NEWS IN BRIEF
Members' Update – October 2012
Dear Members,
We have just had the first BBC Committee meeting following what must have been one of the most difficult racing seasons that I can remember. Losses were unexplained across the whole of the UK on a number of weekends and not just with youngsters. I promised in my last update some major changes were being discussed to hopefully take the club forward into the future as a flagship for our UK membership. Well here is a little taster:-
Race Programme 2013 (Provisional)
27th April 2013 - Carentan
11th May 2013 - Fougeres
25th May 2013 - Messac
8th June 2013 - Niort
22nd June 2013 - Cholet (or equivalent)
5th July 2013 - Barcelona or Palamos
6th July 2013 - Fougeres
27th July 2013 - Bordeaux
17th August 2013 - Carentan (Any Age)
31st August 2013 - Fougeres (YB/OH/Gold Ring)
14th September 2013 - Tours
The Committee of The British Barcelona Club acknowledges the call of many of its members and indeed the call by fanciers in general to co-operate with others. This is seen as the only way forward and the only way to continue to provide a challenging yet economic racing programme for fanciers throughout the country. In line with this The British Barcelona Club has set out its provisional 2013 race programme and extends to any other organisation the invitation to consider joining with us either in the full programme or for some individual races. Clearly there would be some logistical and administrative details to arrange and overcome but unless we make the move and start to talk we will never get anywhere. This invitation is extended not simply to other National or semi National organisations but any local Club, 2Bird, 3Bird or group who feel they could benefit from this association. This is a provisional programme and while it is not yet set in concrete it does represent the skeleton of what The British Barcelona Club would like to do. Clearly if co-operative suggestions were made that brought benefits to the wider membership then some slight adjustments would be considered. The British Barcelona Club has a very modern and efficient transporter together with crates that have now proved over two seasons to provide excellent conditions for the pigeons. While clearly it would not be possible or indeed sensible to send this transporter all over the country to collect pigeons, it should prove possible, through a flexible and variable approach, to come to arrangements that can suit us all. Time however is of the essence and if you have any interest in such an association please contact The British Barcelona Club Secretaries now.
Channel Island Section
The Guernsey Racing Pigeon Club are now a recognised BBC marking station for the whole Channel Islands and will race mark their entries for the BBC races at their club headquarters with Nigel Legg I/C. This marking station would be open to all other channel island members entries (ETS & Rubbers) and all paperwork completed & returned as per BBC rules.
Additional Marking Station, Hungerford
A new marking station will be opened at Woodlands St. Mary Hall, Woodlands St. Mary, Hungerford, RG17 7SL, this to provide for the M4 corridor I/Cs to be your secretaries Mark & Clare Brown. The new marking station would provide for a large catchment area of membership as we have Oxford (20min), Newbury (10min), Reading (25min), Swindon (15min) and Bristol (45min) within easy motorway travel and it is literally located 2 mile from junction 14 of the M4.
Barcelona 2013
The secretaries requested permission that should we go to Barcelona International in 2013 (as we do have a proposition for Palamos for 2013), that we attempt to create a line of communication with the British International Championship Club with the hope of avoiding both clubs sending wagons to the international marking in Brussels. We would be hoping to discuss and agree a way forward for either the BICC taking our birds to Brussels on their wagon or vice versa and the BBC transporting the BICC birds along with ours with all costs being divided equally amongst both clubs.
Gold Ring/Voucher Scheme
The current Gold Voucher scheme used in 2012 will be scrapped and the Gold Ring race re-instated. We will be ordering 500 “B” rings (original type, not combi) from the RPRA for distribution as gold rings. These would be sold on a first come first served basis, so don’t miss out.
Basildon Marking Station
It was also confirmed to see if we could get any further with the Basildon marking station which was approved for 2012, but due to timescales and unforeseen circumstances wasn’t viable for use during 2012. This was accepted with the proviso of the original proposal in 2012 that the birds could be collected from South Mimms or if any Basildon members had the capacity to transport the marked birds to Walkern for collection by the wagon. If any Basildon area members are interested in becoming I/C for the Basildon Marking Station, please contact the secretaries as soon as possible so that we can agree/confirm all requirements can be met.
Unikon Club
The secretaries will be looking into the feasibility of joining the Unikon Club and options to purchase rings at a cheaper rate for our members. This is in the early stages and we will update further next time.
We have received a number of propositions, two for amendments to the club's section boundaries which will be decided by the membership once you receive your voting papers. The deadline for members' propositions is 3rd October 2012 and at the earliest opportunity following this date we will be posting out voting papers.
Presentation tickets were collected on 29th September and will be posted out with your voting packs to those who have paid.
Regards,
Mark & Clare Brown
