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Hi National members and welcome to my report on the recent National race flown from Cholet, a last minute substitution for Nantes. Saturday dawned and our race advisor and weather advisor had already been talking and checking the weather in France and on the line of flight. The weather is always checked before liberating our birds but in addition, the line of flight is also checked in case there is a chance of bad weather coming into England and which may affect the convoy en-route. The race advisors full report is later in this article and shows in detail the weather and wind direction and once the advisor was fully satisfied, he had no hesitation in liberating the birds at 06.30 hrs. The birds headed for home immediately. As usual with a National race and birds flying into all parts of England, the wind direction has a large bearing on where the winning birds will be timed. With a North Easterly wind, some birds do not like it and will not face it. Reports from members show that there is a number of birds that have still not reached their lofts. Speaking to other English organisations flying yesterday, they all had a similar experience with gaps between arrivals and birds missing. However, some birds put their heads down and dug in and forged home. These of course were the Open winner, the Section winners and the early arrivals. Congratulations to all who timed an early bird. The probable section winners and a full list of the first 30 Open winners are displayed. It must be said however, that these positions are based on telephone verifications only and may change if members timed more than one bird close together.
B. MILKINS HOLDING 1ST OPEN TNFC & 1ST & 2ND SECTION G, CHOLET 2011
Open winner named ‘TED’, in honour of his late father, also a flyer.
GB09T36063 CHEQ COCK 1ST SECTION, 1ST OPEN CHOLET T.N.F.C.
Has been previously 69th section 108th open C.S.C.F.C. 3,729 birds
8th section 11th open Carenton B.B.C. 2,600 birds
22nd section 325th open Fougeres T.N.F.C.
The sire is a Flor Engels bred by Geoff Kirkland and is a full brother to "114"who was 1st section in yearling National for Geoff, the parents to these birds have bred Geoff Kirkland many 1st prize winners.
Dam of the National winner is a pied hen bred by K. Davey of Pontefract when Ken Davey gave up the sport Vic had this hen back and is from, "Victor", bred by Vic Thompson and was a R.P.R.A. sprint champion in 1998 and sire of numerous combine winners and a Van Denabeele hen bred by Joe Shuttleworth.
Brian would like to thank Geoff Kirkland for the birds he had off him and also to Vic Thompson of Yorkshire for the gift of a daugther of Champion “VICTOR"
Brians second bird which will be 2nd section G is a blue Van Dyck based pigeon, the sire is P. Veenstre x Koopman and the Dam is from a son of the "Kannibaal" when paired to "Unique", both birds bred by the late Gerrit Lahuis, This blue cock has been 23rd section and 40th open C.S.C.F.C., 3,729 birds from Cerenton and good positions in the Bristol Fed from the channel.
All birds are flown on the roundabout system and not broken down, corn mainly used is Verse-Laga and the Countrywide corn from Albert E James and Son from Barrow Gurney, Bristol which their friend Nigel Templar supplies.
The wind in France early and later during the race
The wind, at varying strength and speeds up to 35 – 40 mph in Great Britain at different times on the race day.
Race advisers report.
1. Spoke to Terry Scholey Friday am and he was of the opinion that a liberation would be probable for the Saturday provided that the thunder storms in southern France did not advance to far North as to effect our liberation. 2. Spoke to Terry again Friday pm and there had been little change from the previous forecast and it is expected (providing thunderstorms do not intervene) early morning to be sunny spells with the wind in a North Easterly direction at the race point. 3. Spoke with Trevor Cracknell Friday pm with an update,at that time the weather was sunny and warm approx 25o c.
4. Rose on Saturday at 04.30 checked the usual weather sites and was pleased to see that the current weather situation was far better in relation to thunder storms and mist than had been forecast the previous day. 5. At approx 05.15am I spoke to Trevor and informed him of my findings and asked him to prepare for a liberation at 06.30 am provided that the conversation with Terry was positive and I would ring him at approx 06.10am. 6. Spoke with Mr Scholey at 06.00am and he concurred with my findings, wind from a North Easterly direction 20-25 mph over the channel and 10-15 mph overland with good visibility throughout. 7. Reported to Trevor and asked him to liberate, he agreed 06.30.am would be ideal as all the preparations had been completed' 8. Spoke to Trevor at 06.35am to be informed that the birds had been liberated at 06.30am in a light North Easterly in sunny conditions and a cloudless sky.They headed for home immediately. 9. Spoke to Sid Barkel and informed him of the liberation. 10. Many thanks to all concerned.
