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BICC FALAISE YB and ANY AGE RACE REPORT.

The final race of the 2014 BICC race programme took place on the appointed day, Saturday 13th September, from the French town of Falaise in Normandy region of north west France.
Falaise is situated in the Calvados department of Normandy . The castle which overlooks the town was the birth place of William the Conqueror in around 1028. As many will no doubt be aware, William went on to defeat King Harold of England at the battle of Senlac Hill [commonly known as the Battle of Hastings] in 1066.

This is Race advisor John Tyerman's initial report on the liberation:-
"The BICC National pigeons have been liberated from Falaise at 8-30 am into clear blue skies and sunshine, and cleared well into a very light ENE wind. The channel is also shown as clear with good visibility. En- route the seafront camera at Caen currently shows very little wind and a fine morning. The east north east wind will make it a testing fly but overall weather conditions are good."
John Tyerman
Race Advisor.
This is John's more comprehensive report:-
" For our last National race of the year, the Club went to Falaise, with a combined young and old bird entry of 1,627 birds. Marking and collection of birds seemed to have gone well and both transporters arrived at Horndean just after 7pm on the Thursday evening. Birds were transferred onto the large transporter by Trevor, Steve, and the other lads at Horndean, so our thanks to them for their help. They caught the overnight ferry to Caen and were on site at Falaise, early on the Friday morning. I spoke with Steve Appleby our weather advisor around 5pm on the Friday afternoon and he was able to confirm that other than the light ENE wind in the channel there were no concerns for a Saturday liberation. I relayed this weather information to Our Convoyer Trevor Cracknell at Falaise and he reported the birds had been fed and watered and all was well. Around 8am on Saturday morning I again spoke with Steve for a weather update and was given a favourable forecast with light ENE winds and 27 miles visibility in the channel. I passed this weather information to our Convoyers and after it was confirmed that it was a beautiful sunny morning at Falaise the birds were liberated at 8-30am and cleared well. It was always going to be a testing fly into the ENE wind and this proved to be the case. Congratulation to young bird race winners John and David Staddon who I am told had multiple timings and also to John Halstead on winning the Old Hens National.
Lastly my end of season thanks to our Weatherman Steve Appleby, Convoyers Trevor Cracknell and Steve Adamson and to all those Marking Station Officials and helpers who give so much of their time on race marking days. I would also like to publicly thank Carol our Secretary and our Press Officer Gareth Watkins - you both do a great job and I know many members are grateful for your efforts throughout the year."
John Tyerman
Race Advisor/President.

And here's weatherman Steve Appleby's weather synopsis:-
Weather Report
Weather conditions for this final race for the B.I.C.C. from Falaise were very good. Broken cloud and sunshine was the picture all the way from Falaise to England. At 05:00 hours the visibility in the channel was 11 miles which increased to 27 miles as recorded by the Channel Lightship. Generally wind direction came from the east north east but from 08:00 to 11:00 hours the wind in mid channel came directly from the east and speed remained constant at about 20 mph. This was the main factor that affected the weather resulting in a testing race. Thanks to the race team of race controller John Tyerman and convoyer Trevor Cracknell for a successful season, not forgetting the excellent work put in by our press officer Gareth Watkins.
Steve Appleby

As mentioned above, a total of 1,627 birds were entered consisting of 1,263 young birds and 364 old birds. With the strong easterly influence in the wind it was thought that the west section fanciers would enjoy a successful race. This proved to be the case with the young birds as the top ten was dominated by the west section fanciers with the exception of Johnny Attrill's Centre section winner at 3rd Open. However, with the old birds the first three Open positions were taken by the winners in the west, north west and centre sections respectively, demonstrating that the old birds had enough experience and nouse to defy the wind.
Right at the start I must once again emphasise the fact that ALL positions quoted are purely provisional and based on the provisional result , which in turn, is based on members first bird phone in times.

