Punch Notes 2015 -

Updates on all the local North Road news and events by Punch. E-mail: franciscorcoran@alpinelofts.net Tel: 00353 599145419
Francis Corcoran, Alpine Lofts/Aviaries, 568 Shed Road, Levitstown,Maganey, Co. Kildare, http://www.alpinelofts.net
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willie reynolds
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Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 4:44 pm

Punch Notes 2015 -

Post by willie reynolds »

Leinster North Road Federation 39.

I will start this weeks notes by clearing up the results of the Federation races thus far
and also the result of this weekends race.
From the Trim 2 race held on May 1st, when 53 members sent 790 Birds. it was
Edward Holden of the Cill Cheannaigh club that won first Section “B” and the First
three Open positions on velocities of 1520, 1519, & 1518ypm. Whilst section “A”
was won by John Tobin of the Newross club, with Lyn Griffiths, Wexford RPC and
Pat Ronan Newross RPC in hot pursuit in 2nd & 3rd section “A” respectively.
Section “C” was taken by Peter Lucas flying with the Hacketstown Club on a really
tough day for the boy’s on the east coast.
Conran & Cullen won the section “B” nom. John Tobin won the section “A” Nom,
and Peter Lucas won the section “C” Nom. The Open Nom was won by Jimmy
Hurley of the Barrow Valley RPC.
Carrickmacross was the venue for the next Federation Race when 60 members sent
795 Birds. They were away at 8:45am with a slight tail wind.
Taking the premier 1st Open position in the Federation and First section “A” was
Eddy Dobbs of the Enniscorty club on a velocity of 1554ypm. Eddy’s winner bred for
him by club secretary Joe Donnelly. In 2nd Open and winning 1st section “C” was
John Annseley & Son of the Arklow RPC velocity 1535ypm. Third Open position
was won by John Dobbs of Enniscorty. 4th Open and 1st Section “B” was Edward
Holden.
Section “A” Nom was won by Thomas Walsh & Son Wexford RPC. Section “B”
Nom was won by Roly Brennan Barrow Valley RPC. Section “ C” Nom was won by
John Annseley & Son Arklow RPC. The Open Nom was also won by John Annseley
& Son.
These single bird Open and Section Nominations are creating a right spread of the
prizes throughout the Federation, whilst also creating a more even playing field which
in turn is enhancing the competition amongst the membership.
Right then, lets move on to this weeks club results from the Monaghan race. Any
hopes of a race on Sunday were dashed when the weather forecast on Wednesday
evening and early Thursday morning indicated that Saturday was going to be the
best day of the weekend with little chance of a liberation on the Sunday, the decision
was made to race mark on the Friday night for a Saturday race. Again there was a
good turnout in our own club with seventeen members sending 279 birds.
Saturday morning dawned bright, and with a lot of other organisations preparing to
liberate down the country, our man had them away at seven thirty, which everybody
seemed pleased about. However it was unfortunate that as the morning moved on the
strong westerly wind increased even more in strength, that said, there seem to be a
little north in it as well and that might help the situation.
Enniscorty RPC.
The leading pigeons into Enniscorty were clocked by the Polish partnership of
Murkowski & Kolodziej to secure 1st and 2nd Club, a Blue hen on a velocity of
1601ypm was first through the traps followed closely by another Hen, this time a cheq
