Keith Mott writes about winning fanciers past & present

A Tribute to Archie Camis of Ashford

Archie Camis sadly passed away on 4th. July and will be greatly missed. He was one of the gentlemen of pigeon racing and was an outstanding north road fancier for many years in the Middlesex area.

Archie Camis started pigeon racing in 1952 with birds obtained from his brother-in-law, Joe Parker of the Ashford South Road Club. Archie began by joining the Sunbury Club, which is the club he flew in until the early 1980s. In the early days, he had some help from his mate, George Quigley. His son, Andrew, came into the partnership after Archie's other son, Fred, had dropped out in 1975 and he said the pigeons always kept his boys out of trouble. The successful family flown in the 1970s were bred down from 4 original birds and are based on their good Dutch stock cock and the birds of the late, great, Bill Steeles. The 4-compartment loft was 23ft x 7ft, with a corridor and the birds were trapped through an open door on to a feeding platform. Sharp sand was used on the loft floor and the birds were paired up the second week in February. The loft housed 8 pairs of racers,' 2 pairs of stock birds and about 25 young birds were bred each year.

The partners flew on the natural system with what they called 'Gee-ups', like semi-widowhood. The racers were trained 3 times a week from 12 miles and this started after the young birds were weaned. The first bird I handled on my visit to the Camis loft in 1978 was the 14-year-old Dutch stock blue cock called The Dutchman and he was still filling his eggs. He was medium sized in the hand, the daddy of the loft, and was the sire of countless winners, including the partners' 1978 North Thames NR Combine winner Wayside Blue. Next to hand was the 2y blue cock Wayside Blue and what a gem this pigeon was! He handled medium to long. cast and was a really good racing type pigeon, which his performances proved, winning: 1977: 1st club, 11th fed, 41st open combine Thurso, 3,334 birds; 1978: 1st club, 10th fed, 23rd open combine Berwick, 5,441 birds; 1st club, 1st fed, 1st open combine Fraserburgh, 3,775 birds. A real champion! Another gem I looked at was a 10y dark chequer hen named Carol, this hen was a nice type with a great eye. She was retired from racing but was a hot 'un when on the road, winning 1st club Nottingham (twice), 1st club Worksop, 1st club Leicester and 10 other cards. Archie's ambition was to win the combine, but after the event it leaves you a bit flat, he said, so the next thing to do is to win it again! The partners said sitting 14-day-old eggs is their favourite racing condition, although the Wayside Blue scored 3 times in 3 different conditions. They said the most important factor in management is to keep it regular and to a fixed system. The racers flew all races and were fed on a good mixture of peas, beans and maize. Andy said he liked the idea of line breeding, but didn't like deep litter on the loft floor.

12/7/07