“TWO OF THE BEST” BY KEITH MOTT.

“TWO OF THE BEST” BY KEITH MOTT.

Ron Ball of Northchurch.

I met up with Ron Ball in May 2020 and I must say he looked well and was looking forward to the start of pigeon racing after the COVID 19 problem had pasted. I asked him if would like to update his article that I had penned a few years earlier and said, ‘thanks for inviting me to give an update on my loft Keith, it would be very nice to have one. Looking back over the 2019 racing season, I only had seven old birds and one yearling cock raced well. He won 309^th open NFC Cholet (6,678 birds) and then went on to record 14^th section E, 48^th open NFC Cholet (3,659 birds) £715. I had a team of 28 youngsters to start the 2019 racing season and when we arrived at the NFC Coutances race I still had 25, sending 12 of them to the National. We recorded 7^th section E, 7^th, 103^rd, 183^rd, 400^th open NFC Coutances (3,246 bids). The first two birds were two blue hens bred by the Corkett family.

I sold all my birds in 2007, just keeping back my champion cock, ‘Dragoon’, as he was not filling his eggs and had a latebred hen keeping him happy. In 2009 I started back up with 15 young birds and with a small team only, I decided only National races would be flown. One of the original 15 youngsters was showing great promise and we named him, ‘Grand Union’. In 2011 he won: 10^th section E, 114^th open NFC Cholet (8,745 birds) winning £492. His next race was Tarbes (590 miles) with the NFC and he recorded: 3^rd section E, 10^th open (3,290 birds), 1^st Single Bird Club and won £3,883. The following season he won 1^st section E, 154^th open Cholet (5,886 birds) and won £638. ‘Grand Union’, what a pigeon! His sire was bred by Lloyd and Kelly of Frome from Paul Kendal ‘Morning Glory’ bloodlines and his dam was the late bred that I kept back for ‘Dragoon’ in 2007.

Looking back my National Flying Club performances started in1988 when I entered three birds in the Pau Grand National. My first bird was ‘Air France’ and he was clocked on the day at 580 miles to win 2^nd section E, 3^rd open (4,502 birds) and won £2,495. At that time it was a record amount won by a single bird in the NFC and as a yearling he won 1^st club, 2^nd Federation, 27^th Combine Bergerac (480 miles). A grandson of ‘Air France’ was my great blue chequer cock, ‘Dragoon’ and as a yearling he won 27^th section E, 44^th open NFC Nantes (11, 412 birds) lifting £377. As a two year old he went on to win: 1^st section E, 4^th open NFC Nantes (11, 670 birds) winning £2,459 and this race was hard with the convoy being liberated into a North West wind. Two weeks later I sent him back to Nantes (315 miles) with the Combine and the 3,081 birds were liberated into North East wind a on a very hot day, and ‘Dragoon’ returned home with mud on his feet to record: 1^st club, 2^nd Federation, 2^nd Combine. This wonderful cock bred me some outstanding racers including, ‘Hussar’ the winner of:2001: 3^rd section E, 4^th open NFC Herstal (6,223 birds) and won £1,613. He went on to win 31^st open BBC Bordeaux. Another top pigeon for me was ‘The Ritz’, winner of: 3^rd section E, 7^th open NFC Saintes (5,273 birds) £393, 19^th section E, 30^th open NFC Nantes (11,412 birds) £765, 7section, 27^th open L&SECC Le Ferte Bernard (1,831 birds) £222, 1^st club, 1^st Federation, 5^th Combine Picauville (3,692 birds), 2^nd club, 2^nd Federation, 8^th Combine (3,636 birds), being beaten by a loft mate. One of my very best was ‘Punto’ and she was my car winner! She was entered in the NFC Pau Grand National in 1996 and because of very poor weather and a week in the basket, the convoy of 4,976 birds were brought back to be liberated at Saintes (416 miles). ‘Punto’ won 2^nd section E, 7^th open, winning £1,265 and a new motor car, which was sponsored by Dave Allan of ‘The Racing Pigeon’. ‘Punto’ went on to win 11^th Combine Sartilly (3,317 birds)’.

