Keith Mott’s The Champions of Yester Year (Part 92) 

MR & MRS BOB JACKSON

OF RICHMOND

I made my visit to Bob Jackson's Rosedale loft on Easter Sunday and he was bubbling over his performance in the Open Race he had entered the day previous. He had brought his great Straw­berry Mealy hen, `Melody,' out of stock for this event and she was his first bird home, probably recording 3rd Open and winning some good pool money. `Melody' broke the partners' novice status in 1973 by recording 1st Richmond & Dist, 10th West Middlesex Federation, 48th S.M.T. Combine Avranches winning £150 and had since been at stock breeding winners, including `Recherche' (the Research Fund Rennes winner). 'Melody' was a good looker and was medium-size in the hand with a nice strong back. The Jackson's very small and select family of Sions were mostly red chequer and mealies with the Cocks handling large and the hens small to medium. Bob had to keep the team small because his self-built loft was only 12ft x 5ft and this spans the width of his very small back yard.

We were soon in the loft, inspecting the team and after handling `Melody' Bob gave me the great `Mr. Q.' to look at. He was a big, handsome Mealy Stock Cock and the sire of `Recherche.' Next to hand was the great 1975 red chequer hen `Recherche' the world record first prize winner. She was small in the hand and she was the second pigeon bred in the Rosedale loft to win over £1.000 for the Jackson's. Her full racing performance was out of this world, recording 1975 - 7th club Bland­ford, 118th sect, 158th open Vire (N.F.C.), 3rd club 7th Federation, 33rd S.M.T. Combine Avranches 1976 - 3rd club 9th London Federation Rennes, lst Open Research Fund National Rennes winning the world record first prize of £1,251, plus £249 in pools and the magnificent Emiel Denys Trophy with specials. A truly great hen!

Bob was very interested in Eye-Sign and paired up by the full circles. He said he did not have that much knowledge of the subject but was about to embark on a deep study. He was a great one for studying pigeon subjects and spent most of the winter reading pigeon books. He said he would like an Eye-Sign expert to look over his team and have a chat on the subject. The next pigeon we inspected was the dam of the mealy hen `Somakam Girl' and she had a wonderful breed­ing eye-sign. This handsome hen was purchased from George Duffutt of Colchester and was the grand dam of `Recherehe.' One of the loft's best all round performances was from the 1975 YB Avranches event, when they recorded 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 10th & 13th Club, lst, 4th, 7th, 20th Federation, 1st, 10th, 83rd SMT Combine. A small red chequer hen `Joanna' won the Combine and her nest mate (another red hen) was right up on her tail to record 2nd Club, 4th Federation, 10th open Combine. A great pair which were sired by one of the Jackson's best Sion stock pigeons, 'Rosedale Lad.' `Joanna's' nest mate was the nice type but both were much the same in the hand.

Bob and wife Barbara started up in the sport in 1970 with the birds of Geoff Jones of Richmond who was giving up pigeons but were not too successful with these birds. At the end of 1970 they decided to purchase new stock from George Duffett and Bernard Miles and these Sions were the base of their winning family. The founder cock of the family was the Bernard Miles blue chequer cock `Young Roberto' and he was purchased at a Spastics Auction Sale in 1970. This great pigeon had since been stolen from the `Rosedale Loft.'

The birds were paired up on Christmas day and the first round of eggs were thrown away so the birds all hatch off within a few days. A straw litter was used when the birds were breeding and this was removed when they have finished this duty. Twenty old bird racers were kept and about 30 young birds were bred each year. They were fed on a first class mixture of beans, peas, maize and tares with some seed when they return from races. Bob was a great believer in Lappetts which are the two wart like things on the lower beak and said when these are large and pinkish the bird is in top condition. He thought this subject of the pigeon's Lappetts should be investigated, like eye-sign, etc. He couldn’t find any literature on this theory at all! His family of Sions were very inbred and he couldn’t understand why some had this feature and others had not. In fact, only one cock had Lappetts and that was `Rosedale Lad' the Ace breeder. May be someone will come up with some facts on this subject one day? Bob was very keen on lots of training in any weather, rain, or shine, and said the birds must be hardened against bad weather as they can catch it any time when racing. One of the loft's all time best birds was the great `Charmaine' and she was lost in 1975. She won £1,139 and 3rd sect, 16th open in the 1974 Nantes National and was the dam of `Joanna.'

Bob was a clock setter in his club, the Richmond & Dis. Inv. H.S. and Barbara used to be the club's scribe. Bob used to be foreman carpenter at the Star & Garter home and Barb did four first class write-ups on pigeon racing in the Star & Garter Magazine which is published every three months. She called them `Come Fly with Us' and dealt with different aspects of our sport, such as breeding, training and racing. This went down really well with the disabled service men at the home. Bob was one of the pioneers trying to get a loft erected at the home.

Bob said Barbara was a great help with the birds, doing book work and timing in, etc, and their young daughter, Louise, had a knack of picking out the first bird on race days. He thought one of the things that was wrong with the sport was the Fancy Press and said a lot of outstanding fanciers who have won classic races have not had their due press coverage.

That’s it for this week! This little loft in Richmond really set them alight in the mid-1970’s. My telephone number is: 01372 463480.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.