Willsbridge Bergerac Race 1 st Open 1 st NW Section Chris Howse & David Parsons from Devizes with Jalta Our second longest and last old bird race of 2013 saw 10 organisations join together and make the trip down to Bergerac. On board with us was the LSECC, Guernsey RPC, Welsh NRFC, Solent Fed, South Coast Fed, SMT Combine, Dorset Fed, Wiltshire Fed and B, B & O Fed making a convoy of approximately 2,500 pigeons, 877 of these birds sent by 192 members of the CSCFC. Thank you to all the markers and helpers from every organisation who made the marking of these birds come together on marking day. For the liberation day temperatures were due to remain on the high side and with East and North East winds up through France it was always going to be a hard race. After gathering all his information Nigel released the birds at 5.40am. By nightfall 40 birds had been verified which is exceptional considering not many birds will fly 14-15 hours and with the temperatures we had. The winners of the Central Southern Classic Bergerac 2013 are Chris Howse and David Parsons of Devizes, 1 st Open 1 st NW Section. Jalta now aptly named after Jane and Chris' five grandchildren who were all present at the family barbeque (Jay, Alfie, Layla, Toby and Archie) on race day when Jalta returned home. After what has been a difficult season, this is a delightful result. Jalta was the first of two birds to be clocked in on the day. This is the second time that Chris has been fortunate enough to win the Bergerac Classic. The last time was with Windup in 1999. This is Jalta's sixth cross channel race of the season. In his last Channel race with the West of England Combine from Saintes, he was the third bird home. Jalta's sire is the full brother to his NFC Certificate of Merit winner. The dam is a Dutch bred Champius Janssen. His nest mate won first section NFC Messac in 2011. Jalta is raced on the widowhood system. David regularly screens the race team for general health and specifically, canker, coccidia and worm eggs. All are given AviForte twice weekly. Chris would like to thank his good friend, Richard Green, for taking his race team to the marking station. He would also like to thank everyone for their calls of congratulation.
Chris Howse and David Parsons with Layla and Archie. 2 nd Open, 1 st SW Section goes to Kenny Land from Bournemouth. I have raced pigeons for almost 40 years with many wins and a lot of disappointments on the way. 3-4 years ago I introduced some long distance birds from A E shephard of Emsworth. My 2 nd Open and 1 st SW Section bird is from one of Bert s best being a Grandson of Jubilant and two weeks ago I was 1 st Dorset Fed with a Grand daughter of 7up, Bert s Barcelona Winner. I would like to thank Bert and his good lady for the warm welcome and refreshments on our visit. I would also like to say thanks to Steve Bastable for taking the picture for me. Yours in sport. Kenny. Kenny Land.
A man who truly deserves this next position is Eddie Rann from Chillerton, IOW who takes 1 st SE Section, 3 rd Open with his blue pied cock named Hughie. Eddie works tirelessly for pigeon fanciers on the Isle of Wight to get their birds over to the mainland in time for marking. Eddie and his daughter Freya pictured here holding their first timed bird. "Hughie" was flown on a natural system and was racing to a two week old pair of young birds, and his hen had already laid again. "Hughie" had previously flown Le Mans with the B.I.C.C. when he was Eddie's second bird timed. The sire is a Noel Perrin stock bird X Hugh Booth's 1 st Bordeaux National, also an Isle of Wight fancier. Eddie feeds Garvo corn and increases fats towards the end of the week prior to the bigger races. Eddie would like to say well done to C Howse and D Parsons on winning the race and also to the convoyer s on a great job transporting the birds. "Hughie" returned in very good condition and this dedicated and meticulous fancier from the Isle of Wight had done an excellent job in his preparation for this race. Eddie and Freya Rann. Taking 4 th Open 2 nd SW Section, 19 th Open 10 th SW Section from their 3 bird entry are John & David Staddon of Evercreech. Dave Staddon explains...firstly we'd like to send our congratulations to Chris Howse on his winning bird, quite magnificent, well done mate. We haven't sent to the Bergerac Classic many times in the past few years but decided with our birds in such great form in recent weeks we would give it a go. It was a good old fashioned tough day for a Classic race with high temperatures and a head wind, which saw many members unable to verify a bird on the night. We were joined in our wait on Friday evening with our great mate Dave Young of Fine Arts Lofts who last visited us when we won 1 st & 30 th Open BICC Tours earlier this season. He's clearly our lucky charm!!! Again, we entered three cocks, racing on the Chaos System and we timed our yearling cock now named Shapway DV at 18.33 taking 4 th Open after his 456 mile journey. This cock was
