ACROSS THE MIDDLE
by Gordon Braban & John Wilkie
MELTON MOWBRAY - MAY 2012
Section 2
Gateshead fed 1323 birds, lib 09-45 in a light north wind.
Bensham h s 243 birds. This weeks club, fed & section winner was Kenny & Jed Hooker with a yearling check hen that took 3hrs 36mins 20secs to cover the 156 miles and doing a vel of 1269-54 to claim their first win of the season. In a close 2nd place were the partnership of Quinn, son, Smith & Noble with a yearling check cock that was doing 1267-52 to be 2nd in all 3. They also timed another 3 birds in a couple of mins later to be 4th, 6th, 7th & 8th club 6th, 9th, 10th & 13th fed and 6th, 13th, 14th & 17th section. All 3 were yearlings, 1 hen and 2 cock birds. The Gray bros took 3rd club, 4th fed and 4th section with a yearling check wh cock that was 4th fed from Huntington 2 weeks before. R Mains was 5th club, 8th fed and 12th section with a young blue hen.
Dunston h s 186 birds. Phillip Steele & Hubbock had their 2nd win of the season this week wth a yearlng blue cock that was doing 1266-79. It already has a 9th fed to its name from Bubwith. Here it took 3rd fed & section. The 3 Gs Gordon, Gray & Gray took a close 2nd with a young blue pied hen which will be 5th fed and section doing 1263-81. Steele & Hubbock were also 3rd club 11th fed and 15th section with a 2 year old check wh cock.
Saltwell h s 186 birds. D Pearson & Bell got their 2nd win in a row this week with a 3 year old check hen that was 2nd club 15th fed last week from Folkestone. They were also 2nd & 3rd club 15th & 18th fed with 2 check hens and they ended up 10th, 19th & 27th section.
Wrekenton h s 369 birds. Laskey & Robinson made it 4 straight wins in a row and 5 in total this week with a yearling check cock that was doing 1252-94 that took 12th fed 16th section and then they timed a young check hen in to take 3rd club 22nd fed. Tommy Askew was 2nd club, 19th fed with a young blue hen and Bowman, Scott & Kelly were 4th club 24th fed with a young blue cock.
Mount Pleasent h s 101 birds was won by R Howorth jnr with a 2 year old pied hen and Hulme & Larvin were 2nd club with a blue hen.
F Curry & sons were the winners at the Highfield club with a 2 year old pied hen.
The fed sheet was filled within 42 yards.
Chester le Street fed 329 birds.
Birtley h s. Potts & Walker got their 2nd club and fed win in a row this week with a yearling check hen that was doing 1261-86 and ended up 7th section. Morris & son took the next 4 positions in the club. The first 2 birds were timed in within 9 secs and the next 2 birds were some 6 mins later. First was a 4 year old blue hen that has scored before and it wins the 4 bird club; it was 2nd fed and 9th section. Then a yearling blue cock that was 3rd fed 11th sec; the other 2 birds were 7th & 8th fed. Irving & son were 6th club 10th fed and 3rd in the 4 bird club.
Perkinsville h s. B Nixon took the top 2 spots in the club this week with 2 yearling hens that were 4th & 5th fed 41st & 42nd section, W Loan was 3rd club 6th fed with a young blue hen.
Eltringham& Hallwre the winners at the Kibblesworth club with a 2 year old grizzle hen that also took 2nd in the 4bird club.
t took 59 yards to fill the 10 positions in this fed.
Newcastle West fed.
Decca Lamb made it 5 straight club & fed wins on the trot this week. This week he was 8th section. The Burns bros were 2nd club 2nd fed and 20th section and they were also 3rd club, 4th fed and 23rd sec. D Lamb was 4th & 5th club 7th & 9th fed.
Hazelrigg h s. Park & Young were the club winners and were 2nd fed 22nd sec. The Fish bros were 2nd club 5th fed & 25th sec.
W Anderson were the winners at the Coxlodge club.
