The final race of the season for the National Flying Club took place on the 6^th September from Coutances when the Chief Convoyer Mr Dom McCoy, liberated 4500 young birds and old hens at 8.00 hrs into a light North West wind in sunny conditions. Race Advisor Steve White said that the winds on the line of flight up to Cherbourg were light North West and once the birds were heading into the Channel the visibility was 16 miles, with North West winds at 15mph gusting to 19mph. The UK was dry with the odd shower around in the West and generally winds are West North West. They had a fantastic sky at lib point, all the birds cleared in three minutes and left site together. The Committee would like to thank all the Convoying team and Race Advisor for their excellent care of the NFC pigeons during the 2020 season.

One of the systems used in preparation for the Young bird races by some fanciers begins late in the previous year, with breeding taking place immediately after the moult at the end of November. Lighting is provided for the stock birds in order for them to rear strong, robust babies which are weaned into their own loft in January and go straight on to natural daylight hours. This then provides the ideal conditions for them to behave like darkness youngsters, without having to close down the lofts to restrict daylight during April until June. They will moult out their body feathers completely but retain their flight feathers. After the longest day the lights are put on to continue the “day light hours” which effectually extends the summertime period for the birds and their hormones stay at a heightened level. This can be capitalised upon by racing them against those who have not considered or practised this method and great team performances can be achieved.

One such fancier who has prepared his young bird team in this way is John Cowlin of Hullbridge, winner of this year’s National Flying Club young bird race, and his birds have responded in style. With careful consideration and a lot of road training he managed to achieve a team performance second to none by having eight of his thirty entries come together to record velocities that were all faster than the next loft in the result, thereby winning the first eight positions. He and his father Rob have worked on those young birds for nearly 10 months, in the hope that when the day comes to race them in the National, all the stars will be in alignment for them to capitalise on the conditions. North West winds and a fair racing day would give them the best opportunity in the part of the country where they live and that is exactly what they got.

I am led to believe that winning the first eight positions in the National Flying Club is a new club record and I also think John Cowlin still holds the record for the youngest ever winner of the National Flying Club, when he won 1^st Open in 2008 flying completely on his own at 20 years of age and John has also won the British International Championship Club in 2017. Another interesting fact is that his partner in the pigeon stud Formula 1 Lofts, John Gladwin will take the next three positions with the same Frans Zwols bloodlines and fellow club mates followed shortly after with their birds, which will mean the first 13 positions in the National Flying Club will be with their birds and the bird which will be 14^th is a Formula 1 lofts Frans Zwols cross. To give credit where it is due, Frans Zwols in the UK have been at least 43 times in the first 2 places at National, Combine or Amal levels since 2017 and members of the Hullbridge club have won 3 x 1st Nationals and 5 x2nd Nationals in 2020.  

I asked John how he had trained his birds leading up to the race and he said he had given them a 50 mile chuck on the Monday, 30 miles on Tuesday and 38 miles from Battle on Wednesday before basketing them on Thursday for the race. They had been allowed together to go through the nesting process for the young bird races with the BICC and NFC but as things transpired, he had to be flexible with his plans. In his own words; “They say patience is a virtue and in this case it is very true, I had my young birds ready for the first BICC Y/B race but with the weather forecast as it was for that weekend, I decided not send them and wait for the second BICC Y/B race. Once again, the weather did not look great, so I decided to send some old hens and just my Gold Ring youngsters and waited for yet another week hoping for a better forecast for the NFC race. When the time came the weather forecast looked like the best flying day we have had all season, so I decided to send my full team of young birds. I thought that timing of around 12:20 to 12:30 would be a very good pigeon on the day, so at 12:12 when I saw 8 pigeons coming off line and heading straight to my loft, diving for the loft like rockets, I was dazed for a second or two thinking “what are these coming in a flock”. I soon realised they were NFC pigeons as they hit the trap and they were so full of themselves; a couple of the cocks were fighting each other as they went through the trap.  I could not believe it when I checked my ETS clock, I had 8 young birds come together, All Formula 1 lofts Frans Zwols and all clocked within 17 seconds. I verified and when I saw I was top of the provisional result I realised that anyone of which could have been the winner”.   

First on the clock is from a cock which raced for his partner, Gladwin & Jarvis in Formula 1 lofts, winning a few positions before being stopped for stock as he is direct from “D’Artagian” and his full sister “Dream Girl 200” these are the last brother and sister bred the same way as Frans Zwol famous 3 Musketeers.  The dam of the winner being a child of “Brother Frans”. “D’Artagain” is now responsible for an amazing 9 x 1^st at National, Amal and Combine level. Second on the clock just 2 seconds later is a direct child of the “Amal Cock” which won 1^st and 4^th Amal against 4,000+ birds and the dam is “Guernsey Princess” daughter of the “Dream Pair” which won 1^st and 3^rd Open BICC for John in 2017 as well as 5^th section NFC in the 3 channel races she had before going to stock. This pair also bred “Theresa Boy” which won 1^st BBC National in 2018 for Gladwin & Jarvis.  The third bird recorded on the clock and just another two seconds further back is a pencil cock which is direct from “006” who in turn is bred from “Sun Star”, the winner of 1st National Morlincourt and the dam is a 2019 bred direct daughter of “Amor” and “Tip Top Goldmine”. Both of which have already bred National winners.  

Forth was another pencil cock which is another grandchild of “Amor” only this time when he was paired to the “Queen of Reekem”. The sire of this pigeon is a child of “Sky Runner” winner of 47 prizes for Frans Zwols, when paired to “Tip Top 076” one of the best daughters of “Tip Top Junior” being responsible for over 30 winners. The fifth bird home is another cock, bred from a son of “Bold Eagle” when paired to “Argon 052” and the dam is a good racing daughter before going to stock of “Sea Eagle” and “Fransje”.  In sixth place we have a direct daughter of the new wonder breeder “Dream Maker” who in only three breeding seasons is responsible for 2nd & 3rd Open National, 8 other top 10 Open National positions, plus 6 other results in the top 30 of National results, along with Club & Federation winners. She in turn is bred from “D’Aratgian 065” and “Tip Top 076”. Sire of the fifth pigeon is a direct son of the “Prince of Reekem” and “Sweet Princess” who is also Granddam of 1^st open Agen 531 miles. Seventh on the clock is a direct daughter of “The Dream Pair” consisting of the “Prince of Rekkem” and “Dreamy”. The Dream Pair are responsible for four 1st National winners for four different people also 2^nd, 4^th and 5^th national winners. The last of the eight loft mates is another hen which is bred from “Tip Top Star” which is the last son of “Tip Top Junior” when he was paired to “Dream Maker”, the dam being “N63” a ex racer that won five 1sts and now a top breeder of many good racers, she in turn is from “D’artagain 065” and “Tip Top 076”.  

His partner in Formula 1 Lofts John Gladwin came along whilst I was there, and I asked if he enjoyed the race and also about the parents of his birds. He said that having chatted with John Cowlin before the birds were due and having two very experienced fanciers visiting him for the day to watch the race. They had come up with an eta of 12:15 for a super pigeon. So just after noon he sat near the loft to wait and three or four minutes later, he noticed two birds in the distance racing like mad to the loft. He knew these would be good pigeons by the way they were racing to the loft and just as those two landed he saw two more heading his way and both of these started to fold, however one was not his and it ended up making his third pigeon lose a few seconds on trapping. After clocking, the first person he spoke to was John Cowlin but upon hearing his time and how many he had come together he thought perhaps his race was not as good as he thought. It was later when the NFC website leader board was updated, that he realised John Cowlin was winning the race and he was in second place provisionally, knowing that he was really 9^th at best.   His first timer is the same way bred as John Cowlin 4^th pigeon being a grandchild of “Amor” when paired to the “Queen of Reekem”. The sire being from “Sky Runner” winner of 47 prizes for Frans Zwols when paired to “Tip Top 076” one of the best daughters of “Tip Top Junior” being responsible for over 30 winners. His second bird is from “A03” an ex racer which had won inland and scored a few times before being put to stock, having bred winners for others and being direct from “Sky Runner” and “Tip Top 076”. The dam is a yearling hen bred for stock from “Theresa Boy” his 2018 young bird National winner and “My little Darling” one of the best race hens he had ever raced. His third pigeon is from a pair of yearlings which were bred especially for stock, the sire being from “Grandads Dream” his 2015 Thurso Combine winner from 514 miles and the dam being “Tip Top Tora” his 2019 BICC Agen winner that was also 56^th open International 22,000+ birds. The dam is very inbred to “Micky boy 716” being bred from “Mr Consistent” who is a son of “Amor” and inbred “Micky boy 716” when paired to his own dam.  

A fantastic achievement with descendants of the Frans Zwols housed at Formula 1 Lofts and I make no apologies for listing them in detail here, especially when the Old Hens winner Micky Watts told me that his winning hen is also of the same bloodlines. His first pigeon is a yearling hen which has previously scored both inland and in the BICC. Her breeding is 50% Formula 1 lofts Frans Zwols with a pigeon from Rob Shelds and was bred by his good friend Lee Bastone. The dam is a full sister to the sire of John Cowlin Young bird winner being from “D’Artagain” and “Dream Girl 200” and her sire from Rob is Leo Heremans from his “Better than Bolt” lines. Micky as always has been knocking on the door all season having already won 2^nd open NFC and 2^nd open BICC and is provisionally 4^th open in the Young bird race.  His first young bird in the race is also a Formula 1 Lofts Frans Zwols, being bred from a child of “Amor” and a child of “Rekkem 083” and “Tip Top Devil”. Rekkem 083 is sire of the Amal cock, the Amal cock being sire of John Cowlin 2^nd pigeon. “Tip Top Devil” is a daughter of “Tip Top Junior” and “Dream Maker”.

Winning his thirteenth National on this occasion, Micky has won many with his Old Hens over the years and has perfected his system. The birds are widowhood hens for the first half of the season, being left at home for his Widowhood cocks to race back to. Once the cocks are finished for the season he puts the hens in the young bird section to train them with the youngsters and when they will go to nest for the chosen races later in the season. He has named his latest winner “Porn Star” which was a nick name for fellow Hullbridge member Frank Alonso who sadly passed away after a tragic accident in Malta earlier this year, whilst visiting family at the young age of 51.

John Cowlin has also called his bird “The Maltese Falcon” in memory of the same great friend and fancier. The Hullbridge Club has everything pigeon racing should be about, it has a good social club with great facilities, plus the competition is at its very best which encourages each and every one of them to continually look for improvements, whilst retaining a comradery which is obviously uplifting to their souls. It is a special club made more so by their mutual respect of each other and love of the pigeon sport. I have included a photo of the third National winner of the year in Hullbridge Tony Buckfield, who won the BICC from Falaise and was there to congratulate John and Micky. I like visiting them and I have done so many times whilst reporting on their numerous National wins in recent years, I think I should apply for Honorary membership.

The final race of the season for the National Flying Club took place from Coutances on Saturday the 5^th of September and was a combined race of young bird and old hens. Sponsored by The House of Aarden Stud and Carrs Natural Pigeon Supplements a total of £14356.20 was paid out in prize money and pools with £9737.73 for the young birds and £4618.47 going to the old hens. Chief Convoyer Dom McCoy liberated 3403 young birds and 1041 old hens at 8:00am into a light North West wind. Club Charman Paul Naum decided to send two transporters to keep the numbers down to 22 birds per crate, which ensured the birds were held in optimum conditions and I have had may pleasing reports of the great condition of the returning birds. For some areas of the country the north west wind made for a very testing race and due recognition goes to those on the western side who still recorded good returns. Paul Naum standing down as I/C in Bridgewater after many years running the station, Bill Edwards is also standing down as I/C for the Southampton marking station which is now based in Porchester. Justin Bernard is taking over for Bill although a replacement is still to come forward for the Bridgewater station.

Justin Bernard Sect B NFC learning the ropes with Pat Harris

My personal thanks go to all those who took the time to send me their details and the many photographs, it really makes a diffract to my reports and there are those special people who have gone a stage further and help compile the report for their section. I hope to see you all at the NFC presentation evening due to be held in March 2021.

Section A

Daryll Luxford of Horley clocked at 11.54 to record his second 1st section win with an inbred young hen weaned May bred from a pair via Nigel Llewellyn of Southampton. Sire is down from Nigels old Van de Espt “Five Pound cock” with the dam also being Van de Espt with just one Tournier introduction in 1989. They also bred Daryll’s third arrival which was from an earlier round in March. With the birds not being pu ton the darkness system the main concern was the moult, but after having had three previous races and the National being their last race of the season he is now carrying 49 young birds over to 2021. Daryll would like to congratulate the two Johns (Formula one lofts) on such a fantastic team performance and thanks to Guy and Matt Mullen and Peter Gretton for their help training his young bird team this year.

Second was F Hall & Daughters in Worthing with a blue chequer pied hen out of a granddaughter of “Foxgrove Black Knight” 1st open NFC Alencon the sire being a great grandson of “New Laureatt”.

Third was M & J.Barton in Brighton who would like to congratulate all the race and section winners of the Y.B. and O.B. Coutances National with a big thank you to our National Committee members for getting our racing "on the go" in this unprecedented season. Their pigeon is bred out of a pair of birds acquired with good friends Simon Ferguson and Paul Gent as a syndicate and purchased from Darren Ede of Southampton from the lines of Rik Hermans “Beautifly Double Silver” and “Friendship” on the sires side, and “Cow Girl” and “Golden Samantha” on the dams side. Their pigeon was sent paired to two hens in his box at the same time and “last but not least a big thank you to my silent partner Sue who gets all the late comers in when I'm not around” Well done Melv.

Fourth was Martin Watson with a cock which had had just one race from Blandford prior to the National and was bred by Melvin Shepherd of Lancing out of his Darran McFadden stock.

John May from Hambrook was fifth section

as well as first and fourth in the old hens race.

Second was Dave Roberts with a two year old hen sent feeding a 15 day old youngster having her second race of the season. She is a Frans Zwols which is normally used as a widowhood hen.

Third was Tony Baughen with a hen that goes back to the Honeysuckle Janssens that he acquired when he first moved to Liphook. She was lucky to get to the race as Tony had put her partner in the basket by mistake but decided to take one last look in the loft before sending them off to the race, a quick swap and off she went.

David Wells, also from Liphook came fifth with a Busschaert hen bred by Pat Harris which was 74^th Open in the CSCFC and was his only entry into the National.

Section B

Bill Edwards is relinquishing the duty of I/C of Southampton (Portchester) marking station and sent the following “I would like to take the opportunity to say a big thank you to my fantastic team of helpers during my tenure. My main duty has been to keep them refreshed and I am very grateful to the happy marking family that is; Clare and Martin Norman, Elvin Booth, Freddie Smith, Dave Harris, Roger Barrs, Barrie Smith, Pat Harris, George Willet, Kevin Zerafa, Tom Powers and anyone else that has chipped in. Justin Bernard is taking over the hot seat and helped out at the last marking to get a feel for the job” On behalf of the NFC Committee and all the Members who have used your marking station Bill, I would like to thank you for your dedication over recent years, the club stands on the shoulders of members like yourself who are willing to take the reins and you are a credit to the sport. Darren Ede and Family had a great result by winning the first three positions in the section and as requested he sent me a few words “Firstly I’d like to congratulate my good friends John & Debbie Cowlin & John & Theresa Gladwin on their incredible result which is brilliant. Well that tops off a fantastic NFC season for myself & my team of yearlings & young birds. My 1st section winner is a son of a top Dutch cock I bought called “The Teletext” which was 5th, 5th, 6th & 6th NPO against massive competition. He is also father of “Teletext Beauty” 23rd Open in the final of this years SAMDPR, winning me Around $5000. The mother of is a beautiful daughter of one of the best racing hens I’ve been lucky enough to handle “Foxy Lady” which was paired to “Propere Rik”. I bought this hen at Stuart Wilcox Syndicate Lofts sale in Doncaster which was money well spent as she has also bred “Lone Survivor” 45th in the final of this seasons SAMDPR race. Lone Survivor was also the 5th International HS Ace Pigeon winning just under $18,000. My second bird is from a son of “Harry” which is now responsible for 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 5th, 7th & 10th Section in National & Classic racing since restarting on my own with young birds last year. The mother is a daughter of “Licensed To Thrill” the Champion Racer and Breeder from Robert Pugh and this hen is already mother to 2nd Welsh South East National for Brett Jones.

In third section is a daughter of “The Charity Pair” direct from M& D Evans birds and superbly bred. Mark kindly donated these for a Facebook Auction to raise funds for a local Football team, well done Mark and lastly I would like to thank JC”.

Fourth section was Tony Darling in Southampton who would like to thank the NFC for all the work they put in. He has only had a couple of old bird races due to being in and out of hospital for a year. This was his first young bird race of the season and would like to thank Asa Williams, Jon Gerrard and Rob Jones for their help. Rob has assisted by keeping slots on the transporter for training his birds and Tony extends his thanks to Bill Edwards.

Fifth was Colin Edwards from Romsey with a Ponderosa Van Loon and “Porsche Blond” crossed with a gift bird from Gerry Francis. His darkened blue cock was having his third trip to Coutances and was previously 10^th section in the BBC.

First section in the old hens race was Barry Robertson with a Van Reet bred by his good friend Keith Arnold and was sent sitting a 10 day old youngster.

Second and third was Cyril Hallet with a three year old blue w/f hen feeding 10 day youngster, which was also 3rd Sect B 64th open Coutances O/H in 2019. He clocked a blue chequer yearling hen 2 minutes later also feeding 10 day youngster for third spot. Both were bred by the Sunderland partnership of Armstrong Shergold Johnson & Moon and Cyril would like to congratulate club mate Barry Robertson on winning 1st Section B.

Fourth was Lee Kruger from Winchester with a hen having her second channel race having previously scored 12^th section in the CSCFC two week prior to the NFC race. She was bred by Simon Alexander of Crewe and is raced on Natural, returning to a new nest box with 3 day old eggs.

