Gwent Greater Distance Prize night 2014. Write up below picture gallery, click on gallery then scroll through to see them in large format.
GWENT GREATER DISTANCE CLUB 2014 P.D.
Saturday night 25th October, saw 70 or so members and guests of the Gwent Greater Distance Club converge on the Green Meadow Golf and Country Club, to honour the winners of the 2014 racing season. Guests for the evening was the ultra successful father and son partnership of Kevin and Lee Buddle from Dover accompanied by Kevin's lovely wife Moira. We were also honoured to have as one of our guests the top class photographer Chris Sutton from Leicester. Chris has now agreed to become the club's official photographer. With the amount of time he spends in Wales photographing winning Welsh pigeons, its rumoured that he's thinking of buying a holiday home in the Welsh Valleys to cut down on the travelling time from the East Midlands!!! I also have sneaking feeling that he's developing a bit of a Welsh lilt in his accent. Chris also presented each GGDC race winner with a framed photograph of their winning pigeons. Many thanks Chris.
I travelled over to the venue in the company of Tony Evans of the highly successful Owen and R T Evans and son partnership. We were soon in the bar but unfortunately Chris Sutton didn't have his camera primed to take a photograph of Dave Padfield buying me a pint!! Only joking Dave. That was one of the best pints of Guinness I've ever tasted. Thanks also for the DVD of your recent loft visit filmed by Stuart Guy.
Soon the revellers were arriving thick and fast and it was good to see Ted Garwood and Jimmy Bullock looking so well.
The meal was of its usual high standard and I can state that there wasn't a green pea wasted on our table. I even enjoyed a desert of apple pie and cream which is very rare for me.
The presentation of the 2014 season prizes then took place with Kevin and Lee handing out the silverware to the season's winners who were:-
Falaise OB's :- Gareth & Stuart Treharne also winning 1st section 1st Open BICC.
Alencon OB's :- Scammell & Peploe winning 1st & 2nd GGDC and 4th & 11th Open BICC.
Tours :- 1st Scammell & Peploe winning 2nd section BICC.
Poitiers:- 1st G Treharne & son also winning 1st section 1st Open BICC for the second time. In this race Scammell & Peploe were also 2nd GGDC 2nd, 6th & 8th section 2nd,6th & 8th Open BICC. The Preece Bros & sons partnership took 3rd GGDC 4th section 4th Open BICC to round off an excellent race for the Club competing against some of the best fanciers in the UK.
Pau International:- 1st Preece Bros & sons also winning 2nd section 5th Open BICC. Vince and Dave Padfield's timer takes 2nd GGDC 3rd section 10th Open BICC with John Ludlam's timer taking 3rd GGDC 4th section 23rd Open BICC.
In the Agen International race Scammell & Peploe were back on top taking 1st GGDC followed by the Padfields and the Preece combo in 2nd & 3rd positions.
Barcelona International saw Vince and Dave Padfield's timer win 1st GGDC 2nd section 4th Open BICC. They also had three more birds on the result at 5th 6th & 7th section. Jim and Hazel Hooper took 2nd GGDC 3rd section 10th Open BICC with John Ludlam's good hen coming in for 9th section 44th Open BICC after being found in the loft.
The St Vincent International saw the Padfields in at 1st &3rd GGDC plus 1st & 8th section 2nd & 53rd Open BICC. Ray Strawbridge comes in with one for 2nd GGDC 4th section 9th Open BICC.
The Le Mans race saw the Nantyglo partnership of Gareth and Stuart Treharne sweep the board with a 1-2-3-4 demolition job at GGDC and BICC section level also taking 8th,36t,43rd & 76th Open BICC. This was a truly remarkable performance given the weather conditions on the day. The seven pigeons beating the Treharne pigeon in the Open result were racing to lofts at least 100 miles to the east of the Treharne loft.
Narbonne International saw the Padfields sweep up the prizes for 1st & 2nd GGDC 1st & 2nd section 9th & 16th Open BICC.
Final old bird race of the season took place from Perpignan in early August and tireless club workers Gordon and June Mears took the red card here also winning 2nd section 31st Open BICC.
Vince and Dave Padfield finished off the season in style with 2nd & 3rd GGDC 3rd & 4th section BICC.
The two young bird races saw Terry and Carol Gardner come in for 1st GGDC 7th section BICC in the first young bird race from Guernsey with Gordon and June Mears taking 2nd GGDC 9th section BICC.
The final race of the season took place from Falaise and here we saw John Ludlam taking the red rosette in the GGDC race plus 2nd section 2nd Open BICC. Preece Bros & sons were 2nd GGDC 5th section 7th Open BICC with Owen & R T Evans &son 3rd GGDC 6th section 8th Open BICC to round off an incredible season's racing .
The final presentation of the evening was undertaken by Ann Ford the wife of the late and great Dennis Ford. This was the presentation of the Dennis Ford Memorial Trophy awarded to the fancier with the best performances over the whole of the season within the GGDC. This was one for the first time in 2014 by Vince and Dave Padfield and the presentation by Ann Ford was greeted by a loud round of applause.
Once the prizes had been distributed we had a quick auction of donated 2015 young birds which raised a tidy sum to swell the club's coffers and then it was on to the entertainment and socialising.
Yet another good night spent in good company and one I look forward to attending again next year. Many thanks to the tireless workers who helped organise the evening - you did the club proud.