to record 1598ypm. Third club go ex federation treasurer John Dobbs with a Blue
Maris x Hofkens cross Cock on 1573ypm.
Wexford RPC.
Hi Francis. Sorry for the delay, please find Race results below for the Wexford club
where 9 members sent 129 birds.
1st 2nd and 3rd Lyn Griffiths and son, velocity 1587ypm. 4th Thomas Walsh and son
Another great performance from Lyn as he continues to dominate Wexford North
Road pigeon racing. Kind Regards, Thomas Walsh Chairman & club PRO.
Newross RPC.
Well Frank . First 3 in New Ross this week is to Keith Gardiner .Next to clock was
Pat Ronan and John Purcell was in there with Keith Gardiner finishing off the top ten.
Keith got three together 2 hens and a cock. With the winner been a blue pied hen.
Well done Keith.
Fethard-on-Sea RPC.
Mick & Brandon Nolan had a great race in this one, clocking three in quick
succession to secure a 1,2,3, in the Fethard club. John Power and Gary Nolan trying
hard to catch the front runners and will be there or there abouts as the races get longer
I expect.
Cill Cheannaigh RPC.
News now from Edward Holden
1st Edward Holden Velocity 1498ypm. 2nd Conran & Cullen on 1497, & 3rd Edward
Holden on 1474ypm. First pigeon is bred from Roly & Roca stock he's a yearling
cock that was in the first drop of birds last week finishing 3rd club & is a full brother
to my Malin Head Young Bird National winner. Jimmy Conrans pigeon is a van Reet
cross of Mickey Croskery x Gerry Marley lines. He is a cheq yearling cock & has
been showing good form in the last couple of weeks. My bird in 3rd position is a
mealy pied yearling cock gifted to me as a youngster by David Doheny of Kilkenny.
Barrow Valley RPC.
Roly Brennan continues to dominate our club and this week secures his fourth win on
the trot in this highly competitive club, taking the first three positions on a Velocity of
1493ypm, also second, with two yearling cocks, his third bird on the clock was
“Roger” the Blue pied Staff van Reet cock that has done a lot of damage in all types
of competition right up to National level, again this week Roger secures another ten
points in the Single Bird Nom that is run over the course of the season giving him the
maximum 20 points possible from the two races already flown. JJ Hurly had the next
two, Damien Maher, Tom McNally and Corcoran & Keegan made up the top ten in
this race that seen 17 members send 279 Birds.
Hacketstown RPC.
Peter Lucas wins again in this newly formed club also 2nd . His first bird, a Blue Pied
Yearling Hen bred from two of his North Coast Classic pigeons that were purchased
back last year. Paul o Neill had a 2012 bred Blue hen having only the third race of her
career.
Arklow RPC.
Mick Murphy writes with the following information on their recent Monaghan race.
In first position it’s the partnership of Dempsey & o Keefe with an SU rung 2yo
cheq Pied hen on1439ypm. 2nd and 3rd went to James Clare both 2yo cheq cocks on
1434&1424ypm . 4th position went to John & Mick Murphy a GB rung Yearling
cheq hen on 1413ypm . Last weeks winner, John Annseley and sons with a yearling
blue cock on 1392ypm completes the result for the Arklow boy’s.
Well that’s it for this week, there were a few birds missing on this one, and a few old
favourites have bitten the dust and some new birds have shown their metal too, as is
the way of the world in pigeon racing.
Until next time, any news to Franciscorcoran@alpinelofts.net or 00353599145419
Punch