bred by our Glastonbury club mate Dave Vowles of Street (hence the name) from his Reg Venner stock. Dad and I would like to acknowledge Dave s role in breeding this great pigeon, nobody has better Venner pigeons at stock than Dave and nobody knows the Venner birds like Dave. Unfortunately Dave was taken unwell last weekend and spent much of last week in hospital but DV cheered him up with taking 4 th Open in this tough Classic race. We d like to send our get well soon message to Dave in this column. This yearling cock had three channel races as a young bird including being our only bird on the day from the NFC young bird national. Our second bird was timed at 20.05 and was one of our best cocks Shapway Unbreakable he has previously been 4 th BICC Carentan, 30 th BICC Tours, 75 th BICC Falaise, 79 th CSCFC Carentan, 102 nd NFC Saintes, 157 th NFC Tarbes, 173 rd NFC Fougeres and 8 days prior to basketing for Bergerac he was provisional 65 th Open NFC Tarbes in a very tough race and now 19 th Classic Bergerac on a very tough day. A pigeon we are proud of. He is bred down from pigeons from Tom Gilbertson & Joe Raeburn. John and David Staddon. Lawrence and Marg Cowley from Grimstone are 5 th Open 3 rd SW Section with a blue cock GB11N90488 bred from birds given by Albert Sayer of Louth. He flew paired until NFC Cholet then put back on Widowhood until Bergerac. Training for this race was being exercised around the loft twice a day with a 35 mile toss on Saturday 6 th July with 4 cocks and 4 hens dropping together. They were then let out to have a bath and do as they wanted being split after 3 hours. Sunday and Monday he was exercised around the loft twice a day and let out Monday with his hen after feeding. On basketing day he was taken from his bowl then passed over to Davis & Swain, Convoyers. I was going to pair him up, but my mentor Geoff Sheppard from Shipston on Stour said, No Way and that was that. I must thank my wife, Marg, for all her help and support.
Lawrence Cowley. The terrible two Tony Cottrell and Ollie Richmond from Wimborne are having another successful season, this time being 6th Open 4 th SW Section with their 4 year old dark chequer white flight cock Cyrano GB 09 N 85997. The sire, a red chequer cock given to us by our good friend Andy Parsons. He told us it was breeding birds that were flying very well for him, and that was enough for us! This cock was paired to a dark Lowick Bros hen. They are very good long distance fanciers and live in Northern Holland. From the extreme distance races they go to their lofts at midnight, put on all the lights surrounding the loft and wait. They have timed winners between 1am and 3am many times. Tony bought a pair at Blackpool and they have bred some really good pigeons for us. Cyrano went to Tarbes NFC in 2012 but didn t return for ten days and then had flights missing in his wing and no tail. This year we nursed him along but each race we felt he wasn t quite ready. He didn t go to any race but had an 85 mile training toss the Saturday before the Bergerac marking. He handled really well and we put him in the basket. Our first timer on Saturday morning at 05.32 hours was out first bird in from NFC Tarbes two weeks prior. We would like to thank the Convoyer Nigel Rigiani for getting the birds away early giving them a fighting chance to get home on what was always going to be a hard flying day. Our congratulations to the winners and all who timed on the day.
Tony Cottrell and Ollie Richmond. Very consistent fliers on the south coast are Steve and Yvette Harris and Daughter from Portchester who are 7 th Open 2 nd SE Section with this cracking 2 year old blue cock. Firstly, I would like to congratulate Mr E. Rann on winning the South East Section. The pigeon we timed was bred for us by friends Les, Dawn and Luke Cross of Gosport. He has had several good results, his best performances are 9 th Open 4 th SE Section CSCFC Carentan YB 2,258 birds in 2011, 79 th Open 3 rd Section NFC Cholet 5,886 birds, 4 th Open 2 nd Section NFC Fougeres 7,064 birds and now provisional 7 th Open 2 nd Section CSCFC Bergerac. He is raced on widowhood and this was his 7 th race of the season. I would like to thank Les, Dawn and Luke for breeding us this top class bird and I would like to thank the Convoyers as my bird came back in top condition.
