WELSH NATIONAL FLYING CLUB FOUGERES 2015 By Tom Harris Andy Kidd, 1 st Welsh National Flying Club Fougeres Thursday 28th May and, with the transport provided once again by the West of England Combine, a combination of approx 3,400 English and Welsh pigeons made yet another journey south to the French site of Fougeres. After an uneventful day s travelling the conveyor reported that they arrived on site at approx 4.30 pm UK time. After feeding and watering the birds, they were left to settle for the evening, in preparation of an anticipated early start the following morning. Sat morning and with blue skies and glorious weather reported above the site and on route to the Channel and beyond there was no delay for this one with the strings cut and the birds in the air at 0600 and after a few minutes the last remaining pigeons moved away and the convoy were homeward bound into a light westerly for the 250 mile journey north to home. There was a chance of rain moving in from the west later on the afternoon, but with such an early start and perfect conditions the entries were expected to be perched by such time The honour of 1st Welsh National Flying Club Fougeres went to the Newport loft of Andy Kidd, timing in at 12 17.24 after just over five-and-a-quarter hours on the wing. His fancied entry was a 2yr old cheq pied cock with a vel of 1317.45. The winning pigeon is of Lefebre Dhaenen bloodlines originating from the lofts of BobbyLe of Bargoed on the sire s side crossed with past National winning pigeons, "National Velvet" 1st national Liege and double National winning pigeon, "Rainman" 1st National Reims and Metz origin. To say Andy fancied this pigeon seems to be an understatement as on finalising the result it shows he had pooled the said pigeon through to 5 open
and within his club picked up a further 236.00 in club pools and nominations, so not a bad day at the office, all told. Winner of the Welsh National. Andy would like to thank the fanciers who phoned him to congratulate him on this recent win and also the race controller and convoyor of the WOE Combine for the care and attention and condition the pigeons returned in and a special thank you to Tommy Lamsdale for all the hard work he puts into assisting with the birds during the week. Without his help Andy was on the verge of calling it a day due to work commitments and poor health. Shortly after I had the pleasure of visiting the winning loft to carry out the verification and was greeted by other fanciers and family who had also gathered to congratulate the potential winner. They informed me that two pigeons were seen heading from the east and whilst the one trapped here, the other continued on. This proved to be the case, as within a few minutes, considering a two mile overfly allowance, the second place winner was confirmed also in the Newport area at the loft of Mr & Mrs Keith Beresford and sons (Sam & Jack), timing in at 11.21. vel 1314.2. The partnership have flown a consistent pigeon up to now in 2015 and their arrival on this occasion was a 2yr old cheq cock of Janssen bloodlines which the partnership bred themselves and which was sent sitting a few day old eggs prior to basketing. This pigeon has currently recorded some outstanding club positions for the partnership including 3 x 1st club 2x1st sec and 2 x 1st federation honours For 3rd open we head north to the Abertillery lofts of Ray Nichols son (Paul) and grandson (Craig), with the partnership timing in a 2yr old Janssen x Koopman cheq hen on a vel of 1303, which was sent sitting eight days. This hen was bred and purchased from the local partnership of Mr & Mrs Durham also of Abertillery and originates from the Wiltshire partnership of Smith and Baker from Swindon. I am also informed that this is the same pigeon that the partnership timed in from Carentan two weeks ago and as a yearling also claimed top spot in their club and 6th WSR National in 2014 To finish the top four we go back to our recent 2015 WNFC Carentan winning loft of Ray Lambert in Abergavenny whose loft maintains its winning streak, timing in at 11.45 with a vel of 1294. Ray s arrival is a two year old blue white-flight hen sent sitting fourteen day old eggs and comes
through the same lines as his Carentan winner, originally sourced from Sheedy Stevens from Pontypool and is related to his recent 1st WNFC Carentan winner. So another successful race with fanciers more than happy with the final outcome and most reporting just the odd one or two away at clock checking, and pleasing feedback on the condition that the birds were in on their return. This I was asked to publish in tribute to the way the convoyors of the WOE Combine looked after the birds. So we move on now slightly further out in a week s time to Messac when once again the WOE Combine will be transporting our entries and as a result of past weeks racing and with members having very few loses we are anticipating yet another well supported event. We move closer to the two longest races from Bergerac and Pau when we open our doors for our members to duplicate from the Central Southern Classic. As usual this week s top pigeons appear below. June 2015 Pos Name Velocity AFT Distance Ring Prize Pools Pool Money Total 1 A Kidd 1317.457 5:17:24 237,1041 W13N01568 150.00 ABCDE F 96.25 246.25 2 Mr & Mrs Beresford & son 1314.268 5:21:11 239,1481 W13T05531 100.0 0ABCD 28.25 128.25 3 Nichols Son & G. son 1303.053 5:36:35 249,346 GB13E35528 75.00 ABCDE F 9.75 84.75 4 R Lambert 1294.598 5:45:50 254,675 W12T04001 50.00 5 Mr & Mrs Beresford & son 6 Frampton & Price 1289.378 5:27:23 239,1481 W13N04346 30.00 1287.615 5:39:53 248,1159 GB13E35456 30.00 7 R Lambert 1285.614 5:48:15 254,675 GB13P11249 25.00 ABCD 8 T Hawkins Family 9 Scammell & Peploe 10 Mr & Mrs Russell 1280.769 5:25:38 236,1701 NW14B6651 20.00 1277.772 5:42:20 248,944 W12N08436 20.00 1274.619 5:50:2 253,879 NW14B6326 15.00
Pos Name Velocity AFT Distance Ring Prize Pools Pool Money Total 11 Mr & Mrs Beresford &son 12 Mr & Mrs T Mathews 13 Mr & Mrs T Mathews 1273.559 5:31:27 239,1481 W14T06481 15.00 1272.745 5:50:49 253,1220 GB13F30687 10.00 1271.597 5:51:8 253,1220 GB13F30883 10.00 14 M Mayo 1268.158 5:44:2 247,1587 W13K00082 15 Hall & Macullam 1267.508 5:44:9 247,1493 W13K00217