Keith Mott writes...

The Champions of Yesteryear - Part 5

C. H. BESANT & SONS

OF NEW MALDEN

I have known the Besant family for well over 30 years, and in that time I have seen them win every major award there is to win in pigeon racing. The brothers, Ken, Bobby and Ron, have won at Club, Open, Federation, Combine and National level and theirs must be rated as one of the all time great lofts in the United Kingdom. When I first met Bobby and Ken in 1970, their dad, Cecil, had just passed away and the boys were about to take over the very successful C. H. Besant & sons pigeons. Although I never met Cecil, I had always admired his fantastic performances in the Surrey Federation. The boys carried this great fancier’s name on in pigeon racing history to an even higher degree.

The Besants’ first successful stock was obtained from the late Fred Meale of Hounslow and this came about by them reporting one of his stray birds. He was a great and many of his pigeons found there way to his Besant loft over the years, these birds won from the shortest to the longest races. Bobby said, the Meale pigeons charged them into a very successful outfit and Fred Meale was instrumental in getting the Besants to the top of the prize lists for many of the early years In the last 30 years the brothers have raced many different strains of pigeons with outstanding success including Fred Meale, A. R. Hill (Kirkpatrick), Delwich, Krauth, Van Hee, Busschaert, and all have produced super pigeons for them. The Besant loft has won 1st. open National Flying Club twice, the first time in 1979 from Guernsey with their champion young bird, ‘Stafford All Alone’ and this game Krauth blue cock beat 9,353 birds, and won the Young Bird National by five clear minutes. Champion ‘Stafford All Alone’ was a full brother to the widowhood blue cock Champion ‘White Beak’, winner of 14 times first prize, beaten by loft mates for a further six firsts, and both these Krauth cocks went to Louella Pigeon World. “White beak” was once said to one of the most outstanding Krauths in Europe, winning 68 prizes from 87 miles through to 555 miles. He was also said to be one of the most versatile Krauths at that time, winning from Blandford, then going on to record 150th. open (6,066 birds) N.F.C. Pau (555 miles). The two brothers were bred from the stock pair, ‘Duke’ and ‘Duchess’, both direct Martin Krauth imports. The brothers’ champion Busschaert widowhood cock ‘Little Dark’ was also sold to Regency Lofts and other champions to grace the New Malden loft were ‘Flight Leader’ and ‘Treble Three’.

Kenny and Bobby raced to their dad’s loft for my years, which was 18ft. in length, with a long bay on the front and a clear plastic roof which let in plenty of sunlight. The Besant partners had been premier prize winners in the Kingston & District H.S. countless times through the year, including 1993, when they flew only part of the programme.

In recent years the partnership was made up of Bobby, Ken and Bobby’s son, Anthony. The loft won 1st. open National Flying Club for the second time in 1999, from Bordeaux, with 3,776 birds taking part in the race. The partners’ winner, the Herbot blue cock, Champion ‘Besant’s Bishop’s Pride’, was bred by Brian Bishop of Sutton and in six consecutive races he won: 2nd. club Weymouth (108 miles), 5t. club Exeter (151 miles), 28th. section E. (2,500 birds), 254th. open N.F.C. Nantes (10,591 birds), 1st. club, 1st. Surrey Federation Weymouth (1,973 birds), 1st. section E, 1st. open N.F.C. Bordeaux (3,776 birds). This great pigeon won the National by over 45 minutes, winning £4,478, a record amount of cash for a single pigeon in one race at that time, winning an R.P.R.A. Merit Award for 250-450 miles performance, awarded the London Social Champion of London Trophy in 1991. Ken said at the time he was a once in a lifetime pigeon and was a champion at stock, his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews all won in open and national competition.

The partner’s new loft was purchased at the end of the 1990 season and was 48ft. long, with nine compartments and a 3ft. corridor running the whole length of the front, which was half glazed. The roof had an apex, with the shorter side being clear plastic to let in the sunlight and warmth in to the loft. Five sections of the loft were fitted out for widowhood, two sections for the young birds and two sections for stock and widowhood hens. Bobby maintains the main feature in good loft design is: dryness, plenty of room per bird, good light and fresh air. The Besant partners housed 16 pairs of stock birds and started with about 40 widowhood cocks each season, rearing in the region of 80 youngsters for themselves to race. There was no set time for pairing up, as Bobby and Ken were both postmen and December was very busy with Christmas mail, so it was some time after that, normally in January.

They raced the widowhood system in the main, using the standard method of showing the hen every time the cocks went to a race and on their return. Anthony said they tried not showing the hen, but preferred to do it the ‘showing’ method for all races, including channel racing through to the Pau National. The partners raced a few hens, these being very successful when sitting eggs and the widowhood cocks were raced every week until they wanted them for a specific race, then they were given a week off before a big race. They didn’t necessarily race the club week in and week out, but picked open races, which are more lucrative and more of a challenge to the birds. The Besants’ didn’t believe in keeping birds for certain races, but started in March and raced through to July, with the same birds going to Pau (556 miles) that went to Weymouth (108 miles). The youngsters had a thorough training down to the coast, about 60 miles, breaking them up to least doubles until they were coming regularly. The partners carefully timed all the birds on the training tosses and used the information to pool accordingly. The young birds were usually given one club race before the National and were sent unpaired on a method which was always very successful. 

The Besant loft was probably the most successful in National and Open racing over a three year period in the early 1990’s, in England at all distances: in 1991they won, 1st, 5th, 81st. section E, 1st, 10th, 126th. open N.F.C. Bordeaux (3,776 birds): 1st. section, 1st. open London & South East Classic Club Guernsey (700 birds), 19th, 24th, 28th, 53rd. section E, 190th, 236th, 254th, 377th. open N.F.C. Nantes (10,591 birds) and 46th, 138th. section E. N.F.C. Pau (1,328 birds). In six consecutive open sprint races flown they won 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th. Shepperton Open Weymouth(108 miles), 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th. Bucks & Herts Open, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th. Borough of Hillingdon Federation Open and 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Caversham Open Weymouth, winning three R.P.R.A. Awards.

