Keith Mott writes about winning fanciers past and present

PHIL REIS OF MORDEN

Phil Reis has led a ‘colourful’ life in his 56 years, being a percussionist in several top bands in the 1980s and now following his present occupation as an actor. He has written lots of articles in the pigeon fancy press over his years in the sport and enjoys good success racing his birds. The 2011 season has seen him win some premier positions including 10th open L&SECC Alencon and he finished in great style by recording 1st club, 4th Three Borders Federation, 4th SMT Combine Yelverton in the last race of the season. Phil’s Yelverton winner was his good blue chequer cock, ‘Arena’, so named as his last two numbers are ‘02’ and when I handled him the day after the race I noticed he was a ‘darkness’ youngster, just coming up on his second flight. His sire is a blue Staf Van Reet bred by Paul Arnold of North Cheam, when mated to a Van Meldrt stock hen and Phil tells me he had every race in the Three Borders Federation young bird programme, only missing the first race from Blandford. This game little cock has been paired up all season and was separated from his hen a week before the Yelverton race, only seeing his mate for five minutes before going to the marking station.

Phil Reis was born in Stockport Cheshire, and his first loft was made from old front doors rescued from the November bonfire piles the other kids had kindly stacked up near to his back yard. He still doesn’t think they were aware that it was him who nicked them. When I recently spoke to Phil he said, ‘so sorry lads, my need was much greater than yours and the legacy has also lasted much longer than the fireworks that accompanied those roaring flames. All I had to do was hump a few doors over a couple of gardens and cover them up until the November arsonist had other things on their minds. I think a couple of those theft victims even helped me to build the box. I say box because that first loft was the same size and shape as an old Red Telephone box. Remember those? Only yesterday my mate asked if I was on the blue tooth for instant arrival news. Well I must admit, I feel that the ETS system is the best thing to happen to the sport since the discovery of the widowhood method of motivation, but I do draw the line at being away from the loft on race days. Heaven forbid me missing a first arrival. How times have changed eh. Blue tooth if you please! The first birds to be housed in that ‘telephone box’ loft were from Tibb Street in Manchester. Back when I was nine years of age Tibb Street was the most wonderful place a young person could ever go. Imagine a street where every shop had animals for sale. Hundreds of yards of pet shops with everything you can imagine and a few species I have never seen since and in some cases frankly, I wouldn’t want to. I am glad they were all kept locked up at night, safe and secure. You felt as if you had a free pass to the best Zoo’s in the world. Today’s laws would never allow most of the tropical varieties without government intervention and all sorts of import restrictions. Pigeons bought from Tibb Street were let out after a couple of days, without being paired up and never young enough to break off to the luxury of my telephone loft. A few weeks after buying them from one shop on Tibb Street, pigeons with a remarkably similar appearance in colour and sex were for sale in another shop forty yards away from the original one’.

It was during a visit to a great aunt in Buxton that the idea of racing first came on his radar. He was invited into a racing loft painted in green and white vertical stripes and he was told the youngsters in the nest pan in front of him had a pair of Logan pigeons in it. When he moved house, it was not long before an old coal shed was used as a loft for a week or so until a new neighbour donated a real shed. Not a loft but a proper shed, with new felt on the roof, where as earlier, the Telephone box loft had only had old carpets to soak the rain up. A new shed, well that was it for twelve year old Phil and he was soon racing in the Cheadle Flying club. His first trophy won was the Junior Members Cup and Phil’s first winner was off a silver hen that was his pride and joy; one of the best violet eyes he have ever seen. He was a devout follower of S.W.E. Bishop and his now tattered copy of ‘The Secret of Eye-Sign’ was a constant companion. Young Phil studied his ‘Formula of Recognition’ along with his times tables. It is probably for this reason that he still remembers the depth of colour and the ‘cracked ice’ appearance.

I asked him about his opinion on eyesign now and he said, ‘over the years people have asked me to judge eye sign shows. For what it is worth you see things in a theory or you don’t. Take it or leave it, but my guess is, the eye has a few details that can give us a clue to how best the bird might be used. For the non-believers out there I say, each to his own way. I can’t get upset about another opinion just because it is different to my own. Pigeon racing has taught me to enjoy the moment, enjoy what and how you see the sport any way you can. It’s a free world for us thank goodness.