Leinster North Road Federation 38.

Whilst on my way to Waterford last weekend, I decided to stop on my way into town
and take a photograph of the last remaining item left standing of the Irish Sugar
Industry, to me and a lot of other people this has to be one of the saddest sites that we,
as previous employees have to endure each and every time we pass by. The old site is
actually situated between my home now and my home town of Carlow, so I see it on
an almost daily basis.
The kiln itself holds a lot of mostly happy memories for me, standing at exactly 238
feet tall, I worked on the very top of it on many, many occasions, as a fitters helper,
and it was always a fabulous place to be no matter what the weather, although I have
to admit that after all the sun tans we got up there , summer time was the most
enjoyable.
The fact that it was impossible to get caught dodging up there was a given, for as soon
as a foreman or manager put his foot on the first step of the stairs the vibration let you
know that there was someone on their way up, from that point we had approximately
ten or twelve minutes to get busy, and apart from the fact that the work done had to
be signed off , we were very seldom paid a visit, so unless someone was going to
approach the job by helicopter, the sun tanning went on unabated.
The winter time however was a different kettle of fish, with howling winds blowing
and at that time of year the kiln was in operation, with the running temperatures inside
up to eight hundred degrees it was a rough place to be, some of the extractor fans at
the top would have to be balanced at the start of the processing campaign, and I can
tell you that was a quare hairy place to be when the whole kiln was vibrating. Happy
day’s.
Anyway, on to this weeks notes for the Carrickmacross race, when the Federation had
sixty members sending eight hundred and twenty five birds. The race itself was
brought forward to the Saturday, as it was expected to be the better of the two day’s,
and as it happened, the decision was quite correct, as Sunday was an absolutely
horrible day. Also the decision to liberate a bit earlier than expected, Rather than
wait for the Northern organisations to pass over, was a good one, we were away
bright and early and most birds were safely home and locked up even before some of
them had liberated. So, well done the race controller. Certainly credit where credit is
due.
Arklow RPC.
Notes are brief this week from Arklow, however it appears that John Annesley’s bird
got well away from the bunch to record a great victory on a Velocity of 1583ypm.
Next up with two together for 2nd and 3rd positions was the partnership of Dempsey &
o’Keefe. A new name on the result for 4th & 5th is James Roach & G.son. Its nice to
see the Arklow boy’s holding their own against quite stiff opposition. Well done all.
Cill Cheannaigh RPC.
Its that man again, Edward Holden, in again for a 1st,2nd, & 3rd position in the Cill
Cheannaigh club with three yearling cocks dropping together, Velocity 1502ypm, as
opposed to a bunch of Hens last week. I’ve included a photo of the winning chequer