So, the winner of the young bird race and topping the west section, recording a velocity of 1249 ypm, is one to the Evercreech lofts of John and David Staddon. The partners have won a number of races with the BICC in the past couple of seasons and at Falaise the partners timed their young chequer cock at 12.52pm to win the race comfortably. He raced right to the loft from a dead southerly direction and was really trying hard. This what Dave Staddon had to tell me:-
This cock was bred from a pair of yearlings in the race team and he is a Heinz 57 in terms of bloodlines. He of 75% Mark Gilbert and 25% Geoff Cooper blood. The father is a full brother to our Caretan BICC Winner Shapway Annie (Cooper X Gilbert Deweerdt) and the mother is from a Full Brother 2nd 7th & 14th Open Tarbes NFC for Mark Gilbert and Half Sister to Southfield Melissa 1st International Bordeaux Agen. He has Deweerdt, Brockamp, Jan Aarden & Van Elsacker in his make up.
On Saturday we were celebrating my 5th Wedding Anniversary with my beautiful wife Caroline who is also expecting our first baby and so we have named him Shapway Anniversary Boy. We are naturally delighted to win this difficult race. We timed 8 pigeons within an hour and they should all feature high up in the open result. Our second timer is from a full brother to Champion Ted 1st NFC Cholet for Brian Milkins when paired onto our own Lady Sumo a champion racer for us. The Third timer was a breeder buyer purchase from our great mate Dave Young of Fine Arts Lofts. This young cock is bred down from pigeons gifted to Dave from Rob Brooks and Alan & Sue Thompson and is mainly of Deweerdt blood.
Our young birds have been carrying all before them this season winning 5 out of 6 races sent in the very strong Glastonbury Flying club, also winning 2 x 1st WOESRC 1st WOESRC Open, 1st Section G 4th Open NFC Falaise National and now provisional 1st 3rd & 6th Open BICC Falaise National. We also had a great old bird season winning 3rd Open BICC Tours, 9th Open BICC Poitiers, 19th Open BICC Barcelona, 1st , 2nd & 4th Section & 3rd Open NFC Saintes.
Our young birds are raced on the darkeness system. However they are allowed to pair and do as they please. Anniversay Boy was just looking at his hen at basketing. Congratulations to the BICC on another successful season and thank you to all those generous fanciers who have phoned or text to congratulate us on our winner."

In second west section, second Open on 1192 ypm is one to the Nelson, Mid Glamorgan loft of the "old sea dog" John Ludlam. John is a double National winner here in Wales and features regularly on the results of the BICC, NFC, BBC and CSCFC. This is what John had to tell me about his timer:-
"She is a Dark Cheq Pied Hen. My young birds this year were all flown on the widowhood system no training after the first race. Feeding the same V/L and Beyers mixed, fed at the rate of one handful to 3 birds until they leave the barley. In the breeding of the hen is Patrick Bros, Paul Woolliss, Paul Stowell, Louella, and Steve Wright, and a touch of Brian Wall. My Barcelona Hen is her Grand dam, I had 2 races on Saturday, Falaise with the Gwent GDC and the BICC, and Carentan with the Welsh National, sent 11 to the BICC all hens, and 12 to the Welsh National. At the time of writing I have had 9 home from 11 at Falaise with the BICC at 234 miles"

The Centre section winner which also takes 3rd Open vel1184 ypm is one to the Salisbury loft of Johnny Attrill. Johnny is yet another fancier whose name regularly appears near the top of any National or Classic race result in which he competes. Here's Johnny's take on the race:- "Great race, great returns well done everyone at BICC and congrats to John & Dave Staddon 11 out of 15 at last count 14/09/14. My season started last November when I went to Germany and purchased y/bs to be bred for me to pick up in Holland at the spring exchange in March. The birds were then put on the darkness system these birds were prepared solely for the NFC Fougeres but unfortunately I'm still waiting for my main poolers! Anyhow, my 1st bird provisional 1st sec 3rd Open BICC was provisionally 19th open NFC y/b National 2 days prior to basketing for the BICC Falaise race. I had two come together from Falaise, GB14J09932 blue cock and GB14J09918 chequer pied cock both bred by SG.Diebel/Kreplin of Germany who have bred me winners for the last 4 years. Their bloodlines are Schellens. Happy Christmas and New Year all - I'm back to planning next year's races. Be lucky, Johnny "eastwind" Attrill."

