“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT
N.E.H.U. Annual Peterlee / South Shields Show.
The annual NEHU show was started nearly 100 years ago and was held at the Peterlee Leisure Centre for over 20 years. The centre was a very good venue for a major show and when I last attended the Peterlee event a lot years ago the halls were packed with well over 2,000 visitors. The show was run for many years by former N.E.H.U. secretary, Alfie Rothwell, and then show manager, Colin Allison of Redcar. This wonderful show outgrew the Peterlee Leisure Centre and in the last twenty or so years has been staged at a new perfect venue named the Temple Park Centre in South Shields. In recent seasons the show has been run by the current NEHU secretary, David Power, and I must say, David has been doing a wonderful job in pushing this show to even greater things in the last few years. At the time of my last visit to the South Shields venue the Show Manager was Allen Hall, who with the assistance of NEHU President, Gordon Burten, ran the event like clockwork! Fanciers showing at South Shields are competing for a wonderful array of NEHU Trophies and there is an auction of top-class pigeons, with most of the proceeds going to the British Fanciers Medical Research. The NEHU show is one of the premier events in the showing calendar and David Power informed me that the entrance fee at the first show in 1925 was 6d, in old money.
I had previously judged at Peterlee twice and had the pleasure of being asked a third time to travel to the North East of England to judge ‘Best in Show’ at the 2011 South Shields event. David Power sent me the letter, kindly inviting me and I must say, I was doubly keen to take him up on his invitation, as I had tasted the atmosphere of this brilliant one-day event twice before, having previously first judged in 1998, when Alfie Rothwell was the Secretary of the Union. I judged ‘Best in Show’ twice at the NEHU Show, the first time was at the Peterlee in 2002 and as always, the turnout was a major success with 30 trade stands and over 700 birds in the pens. The NEHU Show was the best one-day event on the show calendar and always attracted a massive crowd, with the Peterlee Leisure Centre being packed to the rafters! When I judged ‘Best in Show’ the first time, I had to sort out 20 class winners and the quality of the birds was brilliant. They were a mixture of Show Racers and Racing Pigeons and I took my time, so as to enjoy this great honour bestowed on me, to the fullest. The second pigeon to hand was a wonderful blue chequer racing hen and I knew she was the one to beat. I also picked out a very nice red Show Racer cock young bird, but in the end gave ‘Supreme Champion’ to the hen. She was owned by George Bennett of Edinburgh and had won at the Edinburgh National Show the previous weekend. This wonderful ‘doo’ had everything in the hand, outstanding feathering and eye sign, my perfect pigeon. George told me she was a Van Bruaene / Busschaert cross and won a major position from Maidstone (359 miles).
George Bennett was only a small team man and raced his 17 pairs on the natural system, keeping mainly the Kirkpatrick family. He had always had pigeons, being in partnership with his father when he was a lad and started racing on his own at his Edinburgh address in 1995. He paired up in March, trained hard and started racing in April. He fed the same quality mixture all the year round and liked showing, as it gave him an indication of how the birds would be for the following racing season. He raced 40 youngsters on a semi-widowhood system, and they were not put on the darkness system, so left to mature naturally. He sent his young birds through to the National (214 miles) and in the 2002 season had eight young bird races, won seven of them and won four times 1st Federation, plus five times 2nd Federation. Brilliant pigeon racing! His father, George Bennett Snr., liked sprint racing and he won the Federation ‘Gold Cup’ in the 2002 season.
The month of November 2011 saw Bobby Besant and myself make the 670 mile round trip drive up to South Shields, to judge ‘Best in Show’ at the NEHU Show, which must be rated as one of the best one day shows on the British show Calendar. Bobby was a postman and getting out of bed at 05.00hrs every day was the norm for this pigeon man. For me it was not quite so easy, but I managed to pick him up at his home in Worcester Park at 05.30hrs and we were soon on the M1 motorway, heading north. It was to be a very special weekend for Bobby and myself, as I had arranged two loft visits on our way up north, to two of the, what I consider to be two of the best lofts in Europe, in the form of Brian and Thelma Denney of Strensall and Mark and Dick Evans of Whitley Bridge. I must say, as usual I didn’t sleep to well the night before, but such was the buzz with Bobby and me, I didn’t feel at all tired on the long haul up the Motorway. The weather was brilliant for the long drive and two winter loft visits, and with the pigeon banter between Bobby and me, the four-hour journey up to Doncaster for our first visit just flew by! We arrived at our accommodation, The Little Haven Hotel, sited on the waterfront at South Shields in late afternoon and gave us just enough time to check in and get ready for the NEHU Presentation Evening to be held at the hotel that evening. Another great ‘do’! The lads in the north east sure know how to hold a great prize presentation. The place was packed, and we all enjoyed a good lady singer, followed by one of those special northern buffets. Bobby and I spent the evening in great pigeon banter with Alan Hambling and Stuart Culbert, who were also judging at the show and they race very successfully in partnership to their lofts in Barrow in Furness, Cumbria.
