“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT
The Champion of Champion Breeders
I was speaking to Mark Evans recently and he told me his wonderful Gaby Vandenbeele stock cock, Champion ‘Shadow’, is to be a remarkable 21 years of age in March 2016, which shows the great constitution of this champion breeder. He hasn’t filled his eggs for a few seasons, but still has his old nest box in the stock loft at Whitley Bridge, where he has bred a dynasty of premier winners over the years. I have met up with Mark several times in recent years and did handle the wonderful Champion ‘Shadow’ in 2011.
The month of November 2011 saw Bobby Besant and myself make the 670 mile round trip drive up to South Shields, in the north east of England to judge at the NEHU Show, which must be rated as one of the best one day shows on the British show Calendar. Bobby was a postman and getting out of bed at 05.00hrs every day was the norm for this pigeon man. For me it is not quite so easy, but I managed to pick him up at his home in Worcester Park at 05.30hrs and we were soon on the M1 motorway, heading north. It was to be a very special weekend for Bobby and my self, as I had arranged two loft visits on our way up north, to two of the, what I consider to be two of the best lofts in Europe, in the form of Brian and Thelma Denney of Strensall and Mark and Dick Evans of Whitley Bridge. I must say, as usual I didn’t sleep too well the night before, but such was the buzz with Bobby and me, I didn’t feel at all tired on the long haul up the Motorway. The weather was brilliant for the long drive and two winter loft visits, and with the pigeon banter between Bobby and me, the four hour journey up to Doncaster for our first visit just flew by!
Our first stop was ‘Myrtle Lofts’ home of the Gaby Vandenabeele champions of Mark and Dick Evans of Whitley Bridge. In spite of my many articles on this wonderful loft of pigeons, Mark and I had never met in person, with all our many corresponds over the months being made on the telephone, text and email. It was a great pleasure to finally meet this great fancier and I found he was the gentleman and outstanding stockman I thought he was. I couldn’t wait to get into the loft and handle all the M. & D. Evan’s champions which have made them one of the premier breeding establishments in the pigeon racing world. The brick loft has a lot of character with its smart clock tower and massive flights.
We handled most of the Gaby Vandenabeele champions, but first to hand was my favourite Champion ‘Shadow’. I was really looking forward to handling this wonderful dark cock and I must say, he did not disappoint, he was as good as he looks in his photograph, pure class! The all-time best breeders at ‘Myrtle Lofts’ is Belg 95 3211313, Champion ‘Shadow’, bred by Gaby Vandenabeele out of ‘Pujl’ and ‘Gesch Dujardin’. He is sire of winners with 13 different hens and sire of over six generations of National & Classic winners. He is himself responsible for a massive list of winners including: 1st National Alencon (6, 823 birds), 1st National Messac (7,000 birds), 1st National Angers (5,977 birds), 1st National Eastbourne (7,312 birds), 1st National Lillers (10,601 birds), 1st National Vire (4,756 birds), 1st National Bordeaux (1,339 birds), 1st National Nantes (10,148 birds), 1st National Maidstone (4,472 birds), 1st National Guernsey (2,433 birds), 1st National Clermont (5,434 birds), 1st National Carentan (5,103 birds), 1st National Alencon (6,590 birds) and so on. ‘Shadow’ is responsible for over 30 times 1st open winners in Classic and National races. Even the latest top performance of 1st UK 3rd Open Sun City Million Dollar Race winning $75,000 (approx. £48,000) was also a granddaughter from Champion ‘Shadow’. This assessment of ‘Shadows’ breeding is well over a year old and it is very likely to be very much bigger now.
Mark Evans recently told me, ‘Champion ‘Shadow’ is a once in a life time pigeon and is considered by ‘Myrtle Lofts’ to be the best pigeon to have ever left the loft of Gaby Vandenabeele. ‘Shadow’ was bred by Gaby in 1995 and sold to ‘Myrtle Lofts’ as a young bird where he has become ‘Myrtle Lofts’ Number 1 breeder. The winning bloodlines bred down from ‘Shadow’ are unbelievable. He has bred winners to over twelve different hens and must rate as one of the best breeders ever’.
Eric & Pat Cannon of Wormley.
