NFCAcePigeon2022

The final race of the season for the National Flying Club was flown from Coutances on the 3^rd of September and consisted of 1734 young birds entered by 160 members plus 674 Old Birds entered by 80 members. Both national races were liberated together at 12:20pm after yet another very trying day for the Race Adviser Steve White, the weather advisor Steve Appleby and Chief Convoyer Phil Leech. Together they have had to deal with some of the most difficult racing conditions over the season, which is a responsibility they all take very seriously, and I am sure I speak for the whole Committee in thanking them for their contributions. Theirs is a role which can draw some criticisms as the whole country is very rarely enjoying the same conditions, as there will always be some who must battle the wind and weather more than others, but all things considered they have given us an exceptional service, thank you gentlemen. A special thanks must also go to our transport company PJ Logistics for their great service and the Chief Vet David Parsons who has ensured we negotiated the French Border control without any issues at all. It is all settling down nicely now so we can look forward to a full race program from France in 2023, and although the marking stations have been reduced, the Committee will be looking into how we can best resume a normal service in most areas at the next meeting in October. For those members who have yet to apply for their CPH number, please ignore the scaremongering which is sadly being touted on social media and make your decision based on facts, ask if you are unsure of anything and we will point you in the right direction.

The number of birds entered for these last races were down by a large percentage on previous years, which could lead us to think there is a large reluctance to sign up with DEFRA, but upon reflection the young birds have had a terrible season, with record high temperatures early on and the usual young bird viruses which do the rounds once they encounter other birds on the transporter. Both can put a team out of the federation races for a couple of weeks which of course will influence the preparations for their first big national. We have also had large areas of the country in Bird Flu protection zones and those unfortunate members within them could not even exercise their birds let alone race, so it is no surprise most organisations have seen a large drop in birdages and all in all it can be quite disparaging but it reminds me of a quote by Sir Winston Churchill which could also be said of our birds “We have not journeyed across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy” rest assured these difficult times will pass.

One fancier who understands this very well is Lee Jackson of Bromley, the overall winner of both the young bird and old bird races.

Lee still races under his late father’s loft name P Jackson & Son and has been preparing his team for many weeks by putting them on the darkness system in March and once training began, he has been liberating them from his fishing boat right behind Nab Tower, just to the right of the Isle of Wight. He showed me video of them being liberated some eight miles offshore, so they can learn to head for the landmark which is far enough away from the island to miss the three pairs of Peregrines which live there. He also races weekly in the Thames North & Eastern Counties Federation whose members are top-class fanciers and has had to up his game in all competition as the individual qualities of the membership is hard to match.  

The federation holds any age racing through the young bird season, so all of his old birds are raced until the middle of August when the cocks are stopped with the hens kept on the road with the young birds. Whilst they are on the dark they are trained to 20 miles then the milage increases until they are trained from his boat and he set his stall out for the NFC event by entering 25 young birds and 15 old hens. All the birds are fed the same mixture year round with clean water twice per day and medication to combat stress whenever needed “putting too much pressure on the birds will result in a breakdown, they are athletes and rest is of paramount importance which should not be neglected”

The pigeons are raced on the widowhood/jealousy system and the old hen was really keen as she does not like other hens flirting with her cock and the young bird was sitting 10 days on eggs and was very protective of them so Lee was confident of good race although when they did not come at the time he expected he began to worry as a federation race from Yeovil earlier in the day had been a sticky one. When he saw the old hen swing around the loft and trap immediately he heard the ets clock beep and when he checked it he saw that a young bird had come with her and trapped to the other side of the loft unnoticed, “so happy days, one of each just three seconds apart” and verified to put them both at the top of their respective races although he did expect John Cowlin or one of the other fanciers in Hullbridge to pop up and beat him but as his late father Peter Jackson used to say “you just need that little bit of luck” and on this occasion he got it. 

Lee would like to dedicate his double national win to his late father who would have been very happy and proud. The old bird NFC winner has been named “Lady Langham” which is where his daughter got married earlier this year and is a granddaughter of “The Outlaw Cock” 1^st Open NFC Fougeres against 6726b which is down from Jos Thoné Sumo lines and her dam is from his to class cock “04” which was 20^th Open 7^th Sect E NFC Messac 6902b plus many other top positions and is predominantly his old Janssen x Van Loon lines. “Lady Langham” has been lightly raced this year being 1^st Club 6^th Thames North & Eastern Counties Fed from BLanford against 1611b and 2^nd Club 2^nd Fed against 1200b beaten by her loft mate.

The young bird National winner has been named “Lady Loo” and is down through his Karl Schellen lines “Bartels” and ”Champion 45” through Jan Huybregts which can hold their own in any competition. “Lady Loo” has had every training toss and three races plus three 70 mile tosses from the boat under full cloud cover. She has been dedicated to his sister who is suffering with advanced Motor Neurones disease and although he was thinking of bringing in some new bloodlines as his pigeons are becoming too close as a family, the double national win has proved that if you put in 100% effort, they will reward you.

“The combination of getting the bird to the starting line fit, healthy and with the right wind on the day for that little bit of luck. Respect to those trying andI'mremember to keep the faith in our wonderful sport.” Lee would like to thank his wife Claire for all her help with the birds when he is out fishing! And congratulate all the section winners in both races on the day.

News and views to me Chris Sutton on 01530 242548 or 07792 356330 email 

The National Flying Club Grand National for 2022, due to take place from Pau on the 22^nd of July was diverted to the Tarbes International race point because of construction works taking place and liberated on the 23^rd of July at 4pm after a one day holdover due to low cloud. The extreme high temperatures which France and the UK had been experiencing subsided with a north westerly wind coming in and the weather through France all the way through to the northern coastline was clear with an average temperature 25C. The forecast for the following day was for broken cloud and sunshine over the channel with visibility about 11 miles and south west winds averaging 15 mph. A weather front did affect the northern sections once again, giving showers for the longer flyers. 

The build-up to the race increased when the final entries came in to the Secretary and showed only a slight decrease in numbers of entries over previous seasons with just over 2100 birds entered, and although very hot, the four marking stations managed to complete all the necessary paperwork for the Export Health Certificate. At the French Customs the Chief Convoyer was asked to remove just one basket of birds and five of those inside were successfully checked against the list submitted and verified by our Vet Mr David Parsons, before being given the all clear to continue on to the race point.  All the workers at the marking stations did a fantastic job for their members and I would like to recognise their efforts. Without these willing volunteers who worked tirelessly on the hottest day ever recorded the club could not function and I am sure each member who sent would agree, you deserve a huge thank you from all concerned.  

Although the preparation for the nation’s greatest race had been a little different this year as with the amount of Guernsey races we have had to endure, some of the shorter flyers would have found it difficult to build fitness in their birds. The first and very successful joint race from St Philbert in France had given them a few extra hours on the wing and once again the excitement could begin to build, with us all looking forward to a fantastic race. Over the years the grand national has produced some of the most outstanding and contentious performances and once again it did not disappoint us in both these potentials. The full cloud cover which had prevented the scheduled release seemed to descend and hang over the provisional result when an outstanding performance put in by a brave pigeon owned by Martin Williams in Hereford, had to be disqualified due to the NFC race rule 26, as it had been verified eleven minutes after the 60 minutes stipulated in the rule, and it has to be said, in the past very many good pigeons with honest performances have been disqualified under this rule, even those which would have been National winners. 

It is a clear and present danger when a pigeon can enter the loft unnoticed as we all know it is not just the A to B of the bird that counts, the racing rules play their part too and no amount of commiseration can alleviate the pain which Martin must be feeling. We can only hope this devastating experience for him, is a lesson learned by all for the future, at least until the rule propositions are due for the AGM when our members can truly make a difference if they so wish, as it is most important of all to point out, these are their club rules which we all agree to abide by and can only be changed by a majority vote at the AGM.

One fancier who did follow all the requirements is Ronald Pendleton in Liverpool who timed and verified correctly a super little hen to record an average speed of 42mph over the 714 miles to his loft to win the greatest prize of his life in the NFC Tarbes Grand National.

Ron is 87 years old and has been racing his pigeons for the last 60 years with his wife Sheila who sadly passed away in 2020 and has named his Grand National winner “Sheilas Wings” after the late Mrs Pendleton “She was also my partner with the pigeons and I really miss her” said Ron “she had her own little loft and would take good care of all the birds whilst I was at work.”   His son Colin helps him now and his grandson Kieran is the main loft helper who is keen to pass on the love of pigeons to his son George, making the fourth generation to race to the lofts. “Nan would have been so proud” said Kieran “the bird came direct online, flew between the houses over Nans old loft and trapped” 

“Sheila’s Wings” won 3^rd club as a young bird where she was beaten by her own loft mates, as a yearling she came home from a tough Fougeres race at 10:30pm in complete darkness and over the past few years has consistently negotiated the channel many times on the day.

Early this season she has been raced on roundabout in the club where she has been steadily building up fitness and on the 18^th of June competed in the NFC Guernsey where once again she returned in darkness at 10:25pm. She was then paired up with her partner, given a few short training tosses and sent to Pau sitting very tightly on 15 day old eggs. Her sire was bred by Jimmy Bauress which they bought at a Liverpool Classic Club sale and is a son of Jimmy’s pigeon which flew 600 miles three times from Bordeaux with the MNFC, and nearly every pigeon in the Pendleton loft now carries this bloodline alongside Ron’s old Jan Aarden family. The dam of “Sheila’s Wings” is from this well established distance family and as a yearling won 1^st Club 4^th Liverpool Amal from Carentan. As a two year old she returned from a MNFC race with a damaged wing so was put to stock and as well as 1^st Open NFC Grand National, she has bred many prize winners including 8^th west section MNFC Ancenis.

