Let me try and explain why we have to basket our birds on a Thursday night.
Even for a race as short as 65 miles - the new club we joined part way though the season, baskets on a Thursday night (well actually we start basketing around 5 in the afternoon).
The reason is - the area that the transporter has to cover is far too large to get round to all the clubs in one evening, so some clubs have to get their birds ready for collection on a Friday morning and our club is one of them.
So we take our birds to the club on a Thursday afternoon/evening, do the necessary and put them in race panniers, then they stay in the clubhouse until around 8 o'clock Friday morning. The transporter arrives, a couple of club members load the crates and off the transporter goes to another club in the northern part of Brittany to pick up, then heads south.
By late Friday night, ALL the clubs in a part of Brittany have had their baskets put on the lorry and it sets off for the liberation point. The area that the convoyer has to cover is about the distance from Derbyshire to Devon. and in all that area there probably there aren't any more than 5 clubs. And it's one lorry and a trailer to cover all that area. We have to travel over an hour to get to our club. I can't see people in the UK putting up with that, but what can you do.
I dislike this situation very much, it is no good for the birds - Especially young birds who have to spend TWO nights in a basket, just for a little 60 mile race. And when the races get over 300 miles, we have to basket on a Wednesday night, it's crazy. BUT - what can I do, if I want to race our birds, I have to follow the frog ways.
Thank goodness we will be back in England for next season's racing.
Phil
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The N.E.H.U race from Melton Mowbray 21/4/2012 was won by Peel bros of South Shields, they took 1st club 1st fed, also taking 2nd and 4th club and 15 of the 25 birds clocked in the club......well done Peel brothers.