Fifth section old hens was Mick Johnson in Southsea with a Norbert Ally Cock crossed Ivan Lowden Hen. She was raced on widowhood paired to a cock he rescued from Southsea Caravan park after Norbert had lost him racing as a YB and he transferred it to Mick.

Section C

1st Section C Young Bird is John Halstead of Gillingham North Dorset with a chequer pied Jellema hen bred from two yearlings. She had mated with another hen and was sitting for 5 days at basketing. Flown on the darkness system she had previously been to 3 races with the Dorset Fed but had not troubled the leaders, and this was her first trip across the Channel.

The next four positions were taken by a great team performance put up by Neville and Diane Spracklen of Dorchester who would like to congratulate all the winners. They had entered 18 birds but their cocks were heavy in the moult so they decided to leave them at home and sent just 10 hens, of which they timed seven on the day and one arrived on Sunday. Their first bird was a DeKlak crossed Van Loon sire which was on loan from their good friend Bob kirby of Honiton. The dam is a granddaughter of Roger Lowes “My Little Diamond”. The next three were Jan Hoogland crosses which are new birds for them and have done very well including winning the federation. They would like to thank Paul Pym and his team for the fantastic way they run the Kingsteinton marking station and wish Paul the very best of health in the future. 

Danny Lanahan won the section in the old hens race and also took the fourth spot

with John Halstead second, with a chequer yearling Jellema cross hen feeding a 10 day old baby. This hen was also 2nd West Section four days earlier from the BICC Falaise race and provisionally 15th Open and her nest mate flew 14 hours from Bordeaux in July taking 37th Open BBC from 1030b. Third was Ray Dibben from Poole with a yearling Vandenabelle hen bred from his race team. The parents were gifted to Ray by local fanciers with the cock being from Rod Muspratt and the hen from Tony Stevens.

Mike Staddon from Crewkerne came fifth.

Section D

First and second section was D & R Elliot from Exeter who won with a dark chequer cock followed into the loft by a mealy cock. Being new members of the Devon, Cornwall & West Somerset Club, they bred a small team of young birds from a new family of pigeons flown naturally and lightly raced before going to Carentan with the NFC. They are grateful to family member Mr S Grose of Exeter for helping to set them up. Third and fourth section was R Goodier & Sons from Marsh Green with a Vandenabeele x Thone hen flown on the darkness system. Her sire had won 4 x 1st Federations and her dam being a daughter of 1st section D , 2nd Open NFC Sainties. Their second bird for fourth section was a red cock, also flown on the darkness system, which was racing to 10 day eggs , all birds where fed on Versele-Laga Gerry Plus and Superstar. Fifth section in the young birds was Cordery & Roast from Exeter who also won the first section in the old hens race with a pure Leen Boar hen purchased in a kit of six babies from Tumley Lofts which was sent sitting 10 day old eggs and has been a very consistent for them.

Second was Tony Churchill from Sidmouth who is a consistent performer in the National races. He timed a natural hen which had also won first section last year and was sent sitting eggs. She was bought at a breeder buyer and bred by Richard Goodier from his Vandenebelle x Thone lines.

Richard Goodier 3rd & 4th YB and Tony Churchill 2nd OB

Third was Steve Hopper from South Bent in Devon with a 2018 late bred he bred himself out of a white Grizzle cock given to him by Rodney Cheek of Ivybridge the previous year. The dam is a blue bar bred by four times NFC winner Andrew Mabin. First flown as a yearling in 2019, she won second club in her first ever race arriving with the winning club bird, flying 80 miles from Blandford, against 1079 birds taking 113^th position with the Devon South Road Federation. What a great start for Steve with that being his first pigeon race having joined the Kingsteignton IFC that year. The following week she flew Lyndhurst, 101 miles coming 125^th Fed from 1156b followed by Chale on the I.O.W winning 2^nd Club 66^th DSRF against 928. In mid-May the bird failed to return from Salisbury but arrived back at the loft on the 1^st June, she was fine, albeit a little thin and was kept back as a breeding bird for the 2020 old bird season but began training with his youngsters from mid-July. On the 23^rd August she was sent as a trainer to the Lyndhurst YB race of around 100 miles and was the second bird to return home before being basketed for the 2020 NFC Coutances old hens and young bird race. Steve sent four OB’s and four YB’s, a distance of 143 miles and flying into a N/NW wind. She arrived home at 12.49 hrs having spent 4hrs 49min on the wing taking 3^rd section D which was a pleasing result. Fourth section was NFC Chairman Paul Naum with a two year old Ko Nipius hen which comes down from a long line of winners. Paul has been racing and breeding their family of Ko Nipius, for over 40 years now, having raced them in Somerset the past 32 years. The Ko Nipius foundation stock are from George Hilson of Bury, Lancashire “One of the best distance race fanciers we have ever come across” said Paul “Thank you George for your knowledge over the years...a true mate”.

She did not have any training as a young bird or yearling, and was put on the road earlier this year. She trained from 10 miles then 30 miles; followed by three races with the DCWSCFC which proved challenging, but were an excellent learning curve for her. She was well prepared for the NFC race, sitting a nest of two 10 day old youngsters and was in excellent form. She fared well, arrived in good condition, recovering quickly to take up her nest again, a gutsy little hen. Paul would like to say “Congratulations to all Section winners of this combined race, Old Hens and Young Birds”.

Simon Cordery 1st Sect D NFC Coutances OH

Fifth was Richard Goodier & Sons with a Vandenabeele x Jos Thone hen, her dam being 1st Section, 2nd Open NFC Sainties and her Sire is a son of 4th Open NFC Cholet.

Section E

First section E was Alan & Gary Young from Selsdon with a mealy hen which was send just pairing to a cock. Her sire is a grandson of “The Jan” of Leo Heremans and her dam was 15th Open National for them last year, bred from “Kittel” and “Pitbull” bloodlines.

Second was S B Frost in Redhill, Surrey with a tick eyed blue hen bred down from GB10R44230 which was 1st club, 1^st Surrey Federation, 1^st SMT Combine from Messac winning the club by an hour and 10 minutes.

Third in the young bird was Mark Gilbert who also won 1^st Sect 2^nd Open in the old hens race with a hen which was certainly bred for the job in hand being a direct daughter of “Rolex”, winner of 1st Open NFC Saintes 2015 and 1st Section A 14th Open NFC Saintes 2014 for Crammond & Langstaff from their ultra successful Bosua x Van Osch bloodlines. Her dam is another extremely well bred hen being a daughter of Roger Lowe’s “Main Man” winner of 2nd & 3rd Open NFC Saintes and a direct son of “My Little Diamond” winner of 1st Open NFC Guernsey when “Main Man” was paired to a daughter of Jan Hooymans “Roney”, a full brother of The world famous “Harry”. Mark Gilbert had a great race, also taking third section Old Hens. Fourth in the young birds was K Wise, Isleworth with “De172” bred from a son of “Golden Gaby” x daughter of “Shadow Fax” from the world famous “Shadow Saffron”. The dam is bred by Peter Fox, Syndicate Lofts from “Propere 10” when paired onto “Jean Genie”. Fifth section was Steven Buckle from Northwood who flys in the Boxmore Club with his Janssen pigeons. His youngster had already taken cards in the club as well as flying with the BICC.

Second section in the Old Hens race was Phillip Gomes in Welwyn with a two year old Frans Zwols hen bred from stock purchased from W. Donachie of Kingsway lofts. In the early season she was a widowhood hen which was then paired to a young cock and given two training races to the coast before being sent to Coutances.

K. Wise took the fourth spot with fifth going to Danny Seedwell in Feltham. He timed a yearling hen sent racing to an eight day old youngster which was bred by Malic and khan of Ace Lofts. Her sire is “Nelson” a son of one of their top stock cocks “Ace Euro” when paired to their good racing hen “Number 64” who has had multiple national positions. Her Dam was a trial pairing when their main stock cock “Tipsy” was paired to his own daughter “Zarella” and the trial is showing good promise, as the nest mate to this hen has also had two 1st prizes this year for me. This hen was also provisionally 8th central section 21st Open BICC Falaise the week before and he would like to thank the boys for breeding her and congratulate both the NFC winners on their fantastic performances and all the section winners.

Section F

Section F was dominated by a fantastic performance put up by J & P Parker of JPS Lofts in Reading. They timed their first bird two minutes clear of the next ten which came together and went on to take nine of the top ten in the section, with Sharman & Wells splitting them in seventh place. Initially placed on the darkness this was followed by the lights and they were trained up to 30 miles on a regular basis. They sent 30 and by mid afternoon they had 24 of them home so felt that they had a successful race all being considered and were happy with the result.

They also won 1^st section in the old hens race with all birds being bred from their direct Steffan Lambrechts. Second and third section old hens was Leon Hall from Headington who would like to congratulate all the winners.

He had two birds drop together with the first being a breeder buyer pigeon bought in 2015, from top canterbury flyers Mr and Mrs Derek and Margaret Adams, bred down off there combine cock, She has already bred him card winners and although they trapped together his second bird was a Hardy Kruger bred by Premier Racing Stud. This bird was gifted by his good friend Eammon Kelly and both pigeons were fed on a mixture of Vanrobaeys corn. Fourth was B Sherman & Steve Wells, from Littlemore and they too would like to congratulate all the winners.

They timed hen from a grandson of “Forest Gump” x a inbred granddaughter of “Donkere Simons” Freladenhofen & sons. They also timed a Marcel Sangers bird for 7^th section young birds off Camphuis cock with the dam being from Stipa bred from the “Super Breeder” x “Royal Princess”. Mr & Mrs C Brown from Hungerford was fifth section old hens.

Section G

First and second section G was Thomasz Fedyk in Melksham who is over the moon with his seasons racing. Two weeks prior to the NFC race he was 2nd sect CSCFC from Coutances and just one week before he was 1st Sect Falaise in the BICC “I'm very proud of what my young bird team achieved this season. My first pigeon is Mealy cock bred by Steve Slade, from his best hen “Julie” Champion Classic 2017 and his nest mate achieved 2nd NW Section in the Classic Race from Coutances 2 weeks ago. My second section pigeon, blue bar cock is home bred. The sire is the son of “Steven G” Champion Classic 2015 and “Megan”, as well as nest mate of “Curtis” 1st National YB Coutances BBC from Steve Slade. The dam is from my friend Stanislaw Szklarz, from Poland. I would like to congratulate all the winners and say thanks to everyone for taking care of the pigeons”.

Third was Paul and Treasa Panting with their bird called “The Birthday Girl” which arrived home just as the birthday party for Treasa was about to begin. The pigeon is bred down from Crammond and Langstaffs Heremans-Ceusters via the late great Ernie Smith of Swindon. Fourth was G D Hancock in Devises with a dark chequer cock having his first race over the channel and sent driving his hen to nest. He has been a consistant racer having scored 2^nd club twice being beaten by loft mates. He sent just two young birds and got them both which were bred from birds gifted to him by Tommy Burns when he returned to live in Northern Ireland. Fifth was Adrian Bishop from Bristol. First in the old hens race was R & J Whiteside who had never sent in the NFC old hens race before so they were delighted to win the section.

Their winning pigeon is a Heremams-Ceusters yearling having it’s first race across the channel and was sired by a grandson of “New Euro” which has bred many winners for them with the dam being an inbred granddaughter of the famous “Rossi”. Being a home bred hen she was left for two years to mature and bred a Federation winner in her first nest. Their next pigeon to take third section was from a direct son of “Beauty Harry”, another top breeder for them and the dam was from a direct daughter of “Roodoogje” Koen Minderhoud and she is a top class hen. They sent a photo showing Roger, the brother of late friend Alan who they all miss, and Roger comes to help with the birds every weekend without fail. His partner Julie who works hard on the lofts with him and their little niece Summer and the dog Zeb who keeps them all on their toes. Second section was S & S Whittle with a little blue hen bred from Syndicate Lofts pigeons. She had three training races before the NFC race all with the Bristol Federation, and was sent sitting 10 days on eggs.

Fourth and fifth was S Moseley from Bishopsworth with Alan & Dave Collins in Bristol sixth. Alan has had a fractured leg since the beginning of June, and his brother Dave has other commitments as well as a hernia, so Alans daughter and her partner have been looking after the birds and training. They have had really good results overall and are thoroughly enjoying their experience with the birds.

Section H

Dave Downing from Newmarket had two hens drop together to record 1^st and 2^nd Section H. The first bird over the pad was a Hardy Kruger bred from a direct pair purchased from Premier Stud with the sire being out of “Ribery” and the dam “Vialli” x “Messi”. Dave first introduced these Krugers in 2014 from Premier lofts and supplemented these more recently with directs from Hardy Kruger himself and they now form more than three-quarters of his racing team which are producing the goods for him. The second timer though was one of his original Vandenabeeles that he has raced since 2001. The sire is a yearling great-grandson of “Golden Gaby” which won the M11 club as a young bird and also scored this year as a yearling. The dam is a 13 year old ex-stock hen, that was that to be barren so he used her as a widowhood hen but she produced a last pair of eggs and hatched one of which resulted in 2^nd section winner. This hen has been the dam and granddam of many winners and is bred from an original pair purchased from Heslop and Evans, being from the best “Benetton” and “Shadow” bloodlines, which have been responsible for 20+ winners for Dave. Dave’s young bird team have performed very well this season to date, winning all the local club races he has competed in. The previous week in a strong NNE wind he won his local club race having 13 drop together from which he selected his entry for this NFC race. He sent to Coutances with a lot of confidence as he felt his previous race really tightened up the team after the delayed season due to the COVID restrictions. Dave also recorded two further entries, both Hardy Kruger’s, to be provisionally 8^th and 12th Section H plus winning the club race from Blandford, he had what he called “the near perfect day”.

Third and fourth was Terry Roughton from Wisbech who has had a fantastic season winning the MNFC young bird race from Chale a couple of weeks previous.

Fifth was John Black with a chequer cock bred fro a Southwell sire from Jimmy Bauress and the dam being one of his best racing hens which won 1^st Section Agen BICC and flown 750 miles from Barcelona.

David Albon was sixth section with a blue pied cock bred from a pair bought from Mike Turner of Alconbury when he sold up last year. The dam won 2nd section from Tarbes in 2019 and the sire won the section from Narbonne in 2019 for Mike Turner.

Another 2020 MNFC winner from Vire was Jack Ramm who also won the section in the old hens race with one of his Janssens via Chris Smith of Chesterfield. Second and third was Brian Clarke in Stotford with N & J Callaghan from Great Shelford fourth with a Southwell hen paired to a stock cock and sent over due on hatching. Fifth was Deller & Pettitt in Chesterton with a mealy pied Busschaert x Janssen which has been lightly raced since an injury in 2018, so only had two club races before the NFC Coutances. The next loft on the result was Michael Saint who followed in his grandfathers footsteps as a 10 year old boy in 1977. He always found it fascinating to hear about racing from France and he fell in love with the Dordin strain which he bought from Derek Lawton of Crewe. His hen goes back to Derek's "Le Producer' and 'Niamh' lines. She was a latebred last year but has excelled this year having already flown NFC Fougeres and Messac. This time, she was feeding her first ever 10 day old baby. He recently purchased some stock from the bereavement sale of Geoff Jones, a good fancier with Biss and Dordin lines and he hopes to time in from Tarbes one day. 

Section I

Having a great young bird season is Shaun McDonough who timed four birds to take the first three positions and fifth. All the birds timed were bred for him by  UK Pipa Agent, Pieter Oberholster, with the 1st section winner being a blue hen which was also 4th section 9th Open British Barcelona Club National the previous week, which was also from Coutances, when he won 1,2,8,9,10,11,12,13 Open National BBC. She was sent to this one sitting a small youngster and is from the bloodlines of “Golden Prince” x “Rudy”. The 2nd section was 3rd section again after loft mates 8th open BBC National the week before and is another blue hen sent sitting eggs with her breeding being Gaby Vandenabeele.

Third section was 7th sect 12th open BBC the week prior and is a blue cock which was sitting eggs when he was basketed for the race, he is a Gaby x Pieter’s own “Stuff of Legends” line. Fifth sect is a blue hen who the week before in the BBC won 5th sect 10th open national and was also sitting when basketed, she is inbred to “Golden Prince” from a son & daughter pairing. Mr & Mrs Roy Stretton split Shaun taking fourth place. In the old hens race R M Taylor won first and fourth place with Gary Carter second with a two year old hen bred from a brother and sister pairing which has Padfields “Blue Badge” on the sires side and the dam being a gift fromgood friend Mick Groves. Gary would like to thank the NFC for the way the birds are cared for and the condition they come back in as it was a testing day for most.

Steve Redfern and Family were next taking third place with his only entry. He sent a widowhood hen off Pete Wightman “Malster” of Burton, who let him have her at the beginning of the year when he and his father ceased racing. She is a 2 year old Van El sacker bred by Andrew Hitchock in Windsor, which he broke out and has raced steady for him without being in the clock as Pete did not race her as a yearling and she is lovely quiet pigeon, which has become one of his favourite pigeons in the loft. When she timed he assumed she must have been a late club bird as she came like a train from the North West.

Steve Walton was next who timed two hens to finish fifth and eighth section with both being sent sitting 12 days on eggs. His first hen was a two year old Marijke Vink based bird and arrived home with damaged flights, which is a bit of a mystery with his second bird out of a pair on loan from Malcolm Manders and J & G Dutton. His returns were good having 9 out of 10 home on the day and the last on the Sunday morning.   

Section J

First section was J & B Oakley with Ben being a proud new father who said “Our section win rounded off a good couple of weeks for us with the birth of my son and young fancier George. The cock that won the section was only having his third race due to a late start with youngsters in the Federation and then a couple of races being cancelled although he was 3rd club 7th Federation the week before his section win. Bred from a son of GWP Macaloneys super hen “Black Caviar” when paired to a direct daughter of Ian Wheatley's “Red King” he is certainly bred in the purple and has not disappointed. He has shown what a big heart he has on a very tough day flying up into the north west”. Well done to both and our congratulations to Ben, we wish little George all the very best. 