Taking 3rd west section 4th Open vel 1175 ypm is one to multi National and double International winners, Geoff and Catherine Cooper. The Coopers clocked a young cock to win provisional 4th National Falaise.
Called Euro George, he had flown inland up to Eastbourne 123 miles, this being his last race prior to going to Falaise. He was flown on the sliding door system, with no training since racing started other than loft exercise.
His Sire is Euro Star, a son of Brockamp's Euro Diamond. Euro Star is proving to be a super breeder, being sire and grandsire to many good birds including 1st National.
The Dam of Euro George is a daughter of top breeder and racer George. George won 1st Grand National and King's Cup Tarbes and is sire and grandsire to many top birds including 1st International etc.
Euro George is a full brother to 1st Ace pigeon Europe, Wuhan Golden Sands Derby race. Two more were clocked quite close behind Euro George and others followed to make this a good channel young bird race for the Coopers. They would like to congratulate John Halstead 1st OB's and John and Dave Staddon 1st YB's on two very good performances and also many thanks to John Tyerman and Trevor Cracknell on a good season convoying and race controlling.

The outstanding Welsh partnership of Preece Brothers & sons come in next with a bird recording1163 ypm racing to their Cwmtillery loft near the top of the Welsh Valleys. This one is A DARKNESS BLUE LEFABRE/DHAENEN COCK BRED OUT OF ONE OF THE BEST BREEDING PAIRS, THE SIRE IS A FULL BROTHER TO THEIR QUEEN'S CUP WINNER GWASTED MISS LEE BEING OUT OF TOP STOCK COCK CHAMPION ONE LEG, BRED BY BOBBY LEE. THE DAM IS A 13 Y/R OLD STOCK HEN BRED BY JEFF DAVIES FROM THE BEST OF HIS AND THE PREECE'S OLD LEFEBRE/DHAENEN FAMILY GOING BACK TO THEIR 1ST COMBINE NEW PITSLIGO 8,000 BIRDS. THIS HEN WAS LOANED TO THE PREECES BY JEFF BUT THEY FORGOT TO GIVE HER BACK !!!, SHE IS THE DAM OF MANY GOOD BIRDS FOR INCLUDING THIS YEAR'S 2ND CS CFC BERGERAC, THE YOUNG COCK WAS SENT ON A 3 DAY OLD Y/B AND WAS OUR FANCIED BIRD BEING WELL POOLED. HE ARRIVED IN GOOD CONDITION AND WAS AS FRESH AS A DAISY. HE CAME OUT OF THE EAST AND TRAPPED BRILLIANTLY. THE PARTNERS WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE THE STADDONS AND JOHN LUDHAM ON THEIR GREAT PERFORMANCE

Staying in the Valleys of Wales now and the bird taking 5th west section 6th Open vel1146 ypm was clocked at the Maerdy loft of Chico Owen & R T Evans & son. Chico and Tony are enjoying an excellent season at club, Fed and National level and here they clocked a blue cock bred by Preece Brothers & sons of Cwmtillery. This one is a grand son of the Preece's Tarbes National winner and also has a smattering of Geoff and Catherine Coopers Deweerdts in his make up as well. Raced on the natural system he has had five races with the Welsh SR Fed in preparation for Falaise.

