Lancashire Social Circle
The Lancashire Social Circle's second race of the OB season was to have been Chale but with the big change in the weather forecast for the weekend with heavy thundery showers a decision was made to change the race point to Yeovil. This was a last-minute decision that was only relayed to me while on my way to the race marking on the Thursday. My first concern was I had arranged a BBQ lunch for the members before we started marking and secondly if the race point was to be an inland one would we need to mark the following day Friday. Once at Alder Root Golf Club the venue for our marking a call came through from Our President Elect Stephen Beardmore who was at Congleton with the NFC marking and he had heard the race was from Yeovil with marking Friday and racing Saturday. With this a quick call to the transport driver assured us marking was that day with the race taking place on the Friday. Our President Chris Knowles was the next voice in my ear telling me he got the news of a change of race point at 11 00am and had tried to contact me but I had already left. Members were informed of the change with several not to happy as if they had known earlier would have entered different pigeons but we were all in the same boat so to speak. A couple of members had decided not to enter but still came along for the BBQ lunch and be part of the camaraderie that the Circle is well known for. One of our members Jeff Churchill who is also the secretary of Beeston Castle Two Bird Club was a little concerned he would not be around on Friday afternoon as it was race marking for the two-bird club. With this and a number of other concerns about the birds not going up until later in the day, allowing other members on the transporter time to get home from work the driver was approached for an early liberation.
Come the day of the race and with time pressing on I called the President for an update on the lib, he had been in contact with the transporter driver who told him it was a little overcast but it was improving. I asked Chris to text the members letting them know an early lib was on the cards so no one would be caught out, soon after the news came through the SNFC had liberated and the birds had cleared well at 9 45am. Our convoyer was going to give them half an hour and the Circle birds would be going at 10 15am with little or no wind, but if any, it was south south west. The transport driver sent a film of the lib when the three crates used by the Circle opened simultaneously and the birds were up and away into broken cloud with plenty of blue sky and sunshine.
Liberation “Off They Go”
With only 30 club members making the effort to send to this rescheduled race from Yeovil each entering two birds each, from this separate lib the 60 birds seemed to have stuck together and flown as a team travelling up country as in a training toss. This might not have been the case had they been tossed in a larger group. Many of the members were pleased with this decision as in their opinion this was a true two bird race. The race was a complete success with several members timing both their entries in a matter of minutes and in some cases seconds and even our longest flyer on the day Peter Robinson from Kendal had both his entries together flying 235 miles. Members were looking for the pigeons to do around the 50mph mark with the wind at the home end a little stronger than at the race point, depending on the distance flown this was going to be a three-and-a-half-hour race and this proved correct for the vast majority of the 49 pigeons clocked.
Winner Ray Bullen - End View ray’s Loft
Heading the field on this occasion was Ray Bullen from Cheadle who timed a yearling blue w/f cock doing 1504 which is just over 51mph. Ray wins the W E Evans Trophy a Frank H Parsonage Award and the J O Shone Award. Ray's pigeon was hawked early in the season and following this bad luck he lost his hen, Ray repaired them up and this seemed to give him a new lease of life with his new mate. Ray was first to admit his hens race far better than the cocks in a normal racing season but this year tried something a little different by keeping the hens in the end section of the loft on darkness. Ray’s loft is a story in its self and goes back to 2014 while Ray was in hospital donating a kidney to his son, there was some very high winds and a 60ft tree in next door's garden blew down, crashing onto Ray's loft killing a number of birds and frightening the rest many never to be seen again. Ray's wife Margaret made a phone call to a local fancier, Glen Moore, and he rallied a team of fanciers who took all the remaining birds away to keep them safe and removed the broken loft but not before taking photos for the insurance company. Once the clam was settled a new loft was ordered from Clydesdale Lofts, who were a great help as this is no ordinary loft. Ray will always be grateful to his club members for all the help at that time. The garden is triangular in shape with a piece coming off to the left at a 45-degree angle that is also triangular in shape, this means the loft is 7ft wide at one end and only 4ft at the other and it was in this part of the loft that the hens were kept in the early part of the season. Ray has had three firsts with the Circle and also a second with all these prizes coming from pigeons bred down from fellow LSC member Graham Mackay pigeons. All members were more than pleased with this performance for Ray's as he was unable to compete last season following some very serious health issues and this win puts him back at the top.
Bobby Brandon
Second prize went to Bobby Brandon from Rochdale who timed two2y old blue hens just 7 seconds apart the first one doing 1500 with the second on 1498. These hens have been kept and raced on a system shown to him by his good friend Simon Hughes, the hens are kept on V perches in a small section with a 2-inch wire mesh on the floor at a 30-degree angle that makes sure the hens sit on the perches. These hens are flown out twice per day and have to fly well as both Bobby and his wife don't drive so any training of the pigeons relies of friends. At the start of the season these are made to fly but as time moves on, they fly without any encouragement. Once the exercise period is over, they are called in and fed in the corridor when Bobby makes a fuss of them, once they go up for a drink they are closed up until their next exercise period. He feeds a light feed based on Gery Plus and is a great believer in good quality Barley and when feeding never puts all the feed in the trough at once preferring to give a handful at a time making sure the pigeons know where the feed is coming from. This lesson is learnt when the pigeon are youngsters in the early days and weeks of their lives and as a result stays with them, resulting in the pigeons being very tame and are happy to have him in and around the loft. Bobby's first pigeons was bred from his stock pigeons presented to him from Simon Hughes, A & S Hughes. When Bobby first moved to his present address Simon gave him young birds and egg to get him set up and it's from these original pigeons this first bird came. The second was bred from the racers and is a blend of J & A Ward x A & S Hughes pigeons. Both these hens have flown very consistently and have figured in the prizes throughout their racing life. This second place has become something of the norm this season having had a number of seconds in his club with that first prize proving a little difficult. Not to worry this fine performance wins him the Best Two Bird Average with a velocity of 1499 winning the Second Thoughts Trophy so named after a great pigeon of the late Peter Titmus whose memory this trophy was presented in. The runner-up to this splendid trophy goes to Bob Smith doing 1490-177 closely followed by John Winstanley on 1490-022. This turned out a close competition with 23 members of the 30 who entered clocking in both their pigeons.
