Keith Mott writes...

The Best of the Up North Combine - Part 9

JIMMY & KEITH DERBYSHIRE OF BLYTH

At the recent North-East 'Two-Bird Specialist Club prize presentation, held at Peterlee Leisure Centre, I had the pleasure of meeting the father and son Northumberland partnership of Jimmy & Keith Derbyshire. That year they won the biggest prize in combine racing' in the NEHU, the Queen's Cup from Clermont (431 miles). The Derbyshires' won this premier trophy with their champion yearling blue Busschaert hen, ‘Derby's Girl’, and she was sent to Clermont on chipping eggs, with 17,114 birds competing.

Both Jimmy's father and grandfather were pigeon fanciers, flying the 'milers', and as a lad he helped out in their loft. Later on he became loft manager for a local fancier and started up his own loft at the age of 17. He could not start, racing straight away, as he couldn't join a club until he was 18 years old. Jim won his first race in 1955 with a bird obtained from Billy Sharples and has been a premier flyer since the early 1960s. His first stock were Busschaerts from Tom Larkins, George Corbett and Ray Callender and they are the same pigeons he is racing today. Jim's first club was theone he still races in, Newsham HS, and his son, Keith, joined the pigeon partnership in 1995. Jim says that he kept only a small team of pigeons in the early days and his biggest mistake was over feeding them.

The partners' loft is a 30ft, ‘L’-shaped structure with a perspex canopy and open-door trapping and deep litter is used in the stock section. The whole team is paired up the second week in January. The partners race 12 natural pairs on the Channel and 12 widowhood cocks for inland events. The widowhood racers rear a single youngster and are put onto the system on their second pair of eggs. The widowhood cocks have only two short training tosses prior to the first federation race and the naturals are heavy through the season from Durham (30 miles). The widowhood racers fly out for an hour in the morning and evening and are never broken down during the racing season. They are shown their mates on marking night and the time they are given the hens on their return is governed by how hard the race was. The cocks are given garlic, hemp and peanuts and are never repaired for the longer races. Keith told me that he likes his natural racers sitting 10 day eggs for the longest race from Bourges and the Channel birds are not overworked, being picked out for certain races. ‘Derby's Girl’, the Queen's Cup winner, was only lightly raced, scoring from Lillers before winning Clermont. The widowhood cocks race every week inland, down to the south coast.

The partners keep 12 pairs of Busschaert stock birds, which are paired up at the same time as the racers, in January, and are fed .on Irish mixture. When bringing in a new stock bird, Keith says, he goes for good Busschaert winning lines and isn't bothered about type. Jim maintains that when bringing in new stock you must be looking to improve your performances, as it gets harder and harder to win every season. His club, Newsham HS, won a fantastic 14 x 1sts fed in 25 races that season. Keith says that there are four other lofts on their allotment and the racing is so 'hot' there that if you win the club, you have a very good chance of winning the federation. One of the Derbyshires' best pigeons was a blue Busschaert hen that won 2nd Open Amal Beauvais (twice) and then had to go to the stock loft because she broke her wing. She was a champion racer and breeder, being the dam of many winners and grandam of ‘Derby's Girl’, the 2002 Queen's Cup winner.

Jimmy & Keith have a team of 50 young birds each year and these are raced through the programme to Ashford. They are fed on a light mixture for the first three races, then go on to Irish mixture and are trained well from Durham. The partners put half the team on the darkness system from weaning until Beauvais weekend and they are raced to the perch but if they want to pair up, they are allowed to. Keith maintains that if youngsters are paired up and even sitting eggs, they race better. The Derbyshires like racing every Saturday but enjoy Channel racing best and said that one of their best performances was from Bourges, when there were only six birds home on the day from the 599-mile race in the amalgamation and they had three of them. They recorded 3rd, 4th and 5th Open Amal and the dam of ‘Derby's Girl’, the Queen's Cup winner, was one of those pigeons on the day. The partners have won the longest race, from Bourges, many times and finished a fantastic 2002 season by winning 1st club, 1st fed from this racepoint. They told me that their biggest thrill in pigeon racing was when they won the Queen's Cup this season, because it's the best of the best! Well done to Jimmy & Keith!