Second, fourth and fifth was Wade Davies from Cleobury Mortimer with a Heremans-Ceusters cross, “Nieuwe Olympiade”/”Jackpot”/”Olympiade 003” lines. Bred by a very good friend Tad Truszkowsk who has bred him some top pigeons in the last few years, getting high national positions so a big thank you to him. His fourth section was also bred by Tad through the Van Lint lines on the dams side with the sire off D R Williams, Marijke Vink lines. Fifth section was bred by his brother Duane Arthur, from Williams and Wilks partnership on the sires side and Len Turfords De Klak on the hens side who are very good flyers in there own right, thanks also go to them. Third section young birds was Dave Harris from Newport, Shropshire. He sent a photo showing Kyle holding “Captain 73” their first bird which is through their old Soontjen family on the sire’s side, and a daughter from Paul Stobbs “Stobbs Star” and “Red Emperor” of Soderlund & Maddison on the dams side. The father had been on loan to our good friend Graham “Captain” Bailey who sadly passed away at the end of last year, having already paired up and this cock being spare, they were sat in a sale at Blackpool when the mother came up to be sold, not to miss an opportunity she was purchased. The pair have bred four young birds that have all flown consistent through the young bird programme, and her sister was timed the previous weekend from Countances in the BBC after a two day holdover. Dave is holding the second bird they timed on the day, again through their Evans and Walker based Soontjens, they timed three in good time on what turned out to be a difficult day.

In the old hens race R Gelder & Son from Coseley were first and second section with Preece Brothers in Cleobury Mortimer third. Fourth was J & R McLatchie of Harriseahead with a yearling blue hen bred down from “Euro Diamond” crossed Leo Van Rijn. She only had two races this year out to 112 miles and was sent feeding a two day old baby. They would like to congratulate all the winners. Fifth section was C Gough in Shrewabury with a yearling sent feeding a small youngster. She had won a 1^st Club from the channel earlier this year and was his first bird from Messac 2 with the NFC.

Section K

John Woods from Barnsley won the section with a young hen racing to the perch, although John suggested it may have been looking at a young cock. She had been trained and raced down to Upper Hayfield and is a Vandenabelle crossed Figo line. Second was my fellow committee member Kevin Heeley in partnership with Dave Allen. Their pigeon was bred down from “The Blues Brothers” via Mr & Mrs D Allen and although it was a difficult race they had 21 of their young birds home on the day followed by another 7 on the Sunday and they now have 31 out of the 41 sent. 

Third and fifth place went to Jon Walker in Scunthorpe who is pictured with his two grandsons Jacob & Joseph holding the pigeon which is a granddaughter of his 1^st Open MNFC Bordeaux winner. He too had a good race getting 9 birds home on the day and after topping the section 13 times in the MNFC he is now concentrating more on the National Flying Club.

Fourth section was Michael McGrath in Leeds. First in the old hens was Steven Light from Conisbrough with second place being won by Mr & Mrs Dave Allen in Apperknowle. Dave writes “My first hen is a daughter of “Top Box” who in turn is one of the “Blues Brothers” who have 36 x 1^st prizes between them and are basically “Van Reets”. When Staf held his clearance sale at Doncaster, the star pigeon was a bird that was the second best sprinter in the whole of Belgium that year and I was seriously thinking of purchasing the bird, but Staf convinced me to buy his brother as he was the better breeder of the two. I paired him to a daughter of “National 1” which Philip Herbots purchased from Karel Schellens, who was a relation of Staf Van Reet and “National 1” had won 1^st Open Bourges National for Schellens. He is one of the best purchases that Herbots has ever made and he has bought a few over the years and most of my present day loft carries the blood lines of these pigeons. The other three I timed are of similar breeding, having entered 9 I got 8 on the day and the other one next morning. All 9 pigeons are yearlings so I have something to look forward to next year. It turned out a good day for these bloodlines as over at the other loft, where I am in partnership with Kevin Heeley, I breed twenty for that loft every year and some of the first pigeons recorded in the race were of the “Blues Brothers” lines”. Third section was Kev Kingston over in Cottingham who sent a yearling which has been a very consistant bird for him, having won three 1^st as a young bird along with minor prize cards, taking good positions in the Yorkshire Middle Route Combine, was runner up to the Humbers Trophy winner and always in the top five to his loft, she provisionally won 2^nd Sect 15th Open with the BICC from Falaise. On the day they experienced a heavy shower and Kev said to his grandson Louie “we will be lucky to get one today” and just at the same moment she went straight through the loft doors to re-join her 10 day old youngster soaking wet.

Fourth was John McCall in Tinshill who sent 8 hens, timing 7 within an hour of his first. She is from a son of Mark Bulleds “Ghost” x “Charlotte” a daughter of Johns good hen “Eileen”. His second bird was also from the “Ghost” cock when paired to on of his own hens. John said all the hens have been consistent and is looking forward to racing with the NFC next season.

Fifth section old hens was Peter Hagland from Harworth near Doncaster.

Section L

Eric Taylor in Crewe won the section who would like to congratulate all the winners. He timed a hen of Gerald Delaney stock which was put on to the road quite late in the season and only had three races prior to the NFC with the furthest being Bath.

The MNFC Catrentan race winner, Peter Hardman was second with a dark chequer hen sent showing to her cock.

Third was Gerry Clements in Audenshaw with a youngster bred out of a consistent performer in the NFC and a son of “Section L Bird of the Year” “Heatwave”. The dam is a daughter of “Saintes Cock” another top performer in the NFC for Gerry and one of his top breeders when paired to the “Albrecht Hen” which is herself a dam of consistent winners.

Steve Jones from Preston timed a chequer hen flying to the perch out of a cock of Hugo Battenburg x Rob Roy fro the North East, when paired to a daughter of “Big Smithy” x “Witpen 100” whichis a direct daughter of “Snelle Jelle”. Mr.D.C.Leake of Congleton was fifth. In the old hens race Tim Webster in Chorley had a great day taking 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th & 5^th section. He had 8 form his 13 sent on the day flying 325 miles with his first bird being a Gabby x Brockamp which is a sister to lot of his best birds including g2nd MNFC Tours. They are all out of one cock he calls “The Pencil Breeder” which is an inbred grandson of the “Kolonel”. The Brockamp side is down from a son of “Euro Diamond” which is the grandsire of two 1^st National and now 1^st Section L. His second bird is a two year old Sablon, a family which have also done very well for him. They are all down from one cock he owned called “Snoopy” which was a son of “Blauwe Prince” His third bird clocked is a mix of Gabby, Sablon and Brockamp out of the race team. He also bred Graham Marskells two birds timed and Ronnie Wilsons second bird was bred by Tim. He kept the old hens going as he felt with the late start to the season they had not had the preparation needed for their races, so had not had the chance to prove themselves in the National. They had all previously scored as yearlings over the channel and were sent sitting small youngsters. Third was Ronnie Wilson & Iddon also in Chorley with a Van Den Braune hen sent sitting 10 days on eggs from a family he has had since 2010. The partnership has had similar lines of there family being 1st section L - 7th open in 2016, 6th 30th open young birds.

Section N

Dave McSween & Jim Sexton of Sunderland topped Section N, timing the only bird in the section on the day, at 9-25pm, having 11hours 25 minutes on the wing for the 402 miles. Both parents were bred by Nick Adshead and are closely related to the famous “Millie” and “Patience”. Their second bird for 3rd section is from a sire which won Sec N from the same race last year and his granddam won Sec N from the same race in 2016. Both parents are from their long established UNC distance lines and descendants of the famous “Wearside Lass” and “Lionheart”.

R & K Dodds of Hexham timed three young birds, all Southwells, to take 2nd, 4th & 5th Section N flying a staggering 410 miles. Well done to both lofts on these young bird performances at the distance. These two results put Section N, in the North East of England on the national map of distance racing and a true incentive for any fancier in the region wanting to take up the challenge of real National distance racing.

The old hens result John & Steven Best of Stockton timed seven birds, flying 381 miles to take the first 7 section positions. Provisionally the first 5 are in the first 100 of the Open result, which is an outstanding achievement with old birds at this time of the year. Their section winner is through John Crehan’s old bloodlines through Rip & Mystique. Their 2nd & 3rd birds through a son of “Starlight” and a daughter of “Farmer George”.

Section P

Section P dominated the open result with several top performances most of which have been mentioned in the winners report on John Cowlin.

Suffice to say well done to all Formula 1 Lofts with their team of Frans Zwols. Timing good pigeons in the section was previous National winners Dave Heywood and son Gary of Laindon, who have excelled with young birds and old birds. On this occasion Dave told me that they timed a Daughter off their hen “Dissy” which was second BICC Guernsey bred by Formula 1 lofts and the sire is a grandson of “Harry”. Winners of the first National Flying Club race in 2020 Colin Fagg and Linda Nicholas at Sittingbourne timed a good young bird bred from a direct Win de Troy, when paired to a direct Dirk Vervoort hen. This pair bred son Adams 3rd Open BICC winner also a Cosmo fed winner. In the old bird race Micky Watts won 1^st Open yet again with his team of hens and was also 5^th & 6^th Section.

Colin Fagg and Linda Nicholas were second and fourth with their first bird being a yearling hen that scored 23rd Open BBC Bordeaux early in the year. She is bred from a direct “Menne and daughters cock that Linda brought Colin 10 years ago the dam is one he brought from Nigel Langstaff and is a granddaughter of the “New Laureatt”, this pair had bred them a fed winner last year from Exeter. Third section was Mr and Mrs Alan Truelove from Canterburywho said “GB19B19929 Blue hen is a direct Marc Capelle pigeon which is a daughter of a son of “Blue Mirakel” when paired to a daughter of “Lightning”. She had never raced until this year due to being bred for stock, but after losing her cock she was put in with the young birds and trained with them. She has been consistent and was sent to the race sitting overdue eggs and came back in good condition”.

Mr and Mrs Robert Hume from Rochford. timed a good yearling hen sent sitting 14 days which is bred from the “Merlin Pair” lines of Wall Lunt and Green and has always been consistent with this her best performance to date.

Dave and Gary Heywood 6th Sect P NFC Coutances OH

Section Q

Perry Liddle sent me the following report on section Q “The promise of west in the wind and therefore a tough race for youngsters flying into Cornwall meant a relatively low entry from Section Q, with only 4 fanciers sending 39 birds to NFC Coutances. Leading the way with 1^st Section Q, 317^th Open was Ross Watson of Penzance, who timed his beautiful blue chequer hen, now named “Lamorna Rose”, to record 389ypm, the only bird in race time. Ross explained that her sire was bred from stock that was loaned a few years ago from the Angwin Family. These lines, originating from the loft of D. Black of N. Ireland, are hard distance lines founded on birds that had made the double channel crossing from France into N. Ireland. Her dam, was bred by the Taylor Brothers of Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, being a daughter of Champion Japie (the double St Vincent National winner), when he was paired to a daughter of Red Rising Sun and Dutch Princess, from the best of their Hagen Brothers lines. I could not have been more pleased for anybody, because Ross is not only a great supporter of long distancing racing into Cornwall, but also one of the life’s real gentlemen. In the past he timed a yearling to be 2^nd Open NFC Pau, as well as winning 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th Open NFC St Malo with youngsters. So it was particularly saddening to hear that Ross, who had a heart by-pass operation a few years ago, has been diagnosed with Pigeon Fancier’s Lung and must therefore give up Pigeon Racing. Knowing that the young bird national was to be his last ever race, Ross lovingly prepared his young bird team for one last roll of the dice at Coutances. In preparation, “Lamorna Rose” received two 12 mile training tosses, followed by three short races with the Cornish Combine, twice from Okehampton and then Exeter, approximately 100 miles. Ross spoke of how pigeon breeding and racing is a game of hope, we buy the best bloodlines, we pair them together, and we hope that we obtain that elusive champion. Therefore, it is heart-warming, that in his last ever race, Ross may have found that elusive future long distance champion in “Lamorna Rose”. Ross told me that he believes NFC Pau could only be won into Cornwall by a yearling, something that would throw caution to the wind, and risk everything to make it home. He also said that he has generously given away all of his birds to his good friends, so the dream lives on! The challenge for the new owner of Lamorna Rose, is to break her out, and provided she stays safe, to prepare her for a crack at the Pau National as a yearling. I would love to think that next year, I can write about “Lamorna Rose” being clocked from NFC Pau…watch this space. Hearty congratulations to Ross on behalf of the Cornish Fancy, we wish him well in the future, and hope that he keeps in touch with his very many friends”.

Section W

William's bros son and Burgham of Tredegar clocked a young bird blue cock his sire was bred by Mark Sparey of his top racing cock “Rhiw Parc Tomos”. Hen was off our top racing cock “Georgetown Daniel” this cock won 1st National Bergerac 500miles WSRNFC 2nd National Tarbes 600miles WSRNFC and topped fed WNRF Saintes 430 miles the hen he was paired to is the red hen dam of 1st BICC Alencon and granddam of lots of winners. The young cock as scored from Chale 17th Welsh Open. Mark Sparey was second with Ray Nichols, Son & Grandson third with a blue Staff Van Reet hen which is currently provisional 9th Welsh South Road National Coutances and she was provisional 4th East Sect 6th Welsh South Road National the previous from Eastbourne.

Fourth were Preece Bros & Son from Abertillery. In the old hens race D Jones in Wrexham took the first four positions with Hughes and Hughes from Trefnant fifth.

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

The second race of the season for the National Flying Club took place from Messac on the 18^th July. It was scheduled to be from Nort-sur-Erdre but on the day before the FCI closed the race point for four days and Messac became an available alternative. The Chief Convoyer reported “The birds at Messac have been liberated at 08.45 hrs in clear sky and cleared immediately with variable light winds up through the Cherbourg peninsula veering light west in the channel with a strength of 9 to 12mph. Once in the UK we have a south west wind which should push the birds through some showers and more persistent rain in the north which will slowly break up as the day goes by. Good luck all”

The first birds were recorded in the Portsmouth area after 4 hours 22 minutes, with the overall winner flying 5 hours and 6 minutes to the loft of Paul Arnold in Sutton, South London for a distance of 255 miles.

Paul has raced his Staf Van Reet family to a small back garden loft since the early 1990’s and enjoyed the sprint racing scene for many years. He would regularly get his team drop together winning right up to Combine level and large Open races.

“The Van Reets were difficult to beat back then” he said “and although I tried to find something better, nothing could touch them” but after many years of close breeding within his loft, they began to lose their spark and be a couple of minutes off the pace. His brother encouraged him to try a cross so they went to see Derek Nichols at Premier Stud which was then situated in Hull. They got on very well and after listening to their requirements Derek had advised them to try the Gaston Van de Wouwer pigeons. The following young bird season there was a Combine race, with a clear blue sky and a fresh east head wind. Malik & Khan won the Combine that day and Pauls first bird was a cross Van Reet/Van de Wouwer just a few yards per minute behind them, but as the old family of Van Reets came they looked very tired and as Paul knew there was nothing wrong with the health, he realised he had found the cross to go into his line, so they went back to Premier Stud for a few more to breed from. Years ago sprint racing was all he was interested in but he now realises that this cross has given his birds something else, and taken them to another level.

It was from around 2014 that he really began to enjoy his racing again and although he raced in the Classics, he has only just re-joined the National Flying Club. He had been 16^th and 27^th Open in the first race from Fougéres and sent them back to the second race with confidence. On the day he had seen the Portsmouth pigeons being verified on the leader board and estimated the time he required a bird home to beat them. He positioned himself in a shady spot and sat with flirt bird in hand when he saw two birds coming directly from the south a few minutes before expected. One of them flew as hard as possible right to the loft and trapped immediately with the other circling around before continuing its homeward journey to another fancier. Normally Paul would have been on edge all day but he said for some surreal reason, he calmly verified his first bird even though it was a good few minutes ahead of the expected time and when he went top of the leader board, he knew he could be beaten by birds flying further up into north London and Essex. He waited for his other three birds but his wife was checking regularly when all of a sudden she called out “we have been beaten” and his heart sank “here we go, second again” he thought, but when he realised it was a bird in Crewe, with the wind against and pockets of rain from the midlands northwards, they were not surprised to see it disappear as a mistake and happily they held the top position throughout the rest of the day. “You have to have everything in your favour and that little bit of luck to win the National Flying Club” he stated “it’s a heart stopping moment every time you refresh the website”

As previously stated, Paul keeps a small team of around 16 widowhood cocks, which in order to keep them happy and content, he likes to overwinter all his birds coupled. They moult slower, are calmer and they are allowed to perch on the front ledge of the box, with very few eggs appearing. Then about the middle of December he will part them for about three weeks before opening the boxes and allowing them to run together again in the first week of January. “They all just go back together nicely” he said “there is very little fighting over boxes and the fertility is around 90%” He does not like to rear any young birds from his race cocks though and puts pots eggs under them before splitting them after they sit them out. They are then on widowhood until training begins when he will put the hens back whilst taking the cocks twice per day at a distance of 20 miles, so when the federation races begin, they are pretty much switched on the system.

This season during the lockdown, with the nice weather we experienced, the cocks were given an open hole all morning every day and they really enjoyed themselves he said. “They would be off for 20 minutes and return from every direction playing in the sky and it was a joy to watch them” once racing was allowed by the RPRA, he just put the hens back with them and trained twice per day as usual up to the first Federation race.

The sire of the National winner is a Van Reet from his old line and the dam is a Gaston Van de Wouwer from Derek Nichols. The blue widowhood cock is 4 years old so he will now be retired to the stock loft to pass on his genes and let the younger blood come through to race in his box. He is named “True Faith” giving reference to the loss of a family member just a couple of years ago. Paul has been overwhelmed with the calls of congratulations he has received and would like to thank all who have taken the time to do so. He also added his personal thanks to the NFC and congratulate all the section winners.

