Secretary’s Weekly Report

John & Steven Best 1st & 2nd NFC Section N Messac

Messac National

Initially we thought there was little chance of birds making it into the North East on the day. Whereas it looked good for the west side of the country. Towards the East of the country there had been a troublesome north east wind for around a week which would make the going tough. As the day progressed there were increasing signs that perhaps something may get through on the night especially when the cloud broke up and the sun broke through. The visibility improved immensely and it became very warm. Alas, despite this surge of optimism, it was not to be and the alarms were set for an early start on Monday morning.

Monday morning the weather was glorious and it was not long before word came through of birds arriving albeit at a trickle.

Taking 1st and 2nd Sportsman FC, 1st and 2nd Section N & the Premier Stud sponsorship of a £200 voucher to spend at the stud are new NFC members John Best and son Steven flying 471 miles into Stockton. They timed at 5.19 and 6.03am so these birds must have been pretty close to home at nightfall on Sunday. Both were hen’s flying on roundabout, their first a 2013 late bred called “Gem Stone” was previously 4th club 5th Section N from Fougeres two weeks earlier, that’s 900 miles in two weeks.

Their second bird comes from the Crehan & O’Connor bloodlines of RIP & Mystique. These have proved very successful for the partnership. John was telling me that he really fancied this hen which also takes 1st in the club Show Race winning £150 prize money. They also timed a 3rd bird at 8.57am to take 8th Section.

At 3rd club 3rd Section comes the very consistent Barrie Blackett of Butterknowle who timed a very promising yearling at 6.13am Barrie is always keen to push his yearlings along if fit and timed a second at 10.46am. to take 13th Section. The ever popular and consistent loft of Driver, Dawson & Dawson from Greenside flying 492 miles take 4th club 4th Section timing at 7.08am. Speaking to Robert Dawson, they were extremely disappointed at the ratio of returns both in this and the previous race and are missing some very experienced birds.

Making a strong show taking 5th club 6th Section comes the partnership of Malcolm, Heslington & Jones. These guys are quite new to National racing and full of enthusiasm for the Sport in general, their efforts earned them 2nd in the Show Race and £75 prize money.

Taking 6th and 7th club 7th and 8th Section is Bob Mckie his first bird being a 3 year old hen through his Peter Virtue stock. And his second a Cheq Pied cock being a direct son of “Dawson” who won this race and 30th Section K last season. Bob has high hopes for this bird who like the hen was sent sitting a 4 day baby. These two birds take 3rd and 4th in the Show Race along with £75 prize money the second bird also won the £10 single Nomination. In 8th club 9th Section were the consistent lofts of McSween & Sexton who timed at 9.40am.

The lofts of Mr and Mrs Murphy, Tommy & Wayne Johnson, Terry Unsworth, Armstrong, Shergold, Johnson & Moon all timed on Monday morning. Nevertheless at 8.00pm returns were poor with less than 35% back.

We now move on to the Ancenis National, but are not expecting significant levels of entry. Big well done to the race Open winners Mr & Mrs Pym & R Pym, and all Section winners hopefully we will see a positive shift in the weather in the next weeks with improved racing conditions.

Finally I just want to say a big “Thank You” to the Sid and Karen our NFC Secretaries for all their help in recent months. I know how busy they have been lately with a great deal on their plates and they deserve all our support at what is a very busy and indeed stressful time of the year.

Bob Mckie

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Sportsman club members Bob McKie & Gary Heslington with Nick Adshead at Messac marking at Sheffield Tommy Johnson presenting Robert Dawson with the Vanrobaeys sponsorship for the Fougeres race

Another busy week with everything focussed on the Messac National. It came as no surprise that the club entry levels significantly dropped for the second race of the season. After a difficult first race and poor Saturday club racing there has been some major impacts across the UK racing scene. The lack of sunshine and the continued cold edge to prevailing Northerly winds has caused real problems even more so when associated and aggravated by unpredictable atmospheric disturbances. Our little gladiators when managed professionally do perform unbelievably well but “mother nature” can be devastating as we have experienced once again.

On Wednesday the 1st June members met up at our HQ with their entries for transporting early Thursday morning to Sheffield.

We ended up with 14 member’s sending 89 birds and overall there were 118 birds entered by 16 members in Section N. In the Open there were 6304 birds entered by 737 members. Once the birds were loaded we made the presentation of Vanrobaey sponsorship prizes to Driver, Dawson & Dawson who won 1st Sportsman FC and 1st Section N in the Fougeres National. Many congratulations again to the partnership. Everyone was also keen to congratulate club member Tommy Johnson, from Newton Aycliffe who topped the Durham Combine from Eastbourne. An excellent performance by Tommy and his son Wayne whose birds have already topped their Federation several times in Saturday racing this season.

