous week with the CSCFC and the loft put 10 birds well up in the top 100 of the Section. The second section winner for Mike is a blue Van loon cock, and he was bred from a brother to Mikes national winner from last year. The dam is his top stock hen and to date is responsible for 16 x1st prize winners with different cocks, so the young cock was clearly bred for the job. Mike was very pleased with the condition that the birds arrived in and would like to thank the convoying team for all their efforts. He would also like to thank Eamon ‘Cock Crow’ Kelly for an excellent job this year as race controller.

Mike Whitcombe and loft manager Section C Taking top spot is the consistently successful national racing loft of Mel and Sue King of Blandford Forum with a B.CH W/F cock on darkness. The sire is a Houfflijn bred from a pair supplied by Rob Rome from Cheltenham from the best of his stock that he sourced direct from this ultra successful Belgian distance loft. The dam of the section winner is a daughter of their good Eric Limbourg cock (Black Opium Lines) sire of 1st,2nd & 3rd Open Central Southern Classic Flying Club Bergerac and many other places, when paired to a daughter of “ Eros” 1st Open N.F.C Nantes x “Helen” 1st Open British Barcelona Club Bordeaux, their original M & D Evans Vandenabeele lines. All birds are fed on Country wide/ Willsbridge feeds from A E James.

Mel and Sue King and Grand Children Runner up is the loft of CAJ Riley. I was unable to get in contact with Mr Riley in time to include any information in the report.

Section E Taking runner up spot is the Essex loft of Micky Watts, a man who is always a danger in these races. Micky has put together an outstanding team of Vandenabeeles from the number one source outside Gabys loft- Myrtle Lofts. Micky races a team of birds that are as close as possible to the top birds and believes these are the best birds he has ever housed, and have done all he has asked of them. Micky had a great weekend having won the old hens national and he has a second hen that will come close for 2nd national.

Section F Taking Brides maid spot is the red hot lofts of Lloyd and Kelly. Fresh off the back of winning 2 national races including Tarbes, Eamon had every confidence in the birds and as with all the team his young birds will have been exceptionally well schooled off the south coast. The loft had 29/30 from the race and Eamon was more than pleased with how they came. The first over the pad was a darkness cock, having only dropped one flight, that was sitting 10 day eggs, and like the rest of the Guernsey team he had been taken off the darkness in the first week in July. The cock was bred for Eamon in Ireland by Maurice o’Donnell from the best of the Jos Joosen birds that Maurice has bought direct. His grand parents are a full brother to 1st International Marseilles and a grand daughter of 1st International Perpignan, so the blood is there to do well. Maurice has carved out a reputation for acquiring the best of the top winning bloodlines and trying them in One Loft races around the world, and he has a fantastic record at these especially the South African One Loft Race. The grandmother of Eamons’ cock bred 5

birds that all made it to the final race in the same year from 5 entered – that shows the quality of the birds Maurice carries. Eamon would like to thank Maurice for the birds he has bred and which are now starting to put up some real performances. Eamon is hopeful that Maurice will now pull his socks up and send over something that is decent and well bred!

Eamon and his apprentice Section H Taking top spot and claiming their second section win of the 2015 season we have the loft of C. Crick and son. The section topper on this occasion was a darkness cock sitting tight on a pair of eggs. He is bred from a pair of Louis Coreman birds that were bought from Bob Fenech in 2013. Colin bred a few off them last year but wasn’t really impressed with the performances and actually considered getting rid of them but decided to give them another chance, and this year the young birds off them have won the federation twice and now topped the section. His young bird team have been on song all season and they have won 8 out of the 9 club races. Colin has the droppings of the birds tested regularly by Deweerdt and acts on their advice to keep the birds healthy. On their recommendation he uses a few of their products to keep on top of young bird ailments including whitenose and BS. The young

