Messac OB Race Brian Milkins from Bristol 1 st Open 1 st NW Section with Shingles Approximately 3,500 pigeons descended on the West of France at Messac, 2,740 of these being sent by 323 Classic members. This rising from last years total by 600 pigeons, thank you for your continued support. Also on the convoy for this race were the LSECC for the second time this season and the other, being the Wiltshire Fed. The early outlook for Saturday s race did not look promising with prevailing North Easterly winds forecast with showers dotted in and around the English Channel. Friday s conditions made this look more and more likely but it proved to be a different day on Saturday with the birds being liberated into Northerly winds at 9am this turning North Easterly on route. The East in the wind was certain to have an effect on where the winning pigeons would be timed but that didn t stop numerous good performances on a very difficult day for the athletes of the sky. Marking went smoothly as per usual, thanks to the help from top class marking teams. Credit is also due to the Convoyer Nigel Rigiani, Anner Smith and Steve Appleby for yet another good race. The Towers Flying Club in Bristol certainly stood tall as our Gold, Silver and Bronze positions were all taken by members of this Club. 1 st Open 1 st North West Section Messac is Brian Milkins of Hartcliffe, Bristol who timed his 2 year old Blue W/F cock now named Shingles at 3.02pm. Brian is nearly 80 and has completed his life s ambition by winning the Classic to add to his Cholet National win in 2011. Brian has been struggling with his health after catching shingles 20 months ago but this victory has made him feel a lot better and is the reason behind calling the pigeon Shingles. The 2 year old winner is flown on conventional widowhood and is fed on Marimans and Wal Zoontjens corn which he obtains from close friend Nigel Templer. Shingles is a direct son of his number 1 Pair which he calls the Van Dyck pair and both are bred by the late Gerrit Lahuis from Sleen in Holland. The pair actually contain very little Van Dyck blood and are a mix of Van Loon, Smeulders Janssen and Van Dyck and you will find such names as First Lady, Kannibal De 38 from Ad Schearlackens, Kolonel from Van Den Abeele, Zitter and Beatrixdoffer in
their pedigree. The Van Dyck pair have already bred 5 th Open Classic Carentan, 9 th Open NFC Cholet and now 1 st Open. "Shingles himself is a perfectly balanced pigeon of good size and a very strong back which Brian likes to see and whilst Brian always had high hopes for him due to his breeding this is the first time he has shown. For nearly 30 years Brian has been a member of the famous Towers club in Bristol which flies out of the Hartcliffe Inn and he is very proud of the fact that 4 members recorded birds in the top 10 including the first 3 positions; he would like to pass on his congratulations to friends Stuart Wilcox, Steve Lias and Garth Wile. Brian flies to a very modest set up and started this season with only 25 cocks, he medicates as required and likes to use Natural products which are recommended by Geoff Kirkland who has been very good to Brian over the years. Brian would finally like to thank the Secretary, race controller and committee for providing an excellent race and was happy to say that all were back in tremendous condition. Shingles Brian Milkins. 2 nd Open 2 nd North West Section Messac is Stuart Wilcox of Bishopsworth, Bristol who timed a 2 year old Widowhood cock called Nosey. This cock won
1 st Club Poole in 2012 however he was unfortunately badly hawked around the loft two days after so has only been very lightly raced up to now. He originally was destined to fly last week however he had a big fight in the loft and had a bad bloody nose so was rested for the Classic, hence his name. He is a Steveninck x Frans Zwols being bred from a son of the world famous Chipo who won 1 st National Ace Short Distance KDBD of Belgium when paired to a direct dtr of Frans Zwols 575 and Truke. The 575 is responsible for pigeons such as the King of Rekkem 1 st NPO Rekkem 19,409b, Franske dam of 35 x 1 st etc and Truke is also special being the dam and gdam of 22 x 1 st plus 4 x 1 st West of England Combine with 3000 to 5500 birds competing. Nosey is in fact a full brother to Champion Pie in the Sky who has been 1 st WoESRC Newton Abbott 5074b and 1 st WoESRC Exeter 3870b this season alone. Nosey is flown on widowhood and fed the Brooksey Way on Super Star Plus and Champions Plus from Versa Laga along with plenty of Garlic Oil and Probiotics, in terms of treatment the whole team was treated for Head Colds prior to the season and receive a canker tablet every month during the racing season to keep them healthy. Stuart would like to thank his wife Trudy and son Eddy for putting up with him as he is a self-professed pigeon loony, Frans Zwols and Raymond Moleveld for all their breeding expertise, Alan Keepin who helps with the hens and Brian Milkins and Nigel Templer who motivates me through good competition to get up a 5.15am every morning. Stuart and Ed Wilcox. In the 3 rd Open 3 rd North West Section position is the partnership trio of Mr & Mrs Garth & Maxine Wile and Stephen Lias son in law.
