LOFT MANAGERS REPORT MARCH 2010
EUROPA CLASSIC ONE LOFT RACE 

Well after another hectic Blackpool show followed by the annual visit to the Million dollar pigeon race at Sun City South Africa, which was another tough but fair race when I was able to meet up with friends old and new from around the world, enjoy the sunshine and take in some new tourist stuff like a visit to see the new soccer stadiums just built for the forthcoming world cup and indeed a visit to the site of the famous battle of Rourkes Drift all in all a very pleasant holiday.

Anyway it was soon back to work at the lofts in Cardiff, firstly to clean and disinfect the young bird loft and then to oversee the construction of the new old bird loft, we were hoping to get this done by one of the professional loft builders in the UK, but as the quotes we were getting were up to £60,000 !!!!! I was convinced we could get as good or infact a better job done by using local tradesmen under the supervision and design guidelines of our own management team, for a good deal less than this, and indeed it has cost us a lot less than even the cheapest quote we had from the loft builders. Is it better than we could have bought well I certainly think so, but we will let you decide yourself, however every single visitor has had nothing but praise for it and we at the Europa are indeed very proud of another top class facility we have provided for our owners top class racing pigeons! We have 250 old birds (150 paid and 100 venturers) all now paired up to breed a youngster each to settle them into this purpose built roundabout loft of 141 nest boxes in three sections and 150 hen perches in 2 sections all connected by corridors and an aviary, With entry and exit through one rear way out and one front trap in fitted with a Unikon timing system separate from the Europa Classic young bird system. The main race for these old birds is Thurso 500 miles with the Welsh Grand National To be flown Friday July 9th with hotspots from Hexham 250 miles in May, and Crieff 330 miles in June both also flown with the Welsh Grand National.

Anyway back to the Europa Classic 2010 young bird race the first intake of a hundred and odd birds are now out flying and the second intake of also a hundred and odd are in the settling aviary we are open this Friday for the third intake which is when the bigger numbers start to arrive as the first couple of intakes are just for the very early breeders amongst our fliers wheras the vast majority send us their birds in April and big numbers arrive right up until the final entry dates in mid May this year again we have entries from China, Australia, and from Dave Clausing in Florida as well as all the usual countries that compete each year, in this the biggest and longest established one loft race in Europe, indeed the European race with the proven track record, it is also a matter of public record that we had the best race on many levels in 2009 in the entire world our 2009 race was best of all not only in Europe but I also include the whole World and such great races as the top races of South Africa China the USA and Thailand we without doubt had the best race in particular our percentage of birds entered that we actually get to the main race consistently over the years is the best by miles. So get yourself a nice 3 bird team picked out and get them and your £200 sent down to us at the Europa Classic remember YOU HAVE TO BE IN IT TO WIN IT.

Just as a footnote if I could add to the advice given by RPRA Manager David Bills recently who says you should be careful in your choice of One Loft Races that you enter, I would endorse this whole heartidly but add to this, choose your race from one that has operated over several years with consistent good results and good management, that has always paid out prizes at least to an amount described in the rules and in many years indeed more than those promised, and steer clear of any race that consistently loses up to half the entries before they even get the birds trained to 50 miles.

Best of luck to you all for the 2010 season
THE EUROPA TEAM
07810 323827

BIRDS FROM SOUTHERN IRELAND

BILLY WALLACE FROM CORK WILL BE DELIVERING BIRDS FOR THE RACE.
IF YOU WANT TO GET YOUR IRISH BIRDS TO US IN CARDIFF
PLEASE CALL HIM ON 00353 879276836 COST IS TEN EURO A BIRD

BIRDS FROM SCOTLAND

ALISTAIR HOGG WILL BE DELIVERING BIRDS FROM
SCOTLAND ON MONDAY 5TH APRIL 2010.
PLEASE CALL ALISTAIR ON 07788 862 830

Europa corridor in the newly finished section for the Europa 500 old birds

Derek & grandson Finn putting the final touches to the platform of the new loft

Derek's grandson Finn taking a break

Landing strip for the 2010 young birds

New loft for the Europa 500 birds

Inside the new loft for the Europa 500 birds

Old birds trapping into the new lofts

Overview of the extended Europa lofts

Inside the new hens' section