The Saturday was the big show day and the turnout was a great success with many trade stands and over 700 birds in the pens. I always think these big shows are a great place for fancier to meet up in the winter months and it was great to see a lot of my ol’ pals from the north east, including Rod Adams of South Shields, who was looking well in spite of a recent bad belt of flu. We also had a chat with the Wheatley family, Jeff Walton, Malcolm Nee and my good friend Fred Dickson of Cramlington, who celebrated his 94th birthday in 2019 and was still banging them in the Federation result from Bourges (581 miles) in 2011. When I judged ‘Best in Show’, I had to sort out the 20 class winners and the quality of the birds was brilliant. The first pigeon to hand was a wonderful blue chequer racing cock and I said to Bobby, ‘this is a great start and he would be the one to beat’. I also picked out a very nice red Show Racer young hen and after much deliberation over the 20 superb winners I gave ‘Supreme Champion’ to the red Show Racer hen and ‘Best Opposite Sex to the Racer’. The ‘Supreme Champion’ was owned by John and Alice Bell of Catrine in Ayrshire and at that time they had won at many National shows through the years, including ‘Supreme Champion’ at the BHW Blackpool Show in 2007. I judged at the Blackpool Show in 2007 and John and Alice won one of my classes with a blue Show Racer hen, but at this NEHU South Shields Show was the first time I met them in person.
Thousands of fanciers made the drive up to Blackpool in mid-January 2018 for the main event of the Show Racer calendar, the 46th British Homing World ‘Show of the Year’. John and Alice Bell won ‘Supreme Champion’ at the Blackpool Show for a record sixth time. There winning pigeon was a wonderful sliver blue hen, now named ‘Mary’s Dream Supreme’ after John’s late mother, Mary and she won Best in Show at the Kingdom of Fife Show (506 birds) to qualify for her place al Blackpool. The Bell show loft has had tremendous success at the Blackpool Show over the years winning: ‘Supreme Champion’ six times, including winning it three years on the trot, Reserve ‘Supreme Champion’ five times, ‘Best in Show’ twice and Reserve ‘Best in Show’ twice. ‘Mary’s Dream Supreme’ is a half-sister to ‘Bell’s Young Supreme’, the Blackpool ‘Supreme Champion’ in 2016. A fantastic achievement! I had a conversation with John after the Blackpool show and he told me that they had a bad start to the current show season, with Alice going in and out of hospital over the period of the first three major shows, but once she got back in to her roll of the pigeon management they won BIS at the RPRA Southern Region Show (six firsts), BIS at the Kingdom of Fife Show (six firsts) and BIS at the Black Country Show (two firsts). John and Alice had two class winners at the Blackpool Show, with a young blue chequer hen winning: Best Hen, Best Young Bird, Reserve ‘Best in Show’ and the loft won ‘Fancier Gaining Best Points’.
I have had the great pleasure of judging several times at the NEHU Show at both Peterlee and South Shields over the years, including ‘Best in Show’ a couple of times. On one occasion that I judged BIS in 2011, Eric and Nicky Yule won ‘Best Opposite Sex’ with their wonderful blue chequer cock ‘Andy Carroll’. This champion cock won many shows and was ‘Best in Show’ at the NEHU Show the year previous, in 2010. I could write all day long about the Yule’s wins at Open and National show, but two other outstand pigeons were: ‘Murphy’ winner of many firsts, including ‘Best in Show’ at the RP Old Comrades Show and ‘The Blackpool Cock’, also the winner of many firsts, including winning first two years on the trot at the BHW Blackpool Show.
I visited Eric's Aberdeen home in 1997 and was greatly impressed by the man and his wonderful team of multi-purpose pigeons, which have excelled at racing and showing. Over the years Eric has recorded many major positions in national long-distance races, with 1996 being his best season, winning 3rd North Section Sartilly (1) SNFC (587 miles); 1st North Sect Rennes SNFC (631 miles); 1st North Sect Sartilly (2) SNFC. At that time the loft had won Best Racer in Show at the BHW Blackpool Show twice and also twice at the RP Old Comrades Show. Eric had had outstanding success with his good Kirkpatrick red chequer cock which won ‘Best Racer in Show’ at both the major shows in one season. A fantastic performance! ‘The Red Cock’ had also been a good racer, winning many cards in races up to 300 miles. At that time Eric's, smart 20ft loft had four sections and the birds were trapped through drop holes. The main loft had a closed-in front to keep the inmates warm and dry and the nest boxes were also very secluded, with hardboard fronts. Eric began in the sport in 1963 with a pair in a rabbit hutch and was only really interested in long-distance racing. His 40 pairs of natural racers were paired up in early February and, after rearing a pair of squeakers, were parted again. They were trained and race the first four races apart, and then were re-paired for the rest of the season, it with the long-distance nationals in mind. The old birds got three 25-mile training tosses every week through the season. The birds were hopper fed a good mixture, with extra maize being added as the distance increased. The star bird on my visit to the Aberdeen loft was a blue chequer cock and he was a blend of several top long-distance families which run through the loft. This cock had won several cards racing, including 1st North Section, 85th open Rennes (SNFC) 631 miles, being sent feeding two big youngsters. A good type as well as good performance was preferred when selecting stock birds. Stock birds were paired up the same time as the racers so their first round of eggs could be floated in the racing loft. Since my visit to their loft in 1997, Eric and Nicky have won it all, including ‘Supreme Champion’ and ‘Best in Show’ at the BHW Blackpool Show in 2020.
