Around The Up North Combine 01-05-16

Details: Published: 20 May 2001; Hits: 719

Around The Up North Combine

By Good Corn

Grandsons Hayden & Tyler at the 2016 Blackpool Show.

After the previous week’s first race of the 2016 racing season the Up North Combine was scheduled to race from Worksop on Saturday 16th April, but due to the waterlogged ground conditions on the liberation site the Combine rescheduled for Newark, the Weather Forecast Committee looked at the weather situation on Thursday for a possible race on the Saturday. But with the weather still been unsettled with snow showers and heavy cloud turning to rain and poor visibility at times for Saturday, the 7 Committee members rightly so unanimously deciding to put back race marking for 24 hours, just like they did the previous week. With Sunday’s forecast showing a better day with clear skies and plenty of sunshine with a cold North-West wind and dry, the Committee decided to basket on Saturday 16th April with the first transporter pulling into the Newark liberation site at 10:30pm and the final wagon parking up at 12:30am. Chief Convoyer Steve Profitt contacted his line of flight at Worksop, Doncaster, Weatherby, Selby, York, Thirsk and the home end with all giving good conditions, with that Steve liberated Group 1 at 08:00am followed by Group 2 at 08:20am, the strings were then cut on Group 3 at 08:40am with Group 4 up and away at 09:00am, the flaps were down on Group 5 at 09:20am and they were followed by Group 6 at 09:40am. With the birds being liberated in blue skies and sunshine with unlimited visibility in a North-West wind, Sections 1, 2, 3 and 6 took up to 10 minutes to clear even thou the conditions were perfect clear skies with full sunshine; Section 4 and 5 cleared straight away.

Starting at Skinningrove where the loft of Ian Stafford & Mark “Sparky” Wilson enjoyed a good clocking day after zapping no fewer than three of their entries to win 1st, 5th and 6th Club from a twelve member’s entry of 500 birds. Leading the way for Ian & Sparky the Clubs 2015 young bird averages winners was a yearling blue De Rauw- Sablon x Gaston Van De Wouwer hen recording a chart-topping vel of 1994 which was enough to score an impressive 2nd Fed. The hen was Ian & Sparky’s best young hen last season scoring quite a few times in the Fed, so the duo are hoping she has the making of a goodun. The sire of the red card winning hen is a Son of “Primus Blauwe Prins, the cock the duo bought at the Pros Roosen entire clearance sale, who in turn was the best Son of Blauwe Prins who was sold in the same sale for 156,000 euro. The Dam of the yearling blue hen is off a Grandson of the “Kassboer” of Van De Wouwer. The lads next couple of timers that were timed 1 second apart were both Gaston Van De Wouwer yearlings that achieved vels of 1465 to pocket 18th and 19th Fed. Tich Richards & Alice Marsay are in the frame for the second race running after having a couple of birds on the clock to lift 2nd and 3rd Club, 4th and 16th Fed on 1489 and 1468, with the blue card going to a 1y Koopman (Mark Walton lines) x Heremans Ceuster. The blue card scorers Sire won 1st Club, 1st Fed in 2013 and the Dam won 1st Club, 1st Fed young bird Rivenhall in 2012, while its half Brother netted 2nd Club, 4th Fed Selby the previous week. The green card was awarded to a yearling whose Mother scored 4th, 10th, 11th and 20th Fed in 2013 and chalked up 2nd, 7th and 16th Fed in 2014. Darren Sayers is in 4th spot with the youngsters yellow card potter being a 2015 blue Soontjen cock making 1465 for 17th Fed. The cock was bred by Dave Jones & Kirsty Carkett of Brotton through the bloodlines of the duo’s 2001 2nd Up North Combine Brussels (3) Silver Medal winning “Mark” from a convoy of 15,572 birds.

Craig Wedgewood records his second win on the trot at Marske & New Marske, with top spot being won by his 5y red widowhood cock from John Whittaker of Bramley Lofts knocking out a vel of 1488 to score a respected 5th Fed to add to his previous weeks 1st Club, 1st Fed Selby. The multiple winning cock has two Fed wins to his credit for he won 1st Club, 1st Fed Peterborough in 2013, he has proved to have being a good honest pigeon for Craig not only winning the Club but going on to strut his stuff at Federation level. On my previous visit to Craig’s loft he had no more than a dozen widowhood cocks, which contained 4 x 1st Federation winners. After his loft break-in early in the year when someone kicked his garden gate in and pulled parts of the front of the loft off to gain access to steal his small batch of youngsters that were ready to wean off , Craig only has 12 youngsters which will now be flown natural instead of the darkness system he normally flies. The recent break-in has really gutted Craig, more so as he does not carry any stock birds to breed from and with only housing a very small squad of old birds he is limited to the number of young birds he can breed. I really feel for Craig who I have known for a great number of years, as he is one of the sports good lads who would do anything for anyone. He has no transport so the training he does get in is from fellow Clubmate Tony Hunt, who Craig is very grateful to for helping him out training his birds. Jimmy Read filled a couple of chambers to pocket 2nd and 5th Club with the blue card going to a yearling dark Gaby Vandenabeele roundabout hen, and she was followed by a 2y blue roundabout hen of Brown & Hunt bloodlines. Club Secretary Martin Hogarth is in 3rd position with Martin’s green card potter being a 4y blue hen sitting 8 days, the hen is the previous winner of 2 x 1st Clubs Oakham last season with one of the hens winning performances achieving 11th Fed. The late Jack “The Lad” Brown & Tony Hunt who had enjoyed great success in their time together lift 4th Club with Tony’s yellow card lifter being a 2015 bred red roundabout cock bred from Tony’s well-known “SED Cock”.

