Gwent Greater Distance Club February 2012 Update

GWENT GREATER DISTANCE CLUB & OTHER REPORTS FROM WALES

Reports by Gareth Watkins

FEBRUARY 2012 UPDATE

The Gwent Greater Distance Club has been in existence now for six seasons. Formed with an initial intake of just 12 members, it has expanded its membership base more than threefold in the intervening years. Right at the start the club aligned itself firmly with the British International Championship Club with the aim of competing not just against our English counterparts, but also with the best fanciers of continental Europe in races out to Barcelona at 750 + miles to south Wales.

The successes of the Welsh contingent during the past six seasons have been well documented with outright wins in BICC races being recorded by Adrian Ware & Daughter, Spencer Jones and Dennis Ford plus a host of other top ten finishes by more than a dozen GGDC members.

At a recent meeting a number of changes were made to the financial structure resulting from the club’s extremely healthy financial position.

As from the 2012 season the membership fee for existing members will be reduced to just £20 and yet the members will be competing for £150 per race in each of the 13 race programme with no charges for race entry other than the pools and/or nominations. In addition to the prize monies there will also be sponsorship from Wyn Llewellyn and John Williams of £100 each giving an additonal £200 for the best average in the first four GGDC races i.e. the BICC National races from Carentan, Falaise, Alencon and Tours. Adrian Ware has kindly donated a trophy, the Tina Ware Memorial Trophy, to the fancier whose birds record the best average velocity in these opening four races. There is also another £400 worth of sponsorship for the best average from the 4 international races, kindly donated by LCR Capacitors EU Ltd of Ebbw Vale and Beechwood Hire and Sales of Newport. This is in addition to the very generous Corn sponsorship from R G Davies Animal Feeds of Crumlin. 

The members present decided unanimously to adopt the full BICC National and International race programme with the exception of Marseille. This means that members have the opportunity to compete in seven Nationals, which include two young bird races from Guernsey, and five International races. It is hoped that members will also have the opportunity to compete with the Welsh SRNFC Bergerac race once transportation arrangements have been finalised.

The annual presentation evening has been booked for November 14th at The Green Meadow Golf & Country Club. Those members attending the dinner will also receive one free ticket.

It was also decided to stage an annual late bred sale and these young birds will be bred by the winners of the GGDC races each year, in all probability from the best in their lofts. So that’s a date for every aspiring long distance fancier to mark clearly in their diaries.

First race is the BICC Carentan National on April 28th followed two weeks later by the Falaise National. The full race programme is as follows:-

Carentan 28th April.

Falaise 12th May.

Alencon 26th May.

Tours 9th June.

Pau International 22nd June.

Bordeaux International 30th June.

Barcelona International 6th July.

St Vincent International 15th July.

Alencon 2 28th July.

Perpignan International 3rd August.

Guernsey 1 25th August.

Guernsey 2 8th September.

The date of the proposed Bergerac race has yet to be finalised but it could well be 14th/15th July.