Messac was the race point for the Circle's final old bird race of the season; the pigeons were race marked on the Wednesday as originally the race was to have been Ancenis. But with the very hot weather the whole of the country have been experiencing these last few weeks it was decided to move the race point to Messac and have a Friday liberation that meant less time in the basket. The Circle is very fortunate in that our transport organisation is Diane Bonney and we only put a limited amount of birds in each of the wicker baskets for their journey over to France. This the members feel is the right way to treat the pigeons in transit, and while the RPRA have guide lines for how many pigeons should go into a basket for a given time, one never knows just how long they will be in the baskets should there be a hold over. It has been suggested the Circle hold a seminar at one of their function over the winter period with suggestions on how long pigeons should be kept at the race point before bringing them back to a shorter point. This I think could be a good idea as many of the readers well know among the Circle members and their guests there are some of the most outstanding fanciers in the country, and their views would I am sure be greatly appreciated by all fanciers. A similar discussion took place two years ago when the whole of the fanciers attending sat down with their views on the young bird losses which had a great amount of positive feedback. This last couple of seasons many combines have tried to make decisions for the benefit of the pigeons by putting race marking back a day, changing the race point to a shorter one or in a very extreme cases cancelling the race altogether. These decisions have not been taken lightly and have not always suited all the competitors, but this season many of the channel events have been very difficult races, with many fanciers suffering heavy losses in the first of the channel races from Carentan. The Circle members have not been immune to these losses and as a result only 27 members sent to this final old bird race entering 47 pigeons, from the 27 members 7 of them only sent one pigeon, proving once again members don't have the racers around them to send. The heat at the start and the east in the wind, would beg the question did the pigeons cross the channel as many fanciers thought they might, resulting in the pigeons going off line on the day of liberation and several good honest pigeons making the result the second day. Speaking to a number of fanciers many will be pleased to see the end of the old bird racing season.
The birds were liberated at 10 00 into a light north east wind and the report from the convoyer was they cleared well on the Friday morning.
Arthur Cowley 1st Messac and Winner of the J S Kearns Trophy.
Arthur Cowley takes the top spot with a great performance on the day timing a 2y old blue hen in just less than nine and a half hours for the 379 mile journey with a velocity of 1177 that is well ahead of the rest of the field. Speaking with Arthur he tells me last season as a yearling she catch paired to another hen and raced really well picking up several prizes throughout the racing season and also flew the channel, although as a young bird she was not raced or even trained. This season she refused to pair up with any cock bird, so in desperation was let back in with the hen she was paired to last season, and has come up with the good winning the pools the last three weeks and has been on the fed sheet three times from Salisbury and the channel, having been over the channel three times. She put up a great performance in her last outing when she was 13th on the result in the last race, also from Messac with the Circle as well as competing in the NFC. In her first outing over the channel from Carentan this season she was given a youngster, for this race she was sitting 4 eggs that were overdue to hatch. For many years Arthur flew in partnership but a few years back his partner died and for some time he had little or no interest in the pigeons turning his time to pigeon politics being President of the Western Region and an RPRA Councillor. A couple of seasons back he struck up a friendship with Geoff Blackhall who flies alongside his wife Anne and this is Arthur's first season racing with them. Geoff is a worker for the sport and was for many years the scribe for the National. Geoff had been in contact with Richard Howey from Northampton and in 2016 Richard sent 16 eggs from his stock pigeons that were delivered by courier, from the 16 eggs 12 hatched and this winning blue hen is one of those eggs. She is bred from the very best long distance birds and both her sire and dam are 1st section winners with the NFC. Her grand dam on both sides being a pigeon called "After Time" that was 1st sec 8th open Tarbes NFC while the grand sire on both sides was Albie Deacons 1st sec 1st open Saint Sebastian. This hen was prepared for Ancenis, and when she arrived she looked a picture and both Geoff and Arthur were confident she would have flown another couple of hours. Since her last outing from Messac she was flown around the loft and had two 35 mile tosses in preparation for this race. She was very aggressive and the two hens had to be placed in a section on their own to give her some rest. Arthur would like to thank Richard Howey for all his help and advice along with the presentation of the eggs, and a big thank you must go to Schroeder Tollisan for their help and advice with the health of the pigeons. Andy Bremen from Schroeder Tollisan has been most helpful and the partnership has followed their regime. Arthur would not hesitate to recommend any fancier to register with Schroeder's and then should you have any problems with the health of your birds you are only a phone call away from being able to speak to a pigeon Vet. This is quite ironic as Vincent Schroeder along with Andy Bremen are to be guests of the Lancashire Social Circle at the Autumn Gathering this November. The health of the pigeons is felt to be most important and to prove this the partners have competed in almost all the channel races with both the NFC and the MNFC along with the Chester Two Bird races with just 8 pairs, losing only 2 birds, being well up in the section in all races. On the day of the LSC race the loft had two birds on the same liberation with the Chester Two Bird and timed both pigeons just 5 minutes apart to win 7th 9th winning the two bird pools. Arthur wins the J S Kearns Trophy and a Parsonage Award, he has had a great season timing in from every race and is runner up OB Ave with a velocity of 1094 and for this performance he wins the Dr William Anderson Trophy.
