ACROSS THE MIDDLE
by Gordon Braban & John Wilkie
Bubwith - April 2013
Hello and welcome to the 2013 season from ATM. We shall start at the beginning of March. The weather has been really cold with snow forecast for the first couple of weeks, so there was not much chance of any training. There were a couple of fine days when some fanciers did manage to get in a short toss, but that was about it a couple of days. With the first race due to be held on the 30th of March being only a open race, with the forecast a little bit iffy, the combine decided to cancel it and then they made up there minds to put the race programme back a week, which was a good idea as it gave everybody a chance to get in a little bit more training before the start. So with the first race back a week, it was time to try and get the birds down the road as far as we could, a couple of short tosses at first then just before the weekend a couple of Thirsks just to see if the birds had not lost the way home. The week leading up to the first race was pretty canny at the start but then by the Wednesday the fog started to roll in (not surprised with the east winds) but by the afternoon it started to get out and the sun started to shine. Not forgetting this was the start of a very long programme for the old birds and it’s still cold so no mistakes should be made. The birds went away on the Friday for the first race, which is only around 80+ miles to most of us in the middle. There were some big teams sent by a few members around the area but most of the fanciers played it safe and only sent half teams, which was a good idea in my mind. The chief convoyer’s report read as excellent chance of a race on the Saturday, very fresh south-east wind and with temps in the mid teens (this was on the Thursday, and it was the same report on the Friday). On the Saturday morning whilst I was walking the dog, you could not see the windmills at Nissan, which is only about half a mile away from my house because the fog was that thick. There was no chance of a early liberation due to fog and mist at the race point and along the line of flight, that was at 07-00, but at about 09-00 the conditions at the race point started to improve but still poor visibility at Pickering, and still poor at Washington as well. By 09-30 the conditions worsened at the race point with full cloud cover. The official forecaster said that the conditions would improve very rapidly (that was at 09-30 with poor conditions and by 10-10 we started to liberate with excellent conditions at the race point and along the line of flight). Maybe that's why so many birds were late (these good racing conditions). Don't get me wrong, the birds did great times with velocities in the mid 1800s up here and in the mid 1900s down at the front end (what a crock). The first group were liberated at 10-10 then it was section 2 at 10-30 then section 3 at 10-50 and then section 4 at 11-10. All birds were supposed to have left the liberation site within minutes (probably another crock) because they did not all come home together. Well that's enough moaning on behalf of a few members. For those who got all their birds back, well done and for those who are still a few missing, it’s just not good enough for the first race, is it?
Section 2, Gateshead Fed & Newcastle West Fed 3056 birds.
Gateshead fed 2092 birds.
Bensham h s 337 birds. M Johnson starts of the season in good form, when he timed in a yearling red pied GB cock that took 1hr 21mins dead to record a vel of 1811-77 to cover the 83 miles, to take 1st club, fed and section {well done}. Kenny & Ged Hooker clocked a check white hen 30 secs later to be 2nd club 4th fed and section doing 1804-52. A close 3rd club and fed was S Scullion & son who clocked a 2 year old pied hen doing 1803-64, the Gray bros {Bob & Mick} took 4th & 5th club 27th & 28th fed. Their first bird was their good mealy cock that had a good few positions last year as a baby and it wins the 2bird club in the fed and the next pigeon was a check cock; these 2 birds went over the pads at the same time to record vels of 1768-23s. Kenny & Ged took 2nd in the 2bird club with a 2 year old cheq hen.
Dunston h s 467 birds. Starting the 2013 season as they left the 2012 one with a bang were the 3Gs, Gordon, Gray & Gray who clocked in a yearling belgie blue cock that took 1hr21 mins and 58 secs to take 1st club 2nd fed and section doing 1808-11. They also clocked another bird in 2mins 14 secs later for 9th club 19th fed. Steele & Hubbock clocked 3 birds in within a min to take 3rd, 7th & 8th club 3rd, 17th & 18th fed. Their first 3 birds were all yearling blue cocks. The salad dodger Neil Peart was 3rd club 7th fed and section with a 2 year old blue cock doing 1798-97, 4th club 8th fed was Tommy Mollett with a yearling blue cock doing 1796-67, then it was the Godfather John Jobey and Main who were 5th club 9th fed with a yearling blue cock doing 1795,84. Chas & Dave {Morpeth & Scott} clocked a check cock in to be 6th club 15th fed doing 1785-29.
