“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
The late Alf North of the Surbiton Flying Club.
My late father in law, Alf North was one of the best pigeon fanciers I ever met and flew in the Surbiton Flying Club in partnership with his son, Alfie junior for many years. Alf won his fair share of first prizes in racing and showing with his wonderful team of pigeons, but he was a true pigeon fancier and loved his birds. I have been married to his lovely daughter, Betty for 53 years and back in the day we visited his house on most weekends. Alf was always down the garden with his tool kit, making something like feeders, nest boxes or crates for the birds. He just loved pigeons! He worked as a crane driver at the Windsor factory opposite Chessington Zoo for many years and his very smart pigeon loft was made up from two massive packing cases obtained from the factory. He flew his small team of birds on the standard natural system and liked his racing from France best. Alf and his wife, Edith lived in Kent Way in Surbiton which was a hot bed area of pigeon racing back in the day and they lived three doors away from the late Nancy Dodson, who was the hard working secretary of the Surbiton Flying Club for many years. He was a great worker at the club on marking nights and enjoyed a bit of fishing and cricket. Alf fort in the Second World War in the 1940’s and was away in Italy when his daughter, Betty was born and didn’t see her for the first year of her life. Betty has Christmas and Birthday cards he sent from the front line, saying he was looking forward to meeting new daughter! Alf North a wonderful man and proper pigeon fancier!
My late brother in law Alfie liked the racing side of the sport, but also enjoyed the showing side very much and attended many shows with me as my steward when I was judging. He was a major worker at the Surbiton Flying Club and was chief clock setter for many years. Back in the day the Swan PH in Mill Street, Kingston was one of the premier Rock n’ Roll venues in the UK and the Impalas had a regular Sunday night club there, which was packed out every week for many years. We were all the Swan family and everyone knew one another and two great mates were Alfie North and Peter Wiggs. Alfie was my brother in law and sadly passed away a couple of years ago. Alfie was a regular at our Swan Sunday night club for many years and because we were both keen Pigeon racers we became good friends. When playing with the Impalas, I used to get off the stage for the Swan midsession break and sit with Alfie to talk Rock n’ Roll and Pigeons! On one Sunday night in 1970 he brought his sister, Betty, with him to the Swam and that was it, Betty and I have now been married for 53 years! We were all invited to Peter Wiggs’ wedding in April 1971 and Betty and I were married in the same church in Hook in the May of 1972. I found these old photos of these two Swan lads, Alfie North and Peter Wiggs in the Impalas file this week and after a bit of work on ‘photo shop’, I thought I would post them. Great memories of the Impalas days!
Another great old memory of the North family was back in the 1970’s when Phil and I raced our pigeons as Mott Brothers to our blue Kidby loft in our parent’s garden in Durlston Road in Kingston. We won several premier races from France in the very strong Kingston club, including the longest race from Bergerac in 1977. Betty decided she would race a few birds on her own in the Kingston club in 1978. In the first French race of the season from Laval she beat Phil and me, and when she took her clock down the club for checking on the Saturday night the member were all laughing at me and my brother because she had beaten us. They weren’t laughing when they checked her clock and she had beaten them all as well, too win 1st Kingston club, 19th Surrey Federation, 44th SMT Combine (3,801 birds). Her winner was her handsome Kirkpatrick grizzle cock, ‘The Captain’ and his nest sister, ‘Durlston Princess’ was also a good winner for the Mott Brothers. The Kingston pigeon club lads were a great bunch and we had some good fun in that very strong club in the 1970’s!
Annette Boyd of the Surbiton Flying Club.
The 1986 season saw Annette Boyd of Tolworth win 1st open S.M.T. Combine Bodmin young bird race with 3,592 birds competing, and this in only Annette's third year in the sport. The Combine winner, was known as 'Double Ace', a very nice apple bodied hen of Dordin breeding, had already started to show its potential the week prior to the Combine race when she won 2nd club from Weymouth. The dam, bred by Keith & Betty Mott of Claygate, was Annette's well known one-legged red chequer hen 'Lucky Lady'. This game little hen lost her leg as a young bird in 1985. She was found hanging from the snow guard on the roof of Annette's house, firmly caught by her ring and was rescued with the aid of a ladder. Her leg was so badly damaged that it eventually shriveled and dropped off. Annette, being the animal lover she was, would not part with the hen and housed her in a rabbit hutch hoping she would breed in 1986.
