“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
Winter Club Open Shows 2017.
The beginning of November marked the start of the 2017 show season and I must say I was looking forward to visiting some the major shows, this winter. Although I love long distance racing pigeons, many of my racing friends can’t understand my passion for showing pigeons. I could never turn pigeons off and when racing was finished in September, the Mott loft went into showing mode. I have to have my ‘fix’ twelve months in every year. I suppose I’m a bit of a frustrated show man at heart! I think breeding pigeons for type and winning with them at a Classic show is as much an art as breeding outstanding racers, and winning a National race. I derive as much pleasure out of seeing a Best in Show winner at the National shows, as I do a National race winning pigeon, but I think I’m one of the lucky ones, as I can enjoy both sides of our great sport. Although I’m mostly known for the racing side of the sport, I have a big involvement in the Show Racers scene and have judged at all the Classic and National shows through the years, which I have really enjoyed.
My first outing in November was the Godalming Open Old Bird Show, held at their HQ, the Elstead British Legion Club. The pigeon club have only moved in to this venue in recent seasons, after many years at the Shackelford Social Club and what a brilliant place they have there in rural Surrey. They have a very nice bar and activities hall on site, which is wonderful for holding their winter shows in, with good light and plenty of space. The British Legion has also provided the pigeon lads with a good area to mark their birds and set their timing equipment. It was a Sunday morning show, which attracted 120 old birds and I made the 25 miles drive down to Elstead with my ol’ mate, Terry Haley. The ‘Watford Wizard’ judged the cocks class and gave the red card to a handsome blue chequer pied cock, which was owned by Mick Tuck. There was 64 cocks in the class and Mick told us after the show that the cock had won a race from Bergerac (450 miles). I judged the 57 old hens and David Robinson won this big class with a beautiful blue chequer pied hen. Dave is always someone to look out for at the Godalming shows and his hen was in ‘mint’ condition. Mick and David both received a very nice Rose Bowl each for their win. I really enjoyed the morning out at the Godalming show and met up with some great fanciers, including my good friend, Clive Turner, who I hadn’t seen for a while.
Godalming & Dist RPC has a long history of top quality fanciers going back to the 1920s, with well-known names of the time, such as H. H. Boshier, the mayor of Godalming, winner of 1938: 4th Open Marande, 1939: 2nd Open Marande; Mr. Raynesford winner of 2nd Open San Sebastian in 1935 and Seaman Brothers 2nd Open Marande in 1937. Other top long distance fanciers in Godalming in those early days were C. R. Gush and the great Harold Edgington. Harold was the father of the late Stan Edgington who unfortunately passed away early in 1995, and who made a huge contribution to pigeon racing locally and was a great loss to the club. The club has strong ties with the NFC, as a clock station, and the home of well over twenty 1st Section winners in Sections A. and E. Modern-day National winners in Godalming Club are: Paul & Arthur Bridgewater, 1st Open Nantes NFC and Eric & Pat Cannon, lst Open Sartilly NFC and a wonderful 16 times 1st Section. Other Classic organizations are also well supported by club members, including BBC and the BICC. The club was a long-time member of Surrey Federation and was one of its largest clubs, with Godalming members winning a long line of 1st Open S.M.T. Combines and Federation wins through the years. Racing in Godalming has always been very competitive with many well-known fanciers competing most weeks. There are about 50 members and a very large radius of ten miles from Godalming Station, with members flying to locations as far apart as Headley Down, Farnham, Farnborough, Woking, Cranleigh, and Wormley. The club now race in the South Coast Federation and enjoyed a brilliant 2017 season, winning four times 1st Federation and 1st Amalgamation twice from France. George Trussler & son won the Federation from Kingsdown with their game little blue pied hen and this young bird was raced natural to the perch, and was not put on the ‘darkness’ system. Wally Cable has been a member of the Godalming club for twenty years and he won 1st and 2nd Federation from Messac (230 miles) in the 2017 season. His winning pigeon was a Staf Van Reet gay pied hen, sent to the race sitting 12 day old eggs, and she was bred by Wally’s good friend, Darran McFadden.
