“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT
A tribute to Colin Hale of Watford.
This week I’m going to do a tribute to one of our best north road racers of recent times, who passed away on 28th December 2015. Colin Hale was a one of the gentleman of the sport and was a great pigeon racer, winning many premier prizes racing north road, over many years. My good friend, Terry Haley took me on a visit to Colin’s loft in 1979 and at that time he was winning everything at the top level and continued to do so for many years. Colin had recently packed up his pigeons and passed away in hospital after several months of illness. Colin was a really nice man and was certainly one of our best racing pigeons on the north road. Condolences to his wife, Allison and their two children, Gavin and Amanda.
Colin Hale first became interested in pigeons at the age of 13, when cycling home from school he picked up a feral squeaker which had fallen from a girder railway bridge. He got his first stock from other boys who raced in the junior section of the Rickmansworth R.P.C. and this was his first club. Len Palmer of Croxley Green gave the young Colin a lot of help in the beginning, Len was the organizer of the junior section, as well as being the secretary of the Rickmansworth club. Colin remembered that Len had a framed photograph of his gold medal hen 'Pretty Lady' which won the London N.R. Combine from Fraserburgh in 1937. Colin had to give up pigeons on being called on to do his National Service and started up again after getting married in 1962. The first racers were obtained mainly from Len Palmer and a pair of squeakers bought by Colin's father as a present from Arthur Kirby of Chorley Wood, which performed well. Colin told me in the early days he overfed the birds and this resulted in the neighbours complaining about him throwing apples up on the roofs to shift them. His first loft was a small garden shed but he later graduated to two lofts which he obtained at a local clearance sale.
Colin's racing loft was L-shaped with three sections and was 24 foot long; it housed 15 pairs of natural racers. The birds were trapped through open doors into a corridor where they alight on a feeding table, and where they were clocked. About 30 young birds were bred each season and they run in the old bird sections. The family kept was Van Hee and were all from birds obtained from Louis Massarella in 1975. Colin won 1st North Thames N.R. Combine Fraserburgh in 1975 with 4,200 birds taking part. His winner, on 1567 ypm was a Vandy x Gits dark chequer hen and she had previously won 1st Watford Mid-Week Selby, 2nd Mid-Week Retford and 2nd Mill End club Leicester. Colin said you should never stand still and in spite of winning the Combine in 1975 he was still looking for new introduction and brought in the Van Hees. The Combine winner's sire was one of Colin's most consistent pigeons in those days winning 1st club, 3rd Federation Thurso 1967, 1st club, 12th West Herts Federation Berwick 1965, 1st club Worksop 1968, 3rd club, 96th Combine Berwick 1966, 3rd club Stonehaven 1966 (beaten by two loft mates), 1st club, 8th Federation Morpeth 1972 at eight years old. Since introducing the Van Hee pigeons they had been at the top of the club, Federation, Combine and Open result sheets out of turn. He was runner up highest prize winner in his club in 1976, top prize winner in '77 and '78, and was premier prize winner in the Thames Valley Federation in 1978.
One of the loft's 1979 stars was the two year old dark chequer Van Hee cock 'Foot Loose' and he handled in the same mould as all the Hale loft Van Hees, medium, long cast. This cock was bred from original stock birds and won in 1979 1st club, 2nd Thames Valley Federation, 2nd North Thames N.R. Combine (6,385 birds) Berwick. One of Colin's 1978 Federation winners was the blue chequer cock 'Crusader' and his nest mate had recorded many top positions in the Federation. Two more outstanding brothers in the racing loft were 'Greased Lightnin', 1st Thames Valley Federation (2,521 birds) Nottingham 1978 and 'Jack' winner of 1st Thames Valley Federation (3,093 birds) Leicester and 1st Thames Valley Federation (4,091 birds) Nottingham in 1979.
Colin told me on my visit to his loft, good ventilation top and bottom was very important in the loft and he liked to leave the young and old birds naturally together through the season. By using this method Colin said he didn't lose youngsters off the loft and it helped the old birds exercise better. He paired the stock birds up on Christmas Day and the racers the second week in February. At that time the Hales were a very sporting family with Colin's son being the Hertfordshire under-17 triple jump champion 1978; his daughter kept fantails, rollers and his wife looked after the birds when Colin was away from home conducting his building business. Colin took turns with Terry Haley, Karen and the late Bryn English with training the birds and Colin fed on best mixture with some condition seed. He rated the late Peter Titmuss as the best local fancier and said he had had some great National and Combine winners. Colin inbred but said he had to cull. He used to use deep litter but preferred the scraper. When selecting producers Colin paired the best performers together and said if the birds get plenty of good mixture they should have a good moult.
The stock loft housed only three pairs of Van Hee stock birds and these were all direct from Louis Massarella. The dam and sire of the two brothers, 'Jack' and 'Greased Lightnin' were in the stock loft and these two pigeons were both grandchildren of Champion 'Motta'. The stock loft had a nice wire flight and the inmates looked really well, with plenty of space to move around in. A son of the Fraserburgh Combine winner was in the racing loft and he had a great season in 1979, winning 1st Two Rivers Club Perth (£120) and 2nd club, 3rd Thames Valley Federation, 4th North Thames N.R. Combine (6,385 birds) Berwick (beaten by 'Foot Loose'). This red chequer cock 'Fancy Free' was a son of the Combine winner when paired to a John Pottinger Kirkpatrick cock. The winners went on and on in the Hale loft, but another special was the yearling Van Hee dark chequer hen, 'Milli' and she recorded 1st club, 1st Thames Valley Federation (2,756 birds) Leicester, 2nd club, 3rd Thames Valley Federation (2,521 birds) Nottingham (beaten by loft mate) as a young bird.
At the time of my visit to his Watford home, Colin was the club president and treasurer in the Mill End club and although he wasn't interested in showing he helped out at the club shows. Colin said offices were only filled by votes and people should accept what they voted for all year. The Hales went to Belgium on holiday the year before my visit and called in on the Van Hees on a race day, without an appointment. Colin said the hospitality the Van Hees showed the gate crashing family was fantastic and they were invited to the local club by these world famous fanciers. A holiday to remember! One of our great North Road racers, Colin Hale of Watford!
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com).
