The National Flying Club leading the way! Another first for the National Flying Club,
who proudly inform the fancy and their members, that we are now capable of viewing video
of the club’s liberations with in minutes of them taking place. The technology to be
used is one of the latest mobile phones and the only phone with video capture, available
to the general public, the NOKIA 3650. The convoyer will be taking photos and video
throughout his journey to the liberation sites, including weather conditions and the
general outlook at the site, prior to liberating the pigeons. He will e-mail the images
back to England from his mobile phone and the Web Master will be uploading the N.F.C. web
site with in minutes, and hey presto, instant pictures of the National liberating. You the
members and everyone else with a P.C., can have images of what the weather is like at each
race point, including the cloud cover, sunlight etc. The NOKIA 3650 has cost the National
Flying Club just £99.99. It has a line rental of £25.00 per month and 200 free minutes
of calls, and the photo and video will cost per item sent. Overall the new phone system
shouldn’t affect the accounts and could even work out cheaper than before. Coverage
on the web site will include the Marking Stations and everything of interest to the
members, where the convoyer goes. Please note this won’t be including the red light
district, while abroad! In the closed season, pictures of the A.G.M., the prize
presentation and committee meetings, could be up on the N.F.C. web site within minutes of
them taking place. Visit the web site now to download the software needed to view the
video. The official N.F.C. web site is: www.NationalFlyingClub.Co.UK A special thanks to
Russell Bradford, a N.F.C. member, for his endeavours and thoughts to push this wonderful
idea through. Once again, the National Flying Club leading the field!
Webcam of the N.F.C. office.
See the staff taking the verification calls and view some of the equipment the
National Flying Club have! Get to know what goes on behind the scenes at the office on
National race day. Subject to the final technical testing being successful we hope to have
the Webcam available on the official N.F.C. web site, in time for the first race of the
2003 season and will cover scheduled periods over the coming season.
Attention members.
The National Flying Club have removed the request for your distances and for your
longitude and latitude from your race forms, because the club gets your distances for you,
accurately over the internet from the R.P.R.A. office. The N.F.C. have requested this
facility over the last four years from the R.P.R.A. and it’s now here. Get to know
your N.F.C. race point distances, available on the website, free of charge. Has your dog
eaten your N.F.C. handbook and race entry sheets? Have you lost them, or has your wife
thrown them out with you old pigeon papers. Don’t worry, download them direct from
the official web site, free of charge. Down load the provisional result at various times
during the race. Take a hard copy of the provisional result to the clock station and show
the other fanciers all the best times. Download the full result. The National Flying Club,
giving it’s membership the very best in information technology!
Latest news on the Dax International race.
Bill Harris, the N.F.C. President, has been negotiating with the secretary of the
Entente Belge, Yvan Eeckhout, regarding what clocks can be used in the forthcoming Dax
International race. It is now official that N.F.C. members can use any clock passed by the
R.P.R.A. Yes, that means that Toulet clocks can be used in the Dax International race, in
July. On behalf of the members, thank you to Bill, for his endeavours. The Dax
International entry forms are available at the N.F.C. marking stations for the
‘Racing Pigeon’ Nantes race and the Bamford’s ‘Top Flight’
Saintes race. The club has been issued with 1,300 forms, so anyone wishing to compete,
should pick one up at the marking station. Good luck!
More from the N.F.C. web site discussion page.
1) Subsidised races (Matt Rake – Section G.)
What do the members think about the fact that the Pau Grand National is being
subsidised by the Nantes National? I understand that that 25p. a bird from the Nantes
entries (approx. £2,000 a year) goes straight towards the Pau race. Is this fair? Should
all the N.F.C. races be self supporting, like the Dax International race, this season?
Reply (Paul O’Leary – 0014A).
Matt – There are plenty of other examples of subsidies within the N.F.C.:
1) Those fanciers who buy rings subsidise those who don’t.
2) Big team flyers subsidise the small team flyers.
