Littlehampton 9th September

[Andy]

Just let me know when you want them and send some rings

Will do Buster.

[Trev]

Well done Andy all in all a pretty good result for you and your fellow club members bruv, especially the Staddons As Les said racing was very hit and miss, in our race there were those with all home and others a fair few missing with birds dropping in all through the day for most.
Buster's birds have certainly done well for you, it's been nice to see you racing each week and enjoying being part of a decent club again, I expect it's been nice for Buster to be able to enjoy following the progress of his birds too.
One thing I keep meaning to ask Andy is how you are classed as a "combine" when there are no individual Federations !!! Most clubs belong to Feds and those Feds together make the Combine
Good luck with the last race this weekend bro

It has been brilliant to see what they can do Trev just wished you had some as well to see how they went down your end, the mealy what Andy has put results up for was one you was having this year, I do and have missed racing myself but do not think I would of achieved what Andy has with them as being the most westerly flyer mine always got dragged and came back so not only was I giving overfly to all, my birds as Andy's have got dragged, I may consider restarting again in a year or so

It has always been called the “West of England South Road Combine” Trev and is only split into clubs rather than a few clubs forming separate federations. I suppose it is a combination of clubs making it a combine. Having said that it is a big combine certainly in terms of area. It covers the whole of Somerset with a few clubs in and around Bristol, up into Gloucester and Chippenham in Wiltshire. It used to have 27+ clubs in it sending 5,000+ birds a week. Unfortunately there are only 13 clubs now although some clubs have amalgamated. Birdage is lower to now with rarely more than 1,500 birds. There are still some top flyers though and difficult to win.
It has been great to test some birds for you Buster and some have done well. From the 12 I had, 6 should have been for me and 6 for Trev, I have 6 left. 3 were lost off the loft in the first few days of being here. 3 have been lost racing. The 6 left have had every race so far, 7 races, and have all been sent to the final race. 4 of those left should have gone to Trev’s. Really looking forward to seeing how they do next year and will be more than happy to try some more next year.

I bet the guys who sell birds love it as putting down first Combine on your CV sounds more impressive than first Fed lol Sadly I think alot of these organisations down here in the South are getting smaller every year, I'm not sure how long the two Feds in our region will be able to keep going for !! Unfortunately this buisness with channel racing hasn't and won't help !!!
You have done well with Busters birds Andy and it's been good to see you enjoying the racing again, a shame you lost the 3 off the loft but those who have kept going should be good yearling for you next year.