Ron said she returned from the race in excellent condition, and he would like to thank the NFC and RPRA for the opportunity to race from the channel again. He has had a tough couple of years since losing his wife and his own health has not been great, but this win has put a huge smile on his face and as he has always been focused on the distance races he is already looking forward to the next season. Whilst I was visiting the Pendleton lofts, lifelong friend Alan Jones dropped by to congratulate Ron and he reminded me of all the great social events we can look forward to as soon as the young bird season is over, with the National Flying Club presentation on the 3^rd of December being one of the biggest. See you there Ron.

Section news and views to me Chris Sutton on 01530 242548 or 07792 356330. Email 

Section A

First place went to D Matthews & Mark Culverhouse who would like to congratulate all the winners. Their section winner was a Cattrase x Bernard Morsnowski cock sent sitting which was also their first bird from St Philbert.

Dave would like to thank Mark for all his help with the birds. M Sallis & son were second with a very consistent hen bred from Alwyn Hill x Mark Gilbert bloodlines.

She has previously been 30th SCF Truro, 113th Hexham BICC, 2nd section 30th Open Blaydon BICC, 3rd section 57th Open Thurso BBC and now 1st section 14th open BBC Tarbes as well as 2nd sect A 61st Open NFC Tarbes. David Bacon was there again in third place with a dark chequer pied yearling well-bred for Tarbes as the grandparents on both sides are NFC Merit Award winners. The sire is from David’s own “Early Dawn” bloodlines and the dam is via Mr & Mrs Bill Lewis “Freelands Gem” winner of two Merit Awards in the NFC Grand National. Fourth and fifth was Fred Hall and daughters who wrote “Our first pigeon was 1st Ace pigeon in section A last year and has been a consistent pigeon for us again this season. He had lost half his tail at St Philbert and again at Tarbes, so he’s been in the wars.

His breeding is Carteus x a daughter of “Warrle Cock” Syndicate lofts, our second pigeon is a two year old cock whose sire is a GG/son of Euro Diamond and his dam a daughter of our Foxgrove Carteus 1st BICC AGEN 63rd International, our third pigeon that was 12th section is the Blue cock that was 3rd section St Philbert his breeding is Carteus x Syndicate Lofts. I would like to say how pleased we were with our returns sending 5 and having 4 by Monday lunchtime the fifth one a 9 year old cock coming on the Wednesday all these cocks are flown on the widowhood system and all carry the George Carteus blood”.

Section B

Many thanks to Bill Edwards who sent the following report “Leading the way in Section B with a fantastic loft performance is the K & J Zarafa partnership and Kevin has named his Section Winner “Johnny’s Angel”, in respect of his Dad John who we lost last year.

This is what Kevin had to say about his fantastic loft performance which saw him have 13 of his 30 entries in the result. “Firstly, can we congratulate the overall winner, Mr Pendleton on a great performance, what a super bird getting all the way up to Liverpool in that time and also Nigel Shaw with another fantastic bird into Crew. Great flying lads. It was a shame to hear of the unfortunate Martin Williams. I have to say that I am not a massive fan of late liberations, as I think that the birds are still fresh when it is time to rest for the night. That said, we had a fantastic race, timing 10 of our 30 entries on the winning day, Provisionally taking, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 11th, 12th , 13th, 14th etc in Section B, and 6th, 22nd, 33rd, 56th, 57th, 64th, 72nd etc in the Open with nearly 2,200 birds. A race that can only be dreamed about. Our Section winner is 50% Wim Kooreman with her sire being directly out of 2nd National Dax and 50% House of Arden on the Dam’s side which has a bit of a back story. In 2017 when Dad and I won the NFC Fougeres race, we also won a House of Arden voucher. After studying the performances of Padfields Blue Badge we were really impressed and wanted to bring something in from him, so we spoke to Steve at H of A and told him what we were interested in. On our arrival, a little pied hen directly out of Blue Badge was already in a box waiting for us. We asked if we could handle a few others and decided to buy a little Blue white flight cock which went on to breed last years, 1st Section, 14th Open Thurso, 547 miles on the day and the pied hen is now dam to 1st Section Tarbes. Not a bad strike rate, so thanks to Steve and Lesley for the quality at House of Arden. Our 2nd bird for 3rd Section, 22nd Open was bred by good friend, Dean Childs of Essex and is a grand child of Chalice King, sire of 2 National winners and Chalice Darcy, 1st National, Mont De Marson (Pau). Our 3rd bird, 5th Section, 32nd Open is a special pigeon, now named “Johnny Consistant”, bred in the purple, his sire won 1st Open NFC Saintes for Bill Edwards of Gosport and his Dam won 1st Open NFC Fougeres for Dad and myself. This is his 4th time at 500+ miles, previously being 90th Open Pau NFC, now 32nd Open Tarbes NFC. These races are flown in conjunction with CSCFC and he has qualified for a Blue Ribbon Certificate of Merit Award in that club being 18th Open Pau, 14th Open Thurso and 5th Open Tarbes. This first season without Dad has been very challenging at times and I would like to dedicate this performance to him. The Section winner will be named “Johnny’s Angel” in his memory. At the beginning of each season, this race is always our number one target and the birds have not disappointed. Good luck to everyone for the Young Bird season. Taking 2nd Section B, 14th Open, also 6th Section is no stranger to these results, Andy Parsons of Salsbury.

This is what Andy had to say. “First of all, congratulations to the winner and to all who clocked birds on the winning day with a special mention for my good friend Keith Bush who took the first 3 positions in his section in what turned out to be a difficult race. I am still trying to work out why; still it was great to compete from Tarbes again. In preparation my 2nd Section winner had 3 races from the North up to 180 miles, then a Guernsey race and finally St Philbert where she took 3 days to return. I then allowed her to pair and rest before sending her sitting 15 day eggs. She returned in great condition. Her sire was 15th and 43rd Tarbes with her G’sire flying Tarbes 5 times. Her Great G’dam was 1st Section, 5th Open San Sebastian, with her uncles being, “Big Sam” my 1st Merit award winner and “700”, who was 1st Section, 5th Open NFC Tarbes. The Dam of my winning hen was 10th and 44th NFC Tarbes and is from a half -brother to my “Dancer” who is responsible for so many good birds for me and others. It has given me great pleasure to develop and race this family of birds over the last 30 years. The bird winning 4th Section, 26th Open is a 4 year old cock bird, amazingly having only its 4th race of its life, raced by Dudley Lever of Alton. This is what Dudley had to say. Firstly, my sympathy to Mr Williams on what must be a “gutting” experience, but a well done to all winners. My four year old cock was bred by Crammond and Langstaff and was only having the fourth race of his life and was not raced for 2 years until the last NFC St Philbert race where he had six and a half hours on the wing.

He is bred for the job being a mix of Brockamp/Gilbert/Meirlaen/Koopman and will hopefully go to Pau International in 2023, raced on my teasing system”. Bill also mentioned to me that it would be a good time to remind all members to clearly mark their baskets and ETS clocks with their name before the young bird National in September. Now that we have fewer marking stations and flyers are travelling from outside the area of the marking stations, not all the fanciers are familiar faces to the busy markers. Often one member will bring multiple flyers birds and with many baskets/clocks looking similar it is difficult to rematch them for the return journey. A good point well made as marking stations are much busier now.

Section C

First and third section was Danny Lanahan & John Gerard who have had a great old bird season.

The first pigeon to arrive was a red cock which John bought in as part of a racing team of Jelle Jellema’s pigeons. This red cock was also their first pigeon from St Philbert with the CSCFC finishing 8th section 50th open. Their second pigeon, arriving early Sunday morning was a 4 year old chequer cock from Johns Zwarte Louders pigeons. This was his 2nd time flying Tarbes and he has also flown Pau and Berwick. They were both raced on a natural system with the red being sent sitting on 10 day eggs and the chequer feeding 1 large youngster. Second was Neville & Diana Spracklen who said “Firstly we would like to congratulate all the winners of this Tarbes race. Our 2nd section winner is a 2017 widowhood cock who flew Tarbes in 2020.

We are very pleased to have him home as he returned with a very badly damaged wing, and it is amazing how he made it. He is from a son of Southfield Darkie paired to a granddaughter of Southfield Treble. He will probably be retired having been a very reliable prize winner”.

Section D

Winning the section was Mike Underhill & Robbie Prettejohn and Mike wrote “Firstly I would like to congratulate Ron Pendleton for brilliant performance in being 1st Open and commiserate with Martin Williams for not verifying his pigeon in time. Along with those mentioned above there were several notable performances in the race, sadly mine was not one of them. Although I was very happy to eventually time in to win section “D” with a velocity of 265ypm, it is difficult to take too much pleasure or credit from such a performance when the winner was doing 1,245ypm. That is not taking anything away from my fellow competitors in section D and I would like to think that I speak for them all when I say that due to the raptor problem here in the West-country it is so hard for anyone to build a team to compete in a race like Tarbes. Whether exercising around the loft, training, or racing every day our birds have to run the gauntlet of the peregrine. The little Blue Pied hen that I timed, I ought to call “The Survivor” as she has found a way to survive. Regularly coming in her own time, I think if she sees anything that resembles a peregrine she lays up until the coast is clear. She arrived in splendid condition having taken time out to rest and recuperate on her long journey from Tarbes”. Terry Lee and Terry Dyer were second who would like to congratulate the final winner of the Tarbes race Mr Pendleton from Liverpool showing age and a back garden loft is no disadvantage when it comes to racing pigeons.