Back to the Messac National which is also our Club Show race and although we had 59 birds in the show from 17 members many of the birds entered have fallen foul of the tough racing. I estimate that no more than 35 show birds have made it to the starting line.

There is some excellent prize monies to fly for:

1st £150. 2nd £75. 3rd £45. 4th £30
Single £10 Nom. winner takes all £140

So anyone lucky enough to still have birds competing we will try to keep you appraised of how this aspect of the race shapes up in real time.

Looks like another hard race today Sunday 5th June with the birds liberated at 0940am in no wind after a one day holdover. They cleared the race point well. Best of luck to everyone.

Bob Mckie

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Fougeres National flown 22nd May

Well after a long wait the first National of the programme has come and gone and what a tester it proved to be for North East lofts.

A total of 184 birds were sent by 20 members to the race. It was disappointing that we faced a one day holdover yet given the prevailing weather it was to be expected. Personally I was slightly surprised that the birds were liberated at 9.30 am in a North West wind on the Sunday thinking Monday looked a better flying day. However I have every confidence in the Race Controllers and fully understood their decision. The MNFC who were flying a few miles less than the NFC did hold until the Monday and it seems they had a stinking race with many empty perches on the night. As Sunday progressed and after speaking with contacts further down the country it quickly became obvious that it would take something special to make it on the day. It was therefore great news when word came through that last season’s top loft in the Sportsman, Driver, Dawson & Dawson had timed at 20.48pm to not only win the club but 1st Section N.

Then shortly after I learnt that new members Armstrong, Shergold, Johnson & Moon had timed a cracker at 21.16pm to take the Second spot in the club, 3rd Section N. Great flying by both lofts.

With plenty to play for next morning it meant an early start and we soon had arrivals being reported across the North East:

• Allan Walker - Stockton just after 5.15am
• John Best - Stockton just after 5.30am
• Bob Mckie - Chopwell 6.26am
• Followed by Gordon Braban, Mcsween & Sexton, Mr & Mrs Jeff Murphy, Fred Mcluskey, Terry Unsworth, Jim Nicholson, Barrie Blackett, Tom Riddle, Malcolm, Heslington & Jones & John Fellows

Several of the above members timed in more than one bird. However overall returns were disappointing with less than 40% back home at clocks and not a lot back since.

Messac National scheduled for the 4th June

Once again the weather forecast is pointing towards unpredictable conditions with exaggerated solar activity likely to aggravate matters.

Nevertheless let’s hope we see a good entry and with this being the Show race there is plenty at stake financially. Best of luck to everyone.

Jim Nicholson

Members may not be aware that “Sunny” Jim has been very poorly and last week and ended up in hospital with Pneumonia. I understand that he is on the mend and on behalf of the members I wish you a speedy recovery. Similarly Ann Murphy has been under the weather and ended up in hospital last Saturday on the eve of the race. Hope you feel better Ann and get well soon.

NFC Website

There has been considerable criticism voiced over the failures/problems encountered with the current system. This is not without some foundation but I would ask members to give Sid and our IT provider some leeway to improve performance. There are a vast amount of changes this season and you cannot really perform realistic stress testing until we are in a live testing environment ie. racing season. The capacity of the server has already been addressed the system needs running time to iron-out the wrinkles!

Believe me having worked on the largest IT systems in Europe nothing is straightforward when upgrading processes.

Bob Mckie

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Fougeres National 21/5/16

Bob McKie & Robert Dawson with Phil Curtis NFC Chairman at Sheffield marking for Fougeres

On Wednesday night everyone met up at the Sportsman at Toft Hill where the race entry sheets were checked, clocks collected and birds loaded for transporting to Sheffield early next morning.

Thanks to Robert Dawson who provided additional transport and to Jeff Walton and John Fellows who accompanied us to the marking station. 20 members sent in total 182 birds although the total entry in Section N was 204 birds by 22 members. Overall in the Open 929 members entered 8648 birds.

Brian Denney & Barry Winter at the Sheffield marking for Fougeres

At Sheffield it was very busy indeed and all four of us were kept busy and everything went reasonably smoothly despite the odd system problems with the marking station equipment.

We had a chance to speak briefly with friends from Yorkshire and also to give the transporter a quick “once over”. It is some piece of equipment, expensive yes but the birds are really well catered for. It was then back to the North East and as expected we ran a little late due to the continued road works and imposed speed limits.