For the fanciers that were at the Woodside Club a few years ago now, I can only report the results of my efforts on that night. I was asked to judge two groups, long distance and sprint birds. I took my time and cards were placed on the birds I would say were bred for the job. The show room slowly filled up as the happy crew of the Woodside ambled in from the bar. The atmosphere had been jovial when I was greeted in the bar hours before on my arrival. So the silence that accompanied the entry was nerve racking for a minute or so. It was Mr Jackson senior who broke the silence by asking me how I did it. The long distance hen I had given the red card too had won from over 450 miles twice; the sprint cock was a multiple winner for the Jackson family. Mr. Jackson senior was not the only one who was quietly impressed. That is good enough for me.  A few beers were then in order and the night returned to the light mood that suits me fine. Enjoyment is the important factor in any chosen sport. So the eyes have it, as they say. I reckon if I had not been gifted a bird with magnificent eyes at such an early age, I might have missed out on one of the most interesting and illusive aspects of our wonderful sport’.

His first club was Cheadle Flying Club and he flew gift birds form the top flyers in that club, including birds from David Brown and Kirkpatrick pigeons from Fred Bale. In 1976 Phil took my first average trophy, winning the young bird season by six minutes with a hen from ‘Silver Queen’ scoring a fourth from the last race, which was Weymouth 200 miles. He says it was very bad race, one which was what he used to call a smash. Some of the hot lofts got a belt that day and his game little hen came in the rain with only a handful of birds making it home on the day. He thinks it was then that I decided the birds for him would have to take on any weather at any distance.

Phil moved out of the family home and got married. With the new house came new loft built by professionals and next came a trip to Howard Barnies for a kit of his KO-Nipius birds. It was all starting to fit into place, and then he sold up and moved 200 miles south. He didn’t know it then but there would be no pigeons for 16 years and the call of Rock and Roll took him all over the world and into some very sticky situations. Phil’s eldest son was looking through some old photos one afternoon and asked him why he didn’t race pigeons again, now he had left the flat in Wimbledon Park and he had stopped touring. Ten days later they had built a loft and joined the Hackbridge Club, as Reis and Son. He spoke to Mike Shepherd from the Racing Pigeon ‘Pictorial’ magazine about which birds were doing the sprinting, and his help brought him right up to date almost over night. After numerous phone calls, Mike asked Phil to make a note of anything he felt was worth publishing and so started his new interest as a pigeon ‘scribe’. Phil bought a pair of Staf Van Reets bred by the late Joe Grant, who was one of the best fancier in his area and always bought the best he could. The eye glass came out of mothballs and a pair was matched. The hen was known as the ‘Mealy Ace’ six wins from eight young bird races and the cock had ten club first cards, and was about in every race he had been entered in. He bought these and halved the odds by joining the Morden club thus racing in two different Federations. First race back and Phil recorded 1st and 6th in the Morden club 2nd 3rd 5th in the Hackbridge. Phil says all the fresh enthusiasm is what won those prizes, training every day and nothing left to chance. He maintains young bird racing has always been about educating the babies and hoping for the best, still is. He finished the early seasons high in the prize lists, achieving second in the averages twice and was given the title of ‘bridesmaid’ after finishing behind Mo Butt and then Bill Johnson on consecutive seasons. He has since flown in another two clubs; Wimbledon D.H.S. where he topped the Three Borders Federation from Taunton, and the South Downs Premier Sprint Club, winning races in both and getting to know the local flyers at the same time.

Phil told me, ‘at the end of the day it is the long distance races I would like to concentrate on. For the distance you need the right family of racers. Lucky for me that I had the pleasure of meeting and flying against the North Road Combine king, the late Bill Johnson, and his advice was the best. He gave me two hens and said to get hold of a pair of cocks for them from Nigel Cowood. His Lefebre-Dhaenen pigeons were the ones to fly for the distance and Bill’s hens were from LPW, bred out of an Up North Combine winner. I have it on good authority that this strain should be pronounced, LAY FABRAY DA EN NEN. The line of my present family comes down from, ‘Aztec’ and ‘Feola’, and the jewel hen ‘Lavonia’. Nigel sent me two cocks, one of which being the old man and the new father of the loft, ‘Young Luke’. He is a son of ‘Luke’, a multiple winner himself at National and Combined level. This wonderful cock is also responsible for siring many winners and is great grand sire of National and Combine winners all over the UK and Ireland. His grand sire being the ‘The Chequer Kapoen’ bred by Lefabre-Dhaenen and the sire of ‘Hat Trick’ 1st and 2nd National two years apart. The other cock for me was also out of ‘The Chequer Kapoen’ when paired to ‘Liberty’ one of the best breeding hens on record. This pair produced ‘Langstone’ a top breeder in the Cowood lofts’.

