Keith Mott writes..

SPELTHORNE SRFC PRIZE PRESENTATION

The month of February saw the Spelthorne club hold it’s annual prize presentation at it’s H.Q. in Sunbury and Betty and I were invited along to present the prizes and trophies. About 120 members and guests attended the evening, and a wonderful buffet was put on by Angela Goodwin and her daughter, Nicola. This great club was only formed in recent years and is fast becoming one the premier organizations in the London area, with a pay in the 2006 season of over £2,400. The club won the very strong Berkshire Federation three times in 2006, with Brian and Angela Goodwin winning it twice with young birds and Don Herbert topping the Federation and Combine from Wadebridge. The music for the evening was provided by a very good disco and they played a good verity of sounds, including one of my favorite tracks, ‘Alright Now’ by Free. We were in the company of good friends, in the form of, Peter Taylor of Guildford, Terry and Karen Haley of Watford, and Brian Chitty, with his partner, Geraldine Freeman. The Haley’s have been friends of ours for nearly 30 years and when ever Karen is about, we always have a good laugh! Spelthorne member, Georgie Kimpton, has suffered a bit of bad health in recent months and it was good to see him at the ‘do’ looking so well.

Premier prize winners for the 2006 season were: 1) Don Herbert, ten firsts and several trophies, including the Old Bird Average, Old Bird Channel Average, Longest Old Bird Race Trophy, The Freddy Vandeheede Championship Young Bird and Longest Young Bird Race Shield: 2) Brian & Angela Goodwin, seven firsts and several trophies, including Belgium Young Bird Race Winner and Young Bird Gold Ring Winner: 3) John & Darren Watson, five firsts and several trophies, including Old Bird Inland Average, Show Cup and Freddy Vandeheede Champion Old Bird: 4) Mr. & Mrs. Peter ‘Fat Wallet’ Mercer: 5) Mickey Nunn & son: 6) Mr. & Mrs. Willy Worley, 7) Trevor Cunningham & Phil White: 8) George Kimpton: 9) Mr. & Mrs. Kevin Fowler (club president): 10) Ted Chapman, winner of the ‘Tosser of the Year’ Trophy: 11) A. Hand & son.

 The 2006 season saw Spelthorne members win the Berkshire Federation, but one special performance was in the longest young bird race from Wadebridge (204 miles), when two of the members recorded 1st, 2nd. Berkshire Federation, 1st, 2nd. open UBI Combine (1,473 birds).

The Combine winning pigeon was a little Willy Thas latebred blue chequer hen, bred and raced by Don Herbert. The hen now named “Dinky”, because she is only tiny, was sent to Wadebridge sitting 12 day old eggs. Don tells me, she was so keen, she went straight on her eggs when she returned from the race and only took a drink and some food when her cock bird had also returned home. She had every training toss and race on her build up to her Combine win. Don breeds about 45 young birds each year, but gives a few away to charity auctions and feeds them the same as the old bids racers, on a Barley based mixture, with it getting heavier as the races get longer. The youngsters get lots of short training tosses to start with and are worked up to 50 miles before the first race, then get the odd toss from Lightwater (15 miles) during the racing season. Don says the young birds race the whole programme and he never misses a race!

