Keith Mott

The Champions of Yesteryear (Part 32) 

POP BURGESS & SON

of Kingston

No matter if the race was long, short, hard or easy the pigeons of the late 'Pop' Burgess and son, Roy, were always to be reckoned with. The 1985 season saw them top prize-winners in London Columbarian Society, which was all inland racing, and win the longest old bird race from Bergerac in the very strong Kingston & D.H.S. (Surrey Federation). Pop was the worker in the partnership as the pigeons were at his house. He did all the loft management including scraping the lofts out every day of the year, a job which, he said, he enjoys. Roy, was a self-employed decorator, lived a few miles away with his own family.

Pop had been in the sport over 60 years and was a runner for the local fanciers as a 15 year old. The results and performances of Alf Baker of Wood Green, North London, were studied in The Racing Pigeon and Squills in the early 1950s and on obtaining late bred stock birds from him, Alf gave them a lot of winning advice. The Burgess partnership started winning the very first season with young birds from the Baker stock birds. Pop was a born and bred Kingston man and the first club he flew in was Kingston North Road. Roy said apart from Alf Baker, Bobby Besant had been a lot of help to them, including helping Roy set up his widowhood loft in 1983.

The partner's best performance at that time were lst S.M.T. Combine Niort (4,300 birds) with their good Baker blue cock 'Magic Man', which was put to stock after winning the Combine to produce six 1st prize­winners. 'Magic Man' was a grandson of Alf Baker's ace hen 'Silver Gem', a breeder of many winners. 'Magic Man' in turn was the grandsire of another of the Burgess' best Channel racers 'Young Magic' and this handsome blue pied cock had won 1st club, 2nd Surrey Federation, 2nd S.M.T. Combine Melle, 1st club Exeter and many other positions including Best Old Bird in the club in 1980. The partner's 1985 Bergerac winner was their two year old blue pied hen 'Wally's Girl' and she was bred by the late Cobham Channel ace Wally Dann. She recorded 1st club, 9th Surrey Federation, 16th S.M.T. Combine (3,336 birds) Bergerac in 1985 and was 3rd club Bergerac as a yearling in 1984.

The old birds were split into two teams, Natural for Channel racing and Widowhood for inland, which the partners fly Saturdays and Wednesdays. Their first loft, which was used for stock, was brick-built with a wooden front and their second, which was their main loft, was a Kidby loft which had been adapted for Widowhood racing. Roy said the most important factors in good loft design were ventilation and a happy environment.

Roy maintained that the Widowhood system maked the cocks eager to return from the race point to the loft and so for short inland races it is a much more competitive system for racing. However, he required hens for Channel racing and so needed some on the Natural system. Kempeneers of Derek Smith had been introduced into the loft and these were the birds doing the damage inland on the Widowhood system. Pop said the secret of success in pigeon racing is in breeding and unfortunately many fanciers acquire second-rate stock birds. The Burgess loft housed nine pairs of stock birds which were paired in February with the 20 Widowhood cocks. Channel birds were paired later, in mid-March, and about 30 youngsters were bred each year. The partners biggest thrill in pigeons was winning the Combine, which proved to be a very hard race with extremely high temperatures and not many birds home on the day in the club. Old birds on Natural, including yearlings, raced the Channel programme and young birds were flown through to the longest race. The partners most disappointing experience was in 1973 when they started Widowhood and lost some very good pigeons. This put them off Widowhood in later years.

Their best Widowhood cock was their four year old blue Kempeneer 'The Kingstonian'. He had recorded five times 1st, four times 2nd and four times 3rd inland racing, lifting the pools 14 times in two seasons in London Columbarian. His brother, which Roy calls 'The Brother', was also hot on Widowhood, winning 1st London Coly Weymouth and twice 2nd London Coly Weymouth. Another Widowhood London Coly winner is a blue frill Kempeneer cock 'Trapper'.

The birds were fed on the best of Belgian mixtures with Red Band, garlic oil, brewers' yeast and another conditioner. The old birds were trained hard until the first race and then training stops for the Widowhood pigeons although Channel candidates went to a few inland races for training. Plenty of en route education was given to the young birds with lots of training. The partners adopted Alf Baker's eyesign theory which states that "all eyesigns win races, but only certain eyes breed the winners".

Pop favoured hens sitting ten day old eggs for Channel races and told novices to buy the best birds that they can afford and maintain their good health and fitness. Roy rated Bobby Besant the best local fancier and said he had tremendous stock sense and is tremendously consistent. Pop maintained that many fanciers come unstuck because they try to achieve results before obtaining the pigeon's maximum fitness and put flyaways down to overcrowding.

The Burgess' liked a bit of showing and said in this field you must make double sure of fitness and overall appearance before placing birds in the show. They believe in line breeding and liked late breds for stock birds. The moult called for peace and quiet in the loft and they always feed extra wheat and a little linseed every day. They used floor granules in the lofts which are excellent if kept dry. Roy said the sport has progressed over the past 20 years but the politics and rules of some clubs are 50 years old and should be improved.

There you have it, the late ‘Pop’ Burgess of Kingston. I can be contacted in telephone: 01372 463480. See yer!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT