Keith Mott

Holiday Breakaway (Part 2) 

This week we are going to feature the first of the two Welsh lofts that I visited when on holiday in the Cotswold, last August. I must say a big ‘thanks’ to my ol’ mucker, Bill Harris, who arranged the visits and ran me around. It was a great day out!

John & Ann Rake

of Caldicot

The name of the John and Ann Rake partnership have been featured regularly at the top of the Welsh S.R. National Flying Club results for many years, but the 2005 season saw them win the biggest prize of them all, 1st. open Pau National.

John first started up pigeon racing on his own in 1966 and tells me his father, Charlie Rake, was a very good racers in the local clubs prior to that. Charlie flew the Stassart and Osman pigeons and won his fair share of premier prizes at all distances. John was never interested in his dad’s pigeons when he was a lad, but caught the ‘pigeon bug’ when he got his first house, which had a big garden, after marrying Ann, in the early 1960’s. John has only been interested in long distance pigeon racing since he first started up and his first birds were the old Bruton family, which were one of the main successful strains for the longer races at that time. John maintains he has never been interested in sprint racing!

John and Ann won the W.S.R.N.F.C. from Pau (579 miles) in 2005, which was a very hard race, but also came close to winning this premier event in 1997, when they were 2nd. open, beaten on a decimal. The Pau National winner was the partners champion De Weerdt / Van Bruane dark chequer cock, ‘Steep Holme Boy’, and was raced on the natural system, being sent to the Pau National sitting 12 day old eggs. This wonderful cock was bred by the Essex partnership of Greetham & Scofield, who regularly swap youngster with the Rakes. ‘Steep Holme Boy’ was very nice in the hand, with quality silky feather and he won an R.P.R.A. Award for his Pau performance. Other premier performances won by the Caldicot loft in the Welsh National are: 1998 – 1st. open La Ferte Bernard (280 miles) 2522 birds: 2005 – 2nd, 6th. open Bergerac (488 miles). John and Ann have enjoyed a very good 2006 season, winning: W.S.R.N.F.C. – 8th. open Bergerac (488 miles), 17th, 18th, 19th. open Messac (263 miles), 26th, 35th. open Alnwick (267 miles), 6th, 10th, 13th. open Hexham, 3rd, 8th, 11th. open Fraserburgh (423 miles), 4th. open Thurso (485 miles): B.B.C. – 11th, 18th. open Messac, 12th. open Ingleton, 36th,68th,69th. open Carlisle: C.S.C.F.C. – 22nd. open Bergerac and won both Fraserburgh and Thurso in the local club. A wonderful loft performance!

John and Ann’s lofts and garden are very smart and kept in ‘mint’ condition. The self built loft has a tiles roof, widowhood type nest boxes and trapping is through stall traps. The loft was nice and light and airy, with no deep litter, being scraped out every day. The birds were raced on John’s own celibate / roundabout system in 2006 because of the ‘bird flu’ problem and were repaired for the main long distance races. Normally the 20 pairs racers are paired up, depending on the weather, on 14th. February and raced on the natural system. They are fed on a first class mixture and when they reach the 300 mile stage of the season, the maize content is increased. The racers are never broke down and are also fed peanuts for the long distance races. John’s favourite nest condition is sitting 10 to 12 day old eggs and says he defiantly likes hens best for the long distance events. The birds get very little training, with just a few tosses at the start of the season to get the cobwebs out of their heads, and then the shorter club races are used to get the birds fit for the longer events. The main place he trains from is Elton, near Bill Harris’ home, which about a 20 mile fly to Caldicot. John says, he has a small interest in the local club racing, as he sets clocks and enjoys his time at the club, but is only really interested in the long distance racing.

The Rakes keep several stock birds, which all fly out, and these are paired up at the end of January. The main families kept, with long distance racing in mind are, Van Bruane, De Weerdt and Delbar. They are fed on a premier quality heavy mixture and when bringing in a new stock bird, John looks for the best long distance bloodlines, but maintains it must be pleasing to the eye, or he wouldn’t want to keep it. The birds mustn’t have what he calls a ‘sergeant’s tail’. Don’t ask me want he is talking about, because I haven’t a clue! John doesn’t like big pigeons and prefers them to be small to medium in the hand. He is not an eyesign man and says a few years ago he entered his 2nd. open W.S.R.N.F.C. Pau winner, it’s parents and his Saintes winner in a local eyesign show and he never took a prize card. The pigeon that won the class had a wonderful eyesign, but had never bred any thing any good and had never won a prize on the road! He breeds 50 young birds each season for racing, putting 20 on the darkness system and the rest left natural. The first year he tried the dark, the babies looked great and raced well, but the following year, when they were yearlings, they went down like nine pins. Now he put only part of his young birds team on the system, which is from weaning until June. Both the dark and the natural youngsters race together, to the perch, but they have bowls in the section and are allowed to pair up if they want. They are trained twice a week and race trough the programme. When I asked John, what Ann did in the pigeon partnership, he said, ‘she puts up with me!’. Joking aside, she helps out with the general management of the birds and looks after them when he is not at home. The partners have a lot of hawk and cat trouble in the garden and have had several birds killed.

Well there you have it, John and Ann Rake! They were a very cheerful couple, who made us very welcome in their home. I must congratulate them on the wonderful condition of their lofts and garden, they were first class! Next week we are going to Monmouthshire to visit Wilf and Janet Reed. I can be contacted on telephone number: 01372 463489. See yer!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.