Also well done to Mike & Roby on winning the section. They timed a four year old hen sent sitting 7 day old eggs for the race. She has been very consistent over the four years that they have raced her, and was an exchange pigeon from their friend in Holland Alex Koelewijn. They have timed this pigeon from every race she had been sent to and never had a night out until this race. The preparation was not the best as they could only get the birds to Guernsey which is 91 miles, but this was still very pleasing to time this hen to win 2nd section Tarbes, as this is the second year running that they have won the 2nd section in the last two years that the NFC raced there. Terry Dyer had been on holiday for the race and would like to thank partner Terry Lee for clocking this hen. Third was John & Gill McClements with a bird which was bred from a direct son of Bill Stribling's 2016 2nd national Barcelona winner paired to a direct daughter to Ron Dove's 1st Barcelona 2016 Open winner.

They had the honour of introducing these two great distance enthusiasts to each other at the BICC presentation that year, sadly now both passed away. Hopefully this cock will be going to Barcelona next year. Fourth was NFC Chairman Paul Naum with a four year old dark chequer hen which began her racing career at two years old.

Her breed is Ko Nipius / Padfield / Jan Aarden / Mark Gilbert; 'Padfield' is from Pete Clarke, and 'Mark Gilbert' is from Peter & Eddie Riley of Barnstaple. To date she has won a 4th, 8th and 15th Section in the NFC; her dam won a 14th Section NFC section. Her g/sire on the Padfield side has bred to win 7th Section and 11th Section NFC, the g/dam, a Ko Nipius, went on to win on 3 top ten positions in the NFC Section - they are good, hard, day birds. “Well done to all who timed in from a very difficult race and thanks to our team of convoyers for their care of our birds”.

Section E

First section was the ever present John Haynes who is always up there in the results but will shy away from any form of recognition.

Well done once again John and I hope to see you at the presentation. Second was Mr & Mrs P J Wells with a 2016 late bred via Simon Schofield in Leeds. Now retired to stock she is bred from Jansen x M Vink bloodlines and topped the fed from Poole, 9th sect 22nd open NFC Sigogne, 31st Sect 184th Open NFC Sigogne and 3rd sect 10th Open NFC Fougeres. Pete first met Simon as a very young fancier in the 80’s when Simon bought a direct youngster of Super Lou from Pete. Now they regularly trade latebreds the racing of which is a bit of a specialty for Pete. Mark Gilbert was third, fourth and fifth with his first bird being from a Son of Cas (De Sneyter Restiaen). Cas was 1st International Pau 2015 the only pigeon home in Belgium on the day of liberation. He is grandsire to 1st Nat Marsellie and 5th International, Dam of Marks first pigeon is a daughter of Golden Barcelona when Golden Barcelona was paired to a daughter of Naomi, when Naomi was paired to a brother of Blue Dream (C.deHeijde). Golden Barcelona is the superstar breeder at Southfield Lofts, sire of Southfield Hugo 1st Nat BICC Barcelona 104th International 15700 birds 2018 he was also 1st Nat BICC Perpignan 2017, Golden Barcelona is also sire of Southfield Gold Lady, 1st Nat BICC Barcelona 151st International 12315 birds in 2020 and she was also 1st Sect 5th Open BICC Marseille. His second pigeon is from Son of Don Michel (C.de Heijde) which was 24th Nat Barcelona 31st International Barcelona 30669 birds x Naomi 6th National Barcelona 5423 birds and 6th International 20699 birds. The dam is Barca 2 Twang Bongers hen, which was 17th International Barcelona 2014 21169 birds, plus 8th International hens 5550 birds. She is 50% Aarden v Wanroy and 50% Jelle Jellema. Marks third Pigeon is nest mate of Provisional 5th CS Section 12th Open BICC Agen 2022 and is from a Son of Zwart Goud when Zwart Goud was paired to a Daughter of Snelle Jelle (Zwart Goud father to 1st 3285 birds 2nd 2234 birds 6th 4588 birds etc etc Snelle Jelle 2nd Nat Perpignan 5608 birds) x Daughter of Golden Barcelona when he was paired to a Daughter of Special One x Romee. Special One 1st National 1st International Barcelona 19,083 birds 2015, Romee Mother of 3rd National Barcelona 2019 29th Perpignan 2018 Romee and also won 3rd National Bergerac 10327 birds 3rd Nat Orange 4302 3rd NPO St Vincent 1365 birds 5th National Brive 7241 birds. Eighth section 27th open was Buzi & Villarino from with a yearling hen now named Robin flying 577 miles. The partnership also clocked two more yearlings to take 67th and 106th Open against 2,172 Pigeons.

Section F

First was R J Goddard & Son and Dave said “Winning section F gave me great satisfaction my team being thin on the ground with little racing and retiring some truly great pigeons.

Harry 2nd BICC Pau, Lady Gaga 2nd BICC Barcelona, Lily 3rd & 13th Barcelona, Darcy 4th Barcelona so with only a small team this leaves a big hole, but once again I unearthed a top class pigeon in this blue bar hen Cam's Choice. She contains the blood of my great friends Neil Bush, Mick Parish and John Wills. Her sire from 99 Dam of 2nd Pau BICC, her Dam 87 half sister to Darcy 4th open Barcelona. Cam's Choice had 5 inland races, St Philbert having her first night out, two 18 miles tosses and sitting 10 days on eggs, job done. Well done to all who timed in and thank you everyone who worked so hard to get us proper pigeon racing 2022 fingers crossed for 2023”. Second was Dave Clark with one from a family of birds he has had for years, winning Thurso many times on the day in the Portsmouth Federation, adding a few distance birds from other fanciers from time to time.

He feeds any corn going, with cod liver oil, brewer’s yeast, grit and minerals added and the birds go with no excuses. The Rostrons were third who wrote “We would like to start this off by saying a massive congratulations to the overall winner and all the section winners.

The cock we timed to win 3rd section was a Sticklebout with the sire from Allan Mull and the dam from Ponderosa Stud. This cock has been quite consistent for us this season being our second pigeon from the tough St Philbert and our 3rd bird from the second St Philbert. Our second pigeon to finish 7th section is mum (Suzannas) favourite “Lonesome” who got this name after being chucked up at a marking station in Southampton due to his ets chip not working and had to fly home on his own. The sire is from Tumley Loft Stud “Serran 11” lines and the dam is a Sticklebout from Allan Mull”. Still racing in his mid 80’s Malcolm Gaiter was fourth with a blue bar bred by Geoff & Catherine Cooper.

His performances are 2016 356th YB Coutances NFC, 2017 flown Agen 508 miles and Perpignan 639 miles, 2018 went to Falaise, Poiters, Pau, Perpignan. 2019 Fourges, then to Pau BICC feeding 14 day youngster’s coming 9th Open & Section plus 1st Greater Distance Single bird Pau. Fifth was Ven Segesdy in Didcot.

Section G

1st 2nd 3rd, 5th & 9th Section G were Dave & John Staddon in Ditcheat, also winning 4th, 7th, 51st, 88th & 125th Open. Dave wrote “Firstly we would like to say we are absolutely thrilled to win 1st 2nd & 3rd and 5th & 9th Section G in the prestigious Tarbes Grand National as well as the very prominent open positions listed above.

This compares favourably with the last Pau Grand National in 2020 where we won 1st 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th Section G & 7th, 45th, 108th, 124th, 172nd, 175th, 184th, 239th Open. It was absolutely amazing to be racing the NFC Tarbes race again after all the troubles with EU Animal Health Laws. We would like to congratulate all the section winners and especially acknowledge Martin Williams and his amazing pigeon. We would also like the thank the marking team at Steventon on our first visit to this venue, we were looked after very well. We had an amazing race timing 5 pigeons on the winning day from our 10 entries sent at a distance of 560 miles. At the time of writing, we now have 8/10 home. Our first pigeon is a 3yo Chaos Widowhood cock bred from our best distance lines who we have now called Gemini.

The sire is Winters Gem bred by Barry & Pete Winter (Sadly Pete Winter passed away last week, so our condolences and thoughts go out to Barry and his family at this very sad time), he is from Pearler a full brother of Little Gem 1st & 14th NFC Tarbes Grand National 724 miles and Image a daughter of Little Gem, this pair also bred 8th & 42nd Tarbes at 724 miles. The dam Blue Gem was bred by Mr and Mrs Bill & Beryl Lewis from their Tarbes champion Freelands Gem who is the only pigeon in history to win two coveted NFC certificates of merit. This makes Gemini a full brother to our great cock Fahrenheit who won 64th Nat Agen as a yearling, then the following season 4th Sec 23rd Nat Pau and 1st Sec 2nd Nat Rieux Minervois at 592 miles. Gemini was prepared with a few inland races with the WOESRC before 3 Guernsey races and two St Philbert races. He was then exercised once per day for an hour. In the lead-up to the Tarbes race, I had a mad idea that some of the Tarbes pigeons would benefit from a WOESRC race from Ramsgate, in effect a 172-mile training toss on the Saturday before basketing for Tarbes. I discussed this with Dad and we both agreed to go for it. It was a risk of course, but 4 of the 5 birds we timed from Tarbes all went to Ramsgate so we certainly don't think it harmed their condition. We don't show the cocks and the hens together before a channel race as we like to send them calm and collected especially for long-distance events.