Sometimes, now that Eric Cannon has been gone for 16 years, I wondered if fanciers remembered how great he really was. I have photo folders on my PC on all the fanciers I have written up over many years and needless to say, I have a very big one for my late friends Eric and Pat Cannon. I have about 40 of Eric’s pigeon photos going back to 1950 and when I look and see how many world class champions the Cannons owned over the years, it is mind boggling! I have written many articles on Eric Cannon and his pigeons since we met in the early 1970’s and after his passing in 2000. On this occasion I think the photos tell the whole story, that why I spent a lot of time recently making up the five montages featuring 25 of his champions. I still have about 15 other photos of top performers on Eric's file, which are not on montages. In my opinion he was the 'King' of the NFC Pau Grand National!
Eric started to keep pigeons in his early school days, with his first birds costing only a few pence each and trained his birds on a pushbike. He joined the local Godalming club as a junior member. The club comprised of some the best NFC members, such as L. Raynford, winner of 2nd open San Sebastian in 1935, F. Seaman, winner 2nd open Mirande in 1937, H. H. Boshier, winner 4th open Mirande in 1938 and 2nd open Mirande in 1939, J. Pattman, winner of 5th open San Sebastian and C. R. Gush, who recorded 8th, 11th, 17th, 18th and 21st open from San Sebastian. Growing up with fanciers of this calibre enabled Eric to learn the trade of long distance racing. He always maintained that these great fanciers would take only one position inland to give novices encouragement and would always congratulate the youngsters when they won a prize card. Eric had to pack up pigeons due to four years in the Army, on war service and after picking up a bad foot injury, he met his wife Pat, a nurse at a war time hospital in Liverpool. One of Eric’s best pigeons after the war was the dark chequer hen, ‘Circle Queen’. She was a late bred in 1949, bred by the outstanding Godalming fancier, the late Stan Edgington, who won everything in Combine and National racing. The name Edgington has long been connected to the fancy of the Godalming and Guildford countryside and it all started with Harold Edgington who passed away in 1961. Harold started up in pigeons in 1924 and was one of the founder members of the Godalming & District FC, and was the secretary for 20 years. His son, Stan, started up with pigeons from Fred Seaman of Woking in 1932 and inherited his father’s gift for racing pigeons. We called Stan, ‘the birds man of Eashing’, because he loved all birds and had lots of aviaries in his big back garden. He was a first class carpenter and joiner, owning his own building firm. “Circle Queen” was one of the first pigeons Eric raced on coming out of the army after the war and she was outstanding on the north and south roads. In 1949 flew Doncaster, 1950: flew three races through to Berwick, 1951: clocked from the N.F.C. Pau, 1952: clocked from Libourne, 1953: 171st open NFC San Sebastian, 1954: 136th open N.F.C. Pau, 1955: 112th open NFC Pau, 1956: 7th British Section, 120th International Barcelona. “Circle Queen” was the start of 50 years of fantastic long distance pigeon racing by Eric Cannon.
His family of pigeons started in 1950, when he purchased a blue chequer hen, ’50 1753’, from Mr. Wiggins of Ipswich, costing him 30 shillings, her dam being a big winner from Lerwick. This wonderful hen was dam and grand dam of 34 pigeons to score in channel races. One season, Eric paired a daughter and a grandson of ‘The Wiggins Hen’ and they produced Eric’s champion hen, ’Pat’, winner of 1st open Combine Bordeaux, 35th open Combine Bordeaux and 73rd open NFC Nantes. ‘Pat’ was the dam of ‘St. Swithin’, winner of 1st open Combine Bordeaux, 8th open Combine Bordeaux and many more premier positions. The sire of ‘St. Swithin’ was bred by Mr. H. J. Chandler off a pair of big winners at Thurso and Lerwick. Eric’s family of long distance pigeons went back to the originals although he brought in a cross every now and then, but Eric always thought it better to have a family of pigeons, providing the base is sound. One of the best crosses was ‘The Challen Hen’, a pigeon bred in 1971. She bred 10 pigeons to score at Pau (540 miles) and a daughter of this champion bred Cyril Medway’s 1st open Palamos B.B.C. winner. Another premier cross for the Cannon loft was the blue hen called ‘The Wood Hen’, a daughter of Mr. Wood of Horsham’s, ‘Pride of Sussex’, a big NFC winner. ‘The Wood Hen’ was the dam of Eric’s champion blue hen ‘Blue Bird’ and she won, 98th open Young Bird