The base of Ron Ball’s very successful loft is Staff Van Reet, Jan Huijbregt, De Klak / Janssen and he brings in outstanding pigeons of any family to cross with them. He says he is not interested in strains of pigeons, just good winning bloodlines! The loft is raced on the widowhood, with 24 cocks and 12 hens on the system, and these birds are raced through to Pau (561 miles) without being paired up. Ron’s racing performances over the years in the National Flying Club have been outstanding, including 2^nd open NFC Nantes, 3^rd open NFC Pau, 4^th open NFC Nantes, 4^th open NFC. Saintes, 5^th open NFC Guernsey, 3rd open NFC Vire (old hens) and 4^th open NFC Herstal. Ron says he is only interested in National and Classic races and his whole system is geared to these events. His lofts measure 80ft, including stock flights, and he has six sections set aside for the widowhood racers. The loft is paired up in stages starting at Christmas and finishing in March. The birds are fed two sorts of widowhood mixture, only being broken down on the day of the race. Ron has 12 pairs of stock birds and when a new one is introduced, it must be from top winning pigeons.

Some of Ron’s best pigeons over the years have been: ‘Silver Ring’ - This handsome pencil blue cock was a racing machine in Classic and National racing and won a lot of premier positions and prize money. These are a few of ‘Silver Ring’s’ racing highlights: 2^nd section, 2^nd open NFC Nates (8,664 birds) £1,982, 3^rd Combine Fougeres (3,002 birds), 26^th section, 453^rd open NFC Nantes (8,112 birds) £191, 45^th Combine Fougeres (2,445 birds), 27^th Combine Tours (2,041 birds), 81^st section, 268^th open NFC Messac (3,792 birds), 3^rd section, 349^th open NFC St Nazaire (4,483 birds) £510, 5^th section, 315^th open NFC St Malo (4,073 birds) £1,146, 47^th section, 202^nd open NFC Fougeres (6,726 birds), 25^th section, 51^st open NCF Alencon (6,079 birds) £528. What a brilliant pigeon!: ‘Astra’ – This blue chequer hen was a champion racer in the truest sense of the word, winning: 8^th section, 19^th open NFC old hens Guernsey (1.641 birds) £789, 16^th Combine Nantes (2,642 birds), 11^th section, 18^th open NFC Saintes (2,770 birds) £696, 9^th section, 129^th open BBC Bordeaux (1,316 birds) £83, 24^th section, 69^th open NFC Fougeres (1,388 birds) £777, 1^st section, 4^th open BBC Bordeaux (1,223 birds) £285, 2^nd section, 50^th open NFC Fougeres (1,183 birds) £1,345, 8^th section, 407^th open NFC St Nazaire (4,483 birds) £538, 11^th section, 15^th open NFC Bordeaux (2,810 birds) 1^st open Single Bird Club £571. ‘Unterseen’ – Another fantastic blue chequer hen and winner of: 1999: 3^rd open L&SECC Nantes (1,547 birds) £470, 2000: 8^th Combine Vire (2,977 birds) £209, 116 open NFC Pau (3,941 birds) £247, 2002: 49^th open NFC Pau (4,085 birds) £1,649. Ron had a wonderful young bird racing season in 2002 and the ‘star’ pigeons were: ‘Ring of Gold’ winner of 1^st section, 1^st open, 1^st ‘Gold Ring’ L&SECC Guernsey (2,145 birds) £2,390 and ‘The Kop’ the winner of 5^th section, 5^th open, 1^st ‘Gold Ring’ NFC young bird Guernsey (7,190 birds) £3,702. Ron tells me his best stock hen was the blue chequer pied hen, ‘Dutch Gold’ and she was bred by Jan Huijbregt & son. This fantastic stock hen bred many big winners for the Ron Ball loft including, ‘Astra’, Bombardier’, Hussar’ and was grand dam of ‘Grand Union’.

I can remember that weekend when Ron won the London & South East Classic Club from Guernsey with ‘Ring of Gold’! Members of the L&SECC sent a nice tidy convoy of 2,145 birds to the last young bird race of the 2002 season from Guernsey and enjoyed one of the largest pay outs of the Classic’s young bird races. It seemed like we had just started the 2002 season and I found myself going to Guernsey for my eleventh time and convoying classic young birds for the last race of the season. From the outset, this event was always going to be a hard push for the youngsters, with the strong north east wind forecast for the whole weekend. However, I’m happy to say that our members enjoyed a good hard race. I think National and Classic racing should be about testing pigeons and this event was classic racing at its best. A good finish to a great season for the London & South East Classic Club!

