ACROSS THE MIDDLE
by Gordon Braban & John Wilkie
Newark - April 2014
Hello again, welcome back to Across the Middle write ups. This week the UNC were at Newark, which is around 129 miles to the middle of the combine. The week leading up to this race was pretty canny. The weather was good most days, until Thursday, when it started to cloud over and spit on to rain, but it did not last for long. This week’s race should have been at Worksop, but we had to cancel the first race due to bad weather, so the combine decided to split the difference with the mileage and go to Newark. Friday was a good day, sun shine all day long, so it was a pleasure to be down the ringing shed to basket the birds. There was plenty of good crack with the other lads and most people were sending nearly all their birds, just so they would have had a race before going into next week’s race which is around 190 miles, a big jump this early in the season. The forecast for Saturday was surposed to be good, clear skies and a helping wind, well it was up here in the North East, but down at Newark it was cold with full cloud cover, so after a little chat with Mr Proffitt at 6 in the morning, I thought it was going to be an early race but how wrong I was. Like normal it was update at 8, then 9, then word come back, an update at 11, just like normal. My mate Loshy from Mansfield sent me a text saying that he had seen birds going over his place. They were the WDA which had liberated at Leicester at 10-15 into a east north east wind, so that was them going over, then he told me that the sky was starting to clear and the sun was starting to shine. The texts started to come through by about 11-15 that Steve and the crew were going to start to liberate the first section at 11-20, but there was nothing about the others, so it was keep the fingers crossed that nothing would go wrong down at the race point. The next message was that section 2 would be going at 12-00, that was 40 mins, but at least they were going up, then section 3 at 12-15 and section 4 at 12-30. The West Durham birds had done good times just over 50 mph, and the wind was picking up. That's enough small talk for now. Let’s start with section 2 the Gateshead fed lads.
GATESHEAD FED. 2512 birds were liberated at 12-00 hrs in an east south east wind.
Bensham h s 416 birds. The Gray bros Bob & Mick flew a cracking race this week taking 1st 2nd, 4th, 5th & 6th club and 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th & 7th fed. They got 5 birds dropping nearly all together, with 8 seconds splitting them. The first 2 birds were only 1 sec apart. The first bird was a yearling blue hen which was clocked at 2hrs 25mins 10secs to record a vel of 1614-97, the next pigeon was a check cock doing 1614-78, the next pigeon went over the pad 6 secs later and was a 2 year old check cock it was doing 1613-67, then 2 birds went over the pad at the same time doing 1613-48, these were 2 hens. These lads thought they would have a clean sweep and they might have if it was not for Kenny & Ged Hooker who clocked a yearling check hen that was only a gnat’s whisker away from winning, doing 1614-10 {the pict head cock told me that she missed the first time around}. Quinn, son Smith & Noble dropped 7 birds with in 60 secs. Their first 2 birds were 8th & 9th fed, a yearling Wansbech check hen, then a yearling check cock. The other birds were 17th, 19th, 21st, 22nd and 26th fed. M Johnson took 9th club 11th fed and this yearling hen wins the fed 2 bird club doing 1609-49.
Dunston h s 369 birds. Neil Peart was this week’s winner with a yearling blue cock that took just 2hrs 25mins 41secs to cover the 133 miles and was doing 1613-56 and was 5th fed. Philipp Steele & Alan Hubbuck took the next 2 positions with a blue cock and a check hen going over the pad at the same time to record a vel of 1606-85. Tommy Mollet was 4th club 20th fed with a 2 year old blue cock.
Birtley h s 199 birds. Peter McCabe & ptnr took 1st & 2nd in the club this week. The first bird was a 3 year old dark hen that was 10th fed doing 1611-37, the next pigeon was a 2 year old check hen doing 1602-158.
Wrekenton h s 609 birds. Crawford & son were 1st, 2nd &3rd club again this week. The first pigeon was a 2 year old blue MT hen bred by Walker & Greenlay who took 12th fed doing 1609-31, the next pigeon was 1 sec later and was also a 2 year old, doing 1609-13, their 3rd pigeon was 11 secs after and was doing 1607-07. These 3 birds took 12th, 13th & 14th fed. Brian Robinson was 4th club 23rd fed with a yearling blue cock doing a vel of 1603-91. Bowman, Scott & Kelly were 5th club 31st fed {only goes to 30 Steve?}.
Highfield h s 274 birds was won by F Curry & sonswho were 27th fed.
Saltwell h s 211 birds. O'Hagan & Wilson took the red card this week with a yearling blue hen who was 28th fed, and down at the Mount Pleasant club where there were 168 birds away, the partnership of Howourth, Johnson & Steele took the top 6 positions in the club for the 2nd week running.
Well that’s it from Gateshead fed this week. The fed sheet only took 16 yards to fill and the returns were good.