Don is a natural racer and starts to pair up each year on his return from holiday in January. He starts with his six stock birds, then goes on to the 25 pairs of racers. When obtaining a new stock bird he is not bothered what they look like, but likes the pigeons eye and feathering to have a strong colour and not pale or wishy-washy. The main stock cock is ‘The Schoorisse Cock’ and his bloodline runs through the whole loft. This premier breeder is of the Gaevart Schoorisse of Belgium strain and won five firsts and 2nd. Federation twice before being retired to the stock loft. The main family kept are the Willy Thas pigeons obtained from Brain and Angela Goodwin of  Hanworth and Don tells me as well as winning the Combine with these birds in 2006, he has also won the Channel Average in the Berkshire Federation. He likes racing from all distances and says he prefers Channel racing, winning two or three races from France every year in the Spelthorne club. Don is great lover of Barley, with that being the base of his feeding system and corn is added according to the distance of the races. The birds don’t get much training as they get an open loft all day, but they do go down to 30 miles to get them fit before the first Federation race and then they get the odd toss from Lightwater (15 mile) when needed. An open loft is very rear to have these days with the Raptor problem and Don tells me he looses about three or four birds every year to the Hawks. He says the first thing the pigeons do when they are let out in the morning is eat all the worm casts in the garden. Don’s 25ft. two section loft was built by the Sunbury long distance fancier, Les Kid, and is built on brick pillars 30ins. off the ground. It has 25 nest boxes and an open timber slatted floor, with the birds being cleaned out off a concrete slab under the loft once every two years. He is not a great believer in keep treating a loft of pigeon regularly and said, ‘If I’ve got a pigeon that is off colour I will treat it, but not the whole loft. Don maintains you must have dry loft to be successful!    

Don started up in pigeon racing in 1950, when he joined forces with his father, Gordon Herbert, who was a very good fancier in his own right and raced in the Hounslow H.S. Gordon who was a natural flyer, liked to race from all distances and won firsts every year. Don started on his own when he got married in 1963, when he moved to Hounslow and flew just around the corner from the great George Burgess, who was a legend in the West Middlesex Federation at that time. Don won his fair share of races in the Hounslow and Isleworth clubs and his best pigeon then was an Alf Baker blue pied hen, that recorded one 2nd. and two 1st. in the longest old bird race from Bergerac (450 miles), three seasons on the trot. Don told me his great old Baker hen flew on the natural system and won her races sitting 8 to 10 day old eggs. Don was a founder member of the Isleworth club and he got the signatures of the first ten members. The Isleworth club didn’t fly in the Federation in it’s first season because it couldn’t afford the charges, but raced all inland race points through to Penzance that year and joint the West Middlesex Federation the following season, and won the Federation Shield.

The Spelthorne club’s 2nd. open UBI Combine Wadebridge winner was another blue chequer hen and she was bred and raced by Mr. & Mrs. Peter Mercer. This game hen, now named ‘Laura’, was also a Willy Thas pigeon and was bred from stock birds obtained from Brian and Angela Goodwin of Hanworth. She was raced natural to the perch and had every race on her way to winning 2nd. open Combine from Wadebridge. Peter’s 15 pairs of old birds are raced natural and are paired up at the end of January. The main family at the Mercer loft are Willy Thas obtained from Brian Goodwin and are fed a good quality ‘Gem’ mixture. The loft is 22ft. long and the six pairs of stock birds are housed in a 5ft. section at the end. When Peter is selecting breeders he likes a good type and the candidates have to be well balanced in the hand. Peter breeds 20 young birds every season, which race the whole Federation programme and they are trained every day from 20 miles. Peter started up in the sport when he was 14 years of age and has raced north and south road. He says, he is not really bothered about winning races, being a pigeon lover and just enjoys his birds in the garden. A great attitude!