Constant water on three sides of the crates from leaving Shefield marking

Best of luck to everyone who has birds away. Remember we have excellent Sponsorship from Vanrobaeys for the race winner and let us hope we can kick off with a Section N winner in this inaugural race.

The holdover of birds today Saturday, was not a surprise given the prevailing weather. Sunday looks a lot better in the UK however France and the Channel could be unsatisfactory and everything points to a Monday liberation.

Cooling fans in the NFC transporter

Clock checking

Remember to verify your first arrival within one hour of timing and to fill in your verification sheet including the verification number you are given when recording your first arrival. This sheet must be handed in with your clock at checking. This point cannot be stressed enough failure to do so can and will lead to disqualification. 

Bob Mckie

Secretary’s Weekly Report

NFC

By now you should all have received your copy of the 2016 Season Handbook. Take time to have a read of the handbook get to know the club rules, particularly those relating to baskets and clocks.

Any questions just give me a call or drop me an email.

Fougeres National 21st May - Club Sponsor Vanrobaey Feeds

Now less than a week away so I hope you have everything in order.

Must say a big thank you to Sid and Karen Barkel for all their help and support this last couple of weeks. You can imagine how difficult a time it has been for our NFC Secretaries with Handbook printing chaos, IT system changes and sheer volume of telephone traffic that these issues generated. It can’t have been easy with such a massive membership and let’s hope next weekend goes smoothly. Don’t forget there are always going to be some irritations with the computers at the beginning of a new season until the amended programme has settled.

Back to the racing. Don’t forget that Part A entry forms must be with Sid by Monday AM at the latest. No exceptions.

Section pools should be entered and paid for on the part A of your entry form. Remember there is no club pooling!

Don’t forget to bring Part B of the entry form with your birds on Wednesday night.

Your baskets should clearly display your name and NFC membership number & cocks or hens.

ETS clocks go down to Sheffield with the birds. Arrangements to return these and baskets will be confirmed on Wednesday night. I will have spare verification sheets with me on Wednesday if anyone needs them.

We will look to have T3 clocks set and struck by 8.30pm at latest.

As discussed at last meeting could members please let Jeff or I know how many birds your sending by no later than Noon on Monday. This will assist in deciding transport arrangements.

I anticipate that we will need 4 members down at Sheffield and I am grateful to Jeff, John Fellows and Robert Dawson who have stepped forward to go. It will be busy and there will be quite a bit to co-ordinate at the marking station.

Weather Forecast for Next Weekend

Depending which web-site you look at, I would say that the wind is likely to be variable possibly some South in it to start with which will give the birds a good start. In the latter part of race the wind appears to be more west north west. Always going to be a chance of showers, the concern I have is cloud cover and atmospheric conditions. Remember this is a personal view and things can change dramatically in a week!

Best of luck to everyone competing next weekend. Hopefully we will have a strong club showing and possibly the first NFC Section N victor. Whatever happens the winner is sure of a big “well done” from everyone.

Bob Mckie

Email: bmckie@tiscali.co.uk

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Fougeres National

Be on your marks the first National of the season is 2 weeks from today and there is everything to play for in the Sportsman Flying Club. Could we have the 1st Section N winner in the Club? What a fantastic start that would be to the new season.

NFC News

It has been a hectic 10 days for the Officials and Secretaries of the NFC. The Print Co. responsible for publishing the Annual Handbook went into Liquidation without warning. However after some pressure from Officials the Company has agreed to do a print run as mentioned by Jeff in his Group Text and the handbook should be with you shortly. In the meantime you should have received copies of the necessary entry forms and verification cards for the first 2 National races in the post Friday or Saturday. Remember though that you can as an alternative send your entry in on-line.

Also you should have received in a separate communication your new NFC code number. This should be used on your race entry forms, to log into the website and on all correspondence with the club.

Well done to everyone involved for acting so swiftly and averting a possible farce.

Next I thought it would be helpful just to recap on the new:

Champion of Champions League!

Sponsored by Hartwell Car Dealers

Entry is free and the rules are:

• A minimum of 4 out the first 5 races must be entered to qualify.

• Each participating member is allowed to nominate 5 birds per race

• The Top 5 on the race sheet will be the nominated birds, ETS users will be the Top 5 on the ETS sheet, unless Part B of the entry sheet is filled in with the Top 5 again, on that sheet.

• The nominated birds have to finish in the top 10% in the Section result to get points. E.g. 463 birds in your section, equals, in the top 47 in Section to qualify.

• Any number above the whole number will be rounded up for Section Qualification.

• Points are allocated from 10 down to 1 per nominated bird, per Section.

• Each Section Champion, at the end of the 5 races will receive £150 Prize Money.