Our second pigeon was timed just 23 minutes later and is also a fantastic hen as she scored 2nd Section 18th National Agen International on the 2nd July 2022. We have now named her Stardust. She is only a 2yo bred by Dean Pallatt at the Pallatt Elite Breeding Centre. She was one of a group of ybs Dean sent us down to race in 2020. As you might expect she is a 100% Jelle Jellema pigeon. Her blood includes Blackpool Romee, Romee, Snelle Jelle, Zwart Goude, Jochem & MG430. Last year as a yearling she raced east to west with the WOESRC to Ramsgate before switching north road, where she won 16th Section 47th Open CSCFC Thurso at 518 miles. This year she has again raced east to west with the combine and also had 3 Guernsey races and the very difficult St Philbert BICC National, which really brought her fitness on for Agen. Following the Agen race, she recovered quickly and was flying one hour with the others after only 3 days. Like all our pigeons, she is raced on chaos widowhood for the entire season and she was not shown to her cock on the basketing day. We feed Versele Laga Superstar Plus, Champion Plus and Energy Plus. Finally, we would like to thank all our many friends in the sport who have taken the trouble to ring, text or use social media to send their congratulations on our race, it means an awful lot to Dad and me. Joe Raeburn was fourth “I would like to offer my congratulations to Kieran Pendleton and family for winning the Kings Cup and all the section winners.

I timed a 4 year old red cock who has been a consistent pigeon. He started the season on widowhood and was sent twice to Exeter and three times to Guernsey and St Philbert with BICC. Winning 60th open 8th sec BBC Guernsey and 14th open 3rd west sec St Philbert. I then repaired him and was sent to Tarbes on a 20 day old youngster and sitting 9 days. His performances are Pau national winning 283rd 18th 2020 sent North in 2021 winning 19th open, 10th NW sec CSCFC Berwick. His Sire is West Bound who has flown Tarbes Grand National 3 times, best performance being 26th open 4th sec G. Also my single entry to Barcelona 2014 winning 3rd Open 1st west sec truly a outstanding racer and now a breeder already sire and gran sire of many section winners. West bound was bred from son of Jimmy Sheppard’s Nobel Lad (1st Open Pau) When pair to a double G/daughter of Champion Gwen (1st Open San Sebastian Grand National) Gwen is also responsible for many open and section winners for myself and others, 1st L&SE National Tarbes 1st Open CSCFC Pau. The most pleasurable of them all is the two certificate of merit awards over 600 miles that my very good mate Steve Redfern of Derby has won. Dam of the Red Cock is Champion Juile bred and raced by good mate Steve Slade. Juile was champion pigeon in CSCFC winning 5th open Messac and 13th open Pau in 2017 she has flown Pau 3 times Juile is another brilliant dam for Steve and other local fanciers. Her breeding is from John Halstead Nyland Ashley x Coppenolle x E W Froggatt birds.

Section H

First section once again is C Crick & Son with a 3 year old chequer hen whose sire is a Cooreman cock which also won section H as a yearling from Coutances.

The dam was purchased from Mark Gilbert at the Old Comrades show a few years ago from his New Laureet lines. Her sister topped section H and was 13th open from St Philberts in the last NFC race. She had raced widowhood for the first 6 weeks of the season and was then paired up and was racing back to 10 day old eggs for this race. They were very pleased to see her turn up early on Sunday evening. Second was Mr & Mrs R Auker who said “Before giving details of our pigeon which won 2nd section H in the Tarbes race, we would like to thank all the officials of the NFC who were involved in the decision to liberate the pigeons at 4pm on the Saturday, it was a brave decision and in my lowly opinion a good one saving the birds having another night in the basket in very hot conditions.

Our pigeon timed just before 7pm on the Sunday had been to several land races up to 180 miles, and had also been in the clock from Guernsey 240 miles and St Philbert 350 miles. He was sent to Tarbes sitting 10 days and had several training tosses up to 100 miles in the two weeks before the race. He is bred from a good cock who has scored in a couple of races with the MNFC including including the Bordeaux race. Raced naturally having an open loft for most of the day, and fed traditionally on our own made up mixture which includes a good proportion of Peas and Tic beans”. Third was John Black with a four year old blue pied hen raced on Roundabout.

Being September bred she was not raced as a young bird but trained through the winter and raced as a yearling scoring 3rd Section Fougeres NFC 23rd Section Messac and 24 Section Cholet 2019. 2020 no racings as she was hawked in an early training flight, 2021 no channel racing. 2022 four prep races then Tarbes and John is well pleased with her progress and is destined for Barcelona next year. Sire is a Grandson of John Chipperfield Lady Tresa 1st International Perpignan and 2nd International Pau, Dam is a Granddaughter of Dave Albon Tours MNFC winner. “Well done to all the Section winners” Fourth was Barber & Wilkinson in Great Yarmouth and fifth was Jonathan Palmer started back up with pigeons in 2019 after having few years off, with the intention of competing in the long distance races. No sprinters or middle distance birds are kept with him just focusing on the long distance races. His birds were located at his dad's for three years which involved a daily round trip of 18 miles but that's no longer the case as Jon and partner Sarah bought their first house together in Stowmarket and moved in February this year with their baby son Mason. They soon had the new loft up "second hand" and managed to eventually settle the team of old birds to their new home. The bird clocked from Tarbes was originally gifted as a mature youngster by Paul Hacker of South Ockendon in the autumn of 2019 as he was packing up. It had been trained but not raced. His breeding details are not great but he goes back to Alan Ritchie of Banff Scotland. He's something special though as he's been his first bird on four occasions from five national races now and seems to like the new location even more than the last. Prior to this race his best result was 3rd section 2nd club BICC St Philberts where he flew 11 hours on the wing. It was Jonathans first time sending to the NFC Grand National race and he looks forward to trying again next year. The pigeon was flown natural up until the first channel race which was the third race of the season and then he was separated, having two more races on widowhood then into Tarbes.

He got his hen, nesting material, and a darkened nest box for a few nights before shipping any other pigeons that were not competing were also removed from his section. Jonathan would like to thank David Fisher of Ipswich for taking his and lots of other people's birds down to Southampton multiple times this season.

Section I

Once again the Bush brothers dominated the section from the Grand National with their shared family of birds inherited from their father.Keith took the first three positions as well as fifth and wrote “My first four from Tarbes are from my old family with the second bird out of a son of my good friend Andy Parsons five times Tarbes cock which Andy kindly gifted me, we regularly exchange birds from our best. I have been in an avian flu zone all season only lifted just before Tarbes so the birds have only been trained, but in 2020 they only went to Salisbury approx 130 miles and were fine. I fly natural and all four were on week old babies with a hopper of beans then peas wheat and maize two or three times a day. The longest shortest season for me, one race saved a fortune”. Colin Bush was fourth with one of their old family of distance pigeons which goes back to 1930. They were mainly Osman based family. Dad won the Kings Cup twice from Banff in 1944 and Lerwick 1948. The five sons were set up with these as they got married, with Neal, Keith and Colin still racing this family of pigeons today. They have had very few crosses, and these are tested very severely before entering the family. The brothers keep each other’s lofts updated with youngsters out of the best performers. This family of pigeon fanciers have devoted their pigeon racing to the longest races and Colin said there is no secret “everything over two years old goes to the NFC Grand National and only the best are kept”

Section J

First section and second open was Mr & Mrs Nigel Shaw flying 690 miles.

They timed a three year old hen sent on a four day old baby. She was raced very lightly then sent to St Philbert at 406 mile for some time on the wing being 11th sect J 198th open just over 8 hrs on wing. After that the three week build up was just training with the young birds then sent to Tarbes where she is 1st section 2nd open pooled heavy. She flew Pau as a yearling 681 mile where she was 2nd sect J 20th open NFC. Second and third was Graham Clift and George Harding and Graham wrote “I am positive for Covid at present so I am keeping clear of my race partner George Harding but it is great to be competing in distance channel racing again.

The three birds we clocked had little preparation given no channel racing last year and this year just inland plus one hen had Guernsey and St Philbert the other two St Philbert with the NFC. Really sorry for our club mate Martin Williams who found his pigeon in the loft and verified just out of time and we would like to thank the convoyer for the care of the birds, they returned in excellent condition and were flying out the next day. Our first bird at 5th Open is from a double grandson of Southfield Supreme x the dam from a son of Forrest Junior 1st Int Pau for Freialdenhoffen & Sons x daughter of Melissa 1st Int hens Bordeaux when paired to her own sire. The second winning 20th Open is from a brother to Southfield Junior 1st BICC Pau for Mark Gilbert x daughter of Melissa [above] the third pigeon from a grandson of Perpignan 06 x Montali when paired to a daughter of Southfield Supreme. The birds are raced on the chaos system never paired from the first race to the last which helps them hold their flights, they are fed Verselle Laga Superstar plus with fats added a few days before basketing. Finally well done to all the section and open winners, our thanks to Mark Gilbert for providing some excellent pigeons also to Paul Hyatt for stepping in and taking our pigeons and Martin William's birds to the marking station when I tested positive for Covid” Fourth was Craig Gough in Shrewsbury with a two year old hen sent on a six day old youngster which was her first of the year.

She went to St Philbert in preparation for Tarbes and is mainly Alwyn Hill bloodlines. Craig would like to thank Alan Shinton for taking his birds to the marking station. Fifth was Williams Bros in Oldbury and sixth Team Aurel with “Uninvited Lass” flying 662miles. Aurel wrote “What a race, our first Grand National! It certainly lived to its expectations, the twists and turns, the drama that came with it. We knew it would be a hard race, but it was a lot harder than we ever expected. We did not intend to send her to the race, but only the stubbornness of the loft manager Cristian was the deciding factor to send or not to send. Her name now is “Uninvited Lass” as she was never in the plan to be sent.

