Midlands National Latest Update
‘Remember to Pay Your Subscription’
Folks if you are a member of the MNFC then please make sure that you have paid or act promptly to pay your 2018 subscription fee otherwise you won’t receive your handbook in a few weeks and in its place you will have a reminder drop through your door which will have had a £5 extra surcharge on it as per the rule on late payment. So if you don’t want to pay £35 then please, please get your subscriptions in pronto the form is in the 2017 handbook or you can download it from the Club’s website. Failing this simply put your name, address and membership number (if you know it) on a piece of paper along with your cheque.
Whilst on this topic if you know of someone who has either past away or left the sport please let me know on 07917060002 because we have no desire to pester people at this sad time for them. It doesn’t matter if I have already been made aware because I would rather be told twice rather than not at all and run the risk of upsetting their family by chasing them for money because all we want to do is to keep our membership figure up to date.
2018 Birdage charges
I have heard that there have been grumbles from a few members in regard to the announcement that there will be a 25p price increase on most of the races in 2018. Let’s now take a little closer look at this one shall we? First of all how long ago was it since there was a price increase imposed by the Club? I’m not 100% sure but it must be close to 10 years ago. During this period how many price increases to ferry and fuel costs have the Club absorbed? I can assure members that there has been quite a few but the Committee has held the price down and declared ‘No price increase’ yet during this period how many price hikes has there been in pigeon corn costs to name just one example. I constantly hear a small percentage of our members complain about the cost of pigeon racing but largely ignoring the fact that the Mid Nat’s prize pot has seen a significant rise which dwarfs most if not all of the other National or Classic pigeon organisations.
I would like to put a couple of examples of why the complaint that the pigeon sport is becoming increasingly expensive quite simply ‘doesn’t hold water’. First of all when I first started to race as a 13 year old in 1966 the entry fee in my local club was 2 shillings (10p) to equate this figure to reality a pint of beer was also 2 shillings. How does this compare to 2018? Well most local clubs charge 60-80 pence per bird but a pint of the amber nectar is now between £2.50 and £3.50 ! If you are still not convinced then look back to 1965 when the Midlands National in its infancy charged a Guinea (£1.10p)per bird. If that price was to then be projected up to the present day the cost of entering a MNFC race would be over £25 per bird. Yes your eyes aren’t deceiving you £25. With all of these facts in mind surely the complaints are unjustified.
MNFC One Loft Update
The number of entrants is growing quite nicely and the prize money that will be on offer is going to be £ for £ and pigeon for pigeon the largest One Loft reward in the U.K. The most pleasing thing is the positive comments that are being made by the people who come over to deliver their birds for both the nice comments about not only the purpose built lofts but the reception that they receive from the management team who offer the visitors a welcome cuppa and the chance to have a chat and good look around the set up. Obviously visitors can’t go into any of the occupied sections but they can have a peep into one of few identical empty sections and take a look at the birds in the aviaries and be shown how the trapping and clocking area works.
There is still time to get a couple of birds entered as the closing date isn’t until the 30th April and the One Loft race is open to all fanciers and not just MNFC members. This is a fact that I’m told has put a number of fanciers off sending with us as they believed that it was only open to Midlands National members. Please remember that for every 12 new entries the money on offer is swelled by an extra £1000. So if you feel that your birds are good enough contact the Manager on 07507302614.
Mike Lakin
Midlands National News
The Club held its first meeting following the 2018 A. G.M. on the 18th February at the Club’s Headquarters and as ever there was plenty of matters to discuss and decide the best way forward in 2018. It really is a hectic time of the year with lots of work in preparing the Club’s new Handbook. This I feel is something that the vast majority fails to fully appreciate the amount of effort and work that the Committee gets through to produce this book. While fanciers are attending the various Annual Shows a small number of Committee men spend their weekend drumming up support by way of selling advertising space in our book. Their work helps to considerably cushion the overall expense of the Handbook’s printing costs. These lads along with the people and the businesses who have supported us have literally saved the membership thousands of ££’s over the last few years. Sadly a minority of our members seem quick to forget this and choose to criticise some of the decisions that are made. My answer to this one is simple come along if you feel that you can do a better job and are willing to give up your time and travel long distances to attend meetings on so many Sundays of the year while other members are happily tending to their birds.
Ferry Price increases
The club has been made aware that the cost of cross channel ferries and possible fuel prices are once again increasing and after absorbing several price hikes over the years the Committee has made the decision to increase the birdage prices almost across the board by 25p per bird. I say almost because the longest race from Bordeaux will remain unaffected. This is a disappointment for us all but it must be borne in mind that this will be the first increase to our birdage costings for quite a number of years.