Malcolm Parry-Jones 2nd Messac and Winner of the Cotswold Trophy.
Malcolm Parry-Jones is second with a 4y old blue Van Reet hen on 1124 that was bred by Anthony Wright when he and Malcolm exchanged half a dozen youngsters in 2014. Malcolm tells me she has been a very stead pigeon that has improved with age giving better and better results each season, she has been across the channel four times this season and was his second pigeon in the last race with the Circle two weeks ago. Malcolm missed clocking her as he had taken his clock in for checking and she was there when he got home. Raced on a roundabout system he has not bred any youngsters from her as she is a very slow layer, and for this race he had paired his race team up but she had not laid so Malcolm gave her a pair of eggs to sit, but she would not take to them. So instead gave her a big youngster 11 days old and she took to this the day before basketing. Malcolm is not sure if this was the motivation that made the difference but he would like to think so. Like several other fanciers Malcolm has suffered losses from the channel races this season, but he also had two bad races inland one from Hereford and a second from Monmouth when several of his channel team took several days to return which found him playing catch up. Malcolm wins the Cotswold Glass Trophy for the Best Two Bird Ave from the first and second races with a velocity of 1178.
Bob Smith 3rd Messac and winner of the OB Ave winning the Arthur H Todd Trophy.
Bob Smith was third with a 3y old cheq cock carrying a Bamford Gold Ring raced on widowhood on 1052, and was runner up to Malcolm for the Best Ave from the first and second races velocity 1173. But not to be out done Bob wins the OB Ave and the Arthur H Todd Trophy on 1170, a great performance when you consider how difficult the racing season has been this season from the three channel races. Bob's timer on this occasion goes back to his old lines and is a full brother to Richard Grayson's 1st section winner from Messac and is down from the breeding lines of the Wigan Cock and the Dearn Cock. This three year old is no slouch when it comes to racing being a past winner from over the water and also has a 1st to his credit on an inland race earlier this season. Bob was over the moon with the condition of his timer and gives full credit to the way the birds had been treated while in the care of Diane Bonney.
John Dearden 4th LSC Messac.
John Dearden from Norden Rochdale on the east side to the first three birds timed a 5y old blue cock on 1043 that was an exchange pigeon from Fred Sharman, when the Lancashire Social Circle exchanged pigeons with the Midland Social Circle. Back in 2013 when the exchange took place on opening the box one of the youngsters was up and away never to be seen again, but this one has proved his worth having been timed in several times from over the water. Once again John was very impressed with the condition of the pigeons on their return and how well they had basketed and come through a stiff race, so much so this same cock was sent back two weeks later to Sigogne with the NFC and timed on the second day.
Joe Tunstall 5th LSC Messac.
Joe Tunstall from Haydock timed a 6y old mealy cock at 2 minutes past nine to record fifth place this old timer, the pigeon not Joe was doing 1041 and was an exchange pigeon from Brian Garfoot of the Midland Social Circle. Raced on total widowhood over his racing career he has won a string of minor prizes with only the occasional first place but has won Joe a great deal of money in pools and as you see from his age he must have been a useful pigeon or he would not be in the loft. Joe kept pigeons as a kid in an old hen cabin but his enterprising father thought it could be put to better use with some chickens producing eggs for the table and a few to sell, so the pigeons were out. Joe moved to his present address in 1959 and with a large back garden and a converted garage he started to race in 1963. Over the years he has held many positions in local organisations. He pairs around mid February and has never bothered with early breeding as this means having to feed them much longer and start training that much sooner. One thing Joe is keen on is Gerdon in the water when the birds return from a race and even more so with the youngsters.
Chris Knowles 6th LSC Messac.
Chris Knowles takes the final place in sixth with a 4y old dark cheq widow cock on 1006 timed at 18 minutes past 9 at night. Chris describes this cock a the bridesmaid as he has never won a first prize, while saying this he has been beaten by loftmates on every occasion but never had a night out. He has been over the channel numerous times and his last outing was with the LSC when they raced from Fougeres and on that occasion he was 10th on the result sheet. His breeding is full of distance pigeons being a double grandson of two Saintes winners, so is full of proven 500 mile blood and maybe he needs a little more distance to shed the title of bridesmaid. His sire is a son of Chris's Saintes winner when paired to a hen that was on loan from Arthur Cowley who purchased her as an egg from fellow circle member George Hilson off his Saintes winner. This pair also bred the mother of11th sec L 60th open NFC and an exchange pigeon for Frank Bristow winning him the Midland exchange race.
While the race turned out a stiff one with only 6 pigeons timed on the day a further 14 birds were timed in the following morning proving that many were not that far away on the night. Five members timed in both their entries these being Arthur Cowley, Brian Walsh, Peter Latham, Chris Knowles and Gerry Clements, so overall a very successful end to the OB season.
Brian Dearn Tel. 01254 772515.