Mick Tuck started his 2017 channel race campaign with a ‘big bang’, when he won the South Coast / Surrey Federations Amalgamation from their first race of the season from Fougeres in early May. The convoy was held over for a day and the birds being liberated in a head wind suited Mick’s natural racers perfectly. He won the Amalgamation with his good yearling blue cock ‘Blackpool Special’ and I had the pleasure of handling the winning pigeon on a recent visit to the Witley loft. This super apple bodied cock has had some good previous form, winning 1st club, 2nd Federation Wadebridge as a young bird in the 2016 season. His dam is one of Mick’s best Eric Cannon racing hens and although the Amalgamation winner is a cross, he looks and handles very much to the Cannon type. His sire is a Leo Heremans pigeon which Mick and his good friend, Ron Gammage purchased between them at the BHW Blackpool Show in 2016, and he was bred by Mr. & Mrs. Gregson of Preston. The Tuck loft continued to have a brilliant 2017 old bird racing season and finished up with winning the longest old bird race by recording: 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th Godalming club, 5th South Coast Federation, 5th Surrey / Sussex Amalgamation Bordeaux (445 miles). Mick clocked two of the Godalming club’s five day pigeons and his winner was an Eric Cannon yearling blue chequer hen, sent on hatching eggs on the day of marking. Brilliant pigeon racing!
Whenever Vince and Sue Durrant and their son, Jack, compete with their pigeons they are successful and the 2017 season was particular outstanding for them, with the highlights being 1st club, 1st South Coast Federation, 1st Surrey / Sussex Amalgamation Messac (250 miles), 2nd section E, 5th open NFC Tarbes Grand National (549 miles), 2nd club, 7th South Coast Federation, 8th Surrey / Sussex Amalgamation Bordeaux (433 mils). The partner’s Messac Amalgamation winner was the two year old widowhood red pied cock, ‘Jack’s Lad’ and he was bred in the stock from a cock that came from the late Eric Pearson of Godalming. Eric passed away a couple of years ago and was a life time member of the Godalming club, winning many premier prizes, including 1st SMT Combine and the ‘Spanish Diploma’ with the BBC. Nice to see Eric’s line still winning through ‘Jack’s Lad’! Jack Durrant tells me the Messac winner is a firm favourite at their loft in Surrey and he won the Amalgamation by 20 ypm. The Durrant partners sent a small team of pigeons to the NFC Tarbes Grand National (549 miles) and recorded their super blue pied hen, ‘Vince’s Pride’ on the day of liberation. She was one of only five NFC pigeons clocked on the day and won 2nd section E, 5th open. A wonderful performance! She was also bred in the stock loft from a grandson of Eric Cannon’s Champion ‘Culmer Gold’ and a hen bred by Ray Hammond, which Jack purchased in the Godalming Breeder / Buyer sale. Ray’s hen won the ‘Futurity Race’ before going into the Durrant’s sock loft and on the weekend of the 2017 NFC Tarbes race another daughter off her won an inland race. To finish off a very successful 2017 old bird season Vince, Sue and son, Jack sent a team to Godalming club’s longest race from Bordeaux (433 miles), when the membership only clocked five pigeons on the day of liberation. The Durrant family clocked their good blue cock, ‘Blue Twin’, on the day, to win 2nd club, 7th South Coast Federation, 8th Surrey / Sussex Amalgamation. This game cock was bred from an Alasdair Muir cock and a hen from the loft of Ray Hammond, and Jack tells me he won 1st club Salisbury in the 2016 racing season. Pigeon racing at its best!
Another nice sunny Sunday morning in November saw me dive over the River Thames to judge a class of old hens at the Spelthorne Open Show. This club never stands still and have regular activities at the Football club HQ in Sunbury, including the Winter Open Shows and the big Summer Breeder / Buyer and Open Race. The show was well attended and my ol’ mate, Terry Smart, wasn’t showing so he kindly stewarded for me. He told me he hoped to be running Spelthorne Breeder / Buyer again in 2018. As always the quality of the birds competing in the show was 100% and with 65 birds being entered the result was: 1st Gary Essex, 2nd Gary Essex, 3rd Les Penycate, 4th P. & L. Worley, 5th R. Okey, 6th P. Halford, 7th R. Okey. This was the first time that Gary Essex has shown at the Spelthorne Open and he hit the jackpot, winning 1st and 2nd, and lifting nearly £70 in prize and pool money. His winner was his good Van Roy dark hen; ‘Mayzie’s Delight’ and she had flown the channel several times, but was more successful in the stock loft, having bred some good channel racers for the Essex loft.
