By Brian Dearn
The opening race of the season for the Circle was held from Fougeres and as is always the case marking is all part of the event when members and several guest come along for lunch, before the task of getting the birds race marked. Looking at the weather forecast for the day of the marking heavy rain was the order of the day, and with this in mind the large gazebo we purchased for such an occasion came into play. This is portable and is packed in a large bag on wheels that easily slips into my car, it has side panels some of which have windows and when erected in a matter of a few minutes is a very impressive structure. With the gazebo up and the well presented wicker baskets provided by Diane Bonney under cover along with the ETS in place and no sign of rain we all made our way into the Fiddlei'th Bag Inn for lunch. How lucky we were for all the time we marked the rain held off, but on my way home I ran into a very heavy shower while on the motorway with the rain bouncing off the ground. Myself and two guests Russell Toplis and Stuart Mellor made the comment if the pigeons had been racing there was no way they could have flown through this amount of rain. One can understand in some races how fancied pigeons might have to go around such weather or get washed down leaving the race open to birds behind to come through and figure in the race result. For anyone who has not been to our headquarters the background in some of the photos gives you some idea of the many thousands of items that line the walls of this unique Cheshire pub.
The forecast for the weekend was very unsettled and many wondered if a race was on the cards at all, Saturday looked like there might be a chance of a liberation but Sunday seemed a better day. A decision had to be made should we, or shouldn't we, with this being the big question. The first call of the morning came quite early that didn't give much hope for a Saturday lib, but then an hour or so later the call came through the birds were up and away at 10 10am into a fresh south south west wind. At the time of the call I was sitting in my dining room with a couple of fanciers and when we looked out at the grey clouds they were racing very strongly and we all agreed this is going to be a very fast race for the early birds.
Graham Mackay 1st LSC Fougeres by 61 ypm - Graham's winning pigeon
This proved to be the case with the winner being Graham Mackay from Swinton Manchester who timed a 3y old magnificent dark chequer roundabout hen that won the race by a clear 61 ypm flying 363 miles with a winning velocity of 1995. Graham wins the Briggs Trophy a Frank H Parsonage Award and the Albert Hitchen Award. On the day of the race Graham had entered birds with the North West Classic Club and had two bird in very handy, and said to his good mate Tommy Duffy who was waiting with him they would not be too far off the mark. When a third bird arrived that had them both thinking they might be wrong as this pigeon was one of Graham's entries in the Lancashire Social Circle race which were liberated much later beating his first birds time by 10 minutes. As it happened Graham did well in both races, both of which were from Fougeres. This hen has been a money spinner for Graham having won all along the line starting as a youngster. She is from the best of the Heremans-Ceusters from John Wheatcroft, with her dam also being one of Graham's best racers. I went over to see Graham a few days after the race as I was afraid he might be tempted to send her back over the channel as has happened to me in the past when I was to slow to make arrangements for a photo, and the pigeon in question was back in the basket. I can say on handling the pigeon she was in wonderful condition when I met up for the photo shoot. While I was there Tommy Duffy arrived and the three of us passed a couple of hours exchanging light hearted stories. Graham and Tommy share a team of stock pigeons which they have developed over a number of years. Their present team all originate from John Wheatcroft and have proved a great investment providing the lads with a string of winners since their introduction in 2009. You can tell how good they have been when the other year someone broke into the stock loft and let their two terrier dogs in. When Tommy arrived the following day the dogs had killed all the birds in the bottom boxes and rendered several others useless. Speaking with Tommy who looks after the stock birds he tells me all but one pair in those bottom boxes were children of the Wheatcroft Pair. When I was there the other day they had a team of late breds bred from the very best of the stock from which they intend to replace a number of the stock birds with. Then any surplus will be sold and I can tell you they all looked a picture in the avery all looking like peas in a pod, a tribute to the breeding skills of these two top fanciers.
