“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT - 19-09-25

“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

 Three Borders Federation (Honiton Race 2).

 It was another good morning liberation for the Three Borders Federation young birds at Honiton for the sixth young bird race, with Dom McCoy releasing the birds at 09.00hrs in a West / North West wind, with sun shine on the baskets. The 2025 racing season is banging on and the Federation Saturday team have produced some great racing so far this year, with the Honiton race being no exception, with members enjoying a good race with excellent returns. The Ashridge ‘master’, Terry Goodsell won the race, recording his second Federation winner of the season and chalked up 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, 8^th Federation. Terry’s loft has hit some great form again this season and has previous won the Federation from Bodmin with the old birds. He has won the Federation 'Individual Points Trophy’ several times in recent season and at this time he is favourite to win it again with 92 points in his bag. Last season’s trophy winner, Stuart Emans of the Mitcham & Merton club is right behind Terry on 82 points after winning the Federation five times this season. Stuart is the hard working secretary of the Three Borders Federation and was right behind Terry from Honiton recording 9^th, 10^th, 11h, 12^th, 13^th, 14^th, 15^th, 16^th, 17^th, 18^th, 19, 20^th, 23^rd, 24^th Federation. Terry Goodsell’s Honiton Federation winner was his ‘Mystique’ blue chequer cock, ‘The 688 Cock’ and he was raced sitting a pair of one week old eggs. He was bred from one of Terry top stock hens which was bred by John Carian of Manchester from his wonderful racing hen, ‘My Mystique’, the winner of several RPRA Awards. On the day of the Honiton race, the first eight pigeons flew around the loft twice before hitting the ETS board and three of them were bred out of the ‘Mystique’ stock hen, with ‘The 688 Cock’s’ sister recording 3^rd Federation. Brilliant pigeon racing by Terry and Stuart!

The first ten in the Honiton Federation result were: 1) Terry Goodsell 1421: 2) Terry Goodsell 1421: 3) Terry Goodsell 1421: 4) Terry Goodsell 1421: 5) Terry Goodsell 1421: 6) Terry Goodsell 1421: 7) Terry Goodsell 1420: 8) Terry Goodsell 1420: 9) Stuart Emans 1418: 10) Stuart Emans 1418. This was race number eighteen of the season and at this point the Mitch & Merton are leading for the ‘Federation Points Trophy’ with 71 points, with the Ashridge club being R/U on 68 points. Thanks to ‘Hire and Higher Bouncy Castles Sweets and Treats’ who are now sponsoring the Three Borders Federation.

 Year in and year out a name that is consistently in the Federation and Combine results is that of Terry Goodsell of the strong Ashridge club. The club has only been formed for several short years, racing in the Three Borders Federation and Terry is one of the main ‘cogs’ running this very successful new pigeon racing club. I’ve known Terry Goodsell of Morden since the mid 1970’s when he was put up brilliant performances in the Surrey Federation and SMT Combine with his widowhood cocks, and I featured him in the fancy press many times. He was a brilliant fancier then and he is still a brilliant fancier today, winning countless 1^st Federations through the years! He now races his pigeons to his loft in Morden and he has enjoyed many wonderful racing seasons in the Three Borders Federation, and has won 28 1^st Federations in the last ten seasons, and has been the Federation champion by winning the ‘Individual Points Trophy’ three times in recent years. Terry Goodsell’s pigeons were raced on the widowhood system, but came off the system in 2018 and now races cocks and hens on the celibate system. He only breeds off his stock birds and the racers are never paired up. Although he has won the Federation this year with a cock, he says the hens defiantly race better on the ‘celibate’, and would race only hens if he could. The racers are only trained up to the first race, then they are get two one hour exercise session around the loft every day through the season.

