2018 Coutances Race 1 Press Report -

A loft that has been consistently at the top of National results and amassed the phenomenal total of eight National wins along with over thirty-five section wins is husband and wife partnership Mel and Sue King. They live in Blandford Forum, a market town in the northern district of Dorset, close to the river Stour and have flown at this address for the past 35 years. While I was aware of their previous successes, I had never been given the opportunity to visit, so I was thrilled when I received the call to go and report on their latest National Flying Club win from Coutances, the first race point of the season, which is situated on the Cherbourg peninsular in France.

Bridgwater Marking Station letter from our Chairman -

Dear members

Bridgwater Marking Station opened for the first time and was well attended. The facilities are excellent and this will be a true asset to fanciers and to the National Flying Club also.

Sadly, some members were impatient and disgruntled by the waiting time which occurred and were extremely vocal about this, spoiling the experience for others, but not offering their services of help in any way, shape or form.

Any new venture will not run smoothly on its primary run ... routine needs to be established over time to tweak the systems in place for a secure, speedy operation to evolve. All of the services at this new marking station are provided free of charge – each and every worker is a volunteer, to be respected for his/her time given freely to the club and its members. Yes, we all would like to be first in the queue, yes, we all would like to go about our day with the least inconvenience to ourselves, if this is holding you up, step forward and fill the gap that you think exists in our services – rather than rant on in a detrimental manner which exhausts the spirit of sport.

I would personally like to offer a tremendous thanks to my team for their input in establishing this venue and in its setting up. The technology required in doing so is immense, suppliers cannot always be relied upon and many hurdles are jumped before the event takes place, many hours of work are involved – all unseen by the fancier. The ETS system is becoming increasingly popular and training is ongoing as technology continually improves.

Fortunately, Bridgwater was also attended by some top fanciers, who stepped forward without hesitation to help where needed. Help is always welcome at these venues. The work that members witness on the day amounts to only a percentage of the overall input of effort of the marking station, per race - each and every member who willingly gives up their own time for others deserves respect – to those who simply attend to condemn, please examine your behaviour and its impact.

Your Chairman

Paul Naum

Verification Result -

Dear Members,

For the first race, Coutances, due to hardware failure, resulting in a network failure, an online verification result will not contain every members verifications in good time. In detail, those that verify on line will be shown. Those verifying by telephone will not be shown. We hope to have this sorted as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Sid Barkel, Secretary

On Line Race Entry

Although we have published the handbook online, the race entry forms can be printed out, the Handbook has sent out in the post: - Enter online for accuracy and ease. On the top menu, simply click 'Racing' and then select, 'On-Line Race Entry Form'. Some keen members have already entered this way, fantastic!

Click the link On-Line Race Entry Form / Enter-Race

Coutances Latest Lib News

19th May - The birds at Coutances have been liberated at 7.15 hrs in a 8 mph North East wind in 9' temperature, in to clear blue sky. Trevor Cracknell informs us that they cleared very well.  We wish you thevery best of luck.