RHONDDA VALLEY FED
Reports by Martin Dunn
NEWBURY 2 & EPSOM
For the second time with the young birds we were back at Newbury, this week we had 3428 pigeons liberated at 07.55 in a South Westerly wind. With the winds being in this direction for the last few weeks, the young birds have a line across the top end of the federation, with the Tredegar members showing the rest of us how its done.
One partnership in particular have really set the standard, and again this week the marker was set by the inform Gregory and Davies. This week they notch up their 3rd fed win with the young birds and again they have a number close together. They take 1st, 3rd and 5th club and 1st 3rd and 6th federation, to go with their 1st 2nd and 3rd fed the week previous, with over 4000 pigeons competing.
Unlucky in runners up spot in the club and fed are the Williams Bros, these have also been flying well, now starting to move up the leader board with the big races coming along, they also clock a second arrival for 8th fed. Completing the Tredegar dominance are Mounteney and Howells 4th club 5th fed and M/M Matthews who are 6th club, 7th fed.
The only pigeon to split the first 7 pigeons from Tredegar, is the first arrival into The Rhondda itself, which once again falls to Dunn son Seal, with an arrival for Penygraig, they clock a rarity for them, a cock, this one is of Marc Verheyde x Burns bros from the North East, this takes 4th fed, they also take 3rd club, 13th fed with a Vandenabeele from Obryan and Jones of Port Talbot, this cock scoring for the second time.
Runner up at Penygraig are Arnold and Keith Davies, this one takes 9th fed, with another 2 arrivals they take 1st and 2nd club at Ynyshir, 14/15th fed, with the Gill bros clocking 2 quick ones for 16th and 18th fed.
From Penygraig we go up the Valley to Cwmparc, where the fed race controller Chris Butler showing that he has time to race his young birds very successfully in amongst the many hours spent watching the weather forecasts for the weekend ahead. This week they have 3 drop together and clean up in the club, 10th,11th and 12th fed,
Next we go down to the bottom side of the federation where Akers, Amesbury and Williams have 2 together for 1st and 3rd club, 19th and 26th fed , Mal and Darron Woodland are in for 2nd club 23rd, carrying on from the their superb old bird results.
Back up to the top end of the federation and the first bird into the Cynon Valley goes to Aberdare winners Wilkins and Phillips, who takes 1st club 20th fed. Clive and Carwyn Harris, although didn’t start until Newbury1, have their young birds in good form, they clean up at Abercwmboi, and take 21st and 25th fed.
Back down to Pontypridd, where Jeff Owens notches up another win, at 22nd fed with another 2 for 2nd and 3rd club, 27th fed, with Dai needs taking 4th club. Final pigeons on the fed result goes to Gwyn Humphries son Faulkner at Tylorstown, they take 1st,3rd and 4th club, 28th and 29th fed, with Ronnie Slatter taking 3rd club.
Around the clubs and at Tonypandy, Dunn Son Seal complete a good days racing, winning both their clubs, at Pandy they are 1st,2nd and 4th club, first is a Vandenabeele from Obryan and Jones, second pigeon from Tommy Chorlton of Manchester, both of these clocked on the same second. Brian Fitzgerald takes 3rd club, I must say how honest Brian is, when the result was first calculated, Brian was winning the race. When Brian Checked the result he realised that the wrong distance had been used and when re-calculated he dropped down to 3rd on decimals.
Down at Newport, its Glyn Hazelwood who takes the first 3 positions, Glyn’s won 4 x first with the young birds already, Up at Trebanog its a win for Jones and Roberts, with Chris Jones 2nd and 3rd club. The Treherbert winner is the Gill Bros with a Young bird from their Van Hurst Bloodlines, the Stanton Bros are in for 2nd and 3rd club and Gwyn Collins 4th.Up at Maerdy, Morris,Pugh and Whitcombe take the first 4 positions, the winner is a Flor Engels x Red fox cock
In the West section the winner is Richard Stokes , winning at Kenfig Hill, with clubmate Dai Gore 2nd and 3rd club and section. Peter Watkins wins at Maesteg and takes 4th section.
