Keith Mott

The Champions of Yesteryear (Part 25) 

MR & MRS CHARLTON & FATHER OF OVERTON

As I drove the 50 miles to see the Charltons at Overton it belted down with rain as it always does on my loft visits. The Charltons won an R.P.R.A. Southern Region award in 1978 for best loft performance south road and their performances really were fairy tale stuff. They were top prize winners in the Andover Premier Club and Berkshire & Dist. Federation, lifting 16 firsts and won the Old Bird Average in the newly formed B.T.B. Combine. The partners started up in 1975 and have never looked back being top prize winners every year since 1976 in the very strong Andover Premier Club. The Ron Mitcheison Memorial Trophy was won in 1978 for the best average in the three N.F.C. races by a Federation member. They recorded 2nd Sect. F (only bird in the section on the day), 16th Open (4,515 birds) Pau National and 9th Sect. F, 285th Open Guernsey Y.B. National in 1978. The highlights of their 1978 club racing were: 1st & 2nd club Blandford, 1st club, 6th Berkshire Federation (2,074 birds) Blandford, 1st club, 15th Berkshire Federation Blandford, 1st club, 1st Berkshire Federation (2,244 birds) Weymouth, 1st club, 8th Berkshire Federation (2,016 birds) Weymouth, 1st club, 2nd Berkshire Federation (2,010 birds) Exeter, 1st & 2nd Club, 1st & 2nd Berkshire Federation (2,532 birds) Weymouth, 2nd club, 2nd Berkshire Federation (2,174 birds) Weymouth, 1st & 2nd club, 11 th & 14th Berkshire Federation Weymouth, 1st & 2nd club, 5th & 9th Berkshire Federation Exeter, 1st club, 4th Berkshire Federation (1,861 birds) Exeter, 1st & 2nd club, 3rd Berkshire Federation, 3rd B.T.B. Combine Niort, 1st & 2nd club, 1st Berkshire Federation, 2nd B.T.B. Combine Bergerac, lifting many trophies including the Berkshire Fed. Channel average.

The 1979 season was the first with their new fantastic four section loft which was 25 ft. x 8 ft., with open door trapping. The stock section had a nice flight in front and the rest of the loft consisted of two old bird racing sections and a young bird section. In the middle of each section there was a clear plastic sheet in the roof to give extra light to this nice deep loft. The partners kept 16 pairs of racers, eight pairs of stock birds with about 30 youngsters bred each year. Two main families were kept, Busschaerts from Jeff Horn, Ray Callender and G. Busschaerts direct, and Leonard pigeons for the distance from Leonard & Son of the U.N.C. The team was paired up the nearest weekend to February 14 and all racing was on the natural system. The partners liked to see the birds out and about the garden enjoying themselves so the natural system was the only way. One of the racing sections had eight widowhood nest boxes so if they fancied widowhood racing they could. A lot of thought went into this loft before it was constructed. The loft was spotlessly clean, being scraped out every day by Nev Senior, and corrugated cardboard was used on the nest box floors for speed when cleaning. The Charltons' first loft was too well ventilated, said Nev Junior, facing South West it was exposed to rain, that had piano type trapping. He said good ventilation, dryness and open door trapping are the main factors in good loft design. Their new loft was built by Pat Bowles, an Andover club member.

On my visit we inspected the stock birds first and immediately to hand was their best stock hen, a Busschaerts blue chequer bred by Jeff Horn. Nev Junior said she has bred countless winners and every youngster bred from her had scored. She handled medium apple-bodied and was a daughter of the Broken Keel. This pigeon had a lovely nut brown eye and Nev Junior said he is interested in eyesign but keeps an open mind. The stock loft housed several pigeons from top U.N.C. fliers besides the Leonard and Busschaerts pigeons. One of Leonard & Son's ace racers was at stock at the Charltons' loft, that being a five year old pied cock which had to its credit, 1st club, 2nd Federation, 1st Tyne Tweed C.C., 30th U.N.C., (12,258 birds) Beauvais 1975 and 1st club, 1st Federation, 2nd Tyne Tweed C.C., 8th U.N.C. (7,344 birds) Bourges 1976. This cock was true to the Leonard type being medium long cast and he only had those two channel races in his life. Another direct Leonard cock in the stock section was an eight year old mealy cock, a full brother to the Leonards' U.N.C. winner. This handsome cock was a great producer and had won five firsts including 1 st club, 5th Federation, 30th U.N.C. (13,397 birds) Beauvais in 1973.

