Keith Mott

RPRA Southern Region Show 2008 

After my big disappointment of having to cancel two judging visits to the Duchy Show in Cornwall and the NEHU Show in Newcastle because of ill health, I was looking forward to my annual judging stint at the RPRA Southern Region Show at the end of November. The event held at High Wycombe turned out to be one of the best ever, with 640 plus birds entered. There was the usual auction of gift birds and the funds raised by the show and sale were donated to the Handicapped Children’s Pilgrimage Trust. I auctioned the 25 gift birds, which raised £522 and I must say they were one of the best dafts of birds we have had at the Southern Region sale, including some quality stock birds donated by A. J. Brooks, son & Turner.  Judges for this years show were, Show Racers: Alan Noyce, Brian Lea, Phil Mott, Peter Obertelli, Russell Lowbridge and Keith Mott: Racing Pigeons: Brian Goodwin, Tony Dann, John Robilliard, Ron McCarthy and Colin Carter. This year saw my good friends, Peter Obertelli and Russell Lowbridge, travel down from the Midlands to judge and I hadn’t seen Peter, ‘The Italian Stallion’, since he judged at the Region Show several years ago and must say it was the highlight of the weekend seeing him again after all that time.

My ol’ mate, Ron Lacey, took over the job of show secretary several years ago from Val and Tony who had to step down because of ill health and I must say, Ron is doing a brilliant job. Ron told me he was President of the R.P.R.A. Southern Region for 14 years until he had to pack up through ill health. He has been in the sport for nearly 60 years and likes only long distance racing. Ron has 13 natural pairs of mainly Hartog and Vandy pigeons, which says are never parted, with the nest boxes being closed to stop them breeding in the winter months. The old bird racers are lightly trained up to 30 miles and are fed a good mixture, which includes 50% beans. He had raced north road all his life until turning south road with the club four years ago and has won 1st. Federation Lerwick, with the bird on the day. Ron’s 30 youngsters are raced natural to the perch and has won the Young Bird Average several times in recent seasons. The young birds are trained up to 30 miles, the same as the old birds, and race the whole programme. Ron says he is a small team fancier and keeps no stock birds. He maintains that he would cut out all the big money in pigeon racing and the sport looks like it’s falling because there aren’t so many fanciers, but he thinks it’s as good as it’s ever been!

We don’t seem to mention Ron Lacey’s band of stewards and workers in the annual write up, who year in and year out work tirelessly to put this great show on. I don’t know their names, but we always ‘tip our hats’ when we meet up each December and it’s them same ol’ faces every year working so hard on this great event. Well done to you all! I took my granddaughter, Sasha, aged eight, to the show for her second time and needless to say being pigeon mad, she thoroughly enjoyed the occasion. I was highly delighted when ‘Jock’ and a few of the other old stewards remembered her mum, my daughter Caroline, who judged at the Region Show a couple of times many years a go.

