We hoped to introduce many new people to the concept of one loft pigeon racing, both those who are pigeon fanciers and hopefully a few more non fanciers would become involved.
It seemed almost a lifetime ago when in 1986 an American from New Jersey USA, explained to me the concept of one loft racing and from the very first time I saw it in action I was convinced the people of the UK would love to have a one loft race here.
From that moment I was determined to set up a UK one loft race, and went about trying to

Derek - USA visitor - Brian Wall    

find a site. Then the hard work really started, my first request was to the Butlins holiday camp on Barry Island, it must have taken six months to explain the nuts and bolts of a one loft race to the Holiday Camp owners.
Right back to the basics of any young pigeon bred anywhere in the world, if shipped to the one loft race site before it was old enough to fly would readily accept that loft as home and could be trained and raced there for its owners wherever they may live, or wherever the bird was bred. This of course now offered the spectacle of being able to watch the start and finish of a pigeon race for the very first time!

As I explained for more than a hundred years pigeon racing was organized by clubs who would transport the birds from different lofts to one liberation site where all the birds would be released together and fly back to their own lofts

and record their own time of arrival into a secure pigeon timing clock. Then by dividing the time taken by each bird by the distance flown (each loft having its own unique distance from home to race point) you could ascertain the speed of each returning bird. The winner of the race would be the bird recording the fastest speed (velocity) this was quite a long drawn out affair that would take several hours to declare a winner and you could never see a finishing line or watch the winners arrive, because you just could not say which loft would be the home of the winner.
This was about to change with one loft racing because all the birds from different owners were going to fly to the same loft and we would be able to see all the birds pass the finish line and the winner would be instantly recognisable. Not only that but because they would all fly exactly the same route and be given exactly the same food and training by one professional loft manager this would be a much fairer test of the birds ability.
Imagine my disappointment when I got Butlins to finally understand what I was saying, but after due consideration they felt it was not going to present the sort of customer or corporate image they as a company wanted to attract. I was gutted welcome to the real world !

Within 2 years this was followed by the same reaction from Chepstow Race Course home of Welsh horse racing I thought they would have given me a chance but no way, in fact they were worse than Butlins to what they saw as the flat cap and whippet brigade.
After this I was just about ready to give up on the idea, then I heard Ricky Osman at the Racing Pigeon Publishing Company was going to launch a race on top of a hotel in London.
I was consulted on this by my old friend Tony Cowan who was working for the Racing Pigeon Publishing Company at the time, and it soon became apparent to me that this would never work as the logistics of trying to train birds on top of a hotel with no sevice lift to the roof top lofts. Birds being passed through a trap door to get them down 20 storeys was never going to work, and indeed this race of the Racing Pigeon magazine was never going to work and I said it was doomed to failure before they even started and sure enough this race folded within one year.
This made me very frustrated as a wonderfull product and idea was being tarnished by people who did not know what they were doing, anyway after another couple of years and another turned down proposal from a golf club I decided the only way to get a race off the ground was to get a Greenfield site

Our top class Transporter    

with nothing on it and develop a race from scratch with no hotel or other facilities and bus people in from facilities off site. To this end I identified 2 sites locally one was available on a twenty year lease, and the other a bit bigger at 12 acres was for sale which was a bit expensive I decided to go for the 20 year lease on the smaller site (even though I later bought and still own the 12 acre site).

Anyway, yippee I had a site to launch the Europa classic one loft race by this time it was the year 2000 and during 2001 I was busy putting together a business partnership to fund the project.
By the end of 2001 we had a partnership which included my brother in law Russell Morris the Pigeon Sport Newspaper and my old friend Steve Spiterri. By the end of 2001 we had the loft built and were ready to launch the race for 2002.
We spent a small fortune on promotion but only got 240 birds in the race this was a bitter disappointment, however the innaugral race went off, and it was a great success, the prize money was paid out and everyone was both impressed and happy at our first race, that is except for the race backers that were looking at a loss of more than £20,000 and of course questions were then being asked like are we going to do this again for another year and face the prospect of losing another twenty grand. Not all the partners shared my confidence

Europa Classic Race        
Hopetoun House - Edinburgh  

and vision in the race and I eventually bought out Steve Spiterri and Pigeon Sport Publications from the race, which just left me and my brother in law, Russell. With Paul Smith working for us on the adminastration side and the ever giving support of our main sponsors Gem supplements.

Even with just 200 odd birds in the first race I had seen enough from people to convince me this was going to work and given time people would embrace the concept, since then another partner has bought into the race and since been bought out again! By me and Russell, since then the running of the race has been given over to the new century flying club who affiliated to the Royal Pigeon Racing Association license the race and retain me Derek Nicholls, as The professional loft manager, Russell Morris as the director of finances, and Paul Smith as administration controller along with Les Parkinson as press and public relations manager.
Over the last 4 years we have seen the race grow into the premier one loft race in Europe (well over 2000 birds in 2005 and 2006) we have had 5 very good and different races, some easy, some hard, in addition to the normal Edinbrough Classic, we have flown from 400 miles and we have also flown from France!
In the last 3 races 2004 2005 2006 we have paid out more than the published prizes, the only race in the world to do this. We have shipped over 50% of the birds sent to us to the main race every year in this period, again the only race in the world to do this.
Our entertainment on the big race day has also grown in stature with audio visual amenaties like big screens, computer instant results from the live clocking system to the big screens in a split second. Food and beverage that is unrievaled pound for pound at any other sporting event in the country, with up to 1000 visitors on race day it is also the

Waiting for the birds        

Preparing for the prizegiving  

The Winner              

biggest gathering of pigeon fanciers during the racing season! We have been complemented on our hotel package which has improved year on year from Jurys Hotel, to Future Inns Hotels, to the presentation at K R's nightclub to the Grovesnor Casino.

Continuing this progression we are proud to announce that the 2007 race will be hosted by the Vale Hotel this really is a top class venue that we have been able to get at a very reasonable price which we have passed on to you at cost price. We are not trying to make any money from the hotel side of things, just trying to offer a top class weekend stay for our visitors to the main race and provide a great base for us.
With a superior dinner dance presentation night, this super resort is already the home of the Welsh National rugby team and the Welsh National football team, plus a championship golf course which is home of the Welsh Open etc.

This summer while making plans at the Vale Hotel, I have rubbed shoulders with such sporting legends as John Toshack, Ryan Giggs and Jonathon Davies, all Welsh sporting greats and other guests have been Catherine zeta Jones and Michael Douglas.
Playing golf there the week before my daughters wedding was Sam Torrence of Ryder Cup fame, this is becoming a world class resort and will take us a step closer to making the Europa classic a world class sporting event and weekend away that people will want to enjoy with their friends and family for years to come and continue to share and help me build my vision and dream that many are seeing and understanding for the first time this year, but has been with me and my family for more than two decades.

Come fly with us! - You will get a fair chance of winning this great race!

You will be informed and entertained!

Your bird will enjoy the best of housing feed and transportation!

You and your birds will be looked after by a professional management team!

As 2006 proved, anyone can win this race, you included!