In the racing section, the Busschaerts blue chequer white flight hen which won 1 st club, 3rd Berkshire Fed, 3rd B.T.B. Combine Niort in 1978 was in my hand first and she was a real gem. She was one of a whole string of winners of that line. The next two pigeons I looked at were two children of the good Busschaerts stock hen, the first a two year old pied hen which belongs to Nev's daughter Kate, was lost as a youngster, but was retrieved and she repaid the Charltons by winning 1st club, 1st Berkshire Federation (2,532 birds) Weymouth, 1st club, 5th Berkshire Federation (1,861 birds) Exeter and 3rd club Exeter. The other was a two year old pencil blue cock which had won three firsts and some good Federation positions.

Nev Junior first kept pigeons at the age of 13 for two years and took up the sport again in 1975 after picking up a stray at work and caring for it. His uncle, Lester Featherstonehaugh gave them a lot of help to start, Lester is a first class fancier in the Hexham Club. Their first stock were mostly gift birds from Nev senior's friends in Hexham, Northumberland. These gift birds were good quality as they recorded some good positions in the Andover Premier Club in 1975. Nev junior said he was a student of U.N.C. and W.D.A. results and admires the dedication of Up North fanciers, such as Leonard & Son, Bowden & Son, Mitchell Bros, Bobby Calvere, Ray Callender and Jeff Horn. Nev Senior was retired, doing a lot of the loft work. Nev Junior was an H.G.V. driver and a past secretary of the Andover club and was the 1979 show secretary of the R.P.R.A. Southern Region show.

The birds were fed on a good quality mixture of beans, maize, peas, tares and small seed, and were trapped with Red Band. The Charltons liked to send their birds sitting eight to ten day old eggs, but this depended on individual birds. The old birds were trained according to the race they were to be entered in and the youngsters were trained as much as possible. They liked the yearlings to fly through to Bergerac (450 miles) and the youngsters through to Guernsey (134 miles).

One of the 1978 stars was their two year old Leonard blue hen and she recorded 2nd club, 16th Berkshire Federation, 24th B.T.B. Combine (1,945 birds) Niort (beaten by the white flight chequer Busschaerts hen), 1st club, 1st Berkshire Federation, 2nd B.T.B. Combine (1,852 birds) Bergerac, winning the Federation by 35 y.p.m. Nev Junior said this apple-bodied hen needed no work as Niort was her first channel race in 1978. In fact a week or so before my visit she was sent to Seaton with no training for an opener and she chalked up 2nd club. A great pigeon! The 1978 16th Open Pau N.F.C. winner was a three year old blue chequer hen, bred by Bowden & Son of the U.N.C. and she was the only pigeon clocked on the day in Section F, to record 2nd Sect. (285 birds). The partners call her 'The Pau Hen' and in 1979 she has chalked up 1st club, 1st B.B. & 0. Federation (1,559 birds), 3rd M.C. Combine Nantes, being the only bird on the day in the Federation.

As I wrote this article the Charltons had just finished a fantastic 1979 old bird season, recording thirteen 1sts, six 2nds, seven 3rds, three 4ths and three times 1 st Federation, three times 2nd Federation and three times 3rd Federation. The highlights were, 1st club Newbury, 1st, 4th & 5th club, 4th, 7th, & 12th Berkshire Federation (2,865 birds) Weymouth, 1st, 3rd & 4th club, 1st, 5th & 6th B.B. & 0. Federation (3,338 birds) Weymouth, 2nd & 3rd club Weymouth, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th club, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Berkshire Federation Exeter, 2nd & 3rd club Weymouth, 1st & 3rd club, 5th Berkshire Federation, 20th B.T.B. Combine Laval, 1st club, 1st B.B. & C. Federation, 3rd M.C. Combine Nantes, 1 st club, 2nd Berkshire & Dist. Federation Weymouth, 1st & 2nd club, 3rd & 4th B.B. & 0. Federation (1 ,990 birds) Exeter, 1st, 2nd & 3rd club, 8th, 14th & 16th Berkshire Federation Angers, 1st club, 45th M.C. Combine Niort, 1st club, 1st B.B. & 0. Federation Seaton, 1st club, 3rd Berkshire Federation, 4th B.T.B. Combine Niort, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th & 7th club, 2nd Berkshire Fed. Weymouth, 3rd & 5th club Bergerac. What a fantastic loft of pigeons!

I hope my readers have enjoyed this article, on what was then one of the best lofts in the South of England! The Charlton family of Overton. I can be contacted on telephone number: 01372 463480. See yer!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.