Keith Mott

N.E.H.U. Annual South Shields Show 2011

The annual NEHU show was started nearly 90 years ago and was held at the Peterlee Leisure Centre for over 20 years. The centre was a very good venue for a major show and when I last attended the event ten years ago the halls were packed with well over 2,000 visitors. The show was run for many years by former N.E.H.U. secretary, Alfie Rothwell, and then show manager, Colin Allison of Redcar. This wonderful show has now out grown the Peterlee Leisure Centre and in the last five years has been staged at a new perfect venue named the Temple Park Centre in South Shields. In recent seasons the show has been run by the current N.E.H.U. secretary, David Power, and I must say, David has being doing a wonderful job in pushing this show to even greater things in the last few years. The latest Show Manager is Allen Hall, who with the assistance of NEHU President, Gordon Burten, runs the event like clock work! Fanciers showing at South Shields are competing for a wonderful array of N.E.H.U. Trophies and there is an auction of top class pigeons, with most of the proceeds going to the British Fanciers Medical Research.

I have previously judged at Peterlee twice, but about ten years ago and had the pleasure of being asked to travel to the North East of England to judge Best in Show at the 2011 event. David Power sent me the letter, kindly inviting me and I must say, I was doubly keen to take him up on his invitation, as I had tasted the atmosphere of this brilliant one-day event twice before, having previously first judged in 1998, when Alfie Rothwell was the Secretary of the Union. The month of November saw Bobby Besant and my self make the 670 mile round trip drive up to South Shields, to judge at the NEHU Show, which must be rated as one of the best one day shows on the British show Calendar. Bobby is a postman and getting out of bed at 05.00hrs every day is the norm for this pigeon man. For me it is not quite so easy, but I managed to pick him up at his home in Worcester Park at 05.30hrs and we were soon on the M1 motorway, heading north. It was to be a very special weekend for Bobby and my self, as I had arranged two loft visits on our way up north, to two of the, what I consider to be two of the best lofts in Europe, in the form of Brian and Thelma Denney of Strensall and Mark and Dick Evans of Whitley Bridge. I must say, as usual I didn’t sleep to well the night before, but such was the buzz with Bobby and me, I didn’t feel at all tired on the long haul up the Motorway. The weather was brilliant for the long drive and two winter loft visits, and with the pigeon banter between Bobby and me, the four hour journey up to Doncaster for our first visit just flew by! We arrived at our accommodation, The Little Haven Hotel, sited on the water front at South Shields in late afternoon and gave us just enough time to check in and get ready for the NEHU Presentation Evening to be held at the hotel that evening. Another great ‘do’! The lads in the north east sure know how to hold a great prize presentation. The place was packed and we all enjoyed a good lady singer, followed by one of those special northern buffets. Bobby and I spent the evening in great pigeon banter with Alan Hambling and Stuart Culbert, who were also judging at the show and they race very successfully in partnership to their lofts in Barrow in Furness, Cumbria.

The NEHU show is one of the premier events in the showing calendar and David Power informed me that the entrance fee at the first show in 1925 was 6d. (21/2 p.). The Saturday was the big show day and as always the turn out was a major success with 30 trade stands and over 700 birds in the pens. The N.E.H.U. South Shields Show is the best one day event on the show calendar and always attracts a massive crowd, with the leisure Centre being packed to the rafters! I always think these big shows are a great place for fancier to meet up in the winter months and it was great to see a lot of my ol’ pals from the north east, including Rod Adams of South Shields, who was looking well in spite of a recent bad belt of flu. We also had a chat with the Wheatley family, Jeff Walton, Malcolm Nee and my good friend Fred Dickson of Cramlington, who is now 84 years of age and still banging them in the Federation result from Bourges (581 miles). When I judged Best in Show, I had to sort out the 20 class winners and the quality of the birds was brilliant. They were a mixture of Show Racers and Racing Pigeons and I took my time, so as to enjoy this great honour bestowed on me, to the fullest. The first pigeon to hand was a wonderful blue chequer racing cock and said to Bobby, ‘this is a great start and he would be the one to beat’. I also picked out a very nice red Show Racer young hen and after much deliberation over the 20 superb winners I gave Supreme Champion to the red Show Racer hen, and Best Opposite Sex to the Racer. The Supreme Champion was owned by John and Alice Bell of Catrine in Ayrshire and they have won at many National shows through the years, including Supreme Champion at the BHW Blackpool Show in 2007. This wonderful red ‘doo’ had everything in the hand, outstanding feathering, balance and nice dark eyes, my perfect pigeon. I judged at the Blackpool Show in 2007 and John and Alice won one of my classes with a blue Show Racer hen! I will be doing a full loft report on the Bell Show Racer loft in the near future.

Eric Yule & son of Aberdeen won Best Opposite Sex with that wonderful blue chequer cock! I visited Eric's Aberdeen home in 1997 and was greatly impressed by the man and his wonderful team of multi-purpose pigeons, which have excelled at racing and showing. Over the years Eric has recorded many major positions in national long-distance races, with 1996 being his best season, winning 3rd North Section Sartilly (1) SNFC (587 miles); 1st North Sect Rennes SNFC (631 miles); 1st North Sect Sartilly (2) SNFC. The loft had won Best Racer in Show at the BHW Blackpool Show twice and also twice at the RP Old Comrades Show. Eric had had outstanding success with his good Kirkpatrick red chequer cock which won Best Racer in Show at both the major shows in one season, a fantastic performance. The Red Cock has also been a good racer, winning many cards in races up to 300 miles.