She is a very small pigeon and handling her it is like a dream: she oozes class and when you look at the pedigree she is a double granddaughter of our National Marathon Vasile (with one of the lowest ACE pigeons coefficient recorded), who is the foundation cock of our loft. I cannot go on without mentioning the performance of Nigel Shaw, what a game bird flying no less than 690miles. Other performances that stand out: Mr Nice Guy Zerafa, you smash it mate! DJ Staddon they made it look easy and the team of Mark Gilbert, Troy and Nigel that are relentless with great returns. Special thanks to my two friends Bob Besant, Duncan Goodchild and Cosmin Darda, your wisdom and calming influence was the decisive factor to send to National races”.

Section K

Topping the section once again and 13th Open was H A Rawson, Son & Towers with a cock now called “Eric” as he is bred by their friend Eric Higginbottom from a full bother of “All Alone” which won 1st section 3rd open from Tarbes and the dam is out of Euro Diamond and Jappie only bird on day from Saintes.

They have had three top ten positions in section K Grand National but they failed to clock in the last three so Eric supplied them with the birds which bred the Tarbes section winner. Eric said they will win Tarbes and he did their deram came true. He was sitting eggs at basketing and he also won 23rd section and 283th open from St Philbert. Andy Holland was second and fourth who said “ Firstly I would like to congratulate the winner and all the section winners. The three birds I sent to Tarbes this year all from my Brian Denney based family and I would like to thanks Brian for the quality stock that I have obtained from him over the years.

First on the clock is a three quarter Brian Denney, one quarter Hagen Brothers widowhood cock now named Blue Bob after my late father. Second pigeon is THE PIED COCK Denney x Menne & Daughters, who had been clocked 12 times in Section K winning various positions, including 4th Section K 65th Open Sigogne, 8th Section K 81st Open Pau and now 4th Section K, 41st open Tarbes and has now completed over 5000 clocked miles in The NFC races. Last but not least is the PAU cock a Denney x Auke Smid. I clocked him as my first bird in 2020 taking 4th Section K 25th Open PAU. I just race 16 widowhood cocks and a few spare yearling cocks to a separate section (no hens). All are fed on Versela Laga mixes and are loft exercised only twice a day. My three pigeons came back in great condition and I would like to thank the convoying team once again as this is the case with all the NFC races I have sent in. Lastly I would like to thank my friend Jim Crosby who is my lucky mascot and always comes down on race days to watch the pigeons”. Third was Will Curtis with a blue cock which is a grandson of Williams Boy 1st section K 7th Tarbes 2016.

The sire is a son of Nathan 16th international Barcelona for Carlo Gyselbrect. Neal Bush was fifth section with one of the Bush family Osmans.

Section L

First section L and first Open was Ron Pendleton with “Sheilas Wings” a great pigeon being timed after racing 714 miles, well done to all the family and here’s looking forward to a great reception at the NFC presentation in December.

Second was F Kay with one of the Kay’s Marathon Pigeons.

“My first pigeon from Pau Tarbes was a 3 year old with the name The Lockerbie Cock, so called because I sent all my yearlings with my grandson Jack to be liberated at the farm in Lockerbie with no training whatsoever, he was the first bird back the following day and since then he has won many 1sts inland races this year. He has done 8 clubs races inland before St Philbert on the 2nd July he was my first bird home 10 hours on the wing . 9th July Cheltham with the club, 23rd July Pau Tarbes to say I’m thrilled would be an understatement. None of this would have been possible without the support of my true friends and family, so I thank them all for being there for me whenever needed, I’m over the moon. My 1st bird the third day a two year old The Truro Cock, my first bird from Truro last year. First time over the water this year for these birds owing to lock down they couldn’t go any earlier. I love marathon racing but at the end of the day, it’s all about the pigeon”. Third was Brian & Gary Smith & Son, “Firstly, we would like to congratulate Ronald Pendleton on not only topping the Section but also winning the race, what a performance.

Our bird is a 5-year-old Cheq w/f cock flown on our roundabout system. Two years ago he finished 6th Section L from Pau with the NFC, so we always had this race in mind for him once channel racing was allowed. His Sire is a son of our MNFC section winner which was bred by our good friend Stuart Goldstraw of Congleton & is a Jan Aarden “Rainbow Warrior” lines x Dordin. His dam is a bird we brought off the Padfield Family which is also a Jan Aarden from their Wim Muller lines. Preparation for the race he flew the inland race program in our local club then went to Guernsey Race 3 followed by St Philbert with the NFC with a two week rest before basketing”. T Roskell & Williamson were fourth right up into Blackpool with a very consistent hen right from a young bird when she flew 323 miles, and as a yearling she flew NFC Sigogne 576 miles on the day achieving 10th section, 106th open.

She also won 2nd section 12th open Messac NWGN at 420miles and is through two top distance fanciers. Goerge Hilson of Burys ko Nipius and Geoff Coopers De Weerts. Dean Knox was fifth with a hen bred out of his Majinkavink hen which won two races then put to stock as her sire stopped filling. She and her nest mate are his two main breeders and breed good pigeons each year. She was flown on roundabout then to a youngster for Tarbes. She is now called “Ruby” after his daughter.

Section N

Flying over 800 miles into section N is one of the hardest tests in the Grand National and once again M Anderson & Sons were there with first and second timing the only 2 birds in race time in the section, flying over 811 miles and this is the third time they have won section N from Tarbes.

Both were four year old cock birds that had been to St Philbert in the previous NFC race. It is still their aim to get one on the second day and that's what keeps them going. “Thanks go to Colin Surtees for getting these birds for us about 15 years ago. Without his help it would not have been possible. Well done to all those who managed to get birds in race time, in what proved to be a difficult race”.

Section P

Thanks to Kevin Foster who sent the following “Some very good leading pigeons into the very competitive Section P, none better than the leader and 3rd Open, J Clarke and daughter of Selling in Kent.

Jamie is a past National winner and is competitive at all levels from 100-600 miles. Apart from his section win he had another three recorded to take 4th, and 7th section on what turned out to be a very difficult race into all part of the country. This is what Jamie had to say about the race “First of all I would like to say well done to the winner which is an outstanding performance and well done to all the section winners on a tough day. The cock that took 3rd open 1st section NFC is a double grandson of Seb who was the sire of Wingdown a fantastic pigeon and a great family of pigeons at these races. I brought Seb of the Cough at Epson show, and when I got him I think he was 11/12 years old and not in the best condition. We put him away for a couple of months and then put him with his own daughter to try our luck thinking we wouldn’t get anything but bingo we got around 30 birds from him over 3 years which was a great result with different hens. All of these went to the stock loft and paired together and put with children of different international winners to try and build a family that would not only come home but can win at the distance races. I got lucky, this was their first test and had a great race clocking 4 on the day taking 1/4/7 section in the very strong competition in section P. I was lucky in 2020 to win 6th open 1st section but that was with a Machine pigeon from the fantastic Marshall family of pigeons who raced in the up north combine. 004 is raced on the roundabout system and had four races from Guernsey early on in the year and lots of 119 mile races with the Malibu racing pigeon club at Wingham in Kent, which is a great club with so many great lads and good pigeon men in it, and my main competitor the one and only Alan Annis. Then I sent him to Nevers with the east of England RPC which again is a great club and run very well although it can be some tough racing but I think you get the good ones most of the time. 004 took the red card in this race which was 3 weeks before the Pau NFC race and perfect for preparation. He was trained privately up to 25 miles daily in the 3 weeks before he was sent. I feed variamax and super star together, with fats and peanuts for the last 10 days before the race just small amounts each day. A big thanks to Mark Sands who helps out daily and thanks to everyone who have congratulated me” At second section, eighth National is Colin Fagg and Lin Nicholas nr sittingbourne in Kent, and once again past National winners.

Colin has had another good season at Federation level and like the Clarke loft, is very competitive at all levels and distances. Colin had this to say about his first pigeon “Morning kevin, a few details of the hen. She is bred from a pair of birds we brought from the Crammond and Langstaff bereavement sale. Her sire is a grandson of Kanibaal Barcelona and New laureaat and her dam is also a granddaughter of New Laureaat. She was sent on four day old babies being her first nest of the year and she arrived back in splendid condition, a credit to the conveying team ”. Well done to you both, a Grand national race would be unusual not to see your name there. Third section 9th Open is Dean Childs of Wickford in Essex, and like the previous lofts is a multiple National winner. “My first bird was bred from a cock bought from John Chipperfield out of his great race hen ‘Lady Theresa’. The mother was from a son of Little Gem and a good race hen of mine ‘Chalice Olive’ who was 6th BICC National Agen for me. The pigeon was bred by my good friend Kevin Zerafa of Portsmouth as we swapped some young birds that year. He was sent sitting his first eggs of the year and had two races from Guernsey and the the difficult first St Philbert race in prep for the Pau Grand National”
Well done Dean, another top classic performance.

Section W

First was Williams Bros, Son & Burgham in Tredegar with the next four places going to Mark Sparey in Abertillery with his first bird being “Rhiw Parc Evan” having his fourth NFC Grand National, each time being in the results, which were 122nd open, 3rd section2018, 30th open 4th 2019 section behind two loft mates, 299thopen 3rd section 2020 and then 2022 180th open second section, he’s a tough old timer. 

His mother is a Deweerdt x Denney and the sire is an inbred “Southfield Supreme”, both originated from Mark Gilbert. All the cocks are raced on widowhood and not trained, just straight into the races,then to Tarbes. Mark said, “I would like to congratulate to the winner of the open Tarbes 2022 and the section winner which was Williams brothers and Burgham and I hope that next year we can get back to some normality racing the channel”.