• The member with the most points will be declared the winner. In the event of a tie then the member with the most 1st places will be declared the winner. If this is the same then it will go down to 2nd places, and so on until a winner is declared.

• The overall Champion of Champions, will be the Member with the most points and beaten all other Section winners, will Win a New Car sponsored by Hartwell Car Dealers.

BICC

The first BICC race of the season took place on Saturday 30th April and what a great performance by John Rumney. Flying from Falaise a distance of 416 miles, the birds were liberated mid-morning into a cold, brisk North wind. When the news came through that Mark Gilbert had timed the probable 1st Open doing 1219 ypm it was clear that the handful of north east birds entered were in for a tough race. John, clocked at just after 9:00pm as the light was rapidly fading to record a brilliant velocity of 1135.809.ypm to win 1st NC Section from 198 birds entered by 26 lofts. This bird should be very high up in the Open result and is a real credit to its owner who is earning a strong reputation as a National flier. Well done again John.

Bob Mckie

Email: bmckie@tiscali.co.uk

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Fougeres National 21st May - Countdown

Yes the first NFC race of the season from Fougeres is only 21 days away so countdown has started. There are a few key dates which you need to put in your diary. These are:

Saturday 14th May: Deadline for posting Part A race entry forms with numbers of entry and along with Fees and your Section /Open pools. These should be sent to Sid Barkel the NFC Secretary, remember if you miss the deadline then your entries will not be accepted. You can if you prefer to enter your birds and pay by card on line. (I have used this method for last two seasons and it is simple and straight-forward once you get used to it. It saves a lot of hassle!)

Sunday 15th May: Members to text Sportsman FC secretary with their entry numbers. This will help determine what transport needs to be arranged.

Monday 16st May: Sportsman FC secretary to finalise transport arrangements.

Wednesday 18th May: Birds picked up at Sportsman, Toft Hill. T3 clocks will be set that night (8:00pm). ETS clocks go with birds to Sheffield along with your Part B entry forms. All baskets to be labelled with members full name.

Saturday 21st May: Fougeres Race Day. We will be sending out updates/prompts by group text as race day approaches.

Vanrobaeys

Once again a massive thank you to Vanrobaeys who are again sponsoring all Sportsman Club races this season. Remember that the race winner will receive 2 bags of corn as well as a range of their racing products. An excellent gesture and well worth winning. If you want to see a full range of their products just pop in to Terry Knox’s warehouse at Swalwell. You will be made very welcome and there are always bargains to be had as well as the mandatory cup of coffee.

I would personally recommend you have a look at Vanrobaeys “Premium Power Range” which is the first choice of many top distance lofts not only in the UK but also Germany and the Netherlands.

Any news just drop me an email.

Bob Mckie 07828 96 14 42 Email bmckie@tiscali.co.uk

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Annual Phone-In Young Bird Sale

Well what another busy week for Jeff Walton who planned, co-ordinated, and managed the Annual Sale. This task is not without its pressures, normally you experience a steady build up during the first few days of the sale with a crescendo of activity in the final hour. With 31 lots to manage it is always going to be somewhat frenetic at times. Many thanks to Jeff and the club members who helped him John Fellows, Gary Heslington, Paul Fullard and Matthew Walton who designed and manages the Sportsman FC website.

The success of the sale is dependent on the quality of youngsters donated and the bidder participation. And as usual we were not let down on either account, some fantastically well-bred babies given without hesitation by members and club supporters. It is a measure of the clubs reputation that bids were received from across the UK and we wish all successful bidders the very best with their purchases. Also to the many others who bid but were not successful this time. A big “thank you” for helping to make the sale such a success.

NFC Business

Check out the NFC website if you have not already done so. You will see the latest initiative which invites members to comment on matters that really matter. It allows members to make suggestions for improvement and is all aimed at involving members in shaping club improvements.

Next the new “Champion of Champions League” which is being launched by the NFC this coming season. This competition will be competed for over the first five old bird races through a series of nominations by members who will have to nominate five birds in each race and a nominated bird will have to finish in the top 10% of their section to gain points. These points accumulate over the season and the fancier at the top of the table wins a new motor car sponsored by Hartwells. At a time when many businesses are struggling and under pressure to make efficiencies this continued sponsorship deal is most generous and should be applauded. The competition will be fully outlined in the annual handbook which should be with you shortly.

There is a second new car being sponsored for the Tarbes National race. This is a joint venture between Hartwells, Mark Gilbert and Eamon Kelly. Another fantastic gesture of generosity.

One or two members may have experienced some problems when attempting to log-on to the NFC website. It is hoped that these issue’s will be sorted shortly but let me know if you have any continued problems and I will chase these up with Sid Barkel.

