THREE BORDERS FED FOCUS BY KEITH MOTT

ARTHUR PAYNE

OF KINGSTON

Arthur Payne started the 2005 season, in the same fashion as he finished the 2004 season – winning pigeon races! He chalked up 1st. club, 6th. Three Borders Federation, from the first race of the 2005 season, from Lulworth in April. He won the season opener with his brilliant Huybregts blue chequer cock, ‘Kenny’, and this great pigeon has lots of previous good form, winning in 2004: 1st. club, 1st. Three Borders Federation, 4th. open S.M.T. Combine Poitiers, 1st. club, 9th. Three Borders Federation, 11th. open S.M.T. Combine Fougeres. A brilliant performance! Arthur named the handsome blue chequer, ‘Kenny’, after his breeder, the late Ken Besant of New Malden, who produced him from stock birds obtained from John Keywood of Hersham. Back in the 1970’s I flew in the very strong Kingston club, Surrey Federation, with Arthur and he was always one fancier to look out for, especially in the channel events. This great fancier is now 78 years of age and told me that after racing in the Kingston club for over 50 years he was very sad to see this great club stop functioning at the end of the 2003 season. 2004 was Arthur’s first season racing in the Surbiton Flying Club and won ten races last season, taking the first three positions several times. He enjoyed a brilliant season in the Three Borders Federation, recording 10th. open Exeter (1,292 birds), 8th. open Lulworth (2,384 birds), 9th. open Fougeres (1,137 birds), 8th. open West Bay (2,105 birds), 3rd. open Exeter ( 1,584 birds), 1st. open Poitiers (823 birds), 10th. open Lulworth (1,629 birds), 18th. open Kingsdown (1,140 birds). A brilliant loft performance! Arthur’s son-in-law is Bobby Besant of the old double National Flying Club winning partnership of C. H. Besant & sons of New Malden and he enjoys his Saturday afternoons at Arthur’s loft, helping him clocking in.

Arthur’s set up consists of two small lofts, which are scraped out regularly and they are very open, as he is a fancier who likes plenty of fresh air for the inmates. He says he’s always been a scraper man and has never used deep litter on the loft floors. The old birds are raced on a type of roundabout system, with 25 pairs of racers being paired up in February. Never having driven a car, Arthur just rides a bike, so his hens are trained on the local pigeon transporter twice a week. The cocks are not trained, but exercised round the loft every day. The racers are fed a good widowhood mixture, being broken down in the early part of the season and are given extra maize as the races get longer. Just like the normal widowhood system, the hens are shown to the cocks on marking night and they race every week in the Federation. Arthur told me that ‘Kenny’, his first winner of the 2005 season, had flown in 25 races over the last two seasons. The Payne loft houses several families of pigeons, including Janssens from Mark Kidby, Huybregts from John Keywood, Winckels and the newly introduced Eric Cannon long distance family. The main stock cock was a Winckel called ‘Peanut’ and a lot of his winning bloodlines are in the loft today. This wonderful old cock was Arthur’s favourite and used to come into the back kitchen, and eat peanuts off the table. ‘Peanut’ was never raced from France, but won many inland races for the Payne loft. He was a good racer, but a better breeder, and has bred no end of winners for Arthur. A grandson of ‘Peanut’ won two races in the 2004 season. Two of the top racers in the loft today, ‘The Image’ and ‘Queenie’, are direct children of the old blue cock and Arthur says ‘The Image’ is the image of his father, and has won races every season. ‘Peanut’ was bred by C. H. Besant & sons and strayed in to Arthur’s loft as a young bird, but liked the Payne loft so much, he kept coming back and was gifted to him. A wonderful old pigeon!

IAN WEST

OF KINGSTON

Ian West is from a good pigeon racing family, with his father, Dave, being an outstanding winning fancier, in the Kingston club about 25 years ago. Ian is carrying on the West winning ways and has won the Three Borders Federation and L.& S.E.C.C. in recent seasons. 

The London & South East Classic Club started the 2004 young bird season by sending 2,142 youngsters and 564 old hens to Guernsey. The convoy was liberated on the Saturday morning by Ken Scholtka at 10.00hrs in a north-west wind, in what seemed to be perfect racing conditions. The race turned out to be a very hard event and some members returned their clocks empty. Ian West of Kingston won the Old Hens Classic, clocking at 13.30hrs with a 2y blue chequer pied hen, sent paired to another hen and sitting four eggs. Ian told me this game pigeon had been only lightly raced and was bred from two gift stock birds from John Keywood of Hersham. She is now named  ‘Ladies Girl’ and is bred down from the very best Jan Huybregts bloodlines.

Although Ian flies in the Hersham Club, he lives several miles away in Kingston and won 1st and 2nd Open Three Borders Federation from Lulworth, with 2,384 birds competing, in the 2004 old bird season. He races only 11 cocks on the widowhood system and says he would like to race hens, but his job as a postman limits his time with the pigeons, so he keeps it small and simple. He used to keep small birds and finches, and his loft is his old aviaries, which are well ventilated, converted for the pigeons. Ian pairs up his racers in February and the racers never rear a youngster, being put on the widowhood two weeks before the first race, when the hens and their eggs are taken away. The cocks get very little training and he says they had only eight 15-mile tosses in the last two seasons, being trained while sitting their eggs, prior to going on the widowhood system. Ian says he uses the first Federation races, to get the racers fit and races the old birds inland only, not being interested in long-distance Channel racing. The cocks are not broken down, being fed on a good widowhood mixture, and are exercised around the loft for an hour twice a day. Ian has 12 pairs of stock birds, which are Janssen Van Loon and Staf Van Reet, and a team of 15 young birds are bred for racing each season. They are not put on the darkness system and are raced only lightly to the perch.

Ian started up in the sport only in 2000 and tells me his friend, the late Ken Besant of New Malden, was a great help in getting him started. In the 2003 season the West loft won the Inland Average in the very strong Hersham Club and his biggest thrill was winning The Ken Besant Memorial Trophy with a pigeon that Ken had bred for Ian to start him up. The West loft 2004 Three Borders Federation winner was a 2y blue chequer Van Loon widowhood cock called ‘Wayne's Boy’ and he was bred from pigeons obtained from Steve Clacston and Frank Butler. Ian's father is the good old Kingston fancier Dave West, who flew a brilliant Channel pigeon in the 1970s and I can remember him winning the Bergerac race in the very strong Kingston Club the season after we won it. The good ol’ days! Dave won the longest old bird race with his good blue chequer hen Charter Flight, which recorded 5th Open SMT Combine. Looks like Ian is following in his father's footsteps!

The 2006 Three Borders Federation Race Programme.

OLD BIRD:

8th. April – Lulworth: 15th. April – West Bay: 22nd. April – Kingsdown: 29th. April – Exeter: 6th. May – Portland: 13th. May – Fougeres (SMT Combine): 20th. May – West Bay: 27th. May – Messac (SMT Combine): 3rd. June – Exeter: 10th. June – Poitiers (SMT Combine): 17th. June – Lulworth: 24th. June – Messac (SMT Combine): 1st. July – Kingsdown: 8th. July – Lulworth: 14th. July – Bergerac (SMT Combine).

YOUNG BIRD:  

5th. August – Blandford: 12th. August – Lulworth: 19th. August – West Bay: 26th. August – Lulworth: 2nd. September – Kingsdown: 9th. September – Exeter: 16th. September – Yelverton (SMT Combine). This programme could change with any developments with the ‘bird flu’ problem.

That’s your ‘FOCUS’ this week! I can be contacted on telephone: 01372 463480.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (FEDERATION PRESS OFFICER).