News and views to me Chris Sutton on 01530 242548 or 07792 356330 email

The National Flying Club committee, along with many other organisations have been striving to bring the best racing possible whilst operating in unprecedented times. Over the past two or three seasons the sport in general has been in a flux with Covid, Brexit and Bird Flu to contend with, but thanks to the hard work of a few prominent people we can now see a light at the end of a very long tunnel. The challenges placed before us in order to race from France have been successfully surpassed and although our individual members have some initial form filling to do, there the joint race which was organised between the NFC, BICC, BBC and the CSCFC was very successful with a total of 342 NFC members sending 4,069 birds to St Philbert to join a total convoy of 5300 birds. Congratulations go to all the winners of the participating clubs and especially to Gladwin, Jarvis and Family for their first National Flying Club win to accompany their previous national wins in the BICC and the BBC. The weather on the day was not too kind to those in the midlands and further north, as once again the forecast for showers actually became a band of heaver rain which was unforeseen by the overall race controllers of the joint race, but having said that some super performances were put in by brave and determined pigeons in the northern sections, which I hope will put them in good stead for the Grand National on the 22^nd of July. To those members who have yet to apply for their CPH numbers I must recommend you do so at the earliest convenience as DEFRA will withdraw their extra resources in the next couple of months at which time it will take much longer to get a response and if anyone is thinking of leaving it until the spring of 2023 be aware that they will have thousands of new born lambs etc to register at that time, which could mean even more delay. In short “do it now” as it is the best option and with the Young Bird race being from France, it would be back to normal much sooner. I would also like to point out that some sections have not featured in this report due solely to the fact that the marking stations available were just too far to travel. It is hoped that over the next few months the situation can be resolved in some way to ensure some of our members do not have to drive over 450 miles round trip to be able to compete from France, it is a worrying time for some.

Section: A

Once again Mr & Mrs May & Son won section A and Darren sent me the following “Firstly we would like to say congratulations to all the winners and a big thank you to the convoyers with the birds returning in great condition on what turned out a tough day. Our first bird is bred by our partnership loft of Yves De Wit in Belgium. She was raced on roundabout widowhood and had been given just one 100 mile race this season prior to this race and she has also previously won 1st Federation for us. In this race across the different organisations she has provisionally won 2nd Section, 4^th Open CSCFC 872 birds, 1st Section, 9^th Open BBC National 1297 birds, 1st Section, 18^th Open NFC National 4069 birds, 8th Section, 28^th Open BICC National 2046 birds.

Our second bird to win fifth section was also bred by our partnership loft of Yves De Wit in Belgium.  She was also raced on roundabout widowhood and had been given only one 100 mile race this season prior to this race. She is a half sister to our Elite Breeder “Champion Elita”, who is responsible for many winners and is also a 1^st Combine winner herself. Second section was  J May & Son who would like to say well done to everyone involved in get us back racing from France and well done to all the winners.

Their first pigeon was a grand child of super breeder “Spiderman” and has been one of their best racers. He had 4 races prior to this and is raced on widowhood, came back in fantastic condition and they are looking forward to the next race from France. Third was Fred Hall & Daughters with a blue cock raced on widowhood.

His sire is a grandson of “Invincible Spirit” x George Carteus and his dam is of Syndicate Lofts breeding sister, to the “Good Hen” 4 times in the top ten of the NW Combine, her sire being a son of “Caliph” and her dam a daughter of “The Good Pair” responsible for loads of winners at all levels up to national’s. Brian Wall featured in the top five once again, this time being fourth and said “What a great feeling to be able to fly the channel again after two years absence.

Thanks to all at the marking station with all the stellar work you did in what must have been a long day. It was great to see fanciers I had not seem for a few years, just like the old days at Reading. My first bird was from Owen Simpson of Darlington as I have had a few birds from Owen over the last couple of years, but have not been able to really test them as we had not been able to go over channel, hence birds have flown at most 100 miles, so it was good to get a 240 plus miles out of them. Next race will be Poitiers with BICC. Well done all the winners.

Section: B

Taking the Premier position in Section B and 10^th Open is the Southampton Loft of Darren Ede and his young family to add to some other excellent results achieved over recent seasons.

This is what Darren had to say “Firstly I’d like to congratulate all the other Section Winners and of course the overall winners, my good friends John and Theresa Gladwin, better people within the sport you’ll be hard pressed to find, congratulations Guys. Sending a small but dynamic team of six “Harry” hens for their first race from the South in over two years, I’m extremely pleased to win the section.

This hen has also won 1^st Section, 1^st Open CSCFC and 1^st Section, 5^th Open BBC. The Section winner is a Granddaughter of “Harry”, being from my best breeding son of “Harry”, “Forever Grateful” who has now bred 4 X 1^st Section winners and 2 X 2^nd Section Winners as well as “ Licence to Thrill”, the super Welsh racing and breeding champion. This small team have not let me down all season, winning on the north road in the CSCFC, 4^th, 5^th & 6^th Open, Wakefield, 3^rd 11^th & 19^th Open Hexham, 3^rd, 12^th, 13^th, 14t, 17^th & 19^th open Perth. Due to some changes coming up in my personal life, this is the last couple of races of my current racing career and all the birds will be auctioned by Les Green & John Crehan after the Season, good luck to everyone for the rest of the season, Darren”

Next is one of the most consistent and prolific of National performing lofts, Dave and Lisa Waterhouse, who won 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th Section, 62^nd, 64^th & 87th Open.

This is what Dave had to say about his performance. “Firstly can we congratulate all the winners from today’s race. My first two arrivals are from my sprint team. The first cock is from my son of “Sagon”, has been very consistent whilst only being a yearling and first time across from France. My second bird is from CWL birds out of a son of “Eurovision” X “Coutance Hen” which was also having her first trip from France. My third bird is down from my ace pair and has previously won 3^rd Section, 5^th Open NFC, 1^st Section, 8^th Open NFC in a strong NE wind.  My birds are flown on roundabout and fed on Vanrobeys Superstar Plus. Please can I say a special thank you to all the team at the marking station. It was nice to see all old and new friends having a chat and some banter. Well done once again every one and looking forward to the next one. In fifth place was the ever-consistent Fordingbridge loft of Mark Gower.

This is what Mark had to say “Well done to Mr and Mrs Gladwin and all the Section Winners. My first arrival for 5^th Section is a three year old cock bred from a son of Premier Stud’s “Man- O-Chester” when paired to a hen bred by GWP Macaloney from “Camelot” X Blue Caviar”. He has been a steady performer and always looks fresh when returning and was 5^th Section B NFC Guernsey 2 weeks previously. It did not prove to be an easy race for flyers on the Westerly side this time with most birds returning out of the North East and  I ended up with 13 out of my 20 entries on the night. Well done to all the people that worked tirelessly to get the birds to the race, especially with all the paperwork involved”. My thank once again to Bill Edwards for compiling his report.

Section: C

Mel and Sue King had a super day winning 1^st and 2^nd section and they would like to congratulate the winners and all the other section winners. Their first bird was a two year old widowhood cock of Vandenabeele origin bred from the race team, and has previously won 1^st Section 3^rd Open N.F.C Guernsey 2 this year. Both parents are 1^st Federation winners, and he is line bred back to their original M & D Gaby’s which they have been cultivating for 23 years. Their second section bird was again from their Vandenabeele family being a yearling hen raced their celibacy system, amongst minor prizes she was previously 2^nd Section 22^nd Open Young Bird National Guernsey National Flying Club and 1^stSection BBC St Philbert 2 weeks ago.  Her sire is a grandson of their original “Shadow Daughter” and won 1^st Federation Longest Young Bird race. Her dam is also a granddaughter of “Shadow Hen” and a daughter of the sire of 1^st Open National Flying Club Countances. “Thanks go to all involved in putting this race on, especially all the hard workers at the marking stations”. Another loft which had a super race is Mr & Mrs Hodges who won the next six section positions! Their first pigeon was one of their old favourites bred from their Gerrit Lahuis pigeons via Chris Balson of Bristol back in 2004 and they have bred too many winners to list. 

She has also won many Combine, National and BICC positions and is raced on the chaos system. Their birds are fed on Versele-laga and Vanrobaeys mixtures and they would like to congratulate the winner and all section winners. It was good to see BHW scribe Chris Williams time a good pigeon and he wrote “Congratulations to John Gladwin on a well deserved win  and well done to Mel and Sue King for taking 1^st and 2^nd section C.  It feels great to be racing the channel again and we would like to thank everyone who has made competing from the continent possible for all their hard work. There was a great atmosphere at the Southampton marking station with everyone pulling together to get the job done.  Dad and I racing as Steve & Chris Williams timed our yearling blue hen whose bloodlines are that of Dirk Van den Bulck and the “Showman” via Sheldon Leonard of Arklow.

We would like to say thanks to Lawrence and Marg Cowley for helping us with the clock read out as Jenny Mills from our club and  her husband Stuart currently  have Covid I hope you both feel better soon”.

Section: D

Paul Harradence Paul was over the moon to win 1st & 3rd Section D from his first ever French race, he timed a Busschaert yearling cock for 1st section which was bred by club member Chris Stevens which was a gift to Paul as a young bird when he started up.

His 3rd section D was a gift bird from Richard Goodier and is a Vandenabeele x Thone late bred in 2020. Both birds were racing back to 10 day old eggs. All birds are fed on Versal Laga corns. Congratulations to all the section and Open winners. Richard Goodier was very happy with my 2nd section, a day that turned out to be a tough race for in the west of the country due to the persistent wind and rain which was around all morning.