cock, a Busscheart, and he looks a right one. In next was the partnership of Conran
& Cullen for 4th place, tough going on the lads down there, with Edwards birds flying
out of their skins at the moment.
Wexford RPC.
News now from Thomas Walsh.
Hi Francis, Please find results for Carrickmacross on 09/05/15 when 9 members sent
142 birds. 1st Anthony and Jodie Thomas on a Velocity of 1490, in 2nd Thomas
Walsh and son, and 3rd to Michael Carr. This is a great win by Anthony who recently
buried his father Adam.
Adam was a lifelong supporter of North Road racing and will be missed by all.
Michael Carr who turned 90 recently can still show the younger members a thing or
two about pigeon racing. Kind Regards, Thomas Walsh, Chairman, North Road
Pigeon Club.
Newross RPC.
1st Keith Gardiner with a pied yearling hen bred from birds from Ron Mckelvey
Newry This hen was having her first ever race. In 2nd Keith Gardiner with a 2 year
old blue Staf van Reet cock. And 3rd was Jackie Power clocking his yearling van
loon Hen.
Barrow Valley RPC.
Roly Brennan take the first three in the Barrow Valley, his first bird, a yearling Blue
cock a brother to his first timer from Frazerburgh last year, next it was the Blue pied
cock “ Roger “ that has been a really consist ant bird over the years and finally
“Margaret” off the late Terence o Brien.
The two bird average was won by Roly Brennan, 2nd was JJ Hurley.
In the single bird Snowball which will be flown for on a points system, Roly takes
the 10 points with “Roger” JJ Hurley takes six points, then Michael Ramsbottom
takes the final three points with a 2yo Black cock.
Our Young bird breeder buyer was also held on the Friday evening and with most of
the birds going back to their owners there will be a nice little pot of about €450 to be
flown for from the Larne young bird race later on in the season.
Hacketstown RPC.
Peter Lucas again wins in the Hacketstown club, Velocity 1091ypm for this one.
Unfortunately I have no news from either Enniscorty RPC. or Fethard RPC. For this
issue.
The Federation result for the first Trim race has now come to hand, and shows Lyn
Griffiths of the Wexford North & South Road Club with a stunning victory in this
race taking First Section “A” and the First Five Open Federation positions, two birds
on 1787ypm and the next Three on 1778ypm.
Winner of Section “B” also 2nd & 3rd is Edward Holden of the Cill Cheannaigh Cub.
Whilst the Winner of Section “C” is the Arklow partnership of Dempsey & o Keefe.
2
nd Michael o Brien and 3rd Damien Farrell.
Section “A” Nom was taken by Joe Sinnott, Wexford. Section “B” Nom by
Edward Holden and Section “C” Nom by James Clare, Arklow. And finally the
Open Nom was won by Joe Sinnott, Wexford. Overall a fair share out of prizes and
prize money between the members of the different sections.
Next week its Monaghan and with the weather set to stay calm we will hopefully have
a race on the Sunday this time. My own lot are doing ok, my little experiment is still
on track, and if the season proceeds in this vein, I will be quite happy.
Until next time, any news or results to. Franciscorcoran@alpinelofts.net of phone
00353599145419.
Punch.

