Keith Mott writes...

We are kicking off this week's article in Cheshire, in the North-West of England and visiting two Midlands National Flying Club winning lofts. Although those two winners are father and son, they each race on their own and have each won 1st. Open M.N.F.C. in their own right. Two outstanding fanciers!

DAVE SHERRATT

OF CREWE

Dave won the MNFC from Nantes (407 miles) in 1996 and says he can't describe the wonderful feeling he got when they rang him to say he had won 1st Open National. He previously won 1st Open Three Counties Combine Sartilly (8,000 birds) in 1994 and lifted an RPRA Award, which he says was wonderful, but to win the M.N.F.C. was out of this world. Both these brilliant performances were put up by one pigeon, Dave's blue cock, Champion ‘Digit’, a Haeltermans cross Kirkland, being raced on the widowhood system. When he won the MNFC from Nantes, he was Dave's single entry and won just over £2,000. Digit's performance in 1994, when he won the RPRA Award, was outstanding, winning 1st Open Three Counties Combine Sartilly (8,000 birds), 7th Open Three Counties Combine Rennes (5,000 birds) and 39th Open Three Counties Combine Nantes. A once-in-a-lifetime pigeon! Dave has been in the sport all his life, helping his dad around his loft as a lad and has raced on his own for over 15 years. He races 20 cocks on the widowhood system and, although he likes Channel racing best, he flies the full programme in the local club and M.N.F.C. The widowhood pigeons are paired up the second week in December and a single youngster in each nest is reared, being taken away with the hen at about 14 days old. They are re-paired in early April, with the cocks going onto the widowhood system sitting 10 days on eggs. The cocks get one or two training tosses before the first race and are not trained after that, just flown regularly around the loft. They are broken down from Saturday to Tuesday and on their return from the race get lemon juice and brewer's yeast on their breakdown com. Dave doesn't always show the hens on marking night and never turns the nest bowl. He increases the com for the long-distance Channel races and the cocks are only broken down until Monday for these races. Dave says he races the normal widowhood system and the whole management is geared to making it simple. On our visit to Dave's loft he showed me many outstanding racers, including a dark white flight cock which had scored in all three M.N.F.C. races in one season and a blue cock which had won 1st club, 11th Open Three Counties Combine Rennes (11,000 birds). He races 35 young birds on the darkness system each year and says the system doesn't hurt the birds as his old birds have been outstanding after being darkness youngsters. The young birds are raced to the perch, but if they pair up he lets them and some young cocks are saved for the widowhood system. He never thrashes young birds and might often stop them after three or four races. Dave's smart 26ft loft has four sections and all trapping is through open doors. The main families are Frank Tasker's Haelterman pigeons and Geoff Kirklands. Only six pairs of stock birds are kept and they are mostly good, retired racers.

TERRY SHERRATT

OF CREWE

Terry is Dave Sherratt's father and he started up in pigeon racing in 1970, with his father's birds, so Dave is the third generation pigeon fancier in the Sherratt family. Terry is a Channel enthusiast and likes racing from Pau (677 miles). He won 1st Open MNFC in 1997 from La Ferte Bernard (367 miles) with his Champion Bauwens / Santens widow cock, ‘Dapper’. This brilliant cock had four races in 1997 before he won the M.N.F.C. and recorded 1st, 4th, 6th and 9th federation. Prior to this he topped the combine from Niort and won several times 1st Open Federation. A fantastic pigeon! Terry races mainly cocks on the widowhood system and plays with a few yearling hens on the roundabout system. He pairs up at Christmas and repairs in April when the racers are given an open hole. They are then put on the widowhood when sitting10 days on the second round of eggs and he never starts racing until the end of April.Racing the cocks in wet weather and northeast winds in April is no good, as Terry wants his cocks for Channel racing later on in the season. He gives the cocks two or three training tosses before the first race and will give them the odd toss during the season to get them ready for a certain race. He feeds a first-class widowhood mixture and likes plenty of good maize. The birds only race every two or three weeks, so he has to break them down. Terry has a wonderful loft set-up with the main racing loft being double-decker and brick built. There are four sections for widowhood cocks on the top and each of these houses nine cocks, having grilled floors with open window trapping off landing boards. The ground floor has two nice store rooms and a section for the darkness young birds. While in the racing loft, Terry showed me a handsome blue cock, a grandson off Geoff Kirkland's ‘Pest’. This game cock was raced on widowhood and had flown Pau four times and been in the N.F.C. result three times. Another outstanding widowhood cock at the open loft was a Desmet Matthys blue chequer and he had many top prizes, including 1st. Federation Rennes, 44th. Open National and had flown 500 miles on the day several times. Terry breeds 100 young birds and the 40 off the widowhood cocks are put on the darkness, the 60 bred from the stock birds being left normal. He says he doesn't really like the darkness system, but isn't a great fan of young bird racing. The youngsters get a good schooling of two or three training tosses each week and race through to the M.N.F.C. Young Bird race. The cocks are stopped after a few races and saved for the widowhood system later in life. They are weaned on peas and then put on a light mixture, with chicken corn sometimes used for racing. Terry has a massive stock loft, with a nice big flight and this houses Geoff Kirkland'sBauwens, Desmet Matthys and Santens birds. He has Haeltermans via his good friends Frank and Anne Tasker, and Andre Diericks direct from the sprint champion in Belgium. The 40 pairs of stock birds are paired up at the end of January and are fed on a high protein mixture. Terry showed me one of his top stock cocks, a handsome blue pied of the Frank Tasker Filmstar lines, the sire of many winners including Champion ‘Digit’, Dave's M.N.F.C. winner. Thanks to Terry and Dave for the loft visits. Their pigeons are a credit to them.

