| 45th Annual Presentation Dinner and Dance - 14th November 2009 |
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Well what a weekend that was, the 45th Annual Presentation Dinner and Dance for the British Barcelona Club took place last weekend at the Wessex Hotel Bournemouth. The celebrations commenced with an extremely well supported fun night on the Friday evening organised by Jim and Hazel Hooper and ably supported by Ann Follows and the singing Welsh tramp; Allan’s his name, anyone interested in booking Allan should speak to his agent Graham Jones.
And what fun it was, actually hilarious in places, a night to be remembered. Entertainment started with a game of bingo, with a difference, first time I’ve known the caller to run out of numbers before any one has called house, but that’s what happens when you only have numbers up to 75 and the books go up to 90. With the players curled up in laughter it was a delightful start to the evening. Bingo was closely followed by a 20 question quiz with one clever team getting full marks, putting my 14 out of 20 to shame with the markers comment “must try harder” ringing in my ears reminding me of my old school reports. A game of Mr and Mrs, (Bennett, Dominey and Whitefield, the willing participants) followed the quiz with Dave and Jean impressing to run away with the top prize.
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Barcelona National Winner -
F & J Halstead.
Other prize winners:
Furthest Flying Bird -
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It was also nearly a full house at the presentation evening with 196 members and friends attending including: the chief guests Jim and Hazel Hooper, club sponsors Steve and Bernette Richards of the British Homing World, Chris and Charmian Pearce representing our corn sponsors Willsbridge, Peter and Sue Bennett of Summit Photography, Paul O’Leary and Consuela from PBO Solutions, The Somerset One Loft duo of Jane and Terry Williams, Martin and Liz Hayne from the Ponderosa and finally Stuart Wilcox representing the Raymond Moleveld Breeding Centre.
Following the excellent meal, Club Chairman and Master of Ceremony for the evening Nigel Rigiani introduced and welcomed the top-table guests before proposing a toast to the ladies and guests.
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Messac National Winner -
Mark Gilbert.
Other prize winners:
Best Velocity in Devon -
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Jim Hooper’s reply clearly portrayed how dearly he loved this special club, its members, long distance pigeon racing and how much he missed the phone calls and personal interactions that automatically take place between the secretary and club members as the season progresses. He congratulated the new secretary on an excellent first season and closed his speech by proposing a toast to the British Barcelona Club.
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Poitiers National Winner -
Glen Moon.
Other prize winners:
Best Velocity in Wiltshire -
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B.B.C. president Dave Whitefield replied on behalf of the club and thanked Jim and Hazel not only for their attendance this evening but also for organising the fun night with Allan and Ann Follows, which must have been distressing especially after Cardiff’s recent loss to Swansea. He thanked all the club sponsors for their support and all the members and friends of the club who have donated trophies, tankards, nomination prizes, race specials, birds for our young bird sale, sponsored baskets, assisted at race markings and who have helped in many ways. Special thanks were also extended to Anne Sandalowycz who had prepared the magnificent top table floral decorations and the bouquets for presentation to the guests, to Claire and Martin Norman for their assistance with the ETS on race markings and to Tony and Ken who had successfully convoyed the birds to the races this year. Finally to Nigel for ensuring that the birds were safely transferred to the Barcelona International marking station for our Blue Riband National and to Richard for the tremendous effort and work that he had applied in carrying out the duties of secretary in his first year. Dave closed his speech by proposing a toast to the prize winners which was followed by Nigel proposing a belated toast to “The Queen” which had been overlooked earlier in proceedings – better late than never.
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Bordeaux National Winner -
Mr & Mrs Carrick & Son.
Other prize winners:
Best Velocity in Gloucestershire -
Best Velocity in Wales -
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The Blue Riband Barcelona National winner John Halstead responded on behalf of the prize winners paying tribute to everyone associated with the club and then gave a brief potted history of his life with pigeons including; how he started with pigeons, his best performances and the thrill associated with timing his blue pied cock “Untouchable” to win 1st Nat BBC Barcelona and 264th International against 27,669 birds a tremendous performance and an unforgettable experience for John.
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Lamballe YB National Winner -
Joe Raeburn.
Other prize winners:
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We then moved onto the main event of the evening with the club chairman Nigel Rigiani announcing the numerous prize winners, who were soundly applauded to and from the stage to receive their prizes from Jim Hooper.
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Lamballe OH National Winner - R E Taylor & Sons.
Other prize winners:
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The highlight of the evening was obviously the presentation of the trophies for the Blue Riband Barcelona National, the section winners being given their Harkers rose bowls by Barrie Wilton, representing Harkers. Race winner John Halstead received a fine array of trophies, which included all average trophies.
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Spanish Diploma Winner.
R J Goddard and Son
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This left the club’s president Dave Whitefield, celebrating his 70th birthday, the final honour of presenting the special awards which included three “Spanish Diploma of Merit Awards” given to birds that have appeared three times in the result from the club’s Blue Riband National and one “Engraved Glass Diploma of Distinction” which is awarded to birds that have appeared five times in the result from the club’s Blue Riband National.
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The Engraved Glass Diploma of Distinction Winner.
Adrian Human
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As expected the presentation was conducted with military precision which left ample time not only to allow us all to enjoy ourselves and dance the evening away to music provided by “The Dresdens”, but also for Nigel Rigiani to run a raffle in the break where there was a magnificent selection of prizes on offer to complement a marvellous evening.
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