He timed a three year old Lambrecht x Van den Bulck cock raced on the roundabout system. His sire is a son of "Golden Lady 930" from P & D Stud which has bred many good birds. Returns where slow but managed to get 9 out of 10 home by the second day. “Congratulations to 1st section D Paul Harradence who is flying his 1st old bird season having started with young birds last year. Also congratulations to Ade Human who timed a great bird close to the Cornish border” Fourth section was Wayne Wright who said well done to everyone who took part. 

His pigeon was bred by Ronnie Mains of Newcastle and was participating in its 4th race, first time across the water. It has sire bloodlines of “Mucking Fagic” 1st open Bourges and dam breeding lines of “Big Smithy”.  “A big thank you to Lewelly Parsons for exercising and looking after the birds while I was away”. Fifth was Cordery & Roast with a dark checker hen which was gifted to them by Andy Hodge and is a Mark Gilbert Hermans-Ceusters. 

They would like to say well done to Paul Harredence, also a member of the Honiton flying club for winning section D, in only his second National race.

Section: E

Congratulations to Mr & Mrs P J Wells for winning 1^st and 5^th section E with Mr & Mrs Carrick & Son 2^nd.

Mick would like to congratulate all the winners and the pigeon he timed has been very consistent this year and last he started the year with 3rd club, beaten by loft mates. Then went to Guernsey with the BBC were he was 14th open. Soon after he damaged his leg, so did not race again till St Philibert. He was sent sitting ten days on eggs with plenty of training in the previous two weeks. His sire is Micks Bordeaux national winner paired to a hen bred by Jimmy Whitehead who has sadly passed. She has the best of Syndicate Lofts in her pedigree, “Wardrum” x “Jean Genie”,  “Mario” x “Sunday Girl”. Two-time section winner this season was Roger Lowe who was third with Mark Gilbert fourth. Mark has played a tremendous role in making channel racing possible and I know we all extend our thanks to him. Sixth was Ricky Turner who is happy with his birds this year having won the BBC the other week.

He only keeps a small team and would like to thank Darren May for breeding his first bird. Ricky only sent four but they came well and he would like to thank club members for helping him to train as he does not drive and Frank Elliston for taking him to the marking station. 

Section: F

First section F 11^th Open was committee member Cosmin Talas “First of all I would like to congratulate the national winner and all the section winners. 

What a joy to be able to race from France again and thank you to Ian Evans and Richard Chambers for all his hard work he put in to get the channel racing back, and all those who made it happen. I can't tell you how happy I am to be able to race from France again. I keep and race the pigeons with only one aim to race against the best in this country with the National Flying Club, I have always said that if you want to test your pigeons and yourself you need to fly against the best. This race was my first race with the National Flying Club this year and my section winner is a widowhood cock experiencing first time over the water. He been raced inland with the local club before he went to St Philbert and is bred from “Dino” a son of “Dinan” and “Diana”, two of my section winners from Saintes 421miles with NFC. This section winners name is “New Dinan” as he did very well considering the wind and the weather. I only sent 3 pigeons which had one race from France before, the rest having their first time over the water and I had a great race. Many thanks to everyone involved”. Second section 16^th Open were Mr & Mrs P Kenny & Family who would like to start by congratulating Gladwin Jarvis and Family on winning the race.

They would also like to say a huge thank you and well done to all marking teams at all the marking stations. Their timer is becoming a very smart performer as she has previously been 1^st section, 3^rd open NFC Guernsey 4367 birds and 18^th open BBC Guernsey. She looks like being 1st section provisionally 2nd open CSCFC, 3^rd section, 7^th open BBC and 5^th section, 24^th open BICC St Philbert 296 miles. She was bred by Brian Mawdsley from Southport and her Sire has been a really good bird for Brain, winning the fed and 2^nd West LANCS Affiliation Cheltenham 2343 birds. Their birds are fed Versele-laga Superstar and Bayers Koopman All Round as well as this Brad Cowoods Oasis and Vita pro are used regularly and the birds are also trained weekly down to the coast. The next three positions were won by the very consistant loft of J & P Parker with B Sherman & S Wells in sixth place.

Their hen was bred from a pair of J, D Fretwells stock birds brought from his entire clearance sale, which had bred a bird which was 1st Open MNFC Carentan in 2012. She won the club a couple of weeks ago and was flown sitting on two week old eggs. Steve would like to congratulate all the section winners especially Cosman Tallas for winning the section. J J Schoeman was 7^th with a pigeon which was a Bonus Ball win from Simon Schofield which had been quiet in the short sprint races but now the distance has jumped, she came well.

 Her pedigree is the best from Sorin Florea from Romania, from “Jong Bliksem” x “New Laureat” bloodlines, he is very happy with this years National results and will encourage all members young or old to give it a go, “it’s an unbelievable feeling getting them home from France on the day as the radius of pigeons are so wide spread”. 

Section: G

Joey Raeburn won section G and would like to say a big well done to all who were involved getting this joint venture to go head.

Off to Pau next but he thinks they will need to work on the liberation because the last three races the country has been split by bad weather you may get away with poor liberations on short races but not from 500 plus. Joey sent me a short video of the heavy rain whilst waiting for his birds from St Philbert and would like to congratulate John Gladwin and all the other section winners. He timed a yearling widowhood cock which is one of the twenty widowers he started the season with. His Sire is a son of “Litton Glory” winner of the grand national from Tarbes for Paul Kendal from Wantage. Litton Glory was paired to a granddaughter of “Gwen” who won 1^st Grand National from San Sebastian. The dam is a daughter of “West Bound” three times from Tarbes winning 26^th open 4^th section and 3^rd open plus 1^st section Barcelona when paired to “Lucky 13” and she’s the dam of 1^st sec 6^th open Grand National Tarbes for Nigel Templar and 1^st section 6^th open Grand National Tarbes on the day of lib. Lucky 13 is bred from a son of Irdb winner of 1^st International Pau for A great fancier Wicky Bullen when paired to daughter of Gwen. Second was C & J Howse who said “Firstly well done to the winners. Our bird is a two year old hen flown on the natural system, which had just hatched her first YB of the year on the day before basketing. She is Syndicate Loft breeding and her sire is a grandson of “Drum”, with her dam a granddaughter of “Dutch Master”. Thanks to Joe Raeburn for taking our birds to the marking”. Third was Stuart Wilcox with a bird which was cross entered in all of the clubs competing in the UK Masters race.

He is a 2019 Dutch rung widowhood cock called “Buck Rogers” bred by famous Dutch fanciers Martijn and Buck De Kruijf and has been an outstanding pigeon, being the winner of 1^st Club 1^st Fed Truro 1820b, 3^rd Open NFC Sennon Cove (2) 3575b, 5^th Open NFC Sennon Cove (1) 5479b. He was gifted to Stuart by Martijn and Buck along with a number of stock pigeons and they have been very successful. Buck Rogers is bred from “Stevie Wonder Jnr” winner of 3^rd Arras 1350b, 3^rd Roye 694b, 4^th Peronne 1477b, 7^th Bourges 922b etc from S Smits bred from a full brother to 1^st National La Soutteriane 21,271b and a sister to the dam of Faberge 1^st National Chateauroux 45589b. His mother is NL17/004 from a direct son of “Pitbull 777” of Kerel Leanens and “Litchje”, sister “Olympic Bolt” when paired to “127” from Leo Heremans, dam of 1^st Pom 5296b, 1^st Duffel 427b, 2^nd Asse 1443b, 2^nd Pom 569b, etc, a dtr of “Blauwe As” 1^st Asduif Hafo and De 802, dam of 5 x 1^st. He is flown on traditional widowhood and fed on Beyers and Country Wide corns. Alan Jones was fourth who would also like to congratulate all the section winners and all the people that were involved in getting this race on after a very trying time.  

His chequer hen is of Gerrit Lahuis x Van Dyke breeding, which were gift pigeons from Nigel templar who has supplied many good pigeons over the years. She has won many cards in club and combine and has always been an honest pigeon and her nest mate was 12th section in the last Guernsey race. Having a great season is Wojciech Blachut who was fifth on this occasion.

Section: H

In section H C Crick & Son won 1^st and 2^nd which has to be one of the best lofts in the section 2022 as they have put up some terrific results in all NFC races this year up to now.

Third and fifth was David Paine in St Neots with N & J Callaghan fourth and in sixth place was Dexter Thomas in Wellingborough.

Section: I

Tim Atkin was 1^st section I again with a daughter of his very good “NFC Pair” a son of “Propere 10” paired to a daughter of “Minerva”.

They have bred 2 x 1^st section winners NFC and 2 x 2^nd section plus multiple Fed winners. In second place was Cliff Sanders who is pictured with his four grandchildren, Ruben, Beatrix, Darcey and Kitty.

 His little two year old late bred hen was not raced as a young bird but has had all the club races down to the coast this year, then into Guernsey with the BBC and two further races from Guernsey before going to St Phibert. Her sire was a Daniel Arran and her dam is the best hen he has raced being 6 times in the top 20 of section I in the NFC right up to Segogne. This late bred hen has raced all season just to the perch, never paired up. Her feed has been Gerry Plus and Super Star and a mixture given to Cliff by John Barnet from Telford and Cliff would like to thank all the people for getting Channel racing back. Third and fifth was T & J Mather & S.Haywood with Gavin Duggan fourth with a six year old white flight cock flown on a semi widowhood/roundabout system.

Gavin would like to thank all involved to make it possible to fly out of France again and especially the marking station at Steventon.