David Pritchard
David Pritchard collects the third diploma timing a 3y old blue cock flown on widowhood being one of the shorter flyers on the day flying 163 miles doing 1496. His timer in this race was his first pigeon in the first Circle race two weeks ago that figured well up on the result, and was sent back with full confidence although at the time of entering him he was under the impression he was going to Chale. David's pigeon is a Flor Engels x Vandenabeele a result of a first cross with birds originating from Derek Jones, this line come from 4 individual first combine winners from Niort. He has bred four pigeons on the same lines with two of them winning top prizes. This season has proved more difficult for him in two ways first his business has suffered due to the Corona Virus and on the pigeon front he has been devastated by a Goss Hawk which has almost wiped out his yearling team of cocks. He has resorted to not letting the birds out and just sending them to the race each week. The results at the start of the season were not to good but these last 4 races have proved to be a success. David has built his team around channel pigeons and with this seasons races being from only inland race points has not helped do him any favours. A little more background on David, as a boy around the age of six he raced alongside his dad. His working life kept him away from pigeons while building up his own business for around 25 years. He made a comeback starting with youngsters in 2016 and went on to win every young bird race with his club.
Bob Smith - John Winstanley
Bob Smith who is never far of the top of the result sheet no matter what race he enters and this is no exception when he picks up the fourth prize having two birds drop together that were clocked just 20 seconds apart flying 173 miles, first over the pad a dark cock doing 1491. John Winstanley also had two together timing them both within a second and these two managed to split the two pigeons of Bob Smith. As we only give diplomas for the first bird timed John takes the fifth place on the result, but great flying by both these two top fanciers. John's timer was a 2y old blue hen on 1490 that was his first bird in the last race when she was fifth from Yelverton and is bred from pigeons from The Foxwood Lofts. The Best Average from the first and Second races flying for the Mary Hammond Rose Bowl goes to Bob Smith with a velocity of 1464 followed by John Winstanley on 1448, Peter Robinson was a very respectable third flying up into fells of Cumbria on 1431.
George Pendleton - George’s Loft
Taking the sixth spot, in his first season racing with the Circle was George Pendleton with a 2y old blue pied widowhood cock flying 183 miles to his loft in Ormskirk on 1486, this his nom pigeon flying for the Brian Dickinson Trophy. Following this race there are a total of 20 members going forward to the next race in contention for this prestige trophy. George's timer is a most consistant pigeon having been in the clock several times and was George's first pigeon in first Circle's first race when he was 10th on the result. The following week he was sent back to Hereford when he took the second prize. George tells me when this pigeon has put up these fine performances, he has never seen him come, being down and in the loft like a flash, which was the same when he was a yearling winning 1st club 2nd fed. He races a form of roundabout and from the 16 cocks 16 hens he started with he has only lost two pigeons all season, this winning cock's hen was one of them and once given a new mate his performances have improved no end. The loft is self built with the external skin of red bricks on a wooden frame and well insulated with plenty of ventilation built on a fully insulated concrete floor, all three sections have grill floors for easy maintaince as George is a self-employed heating engineer so time is somewhat limited. The loft is deep with a corridor running the full length to the front the centre section with nest boxes for breeding and used in the season for the cocks, a smaller section to the left houses the hens and to the right a large two-part section for the young birds. This is open to the corridor with a large avery purchased from Jeff Greenaway that has proved a blessing giving the youngsters plenty of fresh air that has helped to keep them healthy since its introduction. He has been around pigeons all his life, as his father was a pigeon man and George has been brought up with them from being a kid in Liverpool. Sadly, George lost his father earlier in the year and still has one of his best old racers/breeders in the stock loft which in no longer filling his eggs. Once a move was made to his present address a few years ago it was always his intention to fly on his own and to achieve this he purchased some top Cattrysse pigeons from Colin Lloyd from Cannock and to these over the years has blended several good pigeons from one or two top fanciers. He has some fine looking Ceuster pigeons from Thomas Daniels in Ireland that have done remarkably well for him in the sprinting events. A couple of seasons ago he brought in some late-breds from R & B Smith of Burtonwood which have been blended into the family with some good results.
The third and final race is planned from Truro another new race point for the Lancashire Social Circle, lets I hope we can carry on this trend of good races with excellent returns that will continue to keep the members happy.
Brian Dearn Tel. 01254 772515.
