Keith Mott writes...

CECIL & MARK BULLED

OF HARLOW

With 2001 foot and mouth epidemic and resulting ban on racing from France , the London & South East Classic Club switched from Pau to Thurso in the north of Scotland for the longest old bird race. The Thurso race was won by Cecil and Mark Bulled, whose past performances on the north road have been electric, being especially deadly at Thurso and Lerwick with the London North Road Combine. I visited Cecil's Essex loft a few years ago with my 'Many Miles with Mott' video camera and I know a brilliant fancier he is and how strong his team is in the long distance events. After he recorded 4 th . and 5 th . open L.& S.E.C.C. Perth in 2001, I predicted that he would win Thurso and he did! The Bulled loft sent ten pigeons to the Thurso Classic (493 miles) and clocked five on the day of liberation, recording 1 st , 10 th , 14 th , 19 th . and 26 th . open. A brilliant performance!

Cecil Bulled was born in Croydon and first became involved with pigeons when he met his wife, Barbara, the daughter of the late Syd Marsh. When Syd took over the secretary's job in the Selhurst Flying Club, the young Cecil became his assistant, calculating the velocities on race checking night. He obtained his first pigeons in 1962 and flew in partnership with his brother in law, Doug Marsh. The first stock were obtained from members of the Selhurst club, in the guise of Syd Marsh, Stan Hunt and Denny Kimber. In his youth, Cecil, was very keen on football and went to school with Peter Notridge, president of the Surrey Federation. Cecil is an accountant by trade, but is now retired. He has been racing pigeons for 40 years and says Bill Bailey of Harlow is the best pigeon man he has known. They were very good friends, but the biggest enemies when it came to racing. Cecil says he can remember a Bordeaux race in the early years and they sent pigeons which were really only 'hoppers'. It was a really bad race with few returns in race time, and the young Cecil and Doug were in the garden for three days, with no arrivals. Cecil vowed then that he would only compete in the long distance events when he had the utmost confidence in his entries.

Cecil and his partner, son Mark, have three lofts, a 10ft. widowhood loft, an 11ft. young bird shed and the main 18ft. construction, which houses natural racers, stock birds and the widowhood hens. The partners' 20 widowhood cocks and 12 pairs of stock birds are paired up the weekend after the B.H.W. Blackpool Show in January and the natural birds are put together at the back end of February. The birds are raced on the basic natural and widowhood systems, with no frills or fads, and fly south road with the Stanstead Invitation Club, with outstanding success. The main pigeons raced are the old Croydon family, Soontjens from F. Sheader of Scarborough and the W. Grodon Busschaerts. The old family like hard racing, 14 hours on the wing from 500 miles, and the Soontjens and Busschaerts are outstanding for the general club work.

Cecil maintains his best performance to date was in 1995 when he was 2 nd , 9 th . and 12 th . open London N.R. Combine Thurso (493 miles), with only 20 birds clocked in the combine on the day of liberation. Brilliant pigeon racing! He says he has been fortunate to own a number of good pigeons over the years including: 'The Owl' winner of 1 st . open L.N.R.C. Thurso (only bird on the day in the combine): 'Little Dot' winner of 1 st . open London & South Coast Combine Bergerac (478 miles): '17567' winner of 1 st . open L.N.R.C. Lerwick (582 miles), 1 st . Section H. in the North Road Championship Club: '20729' son of '17567' and winner of 1 st . open L.N.R.C. Lerwick (582 miles): '14114' son of 'The Owl' and winner of 2 nd . open L.N.R.C. Thurso (only three birds on the day). The London North Road Combine presents a hall of fame award to a pigeon that scores three times in the first 100 open positions and the Bulled loft has won three awards with, 'The Ugly Hen', 3 rd , 32 nd . and 97 th . open: 'Day Return', 12 th , 57 th . and 80 th . open and ' Victoria ', 2 nd , 14 th . and 38 th . open. Cecil's wonderful family of pigeons have won the Federation many times through the years in sprint and middle distance races. A brilliant loft of pigeons! Cecil Bulled has been racing in the London & South East Classic Club for only a few seasons, but has won the North East section several times. Being a north road flyer for many years, he turned some pigeons south in 1998 and won the London & South Coast Combine from Bergerac in the 1999 season. In 2001, when the foot and mouth restrictions stopped racing from France , he turned his birds back to north road and when the L.& S.E.C.C. decided to race from Perth and Thurso he was delighted. In the race prior to winning the Thurso Classic, the Bulled loft clocked four birds in the very hard Perth Classic to record 4 th , 5 th , 11 th . and 62 nd . open. Cecil's biggest thrill of his 40 years in pigeon racing was when he clocked 'The Owl' from Thurso in 1975, flying 15 hours 3 minutes to cover the 493 miles, and the only bird on the day in the London North Road Combine. He says his wife, Barbara, is a great help looking after the pigeons when he is away, as is his partner, Mark, who also has a successful team of birds at his own address.

Cecil maintains that he is a poor young bird racer, with his main aim each season, being to get some well raced cocks to renew the widowhood team. He believes that to be successful with young birds, they have to goon the darkness system, cocks and hens separated to be put together on race marking day. Cecil feeds his youngsters widowhood corn mixed with 20% depurative and likes them to race up to 300 miles. All the Bulled pigeons are trained hard, with young birds getting two 40 mile tosses every week during the racing season. For the long distance events, he likes natural birds sitting ten day old eggs and he tells novices, don't run before you can walk, serve your apprenticeship in husbandry well.

Two of the best fanciers in London race in his north road club, says Cecil, in the form of Vic Shaw, and his own son Mark, and he describes them as dedicated fanatics who will never be beaten! Cecil likes showing his pigeons, but finds it hard to find the time to do it these days. When he judges, he looks for condition first, good head and eye, with a balanced, rounded body. The Bulleds practice inbreeding and line breeding, particularly back to good winning pigeons, but are not too keen on latebred youngsters, although they let their widowhoodcocks rear a baby after racing has finished. The lofts are scraped out daily and brushed with garden lime. Cecil says he has tried deep litter on the loft floors, as do a lot of good fanciers, but his seems to stick to his feet and finished up on the carpets in the house!

There you have it, two of the best London fanciers of all time, Cecil and Mark Bulled of Harlow ! I can be contacted on Telephone: 01372 463480. See yer!