Watchfield Writings 21.01.11

Watchfield In The Vale Flying Club with MB
*Remember there are No Secrets from a Bottle, just Hardwork, Dedication & Determination*

Well folks here we are again and its now the 10th January and no doubt 2011 is now well under way in most lofts, including our own.

Our own first round hatch of eggs has not gone to bad seeing the weather we had to endure during December, with to date 40 youngsters now sitting in the straw filled pans, we did float over a number of eggs from the older stock pairs under some of the racers to enable us to get as many as possible this year from our older generation of stock. We did have a number of mishaps and lost a few eggs due to fighting in the early mornings, obviously when the hens come down at first light (more so when the moon is bright, which we had a lot over the Christmas break) for a drink and then go back into a wrong box. So after a quick think as to the causes, this was quickly rectified which meant me getting up early and putting the lights on before 6am over the holidays to enable the few hens who were coming off their eggs early morning to find their own way back into the boxes.

Blast from the past
Its always good to remember, and some of the things i remember when i was younger was reading about life in the compound and the exploits of “13” and “39” and the educational writings of Bernie, these always made you feel like you were sat next to him in the compound which is a skill that not many people/writers have. I have never met Bernie or even spoken to him but his weekly writings were one of the reasons why i couldn’t wait for Friday mornings to run to the papershop and pick up the BHW, flick through to find “in the compound” and read on the walk back to see how they got on the week before.
Another writer was Mr Bainbridge (Sid & John, If memory serves), who used to write about race days with their dark ones coming racing up the valley to trap like bullets. These were just a few of the informative writings which i used to read in the weeklies, still always read Bernies and always look forward to Bert Brasspenning & John Harwood who both speak a lot of truth and common sense. One time of year which i used to love the weeklies was the Christmas edition with all the stories from many great writers past & present who would allow their imagination to take over to create many a masterpiece, I’ve always thought it would be good if the BHW would publish some of these old Christmas stories on a weekly basis as they certainly had me reading, smiling & dreaming over many Christmas holidays.

We have been busy during the last few weeks with the help of the RPRA Southern Region Secretary Hazel, sorting out the “Watchfield Triple Change Classic” for 2011, which is an umbrella event comprising of 3 individual races under the one banner which will all be racing from Sennen Cove on August Bank Holiday Monday weather permitting/licence allowing, they will all be liberated together but flying for their own individual race/event prizes, the three events are:- 1) a gold ring race, 2) a breeder/buyer race and 3) an open race.

I spent numerous hours over Christmas (once the children had gone to bed), drafting the rules, completing the RPRA licence applications and finalising a lot of the smaller details for this event and as detailed previously the gold ring we will be purchasing 500no rings (total) and we already have 117 of these reserved, similar with the open race which is a ticket entry race and we will be producing 100no tickets (total) and again we already have reserves of tickets and this is just from “word of mouth”, the breeder/buyer is open but one rule we have stipulated is that nobody will be allowed to buy back their own bred birds at any of the auctions, which will ensure that this race is run in the spirit it was intended and we are just awaiting the final approval via the region before we can sell these rings/ticket etc.

As stated the Breeder/Buyer is open to any fancier to breed a bird/s and enter them into one of the auctions to be held on, 26/02/11, 19/03/11 and 02/04/11, but only fanciers within the radius (Wiltshire, Berkshire, Hampshire & Oxfordshire) of the “Triple Chance Classic” will be eligible to purchase and race the birds. We have already got sponsored prizes from Garvo to the approx value of £250, Somerset OneLoft Race to the approx value of £200 and UK Pigeon Couriers to the approx value of £120, so as you can see we already have some tremendous prizes to be won and thats before we have sold a ring, a bird or a ticket.

If you are in the above radius and are interested give me a call, send an email and i will send out a draft advert which will give you some more idea of what this event is going to be. Also if you want to reserve some rings, a ticket for the open get in touch as i’m sure they will be flying off the shelf as soon as the licence numbers are confirmed and we can advertise.

Its now the 19th January, most of our first round youngsters in the nestpans are colouring up now we took the opportunity today to go through them all to ensure that all is well with no problems. Out of the 40yb which are our complete first round there are 24 x Blue, 2 x Blue Wf, 1 x Blue Pd, 10 x Chequer and 3 x Chequer Wf and all are progressing and maturing well and as should be.