The boys were back in town at Skelton Green when the loft of Bowden Bros, Mick & Boss and loft helper Trevor “Wine Gum” Mitchell won pole position after timing two birds to win 1st and 3rd Club from a fourteen members entry of 535 birds. With Mick, Boss & Trevor’s red card winner being a yearling Bakker x Kavanagh Busschaert hen knocking out a top vel of 1484 to chalk up a nice 6th Fed. The green card was awarded to a Sister to the lads winner and with a vel of 1481 she went onto net a cool 10th Fed. Ian “Evo” Everington was in 2nd spot after timing a yearling blue Heiner Mandelartz cock doing 1484.1 to pocket 8th Fed; the cock who was having his second race is through the lines of “50/50” of John Gerard bloodlines. Alan & David Wright were in 4th spot with a 2015 bred chequer Busschaert hen making 1440 for 15th Fed. The loft of Bill Chapman, Sons Colin & Steve and the late Tommy Swinburne clocked a 2y chequer Wildemeersch widowhood hen to lift 5th Club; their second timer won the £10 Lucky Number prize. The partnership of Roche, Terry “Benno” & Daniel Bennison & Crame took 6th Club with a 3y chequer Janssen hen. I have been asked to send out a “Get Well Soon” message to the members Clubmate Tommy Welford who is in hospital at this moment in time. Tommy has flown Pigeons for a great number of years where he has achieved some top performances from the distance races, with his favourite race being Bourges which he has won a number of times over the years. I’m sure all the East Cleveland Federation members wish Tommy a speedy and full recovery.

News from the Brotton Six Bird Club where we see the partnership of Mr & Mrs Bob & Barbara Moore hit the winners’ enclosure, with the red card winner being a 2y blue cock out of the duo’s old strain. Andrew & Gavin Doe, John “Dillon” Swales and the late Sandy Sanderson come into the frame in 2nd position, with the lads blue card scorer being a 5y chequer pied Andre Clements cock from Willie Donachie who lives in Dundee but flies in Fife. The previous weeks winners, W & S Ward zapped a couple of their squad to net 3rd and 4th Club with Bill and his Grandson Shaun’s first timer being a yearling blue chequer pied Homer & Williams lines Heremans Ceusters hen. The yellow card was awarded to a 3y blue Staff Van Reet hen to round off a notable performance.