Paul Clements, Race advisor.
BRIAN WALL 1ST SECTION A CHOLET HOLDING GEM
This was the 10th Section win for me in the National so it was special and one which I am very proud of. The bird is a Kees Bosua from the stock loft from stock birds I purchased from Ed Sittner/Premier Stud. It is a lovely balanced bird and was in superb condition so I made him one of my poolers. Seven hours on the wing and he did'nt look as if he had left the loft. I fly the widowhood system as it suits my work and is what I enjoy. Birds are fed on Gem Super widowhood. He and the rest of the team will go back to the National in two weeks.
Brian Wall holding his section winner from the Cholet National.
STUART LAWS – 1st SECTION C CHOLET.
As advised on the telephone the pigeon is a red hen which is a Welsh stray which came into my loft late last year. I tossed it up from various race points last year and it kept returning to my loft. At the end of the season I reported it and the owner had the bird transferred over. Unfortunately I have lost the details of the owner but I am sure that you will be able to trace it back through the Welsh Union.
The hen had several races before Cholet and made a mistake on one early on where she was 
lost for two or three days. The owner did advise me that she was well bred.
I have been racing pigeons since 1992 but have only recently been able to put the time into my birds again because we moved and totally refurbished our current home thus never had a lot of time to put into the birds.
The loft is 60ft long and sectioned into a corn store, two widowhood sections with 36 widowhood boxes.
We have an 8ft by 7ft stock loft with aviary and a 24ft x 6ft for our darkness team of young birds.
We only started flying the National again last year after several years break though this is the first time that we have ever had a section winner. We were surprised to get the hen as we spend most of the time with the widowhood cocks which get let out twice a day and fed best widowhood mix and supplements. The hens are left in with the young birds and only let out once a day for an hour.
The family are all involved with the birds. My daughters enjoy helping with them and taking them training. My partner Rachael is always there to trap the birds when they come back from training and to close off the widowhoods and let the hens in.
I would like to thank Roy Phillips an Upton Flying Club mate who took the birds to Frome for me as I was working.
MR. & MRS. ANTHONY, 1st SECTION D, CHOLET.
Richard and Gail Anthony of Camborne. 1st Section D, 2nd Open NFC Cholet 4/6/2011.
Dick and Gail were thrilled to bits to win 2nd Open from Cholet with their yearling hen that was bred from a long line of cross Channel winners and was of Arie Visser and Marriott bloodlines. The sire had previously bred a fourth Open winner from Fougeres in 2006 with the Dam being a previous top racer from 
Tarbes and Saintes.
On the day, news of pigeons being timed in Plymouth at 1.30 had filtered through, so Dick and Gail knew they had to be in before 2 pm to be in with a chance. You can imagine their excitement when one arrived just before the hour.
Dick is to celebrate 50 years in pigeons next year and Gail was brought up with pigeons as the daughter of the late Clive Pollard the 1970 Nantes National winner and who knows, perhaps they’ll soon go one better, as a life long supporter of the NFC races their success could not go to a more deserving cause.
This is their best performance to date having previously topped the section on many occasions with their highest position being third Open.
In closing Dick and Gail would like to convey their congratulations to Mr Milkins of Bristol on his win.
Incidentally, a very interesting item came up during conversation as Gail Anthony is the daughter of the late Clive Pollard of Camborne who gained 1st Open NFC Nantes in 1970. Clive and Dick Anthony were best friends and Gail and Dick actually met and married due to Clive so it is entirely fitting that the couple emulated Clives win from Nantes with 1st Section Cholet, the Nantes substitute.
MARK GILBERT HOLDING 1st SECTION E, T.N.F.C. CHOLET
My first two pigeons from the national were both Roundabout hens and full sisters. They were clocked within one minute of each other.