TREVOR ROWLAND

OF SUNDERLAND

Trevor Rowland started up in the sport 16 years ago and says he has always done well out of Lillers, which is a 342-mile fly to his allotment lofts. In 1992 he won the LNRC Cup of Friendship Trophy for the best two bird performance in Up North Combine Lillers race, recording 6th & 13th Open. In 1996 season, Trevor hit the jackpot by winning 1st Open UNC Lillers (16,248 birds) with a Busschaert blue widowhood cock. This game pigeon was only lightly raced as he got injured as a young bird, then recorded a good Combine position in the Folkestone National two weeks before winning 1st Open UNC Lillers. The loft has won the Fed many times through the years, but Trevor rates his Combine win as his best performance.

The main family raced is Busschaert, one team on Natural for the long-distance races and 40 cocks on Widowhood for sprint and middle-distance events. None of the racers are broken down in the race season as Trevor says the climate in the North East is wrong for this practice. In short or long-distance races he pairs up on Boxing Day and has to pair the whole loft up that week because that's the only time he gets off work. The birds are trained hard before the season starts and they are never forced to exercise around the loft. Trevor never saves young cocks for the Widowhood system, the one time he did, he lost them on dodgy races the following year, because they hadn't any race experience. When bringing in a new stock bird, he has to have a good gut feeling and really fancy it, and they have to be from good winning lines. Trevor says the champion of the loft is his good Busschaert blue pied cock and won twice 1st Fed, twice 2nd Fed and 6th UNC Lillers. This 'Ace' was raced on Widowhood and is now breeding winners in the stock partings.

VERRILL & ARMSTRONG

OF STAITHES

Verrill & Armstrong have their loft on the side of the valley overlooking the sleepy little fishing village of Staithes, a stone's throw from the five-times Up North Combine winning loft of Bill Porritt. Matt says that the day they won the mighty Up North Combine from Maidstone Young Bird National in 1998, the wind was westerly and just right for their loft location on the east coast. He has been in the sport since 1960 and formed his highly successful partnership with Tom in 1978, winning many major positions in their favourite young bird races, including 1st Open Up North Combine Harlow National in 1989; 5th Open Up North Combine Folkestone National in 1982 and their latest Up North Combine win from Maidstone, with 17,076 young birds competing in 1998. The partners' Maidstone combine winner is a medium blue chequer white flight hen, bred from the best Mr & Mrs Whitehead of Co. Durham, Busschaert bloodlines. She was hatched on March 8th and put on the darkness system, after which she was raced to the perch playing around with an odd cock bird. She hurt her wing in the Peterborough race in 1998 and could not fly for three or four days. When she began to exercise well around the loft, she was entered in the young bird Maidstone National, to win 1st Open Up North Combine, a wonderful performance!

The dam of the combine winner is a nice Busschaert light blue chequer which has won 10th Open Up North Combine from 252 miles. Verrill & Armstrong like young bird racing best and breed 25 youngsters each season for their sport. They went onto the darkness system in 1998 with outstanding success; the young bird team is put on the system on weaning and taken off at the old bird Bourges race. They are trained hard down the coast to Whitby and fed well on a good widowhood mixture, never being kept short of feeding.

They are raced to the perch, being allowed to pair up if they wish and Tom says a big disappointment in the 1998 season was the nest mate of the combine winner, being killed on some wires. All the young birds are raced through the programme to the longest race. The partners' loft is 30ft long, made up of three sections, two for old birds and one for the young birds, with all trapping done through the open doors. The five pairs of stock birds are all Busschaerts, originating from Mr & Mrs Whitehead and the old birds are raced on the natural system