Leinster North Road Federation 37.

With the weather closing in for the long weekend, it was decided to bring our second
race of the season forward to a Friday race as it was deemed to be the best day of the
weekend for a race. Sitting here on Sunday afternoon having endured two solid days
of heavy rain it was obviously the right choice, although I know that some
organisations have opted for a race tomorrow, bank holiday Monday, lets hope the
weather picks up for them, as it is the first race of the season for some of them.
After a late pick up on the Thursday night, as expected on a working day, the lads had
them away to the race point in preparation for an early lib on the Friday morning.
As it was so cold, and the organisations from the north had not liberated as yet , it was
decided to hold the birds and a liberation took place at 10am into an east wind, not the
best wind for racing but it had warmed up considerably and the birds would be plying
in the best part of the day. News from around the clubs now.
Cill Cheannaigh RPC.
I did say some weeks ago that I thought that Edward Holden may have lost a little
enthusiasm for the sport this year but that he may still be the man to beat at any
distance this coming season, well he has just proved again that he and his birds are up
for every event, this time taking a 1,2,3, in his club for the second week on the trot.
His first bird on a Velocity of 1520ypm was the Broken Keel cock, a beautiful Blue
Chequer pied, a yearling Busschaert that earned his name after last years young bird
Derby when he returned really badly injured and his keel completely smashed,
Edward was going to put him out of his misery but decided on account of the heroic
effort he made to get home that he would at least try to patch him up and make him a
bit more comfortable, well thankfully he has made a fantastic recovery and has
rewarded Edward for his kindness towards him, second bird on the clock was was one
bred for Edward by the carlow partnership of Rocca & Roly, 3rd bird was a sister to
the broken keel cock clocked first. Next in the Cill Cheannaigh club was race
controller Jimmy Conran who lives quite close to the winner, these were all clocked
within a few seconds of each other.
Barrow Valley RPC.
In our own club it was Roly Brennan to the fore, also with a 1,2,3. His first bird was a
2y/o Terence o Brien blue cock, on a Velocity of 1510ypm. next a Herman/
Busschaert yearling hen and finally it was “Roger” the Staf van Reet blue pied cock,
broken to his new address, this one is no stranger to the winners enclosure having won
and been placed on numerous occasions in the past.
Jimmy Hurley is next, closely followed by this weeks two bird average winner
Damien Maher, a good reflection of how well this young man is flying his birds.
All in all this was a very good race for our club with only seconds between the first
twenty pigeons recorded and everybody happy with their returns.
Newross RPC.
John Tobin stole a march in this one with a very good time in the Newross club,
followed closely by Pat Ronan, then Terry Sinnott and Pat Ronan in again for fourth
position. No velocities or information on the winner though.
Wexford RPC.
Lyn Griffiths has got off to a great start down there in Wexford with another
blistering performance from Trim 2, taking the first three positions yet again with
only Anthony & Jodie Thomas putting a stop to a clean sweep by taking fourth place.
Rumour has it that Anthony’s birds were in no hurry to trap on arrival home, just glad
to be there I suppose. Back to the drawing board Anthony if your going to catch Lyn
in these fast races.
Arklow RPC.
Had Graham Killeen take pole position with a 2y/o cock on a Velocity of 1070 ypm.
In second spot was John Annesley, 3rd Michael o Brien, and 4th position was Kevin
Forde. With the amount of east in the wind, this was always going to be a tough race
for the lads on the east coast. from this race point they were flying practically from
due west to east, and the velocities certainly verify that.
Hacketstown RPC.
For their first race with the Leinster North Road Federation this newly formed club
had Peter Lucas as the winner of their inaugural race, also taking second place for
good measure. 3rd and 4th positions go to Paul o Neill with two close together, his
first, an un raced yearling hen. It was great to see Hacketstown getting off the mark
and I’m sure that we will hear a lot more about this club in the future. The members
would like to thank Tony Byrne for transporting the birds to Carlow to meet up with
the transporter for the first race.
Fethard RPC.
Again no information from the Fethard club, I’m hoping that things will improve in
that department and that we don’t have to wait for the Federation result each week to
find out who has won what, because by that time the result is not news but history and
nobody is interested in that.
Enniscorty RPC.
Unfortunately no news from this club either, maybe next week.
St Paul’s Club, Waterford.
Having raced on Friday and worked on Saturday & Sunday over the Bank holiday
weekend, we decided to take off for a spin and a day out on the Monday, the fact that
my brother Michael was having his first race of the season with the Munster Fed
really decided the issue of where we were going to spend the day, Marguerite went off
to the beautiful House and Gardens of Mount Congreve which are situated only a few
miles from the seaside resort of Tramore in County Waterford where my brother lives,
whilst I stayed with Michael watching for the first arrivals. They were liberated at ten
o clock with the expected arrival time of around twelve thirty to one o clock.
A quick trip into the club house to get the result and meet up with a few of the boy’s
was the order of the day, this is a club that I always like to visit and have been doing
so since the early eighties with still some familiar faces to be seen after all those
year’s. I have included a few photo’s of my visit.
The race itself was won by Nicky Hayes, clocked just after twelve thirty for a velocity
of 1108ypm also second, then Colm Sullivan with the next one, and Martin o Connor
of the Holden and o Connor partnership was in fourth place.
Well that’s it for this week, our own birds came well at the weekend and I was happy
with the returns, the experiment is still on track and I’m happy with the outcome so
far, we’ll see what transpires in the future.
I will again appeal to the pro of each club to get in contact with your clubs
information each week just after the race, the odd photo and a few snippets about the
winning birds, either by telephone or better still by e-mail would be much
appreciated, its not for my benefit, as I don’t give a diddly, but the winners do deserve
the publicity that’s available.
News to 00353599145419 or e-mail Francis Corcoran@alpinelofts.net

