John Hewitt & Associates of Co Sligo, talk to Jim Emerton.
Before we look at your questions may I just give you an insight into my situation? Many years ago when I completed my 5 year Apprenticeship as a Boilermaker/Welder my Foreman took me to one side and said Son, what you now know about your trade will fill a book, now you need to work on the rest of the Library. At 68 years of age I am in the same position with Long Distance pigeon racing into the West of Ireland will I have enough time, patience, determination and health to achieve my goal? All I can promise is that I will give it my best shot, time will tell if I succeeded.
1 John, please tell us all of your background to pigeons and the sport.
I raced pigeons in the 60s in the strong Knutsford Club/Altrincham Fed area, my highlight was 6th Fed Rennnes timing a blue check hen. It was always my intention to re-start when I retired. I raced against my school friend, David Cunnellon and his family, and I have him as my silent partner in memory of those days.
2 Where are you located with your pigeons with photos please?
I am located in the NW of Ireland in south County Sligo. Like other fanciers in this area our lofts are no closer than 15 miles to each other. So, sprint racing really does not apply here. I built my own lofts from timber and utilised the old sheds for stock birds.
3 Are you interested in all aspects of nature and the natural world?
I suppose I am, being raised in a small Cheshire town I appreciate the peace and quiet of the countryside.
4 Describe the origins of your birds and why choose the sources and my old bloodlines?
Like many coming back into the sport I read the magazines and trawled the internet and fell for the glossy photos and the advertising spiel. In my opinion birds that may be very special elsewhere usually cannot cope with the conditions and isolation here. I was very fortunate to become friends with Cyril and Hilary Beattie [Northern Ireland], Kevin Parsons [Newcastle] and Leo Dobbs [Wexford] whose advice and encouragement and birds soon followed. I was also introduced to Michael Feeney who had the Nick Harvey/JimEmerton birds at stud in Dublin and ybs from these were sent out west to be tested. The ybs I bred from your lines proved very different, small in size but long cast wings. I also noticed a very unusual trait with these ybs, they would regularly take off from the loft and go missing for a few days and then return as if nothing had happened. They seem to have innate survival skills. I have sectioned of my stock loft now to keep families pure and allowing the resultant race teams to pair as they will. It is difficult to pair best to best if you have not been racing long enough to find your best. We have formed the Western Counties NR CCC [I am Secretary] and the West of Ireland Pigeon Federation [I am Chairman] and some very competitive racing is now available to our members.
5 What ambitions motivate you and the distances to fly?
I have split my teams into NR and SR and would love to time a bird from a French national race and also from Thurso [or even Lerwick] in the future.
6 Will you be different to others in your total approach to a system of competition?
I am working on training and testing regimes that are a little different. As I dont have years to test my birds I have developed a number of test lofts in the UK and Ireland who will take a kit of ybs from me and race them to their system and give me honest constructive feedback. Training is from any direction up to 120 miles [Dublin] it all depends on where I am travelling to.
7 What are the nature of your special feeding and breeding systems?
To be honest I am still in the infancy stage re breeding and feeding programmes.
8 Describe the qualities of a good marathon pigeon to us?
Bred for the job, tough, resilient with good survival skills. The love of home must be paramount. I think smaller birds will be easier to condition. Again, in my opinion, only 1 bird in a 100 will prove to be exceptional
.
9 Who are the top racing men that you know of?
As I mentioned earlier Cyril and Hilary Beattie and Leo Dobbs are very supportive. As for top fanciers then Mark Gilbert, the Coopers, the Padfield family all stand out, but when I see the National results some names of less well known fanciers do keep featuring regularly.
10 Do you like the idea of The Barcelona International into Ireland?
Yes, I think this could happen one day.
11 Why do the Irish struggle to do well beyond 500 miles-what are the reasons for this?
Wow Jim, this is some statement and a tough question to ask. In my opinion there are some cracking fanciers and very good birds here in Ireland. I do believe the prevailing winds and the three sets of water our birds need to cross make returns very difficult. In a 500 mile race from France after 10 hours of flying our birds hit the Irish Sea and face another couple of hours flying with no bail out area for them if they get it wrong.
12 Are you a fan of inbreeding?
The jury is still out on this one, however I can see the merits of inbreeding providing it is not too close.
13 What do you think of the old strain names and do pure birds exist?
I believe families [or strains] of birds initially come from a variety of sources and are blended to suit the fanciers performance criteria. If one has enough time one can refine the family [strain].
14 Have studs made an impact on quality?
Again, another tough question Jim. You pay your money and take your choice. I would recommend talking to a successful local flyer and obtain some late- breds first.
15 Do you favour the Nick Harvey birds?
I have only had them here for one year but they are cracking birds and are proving hard to loose. I have high hopes for them.
16 Have you read my books?
I have just been bought them for my birthday this year.
17 What are the joys of pigeon racing?
It is still the same as it was in my youth, timing a good bird from a long race.
18 How do you wish to be remembered in the fancy at large?
I may not have succeeded by at least I tried.
19 Will the sport survive?
I think so, but we need to do more to encourage people into the sport and the BOP problem needs to be addressed. We are doing all we can to attract more fanciers into the sport and new members are always welcome at WCNRCC or WoIPF.
20 Is there anything else you would like to add?
I would like to offer my thanks to fellow fanciers here in Ireland for their help and support and would like to ask everybody to concentrate on the positives in life and enjoy good racing. My special thanks go out to Andrew Robinson and George Guilfoyle, very experienced fanciers who have done a great job this year as Race Controllers.