Loft Visit – Steve Bennett, Bristol.
Had to go over to Bristol yesterday for an interview and luckily Rob was available to take me over as Clare needed the car, the interview seemed to go well and we will have to wait to see if i get shortlisted for a 2nd interview. Whilst we were in Bristol, Rob made arrangements for us to call into Steve Bennett’s to have a cuppa and a look round his lofts/birds. Rob had told me previously that Steve had some real quality birds but i was not prepared for what i saw, they were absolutely fantastic and a real credit to you Steve.

When we arrived Steve was still on his way home from work, but lucky enough Steve’s wife Tracey was at home at lunch and after quick introductions Steve was soon home pulling up the drive. After a couple of cups of tea and a lot of banter it was out to the lofts at the rear of Steve’s home. Starting with the widowhood cocks and there were some top birds in here (especially the 3 brothers, Steve), then it was into the stock loft and everyone which Steve passed us to handle was unbelievable the quality just oozed and they were superb (i only wish i had taken the camera to demonstrate the quality housed in these lofts), we will take the camera next time.

To be honest i have got to say that this is the best loft of birds that i have seen/visited in a long time, you couldn’t fault the birds at all and Steve has invested heavily and most certainly very wisely over the last few years bringing this outstanding team together, its just a shame that he doesn’t have more time (due to work commitments) to spend with the birds as i’m sure that these birds have the potential to be one of the best racing teams in the area. Steve has a large amount of yearlings which had only had a couple of races during 2010 in his race team which will certainly take some beating once he gets them going, he has also recently joined the NFC and i have no doubt that we will be seeing the name of Steve Bennett achieving high accolades during the coming years.

One of the families at Steve’s which really caught my eye were the Freddie Vandenheede’s, i have never seen this family up close (although i have read all about them over recent years, even watched a dvd), but this was the first time that i had the opportunity to handle some. They really did take my eye, so much so that in my opinion they look like absolute dream racing machines, they are small to medium in the hand with feathering & eyes similar to our own family. So after further cups of tea and much persuasion i feel privileged to say that i will be sending Steve some rings over for his 2nd round youngsters from this Vandenheede family which we will race in 2011 both here and at Mum/|Dads to test them directly against our own established family in two areas as we have found over the years that certain breeds seem more successful in different areas than others.

Back home now, Clare has been busy finalising the balance sheet and awaiting confirmation from the auditors, she has sent out the notification for the club AGM, which will be held on 25th February at the Bourton Club and with the Wiltshire federation AGM being held at the end of the month 30th we should hopefully be fully armed with the 2011 race programme.

I have just received this weeks copy of the BHW and note that the NFC are seeking applications for the Press Officers position, of course i have just quickly drafted a letter and sent off to our Secretary to be considered for this role which in my opinion must be deemed as the pinicle of all would be writers/scribes like myself who take pleasure in writing and giving credit to the winners who put the efforts in at all levels of our sport.

glad tohear your breeding has gone well ,what distance does steve specialise in ?

as usual excellent write up mark, glad your breeding is going well.....look forward to the next one

Excellent write up Mark as usual

As always Mark JUST BRILLIANT mate

oldstrain wrote:

glad tohear your breeding has gone well ,what distance does steve specialise in ?

Steve has the birds there to win from start to finish (upto Tarbes approx 570mile)

Do you know him Darren???

Lightning wrote:

oldstrain wrote:

glad tohear your breeding has gone well ,what distance does steve specialise in ?

Steve has the birds there to win from start to finish (upto Tarbes approx 570mile)

Do you know him Darren???

both steve bennett and matt rakes make great waves in the sport around these parts but no i dont know him mark and by the way nice write up mate

dont know if you already know darren but don is a good friend of matt rakes.......

DAVID wrote:

dont know if you already know darren but don is a good friend of matt rakes.......

yes david i found out last week we were having a good chat about his set up and birds hes a credit to the sport and a real gentlemen but no hairs or graces just a down to earth family man

use to love in the compound mark yes still read it now i remeber 39 as well
nice pics of your youngones to

apart from reading watchfield i also like to read bert brasspening each week, at first he took a bit of getting used to but now i enjoy his article every week.

yes i like that to david
all stuff for the note books
passes time to lol

yes your right, i seems to simplify it pretty good...........also dont mind ready parkinson, i dont really know why but he does talk quite a bit of sence usually.......

my favorite scribe is cousin jack been a scribe for 54 years and hes 88 years old a great guy who has helped me alot but he is old now and his write ups these days are rather short but hes been a great service to the sport

ive noticed that sometimes i dont like a perticular article/scribe, but then once you start to read regularly and understand their ways you can get to like what they write......

also one i missed was the Anglesey scribe, always a good read and the hazards he has to put up with, top man