Keith Mott’s ‘Champions of Yester Year’ (Part 86)  

BOBBY & MARTIN ADAIR

OF FLIMBY

One of the all time great long distance lofts in Cumbria is that of Bobby and Martin Adair of Flimby. Bobby said that their greatest achievement was winning the Federation Average Cup a record 11 times! To win this fantastic cup, worth over £22,000, fanciers have to clock in at all races and the Adair’s had also been runners-up twice.

The loft’s record in long distance racing was second to none, with it winning the Combine several times. The partners won the Combine from Nantes, 512 miles, in 1996, the year when I travelled up to Cumbria to visit the Adair family. They won their very strong Combine with their champion blue chequer cock, which had previously won 54th open Combine Sartilly the same season. This game chequer cock won the Combine from the longest old bird race, flying into a North West wind head wind, and was clocked at 20.55hrs on the day of liberation. There were only five birds clocked in the Combine on the day and the other four were 50 miles short in South Cumbria and were clocked after the Adair’s champion. A brilliant performance!

In recent seasons the Adair loft’s performance in Combine racing have been outstanding and include: 1996: 54th Combine Sartilly, 6th, 21st, 36th Combine Rennes, 1st Combine Nantes, 5th, 17th, 30th, 42nd Combine Sartilly (2). 1997: 30th Combine Sartilly, 8th, 19th Combine Rennes, 9th, 49th Combine Sartilly (2), 29th Combine Cheltenham (young bird). 1998: 8th Combine Rennes, 8th Combine Nantes, 27th Combine Sartilly (2). 1999: 48th Combine Picauville, 21st Combine Rennes, 7th Combine Nantes.

The loft has put up many outstanding performances throughout the years including winning the Combine from Rennes and Nantes on consecutive Saturdays in 1988, and 1st Federation three times in four Channel races in 1989. The Adair’s won 1st Federation from Niort in 1989 and 1990 with the same pigeon, their champion ‘Niort Hen’, a blue pied natural pigeon, which raced out of her socks when sitting on 12 day old eggs. The Federation only went to Niort three times and she won it twice, recording 5th Combine both times. The first time she won the Federation by 90 minutes and the second time by 4 hours. All the pigeons that beat her in the Combine again flew 50 miles shorter into South Cumbria. Another wonderful pigeon!

The late great Bobby Adair was born into the pigeon sport, but had to pack up in the war years. He went into cage birds at that time with outstanding success and won both the English and Scottish National shows in 1961. Bobby’s seven year old son, Martin, became interested in pigeons, so they re-started with two strays in 1965, with some help from Bobby’s newly retired pigeon fancier father. In their first season the partners won three inland races with eight young birds. Bobby and Martin raced only the natural system, with 24 pairs which were paired up the first week in March if the weather was good.

Bobby maintained that they liked to win all races, but set their stall out for the long distance Channel races. The old birds were trained about five times before the first race and then no more because of the very bad Hawk problem in Cumbria. The main racing loft was 35ft x 8ft with a tiled roof and open door trapping. The whole pigeon set up was very smart and Martin also had a small loft in which he housed his world famous champion show fantails. He was a premier fancier in the show fantail world and travelled all over the globe judging.

Bobby always told me that his family of pigeons were ‘Loxley’, because it was formed around their race basket, but they were originally Vandies, with several selected crosses to get them out to the long distance. They had a young bird team of 50 birds each year, which was more than they use to race, but in later seasons had a few extra babies because of the losses to the Hawks and the local Pylons. They got four training tosses each week for a month before the first race and the whole team went through the programme to Cheltenham, 201 miles. The young birds were fed very heavy, as the partners wanted them for the long distance in later life.

Well, Bobby is no longer with us, but I must say the Adair’s loft was one of the very best long distance establishments that I’ve had the pleasure to visit! The Adair family were smashing people and made us very welcome when we visited their home.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.

15/1/08