The yearling chequer cock we timed was having his first race across the Channel. Last week he raced from Truro with the West of England Combine winning 3 rd Club, 7 th Combine 3,518 birds. The pigeon is a full brother to a blue cock who last year won 3 rd Section G, 8 th Open NFC Fougeres 7,064 birds and 2 nd Section 13 th Open NFC Cholet 5,886 birds. Just for a bit of interest, I took Stuart Wilcox s birds to the marking station. I wish now that I had forgotten them. HaHa!! Garth. Stephen Lias and Garth Wile. Garth Wile.
Martin Hayne from Weymouth is 4 th Open and the South West s Section Winner with a yearling chequer cock. This was the 3 rd race this cock has had this year and he had been my first bird every time. He was sent driving his hen hard to nest. Normally he is very nervous and unapproachable but when he is driving nothing is going to get in his way! He is bred from two pigeons bought from Hans and Evert Jan Eijerkamp. The sire being D&L van Dyck Kannibaal, the dam is a grand daughter of Che (Janssen/Van Loon). I should like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mr Milkins on winning the race and Mr Wilcox and Mr and Mrs Wile & S Lias for being second and third. Martin Hayne. Martin Hayne s yearling. 5 th and 7 th Open goes to Janet and Ken Wilcox from Midsomer Norton. Our first bird a 2 year old chequer hen flown on roundabout has been raced every week and exercised for an hour three afternoons a week. No birds are trained. She was in the first 50 from the NFC Carentan the previous week and is bred our Kirkland family. The sire was a Vandenpol widowhood cock which won many cards including 1 st West of England Combine Cholet. The dam was a granddaughter off
Geoff s good cock Triple Four. She raced well being 2 nd Combine Saintes. Both are now at stock after 5 years hard racing. 2 nd bird timed is a 2 year old first season widowhood cock bred from a pair of yearlings from our Busschaert family. Once again from maiden eggs. He flew consistently well on natural as a yearling as all our yearling cocks do. Just hopefully enjoy a summer in the sun as we say. Our third bird was a blue Busschaert hen that was 3 rd Open Messac with the Classic last year. All birds sent returned in fine fettle with just one missing out of the 18 sent by night fall. Ken and Janet Wilcox Runner up in the South West Section and 8 th Open is Tony Phillips from Weymouth. Tony races in the Weydor Club in Weymouth, where the competition is strong ever week. He is married to Sheila and they have one daughter who lives in America and four grand children. Raafi is 26 and Asah is 19 and they are both dancers, William 21 who is very musical and Ethan 23 who has just graduated for the US Navy. Also, not forgetting little Charli their great granddaughter who is 2 years old. Tony has kept pigeons since he was 6 years old following in his granddads footsteps. Flying naturally the 2 year old blue cock timed is of the Walter Docx line from Barry Graham stock. This is his second time out this year flying to 3 week old youngsters. Tony and Sheila would like to give their greatest thanks to ETS, Motorman, Diddy Davis and his batman and girls.
Tony Phillips. The top spot in the South East Section goes to Johnny East Wind Attrill from Salisbury. I would like to start by congratulating the winner Brian Milkins and all at the CSCFC. An excellent race and excellent returns for my self. My first bird was a red cock bred for me by my good friend Dave Day of Salisbury. The sire is a Louella Roland Janssen and the sire is a Brian Long De Klak. This 3 year old was my all pooler and out of the 16 birds I sent he stood out in the basket. When he returned he didn t look as though he had been in a race, prancing up and down the landing board. He has won the section from the NFC Fougeres race in 2011 and I would like a loft full like him. How about breeding me a pair Dave? Johnny East Wind Attrill. 2 nd South East Section is awarded to Portsmouth s one and only Richie Thomas. Congratulations to the winner and thank you to the Classic for looking after the birds so well. My 2 year old hen has had three races before this Classic race from Messac, she was my 1 st pigeon back from Vire 29 th Solent Fed out of 2,714 birds. The following week she was beaten by three loft mates, one being her sister and she
was 49 th Solent Fed from Fougeres with 1,436 birds. After that she was my 5 th pigeon back beaten by loft mates again but still 37 th Solent Fed out of 2,652 birds. She is raced on the Remi de Mey system which I saw my friend Ray Baker of Eastleigh using twenty years ago. They seem to be coming well each week and this system was meant for hens but I ve got cocks on it that are coming just as well. The breeding of this slatey hen is Janssen from the Grey Gem lines from my good friends Jimmy and Kenny wearn of the Wearn Brothers. On the sire s side this is from Frank Sheader from Scarborough and he is from the golden silver lines. I feed Verse Laga from Kevin Kings and Gem corn from Brian and Viv Wall of Gems. I would like to thank Robbie Jones and Asa Williams for training my birds from East to West and my lovely wife Jayne for all her help. You know it s coming... keeping it real living in the golden mile ( p.s if your looking for a tip don't stand up in a canoe ) Richie Thomas and Peter the dog. (Nothing is normal in the Thomas household). To decide the winner of the North East section couldn t have been closer run thing, with.03 of a yard being the difference and the position going to Den and Pauline Seery of Reading. Den and Pauline have been married for 45 years this year. Originally from Chatham in Kent they settled in Reading when Den was de mobbed from the Army in 1974. Den has been racing pigeons for just over 30 years and is a member of the Shinfield Club flying in the Berkshire Federation. The old bird season is started with about 30 birds raced on their own system of racing cocks and hens with the hens only seeing the cock birds when they return from a race. All birds race the programme up to the middle distance stage.