Section: J

Winning section J and completing a great weekends racing in the Nationals was the Chambers Family and Craig said “First if all I would like to say thank you to all of the well-wishers who have been in contact to congratulate us on our weekend's performances, to top the section in all four national races entered this weekend was a huge surprise and I have been humbled by the response and kind words of our friends.

Our first arrival from St Philbert is a yearling hen, now named “Heart Breaker”making her fifth channel crossing of the season having raced from Guernsey four times previously in preparation for the longer distance races. She is bred from our best middle-distance family crossed in with a hen from Brian Dearn. Heart Breaker’s sire is a full brother to "Big Girl" and "Blue Lightning" winners of 7th, 10th, 15th, 34th & 44th open National up to 9,679b. He is also half-brother to "Coutances Queen" our 1st section 1st Open BBC Coutances and RPRA award winner from 2020. Heart Breakers nest mate has also performed well for us this season, winning 6^th section 37^th open in the BICC National a few weeks earlier when 5,847b were competing, so you can see that she this hen has been bred for the job of middle-distance national racing. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all organisations and the individuals involved in facilitating racing from France to resume.  All our birds arrived in tremendous condition, and they were a real credit to the organisations who transported them”. Another super loft of the 2022 season in second place is Lee and Trevor racing as Williams Bros from Oldbury.

They timed a two year old widowhood cock which has been consistent from the previous Guernsey races, but had never had the opportunity to go to the distance he was bred for until now, due to the racing restrictions from France. His sire is a Busschaert that had himself scored well being 3rd Open MNFC. His Dam was bred by John Bradley and she has bred winners every year including 1st Worcester fed and 1st Open MNFC. The Fowler Family of Leek were third and they timed was a two year old widowhood cock, the parents of which bird were purchased at the entire clearance sale of D. McFadden. His sire is “Rowley 730” a multiple national winner and is the sire and grand sire of many winners. Dam is the 600 hen who is dam and grand dam to many winners including royal blue a winner of 12th national Bordeaux and 11th open NFC Tarbes 2019. The 600 is also a half sister to Queen Mary winner of 1st open NFC Tarbes and being direct from Dark Prince and Pau Princess 2nd open INT Pau.  Jonathan Hamplett was fourth and fifth with Dave Whitfield in sixth place with a home bred Verheye out of the “Action Man” and “Pretty Girl” line which has been a multiple prize winner on land and channel racing over the years, including topping the Mid Cheshire Fed.

 This year she has flown 6 land races plus twice from Guernsey and St Philbert flown on Dave’s own Roundabout Widowhood System. 

Section: K

Dean Coleman was first section K and would like to thank everyone involved in helping to get channel racing back for the UK “They didn’t give up when others told them it would never happen.

Winning the Iconic section K has always been a dream mine and it proves that sometimes even at 56 years old, dreams do come true. My bird is a four year old widowhood cock out of middle distance bloodlines and a door had opened from the closed off box above him a couple of days before basketing and he decided he would guard it which seems to have given him the added impetus to get home. Who knows but pleased he came as well as he did”. Second and third was H A Rawson, Son & Towers who have also had a great season up until now with a blue cock out of Ron Dennets hen paired to one of their own family which has been on constant form from the beginning, and a young bird winner getting prizes each year. Their second bird is a blue hen out of their old family, her sister being a top section winner and another sister won the 11th open NFC Coutances. They would like to thank Mr Fred Ellis for getting our CPH number and everything he does for us and the other members of the club . Fourth was Michael Lake with Will Curtis in sixth place with his pool pigeon in the 700mm club taking first position and my pool pigeon in the Lancashire and Yorkshire 4bird club also taking 1st place. He is bred from a son of “Sharron” gifted by good friend Dave Thompson and Sharron was 1st section K Tarbes for Dave in 2017. He is also the pigeon that has been breeding the pigeons to finish 11th final Derby Arona 2021 and 17th final Derby Arona 2022. The Dam is a daughter of “Little Gem” gifted by Pete and Barry Winters in 2016. 

Section: L

Brian & Gary Smith & Son won section L with a three year old chequer hen flown on a variation of the Roundabout System.

Her Sire is bred from a pair of De Rauw Sablon stock birds purchased from Roger Lowe, which go back to the Freddy Vandenheede bloodlines & Her Dam is a Gaby Vandenabeele gift bird via good friends Rick & Simon Geary of Macclesfield. She has been a very consistent bird this year having been 4th Open Guernsey 253 miles with North West Classic Club & 12th Section L Guernsey from Race 3 with the NFC. Second was E Taylor from Crewe with R & B Smith third with a home bred blue cock from the best of their channel birds. His sire is “Mr Reliable”  GB 13 N 66947 who is a direct son of the “Hilsons Cock” when he was paired to a half-sister to “51” 1st open MNFC Carentan.

 He was a natural young bird which was not raced but well trained and he was their best yearling with several good land performances, then with the covid pandemic causing the delay to channel racing in 2020 and none in 2021 he has limited channel experience. With his breeding we knew he had what it takes on the day. His sire, 66947 and his nest mate “Max” 66946 both have multiple channel performances in the NFC, MNFC Eccles 2 bird Lancs Yorks 4 bird from 300 to 540 miles.

 Paul Hodson was fourth and J Wood & Son fifth.

Section: N

Jeff Walton wrote “First a big well done to all Section winners and especially the Open winner John Gladwin & Family at Formula1 Lofts for topping the NFC Open. NFC Section N winners were M/M Hutchinson & Sons of Middleton St George.

Their three year old cock was on 10 day eggs and his sire is a grandson off “BC” x “Amoy” via L & K Buddle from Dover. His dam was bred by Dave Dockray from his Durham Combine Bourges winner. Second was Mr & Mrs B Hicks in Seaham and third, fifth and eight section is Bob Mckie flying at 525 miles into Chopwell and probably the longest flier in the Open.

His first bird, a three-year-old cock whose sire is from Dave Impett's, Brugman family and was sent feeding a big youngster. His second bird arriving at 20.38pm was 2nd Section in the tough second Guernsey race after over 11 hours on the wing. He was sent sitting 10 day eggs and his 3rd bird was the Red cock which was 1st Section in the second Guernsey who was also sent sitting 10 days on eggs. M Anderson and sons were fourth and sixth section N flying 523 miles” Thanks Jeff. All the section N birds put up a fantastic performance considering the conditions whilst not getting the breaks they deserve and I would like to give recognition to all these longer flyers for their perseverance in the biggest competition in the country, thank you for continuing to support the NFC and your day will come. 

Section: P

Kevin Foster wrote “Once again, section P members hit the target with the top 3 in the National and eight members featuring in the top 15 open result. Chris has covered the winners Gladwin, Jarvis and Family from Leigh on sea, so nothing more to add other than a very well done to a national winning loft.

In at 2nd section and Open is Dave and Gary Heywood of Laindon.

Another multinational winning loft and this is what Gary told me “the hen we timed has been a really good hen this year for us and has been to Guernsey 4 times, scoring in the open and section on each occasion. Her father is a grandson of “Harry” and her dam is a granddaughter off “Tip Top Junior”. I would like to say a big thank you to all involved in getting us back across the channel it was great to have that feeling again seeing pigeons dropping from France, thank you to all involved “ Well done Dave and Gary, a top class hen.

At third section and third open is also a loft which is in super form and one that I personally can vouch for as becoming serious national competitors in the Kent area, is that of Tommy Sparks and Pauline Dallas of Gravesend.

They timed a yearling widower cock, the sire of which came from Tony Seery, the grandsire is a son of a Saintes national winner. The granddam is daughter of a Midland National winner. The dam of the yearling cock is a winner of 3x1sts so well done Tommy and Pauline. Fourth and fifth section is D Hunt & sons of Bishops Stortford and talking of inform lofts how about this, Dave told me they have had15 races this year winning the fed 14 times, several times having a few together.

In fact the pigeon they got for 5th national is a yearling cock which has arrived with fed winning loft mates 4 times but received no awards as the fed ruling is for first two birds only. So effectively a  four times fed winner! He is 50% Stickers Donkers and 50% Harry bloodlines. Well done and I’m sure we will hear more about this young pigeon in the future. Sixth section and seventh open is a relatively new partnership to national racing and one with a very small team which has stormed into the national winners enclosure in recent times is that of Topp and Mann of Rayleigh.

Here is what Mitch told me “I would like to congratulate the winner and my club mates John and Teresa Gladwin, no one deserves it more due to the work they have put into our great sport to get us over the channel is second to none, so a big well done. My first pigeon was a yearling cock flown on the widowhood system being a Gaby x Zwol from a pair that Lee Bastone gave me which is also the nest mate to my breeder buyer winner and 1st section BICC last year. Over the moon the be 7th open on my first ever old bird channel race from France as I only started south in 2020 and haven’t got into France because all the restrictions, so really happy with the result. I would like to thank everyone who made channel racing possible a big well done” Well done and I’m sure it won’t be the last time you get featured in a national write up.

Section: W

1st Setion W was Derick Jones with a 2 year old WH cock vandanbeele gson of the picanol .timed in from Guernsey .no details on his other 2 only one was a WH hen. 4th Section was B cook and son with a 4 year old hen thats been very consistemt on the channel and inland, her parents were bred by Nick Adshead of Selby the sire being a half brother to chapion Milly. We would like to thak Nick for the birds and congratulate the winners Gladwin, Jarvis and Family.  . Paul Blundell was 8th section with a a late bred 2year old hen only raced the land first time to see any water  . A very good performance to this part of the world ,on the doorway to Snowdonia it's breeding is euro diamond on both sides.