KEITH MOTT
Writes about winning fanciers past and present
Southern Counties Show Racer Society.
The Southern Counties Show Racer Society was formed in August 2004, with the main aim of having good competition for Show Racers, in a friendly atmosphere. Jim Trim, the then Society’s chairman, told me the annual subscription was only £5, with new members paying a £5 entrance fee which went into the trophy fund. The Society had a very healthy 22 fancier’s membership and had no club radius, in fact they had a member in Germany who came over and showed his birds. The headquarters is still today at the Gravesend Rugby Club, just 15 minutes off the M25 Motorway at the Dartford Crossing and they hold shows right through the winter months, plus a squeaker show in June, just for a midyear get together for the members. Shows are held on Sundays and all members have to be present by 09.00hrs to erect the show pens and judging starts at 10.30hrs. The Society own 350 show pens and have opened their entries to flying breeds, including West of England Tumblers, Birmingham Rollers, Tipplers and Racing Pigeons. They award their own Southern Counties Champion Certificate to pigeons that win five ‘best of colours’ certificates under three different judges. In December they hold the all winners ‘Best of Breeds’ show, to find their annual Supreme Champion.
Just after Christmas 2007 I was invited to judge at the Southern Counties SR Society open show and I must say, the turn out on the day was a credit to the Society, with 356 birds being exhibited in the very spacious hall. Also judging was my brother Phil, who handled mostly racing pigeons, Gordon Marsh, who was having his first bash at the show racers and I must add made an excellent job of it, Peter Taylor, who stewards for me and Ian Johnson, who judged the West of England Tumblers and Tipplers. The whole event was a wonderful spectacle! We judged about 12 classes each, but the real buzz came at the end when Phil, Gordon and I had judged the winners for the Best in Show awards, and the result was announced. The highlight of the Southern Counties Open Show for me was to see the two youngsters, John Harrold and Joanne Rice, win the two premier honours on the day.
A young lad named John Harrold of Suffolk won Best in Show with a 2007 red show racer cock and entering a team of 20 birds that day, had won a hat full of prize cards. The sire of this near perfect red youngster had won several major cards including 1st at the Dunoon Show in Scotland and BIS at the Gainsborough Show. John told me he had all colours in his show racer team, but his reds, which were obtained from his father’s friend, were particularly strong in quality and won well whenever he exhibited them. This was only the BIS red cocks second show as John’s area of Suffolk was restricted by the ‘bird flu’ outbreak at that time and he couldn’t show. He said his best performance to date was BOS at the RPRA Southern Region Show the year previous and had won four firsts at the BHW Blackpool Show. Fantastic performances put up by this young lad! John had only been into Show Races for three years and said he has three lofts, which houses his big team. He fed a heavy racing mixture and cleaned out regularly, not being keen on deep litter on the loft floors.
A fancier who won regularly at the Southern Counties Shows was teenager Joanne Rice also from Suffolk and she won BOS at the open show. Her star bird was a silver chequer show racer hen purchased from Richard Greenwood at Blackpool in 2004 and she had had very few shows but taken some useful prizes. Joanne entered a team of 20 birds in the open show that day and had a great result, winning five firsts. She started up with show racers in 2003, with pigeon obtained from Collin Bullard and John Robilliard, and told me she liked the yellows, creams and mosaics best. She had 20 pairs of show racers and got a bit of help from her father, Julian, who had had pigeons since 1980. The Rice family raced and showed pigeons and won best racer at the ‘Old Comrades’ Show in 2006.
The following December I was invited to judge at the Southern Counties SR Society open show a for the second time, alongside my brother, Phil. Gordon Marsh, Dave Savage, Ian Johnson and the hall was packed with the 357 birds entered. John Harrod of Suffolk won Best in Show for the second year on the trot with a silver blue show racer hen and won many premier cards with his team of 36 birds that day. The dam of his BIS winner was bred by John and Alice Bell of Scotland and had won several major cards including 1st at the BHW Blackpool Show. His dad, Phil, is very interested in the pigeons and drives John to all the shows. Fantastic performances put up by this young lad!
