WEST OF ENGLAND SOUTH ROAD COMBINE

RULES OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND S R COMBINE 2023 SEASON

 

1.     General Rules

 

1.1 The organisation shall be called the West of England South Road Combine with headquarters at Westfield Community Centre, Radstock. The lofts of all affiliated Club members must be situated within the counties of Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire or within ten miles of the boundaries thereof. An existing member shall be unaffected until such time as he removes his loft to a place outside the area so defined when his competitive membership shall cease.

 

1.2 The objects of the Combine shall be to economise in the convoying of birds and to organise within the Combine area.

 

1.3 For Combine purposes all affiliated Clubs shall be governed by the latest RPRA Rule Book and Amendments thereto and the following domestic rules.

 

1.4 New Clubs joining or re-joining after a break shall pay £50 joining fee.

Each individual member loft shall pay a single annual subscription of £40 to include &pound3 for the transporter fund, irrespective of the number of Clubs the loft is affiliated to.

Members under the age of 18 years shall be excused the £30 annual subscription until they attain the age of 18 years, provided they compete solely in their name.

All fees shall be due on 1st March each year and failure to comply will result in a £10 penalty for clubs.

Should the necessity arise, the Committee have the power to levy members a reasonable sum to meet the exigencies of its working expenses.

No Club will be permitted to race until all dues have been paid.

 

1.5 All Clubs applying for affiliation must submit to the Combine Secretary on application a copy of their rules, a list of club members and a statement of the club radius. The admission of new clubs to the Combine shall only be considered if the transport existing at the time is deemed sufficient to cater for the likely increased birdage.

 

1.6 The management of the Combine shall be vested in the Committee. The Committee, who will be eligible for re-election, shall consist of officers of the Combine and a maximum of 15 members elected by Club delegates at the Annual General Meeting. Nominees may be elected in their absence, provided they have indicated their willingness to stand in writing to the President or Secretary. The Committee, five to form a quorum, shall decide all routine matters, matters of urgency, other matters not covered by these Rules and disputes, subject to the usual right of appeal to the RPRA.

 

1.7 The Combine shall have a Finance Committee consisting of the President, Chairman and three members of the Committee to oversee all accounts discuss and agree on investment funds and make regular checks on bank statements and account balances.

 

1.8 The Combine secretary, on receipt of a requisition or copy of resolution passed by three or more Clubs asking for a General Meeting to consider any specific subject, must call a meeting within 21 days giving the subject to be dealt with and no other business shall be transacted.

 

1.9 The Combine can only be dissolved by two-thirds majority of Clubs affiliated.

 

1.10 Any Club wishing to resign must do so before the date of the AGM or will be held responsible for the ensuing years subscriptions. Clubs resigning to forfeit all claims on the Combines assets.

 

1.11 The Annual General Meeting date shall be decided by the Combine Committee.

 

1.12 All Clubs will be invoiced regularly during the racing season for costs incurred. Settlement of invoices shall be made within 7 days of receipt by forwarding cheques to the Combine Secretary.

 

1.13 With the agreement of individual clubs, all printed matter, including invoices, results and notification of meetings, previously sent by post may be sent by email.

 

1.14 With the agreement of individual clubs, all prize/pools money won by members will be deducted from sums due on invoices for Clubs to pay their members.

 

1.15 The Secretary, in the interests of clarity, may re-group and re-number Combine Rules.

 

1.16 When voting on Combine business, each loft shall have one vote only. The vote to be cast at the club in which their Combine fees are paid.

 

2.     Transporter & Crate Rules

 

2.1 In all races crates will be dressed with coarse dry sand. On no account will other dressing be allowed.

 

2.2 The minimum number of birds per crate passed at any AGM of the Combine is a rule, the only exception being when a crate carries a red coloured label. This rule to be strictly enforced and no Club may send more than two crates to any race bearing red coloured labels. The Combine will charge offending Clubs a surcharge of &pound5.00 for every crate proved to contain less than the required number of birds unless the crate carries a red coloured label. This rule to be strictly enforced.

 

2.3 The Combine will have five pick up points at Bath, Thornbury, Bristol, Farrington Gurney and Glastonbury. Clubs having to use their own transport to the transporter, collecting points or a Combine feeder service shall be paid an allowance to be decided by the Committee.

 

2.4 For the purposes of security all Clubs transporting birds from the Club headquarters to a collecting point shall at all times, have at least one club member with the birds in addition to the driver of the vehicle, who shall be available to assist with the loading and unloading of crates for such club to and from the transporter. Failure to do so, the birds will not be accepted.