The father of the two pigeons is 100 percent Koopman, he is out of a son of Kleine Dirk Koopman’s double national winner, when paired to a daughter of Mighty man.
The mother is Syndicate Loft pigeon bred from Outlaw a son of Figo, when paired to a daughter of the Young Couple.
This pair have now bred 1st, 3rd, 3rd and 5th section E. 1st Mad Hatter open. 10th and 39th open NFC plus many more national scorers.
I found the race to be very testing, but in the end did get 70 out of the 80.
1st Section E, T.N.F.C. Cholet for Mark Gilbert
2nd Section E, T.N.F.C. Cholet for Mark Gilbert
A Crook 1st Section F, T.N.F.C. Cholet
Record GB09R19135 Blue Bar. She is a Staff VR Widowood hen. It’s her first year racing as an old bird. We fly with the Solent and B B & O clubs.
I am an enthusiastic amateur, only sending 6-8 birds to the big races. They are fed on Bamfords corn all year round.
These Staff VR are lovely birds and will fly up to 460 miles.
A Crook holding 1st Section F, T.N.F.C. Cholet
Scott Petherbridge & Son, 1st Section H.
The winning pigeon is a Mealy Cock a Scottish rung 08 late bred a gift from Gordon Grant of Gretna. In 2009 he flew Saints and 2010 Tarbes plus other channels crossings. This year has raced every weekend including Carentan UBI Combine and Fourgers NFC. Last Saturday he was sent inland to Poole in the Milton Keynes South Row and was the last of ten birds to arrive home. I was sweating as he was my number one warrior, four and a quarter hours to fly 106 miles in a race where the volocities were in the 2000's YPM, he went right over and battled back against the wind, not ideal preparation for the National Race you would think! The sire is of Bricoux/Sion decent and the mother Jan Theelan, families owned by many years by Gordon Grant and his father. I spoke to Gordon that day and we both agreed that I would see the Mealy Cock bird, the harder the better for him, bang on line and six laps of honour and in! My second bird was 25 minutes behind the Mealy, he is a Scottish rung 09 of Sion/Kirkpatrick decent. He has Gordon's National winning blood going back to his Nantes and Reinnes Open National winners.
I first started with pigeons in 2003 with young birds on the North Road, after being introduced to them by Mark Henry of Milton Keynes. I previously won Section H twice in Cholett 2007, Fourgers 2008 and 1st South East Section MNFC Alencon 2007 plus finishing tenth Open Barcelona BICC in partnership with Pollitt (the Dreadmeister). I started again in 2009 with my son (aged 9), I'm getting the hang of it nowadays with mixing long hours driving HGV and keeping the birds.
I would like to say thanks to all the support and congratulations I've received which I truly appreciate.
From Scott Petherbridge
Scott Petherbridge & Son holding their section winner
T. G. Durows 1st Section I, T.N.F.C. Cholet
My previous noteable wins were: 1st NFC Saintes 2006, 1st MCCFC Saintes2004, 1st MCCFC Portland 2007 and several times winner of section I
Blue Cock GB09J01952 : won several prizes inland before winning 1st
Section I Cholet 2011 on his second channel race
Strain :
SIRE : Janssen/ Hofkins, Pinnacle X 2005 Blood lines
DAM: Ponderosa 2005 Blood lines X Herman Beverdam Janssen
Information kindly supplied by Trevor who states that he does not keep pedigrees or race records. Trevor is a modest man but I can tell you that he is a formidable Pigeon flyer having previously won at least 12 x 1st sections etc. Trevor is unable to supply a photo of his winning bird but as can be seen above is a good racing pigeon with a history of wins.
Bowen and Link, 1st Section J, T.N.F.C., Cholet.
It is a very good feeling having such a good bird on a hard day. The hen is pictured with my son Ieuan who assists us and is an avid fancier at 16 years old. He takes a 
major responsibility for the hens and is a great help.
This hen was 4th Hereford, South Shropshire & Forest of Dean Federation from Saintes last year as a yearling covering 467 miles.
When she returned on Saturday she was unexpectedly high in the sky into the wind and was in extremely good condition.
