On Wednesday evening, November 27, all West Flemish associations gathered for their annual general statutory meeting.
For the members of PE West Flanders, it was immediately their last general meeting of the current legislative period given the upcoming elections at the KBDB.
All associations were called upon to encourage their members to participate in the elections and to ensure that everything runs fairly.
After all, it concerns the future of pigeon racing in our province and also at the national level.
Whoever is here next year will have to be democratically elected, and we will also respect that, according to the chairman.
Furthermore, the associations received a word of thanks for their commitment throughout the entire season and also for their contribution to the digitization of loft lists, which meant that the associations had to process many inquiries and also ensure that those who could not operate the digital system still received their loft list on time.
Afterward, the meeting truly started, and it could actually be completed at a brisk pace.
The end of the meeting was greeted with applause, indicating that everyone in West Flanders is on the same page, which only benefits our pigeon racing.
Below is a brief overview of the decisions made. The PowerPoint is also attached.
Agenda of the General Statutory Meeting
-Approval of the previous minutes
no remarks
-Report for the year 2023-2024
There is a clear downward trend in both membership numbers and the number of purchased rings.
The number of associations remained the same, but unfortunately, there will be one less association by 2025.
Amendments
-> Nihil
Report of the National Meeting
Here, the national calendar was initially presented.
An explanation was provided as to why Bourges and Argenton appear multiple times on the GHF calendar, as many fanciers have questions about this.
A clarification that everyone could agree with. However, the question arose as to why those release sites are always sought eastward.
The chairman outlined the composition of the national sports committee, making it clear that the input from the Flemish provinces is not proportional to the number of affiliated members.
The meeting urged to have the regulations related to this urgently revised.
Then the long-distance calendar was discussed, and it is quite clear that there is considerable dissatisfaction with the composition of that calendar and the fact that several classics have disappeared.
The chairman clarified that there are likely to be further changes to that calendar, but this could jeopardize the planned interprovincial long-distance flights from Jarnac and Brive.
There is, in fact, the intention to turn Valence, which is organized interprovincially on those dates on the other side of the country, back into national flights.
The meeting clearly instructed the representatives to strive to ensure that the already made decisions regarding Jarnac and Brive are respected and that decisions made afterward will not be undone.
The heavy semi-long-distance calendar was also presented, and there is a general hope to involve the Dutch in this.
Several regulatory adjustments were discussed without further remarks from the meeting.
Sporting Program 2025 Sprint and KHF
The sprint calendar is almost identical to that of the 2024 season. Only the two provincial flights from Pontoise with older pigeons at the end of May have been replaced by Clermont.
The Tour of Belgium is also disappearing due to the lack of interest and is being replaced by autumn flights from Grevillers and Quievrain.
The KHF 2025 calendar is set to undergo some changes.
To maintain the cost price, it was chosen to go to the same release sites as East Flanders. The four obvious release sites are: Fontenay, Chateaudun, Toury, and Orleans(Gidy). Since there are 17 KHF flights, these were divided between the western and eastern release sites.
8 flights from the west side, namely Fontenay or Chateaudun, and 9 flights from the more easterly located release sites Toury and Orleans(Gidy).
Of course, West Flanders will be released separately.
The proposal was unanimously accepted.
The proposal for the provincial GHF calendar, which is still uncertain, was also generally accepted.
For the rest, please refer to the attached PowerPoint.
After an excellent champions' tribute, there was also a fine general meeting.
A clear testimony to the fact that the provincial board in the coastal province is doing well.