Section Winners 

Section A

First section A was Mr R Shapland & Son with a chequer pied roundabout hen bred from their no 1 stock cock via Simon Hughes of A&S Hughes which has been a consistent hen scoring high positions on several occasions. This was her third channel race and each time she has been closer and closer and now 9th Open 1st section A. They are over the moon, the birds arrived in immaculate condition and were a credit to the NFC team.

Second place went to Dave Bridger of Littlehampton who timed a 2 year old Blue hen which is flown on Dave's own version of widowhood where both cocks and hens are flown. This hen had previously had three inland races this year with her only other channel race this year being from Fougeres with the NFC. Her breeding is from his own long established strain of birds being from a granddaughter of 'Devious' who was the only bird on the day from Bordeaux bred down from Brian Shephard's 'Legend' the first winner of an international in the UK, when crossed into an Andreas Drapa hen from his good friend Jim Whitehead of Durham. She returned in excellent condition a credit to the convoyers and NFC transport. Dave gave his congratulations to Paul Arnold, the winner of the race by a convincing margin.

Third was Mick Skidmore who said he felt privileged to be asked to write a few words on the pigeon that was 23rd Open, 3rd Section A from Messac. “The pigeon is from my Busscharet Family. His sire was 10th Open, 1st Section A, NFC from Cholet. The Dam was 35th Open, Section A, NFC from Fougeres”.

Forth section was Mr & Mrs Brian Wall who had two yearling cocks come together and another one not far behind taking 9th section. They had a very good race getting all 15 birds back on the day and as usual all in excellent condition. “Well done the winner” said Brian.

Section B

The winners of Section B, Darren Eade and Family had a fantastic race with their team of “Harry” based family of yearlings and very nearly pulling off the big one, heading the leader board for some time, and finished 1st, 2nd and 4th section, 3rd, 7th and 21st open. This is what Darren had to say “Firstly, I would like to congratulate Mr Arnold and Mr Inkley on breaking my heart, only joking Lads, very well done, also congratulations to all section winners and hats off to the convoyers for another job well done. The returns were great and the birds were in just as good nick on their return as they were when I sent them. My 1st section, 3rd open is from a replacement Son of Foxy Lady which Peter Fox gave me when unfortunately, a basket of my stock birds escaped, thank you Peter Fox for your generosity. The dam is the daughter of Harry bought at Stuart Wilcox De Duif Auctions in Blackpool 2015.

My 2nd section 7th Open is from “This Time” a son of Harry that has now bred 1st, 2nd, 5th,7th and 10th section in National and Classic racing since my restart last year with Young Birds. The mother is a hen bought from Ivo Renders clearance sale on Pipa. She won 2nd National Argenton, 22,712 birds and was 2nd fasted from 35,844b, these birds are definitely bred for these big races. Good luck to every one for the rest of the season and stay safe”.

Third was Jason Ross, a previous winner of 1st national who has enjoyed a good season this year and has had numerous previous national positions.

Fifth was Nick Wilson with a hen out of his good Vandenabeele stock hen, she has bred a fed winner and winners with 3 different cocks.

Section C

Stuart Laws in Poole won first section C with M A & S C King in Blandford Forum second.

Third section was R Dibben with a Vandenabeele pigeon which also came 4th in the National Fougeres race a few weeks ago, hopefully an up and coming star. Congratulations to the winner of the national and all section winners he said.

Forth place went to Mr & Mrs L Cowley in Grimstone and fifth were M & M Wiffen. Mick said "The pigeon I timed is a three year old blue chequer widowhood cock. I have named him Dibben after my pal Ray Dibben who bred him. His dam is a granddaughter of my good blue cock, who was 2nd section Saintes and 3rd section Tarbes and one of my best pigeons from Scot Storrie's Jim Biss x Supercrack lines. Dibben has been my most consistent pigeon this year."

Section D

First was Alan Phillips with a yearling blue hen bred from a Daniel Hockin cock, of the Koopman's Cannibal lines, paired to a Vandenabelle hen from Andy Hodge. She flew NFC Fougeres 2 weeks earlier and had lost her cock and was sent this time just pairing up again.

Second was Richard Goodier with a small to medium yearling chequer hen raced on the roundabout system, she was given her cock the night before basketing and was give some straw in her bowl for a bit of motivation, Her Sire is a Direct son off "Splendid Bolt" and her Dam carries the best P & D Stud Van Den Bulck lines , "Sagan" , "Blauwe Pitbull 776" , "Kittel" & "Goede Roede". Richard also won 7th section D with a chequer cock and was 1st section D in the young bird NFC race last year, his breeding is Vandenabeele with his grand Dam being 1st section D, 2nd Open NFC Saintes and Sire was 1st section D NFC Saintes. Congratulations to Alan Philips on a well deserved section win.

Third was Rod Wilson who bought this cock as a young bird at the breeder buyer sale. It was 3rd b/buyer from Chale and last year 10th section from Fougeres winning £312.00 pools. He'd been sitting 10 days on eggs and like all Rod's birds on natural system. He was bred by a very good local flyer Mr Henry Franks and is out of his Vandenabeele stock.

Forth was B & S Parkhouse, Brian also known as Ringo, timed 3 birds in the section and are all bred from his Andy Cridland's stock birds purchased from Stuart Treharne of Nantyglo. Andy bred Ringo 12 last year, of which 8 have flown the 2 nationals this year. The stock birds are direct from Stuart’s NFC and BICC winners. In fifth place John & Gill McClements timed a cheq pied yearling cock, sent on roundabout. As a young bird he won 4th Sect NFC Coutances. This year he flew Falaise and Fougeres. His grandsire is 'New Park Danaher', 1st Open Cholet 2018 and dam is daughter of 'New Park Lily' 3rd Sect, 3rd Open NFC Messac 2019 & 3rd Sect, 6th Open Messac 2018.

Section E

First section E was overall race winner Paul Arnold with a Van Reet from his old line and the dam is a Gaston Van de Wouwer from Derek Nichols. The blue widowhood cock is 4 years old so he will now be retired to the stock loft to pass on his genes and let the younger blood come through to race in his box. He is named “True Faith” giving reference to the loss of a family member just a couple of years ago. Paul has been overwhelmed with the calls of congratulations he has received and would like to thank all who have taken the time to do so. He also added his personal thanks to the NFC and congratulate all the section winners.

For 2nd section and 2nd Open G Inkley, timed a fantastic hen called “Rathens Gina” who has previously scored 50th Open NFC Coutances 2017, 71st Open NFC Sigogne 2018, 31st Open BICC Cholet 2019, 1st Section 22nd Open NFC Sigogne 2019, 23rd Open NFC Fougeres 2020 and now 2nd Section 2nd open NFC Messac 2020. She is nest mate of “Rathens Bobbi Mac” 1st Open NFC Coutances 2017 and her sire was bred by Peter Fox, Syndicate Lofts from a son of “Kanon” & “Carmen” with her dam also being bred by Peter Fox out of “Nito” and “Devil Women” daughter of “The Young Couple” Gary would like to thank the convoying team on the excellent condition of the birds and he would also like to congratulate Paul Arnold and all the section winners.

The elusive John Haynes was 3rd and 4th section and has at last succumbed to a photo.

Fifth was Roger Lowe who sent 30 of which 17 were yearlings having their first trip across the channel. He said that the weather didn’t look too good first thing so he was surprised to hear the birds were up, but it turned out nice when the birds arrived. His first bird was a yearling first timer widowhood cock bred from “Blue Diamond” a 1st Federation winning son of “My Little Diamond” when paired with “Ruby” a gift bird from Mark Gilbert and is a granddaughter of Vandenabeele “Rudy” when paired to Marcel Aelbrechts “BAK17”. She is dam to many good birds including “The 846” winner of many prizes with the best being 2nd section 3rd open NFC Coutances. Roger would also like to congratulate all the winners and well done the NFC for another good race.

Section F

First section F were Mr & Mrs P Kenny & Family who timed a Dark cheq cock flown on widowhood. He was bred by Chris and Jane Howes of Devizes and is one of six young birds that they exchanged in 2019. His Dam is “Lady J”, who was 1st open Fourgeres BBC and 3rd open Coutances CSCFC. she is a granddaughter of “Stumpy”, who was Ace pigeon all NFC races 2012. Their section F winner from Fougeres was a Blue Pied hen sent sitting 10 day old eggs. Bred by Steve & Yvette Harris & daughter of Portchester she is a full sister to the cock bird that was 1st section 4th open Messac BBC 2020. The sire is a Herman Ceusters cock when paired to J&J Meeder hen and she is a granddaughter to his pigeon called “Maximus”. The hen is one of 6 young birds that they also exchanged with Steve Harris in 2019.

Second and fifth place from Messac was J & P Parker, of Reading with S & D Abery, also in Reading Third. Fifth was Mr & Mrs P Kenny & Family with their second pigeon.

Section G

First section G was C & J Howse, who would like to congratulate all the winners. They timed a hen sent sitting 8 day eggs bred by Paul Kenny which was one of a Kit of six young birds they exchanged last year. Racing as a young bird in 2019 she won 1st Open Thames Messac and is of Gaby Vanndebelle breeding. Paul also won section F in this race and ironically it was one that they bred for him, a son of their BBC national winner “Lady J”.

In second place was Paul Weems of Chippenham with Stuart Wilcox in third with a yearling widowhood cock who has a few prizes to name and flew the 2019 young bird National. He is bred down from four of top breeders with the sire being a son of “Albi”, which was bred by Albert Derwa and was purchased in the Golden Duif Auction. He is a direct son of “De Zoon” winner of 9 x 1st and 1st National Ace WENC, when paired to a full sister of “Paulien” 1st Nat Ace KBDB. Albi was paired to “Beau” and she was a gift from Frans Zwols and is his number one breeding hen being direct from the “King of Rekkem” 1st NPO Rekkem 19,409b, 2nd Boxtel 11,887b, 7th Duffel 8866b, 22nd Boxtel 9525b, 19th Arras7781b. The dam is bred from “Amigo”, bred by Rik Hermans a direct son of “Friendship” 1st Nat Chateauroux 44,314 birds and 1st Souppes 6134 birds and “Blue Diamond”, another direct daughter of Albert Derwa's “De Zoon”. The birds of Alberts are real tryers and have flown very well over the channel since they were introduced. The cocks are flown on traditional widowhood and are fed on Koopman and Verkerk mixes from Beyers supplemented with corn from Countrywide.

Fourth section was Miroslaw Chwedoruk fromWhitcombe and fifth was R & J Whiteside in Abbots Leigh.

Section H

First section H was N & J Callaghan with the same bird which scored in the previous NFC race from Fougeres, raced on the widowhood system.

Second was H M The Queen, raced by Peter Farrow, Loft Manager. The pigeon is a 2018 Kavangha Buschaert hen bird bred from stock pigeons donated to The royal lofts by Les Coles of Millom Cumbria. She was 174th open and 12 section H in this years NFC Fourges race and in the Nort-sur-Erdre she was 2 section H and 17th open out of 5097 birds.

Third was Kevin Cousins with a two year old Van-Elsaker Cock. He’s been consistent all season with the M11 club and was also 15th section from Fougeres.

David Downing form Newmarket was fourth a two year old widowhood cock of Hardy Kruger bloodlines bred down from his Black Power blood lines, originally obtained from Premier lofts and latterly directs from Hardy. This was the first time this cock has shown having always been consistent but not in the front from the inland races.

In fifth was A Smith from Little Harroden.

Section I

In section I Astbury & Horton took the top spot and also forth with the winner being the same bird that was 3rd section in the last race from Fougeres.

The 4th section placed bird was Harry's favourite and Geeloger through Derek Rooney of Warrington's pigeons which are similar bloodlines to 1st pigeon. The photo shows the partners Paul Astbury and Les Horton and Paul's son, Daniel who is also Les's Grandson.

In second, third and fifth places was Fougeres section winner Tim Atkin from Rugby with his pigeon being from a good pair he accquired from Ivo Renders and Bart Van Oeckel. Its brother also won 2nd section 7th Open on same day in the MNFC race.

The third section pigeon was another Bart Van Oeckel bird being from a direct son of the famous F16 when paired to a granddaughter of Black Diamond.

Fifth section is a hen from a son of Friendship bred and raced by Rik Hermans when paired to a daughter of “Foxy Lady”via Syndicate Lofts. Tim has high hopes for this pair and the Foxy lady blood lines in general.

Section J

First section J was Wes Whitehouse with a hen bird that has won this year alone 1st Fed Carentan 1080b, 2nd Amal 3744b, as well as 1st sect 81st Open NFC Messac. Her sire is a grandson of Donkere Leo bred by Mick Collins and has bred many top birds, with the dam being a granddaughter of Outlaw and Dutch Master.

In second place was Mr & Mrs G W Kirkland with a Blue Pied cock which is a combination of old Snake lines bred from a daughter of Snake crossed with Danile Aeren long distance pigeons, which have great staying power out to 687 miles. He came on line and finished like a Rocket and they have high hopes for him as he is only a yearling, in what was a difficult race for this area. Medication is kept to a minimum with Yellow drops on the corn.

Third were 2019 NFC Champion of Champions loft R Stokes & Son, from Cleobury Mortimer, with Louis Yemm from Chesterton forth. Wes Whitehouse timed a second bird for fifth place.

Section K

Section K winner Peter Hagland timed a Pied Cock which has been a consistent pigeon over the channel when it has been 400 mile plus. He was one of two he fancied in the race and he had a very good day as he had 17 out of 25 return that day. The day was made even better as he had clocked his 18th section winner in national racing. “If I get another 2 section winners to take my total to 20 before I kick my cloggs I’ll be happy” he said. The sire is a Brugemann from Hall & Hibbert with the dam being a Battenburgh stock hen.

Second was Mr & Mrs W Foulstone who would like to congratulate Pete Hagland on his 1st section winner. Their “21 Cock” has been a consistent pigeon with his sire being the good eyed cock bred by Clive Yates out of his Tours national winner. The dam is a Eric Hofman from our friend Frank Howard.

Richard Turner & John Wheatcroft, were third with Ron & Nigel Dennett forth. Their pigeon was a two-year old widowhood hen of the Peter Van Osch breed. These pigeons have been very good for Ron and Nigel at the distance. Fifth section K is Radford & Parkin with a four-year old widowhood hen gifted to them from Graham Jones. Don was telling me this hen has been very consistent for them over the years and has had six channel prizes for them and always seems to come for them when the race is hard.

Section L

First section L was Mr.D.C.Leake in Congleton with G Bowyer from Congleton second. Third was another Congleton flyer K & M Cliffe and forth was Gerry Clements with a two year old blue De Graeve Van Geert widowhood cock. His sire is “son Ronaldinho” 1st National Limoges 9,672 birds and he is sire of 2 x 1st section winners. The dam is “Pink & Green” dam of 1st Portland and sister to “606” 5 x 500 miles on the day incl “Down Pour” 1st section L only bird of the day, plus 4th section from Fougeres. Fifth was top NFC winning loft Roger Sutton from Congleton.

Section N

In section N M Anderson & Sons have had a great season to date and in this Massac race they were 1st, 2nd and 5th.

Third was Tony Lyons of Middlesbrough who kept up his recent good form and timed a two year old Denney hen to win 3rd Section N.

Fourth Section were John & Steven Best of Stockton timing a 5yo Blue Cock who is no stranger to the Section N roll of honour list with previous wins of 2nd, 5th, 9th & 11th section positions.

Section O

First section were Joe & Brian Fitzsimmons and it was Brian who said the following “The pigeon we clocked from Messac NFC race was a 5 year old Cheq hen. Timing her in at 21-56 flying 13hrs 11 mins has provided us with the biggest thrill of our career. To think birds were scarce in Lancashire and for her to come on home was amazing feeling. She was home bred with the sire a De Weert Red cock from Andy Gregson in Preston. Andy reported a young bird of ours and when I went to pick it up I bought 2 red cocks from him. The dam is a mealy hen from Joe Murphy of Scotland. The breeding is King of the Faroes through the Strang brothers’ pigeons which they gifted to Joe's son Kevin J Murphy. This pair wouldn't pair up at first so our cheq hen was a late bred and was too young to race so Dad said he was going to play with her. Everywhere mam and dad went shopping the cheq hen went, Carlisle, Gretna, Annan on the north and Barrow, Lancaster and Preston on the south. She was well schooled. As a yearling again she wasn’t raced but received the same training even travelling south on bus trips and north with club mate Liam Dobson who was working in Dumfries on the new hospital. As a two year old she was flown to Stafford and put away to mature. At three year old she flew the whole program with Copeland NW then switched into the Cumbria combine programme. She had about 10 races over 200 miles including the coast 3 times. Last year as a 4 year old she was raced with Copeland NW for some time on the wing and competed with the Cumbria combine from Carentan and was on the west Cumbria amal sheet. Two weeks later into Fougeres again she was in on the night to be 18th Amal and homed in torrential rain. Two weeks later she went to Messac when there was only one bird on the night into Barrow. She was our 3rd bird next day again on the Amal sheet. This year she flew all races to Cheltenham (which was a Monday race), left a week and into Messac. Her condition was terrific when she homed and she had plenty left which is a credit to the NFC convoyer. Congratulations to Paul Arnold on a super win”

Second was Alan Graham & Co and Gavin Graham reports “First can we say congratulations to our good friends Joe and Brian Fitzsimmons on winning the section and timing a very brave bird given the conditions in the north west of the country on Saturday. Our own bird can’t have been far away and was timed at 05:40. He’s a 2 year old widowhood cock having his second channel race having previously been 1st fed 11th combine Messac last year (only yearling on either Messac combine sheet) A full sister to this cock actually won the local Copeland club for our good friend Ian Wood from Portland on the same weekend in a very testing race. He’s bred from a son of Mark Bulleds “Legacy” and a home bred hen who is from a son of big smithy when big smithy was paired to a daughter of Starlight and Southfield Melissa. And a daughter of Wingdown when Wingdown was paired to a daughter of Legacy.

