Keith Mott

The Champions of Yesteryear (Part 43) 

 Scurr & Parry of Whitehaven

A few years ago I went away shooting two new `Many Miles with Mott' videos and my late friend, Albert Taylor of Eastwood, rode shotgun for the seven day trip, which took in nearly 3,000 miles of motorway driving. We visited 30 top lofts in the West Midlands, Lancashire, Cumbria, East Yorks and Scotland.

On that trip we visited Cumbria and had the good fortune to look at the fantastic Busschaert team belonging to Jimmy Scurr and Gordon Parry of Whitehaven. The partners owned probably the greatest sprinting cocks in Cumbria at that time, in the form of their champion Busschaert blue pied cock, which has won twenty ­two lsts, with no duplications and several times lst Open Federation. This wonderful five year old Widowhood cock was a big deep pigeon in the hand and was bred down from `The Treble Three' bloodlines. This fantastic pigeon was a victim of the hawk attack outside the loft. But I'm happy to report, lived to win a few more races.

Scurr & Parry started racing pigeons in 1969 and enjoyed every race from 50 to 512 miles. The partners only raced cocks on the Widowhood system as they said it was the easiest system, with their hens only racing as young birds. They race in the very strong West Cumberland Federation and had won at all distances up to 512 miles, but exceled in the sprint races. The 35 Widowhood cocks were split into two teams, one being paired up in January for the early races and the other team in February with the long distance events in mind. The whole loft was raced to the south coast, after that the best performers are kept inland with the rest being sent into France.

The racers were fed on the part­ners' own mixture, which had a lot of maize in it, and liked to give the cocks a few peanuts on the Thursday and Friday before a long distance event. The cocks were only broke down in warm weather on the short races and were never trained after the first race, only flying out for an hour twice a day around the loft. The cocks were put on Widowhood on their second round of eggs and some cocks were shown the hen on marking night, but some were happy with just the turned nest bowl. All the racers got the hen for an hour on their arrival from the race, but if it was hard they stay together longer. The widowhood cocks were housed in two light and airy, 16ft. x 8ft. sections and were trapped in a corridor through open doors. The very smart main racing loft was 48ft. x l0ft. with three sections, two for the Widowhood cocks and one for young birds.

Another star of the Scurr & Parry loft was the three year old Belengee / Delbar grizzle cock which had won inland several times and excelling on his two Channel crossings in 1996, recording two lsts from 412 miles and 512 miles. He was raced on the Widowhood and both his parents were bred by the former R.P.R.A. presi­dent, John Robilliard of Cornwall.

Because of the partners' very bad hawk problem, the stock birds were never let out and were housed in a 16ft. x 16ft. loft with a big wire flight. The ten pairs of stock birds were paired up in December and were mainly of the Busschaert family. They were fed on a mixture, very heavy with maple pea content, and most of the young bird team were bred in the stock loft. The partners' 40 young birds flew the programme to 276 miles each season and young cocks were not saved for the Widowhood. The youngsters got about eight training tosses before the first race and were fed on maple peas. The young birds were never paired up and the partners didn’t like the idea of the ‘Darkness’ system, as they didn’t think they make good old birds.

Well that’s the article for any other week! I can be contacted on telephone number: 01372 463480. See yer!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.  25/10/06