Bob Smith 2nd Fougeres and Best Two Bird Average
In second place is past president of the Circle Bob Smith who has his team on fire at the moment and seems to be untouchable in the national races so far this season, having won 1st & 8th open with the MNFC and topped section L with the NFC taking 8th open. Bobs pigeon is a 4y old dark chequer cock flying 358 miles to Burtonwood on 1934. Always in the frame in any race, you have to give credit to this winning loft, and as Graham Mackay said someone at Burtonwood can race pigeons when he complimented Bob and Brian on their winning results. All the time I have been secretary I have only ever known Bob miss timing it from one of our races, and remember these are two bird events. The other notable thing is in the exchange races whether it be with the Midland or with our own members he always manages to get these youngsters to the final race of the season and collect a prize. It's from these exchanges he has two particular pigeons that have help mould his winning team the "Dearn Cock" and "Hughie." Bob's second pigeon over the ETS, this time a 4y old blue pied cock wins him the best two bird average and the Webster Bros Trophy with a velocity of 1888.
John Dearden 3rd LSC Fougeres
Third place went to John Dearden from Rochdale with one of his team of 12 youngsters that he imported last year from Belgium. I remember last season when John won the young bird race and also the Midland exchange race, at that time when I went over to see him he pointed out to me these lovely babies which had far from disgraced themselves having flown all stages to the coast. The pigeon that came for him was the first of only 7 yearling timed in from the race flying 368 miles on 1915 was a chequer cock raced on the roundabout. On the day of the race John tells me the weather at his end was not too good so gave Gordon Rigg a call in Cheshire to see what the weather was like down his neck of the wood. While on the phone Gordon was telling John he was also racing from Fougeres with the Classic Club and gave him his time. John worked it out he needed a pigeon at that precise time and while on the phone told Gordon he had one drop, when he went up to the loft he discovered his first bird was already in the loft timed with the ETS. John's second pigeon which he did see home was a 3y old blue hen was runner-up two bird average on 1788. It was good to see from the 37 members that entered 73 birds 14 of these members timed in both their entries, proving overall the race was a complete success, let's hope this continues.
Chris Knowles Pigeon that was 4th LSC Fougeres - Keith Iddon 5th Fougeres with the LSC
Roger Sutton 6th LSC Fougeres
The President of the Circle Chris Knowles takes fourth place with a 4y old chequer widowhood cock flying 354 miles on 1874. This cock is bred for the job of racing, coming from a string of winners and follows everyone's advice to breed from winners. This cock is a winner both on the inland races and from over the channel; his dam is a direct daughter of a national winner whose sister is also a national winner from Roy Seaton's national winning family. The sire is a grizzle that is bred from a grizzle that is a full brother to Geoff Kirkland's "Snake" which was a gift bird presented to Chris by Alastair Ewart. Also on the dam's side being a grand dam to this pigeon is a pigeon bred by Tommy Shaw called "Rambo" that was a winner of 21 first prizes. (As I said bred for the job)Taking Fifth spot was Keith Iddon with a 2y old Van De Brandt blue hen taking just 6 hours to fly the 371 miles with a velocity of 1813. This is one of a small team of hens kept in the young bird loft paired to old retired stock cocks that fly out twice a day and let back in for a feed and a drink which is then removed until the next exercise period, the loft is darkened from mid day to keep them calm and to stop them pairing up and are put to bed at 7 00pm. Keith takes them for a 30 mile training toss once a week but they have been flying well around the loft when given their freedom twice a day.Another past president of the Circle comes in sixth, this being Roger Sutton who wins the final diploma with a 3y old blue hen carrying his nomination for the Brian Dickinson trophy. Roger who flies 336 miles from Fougeres took 5 hrs 37 minutes to his loft in Cheshire and was doing 1775 which is just short of 60mph. Roger has not been too well of late and has been in hospital but I am pleased to report all is now going well, so with some advice from George Mainwaring “keep taking the tablets and drawing the pension".
Brian Dearn Tel. 01254 772515