bird team are fed a range of Beyers corn to give them the fuel they need to win the races. Runner up is the Suffolk loft of Roger Strowger who has been having a great season at all levels of competition. Roger clocked a young grizzle hen who was bred from the hen that won the section I the old hens race…clearly a day that suited them. Roger races widowhood cocks during the old bird season but always prepares a few hens for these later races, I have been pestering him to sell off some of his fishing gear and free up a section in the racing loft to have a team of hens all season so lets hope he takes it on board. The sire of the grizzle hen was bred by Bob and Jamie Langrish from Lancashire, Roger has bought a kit of young birds each year of these guys to race for the last few seasons and has been more than impressed with the results. This particular cock has raced well for Roger and has claimed amongst other prizes 5th Section . 78th open at national level. His bloodlines are Vandenabeele x Pouw Brothers Janssen. Roger had a second bird on the same yard to claim 3rd Section. This is a dark cheq hen that is again home bred from Langrish birds. This little girl has been the model of consistency and has already chalked up 4th St Albans, 6TH Newbury and 6th Bedhampton. Her sire is a bit classy and is another bird bred by the Langrish team. I saw him when I was at Rogers in the Spring and he is a tidy animal with abroad set of shoulders and a back you could throw a saddle on. He is not too old, but in a few short years of racing he has been 1st Club, 8th Section and 10th Open NSCC Canapeville, 1st Club, 2ND East Anglian Federation and 3rd NSCC Alencon. He has also claimed 3rd Section, 16th open BICC Alencon and 3rd Section 66th Open BICC Poitiers. These birds clearly like a bit of water. This year the Strowger young bird team have been in magnificent health and shown great vigour with them going off around home for 2 hours at a time. They have won 6 young bird races in the club and tumbled in from Guernsey. On the day prior to basketing Roger scattered some nest bowls and a load of straw over the loft floor and left the young birds to it. Roger feeds them on 25% Bamfords bred and wean and 75% Gerry Plus and it seems to be doing the job. The loft had a slight set bak for a week early in the young bird season when they contracted a mild form of YBS, but this was quickly and successfully treated with Streptococ –Coli Killer from Van dersluis. Roger would like to thank all the team who are responsible for the marking and transportation of the birds. He would also like to say well done to Colin Crick and Son who won the section and to Mr Bob French on winning the local gold ring race and topping the section in the recent BICC race.

Section I Taking the top spot and bagging his second section win of the season is the Loft of John Hambidge. John sent a strong team of 18, all on the darkness and in various stages of motivation and had 18 home, with 13 in under an hour, and the first three in a couple of minutes. When the dust settles the final result will show that he has peppered the section result with 3 very near the top of the heap. The section winner is bred from a pair of Van Reets that John had from Keith Arnold. He bought a few from Keith and has let the basket sort them out over the past few years, with the end result being that he has a few decent ones left. The hen was paired up and sent sitting covering couple of eggs. His second bird which was on her tail is a grizzle Jos Thone x Van Reet and she was sent just starting to nod at a young cock. His third bird home is from a family of wildermeersh that he has just introduced from the West Midlands so it is still too early for him to judge how good they will be, but not a bad start. All the young birds will have been well trained and will have had the full young bird programme up to the national. This was an excellent team performance from a very under rated loft.

John Hambidge Runner up is the loft of Mr and Mrs Stretton, no strangers to success at this level. On the morning of the race after hearing the time of liberation and the wind Roy calculated that about 5 hours would be a good bird for them. As it turns out this wasn’t a bad guess as sure enough they timed in at 5 hours 10 minutes. They clocked a blue chequer out of their old Wildersmeerch x Ponderosa Janssen, just flying to the loft. The second bird was 6 minutes after, again from Ponderosa stock, this time from their Wim Muller blood lines.

The team were happy with their returns and felt that it was a good call by the race controller and convoyers.

Roy and loft manager Brian Gittings

Section K The young birds from the top end sections had a bit of a shift to put in to get home but as always they rose to the task. Top of the heap is the loft of Pete Hagland, no stranger to success from the channel at national level. The section winner is a blue hen that is bred down through Petes well established Herman-Beverdam Pigeons, which he has had over 20 years. They have been well sorted by the basket in to a top team of birds and along the way have produced such champions as ‘Cynthia's Pride’ 1st Section and 2nd Open Saintes, 1st section ,12th Open Tours and ‘Peggy's Boy’ who is the Sire to Cynthia's Pride. He also achieved 1st Section, 2nd Open Saintes and only bird on the Day in Section K. This young lady was another one that is bred right for the task at hand and didn’t disappoint.

Mark Sherwood and Bill Hague

Having to settle for 2nd Section we have the loft of M and A Sherwood. They clocked a Vandenabeele hen that is steeped in the best of these birds via their good friend Bill Hague. She contains the lines of Figo and Bliksem and these have been very potent for the Sherwood loft and many others. This little lady was motivated to fly the 273 miles by being on widowhood all young bird season, and was given her cock on the Wednesday night and stayed with him until being basketed on the Thursday morning- and it certainly worked! She was well worked in the run up to the national and had 5 races beforehand so she was certainly fit for the task. This is the partnerships first season flying with The National Flying Club, and have really enjoyed it, welcome aboard and lets hope you have continued success with us gentlemen.

Pete Hagland Section L Unfortunately I was unable to contact the first two in this section which is a pity. If Mr E Taylor of Crewe and Mr BP Lee could phone or email details then I will gladly give the birds credit for their performances. Right, that’s the young bird national done and dusted. As always there were some fine performances, and more importantly the race team did us proud again and enabled excellent returns. This is what really matters as its bums on seats that is important and the backbone of any loft is a strong team of yearlings. Next week I will do the race report for the old hens national as I believe the two races deserve separate coverage.

One final thing from me, some of the committee are busy putting together the sales list for our annual auction. This is an opportunity to get your hands on some seriously tasty tackle that has been presented by the top lofts in the NFC. Start saving your pennies and keep praying that the euro stays weak as you could bag yourself a bargain this Winter. As always I am on 01926 817796 or [email protected]