Third was Les Blacklock and Sons who clocked a 5 year old mealy hen at 9.30 on the second day. This hen was 8th Cumbria Combine from Fougeres last year and is of Louella Faroes breeding. She is half sister to Les’ good barless mealy hen which was 1st Cumbria Combine for Les. The Mealy hen was sent to this race on a seven day old youngster and had been the first bird to the loft from the Cheltenham race the week before basketing. My thanks to Richard Hodgson for helping to compile the section O report once again.

Section P

Helping in section P, Kevin Foster sent me the following “Once again, Section P gave a good account of themselves from this race point, although not quite as spectacular as the previous race when first and second open came from this section. In at First section and provisionally 8th Open is the inform loft of V Belcher and his son Tony of Plumstead. Tony is doing a very good job of getting the partnership name in amongst the leading pigeons for national racing this year, this time getting a yearling hen that had continued some good form as a young bird. The sire is from Gaston Van de Wouver x Big smithy lines while the dam is a Muckin Fagic hen. The parents are one of several pairs bought in from James Parker. Well done Tony, another good race with two more in at 4th and 7th.

At second section is the ever consistent Bruce McAllister following on from a blinding race with the MNFC the week before. This is what Bruce had to say about his recent national race "I sent 10 hens on roundabout to this race. My 2nd sect 49th Open is a two year old chequer hen. 2 weeks before Messac she was 2nd sect 3rd Open in the Midland National from Caratan, so obviously she is quite special. She is from a Hardy Kruger cock out of Orlando and a daughter of Black Power. The mother is a daughter of Southfield Treble from Mark Gilbert. I found it a difficult race with still two of my top hens away. Photo of me and my Granddaughter Bella.” Well done Bruce, another top performance.

Third and sixth section is the partnership of P Jackson & son Lee, with both pigeons making the top 100 of the Open result. here is what Lee told me about the race “Hi Kevin , holding first and second arrival from Messac my first pigeon a grand daughter of my Fougeres national winners The Outlaw cock she has work consistent the sickening thing she had been down for a drink turning up with pond weed on her feet bless her! 1.49 seconds behind my first arrival I had two drop together My second pigeon was my first pigeon from Fougeres last national who is being flown celibate but is now showing admiration to one of my channel COCKS one to watch in the coming weeks she is Down through the JOS THONE lines of the famous breeding cock SARS crossed into my Old Van Loon lines of Pretty Boy. My third pigeon being bred down again from the famous breeding cock of JOS THONE Sumo and my Hitman lines. I sent 24 to the race being 6 short on the night and now only have 2 short. The pigeons are raced on a jealousy system and fed on a good quality Vanrobeays racing mixture. looking forward to the next race. A nice bonus was the news that Paul Kelly 3rd Open BICC Pau Gran sire is bred by us happy days on a good weekend well done paul! “ Well done Lee, no doubt getting ready for the any age races coming up.

Section Q

After a difficult first race from Fougeres, the second race of the year from Messac saw a decline in entries, with 10 Cornish Fanciers in Section Q sending 91 birds. Once again, the weather conditions on the day did not favour the Cornish birds and a difficult race ensued. Leading the way with 1stSection Q, was the V & D Harvey of St Buryan. Always good to speak to Duncan and he firstly sent his congratulations to the Open Winner and Section Winners on their performance. Duncan timed his yearling blue cheq widowhood cock to record 1087.03ypm, and considering Duncan’s loft location way down to the west of the County, this lovely young cock, now named Penberth Breakaway for his exploits, was way out on his own, being some 150ypm clear of the second bird in the Section. He is a blend of top class distance lines, typical of Duncan’s breeding, being bred down Duncan’s old Crammond and Langstaff, and Albert Padfield’s Wim Muller lines on both sides of the pedigree. The sire was the winner of the L.C Shannon Trophy from NFC Cherlot, while the dam contained lines that had won the L.C Shannon Trophy from NFC Ancenis, 4th Open NFC Guernsey YB National as well as 1st Section 40th Open NFC San Sebastian, winning the C Pollard and Son Trophy. This cock was has had five races this year up to 140 miles and was prepared using various Gem Racing Mixtures. Duncan nurtures his bloodlines like fine wines, and every now and then he gets a real beauty! Well done mate a great performance on the day.

In 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th Section Q, was the partnership of Team Luscombe and Wright. After their fantastic performance from Fougeres, they once again has an absolute field day with their team of widowhood cocks and hens timing eleven pigeons on the day. Their first timer in 2nd Section Q was a yearling blue bar hen recording 937.35ypm. This hen is a granddaughter of Padfield’s Blue Badge (BICC Certificate of Merit Winner, including 2nd BICC Barcelona) and Padfield’s Iron Lady (4x Barcelona) who flew Fougeres two weeks earlier. In 3rd Section Q was a yearling blue chequer cock recording 825.77ypm. This is a grandson of Padfield’s Jack (Welsh SRN Meritorious Award Winner) and De Cas (1st International Barcelona Ace Pigeon 2009 – 2010) that was also timed previously from Fougeres. In 4th Section Q, was a yearling blue chequer cock recording 812.86ypm. This was a grandson of Padfield’s Jack (Welsh SRN Meritorious Award Winner) and Padfield’s St. Vincent (1st BICC St. Vincent). This cock was having her first channel race due to the fact that he returned injured from an earlier training race.

In 5th Section Q was a yearling blue bar cock recording 766.58ypm. This bird was bred from a Stuart Wilcox Frans Zwols cock when paired to a daughter of Padfield’s Iron Lady (4x Barcelona) and again this one was previously timed from Fougeres. Also timing good pigeons were Alan and Daniel Mitchell, Perry Liddle and Harry Searle. It was indeed a tough days racing with several lofts failing to time in on the day. Well done to all members who managed to time, good luck at Pau, the photo shows Duncan Harvey and his winning pigeon “Penberth Breakaway”.

Better late than never here is a belated Section Q report on the Fougeres race. Following the restrictions that gripped the nation during the coronavirus lockdown, the eagerly awaited first race of the year attracted an entry of 187 birds sent by 17 fanciers in Section Q. As race day dawned, the strong westerly wind meant that it would be a battle of the fittest, with only the bold and the brave making it home by nightfall down into the South West of the Country. As the race unfolded, it became evident that it was a really hard day for the Cornish, with only ten percent of our entry making it to their homes on the day. In these testing conditions, the day belonged to Team Luscombe and Wright, ( Lee Luscombe, and Steve and Lesley Wright of the House of Aarden) who had an absolutely fabulous day with their team of widowhood cocks and hens. Flying to their racing loft at Lee’s house in Roche, they timed birds to win 8 of the first 10 positions in the Section, taking 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. Leading the way with 1st Section Q, they timed a yearling blue w/f pied hen to record 813.12ypm. This hen is a first cross, being from a son of the HOA’s Padfield’s Invincible and Jelle Baby when paired to a Frans Zwols hen that was bred by Stuart Wilcox. The partnership’s birds have been flying really well all year and have been regularly leading the way in the Cornwall Classic Club and I understand that this particularly hen has been ultra-consistent being in their first batch every week. It is always a good indicator of the merit of the performance when a particular bird is out on her own and this little hen was 22 minutes clear of the partnership’s next timer after which their birds fairly tumbled in.

In 2nd Section Q was a yearling blue cheq w/f, double grandson of Padfield’s St Vincent, recording 777.20ypm.

In 4th Section Q was a yearling dark cheq W/F hen, bred from a son of Padfield’s Invincible when paired to a daughter of Padfield’s Kaysie, recording 675.84ypm. In 5thSection Q was a yearling dark cheq hen, a double granddaughter of Padfield’s Jack, recording 666.98ypm. Splitting the Team Luscombe and Wright timers was Andrew Haydon of Bude, who timed his 3yo blue cheq Busschaert cock for 3rd Section Q. Andy, a local Gamekeeper, explained that he likes to keep them happy at home, and his timer was flying to a large youngster. This cock bird has been a real consistent performer, being a winner of numerous prizes in the Bude Club last year. Congratulations to Team Luscombe and Wright, a fantastic team performance on a difficult day. Considering the ancestry of their team, a performance that I am sure would even have made Dave and Vince proud. My thanks to Ian Johnson and Perry Liddle for their continued support in compiling these section Q reports.

Section W

First place in section W were Preece Bros & Son who said they were pleased to time three dark yearling round about hens in good time to take first, third and fifth section of which all three had a night out in the difficult first NFC race. The first hen is a Cooper Deweerdt x a hen we had on loan from our good friend Jason Lovell of the multi National winning partnership of Clayton bros + Lovell, and carrying all their best bloodlines. The second hen is out of their race team from their old channel family crossed with A Hyatt family Vandenbeele. The third hen is a daughter of their BICC winner “Gwasted Polly” being mainly Deweerdt of G Cooper and A Gregson blood. They sent 15 had 12 on the day and the other 3 next day.

Second section was Stuart Treharne from Nantyglo with D Jones in Wrexham forth. Sixth was J I & C Millward with a five year-old Blue Hen who has won many prizes at club level. She has been in the top five of the Wrexham Federation on two occasions against 2,000 pigeons. She was also 192nd section NW in the MNFC, flying against 2190 pigeons from Carentan, two weeks ago and is bred from the best of the Marcel Demeester family.

As you may well know the last race of the season from Fougeres has been cancelled and we look forward the Pau Grand National and Young Bird National in September along with the Old Hens race. It has been a very unusual year so far with the Covid restrictions to negotiate with difficult decisions having to be taken with the best of intentions to continue to ensure the NFC is successful in all aspects of our sport.

Any news or views to me, Chris Sutton on 01530 242548 or by email to

The UK Pau Masters race was open to all members of the National Flying Club, British Barcelona Club and the Central Southern Class Flying Club with a combined entry of 2700 pigeons, which were convoyed by the National Flying Club in a custom built transporter with every consideration given to the best welfare of the birds. The shipping crates allow access to food and water on three sides, with the trailer body insulated in order to withstand high temperatures and a ventilation system giving complete control of the environment for the birds, which were liberated on the 31st of July at 06.15 hrs in a light South West wind. There were variable winds on route but mainly south so although the forecast was for much higher temperatures later in the day, it was felt that the southerly winds would assist the birds taking part. Mr Ian Evans, Chief Executive of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association and the RPRA Development Officer, Mr Richard Chambers decided to award £1000 to the race, split equally over three distance zones, with the title of “Pau Masters” being awarded to the joint overall winner. Zone A was for the fastest pigeon flying 600 miles and under, Zone B 601 to 700 miles and Zone C, over 701 miles. This combined race initiative is hoped to be the first of many, with more organisations taking part and to include a middle distance race in the future. Recording a winning velocity of 1144 yard per minute, Mark Gilbert is now the undisputed holder of this title, as his recent record breaking performances at marathon races has been nothing short of outstanding and now he can add the National Flying Club Pau Grand National to add to his list of achievements, along with the added bonus of RPRA UK Masters winner of the joint liberation of three major clubs.

Zone A

The winner of Zone A and overall winner of the race is Mark Gilbert from Windsor. Mark sent a strong team of 50 yearlings each of which has impeccable breeding for the marathon races. He has been building a team of long distance birds for several years with the main goal of winning the Barcelona International in which several European countries take part, and winning the most prestigious long distance race in the UK is testament to his progress. Flying a distance of 562 miles Mark clocked one of only two birds in the race which reached their lofts on the day of liberation and on one of the hottest days of the year his pigeon flew for 14 hours 25 minutes, reaching home in the fading light of day. In his quest for the best marathon bloodlines in Europe Mark had asked a friend in Holland to try to acquire young birds from a fancier called Cees Van Heartem in Terborg, who he had noticed had been putting up some very good Barcelona performances, but a mistake in translation had resulted in the wrong pigeons being ordered. He was then presented with a dilemma and as his agent had taken delivery of the two youngsters, he decided to accept them where they were put into the breeding loft and paired together. Just two youngsters were bred from them and his winning bird “Southfield King” the Pau Grand National winner is one of those youngsters. On the same day as the UK Pau Masters the 2020 Barcelona race also took place and Mark also won the UK National Barcelona as well as the NFC Grand National from Pau with “Southfield King” and “Southfield Gold Lady”, there is only one dream left for him now and he has the bloodlines to make his dreams come true.

Zone B

First in the 601-700 mile category of the RPRA UK Masters and 3rd Sect K 14th Open National Flying Club Pau Grand National is Stephen Cooper who races his pigeons to a small back garden loft in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, overlooking the Gleadless Valley. He has been an active member of his local clubs and is well known for his willingness to help out and take on administration roles where required. He has had many successes over the years at all distances although his main passion is the marathon races and is always looking out for long distance bloodlines to augment his breeding loft. “You can have the best loft, feed the best food and put all your time into the pigeons but if you do not have the birds bred for the job, it’s a waste of time” he said. His first pigeon home from Pau was a four year old blue pied hen bred from some of the very best long distance bloodlines. Her sire was bred by Dave Impett of Blackpool a legend of long distance pigeon racing in the north west of England, with Jan Aarden based pigeons from Brugemann Brothers in Holland. David had put up some fantastic performances over the years in Section L of the NFC up to 740 miles so he had arranged a to visit him during the BHW Show of the Year weekend, which resulted in an order for 6 late bred young birds out of his very best. They were duly delivered and as they matured, turned out to be five cocks and one hen, which was not too much of a disappointment because Steve had other long distance bloodlines to put them to. He had put the D. Impett cock to another top bred marathon hen bred by John Highley of Pennine Heights fame, who Steve had asked to be the guest speaker at a local moot. John had put up a young bird for sale to raise money for the club funds which was out of his Luc Van Coppenolle of Ouwegem stock and as Luc had won the title of 3rd National Ace pigeon long distance KBDB with “Sproete Favo” which is a full brother of the 1st International Narbonne 2013, Steve bought it and one other from John. The bloodlines of these pigeons include excellent marathon pigeons, “Favoriet” 1st International Ace Pigeon long distance IFC 4000, “Beziers” four times in the top 100 of the National results and “As Roger” 9th National Ace pigeon long distance KBDB, as well as the renowned “Pau Pair” they were certainly bred for the job. His second pigeon timed from Pau had the same David Impett sire with the dam being from Wout van Nederpelt's top stock cock “Chad”, which was 31st National Marseille when paired to a daughter off his top racer “Messi” 1st St Vincent, 4th Cahors, 9th Bordeaux, 17th Mont de Mars all in Open National racing, when “Messi” was paired to his own daughter. Inbreeding at its very best, which is a common practice amongst marathon lofts, who then exchange birds for the hybrid vigour two inbred lines give to each other. It was on a visit to Kassel with John Wheatcroft that a diversion was made to Wout. John had to choose two hens out of a basket and asked Steve to hold one whilst he looked through the rest, when it came to putting it back, Steve didn’t want to let go of it, so a price was agreed and the hen came home to Sheffield. He later asked Wout to make a special pairing for him and added those inbred youngsters to his stock loft too.  Steve entered 14 birds for Pau and actually sent 12, most of them are two year old latebreds and as yearlings they were raced right through to Poitiers, a distance of 485 miles. “They are bred for the job so they should be fine” he said, and will often breed a round of late youngsters because as he pointed out, our autumn weather has been very good over the last couple of years and he can train them right up until Christmas. He races a roundabout system that has “evolved” with the cocks sitting in their nest box section with the hens in an aviary all day. He said he had received some great advice regarding racing the hens from Geoff Kirkland, so half an hour before basketing the hens are let into the cocks to play around. All that are fit are sent with a three week rest before the NFC Grand National although they are not repaired just trained to keep them fit. Fats are increased in the feed five days before the long races and five feeds before the middle distance races on top of a basic widowhood mixture. He said he listened to Mark Gilbert regarding feeding and took his advice, having been to a moot when Mark was on the panel and also visited him when at Epsom Show. The race birds are normally paired around March and sometimes rear a round of youngsters if he wants a couple off a proven pair but not usually. With some being latebreds they do not want to pair up until later anyway, “so it’s a bit hit and miss” he said. Stephen is a retired from his retail and wholesale business and spends most of his time with his pigeons although he admits he is not precise enough for Federation races and likes the long distance channel races which is more relaxed “sprint racing is a science, channel racing is an art and there is a little more wiggle room”. His constant companion is his little dog “Tess” a Norfolk Terrier cross which is constantly on the move. He had not been of the best of health although he is getting much better now, he is thrilled to have won his category, his 14th Open position in the NFC Grand National at 695 miles.