Saltwell h s 175 birds. D Pearson & Bell were the winners when they timed a 2 year old red cock to end up 6th fed doing 1800-54. J Turnbull, Turnbull & Steele took 2nd club 13th fed with a 3 year old blue cock doing 1790. John O'Hagan & Wilson took 3rd club 26th fed with a 2 year old pied hen that was doing 1769-98.
Mount Pleasant h s 181 birds. HJS, that's Happy Ray Howourth, Honest Kev Johnson & Just Micky Steele took the first 5 positions in the club. These lads clocked all 5 birds in in just 67 secs to take 10th, 11th, 12th, 14th & 23rd fed. Their first pigeon was a yearling blue cock that was bred for them by John Walker from the Boldon club and the other 4 birds were all hens. D Hulme & Craig Larvin were 6th club 25th fed with a dark hen.
Wrekenton h s 382 birds. Billy Matfin was the winner with a 3 year old dark cock that was doing 1783-47 to be 16th fed. Crawford & son took 2nd club 20th fed with a blue cock and Coats & Smith were 3rd club 24th fed with a 3 year old doing 1771-49.
Birtley h s 203 birds was won by McCabe & ptnr with a yearling red cock. This is the first year that the Birtley club has been in the Gateshead Fed due to their own fed disbanding last year {best of luck}.
Highfield h s 258 birds was won by E McBryde with a yearling blue hen that was doing 1766-22 and claimed 29th fed. He also timed another bird in some 7 secs later to be 2nd club and Bob Walden & son were 3rd club.
The whole fed took 46 yards to fill the 30 positions. It sounds a lot but from 80+ miles and a mile a min for the best ones it should have been quicker but that's pigeon racing for you.
Welcome to the twilight zone with the Newcastle West Fed result. These were up at the same time so why are there differences with the vels between the different feds? I don't know. This fed sent 964 birds out of the 3056 birds that where sent within the section, which is bigger then some feds around the area, but that's the way pigeon racing is at the moment. This week’s race winner was a bit or a surprise to everybody, as they all thought that it would be the Decca Lamb show all over again. Well how wrong they were. This week’s fed winner comes from the Coxlodge club, which is somewhere in the Newcastle West region, but they fly the same difference as the Westerhope lads. Well here goes. NWF winners this week are Mr & Mrs Anderson who fly 87 miles and 874 yards and timed in a 2 year old check cock that took 1hr 25 mins and 38 secs to record a vel of 1798-29 and end up 8th section [WELL DONE], Mr F Quilt was 2nd club 8th fed with a yearling blue hen that was doing 1776-110.
Westerhope h s. Little, son & Southgate start the season well with 3 birds on the fed sheet. Their first pigeon was a 2 year old check hen that was clocked in at 1 hr 5 mins 38 secs to take 1st club, 2nd fed doing 1795-99; the other 2 birds were a yearling check white hen that was 5th club 9th fed and a check white cock which was 15th fed. Graham son & Brown clocked 3 checkers in within 13 secs to take 2nd, 3rd & 4th club and 3rd, 4th & and 5th fed. The first check was a 2 year old hen doing 1785-10 then 2 yearling cocks. John Cook & son took 6th club 10th fed with a yearling blue hen. The British Legion club was won by Decca Lamb with a 2 year old check white hen that has a few positions to its name; now she was 6th fed. T Hutchinson was 2nd club 19th fed. The Harland bros took the top 2 positions in the Skinnerburn club with a 3 year old check EC cock and a 4 year old pied hen which took 7th and 13th fed. Mr & Mrs T Robson were the winners at the Hazelrigg club with a 2 year old check white cock that took 1hr 29mins 54secs and was doing 1765-88, I Tully was 2nd club 16th fed with a 4 year old check cock it was doing 1759-37, Grant Robson took 3rd & 5th club with 2 check cocks which were 17th & 20th fed and the Fish bros were 4th club 18th fed. It took 44 yards to fill the fed sheet and there still a quite a few birds still missing from the 2 feds with not many returning after the Sunday morning according to the crack going around the section area.