3) Pools players subsidise non players.
4) 2,000 plus members who pay their annual subscriptions and choose not to race at
all, subsidise those fanciers who do race.
Some members inevitably gain benefit from the action of others and I see no way or
reason to redress this. As to your specific point about Nantes and Pau, I have great
empathy with your argument as Nantes is my favourite race, simply because I feel I have a
chance of winning. If you’re a fancier who sends to Nantes and not to Pau, then you
can justifiably feel that you’re paying slightly too much for your racing. However I
accept that there is an argument that says that the N.F.C. owes it’s existence to the
Grand National race and that all roads therefore lead to Pau. Some may go on to the argue
that an even greater subsidy be diverted to Pau race from Nantes and the young bird race?
For the record, a 25p. subsidy from Nantes effectively reduces by 62p. the entry fee
required at Pau, based on last year’s entry levels. Personally, I think that entry
fees for ALL of our races are excessive, though recognise these are governed by existing
transport and marking logistics. Catteralls provide a good service, but it is a
seller’s market and where else can we go? We must make strenuous attempts to drive
down costs including making an assessment of alternative regimes. Increased membership is
the surest way of reducing entry fees. To reduce Nantes to a £3 entry fee, based on last
year’s race, we would need to attract an additional 1,692 pigeons from 256 members,
a16.7% increase on actual. Clearly we’re not going to pick up 256 members over night,
but as referred to about we have 2,000 plus members who choose not to send, year after
year! If we converted just 300 of these guys into members who sent to each race, we
quickly get down to a £2.95 (£3.50) entry fee for Nantes, £3.60 (£5.00) for Saintes
and £4.55 (£6.00) for Pau. Convert 100% of these guys and we’re really starting to
cook on gas, with vastly reduced entry fees, increased prize money, and an even greater
sense of a ‘National’ race. We urgently need to find out and understand why
these members are not sending and somehow dispel their concerns and bring them on board,
but I doubt that we’re even ever ask them why? Food for thought, perhaps!
Reply (Matt Rake – Section G).
I quite agree that there are other subsidies within the N.F.C., yet it is the Nantes
/ Pau subsidy that I have the biggest problem with. I just don’t see why the birds I
send to Nantes, should help to pay for other people to send to Pau. I am sure you will
agree that more people may be inclined to send to Nantes if the birdage price was reduced
and more in line with club prices. I also think that it is very unfair to expect the Dax
race to be self supporting, when Pau isn’t. I accept that continued participation
from Dax isn’t a sure thing, but at the end of the year people will draw comparisons
between the two longest races, yet there isn’t a level playing field for both races.
Just for the record, I don’t plan on sending to either!
2) Marking station (Bill Young – Section E).
Hi all! I wonder how the members feel about Farnborough, as a marking station. I did a
bit of marking there last season and found the members were a bit close to us, which was a
bit distracting. Especially as I was working with Keith Mott, who is very known and
everybody wanted to speak to him. I personally prefer Reading, which I think is a perfect
venue.
Reply (Keith Mott – Section E).
Well Big Bill, as you know, I’m with you all the way with this issue. I think
the Farnborough marking station is very under parr, with the main problem being the hall
being to small and the waiting fanciers standing over you when you are marking the
pigeons. I have raised this issue several times at the N.F.C. committee meetings. The
Reading market site is the best marking station that I’ve attended, but Bill, it
costs a lot of money and we can’t always get it on the days we want it. Now that we
have a new marking station on the A3 at Horndean, I think we should have one nearer to
London, like the Sutton Football Club or a venue on the same lines. The Sutton venue has
plenty of space and is easy to get too.
Reply (Bill Harris – Section G).
If anybody has a good venue for a marking station, please contact me or Sid Barkel,
the club’s secretary. We will always listen to good ideas, but please have someone
who will agree to take charge. That’s it for this week! If you need to contact me
with any N.F.C. news, please phone me on: 01372 463480 or email on: keithmott@btopenworld.com.