Next we have another very successful Welsh partnership - that of Gareth and Stuart Treharne of Nantyglo who clocked one of their team to record 1141 ypm for 6th West section 7th Open. The Treharnes are already double Open winners with the BICC in the 2014 season as well as winners of the WSRNFC from Saintes and double section winners with the NFC - all in 2014. Here's what Stuart had to say about their latest top class performer on the National stage:- "Our pigeon is bred from a direct son of Het Fenomeen 1st National Bordeaux. The main breeding lines being Chris van de Velden , Wijnands and A P Overwater. The dam is a direct Wijnands hen being a direct daughter of Gehemerde which was 4th National Barcelona and 4th National Bordeaux being a combination of Carteus and van de Wegen bloodlines."

We then move down to the West Country where we find the winner of 7th west section 8th Open vel 184 ypm at the loft of R & R Wilton.
The partners clocked a medium sized Cheguer. Cock. Sent sitting 10 day eggs. Bred by Mr & Mrs P Titcombe of Portishead, North Somerset and purchased at the Glastonbury FC Breeder Buyer sale and contains the best original Heremans-Ceusters blood lines.
Before being entered in the BICC Falaise race the cock had won 3rd Club(14/345)5thWoESRC(234/3,768)Littlehampton and 4th Club(14/202)5th WoESRC(155/1,687 )plus 1st Glastonbury FC Breeder Buyer and £1,000 Eastbourne the week before Falaise.!
The loft was badly effected by YBS and missed 6 weeks training and the first 3 races. The loft began to show a return to form 3 weeks before the Falaise race.
Rob would like to congratulate Paul Titcombe on his selection of top class Original Heremans-Ceusters during his many visits to the Continent. They are certainly producing many outstanding pigeons.

The Cwmbran partnership of Norman Smith and Roy Jones come in next with a bird on 1083 ypm for 8th west section 9th Open. This one is a darkness hen bred in April which has had just three races with the Fed in preparation for Falaise. She is bred from the sire of the partners' Carentan National winner when paired to a hen obtained from Pontypool "ace" Derek Flowers.

Finishing off the top ten in the Open we have yet another Welsh partnership, that of Gordon and June Mears of Caerleon, who clocked a natural hen sent sitting 14 day eggs to record 1074 ypm. This one has had every Fed race in preparation for Falaise and is bred down from Gordon and June's Des Coulter imports, the sire having flown the 2014 St Vincent International earlier in the season as a yearling.

Right, next we'll take a look at the section winners:- The west and centre section winners have been covered in the list of top ten finishers so moving on to the R/U in the centre section where we have a bird clocked at the Reading loft of Mr & Mrs H D Lee recording 1045 ypm. Dave clocked a Janssen x Koopman darkness cock bred in December from birds obtained from Brian Murray of Cheshire. This young cock has had every club race leading up to Falaise and this was his first time across the channel. Dave has asked me to thank Brian Murray for all the good pigeons that he's let him have.
Paul Kelly of South Norwood comes in with a young darkness mealy hen for 3rd section vel 1045 ypm. This one is bred from a Lee Jackson Jos Thone sire and a Terry Peart dam containing all the best of Jim Donaldson's bloodlines. The hen has had every club race plus the BICC Guernsey prior to going to Falaise.

Over in the east section, the birds had it all to do against the fairly strong easterly wind and the winner here on 1054 ypm was clocked at the Orpington loft of Ted Robinson. Ted's first in the clock is a smokey blue Staf Van Reet darkness young bird bred in late February, She has only had two previous young bird races before going to Falaise so was well rested and raring to go.

D Heywood & son of Laindon come in at 2nd section vel 1013 ypm with yet another young bird flown on the darkness/ sliding door system. This one is bred from the partners' 2011 NFC National winner when paired to a German Janssen through John Gerrard and has had three previous races including the BICC Guernsey race of a couple of weeks ago.

Third East section on 995 ypm goes to the Chadwell St Mary partnership of D Wilton & son. The partners had two birds drop together, a cock and a hen, both Soontjens bred from birds purchased from Mr & Mrs Crook of Up North Combine winning fame. The cock was sent flying to the perch whilst then was sent sitting eggs.