1st World War Commemorative Race
The Club has decided to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the ending of the 1st World War in honour of the thousands of brave men and boys many of whom gave the greatest sacrifice of all by giving their lives to defend our country and allies. We feel it is poignant for us to hold a large liberation of our birds to highlight the influential part racing pigeons played during the two wars when their actions helped to save so many lives of our servicemen. The race chosen for the commemoration will be from Carentan our first event of the year as this should provide the largest entry. Initially the plan was to hold a joint liberation with the NFC but we could not reach an agreement with them as they wanted the race to be from Bordeaux but we felt that the total birdage for this race would be both far less of a spectacle in number than a mass release from Carentan where nearly 20,000 birds could have surely been anticipated. Sadly the NFC Committee felt that the shorter racepoint could well have an adverse effect on their race. So we will go it alone confident that the MNFC release will still be more impressive in number than a joint release from Bordeaux in Southern France.
One Loft Update
The club is pleased to announce that the entry is at this stage showing an increase on that of 2017. The prize pot as I write this is heading towards the figure of £20,000 but there is still plenty of time to swell this amount as and when more entries are booked in with us. It should be remembered that for every eight birds that are entered the prizemoney will increase by £1000. So if you want to take the opportunity of grabbing some of this cash and in turn swell the coffers fill in the entry form that was in the 9th February issue of the paper. Alternatively give us a call on 07917060002 and we will get a form sent out to you. At this moment we don’t know exactly how much we will be offering but we can guarantee that the percentage of money on offer pigeon for pigeon will be the best return for your £125 entry fee of all of the U.K. One Loft race events. We are well aware that the final which will be from Carentan and is scheduled for the 1st September will be a real challenge but this is what those that enter the event want the chance to test the quality of their young stock. The acceptance dates for entries start on Wednesday the 14th of March and every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday until the planned closing date of Sunday the 29th April. The manager’s number to make the necessary delivery times etc on 07507302614 as the normal times are between 9.00am-3.00pm or by special arrangement. So we ask are you up for the challenge?
It may be of interest to any organisation who is looking for transportation for a Young Bird race from Carentan on the 1st of September give me a call on 01782 624440 because we may be able to help you out and remember the birds would be travelling first class in one of our superb Geraldy transporters. Mike Lakin
The MNFC One Loft 2018 season
The MNFC full committee and One Loft committee have evaluated the 2017 season and have implemented a number of changes for the 2018 season. These changes have been made to the MNFC One Loft Rules 2018. These rules are located on the MNFC One Loft website at http://mnfconeloftrace.org.uk We hope you find the new site easier to navigate around so you can find all your information you require. Our very successful Facebook page is also integrated within the website. Information on the Facebook site will also be replicated on our MNFC One Loft Blog. You should be able to locate these links from the website address above.
You can receive a text message of when your bird arrives home from each training flight and hotspot race. You can login into the results database and observe the progress of your birds much easier. The login details will be sent to you via email once your details have been registered with the club.
The live arrivals page for training and all races shows the team name, ring number and time of arrival.
A full result including pools and prize money will be displayed once the velocity of the race has dropped to 330ypm. The actual time of 330ypm will be calculated based on the distance flown and published so that you know when the full result will appear later in the day. This ensures that all birds qualify for the Ace Pigeon Awards. We do have the facility to monitor the development of the Ace pigeon Awards after the second hotspot race. These results can be updated following the third and final races.
We know the MNFC team has all learned from the 2017 season and we strive to make this an excellent experience for all competitors. The birds next year are going to be liberated with race birds on a Saturday to provide better education and preparation for the final race.
If you would like to join the 2018 One Loft please complete the following application form. http://mnfconeloftrace.org.uk
The MNFC Committee
Another new starter
The success of the Homing Pigeon Starter Pack. This is part of the 'Flying Back to Naure' project set up by the MNFC. The following video has been produced by Tommy and his family. Apart from the free loft, birds, corn and equipment to get started, there are a number of small fun educational projects to complete as part of the package. Tommy is currently breeding his first pair of birds and generating a presentation to document the life cycle of the birds. This provides a fantastic educational experince which he will be able to use in his English and science lessons. It also helps us display to parents the benefits of having an active hobby based on safe nature in the back garden. We are currently dealing with several new starters with late breds being sent out to get them up and flying pigeons. Our Secret Messages project in schools has had excellent feedback from staff and it generates lots of interest by young people. I'll add an update of this year's school visits and the responses from schools. The usual response is that pigeons are cool and where can we get some from? More details of the project can be viewed at http://www.secretmessages.org.uk/untitled/rpra-display-materials/the-homing-pigeon-starter/