Big Davie

Tommy, the title of this thread is Lanarkshire Fed Proposal for Boundary Changes and that's what I am debating, as I said earlier my view is that this change would not have had any effect on the west section and would have tidied up the existing boundary for all fed sections which I will stick with, so I guess we will just have to agree to disagree.

C'mon Tommy, all I'm saying is you can't moan about non members being on Lanarkshires transporter when you have done the same thing yourself, just like I have when it suited me, to coin a phrase used earlier on this thread, what's good for the goose has also got be good for the gander, anyway the bottom line is that the members have decided they didn't want it so that's it finished for this year, however if the sport is to survive for another twenty years then sooner rather than later amalgamation of clubs and Feds will have to happen as I reckon if you took the average age of fanciers currently competing then this would be around the sixty mark which means half of them won't be around in 20 years time and that's probably a conservative estimate.

Tommy , think I've made my point

Glass houses again Tommy, just as I have done myself then you have you have also sent birds on another Feds truck without being a member

That's right you are just like everyone else is

Good for you Tommy

Tommy This isn't bothering me one bit as I was in favour of the new proposed boundary, all I'm saying is people in glass houses shouldn't through stones when talking about fed west section prizes

Just trying to tidy it up from a squiggly line to a straight line boundary by grid reference which is far more positive and accurate than the existing boundary

Gareth You should have produced your map in colour for this proposal ( minus the blue arrows ) and including the existing existing boundary with the red line which would have detailed how minor the changes were that you were after, fairly sure you would have got more support if you had done this.

As I said in an earlier post, for me if this proposal had been accepted It would not have made any difference to the west section but whilst we are on this subject you should have a look at a west section club where you are a member who have a member whose loft is located in the centre section who is competing for west section prizes !!! As you say a spade is a spade.

Tommy As Del is a member of LSC then he is entitled to send his birds with Lanarkshire fed through a club but as he is outside the fed boundary then he can only compete for LSC prizes and can't compete for Fed prizes, so his birds are already on the transporter if he wishes to send them, this applies to other guys as well and not only Del. This arrangement has been in place for LSC members who are not fed members for as long as I can remember . With regards fining clubs the only problem with lack of room on the transporters is at race 2 and 3 where it was explained that their were many baskets that were not full ( 28 birds ) on the unit last year at race 3 which resulted in the officials having to hire another unit at short notice, my view is that for these two races it is not unreasonable for the fed to ask its member clubs to ensure that each full basket at these races contains 28 birds and that if needed their should only be a max of two short baskets at any club on a Friday night which would allow birds to be moved around at Uddingston to fill up short baskets, this has also been done for as long as I have been involved in racing pigeons if required which in my opinion is not a problem for old birds. I understand that as some clubs now own their own baskets then they may not agree with this but again the race is run and organised by Lanarkshire Fed and the baskets travel to the race point on the Lanarkshire transporters so as the race organisers they are or should be in a position to call the shots and if required fine persistent offenders, although I do agree £50 is excessive. You should also consider that outwith races 2 and 3 that Lanarkshire allow clubs , if they want, need only have 22 birds in a crate, however many clubs if they have short crates once all the birds are race marked will fill them up to the max to save a tenner for any short crates. Going back to the boundary, it was only proposed to extend it north by approx 3 miles to bring in guys whose birds are already on the transporter so for me I would have accepted it because at the rate the sport is losing members then in five years from now ( or less ) room on any organisations transporter will not be a problem in fact it will be the opposite as costs will spiral due to not being able to fill them. JMHO

Gone yersel del

Good post.

