By Brian Dearn
Lancashire Social Circle - Ancenis
We no sooner seemed to have started and we are at the end of the OB racing for this season. The final race was from Ancenis with the pigeons transported in style by Diane Bonney Transport. Diane rang and informed our president Chris Knowles they had arrived on site with all the birds fed and watered and now relaxing in the summer sunshine. In Diane's opinion this is one of the best liberation sites with great facilities for the convoyer's and drivers. The time of the phone call was around 3 30pm on the Friday and she was now having a cupper sat in the shade making the most of the afternoon. With the pigeons race marked on the Wednesday the trip over to France had been stress free both for the birds and the driver, these extra hours at the liberation site is hoped to give the birds time to rest in readiness for an early liberation come Saturday morning.
News came through bright and early the birds were up and away at 06 30 liberated into a north wind that was more north west as the birds made their way up country. The day in this part of the country was very hot and members were hopeful that the early lib would give the pigeons a good chance of reaching their home lofts around the 11 hours mark depending on their loft location, meaning the pigeons would be doing around 40 mph. As the day moved on the heat of the day must have got to many of the birds as returns were not as expected. But from the 64 birds entered from 34 of the 40 members a total of 22 pigeons were recorded making this another good race to finish of the OB season. With the 500 mile race point not having the interest from local clubs that it did several years ago all transporting organisations decided to resort to a 400 mile plus race point for the final race, and as far at the Lancashire Social Circle is concerned it proved to be a great success. I say this as the number of entries for the race went up from 25 members last season to 34 this year.
Peter Latham Winner of the LSC Ancenis Race - Peter Latham's Wining hen from Ancenis
The race winner went to Peter Latham who timed a 2y old cheq hen flying 406 miles to its home loft at Middlewich with a velocity of 1171. Peter wins the J S Kearns Trophy for winning the race along with a Frank H Parsonage Award. This will give Peter a great boost as he has been having some health problems this last few months which has meant he has been in and out of hospital on a number of occasions and at the time of my visit is still unable to drive. Which as you can understand as a pigeon fancier creates some difficulties, but his loving wife Dawn has proved to be a rock and Peter is first to admit he could not have achieved this result without her. This is not a one off as Dawn is part of the partnership and has timed more pigeons in than Peter when his work has forced him to be at work on a race days. The report on this loft is what has taken place this season and may not have been the case had Peters health been different. The 20 pair of pigeons kept have been raced on the natural system, in amongst these are a few retired racers which could be described as stock pigeons. The loft contains 16 nest-boxes in one section with 32 large box perches in the next section, the door between the two compartments has been left open and the birds use both. The strange thing quite a number of the pairs have used the deep litter which in granules of cat litter to nest, in preference to the nestboxes. The birds were let together in late March early April, and when I say let together I mean just that as Peter explained he did not pair them just opened the adjoining door and let them get on with it, as he was not up to the effort involved with pairing. His family of birds are a mixture of Staff Van Reets and Gabby Vandenabeele which he brought in from Holland. The Van Reets come from a good friend and great fancier John Albutt, prior to these he had a family of Jan Aardens which he found very consistant on the more difficult channel races but were always off the pace in the inland races. The change came about when Peter was working days as a maintenance fitter and Dawn was left to clock the birds on race days, to say she was getting a bit disillusioned timing in also ran's was an understatement, so it was decided to bring in something a little faster. Back to the system of this year, following the weaning of the youngsters the birds had two tossed and into their first race from Mangotsfield around 115 miles to Peter and then into their first channel race.
Peter Latham pigeons happy in the boxes
He uses Roger Sutton as his food provider and as a result feeds Vanrobaeys number 8 and number 12 that he adds an high energy mix the last couple of feeds before the pigeons are dispatched for the channel races. The whole system this season has been to leave the birds to do as they please and he has found they seem to be much happier this way and has meant a lot less work for both Peter and Dawn. Peter was born to be a pigeon fancier and one could say it's in his DNA as his father keeps them and just recently his sister has got more involved with them and is helping her dad with the day to day running of his loft. Once Peter is back at work which he hopes to be in the next few weeks he has a number of jobs to catch up on around the loft with some cladding that needs to be put on the loft that has been left for 12 month due to his health situation. Several members were pleased to see Peter in top spot knowing he has been having problems and wish him all the best for the coming young bird season.
