TOM WILLIAMS
of Orpington
by Keith Mott
Tom Williams joined the London & South East Classic Club recently and has enjoyed some brilliant success racing a small team of 12 widowhood cocks. The star pigeon of the Orpington loft was Tom’s great blue cock, ‘Mr. Reliable’, and he recorded in 2011: 2nd section, 18th open L&SECC Bergerac (854 birds) being clocked at 451 miles on the day of liberation, 2012: 21st open L&SECC Alencon (1380 birds), 2nd section, 70th open L&SECC Tours (850 birds), 2nd section, 16th open L&SECC Tarbes, being clocked at 562 miles on the day of liberation. A fantastic performance!
Tom came to my home in Claygate recently to have his champion ‘Mr Reliable’ photographed and I asked him about his wonderful success racing in the L&SECC, and he told me, ‘the 2012 racing season started with about four inland races for training and then into France with the L&SECC from Alencon (203 miles). I always start each season with just 12 widowhood cocks and empty the loft for the race in hand, as I believe every bird must earn its perch. The members of the Classic sent 1380 birds to Alencon and they were liberated at 09.00hrs in an east / north east, so it turned out to be a very hard race. My good blue cock, ‘Mr Reliable’, landed on his nest box front at 14.48hrs to win 29th open and my second bird followed in to take 29th open. I spoke to the L&SECC President, Keith Mott, after timing in and he told me to clock two more arrivals I had and regretfully I didn’t record them, and being a very testing event, they would have figured in the first hundred open on the result sheet. Next race was Tours (277 miles) with the L&SECC, which were liberated at 05.30hrs in another east wind and as always I empted the loft. The members of the Classic sent 850 birds to this race and the ‘ace’ pigeon man, Gary Inkley of Hillingdon, won the race and I recorded 1st, 2nd section, 45th, 70th open, with ‘Mr Reliable’ being second bird on 2nd section, 70th open. An interesting fact was the pigeon that won 1st section, 45th open had had a night out at Alencon! The L&SECC Tarbes (562 miles) race on 22nd June was the event I was waiting all season for. This was the race that all my two year old pigeons that had survived the yearling stage must face to earn their nest box. Did I have the right pigeon and had I prepared them correctly? These were the thoughts going through my mind when taking them for marking. Race day came and the convoy were liberated at 06.55hrs in no wind. ‘Mr Reliable’ was sent pooled to the hilt and I was waiting in my garden with my hospital friend Andrew Marney, when he flew into his nest box at 20.43hrs to record 2nd section, 16th open. My great blue cock had flown 562 miles in just under 14 hours and I can’t tell you what a great thrill it gave Andrew and me. It was fantastic! I clocked my second bird next day to win 50th open. The last race was from Bergerac (451 miles) and this was a chance for my yearlings to earn their nest boxes. The loft was empted apart from ‘Mr Reliable’ and he will never race again, as he has nothing more to prove to me. He has been to France eight times, never had a night out and recorded 2nd section three times in the L&SECC, as well as flying Tarbes and Bergerac on the day of liberation. The 500 plus birds were tossed at Bergerac (451 miles) at 06.45hrs into a west wind and at 19.52, after 13 hour 10 minutes on the wing my yearling cock ‘73’ was clocked to record 18th open L&SECC. Job done!’
Tom only races a small of 12 widowhood cocks each season and these are housed in an 8ft x 8ft loft with open door trapping. He clocks his birds on rubbers and tells me he has on need for ETS with the type of racing he is interested in. Tom says he is very grateful to Ron Green who taught him his sprint racing methods and Bob Donaldson, Jimmy Gibbon, and Ron Strong who gave him sound advice when he turned his interest to long distance pigeon racing. The widowhood cocks are paired up just after the BHW Blackpool Show in January and some years they rear a baby and some year they don’t before going on the system. In the 2012 season Tom just let them sit eggs to about 18 days and then took the hens away, and they are never repaired, not even for the long distance events. Once the birds are paired up in January they are not let out of the loft, but are given lots of 5 mile training tosses while on their first drive to nest, and then are raced inland with the Federation get them race fit for Continental racing. The birds are given ‘diet’ mixture on their return from the races, apart from this they are not broken down and are fed on ‘gerry plus’ mixture. The widowhood cocks are not always shown their hens on marking night, but stay with then all afternoon on their return from the race.
