Keith Mott’s ‘Champions of Yester Year’ (Part 94)  

JIM & WIN HOLMAN

OF WEST CROYDON

In the 1980 season the members of the SMT Combine sent 2,820 birds to Angers in France and Jim Holman, the secretary of the West Croydon HS, clocked two pigeons in 30 seconds to 1st and 3rd open Combine. Members enjoyed a good fast race, with good returns and this was the second Combine race on the trot to be won by a West Croydon HS member, with Jimmy Maynard winning the previous race from Le Mans.

As a young boy, pensioner Jimmy Holman looked after his father’s pigeons and had a spell racing on his own in the later 1920s flying in the Hackbridge club. He started up racing again in 1972, joining the West Croydon and raced the Janssen, Kirkpatrick and Dordin strains. Jim’s loft was 12ft x 6ft and had a 12ft wire flight on the front for the inmate to get out in the weather. Jim told me he was never interested in racing his pigeons on the widowhood system, so raced on the natural and fed a heavy mixture of beans, peas and maize.

Jim’s Angers Combine winner was a four year old blue chequer hen called ‘Westcombe Win’, bred from gift birds from Mr. Sullivan of Carshalton and D. Nunn of Stepney. This game hen has scored several times previous to her Combine win and her brother was also a good Channel racer, winning some good prizes, including 1st club Niort. The second bird on Jim’s clock, recording 3rd Combine Angers, was a mealy cock called ‘Westcombe Jim’ and he was bred from Kirkpatrick and Janssen pigeons obtained from D. Nunn of Stepney.

Jim told me his old birds were fed and trained steady, but youngsters were trained hard and flew the full young bird programme. He paired his 25 pairs of racers the first week in March and the stock birds the second week in February. Jimmy said he never studied eye sign and always kept an open mind on the subject, but just worked hard on the bird’s general condition. He rated at that time, Dave Lurkins and Peter Notridge as the best local fanciers, as they had been consistently good for a number of years. He maintained that his Janssen and Kirkpatrick pigeons, which came from D. Nunn, raced well and scored up to Bergerac (458 miles). His Dordins originated from Louis Massarella and he had a few new Roosebroeck pigeons to try in 1980, which were obtained from J. Goodsell of Croydon.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.