Keith Mott

Visits two premier London lofts...

VIC SHAW

OF NORTH LONDON

At the time I visited Vic, he owned probably one of the best pigeons in London, in the form of Champion 'Tom Thumb', a blue chequer Janssen widowhood cock. Prior to my visit to Vic's loft I had heard so much about this little rocket, which had won 9 x 1sts club, 6 x 1sts federation and 1st Open London NR Combine Berwick (8,000 birds). 'Tom Thumb' liked races up to 250 miles and was bred from Janssen pigeons obtained from Len Hopton of Wolverhampton. A fantastic champion!

Vic raced with his father as a teenager and started on his own over 20 years ago. He has won 1st Open London NR Combine three times, 2nd Open twice and says his best performance was when his great hen, 'Boadicea', was the only bird on the day in the London NR Combine from 500 miles. This wonderful blue chequer Janssen hen was raced on the natural system and was bred from a long line of distance winners. Vic likes races over 200 miles and has won 1st federation over 35 times. He races 28 cocks and 20 hens on a basic widowhood system and pairs up in mid- January. Racing in two clubs, he breaks down at the end of the week during the racing season, trains up to the first race and after that the birds are only exercised around the loft once a day. Because of his night work as a taxi driver he can only let them out once a day and if they are not flying well, they are flagged. The hens are shown on marking night and the racers see their mates for about 30 minutes on their return from the race.

While I was in Vic's very smart 24ft widowhood loft, he showed us his good blue chequer Wildemeersch cock, 'The Frill', which had won 2nd Open London NR Combine (3,000 birds) with only two birds home on the day. He is from a long line of excellent racers and his sire has also bred a 1st Open London NR Combine winner. 'The Frill' was a very small pigeon, even smaller than Champion 'Tom Thumb'. The main family kept is the Hopton-based Janssen and Vic's eight pairs of stock birds are paired up in mid- January, with the race birds. Most of the stock birds are retired champion racers but when bringing in stock, Vic always goes for premier winning lines and not type. His 60 young birds are trained twice a week and are raced to the perch through to 250 miles. They are federation twice a day and if they want to pair up they are given a nest bowl. Vic is not a lover of the darkness but says that if you want to win prizes with young birds you must go on the system.

GEORGE MORRIS

OF EAST ACTON

In the 1998 season, George enjoyed great success, winning many major positions including 7th Open Pau (NFC) and 1st Open SE Combine Bergerac in the space of six days. A fantastic performance! The 1999 season saw him continue his outstanding success, with 9th Open Combine Rennes, 14th Open Combine Nantes, 34th Open

Combine Rennes, 1st and 2nd club, 1st and 3rd West Middlesex Federation, 1st and 4th Open SE Combine Bergerac. These performances are what dreams are made of and George says the wonderful loft performances over the two seasons were unbelievable. The two pigeons clocked from Bergerac in 1999 were a brother and sister nest pair, with the Combine winner being a 2y widowhood cock, trained only as a young bird and raced as a yearling only inland. In 1999 he had five inland races and two Channel races from Rennes (245 miles), then into Bergerac to win the Combine, taking 131/4 hours to fly the 460 miles. His sister, George's Champion blue chequer, won 4th Open Combine in 1999, also 1st Open Combine Bergerac in 1998. What a nest pair. She was sent to Bergerac in 1999 sitting 10- day-old eggs and flew 133/4 hours to record 4th Open Combine. The Morris set-up is two small lofts in an L-shape by the railway tracks of East Acton tube station and all trapping is through open doors. The natural racers have 15 widowhood style nest boxes and the small team of widowers have 12 nest boxes. His 36 young birds race on the natural system to their own section all the way through to 200 miles and are trained at least twice a week.

George started racing at the age of 11, when he was in partnership with his father and they were outstanding in the long distance north road races. He turned south road seven seasons ago and has won at every stage through France, including winning the longest old bird race from Bergerac every year. George has a small loft with big performances and in the last 13 seasons on the north road, he has won Thurso 11 times. A fantastic loft performance! He says he likes week-to-week club racing, but is most successful at the long-distance events, keeping a few widowhood cocks for the spring club races and the bulk of the loft being on natural for the races from France.

On my loft visit (early in 1999), George showed me his champion blue chequer white flight hen, winner of 1st Open SE Combine Bergerac (460 miles) in 1998. She was sent to the longest old bird race sitting 12-day-old eggs, flying 111/4hours, to win the combine and three weeks prior to this, she won 3rd club Poitiers. She is a granddaughter of his champion racer and breeding cock, 'The Thurso Cock', her dam being a pigeon from George White of Kent. George started his own family of long-distance pigeons in the mid-1970s with a Havenith pigeon from Stan Towers and a bird from his friend Gerry Dellany, both outstanding fanciers. From time to time he brings in an outstanding pigeon to cross with his own family, which he says, more often than not, brings out a top-class performer.

He pairs up his widowhood racers in January and the natural birds in mid- March and because of his work commitments finds it very hard to do much training. The little training he gives the team is from the south coast and he uses the short inland races to get the birds fit. His build-up for the long-distance events is two inland races, one 350-mile Channel race, then he sends them to the main event sitting about 12-day-old eggs. He says every pigeon likes a different nest condition when sent to the distance but he hasn't had much luck with birds feeding youngsters. He showed me his fantastic mosaic cock, which in 1998 flew 560 miles from Pau in 151/2 hours, recording 7th Open NFC. He was sent sitting 12-day-old eggs and is also a grandson of 'The Thurso Cock'. This mosaic cock is no stranger to winning and previously recorded 1st club Bergerac (131/2hours on the wing) and 159th Open Saintes NFC. A great George Morris pigeon! This cock was injured in the 1999 season and is now at stock.

A good one this week! Two of the best lofts in London.

 TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.