Approximately 30 young birds are bred and raced each year. Gem widowhood mix is the preferred corn fed which is supplemented with vitamins and minerals twice a week. The 3 year old blue cock timed is a Vandenabeele bred out of Jester and Carrie lines from P B & W Hyatt stock. As a youngster this cock bird won a race from Wincanton in a North East wind and as a 2 year old achieved 2 nd Club, 6 th Fed, 30 th Combine from Poitiers and 5 th Club from Le Mans. Last week he was 5 th Club from Carentan. Den Seery. Den Seery.
Finishing 2 nd and 3 rd North East Section was Eamon Kelly of Lloyd & Kelly from Steventon. Firstly, Eamon would like to congratulate Den Seery on his section win. Eamon s first bird at 15.39 was bred by Richard Green of Crowley & Green and is of Maris breeding. The second bird timed with a velocity of 1156 was bred by Patrick Janseen of Belgium and was purchased via Sheldon Leonard of Ireland. 18 of the 20 birds entered returned on the day and were all in great condition. Eamon is pictured with his trainee loft manager Jamie-Rae. (luckily little Jamie has his mum s good looks). Eamon is a great worker for our sport and deserves all his successes. Eamon and Jamie-Rae Kelly. Liberation.
Convoyers Report Having marked the 2,740 Classic birds and transferred the approximate 622 from the LSECC we departed for the docks, after signing in, the birds were fed and watered ready for the 11 pm ferry to Caen. Arriving at 0600 to overcast skies with intermittent rain and strong winds we made our way to Messac arriving at 09.40, once set up the birds were watered prior to their early afternoon feed, with the wind increasing from the North with heavy squally showers and very cold, the agent Robert Duvall arrived stating that he did not think that there would be any chance of a liberation the following day, with that in mind I contacted our two race advisors who both stated that things were due to improve by the morning so I kept an open mind for the forthcoming race. Saturday dawned cold and overcast as predicted, after speaking to Anner and Steve at 07.00, it was looking good to go once things had warmed up and the wind was stating to decrease, it was decided to get a further update at 08.30. By the time the calls came at 08.30 the cloud had broken and with the sun overhead it began to warm up and a brisk North wind decreasing all the time I decided to liberate the Classic at 09.00 and the LSEC at 09.15. With the stings cut the Classic birds climbed high in the sky before heading North but leaving approximately 3-400 birds not happy to face the wind and circling for some time before heading off. With all the birds gone the LSEC were liberated at 09.15 with the same result, the main batch clearing well but leaving about a third of the convoy circling for about five minutes before heading North. The journey to the docks saw broken cloud with some intermittent light showers en route with a moderate North wind, at the docks there was clear blue sky for as far as the eye could see but the North wind was going to dictate a stiff race for all. My thanks to all who helped with the marking, to Rube and Ian, Mike our driver and to Anner Smith and Steve Appleby for getting the forecast spot on. Nigel. Tarbes Our next race is the Tarbes Blue Riband Race on Friday June 21 st. Marking will be on Tuesday 18 th June 2013. Your last posting date is Saturday 15 th June. Remember we have the Blue Riband Certificate to fly for. This certificate is awarded to any pigeon which has appeared in the top 100 of the result 3 times or more from Tarbes, since 2008.
Congratulations to all the trophy and nomination winners from our Guernsey Old Bird Race, flown on Saturday 4 th May 2013. M & L Duffell (SE329) Rennes Cup, Reg Heynes & Son Trophy, SE Section Trophy, 150 Ponderosa UK Stud Voucher, a replica and a framed photograph of the winning pigeon. D Fry (SE133) Runner Up Trophy and replica. Mr & Mrs M Gower (SW1071) SW Section Trophy and replica. S Slade (NW350) NW Section Trophy and replica. S & P Kulpa (NE410) NE Section Trophy and replica. D Caudle (NW235) Cotswold Trophy. M & L Duffell (SE329) - 50 for highest velocity by a New Member. S & P Kulpa (NE410) - 200 Lifetime Ring Nomination. Clare Norman. Tel: 023 80573919