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For every race a young bird has been given from a top NFC member to be raffled and the money raised will go to the Tarbes Grand National / International prize money.Members can enter by sending a cheque to Geoff Cooper for the number of required tickets @ £5 each with their name address and telephone number and he will send the tickets to the Secretary, Sid Barkel.
They can purchase tickets at the marking stations where the I/C’s will have a person(s) selling them and the counterfoils will be sent to Sid Barkel along with all the other paperwork.
There is no limit to the number of tickets a fancier can purchase. The winners will be notified and given the donors details to arrange carriage / collection.
Any questions to Geoff Cooper 07950 772257 / 01761 435292
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F & J Halstead have donated a YB to the NFC raffle. It is closely related to John’s Barcelona National winner, Untouchable. This bird was the first bird into England by almost 2 hours from this 696 mile race and was 264th International from 27,627 birds. This same bird had also won 1st Section NFC Tarbes (548 miles) in 2007. His bloodlines are mainly Janssen Van Den Bosche/ Meuleman / Grondelaar.
John Halstead has been in the sport for 43 years and in that time has won a significant number of prestigious races to 4 different locations. As a teenager in Todmorden on the Lancs/Yorks borders, John won the Pennine 2 bird club, the Northern Counties 2 bird club and the Lancs & Yorks Border Championship Club twice all from races across the Channel.
In the 80s and 90s a move to Uttoxeter and later Abbots Bromley in the Midlands saw wins in 5 different federations, including the North Staffs Fed with almost 10,000 birds, before the National races became the priority.
In 1995 the ‘Darkness System for young birds came to Britain and John managed to gather enough knowledge to really make it work incredibly well. In the NFC YB National F&J Halstead won 1st Section I in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999, along with the Midlands National Section in 1997 also. Being already in the video business John put together a video showing fanciers how to operate this fantastic Darkness System and it went on to become a huge seller and was the font of knowledge for many fanciers in Britain.
Several more videos and DVDs were subsequently released showing John’s successful racing and breeding methods. These included Widowhood Explained; Any Distance Widowhood; Hints Tips and Advice and Better Breeding. These proved to be very popular with fanciers wanting to gain knowledge from John’s simple and straightforward explanations.
In 2002 John moved to his present location in North Dorset and within 4 years had won the large West of England Combine 3 times, the Old Hens race in the Central Southern Classic and the Section of the NFC 3 times.
Now in the last 3 seasons 2 long distance nationals Bordeaux (429 miles) and Barcelona (696 miles) have been won and 2 second Nationals including 2 weeks ago at Vire (162 miles) and in 2008 again from Barcelona (696 miles). A total of 7 NFC Section wins have now been recorded in Dorset to add to the 5 when in the Midlands.
This is no large team flyer – the old bird race team in 2010 consisted of 36 widowhood cocks and 6 racing hens, but already, due to hawks and losses the widowhood team was reduced to 24 cocks. 60 – 80 young birds have been bred for racing , with breeder/buyer and Gold Ring races along with the Classics and Nationals as the main targets.
His range of DVDs has increased and the 5 most popular ones are still available for sale at £25 each including postage. The subject of these most recent DVD releases are: -
1) Widowhood 2) Darkness 3) Roudabout 4) Long Distance Racing and 5) a comprehensive coverage of how he conquered the Barcelona International in 2009. This incidentally takes us back to the raffle pigeon donated by John Halstead which is from a half brother mated to a half sister of Untouchable the 2009 Barcelona National Winner.
John Halstead pictured with 1st Nat. Barcelona.