The Spelthorne South Road is only a small club with maximum twenty flying members, based at Spelthorne Sports and Social Club, Staines Road West, Sunbury on Thames, just one mile off Junction 1 of the M3 Motorway. Small club it might be, but is of the highest quality, having some brilliant success in Three Borders Federation in the 2017 racing season and had 107 positions, including seven times 1st Federation. The club was runner-up for the Federation ‘Points Trophy’ and the 2017 Federation winners were: Paul Johnson 1st Federation Blandford (1,211 birds), Terry Smart 1st Federation Exeter (1,018 birds), D. Seedwell 1st Federation Kingsdown (649 birds), Derek Reid 1st Federation Messac (317 birds), Richard Kent 1st Federation Yeovil (740 birds), Paul Johnson 1st Federation Messac (435 birds), Richard Kent 1st Federation Blandford (769 birds). Paul Johnson won two trophies in the Three Borders Federation in the 2017 racing season.
Terry Smart is the chairman of Spelthorne South Road Flying Club and he organizes and runs their very successful annual Breeder / Buyer sales, which have now become one of the main local pigeon events each year. In the early years of the L&SECC he started their legendary Breeder / Buyer sales which raised a lot of revenue for the club in its infant seasons. My ol’ sparring partner, Terry Smart lives in Walton-upon-Thames and was the breeder of the very first pair of pigeons Phil and I had when coming into pigeons as young boys in the 1950’s. Smarty raced in partnership with the Groombridge family at that time and is from a good pigeon racing family, with his dad being an outstanding pigeon fancier in the Kingston area for many years. Some of my readers may remember Terry as the hard working Secretary of the London & South East Classic from a year or so after its formation and I am sure a lot of you out there have diplomas written by his wife Carole, who was also a major part of the secretarial set up then. Her diplomas were a joy to read written in such a fine script. Terry was one of the pioneers of the L&SECC in the early days and with his wife, Carole, was the Classic secretary and driving force for many years. Terry was very successful racing his pigeons when I first met him in the 1950’s and is still winning pigeon races at the top level today. He only keeps a few pigeon and in his own words, his loft is the size of a sheet of ply wood! After a few years off from the sport, he returned and won 1st Three Borders Federation Blandford (1,688 birds) in the 2014 season. The 2017 racing season has seen him win several premier positions in the Federation, including 1st Three Borders Federation Exeter (1.018 birds) and he clocked one of his good Ray Hammond pigeons to win 27th open in the CSCFC Pau (550 miles) open race. It’s a real pleasure to see one of the workers doing well racing his pigeons.
Richard Kent is a born racer and in recent years has raced his Ducati motor cycle at a lot of the premier race circuits in the UK, including Brands Hatch in Kent and Oulton Park in Cheshire. He tells me he has been around the race circuit on the Isle of Man on his bike several times. These days he gets his sport by racing his pigeons and has enjoyed some outstanding success in recent seasons. The Three Borders Federation sent 1,211 birds to Blandford (80 miles) for the first old bird race of the 2017 season and Paul and Rube Johnson of the Spelthorne club won the race, beating club mate, Richard Kent, into 2nd Federation on decimal point. After that Richard never looked back and had a brilliant 2017 season, recording many top positions including 1st Three Borders Federation Yeovil (740 birds) with an old bird and 1st Federation Blandford (769 birds) with a youngster. His old bird Federation winner was his yearling blue chequer widowhood cock, ‘Alex’ and he was bred from stock birds obtained from Brian Trussler and Danny Allison. The top racer in the Kent loft is a tiny little blue cock named ‘Champion Roo’ and he might be very small but he can race, winning 2nd Federation Blandford, 7th Federation Yeovil, 10th Federation Exeter, plus 1st club Blandford and 1st club Kingsdown. Richard Kent’s performances in the 2017 season were: (OB): 2nd Federation Blandford (1,211 birds), 6th, 7th, 10th, 11th Federation Exeter (1,018 birds), 3rd Federation Kingsdown (649 birds), 1st, 8th Federation Yeovil (740 birds), 10th, 19th, 20th, 21st Federation Honiton, (YB): 1st, 2nd, 3rd Federation Blandford (769 birds), 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th Federation Yeovil (1,023 birds), 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th Federation Yeovil (918 birds), 19th, 20th, 21st Federation Blandford (1,148 birds), 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th,11th, 14th, 18th 19th, 20th Federation Kingsdown (1,108 birds), plus eight firsts, eleven seconds and nine thirds in the very strong Spelthorne club. He finished up the season by winning 3rd section, 21st open BICC Guernsey (YB) and won the Old Bird Inland Average, Young Bird Average and Combined Inland Average in the Three Borders Federation. Brilliant pigeon racing!