Ron Ball of Northchurch won the race, flying 180 miles, and recorded four of his seven entries on the day, lifting a nice £2,390. He told me at that time that his young birds had been coming well all season, but not trapping well and the weekend prior to the classic he won 5^th open NFC Guernsey (7,190 birds), winning another £3,702. Brilliant pigeon flying! Ron has a team of 60 youngsters every season, putting half on the darkness system and the other half are kept natural. The natural birds are wanted for future years and are trained well, but only given two races. The darkness youngsters are weaned into a basket for seven days, being fed on maple peas in the same pots they had in their nest boxes and are put on the darkness system straight away. The youngsters get as much training as Ron can give them and are fed twice a day on a good mixture, with plenty of maize. Ron’s Guernsey Classic winner was a handsome blue Staf Van Reet darkness cock, now named, ‘Ring of Gold’, because he won the first prize in the Gold Ring of £1,000. He was sent to Guernsey driving to nest and feeding an eighteen day old baby. His parents were obtained from Ian Stafford in the North East of England and Dean Pallatt. ‘Ring of Gold’ had three races on his build up to his classic win, which was interrupted at the beginning of the season when the loft contracted young bird sickness.

On the same day that Ron won the L&SECC, he also had five birds away racing from Lambelle (240 miles) with the British Barcelona Club. Ron recently told me, ‘I was watching for race birds that day and saw two birds coming from the West and flew over my loft, but didn’t stop, just kept going. I was sure one of those birds was mine and two minutes later they swung around and landed on the back of my loft. One of the birds was my Lambelle pigeon and no calling or whistling by me would make them move. They just sat there! I was now getting desperate and so I climbed on top of the loft to persuade my pigeon on to the landing board, was worried she would fly off again with the stray. She went into the ‘Super Trap’ and I clocked her to win 3^rd section, 28^th open (2,080 birds), 2^nd ‘Gold Ring’ £525. This blue white flight hen was a full sister to the L&SECC winner, ‘Ring of Gold’ and had previously flown Guernsey with the NFC. The second bird on the clock from Lamballe was my pencil blue cock, ‘Silver Ring’ and he recorded 5^th section, 41^st open (2,080 birds) £110. This wonderful cock became my best racer and won over £4,500 in his brilliant racing career’. ‘Silver Ring’ was another Stafford / Pallatt Staf Van Reet and in his six years racing won many premier positions in club, Federation, Combine and National. A true champion!

Mick & Lorna Dickinson & Sons of Hemel Hempstead.

I recently visited the Hemel Hempstead loft of Mick and Lorna Dickinson to record their recent racing successes and I must say, they rarely have a bad season. The star pigeon of the last few years is their De Rauw Sablon blue hen, ‘Olive’ and what a beauty she is, being well balanced in the hand, with fantastic feathering. In the 2017 season she recorded: 1^st Section, 2^nd open NFC Messac (6,904 birds) and 4^th club, 16^th Federation Honiton (2,111 birds). She was sent back to Messac the following year and was the only pigeon missing on the day, only to return home a month later badly injured. ‘Olive’ now resides in the stock loft and Mick tells me her parents have bred nine different first prize winners. These are the highlights of the Dickinson’s recent seasons: 2017: 1^st, 3^rd, 11^th section, 4^th, 7^th, 32^nd open BBC Coutances (2.804 birds): 3^rd section, 36^th open BBC Fougeres (2,039 birds): 11^th section, 44^th open BBC Bordeaux (786 birds), 20^th section, 49^th open BBC Coutances (847 young birds): 1^st club, 1^st Federation Honiton (2.111 birds): 1^st section, 2^nd open NFC Messac (6,904 birds): 2018: 14^th section, 49^th open BBC Fougeres (1,818 birds): 11^th section, 48^th open BBC Fougeres (1,165 birds): 16^th section, 41^st open BICC Guernsey (2,190 birds), 16^th section, 41^st open NFC Sigogne (2,660 birds): 7^th section NFC Coutances (646 birds): 8^th section NFC Messac (646 birds): 2019: 3^rd, 4^th section, 4^th, 10^th open BBC Fougeres Old Hens National (323 birds) only two birds sent: 1^st section, 10^th open NFC Fougeres (6,678 birds): 15^th, 19^th section, 28^th, 54^th open NFC Coutances (3,246 birds) winning over £600 ‘Gold Ring’ money.