Frank and Patsy May of Gravesend won Best Opposite Sex with a wonderful young blue racing pigeon cock and he was a Jan Aarden bred by the Southern Counties SR Society chairman, Jim Trim. This pigeon really stood out standing in his pen when you walked in the hall and was a worthy win of Best Racing Pigeon in Show. Frank told me the pigeon had flown the full programme through to 200 miles in the 2008 season and was not a ‘dark’ youngster, being flown national to the perch. The May’s team of 45 young birds were allowed to pair up if they want and got three 40 mile training tosses during the racing season. The partners had a 16ft x 5ft loft and raced their 20 widowhood cocks and hens on the North Road. The main family kept were the Soontjens and liked sprint racing up to 300 miles. The birds were mated up at the end of January and only reared one nest of youngsters before going on the widowhood system. Frank told me at that time that he mixed his own corn and never broke the racers down. He had been in the sport 35 years and had won the Federation many times, the best win being 1st Federation Doncaster by 15 minutes.
I had the pleasure of judging at the Southern Counties Show Racer Open Show again in 2010, with over 340 birds being entered. This was the third time I have judged this event in the last four winters and other judges were my brother, Phil, Gordon Marsh, Brian Goodwin, with John Ottley and Mike Horner on the West of England Tumblers. It was nice to meet up with John Ottley again, as we were both convoying at Bergerac on the same weekend in 2010. John and his side kick, Trevor Pennell, were convoying the Kent Combine and had a good race. Great lads these two, cooking a breakfast for the convoyers of all four organizations at Bergerac that weekend! John Ottley and I had met up several times on the road in past seasons and he was from Folkestone in Kent and had been the convoyer of the Kent Cosmopolitan Federation for the last ten years. He had been in the sport 45 years and kept and shows mainly Chinese Owls and Oriental Frills. He had been very successful showing his birds abroad and in 2005 won European Champion with a Chinese Owl. Another familiar face I saw in the show hall that day was that of David Parsons, who I first met the previous November when he and his good friend, Malcolm Butler, were judging at the RPRA Southern Region Show. David was a very busy judge in the winter months and told me he had judged at the Midlands Show Racer Society event three years on the trot. The Parsons racing loft was very successful winning twelve first in the 2009 season, plus 12th open in the RPRA One Loft Race and in 2010 recorded 16th and 46th in the same RPRA race.
The hall at the Gravesend Rugby Club is ideal for holding shows and the SCSRS use the venue for all their Society and Open shows. The birds always look ‘mint’ when penned in the hall and that year’s array of 124 West of England Tumblers looked especially outstanding. The SCSRS secretary, Dave Savage, with partner S. Tyson won most of the classes, but Best West of England Tumbler was won by Terry Phillips. His super black hen had previously won BIS at the London & Essex open show and BIS at the South Coast show. A brilliant hen!
The Southern Counties Show Racer Societies’ hard-working Show Secretary, Colin Reynolds, won Best in Show with a handsome Show Racer blue cock, which was bred down from a long line of premier winners. Colin was a good friend of the Show Racer ‘ace’ Colin Carter and the BIS cock was bred down on one side from a gift blue from the Carter loft. Colin told me he had a good winning family of blues, which believe it or not, originally started from a pair of blue chequers! He had been Show Secretary for the last five seasons and said he like the standard colours of blue chequer, blue, red chequer and mealy best, although he had several Mosaics in the loft. Colin kept 20 pairs of Show Racers in his four section ‘L’ Shaped loft and paired them up after the BHW Blackpool Show in January. The birds were fed on a high protein mixture, which includes Beans and Maple Peas. He had been keeping Show Racers since 2004, when the SCSRS was formed and said the Societies chairman, Jim Trim, was a big help in getting him going. The Reynolds loft had won Best in Show many times through the years, including BIS at the Thame Show in 2010. Colin started in the sport as a ten-year-old lad, when he got his stock birds by catching ‘roadies’ in old farm buildings near his home in Morpeth, in the North East of England. He had at that time been in the sport 59 years and obtained his first racing pigeons in the 1950’s from Clarke Brothers who had won the Combine in long distance races. Colin moved to Gillingham in Kent, in 1971 and enjoyed racing long distance, with the Les Stevens / Fabry pigeons for many years. He raced very successfully with 16 natural pairs but went completely over to Show Racer in 2004. Frank and Patsy May of Gravesend won Best Racer with a wonderful blue hen and she has won 3rd club Le Mans, plus two other BIS prizes at open shows.
I was back judging at the Southern Counties Show Racer Open Show in December 2011, and on this occasion, there was over 350 birds being entered. This was the fourth time I had judged this event in the last five winters and other judges were my granddaughter, Sasha Mott, Ced Allwright, Clive Allwright and Brian Goodwin, with Terry Phillips on the West of England Tumblers. This year’s event saw 130 West of England Tumblers entered, with the SCSRS secretary, Dave Savage, with partner S. Tyson winning a lot of the classes, but Best West of England Tumbler was won by B. Richie, with a quality young Dun hen.