She was paired to a blue chequer cock, another Keith Mott Dordin cross, known as the 'Sherwood Cock'. The pair produced three youngsters in 1986: 'Double Ace' winner of 1st club, 1st Surrey Fed, 1st open S.M.T. Combine Bodmin; 2nd club Weymouth; 'Lucy' winner of 1st club Blandford and 'Rupert' winner of 2nd club Weymouth. 'Lucky Lady' was bred from Keith Mott's excellent Dordin pair 'Ronny' and 'The Hopwood Red Hen'. The 'Sherwood Cock' is also bred from 'The Hopwood Red Hen' when paired to Keith's seven times winner 'Warrior'.
This story really started a few years ago when Annette found a young feral pigeon in the road with a broken wing. She took it home and nursed it back to health. Once back to health the bird refused to leave and rather than see it on its own Annette purchased two more pigeons from a local pet shop. Annette had now caught the 'pigeon' bug. Annette's late father, Charlie Sherwood, was an outstanding fancier 50 years ago until he was forced to give up with chest problems. Charlie had taken a great interest in Annette's pigeons and it was he who provided eggs from his fancier friends for Annette to place under her feral pigeon and its mate. It wasn't long before she had a small team of young birds and Annette got her enjoyment by taking these to work with her and releasing them to fly home.
Her next ambition was to race them, so she decided to join the local club and contacted the then secretary of Surbiton Flying Club, Keith Mott. I encouraged her to train her birds and she competed in the last two Old Bird races of that season. I also helped her train her young birds in 1984 and she won a couple of minor positions. In 1984 Annette was given some eggs and youngsters by myself, these were from his Denys and Dordin stock. These, along with his advice were to help a lot, for 1985 saw Annette break her novice status winning two firsts and two seconds. However it was the 1986 season that was the stunning one for Annette. She won 20 positions in the club including six firsts, five seconds and 1st, 14th and 24th Federation plus 1st open S.M.T. Combine.
Annette hadn't got a loft as such; it could best be described as a 16ft long rabbit hutch, divided into four sections. The birds were trapped through bob-wires and a litter of straw was used on the floor. Design of the loft was such that the floor was at waist level which made for simple catching of the birds. The family's two pet dogs, Pinky and Perky, were housed in kennels built under the loft. There were three pairs of stock birds and these were housed in small separate hutches. Fifteen pairs of race birds were kept, these were paired up on 14th February and fifteen youngsters were reared. The birds were all raced on the Natural system, as Annette didn't like the idea of racing widowhood.
Annette worked for a local newspaper and prior to taking up pigeons was very keen on horse riding. The Boyd racing team consisted of my Denys and Dordin lines plus some Cattrysse obtained for her by her father. Annette said that the Dordins were racing the best for her. Like most Annette had had her disappointments, one in particular was during her second young bird season, when a youngster sat out for ten minutes and she clocked the second arrival and still won the race.
Both old and young birds were raced regularly provided they were fit and in a reasonable state of moult. There was no set training pattern only as and when required. Favorite nest condition for winning pigeons in the loft appeared to be sitting 10-day eggs, but of course happy and contented pigeons are a must for any success. Annette said that she got the impression that a lot of fanciers tried to treat pigeons as machines rather than thinking, feeling animals. It was for this reason that she thought Keith Mott was one of the best fanciers in the area. His birds were always healthy, happy and contented; hence they won out of turn. There was no doubt that the Keith Mott bloodlines had helped put Annette on the road to success, with a Combine winner in only her third year of racing.
The good ol’ days! Annette Boyd went as quickly as she came and packed up pigeons soon after winning the Combine. Her success was very short and sweet! When you think about it, it’s a fantastic achievement to win the Combine flying to a ‘rabbit hutch’. She wasn’t a wealth of knowledge about racing pigeons, but she loved her birds and they responded to that. A great lady!
A little look back at some of the Surbiton Flying Club legends this week, I hope my readers have enjoyed it. To view some old video footage of these fanciers and their birds go on to my YouTube channel. I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘banter’ on telephone number: 07535 484584 or email me on:
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com).