Derek Reid of Weybridge has been one Surrey’s premier pigeon racers since starting up in the sport in 1984, winning top honours in Federation, Combine and National every season.
Derek won the Three Borders Federation from Messac in 2017 with his outstanding two year old blue cock, ‘The 67 Cock’ and he was raced on the widowhood system. This handsome cock has a very impressive racing record winning: 2017: 1st club, 1st Federation Messac, 1st club Honiton, 2016: 2nd club Exeter and three times 4th club, beat by loft mates for 1st club. He is bred from a Mr. & Mrs Duggins cock when mated to a full sister Derek’s, Champion ‘Ryan’s Express’, winner 1st open NFC St. Nazaire (8,696 birds) in 2005. The M. & D. Evans hen is a De-Rauw-Sablon, which has bred many winners and Derek rates this wonderful breeder as his best hen ever. The Federation winners sire has been an exceptional racer winning: 2009: 132nd open NFC Saintes (4.417 birds), 2010: 8th open NFC Saintes, 2011: 91st open NFC Alencon (4,131 birds), 36th open BICC Alencon (3,338 birds). Another highlight of Derek’s 2017 racing season was the Spelthorne Breeder / Buyer race from Kingsdown (293 birds), when he recorded 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 13th open. Derek won seven trophies in the Three Borders Federation in 2017 including: ‘Old Bird Average’, ‘Old Bird Continental Average’, ‘Combined Average’, ‘Best Average Two Longest Old Bird Races’ and ‘Best Average Longest OB & YB Races’.
Derek Reid has a fantastic racing record over many years some of his best pigeons are: the blue cock, Champion ‘Ryan’s Express’: 1st section E, 1st open NFC St. Nazaire in 2005, Champion ‘Dark Smaragd’: 1st section G, 1st open BBC Palamos (675 miles) in 2005, Champion ‘Wim’: 1st section G, 1st open BBC Bordeaux (450 miles) in 2006, ‘Black Jack’: 2nd section, 2nd open BBC Bordeaux in 2006 ( beaten by ‘Wim’) and ‘The Tours Cock’: 2009: 1st Three Borders Federation, 2nd SMT Combine Tours (280 miles).
I visited Derek’s home in Weybridge just after his Federation win in July 2015 and what a fantastic garden and loft set up he has there in Surrey. He lives about a mile or so from where my daughter, Caroline, lives, so I was familiar with the area and we could not have picked a better day weather wise for the loft visit. Derek has several smart lofts at the bottom end of his massive lawn and all had pan tiled roofs. He races the widowhood system and uses tradional widowhood nest boxes. The lofts are all closed in and the main widowhood racing loft is fitted with a big trapping station for ETS clocking, and has a corridor, with grill floors for easy cleaning out. The stock birds have a very spacious loft, fitted with a wire flight so the inmates can get out in the weather. Derek’s young birds have their own loft and when I visited; his wife was out giving the youngsters a training toss. Talking to Derek after he won the Three Borders Federation from Taunton in 2015, he said, ‘I don’t know how I won the Federation from 117 miles with one of my long distance Jan Aarden cocks. The winning pigeon, ‘Louis’, is a son of my champion cock, ‘Dark Smaragd’, winner of 1st section G, 1st open BBC Palamos (675 miles) in the 2005 season and his gran dam was a daughter of Champion ‘Incredible’, winner of ten premier prizes from 620 to 793 miles, including three times Barcelona’. The Three Borders Federation sent 1,441 birds to Blandford (80 miles) for the first old bird race of the 2016 season and Derek was back at the top of the Federation result sheet, with a good two year old widowhood cock. Derek’s game cock won the Federation by 4ypm clear!
That’s our article for this week! I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘banter’ on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email me on :
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)