Leinster North Road Federation 36.

The date for marking for the first race had arrived and as usual the weather had
changed sufficiently to make some people have doubts about sending, however it
turned out that we had quite a good send with eleven club members sending one
hundred and eighty six birds for their first spin of the year.
Pick up for the Federation started a bit earlier as the truck went to Arklow for four o
clock to start the days proceedings, and then it was away to Enniscorty, Wexford,
Newross Cill Cheannaigh and finally to ourselves in the Barrow Valley in Carlow for
the final pick up, the driver and convoyer reported an uneventful trip with all clubs
ready on time, so a good start to the season, now all we wanted was a bit of good
weather in the morning and we were right.
Thankfully it dawned a beautiful morning, with a slight ground frost and a mist down
over the river, that given an hour or two was going to clear into a nice bright morning.
Some of the Northern Ireland organisations were in our flight path, so with a
liberation inevitable at some stage it was felt best to let them pass over before we
would release ours, as it happened we did not have long to wait as they were away a
eight, our new race controller Jimmy Conran had ours away at nine thirty into a nice
north easterly breeze with the sun on their backs.
News from around the clubs.
Wexford RPC.
Where eight members sent 151 birds for this, their first race of the season. Laying
down a marker of his intensions for this season was the ever present Lyn Griffiths
with a staggering performance of taking the first five positions in his club. Lyn’s
winning velocity was 1787ypm. Thomas Walsh was the next member clocked to Lyn.
I would have to say that this result would not suggest a lot of east in the wind,
certainly in the Wexford area anyway.
Cill Cheannaigh.
Edward Holden takes up where he left off last season with a 1,2,3 in his club on a
velocity of 1738, 1737, 1737ypm..1st club is a Red yearling hen, a daughter of his
2009 Mauchline National winner. 2nd club, is a Busschaert Chequer hen. 3rd club is
a blue hen of soonjen bloodlines that was a winner last year. Jimmy Conran was next
behind Edward with Diarmuid Barron also in contention in this close run event.
Newross RPC.
Stalwart Pat Ronan takes the first three in his club, first bird on a Velocity of
1691ypm was his timer from the Frazerburgh National last year the other two are bred
down from birds of the late Ernest Logan Northern Ireland. Pat has been racing and
winning for as far back as I can remember.
The Barrow Valley club held their Old bird breeder buyer auction before marking
for this race, this is an annual event and raises a nice cash sum to be raced for from
the second Larne race which will be in about five weeks time. Good luck to all those
that took part, both breeders and buyers and thank you for your support. Its small
events like these that even up the odds and give each member an equal chance of
taking a prize, with only two birds per member allowed.
However there was still a bit of skulduggery going on when no darkness Joe was
asked to bid on a bird for Derek in his absence, when one of the best birds in the
Federation came up for auction the bidding was fierce and the bidding ended up
between Joe and Derek with Joe bidding for the two of them Derek hadn’t a hope as
Joe justified his actions by saying that he wouldn’t like to spend too much of Derek’s
money, and that anyway he would get him one later on that might and he specified
might be as good. Well Derek, you know what they say, with friends like that who
needs enemies. It was all good clean fun.
On now to the results for the,
Barrow Valley RPC.
Well what can I say about this weeks winner in our club, having more or less
dissolved their partnership of Roly & Rocca, and broken out their old bird race team
to his home address , Roly Brennan heads the field, on a Velocity of 1676ypm also
Second, again this year in his first race back with his old birds. Two 2 year old broken
pigeons of the same breeding, Dean Pallet Staf van Reet on one side and the late
Terence o Brien bloodlines on the other have done the damage for Roly. First bird a
Hen followed closely by a cock bird. Next in line, Tom McNally with two quick ones
flying to his loft in Bagnalstown, which is situated about ten miles further down the
river Barrow. Novice Damien Maher was next with only seconds separating the first
few pigeons on the result.
.News now from Mick Murphy.
Arklow RPC set off the season for 2015 by making 20 brand new baskets for there
club members,
After a long time away from the North road and starting back last year with a young
bird season only, they get the Leinster North road federation lorry picking up there
pigeons at Arklow RPC. this year . This Is a great boost for the Arklow racing pigeon
club
With a big rise in club membership for 2015 they hope to have a good season ahead
Yours in sport Mick Murphy.
Thanks Mick for that. The club has no official result for this weeks race, but I believe
it will be between Michael o Brien and Peter Dempsey in the final shake up.
With the upheaval in the IHU due to the sad passing of Seamus Lehane and the new
man just having been appointed, it will take a bit of time for things to settle down, I
hope fanciers will be patient and give the people in charge time to find their feet.
No news from the Fethard Club this week and the Hacketstown club will hopefully
get started next week when we are at the same race point of Trim again.
Another event that caught my eye over the weekend was a race on the South road
that was won by one of my oldest friends Thomas Moore, the man, that along with a
few others such as Frank Archbold, Patsy Fagan, and the late Dick Butler founded
Pigeon racing in the Carlow area 50 years ago this year, and as Michael Kane would
say, not a lot of people know that. Thomas has done a mountain of work over the
years for pigeon racing in Carlow and has always been able to hold his own in
competition, having been the first fancier in Carlow to win the Thurso National in
1972, and as I said, still winning to this day. Well done Thomas.
Well that’s it for this week, any news or results to : Franciscorcoran@alpinelofts.netor
Phone 00353599145419.
Punch

Leinster North Road Federation 35.

