The Spelthorne Breeder/buyer 2014

Details: Published: 01 January 2020; Hits: 700

KEITH MOTT

The Spelthorne Breeder/Buyer 2014

I would like to start this week’s article by saying congratulations to Terry and Carole Smart of Walton who celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary on 8th February. They were married in St Peter’s Church, West Molesey in 1964 and have been great workers for our sport over the years, including eight years as secretaries of the London & South East Classic Club. My younger brother Phil and I started keeping pigeons in the 1950s and our pigeon career started when we obtained a pair of birds, ‘Alma’ and ‘Charlie’, from a school friend, which we housed in a small rabbit hutch. Our first pair of pigeons were bred at the loft of Terry Smart, who was in partnership with the Groombridge family of Kingston and it is common knowledge that Terry with his wife Carole became the secretary of the London & South East Classic Club some 25 years later and did a brilliant job of it. Although Terry has had a big involvement in the sport over the years, he hasn’t raced for twenty years and is making a comeback in the 2014 season. A ‘smart’ new loft has been made and erected in the Walton back garden by good friend Richard Kent, and I’ve started him off again with some premier Eric Cannon and Brian Denney youngsters. He tells me Ray Hammond of Godalming is also gifting him top quality youngsters to aid his new start up. Terry would like to thank Richard for all his good work on the new loft, he did a brilliant job! Terry wants to race mainly long distance, but tells me he is going to get a few sprinters from a friend in the Up North Combine to have some fun in the Spelthorne club.

I recently had a chat with Terry, the hard working chairman, auctioneer and general ‘dog’s body’ of the Spelthorne SRFC to check up if their Grand Breeder /Buyer and Young Bird Open Race will be happening again for 2014. This event in only two seasons has become one of the top attractions in the pigeon racing calendar in London and the Home Counties area. Sure enough, Terry advised me that the plans are well in hand for the event to take place again in 2014. To date the club has over 70 pens booked with fanciers from all over the country taking part, with a select draft being sent down from top Midland National Flying Club members in Nottinghamshire, plus top birds from Cheshire, Liverpool, Yorkshire, Wales, with a special attraction of a daft of birds from top fanciers from Southern Ireland. Peter ‘Italian Stallion’ Obertelli of Mansfield has obtained ten top youngsters from Midlands fanciers and added to the usual birds from top National and Classic winning lofts form Hertfordshire, Surrey, Middlesex, Berkshire and London, it should be quite a night. The Auction will be held at Spelthorne Sports and Social Club, Staines Road West, Sunbury on Thames, TW15 1RY, just one mile from Junction 1 of the M3 Motorway on Tuesday evening 15th April. As per the rules all birds must be in the pen on the night and paper work only will not be accepted. This little club pays out 85% of the sale income after expenses and in the 2013 sale paid £2470, and in 2012 £1750 in prize money. This prize money is flown for in conjunction with Spelthorne SRFC Young Bird Open Race, to be flown from Yeovil (4176) on Wednesday 13th August. Terry tells me 85% was paid out in prize money and last year £560 was paid in prize money to the first three positions. Terry advised that most people had been contacted but if he has missed any one out please contact him direct on telephone number: 07923 014431. Of course there will be the usual half page advertisement in the Fancy Press.

The Spelthorne Breeder / Buyer has been won two years on the bounce by Mick & Lorna Dickinson & Sons of Hemel Hempstead. I really first became aware of Mick and Lorna’s outstanding racing performances after they won the Spelthorne Breeder / Buyer race from Yeovil in 2013 for the second year on the trot. Terry Smart took me up to Hemel Hempstead to meet the Dickinson family, and I must what nice people they are, making us very welcome. The 2012 season saw Mick and Lorna win 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Spelthorne Open race and their fourth bird, which was bred by them, won 1st Breeder / Buyer (£1,000). The partners had a brilliant 2013 racing season winning: 45th open NFC Messac, 55th open NFC Cholet, 92nd open BBC Carentan, 97th, 99th open BBC Niort (both pigeons found in the loft on my return from work), 49th, 63rd open BBC Bordeaux, 17th open NFC Tarbes, 1st Spelthorne Breeder / Buyer Yeovil with Mick Nunn’s pigeon (£1,000), sent 16 birds to the NFC Carentan young birds National to win 35th, 55th, 57th, 58th, 280th open (3,330 birds) and 39th open BICC Guernsey (provisional).

