RHONDDA VALLEY FED
Reports by Martin Dunn
It’s been a while since I have written anything for the fed. Just to let everyone know of a few schemes for the various clubs that are being held and some information of where we are with the federation.
Firstly is some information from the Maerdy club. They recently held the presentation evening for the payout from 2011 Breeder/Buyer and £100 ring scheme. Starting off with the Breeder Buyer, the 2011 winner is Penygraig’s Brett Jones. Brett Clocked a young hen sent flying to the perch. Showing how keen the competition is, Brett was 1st Penygraig H.S 4th Rhondda Valley Fed with this pigeon. He said she came from nowhere and trapped like a bullet and he was delighted to see that she was his Breeder/Buyer. This little hen came up trumps to win £1200 for Brett.
Brett Jones collecting £1200 from Tom Scott
Runner-up was Tylorstown's Steve Moulds. Steve swept all before him in 2010 in his first year flying on his own and had another good season in 2011; he picks up a nice £600 in prize money here. Rogers & James of Maerdy are 3rd. They always seem to know which one to pick for this race and again pocket a healthy £300. Taking 4th place and £150 are Newtown’s D. Francis & Son. Neil Francis flew an excellent young bird in 2011, including 1st R.V. Fed Guildford 3654 birds and 1st R.V. Fed Swindon 1373 birds.
Other money winners included M/M Jones of Maesteg, Thomas Bros, Radcliff, Maerdy, A&K Davies and Ken Abbot and Kevin Andrews of Penygraig and Gwyn Humphries and Ronnie Slatter of Tylorstown. Ronnie gets a special mention; he won the £300 for the first bird home that was bought out of the pen in the second sale. No thanks to his club mates who were bidding against him for the pigeon in the pen mind.
Moving onto the £100 ring scheme. Again, considering the financial situation that we have currently, this was really well supported with well over £2000 being paid out. This winners were Chris & Jonathon Butler from Treherbert. They clocked one that was gifted to them by John Evans of Maesteg out of his M&D Evans Vandenabeele lines. This hen flew well all season taking 2nd club early on in the season, then from Folkestone she turned up for 1st club 3rd Rhondda Valley Fed 18th open W.S.E. National. She then followed this up with 1st club Lillers 100th Open W.S.E. National. Add the £1000 first prize then she’s turned out to be a right little money spinner.
Chris Butler and Adam Owen
Runner- up were the 2011 Rhondda Valley Fed champions, Davies & Evans of Maerdy. They have had a dream season really, the highlight being 1st Welsh South East National Maidstone, plus Combine and Young Bird average winners in the fed. They receive £450 as runners-up. Taking 3rd and collecting £200 were A&K Davies of Porth, again another very good season including 1st fed Pont a Mousson 465 miles, and you can add the Channel average in the fed to go with this for Arnold and Keith to round off 2011.
Others taking prize money include Steve Moulds, who added another £150 to his Breeder/Buyer winnings, as did Rogers and James. Chris Jones of Trebanog made it two good weeks after winning the Penywaun ring scheme the week before when taking 1st fed Maidstone. With Foster Bros, Steve Whelan and Alan Lewis completing the prize list.
Maerdy Breeder/Buyer 2012
With Over £5500 paid out in 2011, the Maerdy club will be holding the first of their Breeder/Buyer sales for 2012 on Sunday 5th February, starting at 14.00 in the Maerdy British Legion Club. You can have your first bird back for £10, with the remainder going up for auction. An excellent chance to obtain birds from the top lofts in the Rhondda Valley Fed and beyond with donors coming from all over the U.K. If you want to enter then give Robert Pugh a ring on 07792 323049.
Now for some federation news. Obviously all members are aware that there was a special meeting called for the fed to leave the combine and turn direct South, possibly joining forces with the South Road Federation. When you consider that over 85% of the fed members voted, you can see that it was a topic that all members felt strongly about. When all votes were in, it came out with the overwhelming majority wanting to stay South East. At least everyone has had their say on the matter and it was dealt with fairly in the federation.
We have been taking a look at the fed transporters over the winter with new racking being fitted to one of the vehicles and improvements to the other. This should help the convoying team at the race point and help the birds in the long term. Financially the federation is in a good position, which in turn will mean no increase in costs in 2012, which in the times we are in currently, is a bonus Hopefully we will have good racing 2012, with the weather being a little more kind to us than the last two seasons.
The Fed presentation night is Saturday 28th January at the Pontygwaith Cosmo club Tylorstown. With a 3 course meal and good entertainment, tickets are £15 each and you can order from Clive Harris direct on 01685 879159. The Fed A.G.M. will be held at the same venue on Saturday 4th February. Starting 12:15. Everyone is welcome to attend.