The Dickinson partnership have a wonderful garden and loft set at their home in Hemel Hampstead, which is complimented with a big beautiful fish pond in the middle. The loft set up is: a 38ft x 8ft block built loft with a tiled roof with a corridor throughout the four sections and a corn store/office. The sections are composed of a natural section, widowhood hens and two young bird sections. There is also a 16ft x 6ft wooden loft with two widowhood cock sections and an 8ft x 6ft stock loft with a 6ft x 6ft aviary. The lofts are cleaned out every day with the race birds being cleaned out twice a day when they out flying. All birds are paired up at the end of January with the race birds rearing one youngster each, some of these are swapped from the best pairs the stock birds who themselves rear two rounds. This gives Mick and Lorna a team of 40-50 young birds per year. The hens are taken away when they leave the second round of eggs and Mick trains the hens as much as he can before they are separated, providing the spring weather is good enough!

My previous visit to the Hamel Hampstead loft was for a YouTube filming session after their wonderful 2016 racing season, which saw them win a long list of premier positions including 1^st UBI Combine twice. The two Combine winners were both yearling widowhood cocks. On my visit the partner’s son and third pigeon partner, Stuart, told me, ‘another highlight of a wonderful 2016 racing season, apart from winning the Combine twice, was the Saintes NFC race, when we clocked six from our 16 birds sent and all were in the first 200 open in the result. We have been particularly pleased with the performances of our team of yearling widowhood cocks, which hopefully bodes well for next season’. The first Combine winner was the dark chequer cock, ‘933’ and he was purchased at the 2015 Spelthorne Breeder / Buyer Auction, being bred by the very successful Hathaway & Poole partnership of Egham. This game widowhood cock achieved club and Federation positions as a young bird and went on to win: 1^st club, 1^st Inter Counties Federation (2,322 birds), 1^st UBI Combine (3,330 birds) Yelverton, velocity 1290ypm and 2^nd club Honiton (234 birds). The other Combine winner was the De Rauw Sablon / Longhurst Janssen blue chequer cock, ‘720’ and his dam won 17^th open NFC Tarbes for the Dickinson loft. In the 2016 season he won 1^st club, 1^st Inter Counties Federation (1,140 birds), 1^st UBI Combine (1,850 birds) Carentan, velocity 1883ypm. Two fantastic yearling cocks!

Two other top yearlings for Mick and Lorna in the 2016 racing season were: the blue De Rauw Sablon cock, ‘734’ and winner of 1^st club, 21^st Federation Blandford (2,000 plus birds), 1^st club, 20^th Federation Salisbury (1,997 birds), 2^nd club, 11^th Federation Blandford (1,293 birds). The blue De Rauw Sablon / Longhurst Janssen cock, ‘745’ and he won 2^nd section, 20^th open NFC Ancenis in 2016. His dam won 22^nd open NFC Saintes and his sire is inbred to ‘Smallen 970’. Other top performers were: ‘411’ winner of 3^rd section, 5^th open NFC Coutances (1,858 birds), 129^th open BICC Le Mans (3,944 birds), 49^th open BBC Fougeres (1,856 birds), ‘740’ winner of 10^th section, 67^th open NFC Ancenis, 11^th section, 29^th open BBC Coutances (1,858 birds), 21^st section, 91^st open BBC Messac (1,616 birds): ‘208’ winner of 125^th open BICC Le Mans (3,944 birds), 137^th open BBC Fougeres (1,856 birds), 225^th open BBC Coutances (1,858 birds): ‘436’ winner of 23^rd section, 62^nd open NFC Fougeres, 5^th club, 7^th Inter Counties Federation (2,322 birds), 12^th UBI Combine (3,330 birds) Yelverton. A brilliant 2016 season put up by wonderful team pigeons.

I really first became aware of Mick and Lorna Dickinson’s outstanding racing performances after they won the Spelthorne Breeder / Buyer race from Yeovil in 2013 for the second year on the trot. My ol’ mate and Spelthorne Breeder / Buyer organizer, 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 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th Spelthorne Open race and their fourth bird, which was bred by them, won 1^st Breeder / Buyer (£1,000). The partners have had a brilliant 2013 racing season winning: 45^th open NFC Messac, 55^th open NFC Cholet, 92^nd open BBC Carentan, 97^th, 99^th open BBC Niort (both pigeons found in the loft on my return from work), 49^th, 63^rd open BBC Bordeaux, 17^th open NFC Tarbes, 1^st Spelthorne Breeder / Buyer Yeovil with Mick Nunn’s pigeon (£1,000), sent 16 birds to the NFC Carentan young birds National to win 35^th, 55^th, 57^th, 58^th, 280^th open (3,330 birds) and 39^th open BICC Guernsey (provisional).

