Lancashire Social Circle
When the Circle was first formed back in 1906 the emphasis was on long distance racing from race points like Marennes a distance of around 550 miles to most lofts in Lancashire, and Bordeaux more than 620 mile into Lancashire. With the ever changing situation of pigeon racing in the UK the Circle has had to be convoyed by the Nationals these past few years in order to race from over the channel. This season a decision was made at a general meeting to go with the Midland National as at the time their race points favoured the longer flyers of the Circle who in many cases were not that far down the country with their federations.
The first race of the 2026 season was from Lsingy-Sur-Mer around the 300 mile mark for most members. Most of the Circle members are members of the MNFC but for the few who are not they could still enter and the Midland Secretary invoiced me once I had booked in their entries a few days before. With all the paperwork done and all members mapped from this new race point all that was required was for members to notify me of their ring numbers of their two entries and await the liberation time. Following one of the wettest and coldest Mays on record the Bank Holiday weekend gave us the hottest weekend of the year so far.
The birds were liberated at 7 15am into a light west wind, the hot conditions did not make the race an easy one but the leading birds were doing over 40mph, with Bob Smith of R & B Smith leading the field with a well fancied yearling blue cock carrying his nomination who was on the wing for six and a half hours doing a velocity of 1312. Bob is no stranger to the top spot in the Circle races with his name on most of the solid silver trophies. And this year his name is added once again to the Briggs trophy as winner of the race along with a Frank H Parsonage award and the Albert Hitchen award. David Pritchard was second with a fine team performance having both his entries in the clock winning the Webster Bros trophy with a velocity of 1188. The first of his two a 5y old blue cock doing 1252 for the 284 miles. The ever consistant John Winstanley was third who timed the first hen on the result a 3y old Cheq raced on roundabout that in no stranger to the top prizes doing 1236 on this occasion. A new member for this season Les Adams was fourth with 3y old mealy cock which up to this season has flown eight channel races and has been first to the loft three times picking up money on a number of occasions. Les along with his brother Phil race as Adams Bros as did their father and grandfather before them all to the same allotment dating back to around the time of the second World War. Les & Phil raced a very successful team of sprint pigeons until their father passed away when through work commitments the partnership decided to transition from sprint to National racing. The old family their dad had developed were added to with pigeons from Burton & Hill which were the old Delbar line that came down from J L Roberts. A visit to Geoff Kirkland resulted in a basket of 20 youngsters from his best lines and as well as accepting advice from Geoff, another great source of information on National racing came from John Rumney along with help from Frank Bristow and Roger Sutton all members and guests at the Circle Gatherings. For many years Les came as a guest of past President Chris Knowles and Les can't thank Chris enough for the past invitations, as over the years the friendship forged have gone a long way to help him with his ambition to perform at the top level in National and Classic racing. In fifth place is Jim Frost who timed a 3y old gay pied hen flying 292 miles doing 1229. I hope this lifts him a little as he has not been in the best of health and along with his wife's health problems has not made pigeon racing easy these last few years. The final diploma goes to Brian Walsh who timed a 3y old cheq cock flying 290 miles on 1212 to his Liverpool loft.
Following the first channel race the Circle organised an inland race from West Bay just one week later, this is to accommodate the few members of the Circle who do not have a CPH number. This race always goes down well with all members as this give us an opportunity to race mark at Alder Root Golf Club where once we have race marked the birds we can all sit down to a free lunch provided by the Circle that give everyone a chance to catch up since the last Circle Gathering last February. Members can only enter two pigeons in the old bird races and this event attracted 68 birds which were liberated on their own at 9 15am into a north west wind. What a good race this turned out with most lofts flying around 190 mile mark, saw most members timing in both their entries in a matter of a few minutes, with several getting both their entries together or only seconds apart. I have to say as Secretary it gives me great pleasure having arranged the race to see it turn out a real success.
Heading the result on this occasion was Graham Mackay from Farnworth with a 2y old cheq cock flying 195 miles on 1499. Graham missed the first race having got his dates mixed up so this win puts him back at the prize table come this next November. Graham wins the W E Evans trophy along with a Frank H Parsonage Award and the J O Shone award. Graham was one of many who timed in both their birds and was runner-up to Jim Frost for the Best Two Bird Average. Just 4 yards behind is last week's winner Bob Smith who times a red cock who was a first prize winner for him last season in the LSC Friendship race that was bred by one of his guests Chris Gibson. This pigeon must have been on top form this season as he was Bob's nomination for the Brian Dickinson trophy, this is won by the member with the best average of a nom pigeon timed in from every race. As can be seen this is one of the most difficult trophies to win, and after the second OB race only 11 member remain, going forward to the next race from Nort-Su-Erdre on the 20th June. Bob wins the Best Average from the first and second OB races with a velocity of 1378 winning the Mary Hammond Rose Bowl. Following his success in the first race Jim Frost had two birds drop together the first of these a 2y old cheq cock on 1479 the second over the pad 5 seconds later winning him the Best Two Bird Average with a velocity of 1479. The Circle only present one prize per member apart from the Exchange race and the Friendship race, but this great result also makes him runner-up for the Mary Hammond Rose Bowl. This double clocking was followed by another double when David Newson from Banks had his two entries home together, when once again there is only seconds between them. His first a 2y old cheq cock on 1469 topped the Amal as a young bird that carries a Gold Ring and just missed out in the Bamford Gold Ring Race. Another new member to the Circle this season in Billy Wilson who times a 2y old blue cock on 1456, being one of the shorter flyers racing into Middlewich, Cheshire. This was Billy's first race with the Circle as he has had some big losses caused by the Hawks around his area. As we all know being only a small team man the loss of a number of your top birds from around the loft makes building a team very difficult. Mark Smith took the final diploma in sixth place and once again had both his birds home together two blue cocks. The first of these a 2y old carrying his nom doing 1443. The result shows 55 of the 68 birds entered on the sheet proving what a good race this was. I have to finish with a big thank you to Maurice Jackson along with Peter Latham who operated the ETS systems and made short work of the race marking. Thanks are also extended to Mark Smith and Peter Latham who kindly brought the crates to the marking station and shipped them back in readiness for the transporter to pick up. And Finally thanks to George Pendleton who sponsored the race paying for the transport of the pigeons to West Bay.
Brian Dearn Tel 07514 743391