Mike Shepherd advised Phil earlier and he went as close to the source as possible in order to retain the strength of the gene pool. It should be no surprise then to tell you that ‘Double Six’ is keeping up the family tradition with his fly from Alencon recording 10th open in the first race on the London South East Classic 2011 racing calendar. ‘Red Surprise’ a red chequer cock and a grandson from the Langstone cock topped the Three Borders Federation from Taunton. He called Nigel to inform him he had a red cock out of the Langstone line and his reaction was that there are no Red ‘Lefabs’ that he had heard of. Phil had to explain that the dam was a red chequer Staf Van Reet from his old family and this cock which was bred in 2005 was then named ‘Red Surprise’. The proof of the breeding was again validated with a Channel win in 2010 with a full brother to ‘Red Surprise’ getting the red card from Falaise. ‘Red Nev’ will have a crack at the Nationals in 2012 and Phil says, ‘we will see how he gets on soon enough’. Phil maintains, ‘the patience game will pay off if you stick to you guns long enough and get a hold of the right line of pigeons. Keeping ahead of the game is an important part of breeding and building up a tried and tested stock team is another slow climb. This year I will have to cut down and be strict in selection. Eighteen pairs of stock are getting too much work when the training and racing is the main recreation of the summer. By the end of the season I will have to make some hard choices’.

He feeds the ‘plus’ mixtures from Versa Laga with a few bits and bobs to suit the weather conditions. He think pigeons are like us humans, some good days and some bad. When you want to fight off a cold you might go for a steak dinner to build up the strength, or a big plate of pasta for energy, well it could be the same for the birds before the medicine bottle comes out. As a kid with a paper round to fund the loft, there was not the money to run to the vet, or to buy the old hand products to shove down the birds neck. So good advice and common sense were the favoured currency then and it’s the same now. He has earned a few bob in the past, but his upbringing is never far away and he doesn’t like to waste money on things you just don’t need. Phil treats for all the ugliness in January, before pairing up, and then the race team get a dose for ‘Trico’ about three times in the season and says, that should be enough with pigeons that have a strong constitution. He believes that it is too easy to damage the internal organs with the wrong antibiotics. If you do read what people like Wim Peters has to say in ‘Fit to Win’ you will notice that the cases are extreme before the pills are dished out. General every day health is a year round prerequisite and the winter time after the season closes is the point when any upset will rear its head. If your birds get through the winter without too much bother with the moult, all is well. This year he has 50 youngsters to use and will not race all of them as he has found out that training on there own, with singled up youngsters are better at breaking the next year. This is for distance though because he believes that singled up birds slow down and take there own line, which is just what is needed in the big liberations from the Nationals and Classics.

Phil has won on two occasions when sending a single entry. The first was a young bird race from Guernsey, when he asked his old mate, premier channel racer, Ray Duffield, if he had a big youngster he could have to put under a Staf Van Reet cock sitting tighter than a nuns shoes. He had a youngster the right age and the cock took to it straight away. He was sent away three days later and won the club, recording 12th Federation, and a £60 special. His other single entry win was with the club that Roy West and his brother founded to piggyback with our London South East Classic Club, which was called, The Sussex and Surrey 2 bird Nomination Channel Club. Phil basketed one hen who was sent sitting ten days to Bordeaux and as the race was a rough one she won early the next morning, recording 36th open out of a 2,500 strong entry.

I asked Phil if he had any strong theories about our sport and he told me, ‘I think people should always be allowed to send the whole loft if they want to. If you have the birds and you think they are ready why not. If you can’t see the wood for the trees and have to send the lot to find out which ones are right, that’s fine with me too. I enjoy the things I have achieved my way, as you should enjoy yours. If I were to start again from scratch, I would take out a mortgage and call for some stock at Bevron Lofts.  Ronnie and Bev are two of the sports finest. The Van Loons they fly are good enough for middle distance any weather. But the La Fab’s are for the long races. I would choose the same again. Young fanciers should be encouraged to join in and taught the value of PATIENCE. The RSPB should take on a permanent member from our sport to oversee the criminal over breeding of birds of prey. Territory is everything to these pests and eventually they will start to kill each other in a bid to survive. It is in the way of nature that the strongest survive. Not only for them, for every living creature. History has told us that messing about with the natural order of things is a big mistake. But what do I know I’m just trying to enjoy my sport the only way I know how too. I thank my good friend and fellow scribe for asking me to put this overview together. Although when the Governor asks for an in depth interview, the shivers down the spine reminded me of being summoned to the head master's office for a quiet chat’. Who is he talking about?

There you have it, the Rock n’ Rolling pigeon scribe that is Phil Reis! He is an actor by profession and has appeared in several top productions, including BBC Television’s ‘East Enders’. A man of many coats, but inside is one great guy!

TEXT & PHOTO BY KEITH MOTT.