 

2.5 Each club is responsible for its birds being delivered at the appointed collecting point and time to the Combine convoyer. In the event of any container of a competing club’s birds not reaching the convoyer at the appointed time, the birds of that club shall be debarred from taking any position in that race. In the case of open races, the entry fees and fees to be returned in full to the member(s) concerned.

 

2.6 Each club is responsible for the damage to or loss of their own birds and shall also be responsible for the loss or damage of any of the containers whilst in their possession. Clubs shall maintain containers in good order and deliver them at the appointed collecting point to the Combine Convoyer properly sealed.

 

2.7 Only the convoyers and officials in charge of each collecting point shall have the authority to make up containers with a minimum number of birds as decided by the Committee and such made-up containers shall be re-sealed with RPRA seals.

 

2.8 The transporters shall be loaded by individual clubs in vertical columns to a height stipulated by drivers. All columns to be filled before using the next column.

 

2.9 The water on the transporter shall be purified.

 

2.10 It is not permissible for any club official or delegate to travel to a liberation site and remove pigeons for any reason from a Combine transporter unless directed to by the convoyer, race advisor or committee. The Combine Committee shall have authority to re-mark (re-rubber or wing-stamp) any Club birds on any race at their discretion.

 

 

 

 

3.     Racing & Clock Rules

 

3.1 All races to be pre-priced and all Clubs informed of birdage charges pre-season. Holdovers will be charged at cost where applicable. These costs will be printed in the rule book as an overall figure per day and this amount to be divided between the total numbers of birds competing to give the cost per bird each race.

 

3.2 On all race charges, 10p per bird shall be retained. The money so raised to be held in the Transporter Fund and used for replacing vehicles or substantial repairs.

 

3.3 All Clubs are requested to refuse entry to any bird considered unfit for racing.

 

3.4 Members may, by arrangement with the respective Clubs, have birds duplicated from one club to another provided these clubs are all members of the Combine but no one bird can take more than one position and one open prize or pool position in any one Combine race.

 

3.5 In all races, should any member find that due to insufficient members available at his/her club (and only for that reason), he/she is unable to have his/her birds marked and his/her clock set according to the current rules, then he/she, by prior arrangement with any other affiliated club, can have their clock set and birds entered into the amalgamation/open race at that club.

 

3.6 All inland races shall close at 10pm on the day of liberation and all channel races shall close on a velocity proper of 220ypm. Hours of darkness shall be from 10pm to 5am for old birds and 8pm to 6.30am for young birds.

 

3.7 The precise time of liberation shall be decided by the chief convoyer in accordance with the Code of Conduct for licensed convoyers/liberators issued by the RPRA. The decision of the chief convoyer shall be made after consultation with the race advisor, to be appointed by the committee.

 

3.8 In the event of poor weather conditions forecast for the liberation site and the Combine area, a sub-committee of the Chairman, President, Secretary, Race Advisor and Chief Convoyer will be formed to decide by majority telephone vote to change to a more suitable date. The secretary will arrange for all clubs to be informed of any decision made.

 

3.9 If because of a directive from a government body or similar, the Combine is unable to race the route selected, all member clubs will be contacted by the Combine using the information tree method or a delegates meeting shall be called before a new route is selected.

 

3.10 In all Combine races the bird making the highest velocity shall be declared the winner except when in the opinion of the Committee, having given full consideration to the circumstances and conditions prevailing at the time, a pigeon has returned an improbable velocity. That pigeon shall be disqualified from the race.

 

3.11 The convoyer’s report for each Combine race will be printed in full on the Combine result sheet for that race.

 

3.12 All clubs are requested to forward their official club result to the Secretary by means of email as soon as possible. Clubs without email facility will telephone the Secretary with the velocities and forward full details by post if required for the Combine result.

 

3.13 There will be 12 Old Bird races starting on the last weekend in April and a one week break between OB & YB and eight Young Bird races.

 

 

4.     Trophies

 

4.1 The Committee will decide the destination of all trophies, the donors of which do not specify for what they will be awarded.

 

4.2 All trophies are to be returned to the Secretary no later than the post season Secretaries Meeting in the year which they were won. Any fancier requiring a replica of any trophies won must inform the Secretary in writing no later than the post season Secretaries Meeting in the year which they were won.

 

5.     Outside Convoying

 

5.1 Any organisation other than affiliated Clubs of the Combine who wishes to hold a race using the assets of the Combine must seek approval by applying in writing to the Combine Committee through the General Secretary.