Keith Mott

Writes about winning fanciers past and present...

BILLY SIMONS

OF WOODHOUSE

Billy Simons has been in pigeon racing all his life, with his father and brothers all being top fanciers in years gone by. His 30 foot loft is sited on the Sheffield allotments, and in some Saturday races club members send 500 birds. It must be very nerve-racking trying to trap birds with racers pitching into 30 lofts in a small area. Billy's very successful team of birds are his own family, built up over the years, with champion pigeons he has bought in. If he sees a champion pigeon he fancies, he will purchase it, and always pairs outstanding racer to outstanding racer. The Simons' loft has put up some fantastic performance through the years topping Federation, Amalgamation and scoring high in NFC and MNFC races. Billy has a first-class loft manager in Brian Henderson and said he couldn't do without him.

Billy's family are mostly blues and he keeps 40 pairs of racers. They are paired up in February and are raced for the first five races, up to the south coast, on the Widowhood System. Then they are re-paired in May for the long distance French races. Billy likes 500-mile races best and on my visit we looked at a section of 12 cocks and all had flown 500 miles plus on the day. He races his hens as much as the cocks, and said his hens have put up his best performances from the distance events. His loft must have bred 100 Federation toppers for him and his friends through the years.

One of Billy's best racers is the blue cock champion '64' for which he has turned down a five-figure sum offered by a fancier who wanted to purchase this great pigeon. '64' only raced in Nationals on the Natural System, and is said to be one of the best pigeons to race into Yorkshire. He had 14 races in Midlands NFC, being clocked 13 times, and recorded 12 positions in the first 50 open, lifting over £6,000. He never raced in the Federation and scored in every nest condition, including sitting eggs and feeding youngsters.

Bill's nice roomy loft is painted all white, so the birds can pick it out when breaking off the batches coming to the allotments on race days. It has nice big open door trapping and is scraped out everyday. The loft has a big Portacabin joined to it and has all the comforts of home in it for the lads when waiting for pigeons from the 500 mile events. The Simon’s loft breeds about 140  youngsters each season, but only keeps and races about 50. The remaining young birds are given to friends who have won many Federation races with them, and Billy told me he gets as big a ‘buzz’ out of his mates winning with his pigeons as when he wins himself. T he babies are raced to the perch, but if a young cock is keen, Billy sometimes pairs to an old hen. He doesn't like his young hens to lay and the whole team race through the programme to 280 miles. The youngsters get about eight training tosses up to 50 miles before their first race.

Billy’s loft is full of champion racers, but another ace was the blue cock `Robin Redbreast' which has scored many top positions in long distance National races. He was always raced on the Natural System and Billy again turned down five figures for this champion. Billy's best hen is the blue '85' and she was his first bird in the Nantes and Saintes Nationals in 1995, scoring high in the Open result both times. This neat little hen has flown 530 miles on the day, again racing on the Natural System.

STEVE CARDER

OF WOODHOUSE

The second loft we visited on the Sheffield allotments was that of Steve Carder and he has been in pigeon racing for about 32 years, which is most of his life. He race! cocks and hens all on the Widowhood and Roundabout Systems. Steve has won the Federation eight times in recent seasons and in 1993 clocked five Widowhood hens on the day frat 535 miles, the first bird being 14 hours on the wing.

In one of Steve's Widowhood sections we looked at about 12 fit ­looking cocks and all of them were 1st prizewinners. One of the inmates was his good Janssen dark white ­flight cock 'White Flight' which was born in 1992. This good feathered cock had won 34 prizes inland racing, including seven times 1st and recorded eight Federation prizes in 1995, a fantastic pigeon.

Steve pairs up his 32 Widowhood cocks in mid-January and they all race from 70 miles through to 500 miles. The loft races only South Road and has been on the Widowhood System for the last 12 seasons. Steve's main family are Janssens and he starts his Widowhood hens later in the season from Rugby then they go through to 500 miles. The hens are shown to the cocks for about two minutes on Friday night before basketing and the pairs are left together for half an hour on arrival from the race.

Another of Steve's top racers is a Janssen dark chequer cock and nest mate to 'White Flight'. This game cock is an ace from over the English Channel winning 3rd Fed Nantes, 2nd Fed Rennes and 4th Fed Rouen.

Steve's smart loft is painted green, with open door trapping, and has an office and basket store at one end. He races his 70 young birds to the perch, right through to 290 miles and they get about 20 training tosses before the first race.

BIRCH & BOOTH

OF CHESTERFIELD

For our next loft visit we are going to the wonderful county of Derbyshire to see Birch & Booth of Chesterfield. There are several members in this highly successful partnership including Mr.  & Mrs. Peter Birch, their son Steve and Terry Booth. Peter has been in pigeon racing since 1950 and tile present partnership was formed in 1993.

The Birch & Booth partners have a very smart 60ft L-shaped loft which is built well off the ground, with fresh air in mind. The birds are trapped through open windows into a full-length corridor and the whole loft front is closed in with Norplex. About 40 cocks are raced on the Widowhood System plus a few hens on the Natural System, these with middle distance races in mind. The loft has won Countless premier positions through the years, including 1st Open Federation many times with birdages up to 7,500. The loft has three sections for the Widowhood cocks and each section is set up to race in a different club. The racers are all paired on Boxing Day and fed on a standard Widowhood mixture. Main families kept are Busschaerts and Janssens, and one of their top racers is a Busschaert blue chequer cock, winner of six 1sts inland.

One of Steve Birch's favorites is his Dave Allen Van Reet blue cock which topped the section twice in 1995 from middle distance races. Terry Booth showed me his good Janssen Widowhood blue cock, which was Bird of the Year in Chesterfield club in 1995, winning three races on the trot.

Peter Birch is the stock man and his loft has a wonderful big stock section. This part of the set-up houses 16 pairs of Busschaerts and Janssens, which are also paired up on Boxing Day. Peter said his Busschaerts excel up to 400 miles, which suits his purposes, as he likes middle distance racing. Peter and his family run one of the top pigeon shops in Chesterfield and fanciers come from all over Derbyshire for their corn and pigeon requirements.

Well that’s it for this week! I can be contacted on telephone: 01372 463480. See yer!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.