National, 247th open NFC Nantes, 1st section, 6th open NFC Pau, 1st section, 28th open NFC Pau, 57th, 118th and 251st open NFC Pau. Another champion daughter of ‘The Wood Hen’ was the blue hen, ’Culmer Lady’, winner of 26th, 27th, 48th,135th and 140th open NFC Pau and she was Eric’s first NFC Pau Certificate of Merit award winner. The wonderful ‘Culmer Lady’ was the grand dam of Champion ‘Culmer Gold’, who won 21st, 70th, 83rd, 103rd and 111th open NFC Pau, 163rd open NFC Nantes, winning Best Average Nantes and Pau, 1st Club, 3rd Federation, 9th open Combine (5,049 birds) Niort, 1st Club, 3rd Federation, 11th open Combine (4,248 birds) Bergerac and was the winner of the Cannon’s second NFC Pau Certificate of Merit award. Eric also used some of the best of Fear Brothers’ bloodlines and one cock crossed into Eric’s family produced the red cock, ‘Culmer Sam’, who won 6th, 6th and 8th section NFC Nantes and 89th open N.F.C. Pau. When this great cock was stopped for stock he proved to be a champion breeder, producing many premier racers, including ‘Culmer Rose’, winner of 30th, 56th, 389th and 541st open NFC Pau. This wonderful red hen was dam of ‘Culmer Joan’, winner of 1st section, 12th open NFC Pau and grand dam of Champion ‘Culmer Bess’, Eric’s fourth NFC Pau Merit Award winner. Eric brought in several very successful crosses through the years, including: Fear Brothers, Tom Gilbertson and Mike Spencer.
The Cannon pigeons were raced on the natural system with the Pau Grand National in mind, but Eric rated the widowhood system for races up to 400 miles. The birds were paired in mid- March, with the date being worked back from the Pau National, so the birds got a natural cycle up to the race. The loft was a converted 48ft x 12ft stable divided into four sections and Eric thought one of the most important items of good loft design is good ventilation. The shorter races were used for training and the birds were tossed along the south coast by Pat most of the time. Eric maintained it didn’t matter where the birds were trained from, for if they were super fit, their minds would be right. Eric remarked that he enjoyed Combine racing years ago, but in later years all his energy was spent on the National races. In spite of that, the loft won the Combine four times over the years, with the blue chequer hen, ‘Pat’, winner of 1st open London S.R. Combine Bordeaux, grizzle cock, ‘St. Swithin’, winner of 1st open London S.R. Combine Bordeaux, dark chequer cock, ‘Evil Eye’, winner of 1st open London S.R. Combine Le Mans and the champion blue hen, ‘Culmer Lass’, winner of 1st open S.M.T. Combine Bergerac, only bird on the day of liberation in the Combine. The Cannons won the Surrey Federation’s longest old bird race shield outright for winning it three times. Eric’s last Combine winner, ‘Culmer Lass’, went on to win 1st section, 12th open NFC Pau the year after her Combine win. This game hen also won two more positions from the Pau National, plus 49th open N.F.C. Nantes and was the grand dam of Champion ‘Culmer Marion’, 1st open NFC Sartilly in 1990.
Eric and Pat Cannon’s loft in Wormley, won the NFC ‘Pau Certificate of Merit’, which is won by a pigeon that has taken three positions in the first 100 open in the Pau Grand National result. The four champion pigeons were: ‘Culmer Lady’, ‘Culmer Gold’, ‘Culmer Channel Queen’ and ‘Culmer Bess’. If the NFC ‘Pau Certificate of Merit’ had started a few years earlier, Eric would have won three other awards, with the three hens, ‘Culmer Julie Girl’, ‘Culmer Beauty’ and the great champion blue hen, ‘Culmer Blue Bird’. Out of all their many champions through the years, ‘Blue Bird’, was my favourite. She was perfect in the hand and in the late 1970’s she recorded 6th, 28th, 57th, 118th and 251st open N.F.C. Pau, winning 1st section NFC twice. This wonderful pigeon was grand dam of ‘Culmer Lass’, 1st Combine Bergerac, who in turn was grand dam of Champion ‘Culmer Marion’, winner of 1st open NFC Sartilly. The Cannon loft won countless positions in the NFC through the years, but the highlights were: 5 times winner of the Langstone Gold Cup, for best average of three NFC races, 16 times 1st section in NFC races, 1st open Sartilly, 2nd open Pau, 4th open Pau, 5th open Sartilly, 5th open Avranches, 6th open Pau (twice), 8th open Sartilly and so on. The Cannons had 74 positions in the first 100 open positions in Pau Grand Nationals and lifted the 3 bird Average from the Pau National six times.
That is it for this week! I can be contacted with any pigeon banter on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email:
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com).