Eric's, smart 20ft loft has four sections and the birds are trapped through drop holes. The main loft has a closed-in front to keep the inmates warm and dry and the nest boxes are also very secluded, with hardboard fronts. Eric began in. the sport in 1963 with a pair in a rabbit hutch and is only really interested in long-distance racing. His 40 pairs of natural racers are paired up in early February and, after rearing a pair of squeakers, are parted again. They are trained and race the first four races apart, and then are re-paired for the rest of the season, it with the long-distance nationals in mind. The old birds get three 25-mile training tosses every week through the season. The birds are hopper fed a good mixture, with extra maize being added as the' distance increases. The star bird on my visit to the Aberdeen loft was a blue cheq cock and he was a blend of several top long-distance families which run through the loft. This cock has won several cards - racing, including 1st North Section 85th open Rennes (SNFC) 631 miles, sent feeding two big youngsters. A good type as well as good performance is preferred when selecting stock birds. Stock birds are paired up the same time as the racers so their first round of eggs can be floated in the racing loft. Since my visit to his loft, Eric has won Best in Show at the RP Old Comrades Show at Doncaster. He has been 'knocking on the door' at the national shows many times and this time had hit the jackpot.

The NEHU Show 2011 class winners were: Class 1: 1st E. & N. Yule, 2nd D. Murphy, 3rd E. & N. Yule: Class 2: C. & P. Nee, 2nd C. & P. Nee, 3rd E. & N. Yule: Class 3: 1st C. & P. Nee, 2nd C. & P. Nee, 3rd M. & D. Winter & Daughter: Class 4: 1st G. & K. Parker, 2nd Mackie & Knox, 3rd Mathieson & Son: Class 5: 1st M. & D. Winter & Son, 2nd M. & D. Winter & Son, 3rd E. & N. Yule: Class 6: 1st E. & N. Yule, 2nd G. & K. Parker, 3rd McCord & Turpie: Class 7: 1st A. J. Coils & Son, 2nd E. & N. Yule, 3rd Mr. & Mrs McQueen: Class 8: 1st Weldon, Son & Beadle, 2nd D. Murphy, 3rd Mackie & Knox: Class 9: 1st C. & P. Nee, 2nd C. & P. Nee, 3rd Mr. & Mrs. Bowden, Class 10: 1st E. Balmer, 2nd C. & P. Nee, 3rd E. Balmer: Class 11: 1st E. & N. Yule, 2nd E. & N. Yule, 3rd M. & D. Winter & Daughter: Class 12: 1st N. & A. Evans, 2nd Weldon, Son & Beadle, 3rd N. & A. Evans: Class 13: 1st J. & A. Bell, 2nd J. & A. Bell, 3rd Fitzpatrick & Fleming: Class 14: 1st J. & A. Bell, 2nd Fitzpatrick & Fleming, 3rd C. Coutts: Class 15: 1st Fitzpatrick & Fleming, 2nd J. & A. Bell, 3rd R. Hughes: Class 16: 1st J. & A. Bell, 2nd Fitzpatrick & Fleming, 3rd Fitzpatrick & Fleming: Class 17: 1st Fitzpatrick & Fleming, 2nd A. Tankard, 3rd Edson & Wheat: Class 18: 1st McCord & Turpie, 2nd E. & N. Yule, 3rd C. Coutts, Class 19: 1st Fitzpatrick & Fleming, 2nd J. & A. Bell, 3rd Fitzpatrick & Fleming: Class 20: 1st J. & A. Bell, 2nd J. & J. Lynn, 3rd J. & A. Bell. The charity auction of gift pigeons raised £3,672 on the day and donations were made were made to: The Mission to Seafarers (South Shields) £500, Kidney Dialysis Rental Unit Fund (City Hospital – Sunderland) £500, St Vincent De Paul Holy Island Camp £500 and The British Medical Fanciers Research Fund £2,172. A really fantastic gesture by the pigeon fanciers in the north east!

David Power has been the N.E.H.U. secretary for thirteen years, taking over from Alfie Rothwell when he retired and told me he really enjoys the job. David is so dedicated to his job at the Union and works long hours to ensure the smooth running of the office. The N.E.H.U. has 4,500 members and distributes about 160,000 rings. He has been a pigeon fancier for over 45 years and won his first race in 1966 with a gay pied hen, from Welwyn Garden City. He maintains he is a channel racing fancier, winning at all stages through France and has won the very strong Newcastle and Northumberland Federations. The Power loft flies the natural system and the main family kept is Jan Aarden for long distance racing. With his pigeon partner, Andy Douglass, David won 1st, 2nd Federation, 7th, 11th Up North Combine Bourges (580 miles) and lifted the Best 2 Bird Performance in the Combine in the 2009 season. He told me that with his young family and the long hours he puts in at the N.E.H.U. office, he has no real system with his pigeons, but just enjoys racing them when he can. His wife, Helen, is a great help with his pigeon racing and he prefers young bird racing, winning the Federation with them in recent seasons. His smart loft is on the same gardens as the 2002 ‘Queen’s Cup’ winners, Jimmy and Keith Derbyshire.

There you have it, you can relay any comment on telephone number: 01372 463480. Thanks to Jeff Walton for the additional photos. Great pictures! Until the next time, good showing!