The Eric and Nick Yule partnership has an excellent racing and showing record over many years, with the highlights being: 1st North Section SNFC Rennes (643 miles), three times 1st North Section SNFC Sartilly (587 miles), 1st North Section SNFC Frome (415 miles), 1st North Section SNFC Littlehampton (451 miles), ‘Best in Show’ at the NEHU Show, ‘Best in Show’ at the RP Old Comrades Show, three times ‘Best Racing Pigeon’ at the BHW Blackpool Show, three times ‘Best Racing Pigeon’ at the RP Old Comrades Show and the most recent in 2020, ‘Supreme Champion’ and ‘Best in Show’ at the BHW Blackpool Show. A wonderful all-round loft performance!
In my near 50 years as a pigeon fancy press ‘scribe’, you can imagine how many premier lofts I have visited over the years and my visits to Rod Adams’ railway siding racing loft are some of my most memorable. I first became aware of Rod Adams in the early 1980’s when I saw him on ‘The Fancy’ television programme, which featured the Up North Combine and some of its premier members at that time. It featured several top lofts, including Ralph Iley and Bill Porritt, whose lofts I also had the great pleasure to visit in later years. ‘The Fancy’ was one of the best things, featuring pigeon racing I’ve ever seen on TV and it remands one of my favourites until this day. I don’t think Rod races his pigeons now, but like myself, writes in the fancy press regularly and keeps a few pairs of birds in his back garden to play with. For many years he had concentrated on the longest old bird race from Bourges, which is 570 miles to the North-East. On my second visit to his loft in 1998 he had been rewarded for his dedication by winning 1st open Bourges in the mighty UNC. He maintained that there is nothing better than a pigeon that flies 15- or 16-hours home on the night from this race point. His greatest performance, he felt, was his Bourges Combine win, although through the years he had had some good hens which had had dual high positions in the UNC returning on the night from Bourges. At that time the loft had recorded five times 1st Federation from Bourges in the last few years, which is a fantastic achievement.
The sport of pigeon racing lost one of its best ever fanciers when the great Dr. Ralph Iley passed away, at the age of 83. I had the great pleasure of meeting Ralph several times through the years and visited his loft in the mid-1990s, with ‘Many Miles with Mott’ video team. He loved the sport and even after so many year racing pigeons, he always seemed to have the enthusiasm of a new starter. Ralph is famous for the good work he did in the sport, especially for his beloved Up North Combine. Ralph had been president of the Up North Combine for well over 30 years and said he had seen a lot of changes in our sport in that time. When visiting his loft a few years ago he told me he thought the main progression had been going over to the road transporter, since which the Up North Combine has never once failed to get all the birds to the race point, at that time. This is a fantastic achievement when you realise that on some Up North Combine races there are 15 road transporters and over 20,000 birds taking part. Ralph also told me that the Up North Combine is a limited company and has a wonderful team of workers behind it. Ralph built his first loft as a schoolboy in 1939, and joined the Percy Main Club, and his first pigeons were obtained from his later to be father-in-law. He liked the middle to long-distance races but had won his fair share of sprints and had been 2nd Open Up North Combine a fantastic seven times through the years, although he had never won the Combine. In 1991 he was 2nd Open Up North Combine in three races on the trot, from 360 miles through to 580 miles. Another legend has left our sport!
At the time of my most recent visits to the NEHU South Shields Show, David Power had been the NEHU secretary for thirteen years, taking over from Alfie Rothwell when he retired and told me he really enjoyed the job. David is so dedicated to his job at the Union and works long hours to ensure the smooth running of the office. At that time the NEHU had 4,500 members and distributed about 160,000 rings. He had been a pigeon fancier for over 45 years and won his first race in 1966 with a gay pied hen, from Welwyn Garden City. He maintained he was a channel racing fancier, winning at all stages through France and had won the very strong Newcastle and Northumberland Federations. The Power loft flew the natural system and the main family kept were Jan Aarden for long distance racing. With his then pigeon partner, Andy Douglass, David won 1st, 2nd Federation, 7th, 11th Up North Combine Bourges (580 miles) and lifted the ‘Best 2 Bird Performance’ in the Up North Combine in the 2009 season. He told me that with his young family and the long hours he puts in at the NEHU office, he had no real system with his pigeons, but just enjoyed racing them when he could. His wife, Helen, was a great help with his pigeon racing and he preferred young bird racing, winning the Federation with them in recent seasons. His smart loft was on the same gardens as the 2002 ‘Queen’s Cup’ winners, Jimmy and Keith Derbyshire.
There you have it for this week! You can relay any pigeon comments to me on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email:
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com).