Section 3. Houghton Fed 1561 birds. The North Biddick club flew a good race this week taking 8 positions on the fed sheet. Alan Pallas came out on top timing 3 birds in to make the sheet. The first bird was a 3 year old check cock that took 1hr 17mins & 19secs to cover the 77+ miles doing 1771-15 to take 1st club 1st fed and 2nd section. His second bird was a yearling blue cock that was 5th club 10th fed and the 3rd bird was a check hen which took 30th fed. The Clennell bros & Curry took 2nd club 4th fed timing a 2 year old blue white hen doing 1755-77. Jeff & Neil Robson & Neil Moon took 3rd & 6th club 5th & 21st fed first with a mealy cock then a check cock. Norman Todd also took 2 positions; he was 4th and 7th club and 7th and 23rd fed. Celtic h s 651 birds. This week’s winners were Billy Scott & Trev Holmes. This was Billy's first club win {well done Billy}. He timed a yearling blue cock which took 1hr 18mins 19secs to take 2nd fed 4th section. This cock was bred from 2 strags , a NW cock and a NL hen. Braban & son took the next 2 positions in the club firstly with a check hen and then a grizzle hen. The first hen was bred from a home grown check cock and a Morpeth & Scott check hen and the second hen was bred from a Marshall mealy cock and Brian Shepherd grizzle hen; these 2 hens were 3rd & 6th fed. His 3rd hen that was 7th club 17th fed was a little yearling Busschaert. Gordon Tyzack was 4th club 9th fed with a yearling blue cock. Mr & Mrs P McMann were 5th club 11th fed with a GB blue white cock. The Scott bros timed a yearling blue cock in to take 6th club 12th fed and Smith & Longstaff were 8th club 18th fed. Shiney Row was won by Mr & Mrs Tucker Wells with a yearling check white hen that was 8th fed, and Brian Oliver was 2nd club 13th fed with a 3 year old check cock. Gardeners h s. Braban & son took the top 2 spots with 2 red Busschaert hens that dropped together and were only 1 second apart to take 14th & 15th fed. Gordon Tyzack took 3rd club 16th fed and Davy Makepeace & Surtees took 4th club 20th fed with a blue cock. Penshaw h s was won by Mr & Mrs John Bell, John Collinson took 2nd club 19th fed with a 3 year old check white cock and S Wilson, son & dtr were 3rd club with a 3 year old SS blue hen. Hughie & Colin Jackson were the winners at the Dubmire club with a red hen that was just off the top 20 on the sheet. It took 65 yards to fill our fed sheet and the same as section 2 there are still a few birds adrift, but a few have been reported all around the region and there are quite a few up in the Border and Scotland regions. These will be brought nearer the home end to make their way home safe and sound.
