Keith Mott writes about winning fanciers past & present

The Champions of Yester Year (Part 64) 

 BOBBY BROWN OF CROYDON

It had been a long time since a Surrey Federation member had topped the S.M.T. Combine and thanks to the big race controller in the sky, Bob Brown put this to right in great style from Laval. I made my visit to the home of Bob and Shirley in late July of that year and Bob had just finished his prep­aration for the young bird races. The 16ft x 18fr loft houses 15 pairs of old birds and 40 young birds. The struc­ture was split into three separate compartments and was self-built with Open Door trapping. Bob favoured deep litter because of his lack of time for cleaning being very tied up with his building work. The birds were fed on peas when racing and were rested in winter on beans, with a little wheat added.

Bob believed in working the birds hard with four 25 mile training tosses per week and going by the loft's performances, the birds lapped it up. He liked a nice Chequer and hated big birds. This preference of his was very clear when looking at his `Ace' team of birds. Bob took up pigeons in 1954 with the birds of the late Sid Marsh of Croydon and broke his novice status from Camborne in the Waddon Open of 1956. "Shep­herds" had been obtained from Tom Wood­cock, Ian Benstead and Bert Hookins and when crossed with the Marsh pigeons they were the family kept at that time.

The loft has won lots of firsts racing and in the show pen, including 7 times 1st. Croydon Federation and twice lst. Surrey Federation. Bob loved showing his racing pigeons and said he thought putting show pigeons in a racing class was a form of cheating! He said he liked to see a nice eye on a pigeon but said he was not interested in Eye-Sign.

The first pigeon I handled was 72 C 14943, a B.C.P.C. and the winner of 5 times 1st. club and 1st. Surrey Federation Exeter, 1st. Croydon Federation Blandford. This great pigeon was very true to Bob's type, being small and apple-bodied in the hand. Bob thought his best performance of that season was recorded not by the Laval Combine winner but by his D.C.H. 73C40579 who won that season lst. Nantes, 1st. Club Niort in the Mitcham 2-B. The two firsts were recorded within 14 days and she won £240. Bob purchased this hen for £17.50 as a young bird at the Peter Clark of Croydon clearance sale. She was of a Polish strain and she handles small and apple-bodied. The main stock pair were a Shepherd D.C.H. from Bert Hookins and a Sid Marsh B.P.C.. The hen had 54th Open Pau N.F.C. to her credit and was purchased for £36 at Bert Hookin's clear­ance sale. This pair had bred many prize win­ners, including a Wadebridge winner and the Combine winner.

The next pigeon in the hand was the Combine winner, D.C.H. 75 02211, whom Bob had named "Laval." She was sent to Laval sitting 7 days and interesting to note when I handled her was that she carried two nest flights, being a later bred youngster from the previous year. "Laval's" full performance for 1976 was:- 1st. Club, 1st. Surrey Federation, 1st. open S.M.T. Combine Laval, 2nd. Club Weymouth, 2nd. Croydon Section of the Surrey Federation Open from Weymouth. A great pigeon!

Bob looks up to the late Tom Woodcock of South Wimbledon as the No.2 fancier and says he was second to none. He thought a good stock shed was the most important thing and told novices to buy good stock birds from top local fanciers. He also thought that pigeons couldn’t breed and race at the same time. So, he kept four pairs of feeders to rear the best racer's youngsters. The thing that impressed me most was how tame the birds were! They must have almost flown into Bob's hands on race day and gave themselves up. Bob's wife, Shirley, took an interest in the pigeons up to a point. She also bred her own very nice team of canaries.

27/5/07