Section 3
Houghton fed 40 members sent 1017 birds
Celtich s. Richie Herron & sons made it 2 club & fed wins in as many weeks. This week they timed a 2 year old check {Irish} cock which has a couple of turns now to its name; it took 3hrs 30mins to cover the 151 miles and record a vel of 1267-99. Smith & Longstaff were 2nd club and fed with a yearling blue hen that was 4 mins behind the winner doing 1250-11. Dyson & Nichols were 4th, 5th & 6th club 5th, 6th & 10th fed with 3 yearlings - 2 hens & a cock. Craggs, son & g/son were 5th club 7th fed with a young blue hen that was doing 1224-17. Barry Mason was 7th club, 11th fed with a 3 year old blue cock.
Dubmire h s. Hughie & Colin Jackson took the top 2 positions in the club this week with 2 yearling cocks that were 3rd & 4th fed 12 secs apart. M/M Sharp were 3rd club 8th fed with a 3 yesr old check hen.
Shiney Row h s. M/M Tucker Wells were the winners with a yearling blue cock. It was 9th fed doing 1220-96 knocking Billy Laidler off the top spot.
North Bidick h s. The Fort bros took the top 3 positions this week with 3 cocks that ended up 16th, 20th & 23rd fed.
Wilson, son & dtr were the winners at Penshaw h s with a 2 year old SS blue hen.
There were some big gaps in the birds in this race with the top 30 birds in the fed being filled up in 59 yards.
Mid Tyne Federation Melton Mowbray.
Well this was another one of those races, poor weather forecast for all of the weekend so pigeons basketed on Sunday to race Monday. Then Monday turned out full cloud so birds held over until Tuesday. This delay undoubtedly put a number of lofts off as the fed as a whole only mustered 607 birds from just 31 lofts.
Boldon Colliery had 11 lofts send 291 birds and it was the same top lofts that again did the damage. In pole for 1st club 1st fed were the Mckenna Bros on 1264.2ypm, more about their winner later. Second club 2nd fed Graham, Gilchrist & Brennan, 1263.2ypm, again more about this one soon. Next were Walker & Greenlay keeping up their run of having a number of birds on the clock. This time for 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th & 9th in both club and fed, the first one doing 1263.05ypm and the last of these on 1244.8ypm. All of the above lofts also had other pigeons in the top 20 fed positions.
Now back to the winning pigeons. The winner for Tom & Kevin is their great little hen “The Duchess”. I mentioned her last week in the Folkestone report, well it has since been confirmed that in that race she finished at 7th Open U.N.C. The G.G.B. pigeon in at 2nd this week was last week’s winner which was 5th Open U.N.C. Then we come to Walker & Greenlay, the fifth pigeon in the clock for them this week at 8th fed was 3rd club last week and finished at 9th Open U.N.C. You must agree fantastic performances from three pigeons from a field of 24,246 pigeons. I must also add these three lofts had twelve pigeons in the first one hundred of the Open result between them, so well done to you all. Yes Boldon is some club to try to win.
Back to this week's fed result. Nice to see Miller Bros & Kyle finally get on the sheet for 14th club 14th fed 1238.91ypm. Is this your turning point? At Jarrow Alex Glen Scurfield & Son did it again to be 1st club 15th fed on 1238.03ypm. Heworth HS saw W & L Curry have their first race of the season after Billy’s operation, and I bet some members wish they didn’t as the came out on top for 1st club 16th fed doing 1235ypm. Another Heworth loft that has been a bit quiet this season is that of Owens & Barnes, well they got up to be 2nd & 3rd club 17th & 18th fed these on 1234 and 1233ypm. At Hebburn East End P. McDonald Snr was the winner. I believe this may have broken his novice status.
Tyne & Wear C.C. Folkestone.
For this the first C.C. race we had 53 member lofts enter 151 birds with a total of £535 up for grabs in pool and prize money. In first place and winning a total of £337 were John Powell & Son of Cornhill H.S. with a yearling doing 1279.46ypm. Second & fourth positions went to Soderlund & Maddison, Raglan & W.P. on 1274.87 & 1272.52ypm, these two netting them £111. Third place went to Laskey & Robinson, Wrekenton HS on 1273.11ypm, this for £67. Fifth position to Moore & Cleghorn Whiteleas HS 1271.25ypm and sixth place to Taylor & Ali Raglan & W.P. 1269.6ypm, these two getting £10 each.
That’s the first one down. It’s nice to see that the winners came from three different federations.
To be updated...