Terry was a pioneer of widowhood racing with cocks in the Surrey area in the 1970’s and won everything in front of him. I have heard of some bad luck since I started up in our sport, but Terry Goodsell’s 1979 racing story of twice being beaten on decimals for 1^st open S.M.T. Combine must take the cake. In fact Terry had been 2^nd open Combine three times in three years as in 1977 he was 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th club, 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th Surrey Federation (3,060 birds), 2^nd, 3^rd, 5^th, 6^th, 7^th open SMT Combine (7,787 birds) Plymouth. The sad fact about Terry being 2^nd open SMT Combine twice in the 1979 season was that he was beaten twice by club mates and was thus pushed into 2^nd club, 2^nd Surrey Federation. He was premier prize winner in the very strong Mitcham Common Flying Club in 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1978 and had lifted the highly rated old bird points trophy three times. Terry won the Surrey Federation points trophy in 1977 when he was the Federation top prize winner and was third highest in the 1978 season, when he won the Inland Average Cup. He was highly rated by many premier Surrey fanciers and although he was mostly known as a sprint fancier, he chalked up 2^nd open SMT Combine Bergerac (455 miles) in 1979. The 2025 season has seen Terry win in the Three Borders Federation: (Old Birds) 4^th, 5^th, 7^th, 8^th, 12^th, 14^th, 15^th, 16^th, 24^th Federation Wincanton (1), 3^rd, 5^th, 8^th, 14^th, 16^th, 19^th, 24^th, 25^th Federation Wincanton (2), 9^th, 13^th, 20^th, 24^th Federation Honiton, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 7^th, 11^th, 12h, 13^th,14^th,15^th Federation Okehampton, 4^th, 5^th, 9^th, 18^th, 19^th,20^th, 22^nd, 24^th, 25^th Federation Blandford, 1^st, 2^nd, 8^th, 10^th, 15^th, 19^th, 24^th, 25^th Federation Bodmin, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, 20^th, 21^st, 22^nd, 23^rd, 25^th Federation Wincanton, 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, 8^th, 9^th17th, 18^th Federation Honiton, 2^nd, 5t, 6^th, 7^th, 11^th, 13^th Federation Okehampton, 15^th, 16^th, 17^th, 18^th Federation Blandford, 5^th, 8^th,13^th, 14^th, 15^th, 22^nd, 24^th Federation Honiton, 6^th, 13^th, 16^th Federation Penzance: (Young Birds) 15^th, 23^rd Federation Blandford, 12^th,23^rd, 25^th Federation Wincanton, 11^th Federation Wincanton, 9^th, 10^th, 12^th, 13^th,18^th, 20^th Federation Honiton, 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, 8^th Federation Honiton. After eighteen races of the season, Terry is leading for the ‘Individual Points Trophy, with 92 points. Brilliant pigeon racing! Not everyone knows that Terry has been a very good gardener for most of his life and works on several show gardens. He loves gardening and says, ‘pigeon racing is my hobby, gardening is my passion! There you have it Terry Goodsell of Morden! Here we are all these years after my first loft visit and Terry is still racing in Morden, and winning the Federation positions out of turn. He must rate as one of the all-time great in the London area! I really enjoyed doing this one, Terry is a great worker for the sport and deserves all the praise he is given!

The late Charlie & Arthur Maycock of Hersham.

One of the premier lofts right through the 1970’s and early 1980’s in the Surrey area was that of Charlie and Arthur Maycock of Hersham. I visited the father and son partnership in mid-October and they had just enjoyed a great 1976 season, recording 13 times first, 10 times second, 14 times third, 2^nd Hersham Open from Weymouth (245 birds), 2^nd London Coly Open from Wadebridge (349 birds), winning the London Coly ‘Brooker Gold Cup’ and many premier Federation positions. On my arrival, Arthur invited me down to the loft, which at that time was undergoing extensive alterations. Charlie said the loft was too high and wide, and the birds were hard to control. The ‘L’ shaped loft was 30ft long, 4ft wide at the young bird end, widening out to 5ft. at the other end where the old birds were housed. The Maycocks kept 30 pairs of old bird racers, bred 50 youngsters each season for racing and no stock birds were kept. The inmates were trapped through open doors and a sprinkle of sand was used on the loft floor after every clean out. The main families raced were Blackaby / Putman and the Newman / Cattrysse pigeons which were introduced in 1976. The partners didn’t do much training, as the birds raced mid-week with the London Coly, but they got training up to the first Federation race, when it all stopped and the birds got an open loft all day, weather permitting. The team was paired up at the end of February, although they were paired a bit earlier in 1976, which was very successful for the Maycocks.