George Hilson Second LSC Ancenis
You can't keep a good man down and following the loss of his wife Moe last year George Hilson lets everyone know he is back where we are so use to seeing him at the top end of the result sheet following his third place in the last race from Messac. George's pigeon on this occasion is a 4y old cheq w/f hen flying almost 434 miles to Bury with a velocity of 1163. She is a past winner of at least two channel races when she also topped the fed, being a daughter of one of his top stock cocks that was also a winner of 1st Lancashire Combine from Niort over 500 miles. The dam of this great hen is a granddaughter of Gordon Riggs golden pair that have bred George two section L winners with the NFC. When George first saw this hen he decided to put her straight into the stock loft and this has proved to have been the right decision as this pair have produced several top performance pigeons from over the water. George has had a great season with the Circle and is runner-up to the OB average with a velocity of 1279 and this wins him the Dr William Anderson Trophy, George is also runner-up for the Cotswold Trophy presented to the best average from the second and third OB races on 1235.
Roger Sutton Third LSC Ancenis
Third place went to Roger Sutton with a 2y old blue Lambrecht hen which has performed very well for Roger over her racing career having been across the water twice this season before her success in this 403 mile race from Ancenis with a velocity of 1153. This hen was one of six purchase from myself in 2015 when one of this batch went on to win the Lancashire Social young bird race for Roger with another from the same batch timed seconds later won him the best two bird average.
Ray Bullen fourth LSC Ancenis
Ray Bullen is making his presence felt having won the last race from Messac and now takes fourth with a 3y old cheq cock sent feeding a big youngster with his hen about to lay her second egg. Ray flies 419 miles to his loft in Cheadle and put up a velocity of 1139 this cock is no stranger to top places having won a number of top places flown on roundabout but paired as the season has moved on and the hens have wanted to pair together. Ray describes this cock as a workhorse and was one of six youngsters presented to ray by Brian Fisher from Todmorden when Ray's loft was destroyed. As can be seen this pigeon is a workhorse and just keeps coming having been beaten by loftmates but still recorded 4th Hullavington then flew a very hard Coutances with the BBC, then flew Fougeres with the NW Classis Club winning 7th sec 19th open, was sent back to Messac with the LSC when he was Ray's second pigeon and would have been 9th and finally Ancenis with this being his fourth time over the channel this season. Ray fancied this pigeon so much he placed his nomination on him and this was the first nom bird on the result nominated for the Brian Dickinson trophy, in my opinion the most difficult trophy to win. A member has to time in a nom bird from every race and the one with the best velocity at the end of the season wins this magnificent trophy. Following this race there are only five members in the running for the trophy these being Ray Bullen, Eric Entwistle, Malcolm Hewitt, Ian Cooper and Bob Smith. Ray also wins the Cotswold Trophy for the best average from the second and third OB races with a velocity of 1245.
John Dearden Fifth Ancenis and Winner of the OB Averages 2017 - Joe Tunstall Sixth LSC Ancenis
John Dearden picks up fifth spot with a 4y old blue cock flying 435 miles over to Rochdale on 1040. Following his most consistant flying in our other two races he is rewarded with the OB averages and wins the Arthur H Todd Trophy on 1295 making it a fitting end to his OB season. The final diploma goes to Joe Tunstall who timed a 4y old blue cock flying 427 miles to Haydock 1019. Joe is another member who has had a good racing season with the Circle timing in from all races and just misses out on the OB average being 3rd on 1266. His performances are 8th from Fougeres, 7th Messac, and then 6th from this race point Ancenis.
This has been one of the best racing seasons for the Circle in the last few years when returns have been excellent from all three races we have held. Whether this has been good luck or good management is open to debate, but when you consider the poor returns from many of the larger racing originations the Lancashire Social Circle has come out very well. With 45 pigeons timed from an entry of 73 birds in the first race from Fougeres, 36 pigeons timed from the entry of 75 birds in the second race from Messac and 22 birds timed from the entry of 64 pigeons in this the final race from Ancenis. I must add that not all members timed in and a number had excuses as to why they had not clocked, one member felt his pigeons had missed the ferry back over the channel, a second clamed a hat trick of not timing in from all three races, while a third said his pigeons didn't fancy Brexit so stayed in Europe.
Brian Dearn Tel. 01254 772515.
