Keith Mott writes...

THE B.I.C.C. - THE EARLY DAYS

The British International Championship Club was formed in 1978 and in the years after, started a real serious interest in International pigeon racing in this country. Cyril Galyer of Wallington was the first fancier to win 1 st . open B.I.C.C. Barcelona in the 1978 season and my ol' mate, Joe Bradford, took me to meet this long distance fancier the year before he won the Barcelona race. On our arrival, Cyril, took us down to his neat, self built loft which was in a wire compound to protect the inmates from cats. The two main families kept were Hansennes and Allcock of Scotland, with several other good crosses. Cyril started up on his own in 1960, before that he was loft boy for the late Wing Commander Lea Rayner OBE from 1948 to 1959. Lea Rayner was in charge of the RAF lofts during the 1940/45 war. Cyril told me he visited many great lofts with Lea Rayner, who lived a few yards up the road from the Galyer house.

The first pigeon we handled on my visit to the Galyer loft was the "ace" mealy pied hen, "Belinda", winner of 1 st . club, 2 nd . Federation, 5 th . open Combine Nantes, 3 rd . section, 3 rd . open B.B.C. Palamos in 1977, winning Smart Trophy, Whiffin Trophy and Harkers Trophy. She was a nice type of hen, handling medium apple-bodied and was sent to Palamos sitting four day old eggs. She was dam of Joe Bradford's 23 rd . open B.B.C. young bird Rennes 1977, which was a dark chequer hen, Cyril bred for him. Cyril Galyer's full performance flying in the British Barcelona Club in 1977 was: 3 rd ,64 th ,84 th . and 102 nd . section A, 3 rd ,133 rd ,181 st . and 225 th . open Palamos; 8 th ,39 th ,65 th ,70 th . and 132 nd . section A, 8 th ,42 nd ,70th,79 th . and 157 th . open young bird Rennes . A great performance! He was runner-up in the Channel Average in 1996 and 1997. Next to be inspected was a handsome Hansennes dark pied cock and he had won a stack of red cards in the show pen as well as 5 th . British section, 208 th . open Pau International, 205 th open B.B.C. Palamos and 2 nd . club Niort . He was the dead spit of his sire, who I handled next. He to, was a dark pied and was one of the main breeding cocks in the Galyer loft. He had flown Bergerac, but Cyril found his youngsters flew better so he put him to stock, where he bred many winners including the Bradford 's 23 rd . open Rennes hen. Cyril had won many firsts in the shows with his Hansennes and liked to see a good width between the pigeon's eyes. He liked a nice long cast pigeon and said at the time these are the ideal type for long distance racing. The other main stock cock was a 1971 red chequer bred by Don Allcock of Stafford and ha was the same way bred as Don's 1 st . open M.N.F.C. Nantes winner. He had bred many good distance winners and Cyril told me this pigeon was his ideal type. Cyril's favourite pigeon was a blue chequer hen bred by R. Emrys Jones of Sully and she won 7 th . open B.B.C. Rennes for the Galyer loft in 1976. Cyril had a good year racing in the B.B.C. in 1976 recording 88 th . and 126 th . open Palamos, 3 rd . and 7 th . open Rennes .

The very nice four section loft was "L" shaped and 36ft. long with a sharp sand dressing on the floors. This housed 18 pairs of racers and about 50 youngsters were bred each year. The nest box fronts were made of hard board to give the birds peace and quiet, and the birds were fed as much as they wanted to eat in their nest boxes. The birds diet was beans, turkey pellets and linseed, with plenty of minerals, grit and clean water. The birds were trapped through drop holes and Cyril was only interested in channel racing in the National and Classic. Only four pairs of stock birds were kept and were housed in a 6ft.x 4ft. stock loft. Cyril bought a whole year's supply of corn in advance and maintained the most important thing in good loft design is dryness. Training started in April from Brighton , working eastwards to Dover and Folkestone. The young birds had one race from Blandford, to get them used to the transporter, then into the B.B.C. Rennes race. Cyril maintained the best pigeons he had ever owned had never had a race as a young bird.

When I asked him who he looked up to in the sport, he said, most of the old school who have now passed on, including Fear Brothers, Eric Cannon and Mr. Cook of Morton. The birds were paired up in early March and eggs from the Palamos birds were reared by the yearlings, then the Palamos birds reared their own second round of eggs. Cyril liked to show his pigeons and thought eyesign was rubbish. He was dead against the money side of the sport and said at the time too much money breeds bad feeling. Cyril's wife, Lola, did most of the training, but she only timed in once and left a pile of feathers. The build up for the Palamos birds was Seaton, Rennes and coastal training tosses, then, into the Palamos race. A great fancier!

The Dorking loft of Ian Benstead won 1 st . open B.I.C.C. from Lourdes in 1986 and although he has been out of the sport many years, his name lives on, with many premier long distance fancier winning with his pigeon today. I first visited Ian in 1977 when my late good mate, Dick Brooker, took me to his Capel home to report on his Niort Combine win. When you visited his loft, which was set in the wonderful Surrey countryside, you were lucky to see the pigeons, as they had an open loft and roamed the fields all day. If the pigeons would stay in the trees, Ian said, he wouldn't bother with a loft. Ian Benstead was a natural flyer in the truest sense of the word, with his brilliant long distance team of pigeons spending most of their time in the trees and fields. I revisited Ian again in 1986 when he had a wonderful season racing in the British International Championship Club, recording 1 st ,5 th ,6 th ,23 rd ,25 th . and 26 th . open Lourdes (555 miles), 2 nd . and 13 th . open Perpignan (603 miles), 3 rd . and 19 th . open Pau (537 miles) and 4 th . and 11 th . open Marseilles (603 miles).

