2018 Presentation Evening Saturday 1st December and the welsh national flying club held its 2018 presentation evening celebrating their tenth year anniversary  at the seamens mission club in Newport in conjunction with the welsh north road federation With a sell out attendance seated by 6.30pm we were presented with a traditional three course xmas meal with all the trimmings and plenty of it as well, which was a credit to our catering staff in the way it rolled out of the kitchen and swiftly cleared away so that we could get on with the evening The role of master of ceremonies was once again given to the wnrf secretary john Humphrys to thank the welsh national flying club for the invitation and to welcome the many fanciers and their families and our main guest for the evening Mrs Linda Buckley who has worked tirelessly on behalf of both organisations for the past few years to the evening also with us tonight as a thank you were our race conveyers and race controllers also mentioned in despatches for their contribution in providing both organisations with such good racing in 2018 With the welsh north road invited to present their awards, which will be covered in a future report following on from this the welsh national delegation along with Linda buckly  took centre stage to  present the welsh national winners awards for 2018,
Mr & Mrs K Upham 1st  open wnfc Folkestone 1 & 1st  open wnfc Folkestone 2 2018 Unavoidably to race winners weren’t present due to other commitments these being Mr/Mrs Bromley and Scammel & Peploe, for Maidstone old birds and Poitiers ,so moving swiftly on first to the table were the Newport partnership of Mr & Mrs K Upham with first open Folkestone 1 old birds receiving the west country products sponsored trophy ,engraved glassware and like all our first open winners the Chris Sutton winners photo, from their we move onto Fougeres the first channel race of the year were we seen D& G Bruton from Rhymney claim the first  1st open position collecting the RG.Davies corn supplies sponsored trophy for their achievements ,after experiencing such poor conditions on the channel forecast the week  we were due to go across to Messac, at the time there was no other option other than to  keep the pigeons inland and revert back to Folkestone where mr & mrs k upham once again  came to the table to receive the 1st open awards including the prof sport Holland sponsored crystal wares, from here we also had to stage our  yearling national race which would of been flown from Messac if everything had gone to plan but unfortunately wasn’t the case which  resulted in  the Newport partnership of a Buttigieg & sons taking the top honours winning the Mrs Holpin sponsored trophy,
D & G Bruton 1st open wnfc Fougeres 2018 with the Poitiers winner absent we then moved swiftly onto the longest race of the year from Bergerac a race everyone would like to win but only a few at present have achieved  this  years winning loft and partnership of Williams bros .son & burgham from Tredegar ,exceled flying over 500 miles on the day therefore winning the welsh north road longest race award for 2018  
Williams bros & son & Burgham 1st open wnfc Bergerac 2018  
 A Buttigieg & sons 1st open Folkestone yearling,1st open Maidstone   1st open Battle 2 young birds and wnfc young bird average winners 2018   With the old bird presentation completed it was then to go into the young bird season the first being from Maidstone approx. 160 miles where the winner mr a Buttigieg&sons  who on this occasion this evening  was accompanied by derek Nichols from premier stud ,which we know is where the pigeons originate from came forward to receive the jack Jenkins memorial trophy for 1st open   Following on from their we went a few miles further east to Battle where the mr & mrs j Beresford & son partnership came out on top winning the andy kidd gardening services trophy ,with the weather once again playing havoc as we prepared to go to the furthest young bird and final race of the year from Folkestone it was a late decision by the race controlling committee to come back 30 miles to battle 2 to enable the birds to be away and home before the worst of the weather came in ,however this wasn’t the case as shortly after liberation the weather rolled in blanking out many areas and resulted in the pigeons having to get their heads down to come through, the winner from here winning the late terry tremmer trophy for battle 2  was once again claimed by A Buttigieg & sons   
Mr & Mrs J Beresford & son 1st open Battle 1 young bird 2018 That presentation finalised all the race winners for 2018 ,so it was then time to announce the average winners these were presented to the following recipients, winning the Versele Laga two bird average from Poitiers were the partnership of g& m clayton & Lovell bros ,before presenting the Mr & Mrs Harris young bird average trophy to a  Buttigieg & sons
G&M Clayton & Lovell bros Versle Laga sponsored 2 bird average winners Poitiers 2018 With the table cleared there was a presentation to the women who work behind the scenes, in the form of a bouquet of flowers for each ,first come came Mrs rosemary who week in week out works with the secretaries in over looking the finances as race sheet auditor ,followed by Mrs Gaynor Harris as joint secretary, and finally for coming such a long way to be with us on the evening Mrs Linda Buckley was presented with her bouquet as a thank you from the wnfc membership With that the lights went down and the music went up as the disco took hold for the evening until the early hours only to be interrupted by the traditional raffle On behalf of the welsh national and welsh north road federation we would like to convey our thanks not only to the winners and those here on the night but too the membership as a whole for continuous support over the past ten years, we are pleased that with committee and team working closely together in the future we can once again strive forward to provide forward in our ambitions for the next ten years
             Mrs Rosemary Humphrys reciving her flowers -  Mrs Gaynor Harris receiving her bouquet from Welsh nrf secretary J Humphrys
Mrs Linda Buckley presented with flowers from Gaynor and John Humphrys Also duly deserving a mention this year were our race sponsors and the many additional sponsors we have on board with us namely Newport pet supplies, Morris carpets and furnishing, Lewis taxies and enterprise consultancy ltd and the derby Arona Tenerife one loft race for their additional contribution during 2018..also we owe a big  thank you too our resident photographer Chris Sutton from Leicester for his hard work and time in producing our winners photos ,and the British Homing World ,Lee and Carly at the racing pigeon and Elimar for allowing us to profile our winners over the past year. So with 2018 behind us all that remains is to look forward to 2019 and hope that the weather plays its part next year to enable both organisations to again achieve what is set out to do. As always the welsh national flying club doors are open for new members in 2019 ,the cost being just £20 a year plus £2 distances and current  union fees.of £3.50.   Tom Harris  


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