GARETH WATKINS'
ANNUAL WELSH PILGRIMAGE TO KENT
On Remembrance weekend, the 8th November, along with Ieuan Williams and Geoff "Nobby" Clarke, I made my way east to visit our now firmly established friends in the Dover area. So it was that on a truly dreadful morning weather wise, I made my way to Cardiff to meet up with the others in preparation for our 200 mile journey to Kent. The weather conditions, i.e. driving rain and high winds, did not improve until we reached Cobham Services and from there on, in the final leg of the journey, we enjoyed blue skies, reaching our first "port of call" the loft of double BICC winner John Lane at Tankerton near Whitstable just after lunch time on the Friday.
Alan Turner (R) with Geoff and Ieuan
John's lovely wife Kate, soon had the kettle on and we enjoyed a quick cup of tea and a chat about Kate's evacuation to North Wales during the Second World War, before moving out into their lovely garden to view a super team of long distance racers. I won't go into any detail on John's idyllic set up here as I intend to complete a more comprehensive loft report in the near future. Suffice to say that the quality of the pigeons and their condition was superb, just as you would expect from a fancier of John's calibre.
John Lane's loft
John and Kate Lane
It was soon time to make our way down to Dover to our base once again for the weekend, The Best Western Hotel and Spa situated on the waterfront in Dover Marina. This really is an ideal location for anyone visiting the Kent area as the facilities are first class as are the friendly and helpful staff. After a quick "wash and brush up" and a lovely bar meal we were ready to greet our Kentish friends for a libatory session in the bar of the hotel. At around 7.30 pm Alan" Wally" Turner, Jeff Lyden, Lee and Kevin Buddle, Mike Mitchell along with Peter and Heath Archibald arrived for the evening get together. It was good to see Peter Archibald in attendance and looking so well, as Peter hasn't been in the best of health of late and is undergoing an extensive course of palliative treatment for his condition. Our thoughts and best wishes go with you Peter.
Peter & Heath Archibald of Dover
After a couple of pints at the hotel we made our way along the sea front to The White Horse Inn for a couple more pints of good old fashioned Kentish real ale all the while discussing pigeons and the ongoing decline in the sport- we needed the beer to lift our spirits!!! All too soon we had to say our good byes for the night, as by this time, we were into the small hours of Saturday morning.
The morning broke bright and clear with little hint of the torrential rain that was to envelope east Kent by late morning. Nevertheless, after a fine breakfast we were soon on our way to the home of Kevin Buddle to view the Buddle team of long distance racers.
Lee & Kevin Buddle with Ieuan and Geoff
The Buddle loft
Yet again the quality of the pigeons housed was superb as was their condition. We were privileged to be able to handle pigeons of the quality of " Amoy" the winner of 1st Open BICC Pau International when only two birds were recorded on the day in the UK - both to the Buddle loft. We also handled "Pipi" the three times Barcelona cock along with "Mike" bred by Lee and Kevin's good friend Mike Mitchell from his Raymond Van Helmond line and gifted to Lee and Kevin. Mike is a multiple prize winner in BICC International races for the Buddles. The blue cock "BC", a winner of 2nd Open BICC Pau International[ beaten by loft mate "Amoy"] was next to hand and of course the "mother of the loft "Buddy", who no longer lays but has a perch for life as does her multiple prize winning daughter "Game".
Kevin and Lee have now developed a policy of only introducing top class pigeons bred from top class performers on the International stage with the BICC on a "care and share" basis i.e. lending out one of their top performance pigeons to mate with another top class performer raced by a friend and then sharing the offspring. This policy has already produced some terrific specimens and this should set up the Buddles for years to come. During the 2013 Old Bird International race programme of Pau, Agen, Barcelona, St Vincent, Marseille and Perpignan, Lee and Kevin entered 32 birds and clocked 26 birds from this gruelling 6 race programme, timing in each and every race with many birds featuring on the BICC results. The breeding policy is obviously working!
Lee & Kevin's Mike winner of 9th Open BICC Marseille
L & K Buddle's Pipi
By this time it was absolutely pouring down so we made our way back to the hotel for a change of clothes and a warming drink in the bar before heading out to Elvington, a former mining village on the outskirts of Dover, and the lofts of Alan "Wally" Turner. We were welcomed by Alan and soon seated with a warm cup of tea and a plateful of sandwiches kindly provided by Alan's better half Barbara.