Trevor Head tops the North Central section on 937 ypm with a young Janssen Lotterman hen bred the same way as his section winner in the recent BICC Guernsey OH's race. The young hen is a darkness young bird, bred in February and has raced the full club programme racing to the perch with no other form of motivation.

Second North central section is a bird racing to the Rushden lofts of Mr & Mrs Smith vel 900 ypm. This one also wins the Barry Hobbs Memorial Trophy for first young bird into Northamptonshire[ or with a Northants post code]. The Smiths clocked a Janssen x Vervoven natural hen bred in March and raced through to Bedhampton near Southampton with the local club. She has also enjoyed plenty of 70 mile mid week trainers from Newbury throughout the season. .

Next up at 3rd section is a Leo Van Rhijn darkness young bird doing 760 ypm to the Wootton loft of P Lane & son. This one is bred down from birds obtained direct and via Adrian Duggins and is a half sister to the partners' 2013 BICC section winner. She has been well trained but only lightly raced prior to going to Falaise.

Dave Downing of Newmarket clocked again to take 1st North East section vel 884 ypm. Dave timed three birds on the day with another early next morning to record 1st and possibly 3rd and 5th NE section. His first timer is one of the young birds that scored for him from Guernsey in the BICC race two weeks ago. This young bird bred and gifted to him by good friend and fellow Newmarket club member Roly Rix. This was really opportune as it came while Roly is in hospital recovering from major heart surgery and Dave was able to text Roly the good news. The second bird is from Dave's own successful Vandenabeele stock loft. The sire being a direct M & D Evans a son of Jas and Jade Leanne the dam carries Jester and Carrie bloodlines. J & S Overall of Wroxham come in with one on 845 ypm for second section. John and wife Serina clocked a young blue hen bred down from birds obtained from the late John Mason of Cromer. Bred in February and raced on the natural system she had competed in all but one of the club programme prior to Falaise. John would like to thank the members of his local club for inspiration.
At third section vel 775 ypm is one to Ipswich fancier Jeremy Nicholson. Jeremy's pigeon is one of a number of pigeons bought in spring from Robert Fenech, She is a pure Coorman from Cedric and De99/10 which is a direct daughter to Kilo so lots of the old Coorman lines. The hen has flown most of the races this year and has been steady. Jeremy would like to thank both Robert and Steven Fenech for all the advice as this is only my second season back in the sport after a 30 yr break, Thanks also to all the members of the Ipswich SRFC for all of their support and encouragement. Finally congratulations to the winner and all the section winners.

The winner in the North West section is one to the Tewkesbury partnership of Booth & Roper which is provisionally 1st section 48th open. The partners' first in the clock is a small to medium blue hen bred from Brian Sheppard / Jim Biss lines. She has had 6 club races and was sent to this, her first channel race flying to the perch. Five birds were sent to the 2 races with all birds safely home. Trevor and John would like to congratulate all section winners and also would like to thank all the people who have congratulated them on what has been a successful period racing in the BICC and National races. Also a big "thank you" to the Evesham marking station.