The following week, we found ourselves moving on to Epsom, this week 3315 pigeons were released into a variable wind, although there must have been more North than anything else, with the leading birds down the bottom end. The birds were up at 06:45 with the leading birds taking around the 3 hour mark for the 136 miles.
Winner this week and having a tremendous race is Kenfig Hills David Gore, Dai clocks his first pigeon after 3 hours 17 minutes and takes 1st west section, 1st open.To finish off a perfect day, he gets 5 more a minute later for 5,6,7,8,9 fed. Dai has been top flyer in the West section for the last 3 seasons and this result proves why.
Runner- up this week are Arnold and Keith Davies, they take the first 3 at Ynshir and 2nd,3rd and 4th fed, these 2 are having an excellent young bird season again, Arnold saying these 3 came out of a batch of around 30 pigeons that headed up into the Rhondda.
The majority of these must have gone to Brain and Mike Gill, these 2 had an incredible 11 pigeons drop together, they cleaned out Penygraig, taking the first 9 positions and having 2 of their Treherbert arrivals for 1st and 2nd club here, these 11 take the following fed positions, all clocked in 12 seconds 11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,22 and 23rd fed, well done both a cracking performance.
Gwyn Humphries wins again at Tylorstown, also taking 3rd and 4th again with Brasspenning x Janssens, Ronnie Slatter breaking the result in 2nd club, Gwyn in for 21st fed. Up at Maerdy the inform Morris Pugh and Whitcombe get a batch together, this week they take the first 4 again, with over 500 birds away in the club, the winner this week is a Lefebre Dhaenen bred by club mates the Holland bros,First pigeon is 25th fed.
Adrian Ware is the winner down at Tonyrefail, taking 27th fed, completing the fed result are back down at Kenfig Hill, with Richard Stokes next in after the Gore avalanche, he takes 10th fed, with Payne Parry and Davies with 2 more 28th and 31st fed. Final Pigeon on the result is the Port Talbot winners, Joe Obryan and Steve Jones with an M&D Evans Vandenabeele. To complete a good weekend for these two, they go and win the West Country one loft race with another 2 pigeons from thier Vandenabeeles to take over £9000 in prize money, begging letters direct to Joe, well done both another good Welsh Performance.
Around the Clubs and Starting off at Tonypandy, where Dunn son Seal take 1st, 2nd and 4th club again with the same 2 pigeon taking the first 2 positions, this week its the other way round, with the Tommy Chorlton hen taking the nom’s and pools for good measure. Up at Trebanog, Bernard Lawrence takes the red card from the ever present Glyn Sibley who takes 2nd and 3rd club.
Up at Cwmparc, the Butler bros are in the winners enclosure again, this week they are 1st, 3rd and 4th club, with Rhyddian Matthias taking 2nd club.Final result is from Pontypridd, where Dai Needs is the winner, with Jeff Owen 2nd club and Dai Wilson is 3rd and 4th club.
Moving onto the first combine and National race of the young bird season and we find ourselves at Maidstone, with around 11000 other Welsh Combine pigeons, the 2285 Rhondda Valley birds were liberated after a one day hold over at 07:15, with the winning pigeon taking 3 hours 50 minutes for the journey.
Morris Pugh and Whitcombe – flying really well with young birds
Topping the fed and showing how well they have mastered the art of young bird flying, Clive and Carwyn Harris, know how to bring their pigeons into form for these big races. This week they clock a well fancied cock, that was chasing his hen to nest, this cock was well pooled in 2-bird and national, plus entered into various ring schemes, to clear in excess of £1000 on the day.
Breeding of this pigeons is direct from their Lillers national winner, when paired back to a Louella Linderlauf cock direct out of Princess, as can be seen bred for the job, this cock also wins the section in the Welsh South East National.