LAPPAGE & HALLAM

OF SUTTON-IN-ASHFIELD

On a video tour of North Nottingharnshire I visited the MNFC winning loft of Lappage & Hallam. Steve Hallam is very well known for his excellent Derbyshire Federation notes in the British Homing World, but is also a premier flyer in the mighty MNFC. Steve & Ray have been in partnership since 1982, with the birds being kept at Steve's home and they prefer middle to long-distance racing. Ray Lappage is secretary of the Derbyshire Federation, which is made up of 24 south road clubs, with up to 5,500 birds being sent..Steve Hallam started up in 1971 when his father's miner friend asked him to look afterhis birds because he had long shifts down the mine and Steve caught the bug. Lappage & Hallam have been highly successful in M.N.F.C. races winning countless positionsincluding 1st Section, 1st Open Nantes, 1st Section, 2nd Open Picauville, 1st Section,46th Open Angouleme and many 1st prizes in the club and federation Channel racing. The first bird we looked at was their champion red chequer widowhood cock, a winner of many prizes including 1st Section, 1st Open Nantes M.N.F.C, also 4th and 7th Section in the M.N.F.C, 1st club Rennes (twice), 1st club, 6th federation Angouleme. This handsome cock is now breeding winners in the stock loft, including a son which won 1st Section, 46th Open Nantes M.N.F.C. He is a direct son of their number one stock hen, which was bred by Geoff Kirkland and all the best racers in the loft have her blood in them. Another top racer we handled was a Kirkland cross blue chequer cock raced on widowhood and he had flown 500 miles five times, four times on the day. He has won three section prizes in the M.N.F.C, 1st club, 1st federation Angouleme and 1st club, 12th federation Angouleme. A wonderful loft of birds. Racing widowhood, they pair up in mid-January with the MNFC races in mind. Cocks and hens are split when the youngsters are 15 days old and the cocks finish rearing.They are re-paired three weeks before the first race and the cocks are given seven 10- mile training tosses while sitting eggs, then they're split for the widowhood. They get no training in the racing season and never fly out with the hens, even when they are paired prior to the widowhood. Cocks race inland to get them fit for the M.N.F.C. events and are broken down three days a week during racing. They are fed on a first-class widowhood mixture with extra maize added for the long distance. They are shown the hens on marking night and always get their mates on their return from the race. The widowhood loft is 14ft long with 24 nest boxes and open-door trapping.The main family is Geoff Kirkland and they house 15 pairs of stock birds, which are paired up the same time as the racers so their eggs can be floated. Steve says when they bring in a new stock bird it must be off the best National winning lines. About 70 young birds are bred each season and they are raced on the darkness system. Steve maintains his best darkness youngsters make up to be their best old birds. The young cocks are raced through to the south coast (180 miles) and the hens go all the way to Picauville (260 miles). Young birds are broken down three days a week, the same as the widowhood cocks and are trained from 10 miles twice a week during the racing season. Thanks to Steve and Ray for a great loft visit!