Finally our thanks to our guests who travelled a long way to attend so many thanks Chris Sutton and the Buddles of Dover. We hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did in your company.
Gareth Watkins
Saturday night 25th October, saw 70 or so members and guests of the Gwent Greater Distance Club converge on the Green Meadow Golf and Country Club, to honour the winners of the 2014 racing season. Guests for the evening was the ultra successful father and son partnership of Kevin and Lee Buddle from Dover accompanied by Kevin's lovely wife Moira. We were also honoured to have as one of our guests the top class photographer Chris Sutton from Leicester. Chris has now agreed to become the club's official photographer. With the amount of time he spends in Wales photographing winning Welsh pigeons, its rumoured that he's thinking of buying a holiday home in the Welsh Valleys to cut down on the travelling time from the East Midlands!!! I also have sneaking feeling that he's developing a bit of a Welsh lilt in his accent. Chris also presented each GGDC race winner with a framed photograph of their winning pigeons. Many thanks Chris.
I travelled over to the venue in the company of Tony Evans of the highly successful Owen and R T Evans and son partnership. We were soon in the bar but unfortunately Chris Sutton didn't have his camera primed to take a photograph of Dave Padfield buying me a pint!! Only joking Dave. That was one of the best pints of Guinness I've ever tasted. Thanks also for the DVD of your recent loft visit filmed by Stuart Guy.
Soon the revellers were arriving thick and fast and it was good to see Ted Garwood and Jimmy Bullock looking so well.
The meal was of its usual high standard and I can state that there wasn't a green pea wasted on our table. I even enjoyed a desert of apple pie and cream which is very rare for me.
The presentation of the 2014 season prizes then took place with Kevin and Lee handing out the silverware to the season's winners who were:-
Falaise OB's :- Gareth & Stuart Treharne also winning 1st section 1st Open BICC.
Alencon OB's :- Scammell & Peploe winning 1st & 2nd GGDC and 4th & 11th Open BICC.
Tours :- 1st Scammell & Peploe winning 2nd section BICC.
Poitiers:- 1st G Treharne & son also winning 1st section 1st Open BICC for the second time. In this race Scammell & Peploe were also 2nd GGDC 2nd, 6th & 8th section 2nd,6th & 8th Open BICC. The Preece Bros & sons partnership took 3rd GGDC 4th section 4th Open BICC to round off an excellent race for the Club competing against some of the best fanciers in the UK.
Pau International:- 1st Preece Bros & sons also winning 2nd section 5th Open BICC. Vince and Dave Padfield's timer takes 2nd GGDC 3rd section 10th Open BICC with John Ludlam's timer taking 3rd GGDC 4th section 23rd Open BICC.
In the Agen International race Scammell & Peploe were back on top taking 1st GGDC followed by the Padfields and the Preece combo in 2nd & 3rd positions.
Barcelona International saw Vince and Dave Padfield's timer win 1st GGDC 2nd section 4th Open BICC. They also had three more birds on the result at 5th 6th & 7th section. Jim and Hazel Hooper took 2nd GGDC 3rd section 10th Open BICC with John Ludlam's good hen coming in for 9th section 44th Open BICC after being found in the loft.
The St Vincent International saw the Padfields in at 1st &3rd GGDC plus 1st & 8th section 2nd & 53rd Open BICC. Ray Strawbridge comes in with one for 2nd GGDC 4th section 9th Open BICC.
The Le Mans race saw the Nantyglo partnership of Gareth and Stuart Treharne sweep the board with a 1-2-3-4 demolition job at GGDC and BICC section level also taking 8th,36t,43rd & 76th Open BICC. This was a truly remarkable performance given the weather conditions on the day. The seven pigeons beating the Treharne pigeon in the Open result were racing to lofts at least 100 miles to the east of the Treharne loft.
Narbonne International saw the Padfields sweep up the prizes for 1st & 2nd GGDC 1st & 2nd section 9th & 16th Open BICC.
Final old bird race of the season took place from Perpignan in early August and tireless club workers Gordon and June Mears took the red card here also winning 2nd section 31st Open BICC.
Vince and Dave Padfield finished off the season in style with 2nd & 3rd GGDC 3rd & 4th section BICC.
The two young bird races saw Terry and Carol Gardner come in for 1st GGDC 7th section BICC in the first young bird race from Guernsey with Gordon and June Mears taking 2nd GGDC 9th section BICC.
The final race of the season took place from Falaise and here we saw John Ludlam taking the red rosette in the GGDC race plus 2nd section 2nd Open BICC. Preece Bros & sons were 2nd GGDC 5th section 7th Open BICC with Owen & R T Evans &son 3rd GGDC 6th section 8th Open BICC to round off an incredible season's racing .
The final presentation of the evening was undertaken by Ann Ford the wife of the late and great Dennis Ford. This was the presentation of the Dennis Ford Memorial Trophy awarded to the fancier with the best performances over the whole of the season within the GGDC. This was one for the first time in 2014 by Vince and Dave Padfield and the presentation by Ann Ford was greeted by a loud round of applause.
Once the prizes had been distributed we had a quick auction of donated 2015 young birds which raised a tidy sum to swell the club's coffers and then it was on to the entertainment and socialising.
Yet another good night spent in good company and one I look forward to attending again next year. Many thanks to the tireless workers who helped organise the evening - you did the club proud.
Finally our thanks to our guests who travelled a long way to attend so many thanks Chris Sutton and the Buddles of Dover. We hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did in your company.
Gareth Watkins