That young lad named John Harrod of Suffolk was up there in the top spot again and won Best in Show with a young blue show racer cock the parents of this handsome cock were obtained from the premier Show Racer fanciers John and Alice Bell of Scotland and were bred from a line of top show winners. John was ill on the day of the show, so did not attend, but his dad, Phil, penned the birds and lift the prizes for him. Frank and Patsy May of Gravesend won Best Racer with a wonderful blue cock.
December 2016 saw us have a change, when I had the pleasure of judging at the Southern Counties Show Racer Society ‘Trophy Show’ and not the usual ‘Open Show’, with over 200 birds being entered. The other judges were my good friends, Terry Haley and Steve Howard. The entry was spit in half, Terry judged show racers, racers and a small class of Americans and I handled the other half of the show racers and about 50 West of England Tumblers. The Society secretary, Dave Savage, posted me the ‘standard’ books on the Americans and West of England Tumblers about a week before the show as Terry and I had never judged these ‘fancy’ breeds before and were both going in as ‘novices’. Terry had shown and judged at the highest level for over 50 years, winning at many premier shows, including top honours with his bird in the British Olympiad team. I have been judging at National pigeon shows for over 45 years, including four times at the BHW Blackpool Show, twice at the RP ‘Old Comrades’ Show, over twenty times at the RPRA Southern Region Show and this was the first time I had judged West of England Tumblers. I am a great fan of the ‘fancy’ breeds and was really looking forward to the challenge of judging the four classes of ‘Westies’. I kept to the ‘standard’ when judging those wonderful little pigeons, with short neck and legs, good line at the bottom of the mask, good beak position and clean feet feathers etc. At the end of the day I don’t need a standard book to judge pigeons, after all those years judging at the top level, I know what I want to see. The best ‘Westie’ in the show was a handsome yellow cock owned by Dave Savage & Sharon Tyson and it had already won at SCSRS shows previously this season. Dave is a great worker in the show racer world and is one of the premier fanciers of the ‘fancy’ breeds fraternity in the UK today. On the day I said well done to Dave and Sharon, that yellow cock was something very special! The partners cock went on to win ‘Best Fancy in Show’ and Dave & Jean Mackintosh won ‘Best Young Bird’ West of England Tumbler in show, with a yellow hen bred by Dave Savage and Sharon Tyson out of that same champion yellow cock. LOL! The novice picked them out alright!
‘Best Show Racer’, ‘Best Young Bird’ and ‘Supreme Champion’ on the day were won by a red hen that won one of my classes and this super pigeon was owned by Colin Reynolds. What a pigeon, she had it all! This event was the society’s end of season trophy show and Colin Reynold’s red hen and Savage & Tyson’s yellow cock were then entered into a class with all the previous ‘Supreme Champions’ of the season, to decide the ‘Supreme Champions’ of the season. I was asked to judge this class and without any bias, I gave the awards to Colin Reynolds’ and Dave Savage & Sharon Tyson’s pigeons. These two wonderful pigeons were the best of a wonderful class of champions.
Dave and Jean Mackintosh won both the ‘Westie’ young bird classes on the day and both birds were bred by the ‘maestro’ Dave Savage. The partners had won many top prizes with their Show Racers and casting my memory back, I can remember them winning Best Show Racer at the C.H.A.S.E. Show in 2010. They kept a team of about 60 Show Racers, which were housed in several back-garden lofts and paired up at the end of January. David said they had been showing since 2006 and had their own family based on Show Racers obtained from Peter Brookshore, B. Wilson and Lisa Smith, all fanciers from the North of England. He liked silver blues and creams. They were members of the Southern Counties Show Racer Society and in recent seasons had won Supreme Champion two years on the trot. David and Jean started up in the sport with racing pigeons in 1970 and were long distance enthusiasts, racing on the North Road. They raced the Cattrysse pigeons on the widowhood system and won Thurso (550 miles) four times in five seasons, being second the year they missed out. David told me the Cattrysse family were winners from 105 through to 550 miles. The Societies hard working Show Secretary, Colin Reynolds, won ‘Supreme Champion on the day with a beautiful Show Racer red hen, which was bred down from a long line of premier winners.
Well that’s it for this week! I hope my readers have enjoyed another walk down ‘memory lane’ to look at another of our premier Show Racer Societies in the UK showing world. I can be contacted on phone number: 01372 463480 or email me on keithmott1@virginmedia,com
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com).