The first pigeon we looked at on my visit, was the favourite of the loft, ‘The Mealy Pied Cock’, and this handsome 1969 bred pigeon had won three Open races and seven firsts in the club. He had bred some really good winners for Charlie and Arthur and his sire won £1,000 racing. In fact the next pigeon we handled was a strawberry mealy son of ‘The Mealy Pied Cock’ and he had won £500 racing, which was a lot of money at that time, ten firsts in the club, and 2^nd Hersham Open from Weymouth in the 1976 season. This cock was the same stamp as his father in the hand, medium-deep and had been flown through to the longest race from Bergerac (460 miles). Another premier pigeon at the Maycock loft at that time was the 1967 bred red chequer cock, ‘Red Splash’, and he was a champion racer and bred Federation winners for the Hersham loft.

Charlie had been racing pigeons for 50 years at that time and was a firm believer in changing his methods with the times. Charlie started up with a pair of Bob Chitty pigeons and won his first race from Templecombe in the old Walton club. He only sent one pigeon to this, the first race he competed in. The loft had won the Federation many times through the years and had been in the Combine result out of turn. The partner’s best performance at the time was 1^st club, 2^nd Federation, 2^nd London Combine Rennes and they came home and found their grizzle cock bathing in the garden! Arthur told me, the basket was the only pedigree they were interested in. They were hot on feeding their birds, with inland racers being fed on the tin, with a good mixture and the channel racers on the hopper with extra beans and peas. Many outstanding pigeons were bred at the Maycock’s loft for other fanciers and good winners were always being reported to them.

To say that Charlie and Arthur had a good season in 1978 would be an understatement, as they won three firsts in the very strong Surrey Federation. The partners won 1^st Surrey Federation (2,013 birds) Plymouth, which was the longest young bird race, with a Barker dark chequer cock, which they named ‘Pinocchio’. The 1978 Bergerac race, 460 miles, proved a good race for them, recording 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd in the Molesey club and 3^rd in the Hersham club, with four birds clocked on the day of liberation. Another of the 1978 Federation winners was a nice dark hen purchased at the 1976 Surrey Federation Transporter Auction, being bred by the Federation President, Stan Chandler, and she won from Exeter with 2,699 birds competing. That great season produced some outstanding performances in the SMT Combine for Charlie and Arthur, recording 11^th open Vire, 47^th open Angers, 11^th open Bergerac and 27^th open Vire (young birds). The Maycock’s third Federation winner of the 1978 season was a blue hen named, ‘Joanna’s Pet’, and she won from Weymouth against 3,330 birds. A brilliant loft performance!

Charlie’s daughter, Josephine, took a big interest in the birds; in fact, she purchased £150 worth of Newman / Cattrysse pigeons for the partners in 1976 and she clocked the London Coly birds in on Wednesday afternoons. Arthur didn’t like showing much, so Charlie and Josephine went off to the shows in the winter months and were very successful. Charlie told me at that time that he admired a successful small team man and maintained that many good fanciers don’t score in the Federation and Combine because of where their lofts are situated. The next Maycock generation pigeon racer is Arthur’s daughter, Jo Cuthbert and she is a British Homing World scribe, and races her own successful team of pigeons. The late Charlie and Arthur Maycock, one of the great Surrey partnerships of the past!

That’s it for this week! Well done to Terry Goodsell for his second Federation winner of the season! Great pigeon racing mate! If you win and want a write up in this space, contact me on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email me on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)