Steve and Yvette Harris. Johnny East Wind Attrill form Salisbury 8 th Open 3 rd SE Section. Congratulations and well done to all the winners of the CSCFC. Originally I entered 3 birds which are meant to be long distance and hard day pigeons but on the day of marking I took 8 in total with me to the marking station at Sarisbury Green. I let 3 go in the car park and entered an extra 2 in the race this pigeon being one of them. On return from the race I looked at my breeding records to find this bird was a gift from Ian Crammond and Nigel Langstaff and she only found her way in to the racing loft as I was short of hens for my race cocks. If I had looked at my record book before hand I would not have entered her. She has a star against her number in my stock book meaning she is (special). This 2 year old blue hen is a pure Bosua from Ian and Nigel s number 1 pair. Everything from this pair has breed winners (National). She has been raced down the leg as all my hens have. P.S I am still waiting for the 3 so called distance birds and have both my car park birds home.
Johnny East Wind Attrill. 9 th Open 4 th Section are Tony and Claire Adams from Fareham. Our 4 th Section 9th Open Bergerac Classic is a 2 year old medium size blue chequer flown on the Widowhood system. He flew consistently up to Saintes as a yearling, then prepared specially for this race by having four channel races up to Messac (210 miles in 2013). His breeding is Franz Zwols x Jos Thone. The Sire is a Franz Zwols Dutch Prince and De Diament lines and the Dam is Jos Thone "Kleine Molenaar" and champion "Poco" lines. As well as this, we also clocked his two half brothers on the Saturday, Franz Zwols x Ponderosa Janssen. We congratulate all of the Solent Fed members who clocked in on Friday night in what turned out to be a very testing race. Tony and Claire Adams.
Ken and Sue Francis from Sarisbury Green, Southampton 10 th Open 5 th SE Section. Well, Bergerac 2013, another tough one! As Bergerac always seems to be, so well done to the winners and we think all the birds that made it home on the day deserve recognition for their bravery. Our pigeon a blue widowhood cock The 17 was pencilled in for Bergerac at the beginning of the season having performed consistently to 200 miles as a yearling in 2012. Two weeks prior to Bergerac he was 7 th Solent Fed Saintes, another tough one. He comes through our old family of Fountainhead Janssens the original Van Drunnen lines. We ve kept these pigeons since turning South Road back in 1989, only putting into them a few select distance introductions. He is a half-brother to the cock that was 28 th Open CSCFC Tarbes this year. Their sire is now 14 years old and still filling his eggs a five times winner with cards in the CSCFC, BICC and the Solent Fed. The Grandsire on the Dam s side is also a prize winner in all organisations put to stock at 4 years old. I think I would have kept racing him but under pressure from Sue and advice from our very good friends Derek Packer and Brian Clarke from Grays in Essex he was put into the stock loft and I have to say that I ve never regretted it. You can t beat breeding from pigeons that have done it! Ken Francis. Over the last three seasons Jack Baden from Swindon has made the North East Section from Tarbes and Bergerac his own. Previously winning 4 th NE Section Tarbes 2013, 1 st and 2 nd NE Section Tarbes 2012, 1 st NE Section Tarbes 2011 and now 1 st NE Section 12 th Open Bergerac. I would have to call my Section winner as one of my own strain. He has all the blood of my other Section Winners, Busschaert, Haelterman, Westcott/Dordin, Shy Lass Busschaert. His Sire was 5 th Section 100 th Open Tarbes 2011 and his Dam, a Busschaert is a very good breeder which also flew well. I try to fly all my yearling hens as best I can. This cock has had a quiet career but this season he has been very aggressive in the loft, wanting all the nest boxes, he is paired to a hen which is not very responsive, so there you have it, hell hath no fury like that of a cockbird scorned!!!