Sometimes I wonder if pigeon racing is not going backwards, or more to the point,
I’m wondering if I am the one that’s going backwards and the sport is maybe leaving
me and people like me well behind, and if it is, how are we going to catch up, or bring
it back more in line with what we once knew.
In recent years, I , like others, have found It difficult to have, say, the young birds,
ready for the first race, which, nowadays doesn’t start until near August time, which
by all accounts should give us loads of time to get them ready, but still we struggle.
What has brought this train of thought about, was that I was looking through some old
records of past races that I competed in, around 2003/2004 time which I suppose is
only ten or eleven years ago. The race in question was held on June 13th
Which by today’s standards is about six weeks before the first young bird race of the
season, and I will quote here what I wrote in my notes at the time. “ We won this race
by a whisker from Joe Brennan in second place, we also entered some young birds in
this event and they came really well, we had four young birds drop with the winner “
unquote. So, ten or eleven years ago we were having any age races from the last
three old birds events and also the first three young bird events, and that had been
going on for some time as I remember racing my young birds in their first race from
Dundalk in 1998 and that was the Tom Whitmore memorial Open race which was
also held in June as it was the penultimate race in the old bird programme that year, I
sent all my young birds to that race and so did Joe with fantastic results and returns
for both of us.
Nowadays I find it quite difficult to have them ready, mainly because I like to get the
old bird programme out of the way first, and what with the delays that have occurred
at the end of the old bird season for each of the last couple of years with bad weather
at a time of the year when we should be having the best conditions, it has held up the
old bird programme and set back the young bird events at the same time, this leaves
me and quite a few others floundering in no mans land with the result that the whole
thing goes awry. Well this year we have gone from one extreme to the other, the old
birds are all trained up and ready to go, and for once in a good while I am looking
forward to the start of the season, actually I’m so far ahead of myself that I have got a
bit bored and started training the young birds while I have a bit of spare time on my
hands, two or three spins already at just a few miles to get them used to the baskets,
I’m thinking to myself that I will get done a bit earlier this year and if all goes well we
will be ready and ok for the start of the young birds season as well. I certainly feel
like getting up and doing a bit more this year, not that I haven’t been doing enough
training and looking after the birds in the last few years, there’s something else
missing, what it is, I cant quite put my finger on just yet, but there will be change, if
its not the system, it might be the pigeons, and they too will be changed if needs be. I
have spoke to several fanciers that have been very good with the pigeons over the
years, they have been there and done that and have the T shirt to prove it, but they too
have been struggling, does one just become a bad pigeon fancier over night or is it a
slow decline into a place that becomes more and more difficult to get out of. There is
a saying that you only get out of pigeon racing what you put into it, I will agree with
that statement to a point, that if you don’t put any work in you can hardly expect to
get a result back out, that’s a given. But what about the fanciers that put a huge
amount of work into their birds, give them the best of everything and train as they
think they should, or even follow one of the published systems that are all over the
internet and the books, what is the answer for those poor souls when the results just
don’t come ?.
There is also another problem that can be difficult to handle and fanciers come up
against it all the time and that is the results that are published each week, do they give
a true reflection of how each fancier and his birds are performing, this is down to the
ETS system that is in such widespread use nowadays, now don’t get me wrong, as I
am an avid enthusiast and user of ETS, in fact our loft was the first in Ireland to use
this system as we had it on trial for nearly three years before it was passed for use by
the union in this country. Take for instance three good fanciers in close proximity to
each other, all using the ETS, they are clocking birds like mad each week, yer man
clocks seven birds within six seconds the other two boys clock four apiece in the next
10 seconds. At this point its all over, when the result is finalised and read out, yer man
has taken the first six positions in the club the rest as they say are nowhere. Yer man
is asked the next day, how did you get on ?, took the first six I did, next question, how
about the boy’s beside ya ?, na, they were nowhere. Now I ask you, is that a fair
reflection of the result when you have clocked within seconds of the winner. And
what’s more, it that carry on went on for most of the season you could have a situation
whereby the boy’s, although flying out of their skin all season, being within a couple
of seconds of the winner each week, might not even get a mention the whole year.
And if ya think that’s bad, how do ya think the rest of the club members feel.
Right then, that’s it for this week, our first race is on this weekend, I was going to
wait and put in the result but I think I will send this lot on and be finished with me
grumblin for this off season, it will be all good news and good craic from now on, lets
hope we can all get a look in on the result sheet sometime during the season, it wont
be for the want of trying, as I know most members in our club and Federation are up
for it, at least for the first few races anyway.
I have included a few photo’s of the people I think will be hard to beat in our club,
The Barrow Valley, This year.
News and Results before Monday evening please, and we will get ye all a little
publicity in the weeklies, where it matters.
Franciscorcoran@alpinelofts.net or Phone. 00353599145419


Leinster North Road Federation 34.