Ian started in the sport in 1949 with a stray blue chequer hen from a fancier in Carshalton and that game pigeon broke his novice status from Seaton the following year. Ian had trapped the hen, so he took it back to the man on his bike, who thanked him very much and gave him half a crown. On his return home, Ian found the hen had already returned there, waiting for him. Next day, he returned the pigeon once again to Carshalton but the man presented it to him and thus started him up in the sport. When Ian went into the army he gave the hen away and she bred many winners before she died at a ripe old age. He obtained 30 July bred, latebreds from Ron Sheppard in 1964 and these were the base of his champion long distance family.

Ian's best performances in the S.M.T. Combine were 1 st . and 2 nd . open Niort in 1972 and 2 nd . open Nantes in 1975, although many other positions were won. He hadn't competed in very many Pau N.F.C. races, but recorded 2 nd . section,15 th . open, 9 th . section, 34 th . open, 4 th . section, 142 nd . open and 6 th . section, 259 th . open. Ian's Niort combine winner, "The Combine Cock", was still in the loft at that time and looked fantastic for his 18 years of age. This handsome old white flight cock won the S.M.T. Combine in only the second race of his life. Ian rated Eric and Pat Cannon of Godalming the best long distance fanciers in the Surrey area and had a lot of admiration for John Goodwin, the N.F.C. convoyer at that time. He said John was second to none and when he liberated you knew the birds would home well. He thought a good loft ventilation was most important and said a horse is likely to catch a cold when you bring it in and not when you put it out in a cold field. When the birds are exposed to the elements they come to hand naturally, with the seasons. He said he thought the old bird races started too early and finished too early. Ian had never introduced another bird into his loft since he started with the Sheppards in 1964. The loft was creosoted inside and out, and Ian thought there was nothing finer. He said it doesn't hurt pigeons, as a hen drunk some one day and she didn't bat an eyelid. Ian always said he would bet odds on a short flier in regard of over fly as the further the bird fly there is always another wire and another gun, and the further fliers have a hard job. His loft was 20ft.x 12ft. and the birds were trapped through open doors. Ian built the loft himself with wire floor and the droppings are cleaned out from under the loft. Wire windows were on all four sides so the wind blew right through the structure and the nest boxes had no fronts, so the intruders could be rejected without much fuss or damage. He liked the birds to be subjected to the weather and maintained they were better for it. He told me, one day he put a handful of grit on the nest boxes and the wind blew it straight out the window at the back of the loft. The birds had an open loft all day, in any weather, and nested in anything, including cardboard cartons.

The 1986 B.I.C.C. Lourdes winner was a very nice blue chequer hen called, "The Lourdes Hen", and was a classic long distance type, being medium sized, with good length in the body. This game hen won the Lourdes event in only the second race of her life. Ian's 5 th . open B.I.C.C. Lourdes winner was the blue cock, "Double One", and he also won 3 rd . East of England Continental Club from Orleans (246 miles). Ian told me the cock was for the future. Another of Ian's stars was his blue chequer cock, "The Marseilles Cock", which had flown Marseilles four times with the B.I.C.C., recording 4 th , 7 th . and 9 th . open and Ian flew 603 miles from this race point in the south of France . He liked a medium apple-bodied pigeon and said it took three year for his to mature. Ian liked to see the eye placed in the centre of the head. He used to be a race horse trainer at Epsom and a lot of his pigeon management was based on his horse training days. He didn't race inland and the youngsters were not raced or trained in the year of their birth. One hen in the Benstead loft was sent over 600 miles for her first race of her life and returned safely. The birds were not parted in the winter months and were put down to breed in March. Training started the first week in May and was mostly from the south coast, including Bognor, Worthing or Brighton . Sixty old birds were housed and 30 youngsters were bred each season and if anything looked wrong with a squeaker or egg it was disposed of without delay. He said pigeons are easy enough to breed so why waste time on sub-standard goods?

The birds were hopper fed on beans in the winter and a good mixture when racing, but didn't like rearing on beans. A pigeon that caught my eye was the blue chequer cock, "The Bergerac Cock", which had won in 500 mile show classes. This handsome cock was getting on in years, but had a wonderful racing record, winning 1 st . club Bergerac and 6 th . open B.I.C.C. Barcelona. One of Ian's favourites was the light blue chequer cock, "The Two Way Cock", which won 1 st . club, 11 th . Federation Thurso (530 miles) north road, as a yearling. Ten days later he was sent to Lourdes (555 miles) south road and was recorded on the winning day. A wonderful family of long distance racing pigeons!

After my visit to Ian Benstead's loft in 1986, the loft went from strength to strength and Ian is one of the most respected long distance fancier in the sport. One of his best performances in recent years was in 1992 when he won 1 st . open London & South East Classic Club Dax. A brilliant fancier!

Well hope my readers have enjoyed our look back at the early years of the British International Championship Club, part two will be published very soon. I can be contacted on Telephone: 01372 463480. See yer!