Welsh National Flying Club & Welsh North Road Federation
2021 Presentation Night
Following nearly two years of lockdowns and restrictions due to covid, it was pleasing to finally be able to arrange a presentation night to congratulate our 2021 Welsh National Winners at the Seamans Mission club in Newport on Saturday 20th November
With the Welsh North Road Federation once again invited to be part of the evening John Humphrys the long serving federation secretary was duly nominated to be master of ceremonies for the evening and started by welcoming everyone to another sell out evening at Mission to Seafarers’ club Newport for a long awaited presentation night
Welsh North Road Federation 1st Open awards 2021
With the opening speeches completed highlighting the Welsh North Roads decision to revert back to its roots racing north in 2021, he expressed his gratitude to all concerned for making such a transition a successful one, firstly the race advisory committee consisting of Will Holpin and Tom Harris and the convoying team headed by David Humphrys it’s through their hard work each week that the federation had such a good season with minimal losses, he then went on firstly to thank the members who remained within the WNFR and of course the West of England Lerwick club officials and members and the New North Road Amal for inviting us be a part of their organisation, it was a long hard struggle to make it work but thankfully after such a good seasons racing, there was some a light at the end of the tunnel as we move into 2022
Mr & Mrs J Beresford & Son 1st Open Welsh North Road Federation 2021
A Buttigieg & Son 5 x 1st WNRF 2021
Mr Edward Watts. M.B.E. & D.l. for Gwent, and chairman to the Mission to Seasfarers Club was invited to come forward to present the winners with their awards for 2021, T Hawkins family claimed two top federation honors with 1st open Ludlow 1 & 2 followed by Mark Phobiun who took three 1st open positions from Harrogate and Ludlow in the old birds season backed up with a third from Ludlow young birds, John Cox claimed 1st federation from Hexham old birds, whilst the Hadden & Son partnership claimed 1st open Appleton and 1st Thornton Park and as the season progressed where rewarded with the most points in the federation during 2021, leaving the honors for the final old bird race from Crieff 335 miles to Mr & Mrs D Russell along with their award for 1st federation they also received the Doug Hawkins memorial trophy, the Anuerin Williams friendship trophy the late Glyn Picton perseverance trophy and the Bird of the year award based on their performance from Crieff
Mr & Mrs D Russell 1st WNRF Crieff
Ray Hawkins (T Hawkins family) 2x 1st fed awards 2021
With that we moved onto the young birds where Mr & Mrs J Beresford & Son took 1st open Whitchurch, followed by Terry Hayward with 1st open Ludlow, Mr & Mrs Campbell from Barry received the federation honors for 1st open from Ludlow, whilst 1st Appleton young birds went to J Johnson flying in the Abergavenny HS, there were two more fanciers to be rewarded the first being C Mcarthy who claimed the top honors from the longest young bird race from Hexham 240 miles but due to a positive covid result was unable to attend the night and finally A Buttigieg & Son who had an outstanding young bird season with five 1st open wins to their credit these were from Ludlow 3 & 4 1st Nantwich, 1st Whitchurch and 1st Harrogate along with the Peter Haydon sponsored trophy
Mr T hayward 1st WNRF
With the Welsh North Road Federation awards duly presented it was time for the Welsh National flying club to present their trophies, this started with an open invitation to our 2020 winners who wished to attend this year after missing out on their night of awards due to the pandemic, the partnership of Pullen, Hurly and Lewellyn, Mr & Mrs J Beresford & Son and A Dunn took up the invite and were awarded with their trophies for 2020
Pullen, Hurly & Lewellyn 1st open Welsh National 2020
Mr & Mrs J Beresford & Son 1st open Welsh National 2020
A Dunn 1st open Welsh National f.c. 2020
ONE OF THE FINEST ARRAY OF TROPHIES, PRESENTED TO THE WNFC WINNERS 2021
In 2021, with turning North, the WNFC had the opportunity to re-introduce sections as they welcomed fanciers within the boundaries of the West of England Lerwick Club flying to join them in the form of an English section flying for local honors, whilst maintaining a Welsh Section and overall open winner
D & K Bullingham 1st sec E, 1st open Welsh National 2021
The Welsh National season got underway from Harrogate approx. 160 miles where M Phobiun from Cardiff took 1st Welsh Section, whilst D & K Bullingham from Gloucester claimed 1st English section 1st open National winning the Malcolm Gibbons sponsored trophy, the second outing seen the National heading to Hexham an average distance of 235 miles where we seen John Newbury from Risca claimed the Welsh Section honors with the Adams Brothers from Winterbourne in Bristol taking the 1st open National trophy sponsored by West Country products, also from Hexham we incorporated a yearling only race with duplication from the main race the partnership of Howell & Johnson claimed the 1st Welsh section awards leaving the Adams Brothers to return to the table to collect their second award on the night to receive the Mr & Mrs Holpin sponsored trophy
Adams Brother’s 1st sec E 1st open Hexham and 1st open Hexham yearling 2021