With this proposed new boundary their is no scope for growth in the west section of Lanarkshire fed, any scope for growth / clubs / individuals to join is in the east and possibly a few lofts from the north end of the proposed new boundary ( that's if these individuals in the north can get into a club that is already part of Lanarkshire ) so for those who worry about winning fed prizes it should be the centre and east sections of the fed who are nervous with this proposal, IMO outwith possible open prizes it will have little effect on the west section where Cambuslang is currently in the best position to win fed west section positions and will only gain more of an advantage in the west section should clubs / individuals gain membership from the areas detailed above in the east / north of the proposed new boundary. Right now I am neither for or against this new boundary I am only telling you what my thoughts are and although they are nice to get neither am I too bothered about winning fed cards.JMHO

Higg The source is not a secret I have the proposal / map in front of me which came in the post yesterday along with notice of my club AGM, it is a recommendation from the management committee and when comparing this to what I recall of the existing boundary is nowhere as far reaching as the first post on this thread suggests although it would appear that the proposal is to extend the boundary a few miles in every direction, whether it will be adopted is another story.

Have to say their were some real quality birds for sale tonight with distance or sprint lines to suit all and turned out in excellent condition, well done Gerry and all the best for the future, hope to see you back some day if maybe at some point in the future you decide to move into a house with garden

Yes Paddy, it was a good night which was down to the good company of the members.

Would also like to mention Tommy Hyslop who was sitting next to me during the meal, although I knew who he was I had never spoken to him before, enjoyed his company and found him to be an interesting and knowledgeable fancier. Maybe Malcolm could put a list of trophy winners up and some the photos that Margaret Thomson took ( South Lanarkshire version of David Bailey ) , she really is a tireless worker for the Fed which I am sure the members really appreciate.

On Friday night I attended the Feds prize giving as a guest and spent the night in the company of other guests, Gordon Geddes, Margaret Hillis, and Fed President Malcolm Mathieson whose company was first class. Following the prize giving the quiz which is run more as an open discussion in which the whole company takes part was both informative and entertaining and really enjoyed the banter between Gordon Geddes and Wullie Johnstone. Had a good blether about the birds with many old friends and really enjoyed the whole night in the company of the members of the federation who I can only thank for asking me along as a guest. Again very well done to all the winners and to John Mcfall who collected me and then dropped me off back home, I really enjoyed the entire evening and wish all of the members the best of success in 2015. Davie Gillespie

George Although the map produced is 3 years out of date it still gave the most recent info available and more than any of the other proposals, if their were no inland Nats then it would have been a good programme for the fed to consider. You are correct with regards going themselves last year too Upper Heyford ( 280mls ) and Bedhampton ( 360mls) on their own on June 8th and 21st, these races were poorly supported in Lanarkshire fed but you have to consider that the SNFC had races on the same day from Buckingham and Maidstone which would have taken many entries away from the fed, so I agree it makes perfect sense to go with the SNFC if in fact these races are on in 2015, however my own preference would be for the inland Nats to be dropped from the SNFC race programme completely and let the Feds race to the coast where the fed entries would be far better IMO, for me these inland Nats are killing federation open / duplication racing at 300 - 360 mls and the first inland Nat race especially I s having a detrimental effect on the entries for the gold cup at the end of June , again JMHO

Exactly Del, this is one of the issues I was trying to highlight in post 37

Del your spot on, for me the first Nat should go, if it's on then that's where Lanarkshire are going on 5/6 June, if not then it will be Peterborough on their own, only thing I don't like about the programme is that we are only at approx 170 mls last Saturday in May when normally we would have been at approx 220 mls which is my preferred race / distance for SNFC gold cup race.

Again a good night out in good company although I've seen it busier, was looking forward to hearing Ray Mears who was ok but we've had better, best crack of the night was Ronnie Reid,s joke about the bakers shop, enjoyed guest Michael Currie toast to the members which was interesting, funny and well delivered . Very well done to all the winners

As their hasn't been a delegates meeting then they have no idea what the proposals are but I have heard of another that Danny has not mentioned, all will be revealed on Saturday

Stuart, you're right if the inland Nats were gone it would give the Feds the incentive to get together for joint convoying / combine / Amal racing, it's been done before when the sport was healthier and is a necessity now when the sport in decline