The West Cumbria Amalgamation birds raced again from Appleton and once more fanciers enjoyed a very good race.
There were some outstanding performances throughout the Amalgamation clubs, notably by the loft that topped the sheet.
John Wilson and Neil Buchanan, two notable fliers in their own right, joined in partnership in 2018 and were celebrating another Amalgamation win.
They were first and second in the Amal, also picking up fourth and fifth and took five of the first six places in their Egremont Rangers club.
Their winner, a yearling chequer hen whose sire is a Frans Zwols, a son of Bert’s Boy when paired to a daughter of the Queen of Rekkem.
The dam of the winner was bred by a good friend Andrew Morgan from County Durham and she is a daughter of his classic-winning hen from Billericay.
The yearling blue hen which was second is a Stefaan Lambrecht whose parents were both bred by JPS Lofts through the lines of Aslan, Boom, Lambretta, Fleure.
This pigeon was the Fed young bird of the year in 2021 and so far this season has been on every Fed sheet.
The Amalgamation birds were liberated at 9.20am in a light west north west wind and the winner was clocked just after 11am.
She had covered the 88 miles at just over 52 miles per hour.
There was no official Derwent Valley Federation result (they start this weekend from Cannock) but there were some good performances.
The Richard Martindale and George Lawman loft was back on top in the Workington Victoria club, taking three other positions.
They were the leading Derwent Valley loft on the Amalgamation sheet in 17th and then had the next seven.
Their club winner is a yearling chequer cock of Leach Brothers x Van den Bulck bloodlines who was the fourth club two weeks ago, beaten by three loft-mates.
He had some good positions as a young bird including 9th Cumbria Combine from Cheltenham.
In the competitive Flimby HS club, Jimmy Nelson and Fleck Crellin continued their good start to the season by taking the first five tickets.
The one that led them home is a two-year-old late bred chequer hen which was only trained with the young birds last season. She has now won twice, having also been first from Charnock Richard.
Giving their birds time to mature has been a theme of the loft and the pigeon that came second is another two-year-old late-bred, also from the same Karel Boeckx bloodlines.
Robert and Albert Deacon at Cockermouth have had a terrific start to the season in Dearham Utd and that was highlighted at the week-end.
They took the first six spots and have now won three of the first four races.
Their winner is a yearling light chequer cock who was fourth from Charnock Richard.
He was bred off the brothers’ young bird Amalgamation winner who went on to race as a six-year-old and is now enjoying life in the stock loft.
There was a popular winner in the Workington Social Limit club where Les Cape took first, second and fourth.
Les took on responsibility for the loft after the tragic death last year of son Michael and gets help from Neil Bechelli and Bob Taylor.
The birds have been steadily improving week-to-week and came up trumps from a return to Appleton flying on the roundabout system.
The winner is a two-year-old blue white flight hen bred from an Ian Stafford hen bought in a local charity sale and a Stafford cock Michael bought at the Blackpool weekend.
Close up second was a yearling blue hen bred from a cock of Steve Chambers from the Sandwith club and a hen from Peter Dobie.
The Copeland North West club was at Wollaston and they were for the 160-mile flight at 8.30am in a light north-west wind turning north en-route.
The Rodgers and Benn team from Cleator Moor, such good workers for the sport, won with a three-year-old chequer hen and also took sixth with a four-year-old hen.
There was quite a performance from club chairman Graham Best in second as his two-year-old blue pied hen took the nomination for the third time this season – fourth in all for the Workington fancier.
WEST CUMBRIA AMALGAMATION (2,094 birds): 1, 2, 4, 5, Wilson and Buchanan (Egremont Rangers) 1542, 1541.6, 1540.9, 1540.6; 3, D. Harrison and son (Egremont Rangers) 1541.5; 6, W. McGrady and son (Sandwith) 1538.
WEST CUMBERLAND FEDERATION (919 birds): 1, 2, 4, 5, Wilson and Buchanan (Egremont Rangers) 1542, 1541.6, 1540.9, 1540.6; 3, D. Harrison and son (Egremont Rangers) 1541.5; 6, W. McGrady and son (Sandwith) 1538.
SANDWITH: 1, 2, 5, 6, W. McGrady and son 1538.9, 1538.6, 1532, 1497; 3, 4, B. Irving 1536.8, 1536.6.
CLEATOR MOOR CENTRAL (13 sent 450): 1, 2, Graham and co 1627.4, 1524.1; 3, J. Fitzsimmons and son 1524.09; 4, A. and T. Kenmare 1523; 5, Nolan, Hetherington, Coultas and Easdon 1516; 6, Dobson, sons, grandson and Kyle 1512.
LOWCA HS (4 sent 169): 1, D. Lofthouse 1534; 2, 3, Holliday and Dixon 1530.5, 1630.5; 4, Tomlinson and Banks 1492.
EGREMONT RANGERS (139 birds): 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, Wilson and Buchanan 1542, 1541.6, 1540.9, 1540.6, 1539; 3, D. Harrison and son 1541.5.
DERWENT VALLEY FEDERATION
FLIMBY HS (8 sent 361): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Nelson and Crellin 1459, 1452, 1445.7, 1445.5, 1445.5; 6, Rushforth and Hunter 1445.4.
SEATON RBL (87 birds): 1, 2, 3, Dobie and Palmer 1487.8, 1487.4, 1487; 4, A. Parker and son 1483.
WORKINGTON VICTORIA (10 sent 449): 1, 2, 4, 5, Martindale and Lawman 1537, 1536.7, 1536.5, 1536.5; 3, 6, Evans and Abraham 1536.6, 1536.4.
HARRINGTON CENTRAL (9 sent 324): 1, 3, I. and D. Wood 1515, 1492; 2, 4, J. Devlin 1495, 1487; 5, Mr and Mrs D. Wood 1480.7; 6, Mr and Mrs W. Carter and son 1480.5.
WORKINGTON SOCIAL LIMIT (7 sent 280): 1, 2, 4, M. and L. Cape 1513.7, 1513.5, 1512; 3, 5, 6, McLuckie bros 1513.04, 1505.3, 1505.1.
DEARHAM UTD (9 sent 296): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Deacon bros 1492, 1484, 1483.7, 1483.3, 1478, 1477.
NORTH WEST
COPELAND (10 sent 187): 1, 6, Rodgers and Benn 1338, 1319; 2, G. Best 1336; 3, 4, 5, A. and J. Maudling 1322, 1321.8, 1321.5.
FURNESS FEDERATION (Wollaston, 39 sent 906): 1, 2, Bradley and Jefferson (Askam) 1374, 1373; 3, 4, A. and K. Young (Millom) 1372, 1368; 5, B. Lloyd (Askam) 1367; 6, Wilson and Barrie (Millom) 1365.