I have known Brian and Angela Goodwin for over 35 years and you couldn't ask to meet two nicer people. The Middlesex couple won 1st Open SMT Combine Bergerac (450 miles)in recent seasons and recorded their fourth 1st Open Combine winner in 35 years in the sport. They have won the SMT Combine an incredible four times – from Penzance, Melle and the longest old bird Bergerac race (twice). I think in this great sport of ours, there are many fanciers who achieve success, but fancier who consistently achieve success over many years are not so common. One such loft that has achieved outstanding success at the highest level for well over 30 years is that of Brian and Angela Goodwin of Hanwoth, near Feltham in Middlesex. They race in the very strong Spelthorne club and have won many firsts every year, including 1st. Berkshire Federation three times in the last two seasons with young birds. When I asked Brian if he raced on the ‘dark’ system, he replied ‘I tried the system one year and didn’t like it, so race the young birds completely natural. They don’t look as good in the feather, but he finds the natural birds race just as well as those he put on the ‘darkness’. The partner’s champion blue cock, ‘The 22 Cock’, recorded 1st. club, 1st. Berkshire Federation, 2nd. open UBI Combine Poole, 1st. club, 4th. Berkshire Federation Wincanton in the 2005 season and was the champion young bird in the Spelthorne club. Brian and Angela won the Berkshire Federation twice with young birds in the 2006 season and the first was their little Casaert blue chequer cock, named ‘The Casaert Cock’, and he topped the Federation from Lulworth. Brian has had several outstanding racers from Maurice and Gregory Casaert who live at Nichin, on the Belgium / French border. The second Federation winner of the 2006 season was bred by Brian’s good friend Freddy Vandheede of Zingem in Belgium and this handsome blue white flight cock, now called ‘Freddy’, won from Exeter. The Vandheede loft is outstanding on the Continent in middle distance racing, but Brian has had young birds off him every season since 2003 and they have been outstanding at all distances.

Through the years the Goodwin’s have been well known for racing the Emiel Deweerdt pigeons with brilliant success, but in recent seasons Brian has been over to Belgium and brought back several new strains, which have also performed very well. In the 2006 season, Spelthorne club members, Don Herbert and Peter Mercer, won 1st. and 2nd. open UBI Combine Wadebridge and both these two young birds were bred from Brian and Angela’s Willy Thas stock birds. The Goodwin’s have several Schoors – De Waele of Maidegem in Belgium stock birds which have bred some good winners since they imported them. Brian bred a blue pied cock from these birds, now named ‘Bert’, for A. Hand & son of Feltham and in won 1st. club, 1st. Berkshire Federation, 4th. open UBI Combine Saintes. The Hand partnership are relations of the late Feltham fancier, Bert Hand, who was well known many years ago for his good work for the Old Comrades Show.       

The Spelthorne SRFC was only set up in recent years and asked the club secretary, Darren Watson, when it was formed and said, ‘It was set up in the year 2000 and it was the brain child of Kevin Fowler and Mick Cudlip to start a club with excellent facilities, with a group of members who had no animosity between them. The idea was to start a club where other social events subsidized the members racing costs, with the club paying all the flying members subscriptions’. Only two of the founder members still race with the club, Kevin Fowler, who is the clubs president and John & Darren Watson, with Darren being the current joint Secretary with Trevor Cunning. The club began racing young birds in the year 2000 with the now defunct West Middlesex Federation and continued to race with that Federation up to the end of old bird racing 2002. At this time the club decided to join the Berkshire & District Federation and have been enjoying racing with them so ever since. The club currently has 15 flying members, having lost a few in the past couple of years due to old age. Members of this club have enjoyed quite a lot of success in both the Berkshire and District Federation and the UBI combine in recent years, with many members topping the Federation and two members topping the UBI Combine. Mickey Nunn & Son from Guernsey with old birds in 2004 and Don Herbert last season from Wadebridge. Most members bring their partners along on the Saturday race checking night for a real social get together and which ever member wins, every other member shakes his or her hand, and congratulates them on their success.­

The club also runs various other races within their races. They now hold annually a Young Bird Gold Ring Race and a separate Belgium gold Ring Race, which normally pay out in the region of £500.00. This is on top of a weekly pool of around £50.00. The club have an annual Young Bird Sale, although this was not held last year due to the bird flu scare. Plans are already in place to hold a sale this year. The club also run a series of shows in the winter months, which are popular amongst the members with the pool money often being around £30 to £40 just for the each show! The club also hold a Prize Presentation evening even year with anywhere between 120 and 140 people in attendance. Angela Goodwin prepares all the food herself and should consider a career in the catering business, it is that good.

Betty and I would like to thank the Spelthorne club for great evening. We really enjoyed it! Next week we are starting a series of ‘ON THE ROAD’ articles on the great lofts I have visited in the mighty Up North Combine area. My phone number is: 01372 463480. See yer!

 EXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.  

26/2/07