Mid Tyne Federation Bubwith by John Wilkie
For this the first race of the new season saw 44 members send a total of 1,134 birds. It seemed that on basketing night the prospects for a decent race may be on the cards, this after what has to be one of the worst pre seasons on record. Unfortunately it did not happen as at the close there were a great many pigeons that never made it home. As I write this a good number have made it back but there are still a good few still missing. Taking top spot in the result is Mark Shearer from Heworth HS with a pigeon that got itself out in front recording 1793.567ypm giving a lead of 23ypm over the field. This pigeon a two year old pied hen was also 1st “Up the Middle” Section 3 from a total of 2,695 birds, again winning by 22ypm. Mark had another two birds on the fed sheet by being 4th club 13th fed 1725ypm and 5th club 20th fed 1709ypm. Other Heworth timers were Mr & Mrs Gary Robson 2nd club 9th fed 1733ypm and Danny Munro 3rd club 11th fed 1727ypm. Ronnie Ablett has taken over as secretary at Heworth this season so I hope every thing works OK for you Ronnie. At Jarrow Alexandra HS it was Lawson & Hall in 1st club 2nd fed this one doing 1768.9ypm. Wilson, Son & Howe came next for 2nd club 3rd fed on 1760ypm. Stevie Whitehead next. This is only Stevie’s second season racing after starting last year with young birds and what a start he got being 3rd 4th 7th club 6th 8th 15th fed recording 1744, 1741 and 1721ypm. Denis Walton came in for 5th 6th club 12th 14th fed these on 1726 & 1721ypm. Frank Moss came in at 8th club 18th fed 1720ypm. Boldon Colliery HS had 17 lofts send 536 birds. Here it was Billy Miller coming out on top to be 1st club 4th fed 1759ypm. In at 2nd club 5th fed it was Ken Young on 1750ypm. This pigeon is the nest mate to his great cock from last season that scored 3 x 1stclub from Lillers, Clermont and Fontenay, each time having good U.N.C. turns as well. Miller Bros & Kyle were 3rd club 7th fed 1743ypm. Colin Sheerin 4th club 10th fed 1732ypm. John Gilhespy 5th club 16th fed 1720.45ypm and John Blackburn & Son 6th club 17th fed 1720.40ypm. Now it’s a pleasure to write this as it is not that often that a Hebburn East End member gets on the fed sheet but this week we do have one. Pat McDonald Snr is the said member being 1st club 19th fed with a velocity of 1714.9ypm. Hopefully we will see a few more Hebburn lads make the federation result.
Section 4. Sunderland Prem Fed 1752 birds lib 11-10am south east wind.
Plains Farm h s 288 birds. The partnership of Wormleighton & Swinney start this season as they ended last year’s season with a bang. They took 7 positions out of the first 10 in the club. These lads were 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th & 9th club and they also took 1st, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 13th & 15th fed {good flying}. Their first bird was also pooled up in the fed noms doing a vel of 1883-24 and the other birds were just seconds behind the first bird but must have kept each other going round {sorry no colours or sexes on fed sheet or even the year Nigel}. In 2nd club and fed were Hammond, Webster & Webster who were doing 1880-37. This bird was 2nd fed noms. K Patterson also timed a few birds in as he took 3rd club and 5th, 19th & 20th fed. The first pigeon was doing 1871-03. Armstrong & Shergold clocked 2 birds that were 17th & 18th fed. Sportsmans Arms h s 575 birds. The winners this week were the Dunn bros who took 3rd fed doing 1874-73 and taking 3rd fed noms. J & S Barnes took 2nd club 10th fed doing 1861-15. Westside 6 bird club 193 birds. I Savage took the red card and 4th fed doing 1871-85. Gary Dunn was 2nd club 11th fed doing 1861-46. Castletown h s 223 birds. Summers, bros & Rose were the winners doing 1859-83 and ending up 12th fed. Watson bros & son took 2nd club 14th fed and Chipp & Kibble were 3rd club 16th fed. These lads’ pigeons did a lot faster vels then the 2 sections that were up before them.
Sun Dist Fed. Farrington h s 219 birds. 1st Prest, Snowdon & Prest doing 1773. 2nd R Rilley1751. 3rd 4th & 5th Prest, Snowdon & Prest. 6th club were l Parkin & son. Prest, Snowdon & Prest’s first bird was bred by Wormleighton & Swinney.
Well that's just about it from me for the first week. A few birds have returned home either by themselves or with the help from the staff in the NEHU office sending out all those white letters that we all dread dropping through the door but sometimes it’s not the bird’s fault, so many thanks to Davy Powers and all of the staff in the office - KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
