I’ve received three letters this week and the first is from the N.F.C. President,
Bill Harris of Elton.
Dear Keith,
I was due to visit Exeter for the Nantes marking and last year promised N.F.C. life
vice president, Nobby Henley, that I would do so. I had to change my plans and went to the
West Farnborough marking station instead. I now hope to go to Exeter for the Saintes race
marking.
I arrived at 08.20hrs. at the marking station after a 125 mile trip, without getting
lost, and got stuck straight into marking pigeons. Due to the lack of volunteers from the
Farnborough area willing to be I.C. of the marking station, deputy convoyer, Richard King,
offered his services to take charge. He travelled from Bristol on the Wednesday to oversee
the baskets arrival and was on hand all day, on the Thursday, before travelling with the
birds to Nantes. A vote of thanks to Richard, for stepping in and doing a really wonderful
job. Bill and Tanya Brown helped out on the day and several prominent fanciers helped out
on the tables. Thanks very much to all of those that did give a hand.
One person I met and it was a pleasure to do so, was Gordon Church of Rochester in
Kent. He helped on my table for a couple of hours and between baskets, I found out he knew
my Dad in the 1950’s, when my family lived in Chatham. Great talking to you Gordon, I
trust you had a good race.
A few comments were ‘thrown’ my way and because I was busy working on the
table, I didn’t have time to comment, but did suggest if they waited until the
marking was complete, I would be more than happy to talk to them. I suppose you can guess,
that when that time came they were gone. These people can shout loud, but aren’t
prepared to listen. One fancier who did wait was, John Wills, and over a drink afterwards,
we did have a discussion about the N.F.C. and John did listen. I hope he now knows more
about what has been happening over the last few months. John did suggest San Sebastian
would be a better race point for an International race than Dax. I did look into what you
said John and although there is a race from San Sebastian, it’s not classed as an
International race. The French organise it and only France and a small part of Belgium are
allowed to send. Brian Keegan was another to corner me and as usual, when ever we meet, we
have a healthy discussion. The good thing about Brian, is that he cares. Never scared to
express his opinion and it always comes from the heart. Don’t forget Brian, James
Bond to do the business in September, with Miss Moneypenny close behind!
I was amazed at some of the mistakes that were made on the Part B forms. Before
leaving for the marking station please, check them over, that will save a lot of time at
our end. People were also arriving with extra birds. I hope you are all aware what work
our secretary puts in to get the race underway. This includes organising baskets to be
dropped off to various marking stations. This is all worked out from your Part A forms,
telling us how many birds you’ll be sending and which marking station you’ll be
using. If everybody turned up with one extra pigeon and if we took them, the whole system
would collapse. So a little thought please!
You are probably now aware that the Nantes National convoy had to be moved
approximately 2 kilometres east of the original liberation site. The R.P.R.A., and we were
unaware that this site would not be allowed to be used on certain Sundays throughout the
year. All the new distances have been applied for and there shouldn’t be any delay in
publishing the Nantes National result.I
noticed on the day of the race, many members were on the N.F.C. website looking at the
liberation pictures provided by our new camera. I hope you enjoyed what you saw!
The race is now over and the disappointment regarding the holdover. I had many, many
calls on the Saturday morning, showing their annoyance. I have received, at the time of
writing this, only one letter, that was from J. & A. Rake and John is the I.C. of the
Caerwent clock station. I contacted John and promised him his letter would be brought to
the attention of the committee. While I was at the Caerwent clock station having my clock
read off, the members there were, to say the least, vocal in their opinion.One complaint
was from John Batcock, who complained that an N.F.C. official, on arrival at Frome got out
of his car walked around the back, had his birds put through and then went straight in to
have a cup of tea. I asked John who it was, but he refused to tell me. John if you have a
problem, then speak up! Tell me and I’ll do something about it. Another complaint was
the waiting in the queue. I did respond by saying, if they had offered their services for
an hour, their birds would have been put through. Roy Christopher would have bought them a
mug of tea and they would have had a chair. Next time chaps, why not offer to help? When I
was a teenager, (a very, very long time ago K.M.), visiting Oxford and then Reading, the
queue was where all the fun was. You met fanciers from all over, old and young, we saved
places for people, while they went for a drink, exchanged phone numbers and kept in touch.
Some (not all) the old days were good!
I have rung all the Nantes National section winners to congratulate them on their fine
performances. There were a couple of people I couldn’t contact. Please, if any
members have changed their phone numbers, contact our secretary and let him know. Through
out the year, I have in close contact with Yvan Eekhout, secretary of the Entende Belge
and he assures me that the Dax International race is still on. I have also discussed with
him and got an agreement that all clocks approved by the R.P.R.A. can be used for the
International race. At the time of writing, Saintes is on us, good luck to all members
that send!
Regards – Bill Harris.
The second letter was sent to me by Catherine Cooper of Peasedown and says:
DAX INCLUDED IN THE N.F.C. AVERAGES.
The above statement may surprise some and shock many on the N.F.C. committee. The
R.P.R.A. rules are very clear that the averages should be stated before the first race
commences (R.P.R.A. rule 185: The organisation shall declare it’s races for the
purpose of averages before the commencement of racing each year…). The N.F.C. rule
book does not preclude Dax from any of the pertinent average trophies. Where the wording
states ‘all races’ or ‘all old bird races’, this must and does include
Dax. As the Nantes race has now taken place, it is too late to amend the rule book and
alter the averages. At the spring meeting the committee decided that as Dax was self
supporting, it should not be included in the averages. Well, as you can see in the rule
book, Saintes and the young bird race are also self supporting and have been for several
years, so one must suppose that they are not in the averages, as well. What a relief, when
I saw my rule book and Saintes, Dax and the young bird race were all in the averages. The
rule book was the last communication from the committee and supersedes the spring meeting.
The committee cannot go against it’s own rule book. N.F.C. racing rule 33: Trophies
and club averages to be allocated to the respective race winners by the secretary (not
committee) from the computer race results… The committee altered a racing rule after
racing had started in 2001, with regard to the 2001 young bird race and after various 168
meetings, it was ruled that what was in the rule book, at the start of the season stood,
and the committee was overruled. So come on members, those of you who want to win the
averages, get your Dax team ready!
Regards – Catherine Cooper.
My third item this week, is a letter which was sent to Mark Evans of Tipton, West
Midlands, by the N.F.C. and Sid Barkel, our secretary, has asked me to reproduce it in the
‘NATIONAL FORUM’.
Dear Mark, I write to inform you that the closure of the ‘Barrel Pub’ in
Warley, West Midlands, was a decision by the committee and was made on the basis of
cutting costs. The closure has no bearing upon you what so ever and I hope that if the
National Flying Club ever want a marking station in the Midlands area again, that you will
act as I.C. The committee express their grateful thanks for the work you under took and
wish you success in all your future dealings within the sport of racing pigeons.
Yours in sport – Sid Barkel.
Well that’s it for this week! All the very best of luck to our members, for the
forthcoming Saintes National. If you need to contact me with any N.F.C. news, please
phone: 01372 463480 or email: keithmott@btopenworld.com
