Lancashire Social Circle
The final old bird race for the Lancashire Social Circle was from Guernsey, a race point that has proved very popular with several racing organisations over the last few weeks with the difficulties of going to France. A number of the Circle members have already race from Guernsey this season with several putting up some great performances with both the nationals and specialist clubs. This gave these members, one might think, a slight advantage over the other competitors who had not raced from this island race point this season. Guernsey can be a difficult race point being a island closer to France than England and should the south cost be cloudy and over cast and a head wind at the start, pigeons often make for France. This is why this race point can be a good race or bordering on a disaster for many of our racers.
At the race marking on the Thursday the forecast for the south coast for Saturday was for heavy thundery showers and most of the members were hoping for a holdover with far better race conditions on the Sunday. There were still some showers about but by no means as heavy and intense as the Saturday. Members got their wish and a holdover was the order of the day, with the birds liberated at 8 30am into a west wind. From all reports the channel was clear and the birds cleared well for around the 280 mile journey to their home lofts. Members were hoping for around the 50mph mark but this proved a little too much even for the winning birds, but returns were good with half the birds entered ending up on the result.
A long term guest of the Circle Alan Bamber, who has been coming along to the twice yearly gatherings as a guest of both Alan Bamford and Keith Iddon for around 10 years or more sponsored the race. Alan's kind gesture of bringing the crates and taking the race birds back to the pickup point for collection later in the day was more than appreciated by all the members.
The winner was Roger Sutton form Congleton who timed an experienced 2y old blue pied hen doing 45mph on 1342. This pigeon is a result of a first cross with her dam being a gift pigeon from Alan Winstanley, Alan had a good team of distance pigeons racing to Congleton where he won the Saintes National a few season back. Alan now finds himself in the position where he can no longer keep his pigeons and these were let go to several of his close friends in the club. Roger had six which he crossed with his own family of birds and his winner is a result of one such pairing. She flew the national as a youngster and was 5th section L as a yearling before going on to win the Circle race. Roger would normally introduce faster pigeons from sprinting lines to cross with his family of birds, but as these were gift pigeons from a good line of distance winners they were given a try, and proved successful in this case. The reason for bringing in faster pigeons is obvious, Roger is trying to add more speed to his existing family something he has done over many years. Roger wins the J S Kearns Trophy for winning the race along with a Frank H Parsonage Award, and runner-up to the Cotswold Trophy with a velocity of 1328.
Gerry Clements a man who has been around winning pigeons for years collects the second prize timing in one of his widowhood cocks that carried his nomination for the Dickinson trophy doing 1324. This 2y old cheq w/f cock has been to all three Circle races this season when he was 25th from Maidstone, 10th Littlehampton and then 2nd Guernsey. Gerry has tried over the years to pick two pigeons to represent him in the three Circle races, when channel racing was on the cards this proved more difficult than this past season with only inland racing. This cock was the other half of the team last season that went to every circle race. This season he has flown Guernsey with the NFC taking 10th section so knows his way home. On the sires side is a grandson of 'Top Star' with his dam being inbred to 'The 42' who was 6 times 500 miles and always in the prizes. Gerry timed his second pigeon 22 minutes later with a fine two bird performance on the day. Gerry wins the Cotswold Trophy with a velocity of 1330 for the Best Average from the second and third OB races.
Graham Mackay was third timing one of his Heremans-Ceusters pigeons, a 2y old blue hen raced on the roundabout on 1321. Graham has hit form these last few week following what was a slow start for him in the early races having had his wife in hospital and having to look after her at the start of the racing season. But I note from a number of reports in the BHW these last few weeks he has topped the result sheets on several occasions. Graham was runner-up for the Reliance Trophy having put up a good performance with a velocity of 1287.
John Winstanley was fourth on the result following two other fine performances in the first two races with the Circle that have resulted in a fine array of silverware so far. John won the OB Average with a velocity of 1344 winning the Arthur H Todd Trophy and the Reliance Trophy for the Best Average from the first and third OB races. John's timer in this race was a 2y old blue pied hen flying 280 miles to Orrell on 1305. She has been raced on the roundabout all season, and has been kept in form by flying out twice each day for one hour. John has found this work rate helps stop the hens from pairing, something that kills the form over night. He has tried re-pairing the pigeons for the last race or two but feels once you loose the form the pigeons home but top prizes are lost.
David Pritchard collects the fifth diploma timing a 4y old blue widowhood cock on 1257, this pigeon has a string of prizes but could have has more, for some reason he is a bad trapper preferring to do a lap of honour and then sit on the loft roof for another minute before entering the loft. The week before the Circle race he flew Guernsey with the North West Classic Club where he was 3rd sec 13th open but again could have been 2nd section if he had trapped. The bird of prey have proved a big problem since his move to his present location and David has stopped a large number of race birds and put them to stock. This has resulted in a well stocked stock loft, far more than he would like, but with the loss of such pigeons as one cock that had six first from over the channel killed by the Peregrine made the decision a lot easier. But having lost 52 pigeons to the Peregrine last season his losses could not be sustained and tried not having the birds out and just sending them to the races, not ideal but proved OK for old birds but impossable for the youngsters. David is like many other fanciers who have major problems with Peregrines that are killing our sport.
Bob Smith picks up the final spot on the result in sixth with the first yearling on the result, a cheq widowhood cock 1242. As is understandable as a yearling this cock is not going to have a string of prizes, but comes from a long line of winning pigeons including Bob's Saintes Hen, Hughie and the Hilson Cock. This is his second trip this season from Guernsey and Bob has great hopes for him as a channel pigeon this next season when he is a 2y old. Bob has had a good racing season this year just being out of the prizes in the first two races but his consistency has paid off being runner-up to the OB Average to John Winstanley with a velocity of 1297 winning the Dr William Anderson Trophy.
In the absence of our President Stephen Beardmore who was out of the country with family commitments, George Pendleton stood in informing members of the liberation time following a one day holdover. Sadly, I understand George had a problem with his ETS and as a result failed to clock in, following what had been to fantastic results in the first two races. Giving him a slight consolation prize, he did win the Bird of The Year, with his fine performance of 1st Littlehampton and 4th Maidstone winning the Holland/Meyer Trophy and the Tom Holland Award.
At the race marking for the first race, the Circle had a show of hands of the members who intended to register with DEFRA, to comply with the regulations in order to race from France. At the time of the vote a number of hands showed they did not intend to register and as a result would not be racing from the channel. Since this show of hands the situation has moved on, and racing from France has taken place, there have been teething troubles I understand that are to be expected. The reason for the show of hands was to give the Management Committee some guidance when arranging the races for this next season. The Circle was formed on distance racing over 100 years ago, and the traditions it was built on have been upheld over that period. But in an ever changing world and the string of problems that our spot in facing, it is only reasonable we face the problems head on. With the regulations now in place for channel racing, it would seem inevitable the only channel racing will be with the nationals or specialist clubs. What has been suggesting for the Circle members is we have our three OB races from south coast race points as we did this season and one race from over the channel from a 350/400 mile race point where we can reinstate the two trophies that were presented for competition for nominated birds from Pau with the NFC. There are a number of members of the Management Committee that are available to any member of the Circle who might need help with registering with DEFRA if they so wish. Once registration is done and you have your CPH number, should you choose to race or not is irrelevant.
Brian Dearn. Tel. 01254 772515.