Zone C

Nicholas Adshead from Selby won the RPRA UK Masters Over 700 mile category with a two year old little blue hen bred from bloodlines acquired via his friend Tonnie Kaspers in Holland. He met Tonnie Kaspers after buying two late bred youngsters from him in an internet auction and the subsequent loft visit confirmed that he raced the marathon races with birds of Jelle Jellema bloodlines. He then ordered two more young hens out of Tonnie Kaspers best birds, which were delivered the following year to the Houten Spring Show in 2018. “Tonnie is a wise old Fox I can chat with” he said “I like to buy from a small back garden loft and a working man” They were bred down from a pair of Jellema pigeons called “Jack” and “Tara” which Nick knew were two great racers and it was one of the two hens which bred his little blue hen which went on to win 4th Open 1st Sect K National Flying Club putting in a fantastic performance over 700 miles, also winning the RPRA UK Masters Over 700 mile Category. Now called “Hermia Solus” she was bred late in 2018 and not raced in the year of her birth. In 2019 she went to three NFC races as a yearling, this season 2020 she had raced in the local club and been to one other NFC race before going to the National Flying Club Pau Grand National raced in conjunction with the Central Southern Classic Flying Club and the British Barcelona Club. He races a team of widowhood cocks plus a separate team of hens which are paired to stock birds for racing. For the Pau race, he felt the hens were in slightly better condition, as the cocks had been to every NFC race which may have taken a little too much out of them. The hens had only been to the local club races, one NFC race and were also privately trained with the young birds. The cocks were repaired to stock hens, given a little straw and left to build a nest for a couple of days before shipping to Pau, and his hens were paired to the stock cocks in time for them to be sitting 12 days. An hour before he went off to the Sheffield marking station, he went into the hens loft to put them on the floor for a while in order to keep them clean in the basket when he noticed his little blue hen was not on the nest. He searched the small section on his hands and knees, beginning to wonder if the hawks had taken her or something before finding her still in the young bird section from the night before. To keep her happy he put her back on her eggs for an hour before leaving, which may have given her that little extra motivation required for the very hard day, although as he pointed out, it was unplanned and the winning pigeon of Mark Gilberts was small plus Jelle Jellama also won 1st Dutch National 2nd International from Barcelona with a small pigeon “so it may have been the right conditions for the smaller pigeons that day” he said. Nick has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success in the sprint to middle distances over the years and had built a fantastic team of Peter Van De Merwe pigeons which went on to do extremely well in Section K of the National Flying Club. He recalled that at one time he had a team of twelve widowhood cocks, four of which were sect K winners and the others had won 2nd, 3rd, 4th section etc. But the challenge of the longer races came along, and with the goal of winning the very strong section K from the NFC Tarbes Grand National, he decided to sell all his middle distance birds and began his research for some of the best long distance bloodlines available. He acquired sons and daughters of “Brive 1”, “The Toon”, “Rode Marathon”, “Milos” and “Paul” out of which he bred some outstanding pigeons such as “Patience” which in 2014 won 1st North East 700 mile Club, 2nd section K National Flying Club Tarbes as a yearling flying 730 miles, plus being the longest flying bird on winning day and in the very next race from Saintes, he timed “Milly” winning 1st north east 700 mile club 2nd section K National Flying Club Saintes flying 555 miles as a yearling. Both outstanding performances which have quickly become the benchmark his birds have set. “Milly” went on to win a certificate of merit in the NFC as her record shows that in 2014 from Saintes 555 miles she was 2nd Sect K 57th Open NFC out of 3187b, in 2015 from Tarbes Grand National 730 miles she was 1st Sect K 16th Open NFC against 2587b, in 2016 again from Tarbes Grand National she came 3rd Sect K 9th Open NFC 2182b and in 2017 from Tarbes Grand National she was 7th Sect K 111th Open 2689b. A truly outstanding hen of Friedhelm Menne & Daughters bloodlines. He has never been afraid of spending the money to buy the birds he wants “I would sell a round of youngsters and have what I wanted” he said. But he recounted one time when he was nearing the end of an auction on the PIPA website, bidding on a pigeon in which he had bid up to £4000 and he thought “Nick what are you doing” so he stopped bidding and bought his son his first car instead “which gave me more joy than the pigeon could” he said, which is an important point well made. He plans to put “Hermia Solus” to stock now, having retained youngsters from “Milly” and “Patience” to build a team to include Barcelona International in his future seasons “some of my birds came home so fresh from Pau” he said “I don’t think Pau was far enough for them and they can give me more”. With these three outstanding hens along with many other proven stock birds he has around him, the years spent building a Marathon team are paying dividends and although there have been major setbacks and disappointments along the way, he has stuck to the task, akin to his birds on difficult days. “Hermia Solus” is named after the Shakespeare the character “Hermia” in the play “A Midsummer Night's Dream” and “Solus” because she flew a further 164 miles on her own and won section K over four and a half hours clear of the second section bird. Although it was no surprise to some that he had clocked early the next day, the NFC secretary did call him back to check his verification was correct, as whole sections in front of him had yet to time in, and Sid Barkel was one of the first to congratulate him. When we were talking about how he motivated his birds for the marathon races, he pointed out that they needed to be healthy, fit and happy before motivation could make any difference to their performance, in fact without those in place he felt that motivation was pointless. He said that playing around with the birds is all part of pigeon racing although it can sometimes go against you and he recounted that when he was preparing “Millie” for NFC Tarbes one year. She was sitting overdue eggs, so he decided to put a newly hatched youngster under her, which she accepted quite happily. But when he arrived at the marking station, she had been throwing up milk in the basket which he felt affected her performance, a point he was making when recounting with Friedhelm Menne on his next visit. Friedhelm laughed and his daughter translated that her father had said “if he had given her a bigger youngster instead, she would have won it”. He will regularly time many birds to feature high up in the open result from the marathon races, by obtaining the birds bred for generations to do the distance and keeping to this simple philosophy, health, fitness, happy at home before being well motivated. It is to this end that he keeps to the basics and when I asked about his system, he said that he puts a little disinfectant in the water every day, makes sure they have clean bowls and a hopper full of food in front of them. Although he does feel that with hopper feeding it can be difficult to know if they have had enough food, so this season with the Covid 19 restrictions he has been working from home, which has enabled him to visit the loft up to four times per day feeding little and often, using Redband, Koopman “All in One Mix” and granules. He sends droppings to the vet twice per year, acting on their advice if anything is needed and he does not normally use supplements although he had given “Joost Mix” from BelgaVet this season for the first time and after a couple of days it was like it had snowed in the loft. Nick said that he once asked Peter Van der Merwe for his system who said “yes you can have it but the best system is to keep it simple for both you and your pigeons” and it was great advice. As a child Nick grew up with pigeons in the family, his father had kept them along with other small animals and win or lose, his Dad would enjoy seeing the pigeons coming home from a race and as long as they were online, he was happy. His husbandry skills made the greatest impression on Nick as it did not matter if it was a Pigeon, Rabbit, Guinea Pig or anything else, he would ensure they were happy, and they thrived which is an ethos Nick has taken into his own management of his birds. As a boy Nick began with his own loft of 6 widowhood cocks and had his successes in the Cannock area where they lived but when he began work, he had leave home and go to London where pigeon racing was not possible at the time, although he would still go to the Blackpool Show picking up his Dad on the way. After a few years his company required him to work out of Manchester, they asked him to relocate and he found a cottage in Wilmslow. One day whilst visiting his parents in Cannock, his Dad asked him to take some strays back to Manchester with him and liberate them there. Not thinking, Nick let them go on a Saturday afternoon which brought on the wrath of Fred Smith, a fancier living nearby who was racing that day. Nick apologised as he was unaware of his loft being there, and a friendship was struck up. He was asked to look after Fred’s pigeons for a week whilst he was on holiday and before Fred had come back, Nick had converted his garage to a loft. He fitted it out with perches and had collected 30 young birds from his Dad to race. But it was not long before another work move to Leeds was required before finally settling in Selby where he has raced for the last 20 years. He still has a second hand “Denny” loft which he bought over thirty years ago when his late mother saw it advertised in the local paper with all fixtures and fittings for £50. “Call them and tell them I’ll have it” he said, and It turned out to be a loft he had seen from the top window of the bus when he was going to school. “I used to wish I could have a loft like that when I was a boy and I have done some serious winning to it and no matter how old it is, if the birds are happy, leave well alone”.

Any news or views to me Chris Sutton on 01530 242548 or email

Firstly, a little news on the NFC presentation for 2020. Mr McGrevy has recently spoken to the Management of the venue who have reassured him that the presentation will take place as planned and they are able to follow the government guidelines on social distancing. The situation with the lockdown restrictions have made this season very difficult and we are all in need of a good weekend so in my best Yorkshire accent “get ya tickets booked, it is going t’happen”. I enjoy celebrating the winners of the National Flying Club, and I always get an extra chill down my spine when the winner of the Grand National is called up to collect a huge array of trophies along with the coveted Kings Cup, it is truly magical for them and the members in attendance. I would have been a crying shame if it could not have gone ahead, and I am really looking forward to applauding Mark Gilbert as he collects the trophy he rightfully deserves, “The Kings Cup” will now carry his name along with the greats of all time.

Winners Report

The National Flying Club Grand National race from Pau took place on the 31^st of July after being liberated at 06.15 hrs UK time in a light South West wind, gusting to 10 mph. The air temperature was 21 degrees and humidity 74%. There were variable winds on route but mainly south so although the forecast was for much higher temperatures later in the day, it was felt that the southerly winds would assist the 2700 birds taking part. The National Flying Club had also agreed to convoy the Central Southern Classic and the British Barcelona Club with a joint liberation, and as Mr Ian Evans, Chief Executive of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association, is very keen to encourage more joint liberations in future, he and the RPRA Development Officer, Richard Chambers decided to award £1000 to the race, split equally over three distance zones, with the title of “Pau Masters” being awarded to the joint overall winner.

Recording a winning velocity of 1144 yard per minute, Mark Gilbert is now the undisputed holder of this title, as his recent record breaking performances at marathon races has been nothing short of outstanding and now he can add the National Flying Club Pau Grand National to add to his list of achievements, along with the added bonus of RPRA UK Masters winner of the joint liberation of three major clubs.

It is no secret that Mark has set himself the goal of winning the Barcelona International, which is 716 miles to his loft in Windsor and as an aid for selecting his 2021 team, he decided to send 50 yearlings bred out of his very best marathon bloodlines to the National Flying Club Grand National from Pau, 562 miles, which is considered by all his peers to be the very best race in the UK to win. This is rarely an easy race and it would help to identify his future Barcelona candidates, plus it has been a life long dream for Mark to win the NFC Pau Grand National and with the Covid 19 restrictions earlier in the year, circumstances meant that the Barcelona International race would take place on the same day, so to compete in both of the very best long distance races in the UK and Europe was certainly a day to look forward to.

The high temperatures the pigeons experienced during the race took its toll on the entry of 2700b and after 13 hours 47 minutes, just one brave pigeon appeared on the leader board for the 2018 Tarbes Grand National loft of Wearn Bros & Neilson flying 531 miles. Just under an hour later Mark saw a pigeon approaching from the south which flew straight to the trap in the fading light, to record a time of 14 hours 25 minutes flying 562 miles on the hottest day of the year so far and still just a yearling, bred for the task and acquired from a fortuitous misunderstanding.    

A couple of years ago Mark had asked a friend in Holland to try to acquire young birds from a fancier called Cees Van Heartem in Terborg, who he had noticed had been putting up some very good Barcelona performances. In 2017 the race was arduous, and he achieved 7^th and 12^th International so Mark wanted to buy youngsters out of those very pigeons, his friend made contact and a price was agreed. When the youngsters were ready and the payment due, Mark questioned that they were indeed out of the seventh and twelfth international pigeons “No” came the reply “Cees van der Laan had third and fifth International”. He had gone to the wrong fancier, there had been a misunderstanding and they were not from the birds Mark had wanted. He was then presented with a dilemma and as his agent had taken delivery of the two youngsters, he decided to buy them to save any future problems and they were put into the breeding loft, paired together with only one pair of youngsters taken from them to race. Now named “Southfield King” the Pau Grand National winner is one of those youngsters.

The Barcelona International was also liberated on the 31^st July and again due to the heat, no birds were recorded at all in Europe on the day, but on the second day Mark did get one, winning first Open BICC and 128^th International, but that’s a story for one of my colleagues to tell. “Well done Mark Gilbert” on winning the Pau Grand National and the Barcelona UK National on the same day with “Southfield King” and “Southfield Gold Lady”, there is only one dream left for you now and you certainly know how to make your dreams come true. “Grand Master” comes to mind and at the time of writing this article, Mark has 14 of his yearlings on the result and a further 6 had returned to my knowledge giving him a very promising prospect for the Barcelona International 2021.

Section Winners

Before I continue with the section report for Pau, another very important point to make is that the post is proving to be unreliable in certain areas so I would suggest as well as sending clock sheets recorded delivery as per the rules, it would be prudent to scan the paperwork if possible and email it on to the Secretary as a “belt and braces” exercise. But I must reiterate that it is an extra precaution to make, and not to be used instead of posting the signed hard copies. The National Flying Club committee would like to thank the two organisations who joined us for the Pau Grand National liberation this season. The Central Southern Classic FC and the British Barcelona Club members could cross nominate, which helped all three clubs and also helped the RPRA hold a combined race with prizes given to three bands based on the distances of 600 miles & under, 601 to 700 miles and over 70 miles. The three club results have been submitted and the winners have been announced in the British Homing World with Mark Gilbert, Stephen J Cooper and Nicholas Adshead being the first fanciers to win what is hoped will be the first of many combined liberations in the future. The top 20 of each section can be seen on the RPRA website.

Section A

David Bacon from Tunbridge Wells won the section with a blue chequer cock which has flown channel 23 times with his best results being 7th Sect 66th Open Tarbes in 2015, 3rd Sect 30th Open Tarbes 2016, 27th sect 178th Open Tarbes 2017 and now 1st Sect 5th Open Pau Grand National 2020. On his sires side is Louellas “Invincible Sprit” and “Morning Glory” via Paul Kendal and his dam bred by David from a Fear Bros 1996 red chequer cock which had flown Tarbes clocked five times being 30th Open 42 open, paired to a daughter out of Bourges Belgian national winner 24.000 birds for my friend Pascal Vanbruaene.

Fred Hall and daughters clocked for second section 23rd Open with a two year old widowhood cock. His sire was a gift from Crammond & Langstaff and is from a grand son of “Euro Diamond” x “Southfield Melissa” bred by Mark Gilbert the e dam is a granddaughter of “Geeloger” bred by Stuart Wilcox with her sire being “Special K” son of “Geeloger” and her dam “Beau” daughter of “King of Rekkem”. In the BICC race from Agen a full brother of the 2nd section winner was 11th open BICC so seems to be a good line, fingers crossed.

Third section was clocked in Emsworth by Bertie Shepherd also being 71st Open. David Farr in Bognor Regis was 4th and 9th Section 82nd Open Pau National with a blue chequer white flight cock on roundabout. His dam is a gift from Peter Kendall of Bideford in 2015 from his old Barker family, she has been on the BICC Agen result for the last 2 years and last season scored 126th Open 48th sect and in 2020 she was 55th open 26th sect. His sire bred out of a Bert Shepherd Ko Nipious Jan Aarden cock out of his 2nd open Pau National winner and dam out of a full sister to the dam of Crammond & Langstaff “Brexit” 1st BBC Barcelona. 9th sect for David was bred out of a pair of stock birds from John Wills, John gave him some of his stock birds when he moved to Brackelsham Bay, and they are already breeding there worth, with his first birds from Agen and BICC Bordeaux being from them too. Fifth section was Alan Holdaway also from Emsworth with his first bird being a very reliable cock called “Viking”, which has now recorded 1st sec 34th Open Ancencis NFC, 262nd Open Tarbes NFC, 247th Open Tarbes NFC, 6th sect 15th Open Tarbes NFC and 5th section 82nd open Pau NFC. He is now retired to breed a loft full of his like. Alans second home from Pau, is a chequer cock bred by Tony Leggett scoring 8th sect 116th Open Pau NFC on his first try.

Section B

Many thanks to Bill Edwards for compiling the following report; Taking 1st Section B and 2nd Open Pau NFC are previous winners of the NFC Grand National, Jimmy Wearn and Eric Nielson from Ramsdean in Hampshire, who once again recorded the first bird into the country and led the field for a while with only two birds being clocked on the winning day. The chequer pied hen now named “Ramsdean Olivia” is pictured with Eric and Jimmy’s granddaughter Olivia. Her breeding is “New Lauriatt” on the sire’s side from James and Peter Parker crossed with “Starlight” from Mark Gilbert. Some of her previous results have been 3rd Section, 14th Open Bergerac Classic 2019 and then 2 weeks later 3rd Section, 8th Open Bordeaux with the BBC. She has been raced celibate this season, only being paired prior to basketing. Jimmy and Eric would like to give a big “well done” to race winner Mark Gilbert.

Second section and 11th Open is the ever-consistent loft of Andy Parsons from Salisbury. Andy would like to congratulate Mark Gilbert for winning the National and John and David Staddon for winning their section, having a great weekend racing and to all who clocked birds on a hard race. Andy’s pigeon is a three year old late bred that was not raced until two years old. In preparation for Pau she had two short channel races, the second one being from Messac with the BBC, which turned out to be a testing race. She was then rested for five weeks with no training before being basketed for Pau, when she was sent sitting 4 days on eggs. Her breeding is classic for his loft, being a direct daughter of “The Dancer” when he was paired to his own granddaughter. She in turn is from the “Five Times” cock when paired to his Merit Award winner with the Central Southern Classic, which is a daughter of “The Dancer”. The “Five Times” cock and “The Dancer” are both half-brothers to “Proud Mary” again a Merit Award winner with the NFC. Andy clocked a further 10 birds and worth noting that his second bird clocked is from a half-brother to “The Dancer” and “Proud Mary” and has the same dam as his first bird.

Third section, 17th Open is Mick Bradley from Titchfield. Mick would like to congratulate Mark Gilbert on a great performance winning the race on the day with a yearling, and all the section winners especially as eight of them were in the top 20 on a hard race. Mick’s prize winner is a three year old hen which was in the top 100 of last year’s Tarbes result. She is bred from a direct son of “Indy” when paired to a daughter of “Paarsburst” which was purchased at Blackpool a couple of years ago. Paarsburst was a winner of two Dutch Nationals for Piet de Vogel of the Netherlands.

Forth section, 21st Open is the Isle of Wight loft of Eddy Rann. Eddy’s prize winner is a six year old cock now named “John’s Boy” after John Rowland who recently passed away and bred the sire to “John’s Boy” which scored 1st Section, 8th Open Saintes NFC. The dam is a daughter of “Mecca” from Jimmy Shepherds birds. “John’s Boy” was raced with the Solent Fed to the West and Falaise with the BICC, Messac in the CSCFC and Fougeres with the NFC before being rested for 2 weeks and then Yelverton with the Solent Fed and local training on the Island. He was fed on Champion Plus, Superstar Plus and mixed fats for last 4 days. Eddy clocked the second of his six entries, “Mo” giving him a much needed boost as his season had not been going to plan prior to this race. Eddy would like to thank Guy Reed for taking the birds from the Island to the marking station, the NFC for looking after the birds and congratulations to all who clocked from this challenging race especially Mark, Jimmy and Eric for timing on the day.

