RHONDDA VALLEY FED
2007 PRESENTATION EVENING
Report by Martin Dunn
The 2007 presentation evening was held at the Trehafod Heritage Park Hotel on Saturday 26th January. The turnout was excellent, for this was the first time the federation has used this venue. 115 members and guests made the effort to attend with the room full on the night. There was an excellent atmosphere, with everyone I have talked to since saying how much they enjoyed the night. It was nice to see so many of the award winners in the room to receive their trophies, they were well worth winning.
Former federation president John Phillips was called upon to say Grace, before the meal was served, and after a few teething problems with the soup, almost everyone enjoyed the Roast Beef dinner and Desert.
After the meal was finished Clive Harris gave a brief review of the 2007 season, praising the convoying team for the excellent condition of the birds on their return home and the wonderful way that Chris Butler had carried out the race controlling in his first year.
Clive also gave his thanks to all 22 club secretaries that help so much through out the year and rounded up by giving thanks to a few individuals who he can rely on throughout the season when help is needed.
It was left to Bill Stanton to call upon Gail Jones the Welsh Homing Union
Secretary to come forward to present the prizes, with Gail thanking the Rhondda Valley Members for inviting her and Husband Tudor, Gail Gave a short speech where she highlighted some of the people in the room that can be relied upon to help at the Welsh Homing union office.
First Presentation of the evening was for the RhonddaValley 2-bird club, winners of the Beautiful trophies for the 2007 season were as follows:-
Ramsgate Old Birds – A&K Davies
Oudenaarde Old Birds – Dunn Son Seal
Maidstone Young Birds - G.Warren
Ramsgate Young Birds – C.R.Jones and Son
After the 2-Bird winners it was the turn of each of the outright Federation winning lofts to come up and receive their awards:-
The outright fed winners in 2007 are:-
Old birds
SWINDON 1 STREET & HUGHES TONYPANDY
SWINDON 2 T.GIBBONS NEWPORT
NEWBURY M.DOCHERTY&SON PORT TALBOT
EPSOM R.SLATTER TYLORSTOWN
MAIDSTONE A&K DAVIES PENYGRAIG
RAMSGATE C.B.C HARRIS ABERCWMBOI
NEWBURY M/M BRIMBLE NEWPORT
OUDENAARDE P.WATKINS MAESTEG
EPSOM 2 B.JONES&M/M GREEN TONYREFAIL
HUY GILL BROS PENYGRAIG
NEWBURY STREET & HUGHES TONYPANDY
BONN A&K DAVIES PENYGRAIG
NEWBURY M.WOODLAND &SON TONYREFAIL
Young birds
HULLAVINGTON P.SHELDON ABERCWMBOI
HULLAVINGTON P.SHELDON ABERCWMBOI
SWINDON P.SHELDON ABERCWMBOI
SWINDON A&K DAVIES PENYGRAIG
NEWBURY WATKINS SON COCKCROFT TONYPANDY
NEWBURY M.L. GIBBONS NEWPORT
EPSOM MORRIS PUGH WHITCOMBE MAERDY
MAIDSTONE G.HONEYFIELD TONYPANDY
RAMSGATE L.COLLEDGE & SON NEWPORT
HULLAVINGTON BUTLER BROS CWMPARC
LILLERS C.B.C HARRIS ABERCWMBOI
Carwyn Harris with his niece and nephews receiving his trophies from Gail Jones
From the 230 odd members, 139 made the fed results over the season, not bad considering that the radius of the fed stretches some 35-40 miles East to West and around 15 miles north to south.
Tylorstown’s Ronnie Slatter - 1st Fed Epsom Old Birds
Next up were the average and points trophy winners:
Starting off with the points, the federation Champion, for the 6th time in 7 seasons, , is the one and only Graham Warren of Treherbert, Graham takes the title with 348 points, although the result was in the balance right up to the final race of the season.
The points top ten in the fed is as follows:-
1st - Graham Warren 348 Points Treherbert
2nd – A&K Davies 330 Points Penygraig
3rd - Street & Hughes 313 Points Tonypandy
4th – Gill Bros 311 Points Penygraig
5th – C.B.C. Harris 220 Points Abercwmboi
6th – Butler Bros 201 Points Cwmparc
7th – Dunn son Seal 196 Points Penygraig
8th - P.Sheldon 192 Points Abercwmboi
9th – Davies & Evans 167 Points Maerdy
10th – A.Ware & DTR 161 Points Tonyrefail
10th Watkins son Cockcroft 161 Points Tonypandy.
There are also the 2 trophies for most points old birds, one for the East Section one for the West, winner of the trophy for the East section is the Gill Bros of Penygraig, with David Gore of Kenfig Hill winning the West Section.
Channel points trophy is one of the most sought after honours, this year this has been won by Nantymoel’s Denny Phillips, Nantymoel Only Rejoined the fed in 2007 and they have certainly made their mark, Denny didn’t miss a result over the channel, he also wins the 2007 channel averages, Velocity Proper, on a velocity of 1050.56ypm.
Denny Phillips receiving The Channel average and points trophies from Gail Jones
Talking of Averages, Penygraig’s A&K Davies had an outstanding season, winning the fed 3 times, with the big one from Bonn included, this secured the following trophies, Old bird Average, the Ramsgate and Maidstone old bird and young bird average, best 2- bird average from Ramsgate young birds.
The 2-bird average trophies for Maidstone and Ramsgate old birds, Graham Warren clinches the Ramsgate old bird 2-bird Average, with Brian and Mike Gill having 6 together from Maidstone old birds, making this average a formality.
Chris Butler showing he can race his pigeons as well as race control them on a Saturday – 1st fed with the young birds
Gerald Honeyfield of Tonypandy enjoyed a successful young bird season, culminating in 1st fed Maidstone and another close up from Ramsgate, secures Gerald the best average from these racepoints.
Gerald Honeyfield receiving his trophy for 1st fed Maidstone young birds
The 2007 Young Bird Average was won by Chris Jones of Trebanog , with Dunn son and Seal having to be content with the Combined Averages for the second year in succession, this partnership have enjoyed a successful few seasons with the young bird averages in 2005 and 2006, showing how consistent they are.
M/M Green Tonyrefail – 1st fed with the old birds
The top club in the fed for 2007, both old bird, young birds and combined points trophies went to the ultra competitive Penygraig Con H.S., although only 10 members strong, it’s blessed with some extremely good fanciers and if you divide the 540 points gained by the number of races, it would mean you would have to clock in the first 5 positions of the fed every week to win the club. A record to be proud of for all the fanciers in this club, every single member has contributed to the total in 2007.
With the final award of the night being the Bird of the Year for 2007, with 6 outstanding candidates, the Award was Judged by Michael Masserella of Louella lofts and his Choice was A&K Davies Rietvink Janssen Cock that topped the fed and section of the National and Combine at Maidstone and followed this up the following week by winning the club and securing another high position in fed, National and Combine from Ramsgate. You can also add a few other minor club and fed positions to his tally for 2007.
7/2/08