The Teesside Federations convoy of 860 birds were liberated at 9:20am, with the Billingham T U Club members enjoying a fantastic day in the Fed where they took the first 8 positions. And leading the way was the loft of Ali McLeod who zapped no fewer than five birds in the space of 24 seconds to win a top-notch 1st, 3rd, 5th and 6th Club, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th Fed. 8th, 10th, 15th and 16th Section 5 with vel of 1480.4, 1480.0, 1477, 1476 and 1475. With top spot being won by Mac’s well-fancied 2y blue pied cock who like last week when he was 3rd Club, 3rd Fed and 7th Section he was pooled £5 down in the Club and wins the Fed Nom for the second week running. The outstanding cock has proved himself once again by topping the Fed, just like he did last year when he won a most impressive 1st Club, 1st Fed and 1st Section 5 Rivenhall (2) from a convoy of 3,596 birds. The cock who won the Teesside Federation Bird Of The Year title last year is a Son of Ali’s class cock the previous winner of an outstanding 2nd Up North Combine Eastbourne (2) National from a convoy of 11,572 birds in 2013 and 8th Up North Combine out of 7,905 birds and 12th North Of England Homing Union Ypres in 2014 when there were 14,235 birds competing. The green card was awarded to a yearling blue pied cock who trapped with the winner and zapped 2 seconds later, the young cocks Sire and Dam are bred from the original Koen Minderhoud Gaby Vandenabeele birds Ali obtained in 2003, one of which is his no1 hen. Third on the clock was a 1y blue pied cock who is the Son of the same Sire as Mac’s Fed winner, while his Dam is the lads good “64 Hen” the previous winner of 1st Club, 1st Fed, 1st Section and 3rd Up North Combine Eastbourne (1) National in 2015 from a convoy of 16,708 birds and going onto to win 3rd North Of England Homing Union Classic when there were 23,012 birds competing when beaten by 0.2ypm by the winner. Ali’s next timer was a 2y blue pied cock who is the full Brother to the Fed winner, like his Brother he is no stranger in the clock for he was runner-up Teesside Federation Bird Of The Year in 2015 after scoring a top-notch 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Fed etc. Close behind the cock was a super little 1y blue hen who is very highly rated by Ali, with her having the same Sire as Mac’s 2015 1st Up North Combine Burbure Gold Medal winning “Gaby Lou”. While the little hens Dam is one of Ali’s best Gaby Vandenabeele stock hens, who has bred multiple Federation winners as well as winning herself before earning her right in the stock loft. The partnership of Tommy Clark & Son Gary timed three of their squad to lift 2nd Club, 2nd, 8th and 14th Fed, with the blue card being awarded to the yearling mealy cock that won a brilliant 1st Club, 1st Fed and 2nd Section 5 the previous week from Selby when there were 4,570 birds competing, he pockets 9th Section this time around. The duo’s second timer was a 2015 bred blue pied hen who is the previous scorer of 16th Fed young bird Rivenhall, and she was followed by a 1y blue hen. The loft of Brian Atkinson & Keith Perkins pocket 4th Club and 4th Fed after timing a yearling blue hen making 1478. Jeff Huggett & Keith Gregory timed a couple of yearlings in the space of 6 seconds to notch up 15th and 16th Fed, with their first timer being a chequer hen who was then followed by a blue hen.

Moving onto to Middlesbrough H/S where the loft of Mr & Mrs Steven & Jeanann Wheatley hit winning form after timing no less than three birds to win a top-notch 1st, 2nd and 3rd Club from a seven members muster of 224 birds. Top spot was won by a yearling blue Syndicate x Van Loon (cock was purchased at Eric Stanley’s sale) roundabout hen achieving a pole position winning vel of 1456 to go onto chalk up 10th Fed. The blue card was chalked up by a 2015 bred blue Euro Diamond x Janssen roundabout hen making 1456 for 13th Fed. And she was followed by a 1y chequer cock bred off Dunn Bros of Sunderland doing 1443 to claim 17th Fed, the fancied cock who came to win the previous week only to mess about around the loft wins 1st 3 Bird Club Nom this week. Steven & Jeanann timed a later bird to win 2nd 3 Bird Club Nom and 1st 2 Bird Championship Club to round off a great days racing. The previous weeks winning loft of D Hutchinson & Son are in 4th spot with the yellow card being potted by a 2y chequer cock making 1434 for 20th Fed. Don & David also timed a well-fancied later bird to lift 3rd 3 Bird Club Nom and 2nd 2 Bird Championship Club.

News from Section 5 where the Shotton & Trimdon Fed members enjoyed a very good day with 10 birds in the top 20, with P Price timing a couple of birds to win a most impressive 1st and 5th Section with vels of 1488.2 and 1482.2 from a convoy of 5,682 birds. G Church clocked two birds 8 seconds apart to score a top-notch 2nd and 3rd Section on 1488.1 and 1486, with Mr & Mrs Baxter pocketing 4th Section on 1482.7. The Hardwick Brothers, John & Lee of Wingate had two of their entries touch-down together to lift 13th and 14th Section on 1477.4; while Richardson & Son timed two birds in the space of 1 second to net 17th and 19th Section on 1476.4 and 1476.26. The partnership of Long, Brown & Son achieved a vel of 1476.24 to claim 20th Section. The Tees Valley Fed partnership of Bousfield & Son scored 6th Section on 1480.6. The Hetton Fed loft of W Balls & Son timed a couple of their squad in the space of 24 seconds to lift 7th and 18th Section with vels of 1480.5 and 1476.40; with fellow Fed member and the previous weeks Section winner Alan Morley who has got off to a great start in 11th spot on 1479. Thanks to the lads & lasses for providing the info for this week’s report, don’t be shy in giving details on your birds, put plenty in.

I along with many other UNC members agree that the Weather Forecast Committee have been spot on for the first 2 races, the weather has not been right for racing but the Committee have come up trumps so far. With the unsettled weather on both Saturdays where it would have been impossible to get the six group liberations, but by going on the Saturday and getting a straight forward liberation on both occasions on the Sunday was a very good move. I’m not going to say the Weather Committee will get it right every time, for if the weather forecaster’s get it wrong what chance have the UNC Weather Committee got in getting it right?