From Hexham we moved onto Thornton Park approx. 315 miles to most lofts where we seen the Newport Partnership of Hadden & Son claim the 1st Welsh Section award when once again we seen the West Country boys dominating as Percy Hatherall claimed 1st section E 1st Open National and was presented with the Versele Laga sponsored winner’s trophy
Percy Hatherall 1st sec E 1st open WNFC Thornton Park 2021
Rounding off the old bird season, we were at Crieff our longest race for 2021 this proved to be a testing race with just a handful of pigeons making it home on the day one of which was at the loft of Dave Smith from Bristol who came to the table for the first of many visits to receive the award for 1st English section, whilst the open winner on this occasion was on Welsh soil with an outstanding performance for Mr & Mrs Russell taking 1st Welsh section 1st open and the Welsh North Road Federation longest race winner’s trophy
Mr & Mrs Russell 1st sec w 1st open Crieff 2021
With the old bird awards presented we moved onto the young birds where there were two races to contest the first being from Harrogate where we seen Dave Smith receiving the 1st English section award, duly followed by A Buttigiege & Son coming forward for 1st Welsh section 1st open and the Andy Kidd gardening services winner’s trophy, as we approached late September we had one more race to face this was from Hexham where we seen C Templar from Bristol taking 1st English section but taking the top honors of 1st Welsh section 1st open and the R G Davies sponsored trophy was Chris McCarthy from Cardiff
A Buttigieg & Son 1st sec w 1st open WNFC Harrogate yb 2021
With all the race winners awarded there was a few average trophies still to be presented, these were the "Dougie Rooke" memorial trophy, the Verselle Laga 2 bird average and the Versele Laga trophy for best opposite sex to winner’s award from Thornton Park all three were claimed and presented to Dave Smith from Bristol, leaving the final award the Mr & Mrs T Harris young bird average trophy for C Mcacrthy from Cardiff
Dave Smith old bird average winner Thornton part 2 bird average and Versele Laga best opposite sex to winner Thornton Park
With the trophy table cleared away there was a few flowers to present these were to the women behind the scenes, these were presented to Mrs Nicola Humphrys for her input each week whilst convoying, Mrs Rosemary Humphrys for taking on the daunting task of race sheet auditor each week, and finally Mrs Gaynor Harris as joint secretary
Nicola Humphrys & Rosemay Humphrys with flowers of appreciation
Gaynor Harris receiving her flowers from MR E WATTS M.B.E.
With all presentations completed Mr Watts, wished to thank the Welsh National and Welsh North Road Federation for once again staging their annual presentation at the Seamans Mission club and went onto thank the Harris family for all the hard work involved during such troubled times to make the night so successful this as endorsed by the WNRF delegates and all present
During the presentation ceremony we were pleased to see the arrival of the meal for the evening this was a change from our traditional three course meal in the form of a warm hog roast with all the trimmings this we can say went down really well with everyone present, as second helpings were a plenty..
With that the lights came down and the music went up as the disco entertained us until the early hours only to be disrupted by the raffle etc.
Chris McCarthy 1st open WNFC Hexham yb and young bird average winner, G Johnson 1st sec W Hexham yearling, J Newbury 1st sec W Hexham old birds, Hadden & Son 1st sec W Thornton Park and C Templar 1st sec E Hexham yb all of which were unable or withdrew attending due to covid quarantine restrictions and health issues
2022
With all the uncertainty during 2021 in regards to the pandemic and our initial decision to turn to the North to achieve distance racing into Wales, we now believe it was the right move going to Crieff 340 miles in our first year, this has paid dividends as we prepare to head further afield in 2022 with racing off the Northern coast of Scotland from the Orkney Islands some 500+ miles in harmony with the W.O.E.L.C. and New North Road Amalgamation, clearly indicating we`re in a more positive situation for 2022,
our progress hasn’t gone unnoticed in 2021 as we experienced some people who doubted our decision but on reflection we had one of the best racing seasons compared to other local organisations and as a result of such were seeing more fanciers who have over the past year have sat and watched our very move, coming forward to be a part of our adventure in the coming year, this is duplicated across the River Severn as they too are attracting more members wishing to fly north, with more members joining up within these federations this will no doubt bring its rewards and benefits to the national in years to come
Also for 2022 we are "proposing" to rebrand our organisation (subject to AGM approval) from the Welsh National flying club to "The Wales & The West International Flying Club" this we hope will show our commitment to all the organisations in Wales and to those in the West Country for years to come
All that remains on behalf of the Welsh National flying club and Welsh North Road Federation is to thank our membership for their continued support during 2021 and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a successful racing season in 2022
Tom Harris
