ARNOLD BROTHERS OF SIX BELLS

THREE NATIONAL WINS IN AS MANY YEARS

by Gareth Watkins

The partnership consists of Kevin and younger brother Tyrone who both competed separately until very recently. Kevin flew in partnership with his father Ray for many years and Tyrone started with the birds racing to his own loft in 2002 and winning 9x 1sts in his first season. The 2003 old bird season saw Tyrone win his first National, this from Dax at more than 500 miles. With Kevin racing birds to his own loft and time with the birds being at a premium the two brothers decided that it would be more sensible if they joined forces and so the present partnership was formed racing a combined young bird team in 2003. In 2004 the brothers won their second National race, this from San Sebastian a distance of 582 miles from their home loft. This race saw the Welsh pigeons being transported by the CSCFC and the Arnold Brothers winner of the Welsh National was duplicated back into this organisation and finished 2nd Open beaten only by a bird at Southampton which amazingly had to allow the brothers’ pigeon only 54 miles overfly.                              

So we come to the 2006 season, which everyone knows was severely disrupted due to the Avian Flu outbreak. As a result channel racing was a hasty last minute addition to the racing calendar once DEFRA had given the all clear. The Welsh SRNFC quickly organised a 500 mile race from Bergerac in conjunction with the CSCFC and in a very hard race with just eight day birds into Wales, the Arnold Brothers’ mealy cock came up trumps securing the brothers their third National win and beating every pigeon racing into Britain and liberated at Bergerac that day.

Many excellent fanciers have gone to their graves never having secured a single National win after a lifetime in the sport. Kevin and Tyrone Arnold have won three LONG DISTANCE National races in just three seasons, a phenomenal achievement. A loft visit was therefore a top priority and so it was that I travelled over to Six Bells in the company of Les Hughes with the intention of giving the Arnold Brothers and their National winning team the publicity that they so richly deserve.         

Like so many other Valleys lofts the Arnold Brothers set up is situated high on the western hillside overlooking the former mining village of Six Bells. There are two lofts at this location plus a third housing the stock birds at a different site. The old bird racing loft is a 30ft x 8ft structure which faces north east. It has four sections plus a two foot wide walkway along the front of the four sections. Three of the sections contain nest boxes and these house the 21 racing cocks .The fourth section is fitted out with box perches and houses the racing hens during the season as all birds are raced on the roundabout system. The newly built young bird loft has a tiled roof and faces north west. The 40/50 strong young bird team are afforded plenty of room in the hope that disease, especially young bird sickness can be kept at bay.

The roundabout team, both cocks and hens, are exercised for one hour twice per day. The only exception to this is on the two days per week that they are trained. Tyrone works the night shift at a local factory and goes straight to the loft from work so the birds are out early each morning during the racing season. Racing cocks are fed individually in their boxes whilst the hens are fed communally in a trough on the floor. Depurative is fed on Saturdays through to Monday with super widowhood on all other days. The racers are allowed 1oz per bird at each feed with any leftovers being removed after a short while. The brothers set great store by Naturaherb products produced by John Barnett and family and these are the only additives that their birds receive.

Whilst at the loft I had the pleasure of handling the brothers’ three National winners   all of which are now at stock. The dark chequer pied hen winner of 1st WSRNFC San Sebastian was an absolute cracker. A little above medium sized she handled like a dream. Bred by John Gunter of Cwmtillery from birds obtained from the Padfield family of the same village, she contains Jan Aarden and Clerebaut bloodlines. She was clocked at 4.35 am on the second morning to win the National plus 1st North West Sect 2nd Open CSCFC beaten by a bird in Southampton. Prior to her National win from San Sebastian the hen had also won 35th National Guernsey as a young bird and 41st National Nantes as a yearling.

The second of the three National winners handled was bred by Don Dobbins and gifted to Tyrone for whom she won 1st National Dax. in 2003. A small to medium sized dark chequer hen she reminded me of the old Southwells although she actually contains the sprint bloodlines of the Janssens of Arendonk.

Finally we come to the 2006 Bergerac National winner, a pigeon as mentioned earlier, that beat every other British pigeon liberated at Bergerac on the same day. This fine mealy cock had raced on the roundabout system for most of the season and was repaired so that at the time of basketting for Bergerac he was feeding a 12 day old youngster and just starting to take an interest in his hen again. All the birds handled possessed excellent feather quality but this mealy’s was of superb texture. He handled medium sized and had a full dark circle of eyesign in a gravel based iris. There is a story of good fortune leading to the breeding of this super racer. The sire was selected by Kevin from a loft full of pigeons owned by John Owen who was leaving the sport. The dam was a stray that entered the loft of local fancier Alan Dean, who loaned her to the Arnold brothers. The dam in fact  was bred by Les Hughes of Penygraig from the best of his Janssen Van Den Bosche and Alan Maull Janssen bloodlines. The two were paired together and only one egg resulted from the mating – the Bergerac National winner!!!

The loft is not geared up just for long distance racing but also enjoys great success at club and federation level in sprint and middle distance races. The Frans Laeremans strain are used to great effect in the shorter races and during my visit I handled a grizzle cock which had a sheaf of club and federation prizes to his credit including 1st club 1st sect Wincanton;1st club 3rd Fed 3rd Open National Picauville and 11th Sect 20th Open National Messac. Not surprisingly he won the RPRA Welsh Region Sprint Award in 2006 season. Before closing this report I should mention two other outstanding hens raced by the brothers. The first is a chequer hen bred by Dai Evans of Gelligaer a fancier who I featured in an article earlier this year. The hen in question was gifted to the brothers and her list of wins includes 41st Open National Cholet; 14th Open National Bergerac and 41st Open CSCFC Pau. Yet another outstanding specimen was a blue pied hen containing Busschaert x Marriott x Delbar bloodlines via the brothers’ good friend John Barnett. In 2002 she was Tyrone’s only entry for the San Sebastian race and finished at 15th Open National in this 582 mile race.

That then is a brief outline of the methods and birds of two of Wales’ rising superstars. During the 2006 season the brothers won the RPRA Welsh Region Sprint award and also the region’s Long Distance Award into the bargain. Add to these the Gold Cup [ for the second time] awarded by the Welsh South Road National Flying Club plus a number of Welsh South Road Fed Trophies and you have some measure of the calibre of the fanciers that I have highlighted in this article. Congratulations Kevin and Tyrone on some outstanding long distance pigeon racing. Long may you continue in the same style.

21/6/07