With the rain still bouncing off the ground we made our way to Alan's neat and extremely tidy loft set in the small back garden. I must say that the loft is one of the cleanest I have ever visited which is not surprising as Alan regularly scrubs and disinfects it from top to bottom and from end to end. Each section is painted a different colour and the whole interior is given an annual re- spray with emulsion.
One of the coloured sections in Alan Turner's loft
Yet again, we were greeted by a team of pigeons in top class condition and although Alan is yet to win an outright first prize in BICC races, having come close on many occasions, I think the whole set up of pigeons and lofts deserves to attain the ultimate of a red card in International competition, such is the quality of pigeons and consistency of performance of the Turner loft over many years culminating in 1st Open GDSBNFC from Agen International in 2013. We've got our fingers crossed for you Alan. Some of the top birds raced by Alan include:-
“True Grit” a dark chequer Delbar x Kuyper who has a sheaf of long distance prizes to his credit including the following:- 3rd Open BICC Perpignan;132nd BICC Bergerac;4th Open Tarbes [on the day]; 5th Open BICC Pau; 39th Open BICC Perpignan; 18th Open BICC Perpignan;23rd Open BICC Pau; 6th Open BICC Pau and 380th Open International Pau against 8,555 competitors !
Chequer Cock “75” winner of 14th sect 18th Open BICC Perpignan 2009; 18th sect 40th Open BICC Pau 2008 and 15th sect 22nd BICC Pau 2007. He has also flown Barcelona.
Dark Chequer Cock “93”, whose wins include 7th sect 8th Open BICC Barcelona 2009, 3rd section 3rd Open BICC Barcelona 2010, also appearing on the Barcelona International result on both occasions. In 2011 after just one preparatory race he finished at 7th Open from BICC Barcelona. “93’s” other wins are 24th sect 98th Open BBC Bergerac; 18th sect 27th Open BICC Pau; 37th Open Bergerac and he has also flown Tarbes into the bargain!
Dark Chequer cock "73" performances all with the BICC:- 70th & 57th Open Pau [plus55th Open BBC Pau]; 2nd, 56th & 89th Open Perpignan; 13th Open Narbonne;17th & 40th Open Barcelona plus 5th Open GDSBNFC Barcelona.
Blue Cock “Hawk”:- 5th Open Amalgamation Bergerac 8,614 birds; 10th Open Marseille[only 10 birds in race time];5th Open Marseille; 18th sect 65th Open Pau.
Chequer Hen “66”:- 1st club [only bird on the day] 14 hours 10 minutes on wing 10th Combine 2,440 birds; 15th Open BICC Dax; 23rd sect 109th Open BBC Palamos.
Alan Turner's '66'
Alan's '93'
Alan's '68'
Alan's Hawk
During our visit we handled a number of Barcelona and Palamos pigeons such as the great long distance racers "93" and "68" both multiple prize winners at the extreme distance. Incidentally, "93" will feature in one of the forthcoming articles on multiple prize winning pigeons from Barcelona or an equivalent 700 mile race. We also handled the blue cock four times a winner from Bergerac and always on the day often being the only day bird in the local club.
Alan's team is made up of various long distance strains with the Delbar, Van De Wegen and Kuypers brothers pigeons being predominant. Other bloodlines housed and being tested at the present time were Brian Denny's "Brydens" and pigeons of Eric Fox & son origin. These, like all the other birds housed, will be brought along slowly and not tested at the distance until they have a bit of age and experience on them at three and four years old.
Alan with one of his winners
Alan's loft
By this time the light was beginning to fade and so we made our way back to the hotel to relax and watch the rugby before meeting up once again with Kevin, Mike, Jeff and Alan for a pleasant meal and chat at a local restaurant, talking pigeons and generally putting the world to rights.
Once again unfortunately, we were unable to make contact with Geoff Preece and son Clayton and so did not have the pleasure of viewing their excellent team of racers - perhaps next year?
Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny in stark contrast to Saturday's weather and after yet another hearty breakfast we made our way back to Wales after enjoying another visit to "The Garden of England". As we had a hire car for the weekend which had to be back at the garage by 5 pm, it was not possible to visit Mike and Cynthia Mitchell out at Whitfield and our apologies for this folks.
Mike & Cynthia Mitchell, 2nd Open BICC Barcelona 2013.
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Elimar November 2013