Jack and Sally Baden. The well known partnership of Crowley and Green from Compton Bassett are runners up and 20 th Open in the NW Section. They clocked one of their classic double pigeons, a four year old blue Leo Van Rijn cock called Vagabond at 20:32 after almost 15 hours on the wing. He has been the star performer of their loft for several seasons and had competed in the BBC Carentan, CSCFC Messac, BBC Niort and BBC Le Mans (Messac) races before being basketed for Bergerac. This season his best performance had been in the very hard Niort race where he finished 49 th Open. He has a list of top performances to his credit in 2011 he won 217 th Open NFC Poitiers, 142 nd Open CSCFC Carentan and finished off the season with 3 rd Open from Bordeaux with the BBC. He followed this in 2012 with two x 1 st Sections in the NFC that is 1 st Sec, 11 th Open NFC Fougeres followed a fortnight later by 1 st Sec and 61 st Open NFC Cholet and ended the season with a 2 nd GDSBNFC, 34 th Open BICC Agen.
Richard Green. 2 nd NE Section is John Hambidge from Chipping Norton timing his 5 year old blue white flight widowhood cock in at 9.07am Saturday morning. This pigeon has also won from Messac and he was also 2 nd from Bergerac in 2011on the day beaten by his loft mate. All 3 birds are home. John Hambidge with Grandchildren Hayley and Alfie.
Bergerac liberation.
Convoyers Report At Dawn We Go. After all the birds were marked and loaded after a very hectic and hot day we made our way to the docks arriving at 7.00 pm, after signing in all the birds were fed and watered ready for the next days journey. Arrived at Quisterham docks at 05.30 after unloading our driver Mike had to take a 45 min break which gave me chance to water the birds before we set off. Leaving the docks 06.45 the next stop was just south of Nantes where the birds were watered again for one hour. Then on to Bordeaux arriving at 15.45, the birds were fed and watered by 16.30 and settled for the night I wish it was the same for, us sadly not, at 21.30 the temperature was 35 degrees no wind and there were mosquitoes every where and to top it all the fuses on the AC fan kept blowing, in short the most uncomfortable night I have had for years. With conditions so unbearable we got up at 04.00 and made our way to Bergerac, the temperature was 22 degrees at 04.30. We arrived at 07.30 and got set up for the day, the temp began to rise to 36 degrees by one pm, luckily there is a large hose pipe behind the changing rooms where we could change the water in the tanks and drinkers because it was getting up to 25 degrees and the birds will not drink it at that temp, this happened three times during the afternoon and early evening. With the extract fans on the transporter running continuously the birds did look well and settled down having been fed by 15.30. Having spoken to our weather advisors, Anner for the CSCFC and Steve for the LSECC, every thing looked good for an early lib then next day. Friday 12 July we were up once again at 04.00 and started the generator so the birds had plenty of light to drink before the lib, after making the calls to the UK every thing was good to go when the sun showed itself. With the clubs reinstated motto in mind At Dawn We Went the sun appeared over the horizon at 05.30 giving it 10 minutes to climb I liberated at 05.40 with the temp at 22 degrees. The birds headed north into clear blue skies and no wind but due to increase to a moderate ENE later in the day. The journey back saw no wind at all until we reached Poitiers where it was a light easterly and 27 degrees, reaching Tours at 14.30 it was now 32 degrees with a NE brisk wind and clear blue skies. We reached the docks at 17.15 to receive a call that there were two birds all ready clocked much to my amazement as there was a stiff Northerly blowing in off the channel.