Section 3 / Houghton fed, 1941 birds
Washington Celtic h s 884 birds. S Wilson, son & dtr made their mark in the Celtic club this week. These lads just joined our club this year. This week they clocked a 3 year old blue hen which took 2hrs 18mins 9secs to cover the 127 miles doing 1620-44 and she not only wins the club by 12 yards but the fed as well. This hen has a few fed turns to her name to date. T Craggs clocked 6 hens in within 2mins 15 secs to take 2nd, 4th, 5th, 10th & 11th club 2nd, 6th, 7th, 17th & 18th fed. The first of these hens were a yearling blue hen doing 1608-30, the next 2 hens going over the pad at the same time recording 1597-90. Tommy Smith & Longstaff clocked a 3 year old blue cock in to be 3rd club 5th fed on 1599-75, and Dyson & Nichols were 6th club 8th fed with a yearling check hen.
North Biddick h s 312 birds. J & N Robson & Moon were this week’s winner with a yearling check cock that came out of the heavens to win their club by 15 yards and take 3rd fed doing 1605-04. Mr & Mrs Peter McMann were 2nd club 10th fed with a yearling check hen. Peter was last week’s club winner. The Fort bros took 3rd & 4th club 12th & 13th fed with 2 yearlings both on 1586 with 3 secs apart.
Gardeners h s 311 birds. Gordon Tyzack was the winner timing a 2 year old blue hen in to take 4th fed on 1600-20. Mr & Mrs Brian Swinburne took another 2 positions this week to be 2nd & 3rd club, 9th & 15th fed. The first bird was a yearling blue hen, and the next was a 2 year old blue cock. Jeff Jobling was 4th club 21st fed with a check hen, and Makepeace & Surtees were 5th & 6th club 22nd & 24th fed.
Penshaw h s 152 birds. S Wilson, son & dtr took the red card at the Penshaw club with their good blue SS hen who was 28th fed.
Laidler & Simpson were the winners at Shiney Row with B Rumney & son in 2nd position with 282 birds away. Our fed had a good race or so I thought until I did the fed result. Most other fed sheets were filled within a few yards from 1st to 30th, but it took 42 yards to fill our sheet,
Here's a late result from last week, from Sunderland Prem Fed, when there were 1898 birds away.
The Sportsmans & Comrades h s took the top 4 positions in the fed with Joe & Steve Barnes taking the top 2 positions in club and fed with only seconds splitting them and with vels of 1468s, H Potts & sons taking the next 2 positions in both club and fed and both on the same yard. Fred McCluskey was 5th club 8th fed on 1460-81 {have you got some sprinters Fred?} and the Dunn bros took the next 3 positions in the club and were 11th, 13th & 17th fed. There was 529 birds away.
Oddfellows h s 375 birds. Wayne Mullen & son were top, taking the first 3 positions in the club. The first bird was doing 1466 and the other 2 were on 1462s. They took 5th, 6th & 7th fed. W Cummings took the next 2 turns in the club and was 9th & 12th fed.
Joe Adams & sons was the winner at the Deptford club flying against 112 birds and was 10th fed. Tommy Ayscough was 2nd club 19th fed on 1449-88.
Plains Farm h s 449 birds. Wormleighton & Swinney took the top 3 turns. Their first bird was doing 1457-83 and was 14th fed, next bird 1453-12 and was 15th fed and the 3rd pigeon was 15th fed doing 1452-86. Thompson & Kell were 4th club 20th fed {sorry no bird details on fed sheet - could someone help??}.
Mid Tyne Federation, Newark. This saw 42 members send 1300 birds. Boldon Colliery H.S. share of this being 736 birds sent from 19 member lofts with Bill Gates & Sons coming out on top to be 1st club 1st fed and also 1st Section 3. The winning pigeon a two year old blue cock was their second bird back to the loft last week so was pooled up and recorded a winning velocity of 1621.946ypm. I will come back to the 2nd club pigeon shortly. Ken Young was in at 5th club 5th fed doing 1620.46ypm, John Blackburn & Son, Nigel were 8th club 8th fed on 1619.60ypm with Miller Bros & Kyle at 15th club 18th fed on 1599.8ypm. Now back to the other club positions. Following on from last week when they had 10 pigeons in the club top 20 the Walker & Greenlay loft this week saw them with 14 top 20 positions these being 2nd 3rd 4th 6th 7th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 17th 19th 20th club 2nd 3rd 4th 6th 7th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 17th fed, the first two of these on the same time recording 1621.7ypm down to the pigeon at 17th fed doing 1600.4ypm, I think you will agree some performance. At Jarrow Alexandra there was also a tight finish with K & T Seales coming out as the winners on 1601.49ypm for 1st club 14th fed just beating Wilson Son & Howe into 2nd place doing 1601.31ypn this for 15th fed. John Brown was 3rd & 4th club 19th 20th fed these doing 1598.26 & 1598.08ypm. At Heworth H.S. where 11 members sent 238 birds it was Ablett & Shearer in at 1st club 16th fed doing 1600.64ypm whilst at Hebburn East End it was Ian Nelson who was 1st club and as I understand just outside of the federation result, keep it up Ian you will surely get on the fed sheet again soon.
Well that's just about it for this week’s race. If you could get either club sheets or fed sheets into me with full details on them It would be very helpful. Drop me a line on 0191 4177745 or 07526267979 or you can email them to me on
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