Class winners were: Class 1: 1st J. J. B. Rice, 2nd Petty & Crawford, 3rd M/M C. Carter: Class 2: 1st J. Harrod, 2nd M/M R. McCarthy, 3rd M. Horner: Class 3: 1st R. Sexton, 2nd M/M R. McCarthy 3rd M/M C. Carter: Class 4: M/M R. McCarthy, 2nd J. Harrod, 3rd Petty & Crawford: Class 5: 1st Petty & Crawford, 2nd M/M R. McCarthy, 3rd M/M R. McCarthy: Class 6: 1st J. Robilliard, 2nd M/M R. McCarthy, 3rd J. Robilliard: Class 7: 1st M/M R. McCarthy, 2nd M. Horner, 3rd J. J. B. Rice: Class 8: 1st M. Horner, 2nd M/M R. McCarthy, 3rd M/M R. McCarthy: Class 9: 1st C. Bullard, 2nd M/M D. Minty, 3rd M. Horner: Class 10: 1st M. Horner, 2nd J. J. B. Rice, J. Harrod: Class 11: 1st J. Harrod, 2nd M/M R. McCarthy, 3rd J. Harrod: Class 12: 1st C. Bullard, 2nd M/M R. McCarthy, 3rd Petty & Crawford: Class 13: 1st M/M R. McCarthy, 2nd M. Horner, 3rd Hawking, Hill & Car: Class 14: 1st M/M R. McCarthy, 2nd J. Harrod, 3rd M/M R. McCarthy: Class 15: 1st C. Bullard, 2nd J. Harrod, 3rd C. Bullard: Class 16: 1st M/M Webber & son, 2nd M/M Dickinson, 3rd J. J. B. Rice: Class 17: 1st T. Smith & son, 2nd W. Webster, 3rd J. Smith: Class 18: 1st Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward, 2nd M/M Dickinson, 3rd J. Smith: Class 19: 1st W. Webster, 2nd C. T. S. Bunting, 3rd Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward: Class 20: 1st J. J. B. Rice, 2nd C. T. S. Bunting, 3rd J. Prentice: Class 21: 1st Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward, 2nd Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward, 3rd Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward: Class 22: 1st Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward, 2nd Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward, 3rd Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward: Class 23: 1st J. Smith, 2nd S. Tarr, 3rd T. Haley: Class 24: 1st J. Smith, 2nd L. Hamnlin, 3rd Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward. Trophy winners were: Best in Show, John Harrod: Best Opposite Sex, Mike Horner: Best Show Racer, John Harrod: Best Race Bird, Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward: Best 400 miles, Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward: Most Points Show Racer, M/M R. McCarthy: Most Points Race Bird, Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward.

A 13 year old lad named John Harrod from Lowestoft in Suffolk won Best in Show with a beautiful young Show Racer red cock and I happy to say it was one of my class winners. In fact I judged two classes of Show Racers and young John won both of them! This champion red is bred from a long line of premier winners, with the South Region win being his third red card and is son of John’s 2007 Southern Counties SR Society open show Best in Show red cock.

Just after last Christmas I was invited to judge at the Southern Counties SR Society open show held at the Gravesend Rugby Club and I must say, the turn out on the day was a credit to the Society, with 356 birds being exhibited in the very spacious hall. The whole event was a wonderful spectacle! We judged about 12 classes each, but the real buzz came at the end when my brother, Phil, Gordon Marsh and I had judged the winners for the Best in Show awards, and the result was announced. John Harrod won one of my classes and Best in Show with 2007 red show racer cock and entering a team of 20 birds that day, had won a hat full of prize cards. The sire of this near perfect red youngster had won several major cards including 1st at the Dunoon Show in Scotland and BIS at the Gainsborough Show.

John tells me he has all colours in his show racer team, but his reds, which were obtained from his father’s friend, are particularly strong in quality and win well when ever he exhibits them. He says his best previous performance to date was BOS at the RPRA Southern Region Show in 2006 and has won four firsts at the BHW Blackpool Show. Fantastic performances put up by this young lad! John has only been into Show Race for four years and says he has three lofts, which houses his big team. He feeds a heavy racing mixture and cleans out regularly, not being keen on deep litter on the loft floors. Congratulations to young John on his wonderful performance!

 A fancier who wins regularly at the Southern Counties SRS Shows is teenager Joanne Rice also from Suffolk and she won two classes at the Southern Region Show. She started up with show racers in 2003, with pigeon obtained from Collin Bullard and John Robilliard, and tells me she likes the yellows, creams and mosaics best. She has 20 pairs of show racers and gets a bit of help from her father, Julian, who has had pigeons since 1980. The Rice family race and show pigeons, and won best racer at the ‘Old Comrades’ Show two years ago. Joanne has two lofts for her show racers and uses a sand litter on the floors, with fed being a good widowhood racing mixture. The birds are paired up the weekend after the BHW Blackpool Show and their get a bath every Monday, including the week before a show. The Southern Counties SR Society held its first show of the 2007 season at Gravesend in October and the members entered 150 young birds. Joanne Rice won Best Show Racer in Show with her beautiful blue chequer hen and this was a really good performance, as this was the first time she had shown in the Society. She went on to win BOS at the Societies open show last Christmas. Well done to Joanne!