Fougeres National 28th May

In just over a month we will soon be in the thick of the national race programme. Hopefully and despite the changeable weather you will have got the necessary training and race preparation in hand for your charges. There is no room for error in the birds preparation and they need to be on top of their game from the off if you want to be successful on the National scene. Best of luck.

Bob Mckie

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Club Young Bird Phone-in Sale

The sale is now in full swing with adverts appearing in this week’s National Pigeon Press and also on our website. Please take a few minutes to check out the birds on offer and support your club by getting involved. Happy bidding remember that some excellent winners have been sold in previous years.

McSween & Sexton

This partnership epitomises the quality of fanciers in our club not only in their racing performances but also the support they offer to others. I want to share with you the substance of a recent unsolicited letter received from Tom Williams of Orpington, Kent concerning Dave Mcsween. Without wishing to embarrass Dave I could not ignore the letter received the thrust of which I have paraphrased below.

Tom, wrote to thank Dave for his help which he wanted to highlight as well as his generosity. Having been out of racing for 35 years Tom started racing at the distance with little success. Having read about the partnerships performances from Bourges he eventually telephoned Dave to discuss and congratulate him for his performances. Following this conversation Dave offered Tom some youngsters and sent him 3 young cocks. When put to stock all bred outstanding race birds including Mr Reliable who won 2nd Tours L&SECCC. 277 miles. 2nd Sect 18th Open Bergerac 452 miles, 2nd Sect 16th Open Tarbes 562 miles. Mr Reliable had 8 races from France, never had a night out and is now at stock breeding prize winning youngsters.

Another bird named Seagull by Tom, bred a 1st club 5th fed 11th Combine Poitiers 331 miles also a 76th Open Tarbes, 20th Open Bergerac L&SECC and 1st club from 100 miles (real all-rounder).

The third cock bred him Bob’s 99 who last year was 85th Open NFC Tarbes a very tough race as we know. This was his 5th channel race of the season and was one of 4 sent to the Tarbes race and all four got home.

Tom only races with 12 widowhood cocks, he feeds heavy and races hard. His young birds are not raced but trained 14 times from different places with the Padfield family saying in mind “try to lose them”.

Finally Tom says “Thanks Dave, you are a real gentleman and what a fantastic club you have up there at the Sportsman. I wish you all the very best for 2016”.

RPRA

A copy of the 2016 Official Rules of the RPRA can be found in this week’s edition of the BHW. Worth a read, any proposals for the AGM should be past to me sooner rather than later.

NFC Handbook

You can view the 2016 NFC handbook by going to the NFC website.

Bob Mckie

Secretary’s Weekly Report

Very quiet week and the last few days weather has lived up to the predicted forecast with a limited number of opportunities to grab some training. This is less of an issue for long distance candidates nevertheless it all adds to the real challenge of preparing birds for National events.

Metcheck

Forecast for next week is showing little change and is typical for April. Plenty of east in the wind in the early part of week changing to fresh southerly by end of week. No escaping the showers though, but these don’t appear to be as heavy.

Saturday Club racing

Kicks off this weekend with some organisations delaying race by 24 hours. Hope you all have a good start.

Young Bird sale

Jeff has collated the advert and dispatched to RP / BHW. If you check out this week’s BHW / RP you will see that I did another club article in which the sale was trailed. The sale list has also been posted on the club website giving everyone plenty of time to browse the quality stock available.

Membership

Still receiving the odd enquiry from NE lads considering the National scene. Hopefully we could still hit 50 members before the end of this month.

Marking Station for Section N

During the coming months I will look to open negotiations with the Management Committee for our own Section marking station from 2017/18. There are a couple of key issue’s to resolve and I would appreciate members help:

1. We need to identify 2 or 3 possible suitable locations. These need to be within 5 minutes drive of A1, have good access and decent facilities. Would envisage having to basket on a Wednesday (Tarbes would be Monday) night using NFC baskets which would have to be ferried down to Sheffield before 8.30pm next day.

2. Names of members willing to help run the marking station. I know this is premature but the principle needs to be flagged now. Without this support we cannot hope to establish our own Section marking station. If you followed the Chichester marking station you will know what I mean. Thankfully a small team has stepped forward to run the station otherwise it would have been closed.

3. Agreement that Cumbrian Section be offered the choice of using Section N facilities.

4. Having moved these issue’s forward I would anticipate some central financial support in operating the marking station from the NFC.

I really would appreciate your ideas and thoughts on this issue. My email address is bmckie@tiscali.co.uk or give me a call/text on my mobile 07828961442.

Bob Mckie