I had just started to get a few short training spins into the cocks while the weather was
fine and thought at this rate there should be no problem having them ready for the first
race, however with the change in the weather that has taken place over the last few
days it has put training on hold immediately, I consider myself lucky, as I can get
away while the weather is fine on any given day, but I do know that some had to wait
until the weekend to get them started, and it turned out a right miserable day, so bad
in fact that those that chanced a short chuck got a bit of a roasting on the day, there
were other factors involved, but the less said about them the better, as the more we go
on about them the more paranoid we all become. Hopefully the weather will pick up
again soon and we can get back on the road with the birds.
Had a nice complimentary telephone call from Eleanor of the BHW to let me know
that they had received my copy for the forthcoming week and seeking the right
pronunciation of some of the place names that I had written about, funny, but I had
not given it much thought before and just write them down, automatically thinking
that those that read the fancy papers would understand the names, it is a great
privilege for me to be able and allowed to promote our area of the world and the
fanciers that race in it, also to let people know a little more about the area we come
from and live in. Thanks again Eleanor for the kind words.
Whilst our for a drive lately, we stopped on Tankardstown bridge just a mile from our
home to pass a few minutes in quietness, using my binoculars it was amazing the
amount of wildlife viewed in a very short time, first it was three wild Mallard that
rose from the river only for one Drake to return and pitch in, not fifty or so yards
away from our position, viewing him through the lens I could see a black shape in the
back round, a mink was working his way along the bank looking for a handy meal, he
disappeared into a fallen tree stump that I presume he was using as a base. Further up
the river was a white Egret sticking out like a sore thumb, he decided in a flash to take
off across the river and keep the company of some cows that were grazing just off the
wetlands, I’m amazed that these birds survive, as they have absolutely no camouflage
whatsoever, they are in fact only a very recent visitor to these parts, less than six or
eight years ago you would never see one. The Buzzard is another recent addition to
our native wildlife, less that ten years ago there were none or very few to be seen,
nowadays they are around every corner or perched on every second telegraph pole
along the road. Still watching through the binoculars, there were plenty of grey crows
to be seen along the bank of the river and in the trees overhanging the river, flighting
out over the fields on the opposite bank, I think they are feeding on the worms and
snails that are left stranded on the higher ground once the flood water begins to
recede. The above may be quite a common sight to readers in the UK as a lot of the
wildlife and the lands that they occupy are all well protected, however in this Country
hunting, Shooting and Fishing are still widely practiced, with vermin control, at the
heart of the plan. It is mostly the self Governing approach of hunters and shooters in
this country, to wildlife in general, that has the situation as it is today, ie you only
have to stop and look to see a wide array of wildlife on display.
Take for instance the approach that the government has taken over the Marsh Harrier
situation, a bird that I can hardly remember seeing in all the years that I spent in the
field, they have now made them a very endangered species, and how have they
decided to help, well they first decided to make certain parts of the countryside a
place of special habitat for these birds and although the farmers may be compensated
to the tune of a couple of hundred Euro the value of the lands in question has dropped
by up to two thousand Euro per acre, that’s if you could sell it at all, the effect being
that now , no one wants the Marsh Harrier on their lands, a couple of years back most
farmers would not know a Marsh Harrier from a Marsh Warbler, but now that they
have the effect of devaluing their land they want to avoid them like the plague, now
tell me, what good is that going to do the Hen Harrier, added to that, they also
announced on the evening news recently that they had already spent a staggering
fourteen million Euro on the project with little or no improvement to the Harrier
population, what with the amount of austerity being imposed on the citizens of this
country and the fact that there are people out there that are both homeless and
hungry its nothing short of a holy shame what they have done, and it hasn’t endeared
the Hen Harrier to the general public either. I did have my quiet moment by the river,
it was very relaxing, it was only when I got home and started writing this that I got
into a bit of a rant. Thankfully I’m over it now and feeling much better.
We were back on the road again with the birds from Easter Sunday morning and over
the next few days we had lovely weather each morning after the fog lifted, which was
about the ten o clock mark, it was grand and the birds seemed to appreciate the sun on
their backs.
The racing will be upon us again these notes are published, our Federation lorry is
prepared and ready, thanks must go to Damien Summers, Tommy o Rourke and the
rest of the lads for overseeing and completing the work done, to have it in ship shape
for the season,
Wishing all fanciers good racing and good returns for the coming season. And don’t
forget to send in your Club results and any information on the winning fanciers and
birds that are doing the business, if you don’t let me know, then I wont be able to get
it published.
That’s all for this week. News to . Franciscorcoran@alpinelofts.net or ring
0035359914541.
Punch.
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