Pompey Mick

My Uncle, George Johnson of Leigh Park nr Portsmouth topped the Southampton & Dist NR Fed from Buckingham recently with an entry of just 4 birds.(He sent the other 3 with the Solent Fed.) He showed that at 89 yrs young there's hope for us all, regularly competing with his small team in the Southampton NR and Solent SR. He ended the Old Bird season with 1st,2nd & 4th Club,7th,18th & 48th Solent Fed. Bergerac and started the YB season with 1st Club Marlborough the following week. He still has a great enthusiasm for his pigeons and is already planning for next year. http://www.btinternet.com/~meridklt/snrfc/

Struggling from Guernsey, 112 mls, libbed at 8.00, 11/16 last bird 1.50, off the pace, in just after 11.00. All singles.

Solent Fed away at 8.00, Lt N wind, at Guernsey

Does anyone know if there is still a manufacturer of the old type galvanised show pens in existance. The only ones I see now are the smaller plastic coated variety.

One thing I think the Racing Pigeon does much better than the BHW is colour photographs, any colour photo submitted to the RP gets reproduced in colour. It makes for a much better presentation, Black & White looks so dreary The BHW only prints a few in colour, surely they can match the RP in this department. The RP is 5p dearer, and when you factor in the amount of advertising in the BHW they should surely be able to finance what extra costing that might arise with colour photos. With coloured headings and photographs, reports in the RP look just that much more interesting than similar reports in the BHW.

15/15 from Newton Abbot with the Solent Fed

Overcast here in Portsmouth, quite bright though but rain approaching from the West. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/se/se_latest_radar.html

You will need a printer that runs off a parallel connection plus the parallel leads. my Club use a Brother HL5240 laser printer. Very fast.

I have 25 members on the Unikon system for two seasons and apart from the odd user error it has worked fine. I use it in conjunction with EastCoast Software Race program which electronically downloads all race data into the computer and also works out Points ,Averages. Imports and assigns RPRA Email distances per member and also prints diplomas. At least I, as Secretary, get something out of ETS The biggest headache with all ETS systems is the assigning of rings, but once that is done the system is a godsend especially at race marking, no more race sheets to make out, and no more markers errors. Mind you with three copies of everything, marking and race printout, we're using an awful lot of paper. The members are not frightened of it anymore and are quite happy to help out with the administrative side.

Kingsdown with the Solent Fed

I believe that there has already been correspondance between the RPRA and the London Olympic Committe on this subject. I have put forward to the RPRA the suggestion that we hold a Pigeon Olympics using the RPRA one loft race with National teams being entered to compete against one another in a series of races at various distances incorporating Olympic centres. These could be YB or Yearling or both. Hopefully my suggestion has kindled an interest to exploit this once in a lifetime chance of massive TV coverage of our sport.

SOLENT FED AWAY AT 10.30 FROM LESSAY, MOD NW WIND. http://www.kdwebsolutions.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=90

Here in Portsmouth 08.00, overnight rain, early sun, high overcast cloud at the moment, sun trying to break through.

Still sunny and bright in Portsmouth, but cloud building. Waiting on Solent Fed news from Messac, there's a mass of cloud in the Channel which has been slowly working its way Eastward since 6.00am this morning. Should be sat due south of the IOW at midday. I would have thought we could have libbed before this weather got anywhere near the central Channel, with a SW wind the birds would have been safely home by now. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/sw/sw_latest_radar.html

Portsmouth, good start to the day, plenty of sunshine after heavy overnight rain.

Portsmouth 07.30, High white cloud cover , total overcast, Lt Easterly wind, cool. Waiting on Lib news for Solent Fed at Messac, weather not good at racepoint update in an hour.

Last year we had an ink jet printer which was slow, so we printed one master copy and copied the other two on our photocopier to save time at the marking table. This year we invested in a Brother laser printer and the copies fly out. There is absolutely no contest between ETS and rubbering. With ETS, marking is so much better, you can always get volunteers to man the scanner, there's no responsibility now, like there was with manual marking. I would have thought that larger organisations will invest in multiple ETS markers as the need increases. There is also the added security when marking for Nationals and Classics as the ETS clock is set when the birds are marked.

Solent Fed Fougeres 6.00

This pigeon was bought to me by a non-fancier who trapped it in his garden and contacted the RPRA who kindly gave him my phone no. He is rather thin but otherwise uninjured and carries an ETS ring which once had a telephone sticker on it. Any one claim this bird please PM me. Mick Johnson, Portsmouth

I won a lottery grant for the Milton HS in 2007 for £10,000 for 25 ETS systems, it was the second time of trying and wouldn't have been successful without Tammy's help. He was invaluable with his kind assistance. He demonstrated how to structure a successful application.

8/8 from Messac Solent Fed 2/2 from Messac BBC Went the wrong way round though, just pleased to have them for another day, really strong blustery winds here on the South Coast, not very pleasant at all.

Solent Fed liberated in sunny conditions from Messac at 9.00am strong SW wind in Channel, fast race on the cards (208mls)

Here in Portsmouth we've had overnight rain, but its much brighter now with cloud breaking and patches of blue sky, wind is a fresh South Westerly. Hopeful of a lib from Messac, they're waiting for showers to clear the channel, next update about 8.30. http://www.kdwebsolutions.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=52

Solent Fed went Thursday for Messac, not looking too good for a lib tomorrow, hopefully there's a bit of blue sky between the showers to enable a liberation.

Solent Fed liberated 08.45 from Rennes, No wind on site, Lt SW in the Channel