The NRCC committee received a proposal from Steve Chalkley, in collaboration with the London North Road Combine Secretary John Purton for a new marking NRCC Members marking station in Stratford.
They pointed out the difficulty some members found with the logistics, work commitments and other barriers associated with travelling to Cambridge for marking and therefore were missing out on racing. As such, they were determined to try and find a solution to this, having previously car-shared, selected a member to take everyone’s birds or just simply, not race at all was not feasibly the best for everyone so, had been working together on an idea of how their local club, Leyton House Working Men’s Club and Institute in Stratford, offered up the perfect facilities to run an NRCC marking station. This could provide the answer to those NRCC members that found themselves unable to participate for one reason or another.
After looking at the membership in Sections G, H and I it made absolute sense and with fanciers as far as ‘Portsmouth’ joining the NRCC, having the opportunity of an alternative, and in some cases closer marking station, with the M25, Blackwall Tunnel and Queen Elizabeth Bridge opening up an accessible route into Stratford from other areas such as Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire. As an organisation, we firmly believe that if the members are supporting the club, then we have to do our best in return by offering those members the opportunity to mark at Stratford.It was an overwhelming ‘yes’ vote by the NRCC committee after reading through the well thought out proposal, with Steve and John, playing the key roles in facilitating the running of the marking station, it was a no-brainer!
The race programme offers the best ‘North Road’ distance racing and is the ‘only’ club that races from Lerwick. It gives the members a chance to test their skills and birds and by starting off at Dunbar and then gradually progressing a little further each time to Perth, Fraserburgh, Thurso and culminating at Lerwick for the most prestigious race on the Old Bird programme, The Kings Cup followed by Dunbar young birds, old hens and the newest addition to the NRCC calendar, the futurity race.
The challenges nowadays to take part in the longer distance racing, as we all know, can be demoralising to your typical fancier, with ever increasing obstacles that can ultimately put off the ‘old school’ flyers from continuing in the sport. The suggestion by Steve that a more openly accessible marking station in the East London area gives a choice to those flyers and hopefully, encourage more membership and birdage from Section G, H and I to also get the distance racing should they choose to. To become a member of the NRCC and race with us you need to have a race distance of 475 miles and over from Lerwick. Just an example on distance, it means that the fanciers in Portsmouth, could potentially be racing their pigeons a possible 646 miles or thereabouts if they choose to send to Lerwick!
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‘Christina’