The eight pairs of stock birds are kept in their own spacious loft and these are mostly Bourges (580 mile) winning bloodlines, obtained from Tom’s friends in the North East of England. The breeders are mated at the same time in January as the widowhood cocks and sometimes the eggs are under laid in the race loft. In the summer months the stock loft is cleaned out twice a day and only two rounds are bred off the stock team each year. They are mostly ‘Wearside Lass’, ‘Lionheart’ and ‘Moonlight Express’ bloodlines. Tom has been given top stock birds by his good friends, Dave McSween and Bob Donaldson, who both race very successfully in the Up North Combine and says a big thank you to them both, they are top draw! He owns grandchildren off all the star birds, including: ‘Wearside Lass’ 1st, 24th, 40th, 78th UNC Bourges (565 miles), ‘Lionheart’ 2nd, 47th, 73rd, 156th UNC Bourges (565 miles) and ‘Moonlight Express’ 1st UNC Bourges (595 miles) 2,419 birds, 1st NEHU (3,283 birds). Tom’s 30 young birds are raced on the natural system and are never put on the ‘darkness’, as he is only interested in educating his pigeons as young birds. The young bird loft is 7ft x 6ft, with open door trapping and is cleaned out twice a day. The babies are given 14 days of good training, then one race in the Federation and then closed down to have a good moult. He is not interested in young bird racing and maintains that sometimes the youngster who keeps coming home later, more often than not makes the best old bird.
When I asked Tom how long he had been in the sport he told me, ‘I’ve kept pigeons off and on since I was ten years of age and back in the 1970s and 1980s I raced in the Coulsdon & Caterham RPC, which was affiliated to the Surrey Federation. In those days I was only interested in sprint racing and was very successful with my 12 widowhood cocks. I was top prize winner for many years and in the 1983 season when we were banned from racing from France because of the ‘foot and mouth’, I won 12 of the 14 races in my club and was second in the other two. I won the Surrey, Croydon and Sussex Federation, and shortly after that gave up my pigeons due to the back biting that spoiled pigeon racing for me. In 2007 I was very ill with bowel cancer and while in hospital I met Andrew Marney, who was in the bed opposite me on the ward. Andrew is just crazy about pigeon racing and on talking to him, it transpired that I flew against his father all those years ago. At the time, I said to Andrew I wasn’t too bad at racing pigeons and if I get over my health problem, I would teach him the widowhood racing system, just as Ron Green of ‘Breakaway’ fame had taught me. After 30 weeks of chemotherapy and a couple of months' rest, we got together and now after learning the system, and a lot of dedication, Andrew can hold his own in any pigeon racing club. It is with regret that my marriage broke up after my illness and then I decided to get some birds and spend the rest of my days racing pigeons on the long distance. I got a loft together with a few pigeons and went about learning the game for long distance racing. Boy, did I struggle at the start. First lesson I learnt, get the right pigeons to do the job! I brought in the Bourges (550 mile) winning bloodlines and the good results started to come in. In 2010 I joined our local club at Orpington / Foots Cray, under the very able leadership of John Haynes and won all five races from France. The 2011 season saw me join the London & South East Classic Club to try and test my pigeons even more. In my local club I sent six birds to Poitiers (331 miles) and was the only member to clock in, taking all six positions, and winning 1st club, 5th Federation, 11th Kent Invicta Combine (1413 birds). I then sent the same six widowhood cocks to the L&SECC Bergerac (451 miles) Classic and clocked two on the day of liberation. First bird clocked was my good blue cock, ‘Mr Reliable’, and he recorded 2nd section, 18th open (854 birds). What of the future? I’m 73 years young and hope to race my pigeons as long as he above allows me to and will enjoy every minute of it.’
There you have it, the Tom Williams story! What a great fancier and I must say a very nice man. I can be contacted with any pigeon banter on telephone number: 01372 463480.
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)