Runner – up and having what can only be described as a dream race, the Maerdy Partnership of Morris Pugh and Whitcombe clock an incredible 11 pigeons in the first 30 of the fed, starting off with 2nd they also have 3,4,5,6,7,8,10,14,15,29th fed, talking to them at the National Marking station, the first pigeon was a red hen of Red Fox Janssen breeding, which originate from fellow club member Anuerin Williams(Williams and Podmore), Anuerin has bred many winners over the years for others and the Morris Pugh and Whitcombe loft are based on these successful lines.
Gwyn Collins of Treherbert manages to slip one into 9th fed when winning Treherbert , this one is bred direct from Gwyns 2nd National Liege in 2004, this down from Van Moorsel x Gwyns own Turkey cock lines, the mother is Van Den Bosch x Klas Krom and was 2nd club Ramsgate as a young bird.Nice to see Graham Warren keeping active in the sport when giving Gwyn and hand out during the young bird season. Gwyn was also 3rd and 5th club at Treherbert,12th and 18th fed. The Stanton Bros get one for 4th club, 13th fed in a very tight finish up here.
Next in are Brian and Mike Gill, these two win it at Penygraig with the same Herbots hen that was 1st fed Hullavington earlier in the season, she was also 18th fed Epsom the week previous and follows this up with 11th fed Maidstone, cracking little hen this one. Arnold and Keith Davies keep their young bird season going with 2nd and 3rd club at Penygraig.
UP at Tredegar the Williams bros, get 2 together to stop the Gregory and Davies dominance, these 2 are in for 16 and 17th fed, with the afore mentioned Gregory and Davies 3rd and 4th club, 24th and 25th fed, to complete a good day for the Williams boys, they have another 3 for 26th,27th and 30th fed.
Back into the Rhondda and to Tylorstown, where Ronnie Slatter wins here from Gwyn Humphries son and Faulkner, this is a tight finish with only a couple of yards between them, both lofts have been flying well over the last few weeks.
David Gore wins it down at Kenfig Hill, Dai clocks last weeks fed winner from Epsom, for 1st club 1st West Section in the fed and 1st West Section in the Welsh South East National. This is another loft that’s had them in top form the last few weeks. Payne Parry and Davies take 2nd and 4th club, 2nd and 4th section, with Dai’s second pigeon taking 3rd club and section.
Final results are to Tonyrefail, where Amesbury, Humphries and Akers, win here, taking 23rd fed with their first arrival, Up at Tonypandy,its Gareth Watkins taking the first 2 positions, first at 28th fed, Brian Fitzgerald carries on his excellent young bird season considering he’s only started racing with around 15 young bird, Brian’s hardly missed a club result with them. Roy Street and Les Hughes complete the result in 4th club.
Roy and Les are 1st and 4th at Cwmparc, with the Butler Bros 2nd club and Ray Williams 3rd club, , down at Port Talbot its a 3rd win on the Trot for Obryan and Jones, with their M&D Evans Vandenabeele, with M/M Townend 2nd club and D.Evans and son 3rd,Up at Trebanog its another win for Glyn Sibley, taking 2nd for good measure, with Chris Jones coming in for 3rd club.
Following week we were at Ramsgate, again with the Welsh South East Combine and National, Marking was put back one day due to the poor forecast for the Sunday, the pigeons were liberated at 9.05, the 5 minute delay due to the presence of a Sparrowhawk hanging around the liberation site, although it didn’t affect the pigeons when they were released.
This was the weekend when the 2008 Rhondda Valley federation champions, Brian and Mike Gill woke to find 66 of their race team slaughtered, When calling at the loft at Dinner time it was a terrible sight to see, with Blood all over the partings and Walk way. Hopefully the police will find the culprits who carried out this act.