Fifth section, 22nd Open is my old mate John Ayling from Fareham. John is a dedicated long-distance enthusiast and his season is aimed at the longest NFC race. To a small back garden loft, John has previously won 1st open NFC Pau, 1st Open Central Southern Classic Pau and 1st Open BICC Narbonne Open plus a shed load of section and open prizes in the longest races. John is not now in the best of health and relies heavily on wife Jackie to perform most of the pigeon duties for him these days. John is also very grateful to Gosport Club secretary, Elvin Booth for taking his birds training. John was genuinely disappointed when he never recorded an arrival on the day but cheered up when his self-bred Blue hen repeated her last year’s performance of 5th section for two consecutive seasons. John also recorded another 5 of his 8 entries in race time all flown natural and sent sitting.

Section C

The winner of section C flew to the loft of Mike Staddon in Crewkerne. Mike clocked two from Pau to also take 1st and 5th section, 70th and 150th Open. G Glaze from Shaftesbury was 2nd with Peter Doble, also in Crewkerne clocking two birds to take 3rd and 4th section. Both were two year old hens flown natural and sitting twelve days on eggs, the first being a great granddaughter of “Corey Boy” 1st Open PALOMAS B.B.C for Corey & Roger Owers of Crewkerne and “Padfields Invincible”. The second bird is a granddaughter of “Corey Boy”, “Padfields Invincible” and “Padfields Jack” Peter would like to congratulate mark Gilbert and Wearn Bros & Neilston for clocking the only 2 birds on the day, what a fantastic achievement. He would also like to say we'll done to all section winners and to thanks Mike Staddon for taking his birds to the marking station.

Section D

Firstly, my apologies for missing out the photos for the Fougeres race. They were sent to me on time but I failed to put them into the correct folder on my computer and they never got sent to the press. I have included them in this report to hopefully give the fanciers due recognition. Graham Buck won first Section D and said “First of all I would like to congratulate all the Section winners on what was another very difficult Blue Ribbon National race. My three year old hen is the same hen that was 2nd Sect, 71st Open Tarbes in 2019, when she was sent as a spare hen. This year she was sent to Pau sitting 14 days, but this was a bit longer than I would have preferred. She had three inland races and the Fougeres NFC (taking over 10 hours) before going to Pau. My birds do not receive any training by road after young bird training and I encourage them to exercise from the loft. This hen is bred from birds I had from my friend Bryan Maude of Redcar”.

Lee & Dyer were second section with a two year old hen sent sitting 14 days, and is off Geoff & Catherine Cooper's winning bloodlines with the parents being bought as a matched pair of young birds personally selected by Geoff. She was also 2nd Plymouth & District Classic Club from Le Mans last year, beaten by a loft mate and in preparation for this Grand National from Pau, she was sent to Falaise with the BICC then trained from Portsmouth before sending her to Pau. They clocked their second bird on the third day, which was another Cooper Pigeon.

Third was Brian Reene who said “First of all l would like to say congratulations to Graham Buck, who was 1st section D a fantastic pigeon and brilliant performance by the owner, to my mind the best bird in the race. My bird was overlooked for racing during the early part of the year, for some reason l kept passing her by. Four weeks before the National l thought, you haven’t been anywhere yet, it’s about time l gave you a go. She had just laid, sitting about 2 days and wasn’t happy about being lifted off the nest, nonstop grunting with her claws dug into the nest felt, she didn’t want to go. But she handled very heavy in great need of a race so l sent her to Salisbury about 70mls. She had no training and l thought she would take all day, however she was my 1st bird from 15 sent and not too far behind the leaders. The following week l sent her to another Salisbury and again she was my 1st bird and right up there with the winners, she was sitting 9 days for that race. The following Thursday still sitting the same set of eggs, she was sent to the NFC Messac National, when she was my 1st bird to win 15th section D. The very next day her eggs hatched and l let her rear a single youngster. She was very keen and wouldn’t let her mate come anywhere near her and for at least 4 days, she drove him out of the box but allowed him to sit on the front of the nest box and watch. I knew then l had a good one for the upcoming Pau National. She was my single entry and l pooled her well, as l was confident l would get her in good time. She is a three year old with her Sire being a nine year old stock bird called “The Picauville” which is a Grondelaer. Her Dam is an eight year old Ko Nipious from “Border Chief”. She was paired to her half-brother in the nest pan in the photo, who was my 1st bird 9th section from Sigogne NFC 2019. As you can see she has now re-laid, still as keen as ever, trying to dislodge her mate and the youngster in the photo is the one she was rearing when she flew back from Pau. This young bird will auctioned on line to raise funds as part of a late bred sale for my club, the one and only Devon Cornwall and West Somerset CFC. Now I’m thinking hmmmm, “what will she be like for the old hens National?”

Forth section was Chris Williams timing 'Finley' as he is fondly known, named after Chris and Wendy's grandson. He is a two year old chequer cock which has been a consistent racer. He flew Coutances NFC as a young bird, raced hard as a yearling inland and sent to Fougeres NFC. This year he went to Fougeres and Messac NFC winning 3rd Plymouth & Dist Classic Club and 14th Sect D. “Finley” was sent to Pau sitting one day eggs and his sire was bred by Les Jane, the dam is 'Triple One' one of Chris's most consistent channel racers.

Previous National winners Underhill & Prettejohn were fifth section and the partnership would like to congratulate club mate Graham Buck in timing his exceptional hen to win 1st Section “D” in a west wind and what proved to be a very hard race. Their blue chequer hen “Dotty” was sent sitting on a 3 day old young bird. “Dotty” has always been a very reliable and honest pigeon but without hitting the heights of some of her loft mates. Her Sire “The Fighter” is a half brother to “Rossi” winner of 1st Open NFC Fougeres in 2017.

Section E

The winner of section E Mark Gilbert was also the overall race winner, who timed a yearling on the day flying 14 hours 25 minutes and went on to clock another 10 yearlings with the tenth being 142nd Open. Truly fantastic flying and close on his heels was club mate John Haynes who clocked at 5:25 the next morning to take 2nd section 3rd Open.

A friendly sparring partner of Marks, John enjoys the local rivalry and also won 4th section and clocked a total of eight birds with the last one being 73rd open. When I was down in Windsor they were discussing if they were 3-3 or 3-2 on the season after the Pau race with John adding in his own words “Firstly, congratulations to Mark and Jimmy winning with two great pigeons on the day. My 3rd Open winner has been a consistent minor prize winner at the distance, his sire is a son of Rutz & Sons “Champion Beloki” and his dam is a daughter of Mark Gilbert's “Golden Barcelona” x daughter of “New Witbuik” x “Silvie”.

Third section E were Britton & Hames from Caversham near Reading with Mr & Mrs S Fear in Hayes, fifth section.

Section F

As we all know the RPRA encouraged the NFC, CSCFC and the BBC to liberate together from Pau and this has been received as a positive step forward in long distance racing. A combined result will be put together and published by the RPRA Development Officer Richard Chambers in due course but it was particularly pleasing to see the President of the CSCFC racing as Mr & Mrs Clive Merrills winning section F in Swindon. I declare I am repeating his report to the CSCFC but I think it speaks volumes as to what can be achieved with joint liberations. “As President and Race Advisor for the Classic I want to thank the NFC Race Advisor, Steve White for his courtesy in contacting me in the days leading up to the race and in the evening before liberation took place. By asking my opinion as to the prospects, showed the consideration he had for all organisations in the joint race. A gentleman and my thanks again to you”. Clive and Wendy won the section with a four year old blue hen of no particular strain which has been consistent but never outstanding until this race. There is no particular preparation, she had one inland race and then with the BBC at Messac five weeks prior to this, with a 30 mile training toss the week before. As all their birds are celibate the cocks and hens go together on race day and the next day so all come home to a mixed loft, before being separated again until the next weekend or race.

Second section was F J Quinn. In Sailaway who said “Congratulations to all the winners, it was not a walk in the park and as I type this I have 7 home from the 10 I sent. I must thank my friend Andy Parsons for all the help and birds over the years with all home bar one containing Andys bloodlines.
My first bird is 100% Parsons being a grandson of “Champion Monty” with this being his first time at 500 miles, he is hard to get right and last year he was 48th Open Bergerac. My second bird being 4th section is a full brother to the sisters which have won a bit and the third in the clock was my pick, a winner of 3rd section Tarbes 2017 and many more. She is also Provisional 4th in the GDSBNFC and a 1/2 sister to the first bird. Keep trying your time will come”. Third was James Fulford in Salisbury and fifth section was J & P Parker from Beenham near Reading.

Section G

First section G was Dave & John Staddon of Ditcheat. They have enjoyed a fantastic season in National and Classic racing this year with many outstanding performances. Dave sent me the following details “Firstly massive congratulations to Mark Gilbert on winning the King's Cup. He so deserves this victory, bad luck Jimmy & Eric. We had a really good race from Pau this year. We sent 12 birds and timed 8 on the 2nd day, they were in excellent condition so the convoyer should be praised. We are 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th & 11th Section. Our section winner is a two year old cock flown on Chaos widowhood. He has been a good cock already and went to this race being heavily pooled. He was our first bird from the very hard 2019 Agen International winning 7th Section 47th National as a yearling. He was also 8th Section 9th National Falaise 7441b 2020 and now 1st Section 7th Open National Pau NFC, 1st Section 2nd Open CSCFC Pau and 1st Section 3rd national BBC Pau. He also won 1st GDSBNFC Pau. We have named him “Gemstone” and he is bred from our star breeder “Gem”, a direct son of the NFC's most famous Double Certificate of Merit Winner “Freelands Gem” of Bill & Beryl Lewis. Gem is already Father Of 3rd Section 3rd National Cholet 290 Miles 2859b 2019 3rd Section 3rd National Fougeres 201 Miles 743b 2019.7th Section 47th National Agen 526 Miles 998b 2019 8th Section 31st National Agen 526 Miles 2018 10th Section 100th National Tarbes 560 Miles 1952b 2019. Gemstone's mother is “Rosie” bred by Mark Gilbert. Rosie is from a son of “Perpignan 06” and the “333 hen”. Rosie is already Mother to 3rd NFC Saintes, 20th Tarbes, 20th Tarbes, 43rd Tarbes and the NFC Ace Pigeon is 2016 “G-Force” and the NFC Ace Pigeon 2018 “Evie”. So, you can see Gemstone is bred to be a champion. We have put his nest sister in the breeding loft for 2020 as we had a feeling this cock was going to be special. His preparation went without a glitch from Falaise BICC, St Philbert BICC, Poitiers BICC where he had 11 hours and returned clapping around the loft. A big thank you to my Dad and partner John, who keeps me on the straight and narrow as far as the pigeons are concerned. We are getting closer to winning the King's Cup, which is something Dad has always wanted to do”. I am sure it will come very soon Guys, impressive results after a short time at the new loft location.

Third section was Tony Emery who said they waited patiently but the doom and gloom took over, and the weather closed in. Up bright and early the next morning and the weather had lifted, and then so did their gloom, as their little dark hen ‘Heatwave’ arrived. She looked well and not a sign of exhaustion at all. Her breeding is from Keith Nethercott x Cannon x Fear Bros. Her sire won 17th Open, 3rd Section G Tarbes and the Dam took 1st West Of England South Road Combine from Marmande. “Congratulations to all fanciers who had birds back from Pau and my thanks to all marking stations working hard to achieve all safety restrictions. Finally, my appreciation and thanks to the Convoyer for the attention and care in looking after our birds in such temperatures. Can we be lucky for a third time in 2021, let’s hope so”.

Forth was NFC Committee man and top auctioneer Stuart Wilcox who said “Well it was a tough Pau NFC and we were pleased to time "39" to be 4th Sect G 65th Open NFC Pau Grand National. "39" is 100% Chris Hebberecht being a grand son of “Talis” and “Champion”, he has won some good prizes including 3rd West Sect Cholet and was 150th Open NFC Tarbes Grand National in 2019. His half sister has been 5th BICC Falaise and 27th National St Vincent. He will get a deserved rest and we will go again next year!

Fifth was S Luff and Walker Brothers who clocked their
good two year old hen “Blue Forty Four” following a gruelling 22 hour 47 minutes on the wing but she was in great condition on arrival. She is generally flown on the true widowhood system but on this occasion, 10 days prior to basketing, she was showing up to another hen and laid an egg on the floor. The morning after she laid the egg, it was placed in her nest bowl with her cock to encourage her to lay the second egg and up to two days before basketing, the pair had the section to themselves as all the other cocks and hens were shut out of this section. Her preparation for this race being all previous BICC National races from Falaise, St Philbert’s and Poitiers where she won 2nd WS Sect, 9th Open.
She has always been a consistent racer being their first pigeon from Bergerac 2019 winning 1st Club, 7th WOESRC Bergerac 296 birds. 6th NW Sect, 22nd Open CSCFC Bergerac 1,088 birds. Her breeding is impeccable with her sire bred for stock from their NFC Tarbes section winner “Hardy” who was 1st Section 20th Open Tarbes in 2014, followed by 4th Section 25th Open NFC Tarbes 2015. To breed the sire “Hardy” was paired to “Golden Queen” bred by Kipp & Son from Althornbach being a daughter of “Golden Glory” x “Purple Queen”. “Blue Forty Four” dam was bred by Graham Clift via Freildenhofen x Coopers down from “Forest Junior” “Forest Gump” This is a cross which has worked very well as both hens that they timed taking 6th & 8th Open CSCFC Tarbes 2019 are of the same line. They are very happy with this result as the birds were moved after racing last year, a new loft was built for the race birds, all the birds were settled and broken to the new location in February and performed over and above their expectations.

Section H

Graham Kirkham in Boston won first section H 16th Open with a three year old natural hen sent sitting 11 days on eggs. Bred from direct Jan Polder birds, the sire is from “Marathon Man” son of “Delta King”.

His second bird, winning 7th section is a three year old dark pied natural hen sent sitting 14 day eggs. She is bred from a cock from Dave Impett and a hen from George Hilson. Both birds were flying their third race and jumped 350 miles. The team was fed on Polders mix equal parts Paddy Rice, Malting Barley, and Widowhood Mix. High energy corn plus peanuts fed for last 10 days. They were paired on 10th April, both hens had dropped their 3rd flight in the basket and arrived in great condition.

Second Section and 19th Open was T E & J Stygall in Norwich with a hen closely related to their 9th section 147th open pau 2020. The first hen is half-sister to 3rd section 67th Open Tarbes 2014 and also closely related to 1st section 42nd Open NFC Tarbes 2016, 3rd section 63rd Open NFC Tarbes 2019. They would like to thank Peter and Jean Virtue and also Brian and Thelma Denney for spurring us on in good and bad times.

Richard Manning also flying to Boston was third section 32nd Open with D Jones in Sibsey forth section 89th Open.

Fifth was David Fisher who joined the NFC this year purely to fly Pau which is the furthest he has ever sent having started out north road and previously sent to Lerwick but never Saxa Vord with the NRCC. NFC Pau is 608 miles to David and he timed two nestmate hens which have always been consistent. Having not been raced as young birds but trained 50 miles, lightly raced as yearlings out to Cholet, the blue chequer pied hen went on to Agen and returned just out of race time. This year again on roundabout they went to BICC Falaise and St Philbert then rested for Pau and privately trained to 50 miles. Their sire was bred by Mark Bulled, half-brother to his certificate of merit award winner this year, bred from a son of “Legacy” when paired to “Hanna” and was purchased at the UK champions auction at Blackpool. The dam of these hens is a blue hen bred by Darren Macfadden and purchased via Elimar, she is a a granddaughter of Dark Prince, Pau Princess & Megans Lad. The blue hen is also the dam of Alfredo for Duncan Knox 5th open Scottish National racing pigeon club Maidstone 327 miles 2019 & 6th Open Hazebrouck 419 miles 2020. He was buzzing when the blue chequer hen dropped, having been trying to build a team of distance birds from Mark Bulled, Joe Raeburn and Darren Mcfadden, both Joe and Mark have been very helpful, providing birds and advice in preparation for distance races.

Section I

First section I and 34th Open was Gary Carter from Childswickham. Gary timed a three year old hen sent natural on 4 day old babies. She came back from Sigogne as a yearling in 2018 injured and didn't race in 2019 so has been lightly raced. Her preparation for Pau was 4 club races with the last one being Truro two weeks before at 190 miles, which had put her right for the task in hand. She is small in size with a big heart and her breeding is down from Pennylands Supreme crossed in with a new introduction Gary has acquired.

Second was Keith Bush from Cossall who always puts up a very impressive performance in the NFC Grand National races year after year. This time he clocked to be 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th section with his first bird being 61st Open. Keith was split by Alan Hailsworth in South Normanton who took the fourth section prize.

Section J

First section J was P Dewsnap from Stoke on Trent who was thrilled to win first section 15th Open and also won forth section 38th Open. He clocked a two year old hen raced on natural sent feeding tow newly hatched babies which were her first young of the year. Her breeding is “Matt Rakes” on one side and “Padfields” on the other. He said “I would like to offer my thanks to good friend Keith Bush for all his help and advice. Keith also had a great race, as he has done many times over the years. I would like to congratulate the winner of the race M Gilbert, who had a fantastic weekend racing, also winning the BICC Barcelona. Finally, thanks to all the officials for working so hard to make racing possible during this extremely difficult year”.

Second were Mr & Mrs Nigel Shaw in Crewe who said “the pigeon we timed from Pau 681 miles to be 2nd section J 20th Open NFC is a daughter of the Batenburgh cock which scored well for us and retired to stock at two year old and her mother is a daughter of Macaloneys “Black caviar”, she is only a yearling flown on chaos / roundabout system.

Third section 35th Open was Graham Clift who wrote “First of all congratulations to Mark Gilbert and Wearn Bros & Neilson with two outstanding day birds on what again has proved to be a testing race. My pigeon is bred from a grandson of Freialdenhofen's “Forrest Gump” & “Carcassonne” paired to a sister of Mark Gilbert's 1st BICC Marseille cock. This pair previously bred for me a 3rd Section BICC from Le Mans, the dam owned by Mark Sparey, also bred my first pigeon which was 5th Section NFC Tarbes 2019 in another tough race. She is proving to be a really good breeder for both Mark and myself. The cock had three channel races prior to Pau from Carentan, Fougeres the last one being Messac two weeks before the national.

