“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT
The British Homing World Blackpool ‘Show of the Year’ Experience.
I have attended most of the British Homing World’s ‘Show of the Year’ since its start in 1977, including the very first one. I think I have judged at his great event six times over the years, including being filmed by the BBC for their ‘Inside Out’ TV programme in 2007 and judging ‘Best in Show’ in 2014. I have appeared a couple of times on television with the ‘Impalas’ rock band and eight times with the pigeons, the first time in 1984, and have made countless appearances on the radio. My favourite appearance on the television was one of my most recent, BBC ‘Inside Out’, which was screened in June 2008 and then repeated in February 2009. The B.B.C. television producer, Ray Hough, sent a camera crew to the British Homing World Blackpool Show to film me judging, which was planned to be linked up with a filming session at my loft in Claygate a week later. The eight minute film also featured an in depth interview with my good friend Peter Bryant, former general manager of the R.P.R.A.
For many years four of us mates, Peter Taylor, Tony Dann, Brian Batchelor and me (‘the rat pack’) drove up to Blackpool for the ‘Show of the Year’ and had some great fun. We went there for the pigeons, but it was a great opportunity to have our annual meet up with friends from all over the UK. In my 53 years association with the wonderful British Homing World, I have made some great friends in their office and one of the highlights of going to the Blackpool ‘Show of the Year’ was meeting up with the ‘Homing World’ gang! There has been too many to mention over the years and sadly some are no longer with us, but they know who they are! Regards to you all and thanks for all your good work in producing the wonderful British Homing World for us every week! As I say there are too many BHW friends to mention, so I have included a lot of photos I have taken of the ‘gang’ at the show over the years and hope Richard and the girls can fit them in with the article!
Back in October 2013 I received a letter from the RPRA, inviting me to judge at the British Homing World ‘Show of the Year’, Blackpool in January 2014 and it goes without saying I was delighted to except, as I have always loved to do the job and consider it a great honour to be asked. This was my third time judging at the premier show in the UK and the last time I judged was in 2007 when the BBC sent a film crew to the Winter Gardens to film me and Peter Taylor for the ‘Inside Out’ programme. I then received a phone call in December 2013 from the Blackpool Show committee inviting me to take on the premier judging job in the show world, to judge the specials and Blackpool Show ‘Best in Show’. I have been judging at top National and Show Society shows for over 50 years and to judge ‘Best in Show’ at Blackpool was the crowning glory of all those years doing the job. I was highly delighted and accepted the invitation immediately. My ol’ mate, Peter Taylor, has travelled all over the UK as my steward for many years, but in recent times had not travelled because of his ‘dodgy’ leg, but I managed to get him to Blackpool to steward for me, on this great occasion. We knew the Friday of the show was going to be a hard day, with the 250 mile drive up to the Hilton Hotel in Blackpool, then attend the RPRA dinner that evening and after that the late night judging in the Winter Gardens, so we left Claygate early that morning. After a good run up to the North West, we arrived at the Hilton Hotel on the North Promenade that afternoon in fine weather and managed to get a couple of hours rest in our rooms before we attend the RPRA ‘do’ in the evening. The dinner was a very grand event held in the hotel and was attended by several premier pigeon parties from Europe and Mr. & Mrs. Eddie Collett, the Lord Mayor of Blackpool. It was nice to meet up with some ol’ friends at the dinner, including Steve Richards and Helen Edwards of the BHW, John and Pamela Robilliard and former RPRA General Manager, Peter Bryant, there with his wife Glenys. John Robilliard introduced me to David Trippett, the Blackpool Show committee chairman and David was to take Peter and I to the Winter Gardens in a taxicab after the main judging had finished, to do our final judging job.
It was late when we arrived at the Winter Gardens, just before 23.00hrs I think, and we were greeted by chief steward, Dora Pounder, and what a nice lady she was! Dora has been doing the job at the Blackpool Show for many years and was so efficient, directing us to all the pen numbers to sort out the show specials. I spent quite some time judging the 29 class winner and needless to say I went through them with a fine tooth comb! From the outset of judging there was only one winner of Best in Show, a wonderful Show Racer red hen and she was medium appled bodied, with good balance and brilliant feather quality. I loved the hen as soon as I picked her out of Pen 4 and from then on she was the one the others had to beat! A beautiful mealy was her runner up, but I found a major fault in her on her second handling and Reserve Best in Show went to a stunning looking Show Racer blue chequer hen. I gave Best Racer to a handsome pencil blue pied cock and although it wasn’t confirmed, I was told it might have won at the Blackpool Show in 2013. It was a great judging session to remember and we finished just before 01.00hrs, after which we jump in a taxi and went back to the Hilton Hotel. It was a very long day and I finally got to bed just after 02.00hrs! We got up on Saturday morning and after breakfast I was keen to get down to the Winter Gardens to see who owned the red hen and it was finally confirmed that the late John Robilliard owned that wonderful Show Racer and had won his second Best in Show at the BHW Blackpool Show. I was so delighted to hear that great news as John had given a life time’s work to our sport and deserve every success he had with his wonderful Show Racers. Talking to John after the event, he said, the hen is now called ‘Rocquaine Queen’ and she won as a young bird, and won a first at the Duchy Show in November 2013. She was bred from a pair of stock birds that John obtained at the Ken Jeffery of St Ives dispersal sale. That Blackpool Show in 2014 and judging ‘Best In Show’ was my greatest judging experience!