She is half Delbar through the lofts of Ian Axe and also bred from a red cock purchased at Bernard Clark's clearance sale in South Wales in 2005. This bird was Bernard's good red cock "Guido Says", bred down from "The Road Pal". He was the sire of Scammell & Peppel's Welsh Young Bird National winner in 2005 from Picauville. Also the same pigeon was 7th in the Welsh National in 2007 from Lessay. Bernard was a regular winner from Saintes and Bergerac with this line.
NICK ADSHEAD & SON, 1st SECTION K, TNFC CHOLET
My winner is s 2009 Peter vd merwe cock who as been a good bird over the years. He's raced on total widowhood and he raced every inch to the loft. He came back in excellent condition with to signs that he had just flown 464 miles in a very strong ne wind.
This will be my 3rd section k win in the last 3 races. It's very pleasing to see that my birds win on hard race days and fast days
Nick with his 2011 Fougeres
‘Croddy Nom’ winner.
1st Section K, Cholet 2011.
O’Hare & Woodward 1st Section L, T.N.F.C. Cholet
Mike O’ Hare & Ron Woodward of Middlewich. We have been in partnership since 1999 and joined the N.F.C. in 2005, having immediate success in our first race the Y.B. National from Fougeres when we finished 1st and 4th Sect L 4th and 11th Open.
Since then we have had many good results including 2 x 2nd section. We had an exceptional year in 2010 when we were 1st, 2nd, 5th and 9th Section L in the St Malo race. The Section winner on that occasion was a small blue hen who went on to finish 2nd Open in the Bamfords Channel Challenge from Cholet later that year.
This hen is the same bird that we timed in yesterday to top the N.F.C. Section L from Cholet.
The section winner is a 3 year old Gaby Vandenabeele hen flown on the roundabout system. She had two inland races with the Middlewich F.C. this year before being sent to Fougeres with the N.F.C. and this race brought her into top condition, and she was sent to a club race of 120 miles on the Sat before basketing to maintain her condition.
She is a small bird. Her sire is a M&D Evans Gaby bought at their sale in Tipton in 2004. He is a son of Trade Secret when paired to Destiny. Trade Secret is from Jester and Belle and Destiny is bred from Jester and Carrie. The Dam of the Section winner is from a pair of Gaby Vandenabeeles bought at Blackpool in 2000 from the sale by Vandeghinste Romain and are from the lines of Bitjer and Rambo. The dam won several 1st prizes racing and was 4th Open Northwest Classic Club, Falaise 312 miles B H, 1st Section L, CHOLET 2011, 1st Section L St Malo 2010
before being put to stock
where she has been outstanding. Brothers to the section winner have won 1st Mid- Cheshire Fed, 2nd Mid Cheshire Fed for us and 1st Wrekin Fed for Mr Roger Sutton.
Racing Lofts of O’Hare & Woodward, 1st Section L T.N.F.C. CHOLET
That’s it then,full report for you all to enjoy regarding The National Flying Club Cholet race and the stories behind the winners.I really enjoyed speaking to the Open and Section winners and sharing their experiences. I could hear the excitement in their voices and without exception each fancier was so proud of their birds performances and rightly so. This is the Premier club of all England and to feature in the result is an achievement in itself.There is no other feeling like it in the pigeon fancy. Seeing your bird folding up and diving for the loft knowing it is a good time, wondering if birds flying further and not yet timed will beat you. Wondering if your bird is early enough to get on the result then finding out you have won the coveted 1st section or even 1st Open. That is why fanciers join the National Flying Club.
They are fully aware that they are competing against the very best.
We look forward now to our race from Messac on June 18th.may I take this opportunity to congratulate all of the section winners and 1st open winner from Cholet. In addition my congratulations extend to all who all fanciers who timed and made the result, very well done.
I wish the very best of luck to all in the National Flying Club Messac National race. May you all have early times and good returns. Look out you Open and Section winners for my call regarding details of your winning birds.
Geoff Blackhall, Press Officer
The National Flying Club.
50 Elm Grove, Whitby
Ellesmere Port, CH66 2PT
Tel. No. 0151 356 8204
Mobile 07891 831831
E-Mail: anne@blackhall69.orangehome.co.uk