Fifth section went to my good friends Booth and Roper in Tewkesbury. Trevor and John timed their super hen “Sportsview Amy” who took 1st section, 5th open from Tarbes last year, to take 5th section 40th open from Pau this year. As you can see from the picture her performances have been outstanding. She has turned out to be a hen in a million winning top positions in National competitions since her yearling days. At the age of five years they have now decided to retire her to the stock loft and are not tempted to send her again to try to achieve a certificate of merit. She also won the J.R. Dunn, R.Mitchieson and The Barlow Trophies and won the entry to the Algarve Great Derby. She also played a big part in winning the Langstone Gold Cup last year and she was really fancied to do well again this year. They timed a second hen 35 minutes later to take 7th section 59th open and they can’t believe they had 2 birds in the top 60 in the biggest NFC race of the year. They would like to congratulate Mark Gilbert on winning the Open and all section winners. Also, a big thank you to everyone at the Alveley marking station for their hard work.

Section K

Putting in one of the best performances of the race was the section K winner Nicholas Adshead in Selby, North Yorkshire. He timed in his little blue hen “Hermia Solus” at 10:11am on the second day flying 724 miles to win 4th Open NFC Grand National Pau. A fanatic for the NFC Grand National, he plans his whole season for this one race and this year he felt the hens were slightly better than the cocks as the cocks had been to every NFC race which may have taken a little too much out of them. The hens had only had one NFC race, the local club races and were also trained with the young birds out to 25 miles daily. For their motivation the cocks were paired to stock hens, given a little straw and left to build a nest for a couple of days and his hens were paired to stock cocks with enough time to be sitting 12 days. An hour before he went off to the Sheffield marking station, he went into the hens loft to put them on the floor for a while in order to keep them clean in the basket and he noticed his little blue hen was not on the nest. He searched the small hens section on his hands and knees, beginning to wonder if the hawks had taken her or something before finding her still in the young bird section from the night before. So, he put her back on her eggs for an hour before leaving, which may have given her that little extra unplanned motivation for the very hard day.

Second section 8th Open was Alec Finlay in Leeds flying 726 miles with a granddaughter of Jan Polders “Rainbow Warrior” which flew Sigogne and Cholet on the day last year in NFC. This season she was his first pigeon at Messac being 63rd section.

Third section and 14th Open was Stephen Cooper in Sheffield who said “All the pigeons in section K were eclipsed by the fantastic performance of Nick Adshead's brilliant pigeon. My first pigeon is a four year old latebred and was not raced as a young bird, lightly raced as a yearling and two year old, with nothing exciting as a three year old. She is out of a Luc van Copponolle hen purchased from Pennine Heights stud. Her sire was bred by Dave Impett. I exchanged a cock bred the same way with Phil Rawson and Bruce Towers, Bruce used to curse "the Cooperman cock" because it always flew for another hour after the other cocks had dropped. It even caused him to miss Emmerdale one night. I think this cock scored from Tarbes and was lost at the same race the following year. My celibate hen was prepared with four inland races and then NFC Fourgeres, when she came the next morning, given approximately three weeks rest before Tarbes. My second pigeon to take 10th section K 139 open, is a 2 year old celibate hen, sired by the same Dave Impett cock via of a Wouter Nederpelt hen out of what was his best stock cock "Chad". Thank you, John Wheatcroft. I got other birds return, Wednesday, Thursday night, Friday morning, and Saturday. All were in good condition, so well done to the convoying team. All my pigeons were cross nominated into the BBC and the two I timed would have been 1st & 2nd section E, and 6th and 48th open, but for a glitch in the online verification which caused problems for quite a few BBC members. I have only entered twice in the BBC and been disqualified each time, even though I followed the instructions on their website. In the event my first pigeon won first place in the RPRA 600-700 mile band. Thank you to the marking team at Sheffield and Dave Allen for the complimentary tea and coffee he supplied. Hopefully we will be able to have a breakfast and the usual good banter next year”.

Forth section was Andy Holland from Shipley who was 4th & 8th section 25th 80th Open with his first bird being a double grandson of “Tuff Nut” owned by Brian Denney and the dam is from Auke Smid of Holland, being a granddaughter of Barcelona 1. His second bird is also a Brian Denney crossed with a Menne and daughter. This bird has previously been 4th section k Sigogne,1st 700mile NE club also 1st club 2nd Dewsbury Fed from Poitiers 521 miles on the day. Both birds arrived in very good condition.

Fifth was Nigel Clark who was also 26ht Open. Nigel tells me that this hen finished 6th Section K from Tarbes last season but this year she has gone one better by finishing fifth. Nigel races to a small 10' x 6' shed and often starts the season with only half a dozen old birds to race. He would like to mention that most of his pigeons are bred down from gifts from Joe Langbridge from West Sussex who for the past few seasons has sent some young birds up to Nigel to try. Joe's pigeons originate from A E Shepherd. Nigel would obviously like to thank Joe for his kind gestures.

Section L

First was B P Lee in Congleton with his pigeon named “Zlatan” after Zlatan Ibrohimavich who scored wherever he played. He is a slatey pied cock raced on the widowhood system with his sire being from Roger Suttons channel family and his dam a Florizone bred for me by Stockports Brian Littlewood from his Tarbes winning bloodlines. As a youngster he prized regularly, including 8th N/W section MNFC Chale and second in the prestigious North Staffordshire 4 bird Carentan young bird open, wining £840. As a yearling he won 10th section 25th open in the MNFC Tours race. Last year he was aimed at Tarbes, competing in all land races along with Carentan and Fougeres, then to NFC Tarbes where he won 1st section L 38th open and the Western region bird of the year trophy. This seasons preparation was similar to last year, although he had him worried at the NFC Fougeres where he was 12 hours on the wing, Brian rested him from then up to Pau and he has achieved a remarkable double by wining section L again. He has earned his perch and will retire a champion.

Second were Mellor Brothers, from Crewe in Cheshire with Ronald Pendleton in third place. Ronnie sent a three year old hen sent sitting 14 days which also went to the 1st NFC race from Fougeres then sent straight to pau. She raced three hard channel races with the club as a yearling and had two second clubs with only two club birds on the day both races. Her father was a gift off Roy Harding from Spurstow. He had been in the clock from both Bergerac and Tarbes for him but returned injured from the Beeston 2 bird so he gave him to Ronnie. Her mother is his own Jan Aarden family. His other entry returned early Thursday morning just out of race time.

Having a great weekend and taking forth section L were Team Wicker & Wright. Alan Wicker in Bolton along with partner Steve Wright from House of Aarden also won the BICC International race from St Vincent the same day. They timed a Busschaert old Coppi lines crossed with a Padfield Family Jan Aarden widowhood cock which was also timed from Bordeaux last year in the MNFC beingn 6th Ace Pigeon Long Distance.

Fifth section L was previous Tarbes Grans National winner Micky Locke from the Wirral.

Section N

First section and flying 778 miles were Allan & Carol Walker of Stockton on Tees who had the only bird in race time to top their section. Their six year old chequer hen was flown on a roundabout system and bred from Billy Tarren and & G W Kirkland stock. Last year she was raced out to 612 miles and this season she was 20th section NFC Fougeres 430 miles.

Section P

I am grateful for the help given to me by Kevin Foster who collated this report for section P “Once again, another classic Pau race with just a few day birds and some early arrivals next morning. Section P leaders were right up with the National winners so well done to all.
Leading the section and 6th Open is J Clarke and daughter of Selling in Kent. A previous BBC national winner, Jamie won the Kent combine from Exeter a few weeks earlier so the form has continued into the National arena. Jamie said “First of all would to congratulate mark on winning the NFC Pau Grand National, he is making 500 mile racing look like sprint racing at the moment and everyone else who clocked on a very hard weekend. My hen is a late bred in 2018 from the lines of Mr & Mrs Marshall pigeons of which we have added children from most of their Champions over the last couple of years to try and get something that will race from 500 miles. We clocked two on the day and both were bred out of the same pair of stock birds which will hopefully keep breeding them for us. I brought these from Mr & Mrs Marshalls sale at Blackpool a couple of years ago. They were sent to the early BICC races in preparation for this race and came steady. This was my first go for a couple of years at the race so was happy to see her come in good time on their first proper test at this distance. She is raced on the roundabout system going out once a day for around one hour and fed Matador corn. We will look forward to sending her back next season”.

Second section 9th open as well as 5th section are a partnership that often feature at the sharp end of these classic races, Keith Gosling and Mick Jarvis of Mount Nessing in Essex. The partnership timed their five year old dark pied hen “Madame” and their five year old chequer pied cock “Frenchy” having their fourth Chanel race of the season. They had previously competed in the BICC Nationals from Falaise, St Philbert and Poitiers when they were flown on widowhood for these races but paired together after Poitiers in preparation for the Pau National and were sent sitting nine day old eggs. When Madame arrived home she was still keen to the eggs, sat them immediately and when Frenchy landed the partnership could not believe the pair were home. They are half brother and sister and both pigeons are consistent performers. Madame has previously won 1st section 89th BBC National Fougeres, 11th section 248th BBC National Cholet, 15th section 350th BBC National Fougeres, 21st section NFC Fougeres, 35th section 85th BICC National St Philbert and 48th UBI combine Falaise. Her sire was bred by John Searle and is full of long distance blood being a grandson of Tuff Nut 5th NFC Pau, The Emporer 2x1st National 1st and 2nd international Dax, Nadira 1st National 1st international Carcassone 1st National 1st International Perpignan 4th International Perpignan and 6th International Carcassone and Euro Diamond 1st National 2nd International Carcassone 3rd National 5th international Perpignan.Her Dam was bred by John Halstead and is daughter of Maurice 1st BBC National Palamos when paired to a daughter of Ashley 2nd BBC National Barcelona. Frenchy won 2nd section 6th BICC National Poitiers. His sire is the French cock, a son of Barcelona 1 winner of 1st French National Barcelona when paired to Miss Langon winner of 1st French National Langon. His dam bred by John Halstead is a daughter of Maurice 1st BBC National Palamos when paired to a daughter of Ashley 2nd BBC National Barcelona. The partnership feed in preparation for the longer races a mix of VL super widowhood Leige and high energy mixes with plenty of peanuts. The partnership entered 6 birds for the Pau race and timed 4.

At third section 12th Open is Mark Bulled from Harlow, a previous winner of the NFC Grand National race with “Legacy”. Mark said “I timed a 2yo hen feeding a week old baby. She is a granddaughter of Legacy 1st NFC Tarbes and Sergeant Cecil 1st LSECC Tarbes. I was particularly pleased to time my 5 year old widow cock ‘Paddy’ shortly after to hopefully win a certificate of merit award for 3 times in the first 100. Well done to all that timed in another testing Grand national. The best race in the UK.” Well done mark on another fine performance.

Forth section 13th Open is Dean Childs of Wickford. Another previous National winner and emerging as a National force at the distance. Here is what Dean said “GB17N069393 was my best long distance bird last year recording the following results: 6th Sect 6th Nat BICC Perpignan, 2nd Sect 12th Nat BICC Pau and 21st Sect 29th Nat BICC Cholet. This year he was prepared for NFC Pau. He had been kept celibate all year and paired to his hen three weeks before basketing and therefore sent sitting his first eggs of the year. His Breeding is 100% Mark Gilbert blood, the sire being from a super racing cock for Mark when paired to a direct daughter of Kanabal Barcelona which was herself 1st BICC Agen. The dam is a direct daughter of “Southfield Dream” 2nd NFC Tarbes for Mark, being clocked at around 9.30pm on the day of liberation”.

Section Q

Thanks to Perry Liddle for putting together this section report. It is difficult to race on the Cornish coastlines and I respect our members keep putting up great performances into Cornwall. “A relatively low entry from Section Q with only 11 fanciers sending 47 birds. They do say that there are no easy 500 mile races and once again Pau proved to be a real war of attrition with less than 10% of the convoy making it home by the end of race time. Leading the way with 1st Section Q, 260th Open was Team Luscombe and Wright, flying to Lee’s address in Roche. Capping a wonderful old bird season, they timed their good two year old blue bar widowhood cock at 20:13:11 on the Saturday evening to record 524ypm. Lee’s excitement when he clocked was summed up in a simple text message “Boom”. I phoned immediately, to find out what they had clocked, and Lee explained that he given absolutely everything to reach home. As he came over the rooftop, Lee hadn’t immediately recognised his wingbeat because he was so tired, then the huge rush of excitement came as he folded onto the drop board. Now named “Captain Q” for his efforts, this imposing blue cock is absolutely bred for the job being a grandson of “Champion De Cas” 1st International Barcelona Ace Pigeon 2009 – 2010 and “Champion Padfield’s Iron Lady” 4 times Barcelona, each one clocked in race time. Team Luscombe and Wright have had what can only be described as a dream season, previously winning the Section from Fougeres as well as taking Second Section from Messac. However, it was not just the fact that they timed early birds in each race, but also produced a solid team performance with multiple timers in each race. Hardly surprising, knowing the quality stock at their disposal from the House of Aarden. I would say that their season has not only been a triumph for their pigeons, but also a triumph for their preparation.The formation of the Cornwall Classic Club, specifically formed to provide focus on Classic Racing into Cornwall. Affiliation to the Devon South Road Federation, providing education for their birds, being pulled all over Devon and having to break and keep going to reach their homes in Cornwall. Regular testing for disease, to ensure that their birds are healthy, and finally a vigorous regime of exercise and meticulous feeding to bring them into form. With little left to chance, their performances are simply a reflection of planning, hard work and fearless execution. Of course, we congratulate the partnership on winning the Section, but also congratulate them on winning the Cornwall Classic Club from our longest race, which means that they also win the accolade of having the photograph of the winning pigeon “Captain Q” as the logo on our Facebook Group for the next 12 months. A fitting finish to an excellent old bird season; their hard work has been rewarded.

In our opinion, a bird which should have been second Section Q, 304th Open was timed by Jake Waldock, Chairman of the Cornwall Classic Club, flying to Trethurgy, who clocked his beautiful 4yo blue bar natural hen at 13:32:22 on Wednesday lunchtime to record 219.88ypm. This is a little hen simply never gives up and Jake has named her “Game Lady” for her efforts. She flew Tarbes in 2019 taking two weeks to get home, arriving with her belly completely skinned. Jake believes that she has been attacked by falcons so often, that she is literally terrified to go out of the loft. In her first training toss of 2020, from only 10 miles, she arrived home at lunchtime the following day, and Jake knew immediately that she needed time. Given her confidence, she had a training toss from Honiton as a sharpener before NFC Messac, which put her in top condition for Pau. She was sent as a spare hen who was jealous and flirting with the cock bird in the next nest box. Her pedigree, which Jake describes as seriously well bred, demonstrates an eclectic blend of old-fashioned Barcelona blood. Her sire being from a Des Coulter cock when paired to a Jack Randle Southwell, a granddaughter of Lady Jane (6x Barcelona or Palamos) and Morie, a Jack Shepherd Southwell, winner of 1st and 8th BICC Barcelona. Her dam, was bred from a brother to sister mating that were bred from a son of Lady Jane (6x Barcelona or Palamos) when paired to a granddaughter of Morie (1st and 8th BICC Barcelona). I had the pleasure of handling this hen a few days after her exertions and she really is a beautiful lady! Such a beautiful hen with a family lineage to match, absolutely bred for the job, it was disappointing to see her on the Provisional result, but excluded from the Final National Result. I understand that RPRA rules state that there will be no rounding in the calculation of the velocity, but it would have been nice if the velocity of Jake’s hen could have been rounded after calculation. The close of race time states 220ypm rather than 220.00ypm and if we take 219.88ypm to 0 significant figures it rounds to 220ypm. Therefore, we would like to appeal to the NFC to award Jake and Game Lady the card; it is the Pau Grand National after all! To give full credit to all the pigeons that managed to make their homes from Pau,

I would also like to mention five more gallant birds that never gave up and homed just outside of race time. Andy Haydon of Bude got his two year old blue chequer Busschaert Cock flying to 10-14 day eggs on the Wednesday morning. Andy told me that his bird is the full brother to his Fougeres timer, where Andy was 3rd Section and that their breeding goes back to the Busschaerts go way back to birds originally obtained from John Clapcott of Bodmin. I remember flying against John in the late 1980’s and he was always tough to beat across the water. Therefore it is little surprise that Andy has flown so consistently this year. The next four birds to get home, were once again to the ultra-consistent Team Luscombe and Wright. These Jan Aarden based birds have a true “never say die” attitude and simply keep going. Their second bird home was a yearling blue chequer cock, a grandson of Padfield’s Jack and Padfield’s St. Vincent that was previously 4th Section Messac. Third was a 2yo dark chequer cock, a grandson of Black Rico (Brother of Ridico the winner of 1stInternational Barcelona 2006) and Padfield’s Jack. Next was a yearling dark cheq W/F hen, bred from a son of Padfield’s Invincible when paired to a daughter of Padfield’s Kaysie, previously the winner of 4th Section Fougeres. Finally, was a yearling blue cheq w/f cock, a double grandson of Padfield’s St Vincent, that was previously the winner of 2nd Section Fougeres. What bodes well for the future is that their birds were all timed in the earlier NFC races. Proving that if you want to win from the extreme distance you simply have to send your best!

Section W

It is saddening to say that I have not received any information from D Jones in Wrexham who won first section 28th Open flying 684 miles or from Mark Sparey after winning second and third section flying 596 miles. Having said that, I do respect that some fanciers do not want any publicity although B Cooke & Son from Wrexham in fourth place did email me the details of his four year old blue cock on having his second channel race of the season, after not being raced last season due to injury. The sire was bred by Nicholas Adshead of Selby, and the dam bred by the late Tony Murray Wrexham.

Any news or views to me Chris Sutton on 01530 242548 or email