This report was written on the docks waiting for the ferry so as yet I am not aware off all the gallant day birds knowing what the conditions were like over here. We were all aware that it was to be a testing race it was going to be and my hat goes off to all who entered this race, they really did look well on the transporter. As always my thanks to all concerned, markers, loaders, race advisors, weather advisors and finally to Clare who brought every thing together to make such a successful birdage. Nigel Rigiani Race report by Steve Appleby Analyzing the forecast on Thursday evening this race was always going to be a testing one due to two main factors. Firstly the dry north east winds and secondly the clear blue skies permitting the sun to raise temperatures. At first light looking down over France the view was one of cloudless skies all the way from Bergerac to the northern French coast line. This weather pattern set the scene for the rest of the day giving the race birds no relief from the sun. Conditions at the race point were ideal with the sun rising above the horizon allowing Nigel Rigani to liberate into the cool of the morning. The convoy of over 2000 birds cleared the race point with temperatures set to rise. This proved to be the case as by midday they had reached 28 C in some areas of central France. Winds were very light early on from the north east but strengthened during the morning again from the northeast. Viewing the Tour de France on TV during the afternoon in central France the flags were out stretched indicating wind strength was quite strong. The Channel was clear on Friday afternoon with fair visibility and winds over the sea from the north north east averaging speeds of 20 mph. On his return journey back Nigel arriving at Caen and looking out to sea reported he could see white horses on the waves reinforcing previous data on wind strength. Day two and Saturday morning dawned with clear blue skies again over northern France, the channel and England. The only plus being the wind strength over the channel had dropped over night to a light force 2 or 3 (7-10 mph) again from the northeast. The channel was clear and visibility good, so another difficult day for second day pigeons to negotiate. Finally looking back to Thursday at Bergerac temperatures were very hot reaching 35C even during the evening. Nigel and his assistant Mike had to continually replenish the drinkers during the day in the heat and were also attacked at night by swarms of mosquitoes. So a great job done by them. To conclude the weather conditions for this race made it far from easy and those pigeons timed in had made a supreme effort to arrive back at their lofts.
Tarbes Blue Riband Race. Flown on Sunday 23 rd June 2013. Trophy, Prize and Nomination Winners. A Holdaway (SE522) The Gordon Richards Trophy, The Major Buckingham Memorial Trophy, The Presidents Blue Riband, The Truckline Ferries Trophy, SE Section Trophy, 150 Ponderosa UK Stud voucher, a replica and a photograph of the winning pigeon. S & V Miles (NW1569) The NW Section Trophy and replica, The Mr Wilcox trophy (highest velocity into NE Somerset), Messrs Fear, Fear, Payne, Hunt and Robson Trophy and the Runner Up Trophy. Mr & Mrs N Smith (SW1011) SW Section Trophy and replica, The Mr Fry Trophy (winner of SW Section). Mr & Mrs B Dixon (NE396) The M A Smith Trophy, NE Section Trophy and replica, The Bill Daniels Silver Salver (best velocity over 600 miles) and The Oxfordshire Trophy. Padfield family (NW1486) The C Lowe Trophy (longest flying bird on winning day) R A Deacon (SE267) The Mr Bundy Trophy (1 st yearling in to Hampshire) and 50 for highest velocity by a New Member. G Wood (SE159) The Frank Roome & Roy Reed Memorial Trophy (highest velocity onto the Isle of Wight). Mr & Mrs P Nurse (SW132) The Mr Dodd Trophy (highest velocity into Somerset). Cottrell, Richmond & Son (SW90) The W Bainton Trophy (highest velocity into Dorset). T Leggatt (SE432) The Hopper Brothers Shield (best 2 bird average). A Parsons (SW938) The Speedbird Challenge Trophy (best 3 bird average). Our next race is the Stour Print Young Bird/Old Hens race and Breeder/Buyer from Guernsey on Saturday 24 th August 2013. Marking to take place Thursday 22 nd August. Classic Dinner and presentation new venue! In August I will be sending out tickets for the Annual Dinner to those of you that have already paid. If you would like to order tickets, please let me know. We are limited to 150 seats so please book early. We have a smashing weekend in Bournemouth, so why not come and let your hair down and join us! Price per ticket is 32.50. Rooms can be booked at the Hallmark Hotel, Durley Chine Road, Bournemouth, BH2 5JS on 01202 751000 quoting reference number 14862. Date for your diary: Annual Late Bred Sale Tuesday 24 th September at Sarisbury Social Club, Southampton. A chance for you to pick up a nice quality pigeon for your stock loft. More details on birds in sale to follow. Trophies. All trophies from 2012 must be returned to me before September 7 th 2013. If you wish to bring your cleaned trophies to the young bird marking to be passed on to me you may do so. Thank you. Clare Norman - 023 8057 3919 Email: secretary@cscfc.com