Another outstanding performer at this year’s Southern Region show was 13 year old Jordan Smith of Aylesbury and he entered a team of seven birds, winning five cards, including two firsts. Another brilliant performance by a youngster! His winners were both Mosaic Janssen racing pigeons and one was a son of Federation winner from Kingsdown. Jordon has his own 10ft x 6ft loft and started racing on his own with young birds in the 2008 season. His father is part of the highly successful A. J. Brooks, son & Turner who won 15 firsts in the Aylesbury club in 2008. They have a 40ft racing loft and race mainly the Janssen pigeons from Brian Wall and Tom Sherwood. The partners 36 cocks on the widowhood system and have won 110 firsts and 18 times 1st Federation since the partnership was formed in 2002. Well done to young Jordon!  

Mike and Theresa Horner of Alton won Best Opposite Sex with their champion red hen, ‘Cilla’, who previously won Best in Show at the 2007 RPRA Southern Region Show. Mike tells me she has won about fifteen firsts in the show pen and both her parents are two very successful breeding reds and were obtained from Colin Carter in 2003. The day after the 2007 Southern Region Show, Mike showed at the Southern Counties SR Society show held at Gravesend and ‘Cilla’ won Best Opposite Sex, being beaten by her half brother, who won Best in Show. What a fantastic hen!

I first met Mike Horner back November 2006, when he won Best in Show at the R.P.R.A. Southern Region Show and I was there at the High Wycombe event judging. To say he was over joyed at his performance would be an under statement. This was his best performance ever with his Show Racers and he was over the moon! His team for the Southern Region Show were exceptionally good that year and in the light of that he fancied his chances. Mike and Theresa Horner won Best in Show (645 birds) with their four year old Mosaic show racer cock, ‘Barny’, and he had plenty of previous good form, having won in the show pen twelve times. He won Class 7. (Coloured Cock or Hen) at High Wycombe and also lifted two trophies, ‘Best Show Racer’ and ‘Best in Show’.

Mike has been in pigeons, in one form or the other, all his life and is from a racing pigeon family, with his father and grandfathers being pigeon racers. He had racing pigeons up to the late 1970’s and flew in the Godalming & Dist. F.C. (Surrey Federation) with all the old greats of that time including, Stan Edgington, Paul Bridgewater, Alec Martin, Ron & Chris Cox and Eric Cannon. In those days he got lot of help from Pat McFadden, the secretary of the Godalming club at that time and raced the Channing of Wales family of pigeons. Years ago Mikes also kept a few Show Racers obtained from Bill Meader of London. The Horner racing loft had some good success, mostly from the longer channel races, as he flew on the natural system. He started up with the Show Racer properly on marring Theresa in 1980, with birds from Tony Williams, which were reds and mealies, and later some stock from Mr. & Mrs. Colin Carter of Churchdown. His main show loft is a two section 18ft x 8ft structure, which houses his 32 bird show team and has a thick wood shavings litter on the floor. The few pairs of stock birds he owns are kept in a smaller loft and all are paired up in late January, producing about 30 young birds each season. Mike likes to split the show pairs up again in late May or early in June to get the moult going, ready for the show season the following winter. His nest boxes are removable and are taken out of the loft at the time of the birds being parted and replaced with ‘V’ perches, which the birds sit on through the show season. The birds are fed on a heavy racing mixture called ‘Cranleigh A1’, which he gets from Des McFadden’s ‘Pet’s Pantry’ at Cranleigh and Mike gives them a conditioner every Sunday morning.

Congratulations to John Harrod on his wonderful success at this year’s R.P.R.A. Southern Region Show! Just a little reminder that the C.H.A.S.E. Charity Show is being held at the YMCA Football Club, Horsham on Sunday 11th January. That’s it for this week. I’m looking forward to seeing you all at the BHW Blackpool Show in a couple of week’s time. Any pigeon comments to me on telephone number: 01372 463480. See yer!