Some 1992 results in racing a very reduced programme were 4th, 33rd, 37th, 72nd, 210th. section E, 10th, 56th, 63rd, 126th, 493rd. open N.F.C. St. Malo (10,035 birds): 12th, 64th, 67th, 121st. section E, 74th, 330th, 341st. open N.F.C. Saintes (5,070 birds): 25th, 28th, 31st, 37th, 46th. open London & South East Classic Club Chartres (1,376 birds).

Highlights of 1993 were winning: 6th, 8th, 18th, 77th. section E, 11th, 13th, 36th, 208th. open N.F.C. Pau (5,423 birds): 11th, 12th, 71st,96th, 98th, 107th. section E, 23rd, 33rd, 260th, 366th, 402nd. open N.F.C. Saintes (5,273 birds). Sprint open race positions won were: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th. Adur Valley Open (£448): 1st, 2nd, 6th, 10th, 11th, 12th. Boxmoor Open Dorchester (£500) plus many club firsts, Federation and Combine prizes.

The partners’ main racing families in the 1990’s were Herbot, Janssen and Busschaerts. The Herbots originated from Rex Doe of Cornwall, who had been a great flier fore many years. The first Herbot pigeons came from Brian Bishop of Sutton, including Champion ‘Besant’s Bishop’s Pride’, the Bordeaux National winner. While on holiday in Cornwall, Bobby visited Rex and was very impressed with the family, especially the blue pieds, and decided there and then to obtain some Herbot stock birds. Since that time they selected and purchased the ones they wanted to establish a family of pigeons that were second to none in any type of racing. The Janssens came from various sources including Fountainhead Lofts, Johnny May and other introductions from the best of the strain in this country. Bobby said, in his opinion, at that time the Busschaerts came from the best origin possible, the late W. Parkes of Northern Ireland, a fantastic family of Busschaerts noted for winning with birdage of up to 30,000 birds. They tried to introduce new birds every year from different sources and test them against their own birds, but it all takes time, one must be patient and it usually comes out in the end.

The Besants didn’t keep different families for different distances, they all did their bit and when prepared properly usually succeeded. Kenny always said, they expected them to win from 100 to 500 miles and they did. The main stock bird in the 1990’s, after Champion ‘Besant’s Bishop’s Pride’, was his sister, ‘Pride’s Sister’ and she was the dam of winners up to and including National level. She was dam of ‘Triple Ace’, winner of 10th. open N.F.C. St. Malo (10,035 birds). Three other brothers, Ronnie, Alan and John, have all raced pigeons with outstanding success at one time or another. The Besants’ half brother, Freddie Layton, was a very successful fancier in the Heathrow Airport area. Back in 1976 Fred donated a Dordin youngster to the Surrey Federation Transporter auction sale, which I purchased and won Bergerac (450 miles) the following season with her. The person who put up with all the brothers’ pigeon carry-on was their late mother, Lilly, as the loft was on the site of the old C. H. Besant & sons loft in her New Malden back garden. Bobby said, she was a brick to put up with it! Bobby’s wife, Angela, had always encouraged him in the hobby and actually had a pigeon named after her, ‘Angie’s Pied’, a Busschaert bred by Billy Parkes, which won nine times first prize racing, including winning open races and the Surrey Federation.

Kenny Besant always maintained that motivation is the name of the game. The old birds racer though to Pau (550 miles), the young hens go through to the National race and the young cocks were generally only trained ready for future racing. They fed the normal break down, build up system as they had found it worked well, irrespective of the distance. Feed, with slight variations to suit, was Bosmolen PXL corn and depurative. Bobby said this corn was used for it’s quality and consistency. The brother used condition seed and Hormoform throughout the year and the youngsters got a lot of Hormoform in their first few weeks of life. Old birds were trained for a couple of weeks before racing and particular attention was paid to the yearlings as they did not race as young birds and were thus very inexperienced. The young birds were trained to the south coast, about 60 miles, as often as possible, as the National race was their priority. They preferred this training to young bird races, as it was more educational and created individuals within the team. Bobby likes to look at the bird’s eyesign and has judged show classes, but he believes it is only a part of the whole. The only true test of a pigeon is the basket and all the theories are just theories! They believed the best birds were bred from the best paired to the best, performance bird to performance bird. They successfully paired brother and sister, father to daughter etc. When pairing birds they don’t have any set pattern, but performance pigeons paired together is the norm. When the birds were in a heavy moult, the brothers endeavoured to give them as much variation in the corn as possible with added linseed for the oil content. They did breed latebreds off their best racers of the season and use them for stock. The Besant loft won 1st. Federation countless times, far to many to list in this article and won 1st. Federation in two races on the same day!

It has been a most tragic time for the Besant family in recent years, with the passing on of younger brother Ronnie, mother Lily and Kenny within two years. Kenny was the loft manager in the family pigeon partnership, the tireless force behind the pigeon management and training to ensure the Besant’s lasting success over many years. Bobby has been a very good friend of mine for many years and as I’ve written many time before, he is one of the best pigeon fanciers I’ve ever met! Bobby is a pigeon fancier of the highest order, but always knew where to draw the line where his family were concerned, always putting Angela and the kids first. Bobby is a great guy and a brilliant pigeon fancier!

There you have it, C. H. Besant & sons of New Malden, one of greatest pigeon racing partnerships ever, in the U.K. I can be contacted on Telephone: 01372 463480. See yer!