Now we'll move on to the winners in the Old Bird race and the winner here needs no introduction as his wins at classic and National level since his move down to Dorset from the Midlands have been little short of phenomenal. I refer of course to John Halstead of Kington Magna. John gives the following information on his latest National winner:-
"1st Section and 1st Open any age BICC Falaise is a blue pied yearling hen of the Albert Marcellis bloodlines. Her sire and dam were purchased from an auction sale in the Midlands where they had proved that they were a very good breeding pair by producing a 400 mile Federation winner. This is actually a father to daughter mating but both had won first prizes themselves and over the last fortnight 3 young birds from this same pair have won 1st Club, 4th Section 34th Open BBC Fougeres and 26th in the French One Loft final race.
This yearling hen showed her potential during the old bird season with a 3rd and 2 x 5th prizes from the shorter Channel races but went missing for a fortnight from the hard BICC Poitiers. She returned with tail feathers, secondary and primary flights missing on 25th June and was put with the widowhood hens to rest and recuperate and grow some replacement feathers. She was re-paired on 4th August so she would be sitting a 3 day old youngster on basketing day for last week's NFC old hens race. Daily exercise and regular training with the young birds up to 35 miles plus one trip to Chichester (73miles) courtesy of recent BBC National winner Tony Welch put her on the right track. She was provisionally 3rd Section 30th Open in the NFC race last Tuesday (9th) flying Falaise in 4 hours 7 minutes and returned in remarkable condition after the holdover. She was still very keen on her youngster which had increased in size and age so was given a 15 mile training toss the day after the NFC race to check whether she was showing fatigue, but being third bird through the ETS suggested she was fine. The following day, with similar wind and weather conditions predicted, she was sent off to the same race point in the BICC any age race. Trimming 6 minutes from her Tuesday time, she homed in 4 hours 1 minute to make the fastest velocity from the whole liberation. After 2 visits to the race point in 5 days she has been named Nyland Falaise and becomes John's 4th National winner, and first with the BICC".
Congratulations John on yet another National win.

The Tewksbury partnership of Booth & Roper have enjoyed two good races with the BICC in recent weeks as they have topped the North West section with both Young birds and old birds in the Guernsey race and have repeated the feat this week from Falaise taking 2nd Open with the old birds behind John Halstead's timer. The partners had two old hens drop together and timed in within 12 seconds of each other to take the following positions.
1st section 2nd Open. This one is a 3yo Grizzle Hen bred from Brian Sheppard / Jim Biss lines . She has been a consistent pigeon all year for the partnership. Paired to a young cock in the young bird loft she was sent to the race sitting 11 days. This was her first race since Bordeaux in the MNFC in July.
Probable 2nd section 3rd Open is a 5yo chequer hen that was 1st section in the recent BICC Guernsey AA National . She also is provisionally 3rd J section 21st open from the NFC Falaise Old Bird National. This hen has been a very consistent bird taking 2nd section 186th open from Le Mans. In 2012 she was 22nd open from MNFC Carentan. She was bred from a Pouw Bros cock paired to a French hen transferred to Sportsview Lofts after coming in as a stray who has bred several good birds for the partnership.

The Woking partnership of Mr & Mrs Chaplin come in at 1st centre section and provisionally 3rd Open. The winning bird is a 2 year hen which spent the O/B season as widowhood hen and was having her 4th YB/OB race this year and has been clocked in the BICC/BBC and NFC races. She returned from the NFC Falaise race on Tuesday and was in such good condition she was sent, along with 5 others who had been to the race back to Falaise. She is a Jos Thone, both parents gifted to the Chaplins by Tony Hayward. The Chaplins clocked a further 4 hens shortly after.
Only 18 widow hens are kept for the cocks and they are kept on semi darkness and only fed barley till the end of the O/B season when they are paired and expected to compete in the 4 A/A races.

John Rodway of Rushwick comes in at 2nd NW section 4th Open on 1044 ypm with the same three year old chequer pied hen that was 1st section Le Mans and 5th section Tours earlier in the old bird season. Sent unpaired as her mate was lost shortly before basketting she seems to thrive on hard days and is bred down from John's tried and trusted long distance family that he's developed over the years. John feeds his birds on a high carbohydrate/ low protein diet that he mixes himself and allows the birds both young and old an open loft whenever possible.

The South Ockenden partnership of Richard Down & Eddie Good top the East section and take 5th Open vel 1030 with a blue yearling hen of Schofield & Greetham bloodlines sent sitting due to hatch. She had been to two EECC channel races prior to going to Falaise with the BICC and was 107th Open in the recent BICC Guernsey OB race.
Eddie and Richard are really pleased with the progress of this yearling hen she has done them proud and they would like to give a special thanks to their silent partner Rita Good for all her hard work as I/C of the BICC South Ockendon station, and also for all her help with the partners' race preparations.

Brian Reene & son Michael of Honiton on the south coast of Devon come in with one on 1026 ypm to take 2nd west section 6th Open. This is what Brian had to say about the race:-
" First of all I would like to congratulate all of the section winners and John Halstead for being the overall provisional winner, well done John! I would also like to thank the BICC for the way in which they looked after the birds. My two entries came home in superb condition on what was quite a tricky race.
The little blue white flight yearling hen has always been very consistent, being always in the first three to the loft throughout this season and last year as a young bird and consequently carried the pools in the organisation that I fly with. She also won the odd bag of corn and few shillings here and there.
The organisation that I fly with is the Devon and Cornwall and West Somerset Flying Club. We only fly our pigeons from Poole and the Isle of White the idea being good preparation for Nationals and Classics. This is now beginning to pay dividends for most of the members who have put up excellent performances in Nationals and BICC and Classic races. The result is that more and more people are joining the BICC which has got to be a good thing.
Our organisation fly any age races from April till September, which has enabled me to keep my hen in top form. Her last race was Chale, IOW and Falaise being her 1st channel race.
The birds are fed at present on Gem premier multi mix with G10 pellets, I consider the moult to be more important than winning the odd prize. But very pleased when I do!
The Dam is my winner of 1st section D 28th open NFC Carentan 8,430 birds in a west wind, which I think was pretty good when you live in Devon! I named the pigeon 'Josie' (after my Australian granddaughter)
The Sire is a handsome looking Blue Pied cock, bred from a Belgium 06 bred by Marc De Cock called Fame, from a full brother Den Dromer when paired to a full sister to Dromer making her a double granddaughter of the world famous top breeder Freddy and Lieve.
Fame was paired to Schalie Dreamer Belg 07 bred by Erik Limbourg carrying the Dreamer line, Lucky 77 etc. These birds were bred from my good mate Steve White's stock birds, I was looking after his birds while he was working abroad and must be some of the best De Rauw-Sablon birds around. (thanks Steve I owe you!)

Roger Holdom of Milton Keynes clocked for 1025 ypm to take the runner up spot in the Centre section plus 7th Open with a yearling Delbar hen sent on the drive having deserted her eggs the week before basketting. She is a previous winner as a young bird and has been among the prizes again earlier this season. The hen was bred and gifted to Roger by Rene and Michel Houpe. The dam of the hen won 1st section BICC Pau in 2012. Roger would like to thank the Houpes and all the local fanciers who gifted him birds after a fox got into his loft in 2013 and killed all his hens. Your kindness and generosity is much appreciated.

Ildebrando Carenza of Evesham fresh from his successful race from Guernsey with the BICC of a week or two ago comes in with another good pigeon on 1022 ypm to take 3rd west section 8th Open. This one is the same Jan Aarden x Cattrysse hen that finished at 2nd section three weeks ago in the Guernsey race.

The Benfleet partnership of J & J Brady come in with a timer on 990 ypm to take 2nd East section 9th Open . This is what the partners had to say about their latest success:-
"Our winner of 2nd section proved to be a pleasant surprise, as she was our first pigeon in 2012 NFC young bird National. We've found that most of our first placed young bird National Hens go on to be very good pigeons, so we were very pleased to see her regain her young bird form. Looking through her pedigree it was no surprise that she flew well in a hard race, as her Grand Sire is a brother to none other than Jos Thone's "Emperor" and her Grand Dam was a son of "Sars", so we will look forward to some distance racing from her next year."

Completing the top ten in the Open result on980 ypm was one to the partnership of T McCoy & son. I have no further details of their pigeon.