Back in the day I had a good chat with David Trippett and he told me the Blackpool Show committee meet about five times a year, and at that time the show has raised about three million pounds for charity in its then 42 years existence, with over £63,000-00 being donated from the 2013 event. I mentioned in that conversation with David that I attended that first BHW Blackpool Show held at the Winter Gardens in 1977 and I recalled it was staged to host the 15th Pigeon Olympiad. David told me the ‘Show of the Year’ had previously been held in Doncaster, but had to move to a bigger venue, the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, to fit in the Olympiad birds.
When I recently returned from Blackpool in January, thought I might dig out some material on that very first show and found in my archive, about fifteen black and white photos I took that weekend and an article, published in the Pigeon Racing ‘Gazette’ in March 1977. I must say the Winter Gardens looks very different now, but looking at those old photos I don’t look a day older now, than I did then. Ha! Ha! Only joking of course! Pigeons, Sex and Rock ‘n Roll has certainly taken its toll on me over those years. The main things I remember about that weekend was it was snowing, with us breaking down on the M1 motorway and walking up to the ‘Racing Pigeon’ stand at the show, and seeing the photo of my good dark pied cock, ‘John Boy’, on the front page of that week’s paper. Great days!
Seven of us left my flat in Surbiton at midday on 14th January 1977 in a hired mini-bus and our destination was Blackpool to visit the 15th Pigeon Olympiad. Our party consisted myself and Betty, my brother Phil and his wife Pauline, Alec and Molly Martin and Betty’s brother, Alfie. We broke down just south of Newport Pagnell on the M1 motorway with a split heater hose. We had to carry water in two flasks from a nearby ditch and Alec Martin fell in, and made his new ‘johns’ wet! When the radiator was full we struggled into Newport Pagnell Service Station where we spent nearly two hours hanging about while the bus was being repaired. I spoke to the late comedian, Eric Sykes, who had also broken down on the motorway and was having his car sorted out at the Service Station. We finally arrived at out hotel, The Albion, just around the corner from the Winter Gardens, at 20.00hrs and because we were so late, our evening meal had been thrown out. We finished up our first day at Blackpool in a Chinese nosh shop, where we had a really great mixed grill. At the end of our first day in Blackpool we were all well cheesed off and looking forward Day Two and visiting the main event, the British Homing World ‘Show of the Year’.
Next morning we had a good breakfast and the three ladies, Betty, Pauline and Molly, set off on a coach trip of the Lake District, which in spite of the snow, was a great day out for the girls. The ‘four lads’ were outside the Winter Gardens for the 9 o’clock opening, but first we looked around a brand new pigeon transporter which Catteralls had on show in the street next to the Winter Gardens. Little did I know at that time what a great relationship I was to have with this wonderful pigeon transport firm in later years, convoying for the London & South East Classic Club. Needless to say the transporter was first class, with a brilliant watering system and ventilation, and was decked out with wicker baskets. Once in the Winter Gardens we walked around the ‘Show of the Year’ first and it was packed to the rafters with fancier from all four corners of the UK. We met up with many interesting pigeon racers, including my ol’ acquaintance, Gerard Van Hee, and I met the Belgium champion, Emiel Denys, for the first time. I had some great success racing the Denys Brother’s pigeons in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s and it was great to meet this great fancier and shake his hand. Probably the best pigeon I ever owned, Champion ‘Kenny’, winner of 37 prizes in the first six, including 13 times 1st club and 3rd, 5th, 9th, 11th, 24th Federation was a 100% Denys Brothers pigeon. At that time I was on the RPRA London Centre committee and I bumped in to Claude Hill and Edgar Dodson who were long time members of the committee. The show was so crowded it was a bit uncomfortable trying to walk around and we made one or two purchases from the trade stands we could get near. I wanted to get up to the Opera House Foyer to meet the BHW scribe, Elizabeth O’Reilly, who wrote the ‘Ladies Loft’ column at that time and she was holding a coffee morning, to meet up with fellow scribes. Since the start of the ‘Ladies Loft’ I had written about ten items for her column and thought it would be nice to meet the lady. I finally met up with Elizabeth that afternoon and we had a chat about the fancy press in general. Next on the agenda was to see the Olympiad classes which we had not been near up to that point. The hall was very nicely set out and there was a constant crowd around the British team bench. Senior & Blakeley of Dewsbury had two Combine winners in the sporting class and Brian Senior was staying with his wife and son, Graham at the same hotel as us. This partnership had an excellent record in the Olympiads, winning three silver medals at Dusseldorf in 1973 and a gold medal at Budapest in 1975. Final we went to the Pavilion Cinema where the auction of gift birds was taking place, for a sit down and to rest our aching feet. This sit down cost Alec Martin £22, which was a lot of money in 1977, as he bought a nice yearling red chequer of a French strain. Charlie Miller made a first class job of auctioning this daft of birds for charity. Back at the hotel, after the evening meal we had a night in and I had a good few hours chat to Brian Senior.
After breakfast on the Sunday morning we left for home at 09.30hrs and we broke down yet again 20 miles north of Birmingham! There was no such thing as a mobile phone in 1977 and I had to walk 3 miles up the motorway to phone the AA, and it was very windy and freezing. Three hours later the AA turned up and sorted out the problem, and we were on our way again, arriving home in Surbiton at about 18.00hrs. It was congratulation to the RPRA Olympiad committee at that time on organizing a first class event, which was a real credit to the sport in the UK. I really enjoyed my first stay in Blackpool; it was that mini-bus that took the edge off it for me!
Well that’s it for this week! I hope my reader have enjoyed our little look back at my highlights of the BHW Blackpool Show over the last 50 years, as much as I have enjoyed digging them out! I can be contacted on telephone number: 07535 484584.
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keith mott.com)