When I asked Mick about the early days and how he started up in the pigeon racing sport he told me, ‘I was born in Chipperfield, a small village about five miles from where I now live. I started keeping pigeons with some fantails which I caught from a dove cote when I was nine years old and my first racing pigeons came from Bob Anderson of Watford, who worked with my father at the ‘Sun’ printers. My grandparents lived nearer the school I attended, so I kept my pigeons in their garden and I also kept chickens there. I used to do a paper round and worked on a farm, to save enough money to buy an 8ft x 6ft shed which was my first proper loft and started racing at 15 years old, when I joined the Hemel Hempstead North Road Club which had about 60 members; unfortunately the club disbanded some years ago. I used to take pigeons training on the back of my motorbike and I never had any shavings left in the basket when I let them go! In those early days I used to help work out the club results and this was all done by hand, using long division with some of the clocks varying by 4 or 5 minutes. I remember the old Toulet clocks, when the strike from the second bird in the clock would be in before the first bird and the strike would cover about 20 seconds - those were the days! My first strain of pigeons I had were Sions, which I obtained from a fancier who ran a pub in Edlesborough, near Leighton buzzard and a young bird from them won my first card, 6th club Newark. After a few years on the north, I joined the Boxmoor South Road Club of which I am still a member. After getting married and starting a family, we have two sets of twins, three boys and a girl, I had a few years away from club racing due to work and extending our house, but I still sent to the National races when I could. I am a self-employed builder, which is the wrong trade for pigeon racing, being very busy in the summer and quiet in the winter’.

Peter Wells of Dunstable won the Spelthorne open Yeovil race in great style last season. Pete enjoyed a great 2013 season, winning several first and 1st,2nd, 4th, 6th section, 2nd,3rd,6th, 9th open BBC Carentan (2,617 birds), 2nd, 4th, 7th section E, 47th, 68th, 94th open NFC Carentan, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th section, 11th, 28th, 30th, 32nd open L&SECC Messac, 15th section E, 19th open NFC Messac, 5th, 6th section, 13th, 14th open BBC Messac, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th Spelthorne Open Yeovil 112 miles (617 birds). A great season!

The Peter Wells loft has had some great seasons for many years racing in the Combine, Classic and National. Peter has been a fantastic pigeon racer since he started up in the sport in 1974, but is mostly noted for being the owner and racer of one of the greatest sprint pigeons in the world of pigeon racing ever, Champion ‘Super Lou’. This wonderful Joseph Van Ramadonk widowhood cock was bred by Louella Pigeon World at Leicester and Peter purchased him in a batch of pigeons, which were eight for £80, so ‘Super Lou’ cost him £10. This champion blue chequer pied cock won 52 first prizes, including 16 times 1st Federation, 1st open Combine and several Open races. Peter told me, he has clocked ‘Super Lou’ and then had a batch of five come together five minutes later and taken the first six in the Federation result, that how good that pigeon was! He was always paired to ‘Brandy’ and she was another one from the Joseph Van Ramadonk job lot, and she was also another brilliant racer, winning several premier races. Champion ‘Super Lou’ was sold back to Louella for £11,500!

Three Borders Federation

I recently had a telephone conversation with the Three Borders Federation secretary, Bryan Poulton, and he tells me he has had discussions with the Solent Federation about some 2014 transport arrangements. The SMT Combine committee recently held a meeting and it was decided that the Combine will be transported with the Solent Federation for all French races in the 2014 season. Bryan said, ‘This will be a proving year and if the logistics and economics are of equal benefit to all the Federations, including the South Coast Federation, then an Amalgamation could be formed for 2015’.

The 2014 Three Borders Federation race programme is: OB: 12th April Wincanton: 19th April Wincanton: 26th April Yeovil: 3rd May Honiton: 10th May Falaise (SMT Combine): 17th May Exeter: 24th May Fougeres (SMT Combine): 31st May Honiton: 7th June Yelverton: 14th June Messac (SMT Combine): 21st June Taunton: 28th Nort sur Erdre (SMT Combine): 5th July Yeovil: 11th July (Friday Liberation) Bergerac (SMT Combine): YB: 2nd August Blandford: 9th August Wincanton: 16th August Yeovil: 23rd August Blandford: 30th August Taunton: 6th September Exeter: 13th September Yelverton (SMT Combine).