Moving around the sections now and in the North East section we have the section winner clocked at the Cambridge loft of Trevor and his late brother Nigel Hart vel 952 ypm. This is a 2year old blue pied hen which was used as a widowhood hen in the early part of the season with old birds and switched to a racing widowhood hen once old bird racing finished. Now named Colleen's Choice after Trevor's wife she has been three times in the first six positions in the section with the BICC. Bred from birds obtained from Ronnie Prewer of Bury st Edmunds she has UNC winners in her close ancestry.

Second North east section is one to Nicolae Babes of Ely vel 949. Nicloae had a couple close together and his first in the clock is a yearling hen of his own family that's closely related to 2 x 1st Fed winners this year. She was not raced last year as a youngster and was sent to Falaise just showing an interest in a male loft mate.

Bernie Wallman's timer completes the top three here on 837 ypm with a seven year old barren hen that was sent as Bernie put it "canoodling" in a nest box with a yearling cock. She is from Bernie's old bloodlines with some Decroix blood added and is full sister to some top distance performers for Bernie.

The winner in the North Central section was clocked at the Rushden lofts of Mr & Mrs Errington vel 897 ypm with a yearling hen of Huybreght x Supercrack x Brinkman bloodlines. The hen was used as a widowhood hen earlier in the season and was then mated and trained privately out to 100 miles with Falaise being her first competitive race of the season. The Errington's had four good pigeons all prepared in the same manner, which could take the first four section prizes.

Trevor Head comes in next on the provisional result with one on 827.7 ypm to take 2nd section. This is a yearling Soontjen hen sent sitting 10 days after rearing a youngster following a period as a widowhood hen earlier in the season. She was then well trained before going to the BICC Guernsey race a few weeks ago.

The partnership of Mr & Mrs Wright of Kettering take 3rd North Central section on 827.0 ypm.

Over in the East section I have already covered the partnerships of Down & Good and J & J Brady who took the 1st & 2nd places. Andrew Gates of Herne Bay comes in for 3rd East section vel 676 ypm. Unfortunately there is no contact telephone number listed for Andrew so I was unable to contact him for information on his pigeon.

Finally we move on to the North West section and the winners of 1st & 2nd in this section namely Booth & Roper and John Rodway have been featured in the top ten Open winners. Taking third section here is one to the Lower Moor partnership of Mr & Mrs C. A. Moore on 836 ypm. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a telephone number for the partners.

And now a word or two from Russell Bradford regarding the proposed "moot" arranged for Friday night 31st October:-
"I can now confirm that the internationally reknowned vet Henk Deweerdt is coming to the Moot which is great news as he will offer another important dimension to the Panel. We have now sold 115 tickets to date (2nd, September) and that the Panel now consists of Hugo Battenburg; Bernard Deweerdt; Geoff Cooper; Mark Gilbert, and surely this has be a gold star line-up of the best pigeon fanciers with a world class Veterinary ~ all for just ten pounds!! I would imagine that the remaining 80 places will be sold quite quickly. A cheque in the post addressed to me here at The Cottage, Farndish, Wellingborough, Northants and ticket(s) will be sent back by return."

There you go then, another season over. I will attempt[with the cooperation of the fanciers concerned] to complete loft reports on all the BICC race winners. These should appear during the next few months, assuming the fanciers concerned assist me in this venture. Next gathering will be the moot and auction on the weekend of the 31st October / 1st November at the Epsom Show, when the Certificate of Merit winners will be presented with their Diplomas. With regard to the auction of birds that is to take place on the Saturday I can tell fanciers that it contains some of the best bred distance pigeons from some of the best distance fanciers in the UK and is one not to be missed. Adverts will appear in the fancy press nearer the time of the sale so my advice is to keep a keen eye out for them.

In February we will have, what for many, is the highlight of the year- the annual prize distribution weekend in Bournemouth. If you intend going I suggest you get your order for tickets in fast as they are literally "flying off the shelves"!!
In the meantime keep well and keep smiling.
Gareth Watkins

Dave-&-John-Staddon 1st Open Falaise Yb's