The impressive set up of Clive and Carwyn Harris – 1st fed Maidstone and Ramsgate & 1st Welsh South Road National Eastbourne young birds 2008
Moving onto the race and once again Clive and Carwyn Harris are to the fore, this week they clock a pigeon bred down from a Linderlauf cock gifted to them from Alistair Hogg from Scotland, crossed back with an Hen purchased from Graham Warren, this hen is bred down from the father of Rhino crossed with a G.dtr of Toey, this hen as also bred the partnership’s Epsom winner. Latest news is that this pigeon has gone on to win the Welsh South Road National from Eastbourne.
Runner up again this week are Maerdy’s Morris, Pugh and Whitcombe, this week they clock a Blue Brasspenning hen, to keep their team performance going as in other weeks they have another 5 pigeons for 10,17,21, 27,28th fed, tremendous flying by any standards. Malcolm Holland came in for 3rd and 4th club 11th and 18th fed.
Taking 3rd fed is Tonypandy’s Brain Fitzgerald, as mentioned earlier, Brian as been flying consistently well with a small team, this week he clocks the Big hen, this pigeon has been coming well, including 3rd club at Epsom, Brian and his good friend Mike Davies had been on this pigeon for the Maerdy £100 nom, but changed their mind last minute, sods law she turns up!!.Brian clocks his second arrival for 4th club 22nd fed
Into 4th fed is Tylorstown’s Gwyn Humphries son and Faulkner, Gwyn clocks a young Freek Romein Janssen, bred down from Maerdy’s Anuerin Williams stock , this cock was 29th fed Newbury, 20th fed Maidstone and now 4th fed Ramsgate. To complete a good day he also wins the Maerdy £100 nom, £2500 for good measure and the Rhondda Fach 2-Bird club, Gwyn also takes 2nd 3rd and 4th club to finish off a very good day.
Next in are the Treherbert winners, Stanton Bros and Evans,5th fed, they clock the same pigeon that was 13th fed Maidstone , this pigeon is the runner up in the Maerdy nom race and takes £700 for good measure. Jeff Owen wins it at Pontypridd, Jeff is in for 6th fed, just in front of Treherbert’s Gwyn Collins, who clocks the same pigeon that won the club from Maidstone the week previous, this one also takes 3rd in the Maerdy nom and grabs another £300 for Gwyn, this week he takes 7th fed.
Roy Street and Les Hughes win it at Cwmparc, this pigeon was also well fancied taking 4th at the Maerdy race, they gave it a good go in defending their title from 2007 when they won this race outright, this year they have to settle for 4th place and £100, plus 8th fed.
Up at Penygraig its Dunn son Seal, who clock the winner here, they clock a Van reet hen that has scored twice previously and this week this hen takes 9th fed. Second club are Arnold and Keith Davies, who also win Ynyshir with the same pigeon, 14th fed. Brian and Mike Gill show that you can’t keep a good loft down, despite the horrific attack, they decide to send and secure 3rd club, 16th fed, good performance considering what had happened in the loft. Dunn son Seal complete the result with 4th and 5th club.
Dai Gore wins it at Kenfig Hill for the 3rd week in succession, and tops the section for the 3rd week to go with it, plus his outright 1st fed at Epsom, you can see the loft has it top form. Dai also takes 2nd club, 2nd section with Richard Stokes taking 3rd club 3rd section, Richard had a very good old bird season in 2008 with 2 fed wins to his name.
From the Bottom of the fed Radius to the top and Tredegar, where the Williams bros win here again, this week they are 1st 3rd and 4th club, 13th, 23rd and 26th fed, only M/M Matthews stop the clean sweep when 2nd club, 15th fed.
Others to feature on the fed result include, Clive and Carwyn Harris with their second arrival and 24th fed, G&R Downs and Dtr up at Maerdy, they are 25th fed and C&D Portsmouth 4th club and section at Kenfig Hill.
This completes this weeks round up, any information or news etc you can ring me on 01443 440953.