Both cocks and hens are raced on widowhood, only seeing their mates on their return for 2-3 hours. Mick sends both cocks and hens to the inland races and once they have clocked two or three all the boxes are left open. At the channel races he always leaves one of the pair at home and the widowhood birds are then paired up for the longest races. The natural loft houses any later bred youngsters and any birds that did not make the cut for the widowhood team, and these birds are eased into the season, being mostly sent later in the year. The birds are fed on a number of brands of corn to give as many different grains as possible and he will add peas when breeding and maize when racing. The partners also feed a conditioning seed and peanuts.

The premier racers in the loft at the time of my first visit were: ‘43178’: a Janssen / Van Hee from Mike and Edna Shepherd of Stevenage and has won in 2013: 6^th Sect. E, 17^th open NFC Tarbes, 98^th open BBC Niort, 151^st open BBC Carentan: ‘68790’: 55^th open NFC Cholet, 114^th open BBC Fougeres, 340^th open BICC Alencon: ‘29510’: 22^nd open NFC Saintes, 72^nd open BBC Poitiers: ‘15208’: This yearling widowhood cock has so far won; 45^th open NFC Messac, 92^nd open BBC Carentan, 290^th open NFC Carentan. A fantastic team of National and Classic racer!

When I asked Mick about the early days and how in 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’.

Mick and Lorna have eight pairs of stock and these are mostly Janssen’s from C & J Wheeler of Linslade and some Jan Arden’s brought in this year in the form of four De Raw Sablon hens. Lorna told me, they have found the Janssen’s good up to 400 miles so, they have recently introduced some distance birds. Their best stock hen, ‘The Longhurst Hen’, was purchased from the late Roy Longhurst’s sale for only £15. This Janssen hen has been a champion breeder in the stock loft and has bred birds to win; 55^th open NFC Cholet, 38^th open NFC Saintes, 114^th open BCC Fougeres, 22^nd open NFC Saintes, 69^th open NFC Saintes, 72^nd open BBC Poitiers, 32^nd open BICC Alencon, 70^th open NFC Saintes, 53^rd open NFC Saintes, 46^th open NFC Saintes and many other positions. She is very much the grandmother of the loft as her progeny have also bred many of Mick and Lorna’s best birds. They have also over last two years introduced some young birds from Dave Hazel of ‘Lezah Lofts’ for the distance races. These have crossed in particularly well with the Janssen’s and they won the Spelthorne Open race in 2012 with one, and their first young bird in this year’s NFC race, 35^th open (3,330 birds) is a cross. They told me, they are looking forward to the next few years distance races, where this new stock will hopefully perform at the distance also.

Their racing is targeted at the National races and competes in the NFC, BBC and BICC every season. Mick says, to prepare the birds for the national races we send to Boxmoor HS club races when we can and this is a very competitive club; with members including some of the strongest fliers in the country; M/M Corkett & Sons, Chitty Bros, M/M Carrick & Son, Terry Haley, Burgin & Marshall, Jeff Poole and Steve Buckle. Mick and Lorna would like to thank Dick Burgin for all the work he puts in to the club and for the training; he was good enough to take the young birds to Basingstoke for midweek training most weeks in 2013. After racing has finished in October all the birds are separated and moved to the brick built loft where they are left to go through the moult and they add barley to the mixture, and they are not let out (to avoid the hawks) until they are paired up in January. Mick said, ‘I have held most of the jobs in the Boxmoor club, including two five year stints as secretary and I also ran the Hemel Hempstead clock station for the National flying club for about 30 years. Today we race as Mr & Mrs Dickinson & Sons, with my wife Lorna being a massive help in the pigeon management, and she looks after the darkness young birds, and also takes care of any jobs if I am late home from work. My son Stuart, who lives close by, still takes a keen interest in the birds and helps clock them in on race days’.

Thanks to my ol’ mate Terry Haley for making the arrangements and riding ‘shot gun’ on these two great loft visits. I can be contacted with any pigeon news on telephone number: 01372 463480 or my new email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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