Keith Mott

Three Borders Federation 2011 Round Up (Part 1)

Well that’s another racing season done and dusted! I must say the racing in the 2011 has been outstanding, with the members of the Three Borders Federation enjoying good competition with good birdage and on the whole excellent returns. The mighty Mitcham & Merton club won the Federation Points Trophy, with 212 points, and are the 2011 Federation champions! Congratulations to Mitcham & Merton club, who I can remember, have been put up brilliant performances in the Federation and Combine for all of my forty odd years in the sport. The club’s 2011 Federation winners were: J. & S. May – 1st Federation Falaise (1st SMT Combine), Dye & Romascan – 1st Federation Tours and Mr. & Mrs. Frank Carson – 1st Federation Wincanton and 1st Federation Blandford. The Esher & Dist. RPC was runners up, with 203 points, after winning the trophy several times in recent seasons.

Frank & Susan Carson of the Mitcham & Merton club won the Three Borders Federation Individual Points Trophy in the 2011, with 53 points, and they have always been regarded as one of the better racing outfits in the London area over the last 30 years, always being at the top of Federation and Open race result sheets. Frank has a good friend and silent partner in Lenny Graham of Kingston, who helps the partners with the general management of the pigeons. Lenny has been an outstanding pigeon racer since we raced together in the old Kingston club in the early 1980’s. I met up with Lenny recently and he told me the main family raced at the Carson loft is Willy Jacobs of Ireland and they race about 15 cocks on the traditional widowhood system. The old birds, stock and racers, are paired up in January and the partnership breed about 50 babies to race each season on the ‘darkness’ system. They have enjoyed a brilliant 2011 young bird season racing in the Three Borders Federation and their two Federation winners were both Willy Jacobs pigeons raced to the perch. The Carson loft has had a brilliant season racing in the Three Borders Federation winning: Old Bird: 24th, 25th Federation Yeovil (2230 birds), 3rd Federation Kingsdown (1966 birds), 3rd Federation Falaise (1174 birds), 14th Federation Newton Abbot (1476 birds), 22nd, 23rd Federation Kingsdown (1321 birds), 8th Federation Messac (857 birds), 25th Federation Kingsdown (1090 birds), 11th, 12th, 13th Federation Taunton (1080 birds): Young Bird: 3rd, 18th Federation Blandford (1380 birds), 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th 18th, 19th, 21st, 25th Federation Wincanton (1260 birds), 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 18th, 19th Federation Yeovil (1497 birds), 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 20th Federation Blandford (1657 birds), 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st Federation Newton Abbot (885 birds),7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 17th Federation Yelverton (880 birds). Fantastic pigeon racing!

Frank was born in Battersea, South London, and his grandfather was a fancier flying as J. Carson & son in the Chelsea & South Lambeth club. Frank spent a lot of time with his grandfather and as a result became interested in racing pigeons. When his grandfather died in 1978 he moved in with his grandmother and took the pigeons over. In the early days Frank got a great deal of help from J. Langbridge who at the time flew in the Carshalton club. Frank's interest prior to pigeon racing was football for a local club as a boy, and just prior to taking over his grandfather's birds he successfully showed boxer dogs. Frank had then been in the sport six years and the first club he flew in was the Hackbridge DHS. His grandfather's stock were mainly Andre Vermote and Rene Boizard and Frank's performances were fairly good considering the knowledge and resources that he had at hand. At the end of 1981 the Carson’s decided that they wanted to fly the Widowhood system, so they went to their now good friends, Peter & Geraldine Hookins of Wimbledon. The Hookins were very successful Widowhood fanciers and Peter gave all the help and advice he could. Frank said he had gone from strength to strength since then. In the early days he made all the typical novice mistakes, overcrowding and over training.

Penning several articles on Frank and Susan over many years, I can remember in 1984 the partners had the season of a lifetime winning twenty ­seven 1st, nineteen 2nd,  twelve 3rd and twelve 4th, flying in two Saturday clubs and a midweek now and again. The Carson’s raced the Widowhood system and in 1984 the eighteen cocks won twenty three 1sts, the other four winners were young birds. Frank once told me the high points in his time as a pigeon fancier were winning the Old Comrades eyesign class and the first time he won the Federation. Susan takes an active interest in the running of the loft, for example she has trained youngsters while Frank and Lenny are involved with the widowers. She kept records, cleaned out and anything else that needed doing. To get the best out of pigeons, Susan said, it's a matter of 365 days of dedication every year. Frank Carson is a born pigeon racer and has always been successful! I’m hoping to meet up with Frank and Lenny when the birds have finished their moult and pen a new loft write up.

The South Downs partnership of Crook & Iddenden was runners up for the Federation Individual Points Trophy with 47points. The 2011 old bird season has proved to be one of Colin and Andy’s best to date recording: 6th, 7th Federation Wincanton (1865 birds), 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th Federation Yeovil (2230 birds), 1st, 2nd, 9th, 14th, 15th, 16th Federation Kingsdown, 15th Federation Newton Abbot (1625 birds), 23rd Federation Newton Abbot (1476 birds), 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 12th, 16th Federation Kingsdown (1321 birds), 14th, 19th, 20th Federation Kingsdown (1090 birds), 14th Federation Taunton (1080 birds), 23rd Federation Yeovil. The partner’s brilliant yearling Staf Van Reet widowhood cock won the Federation two weeks on the trot in 2011 and from Kingsdown beat his loft mate on the ETS by only a second. Well done to the lads, on their great 2011 season!

Andy and Colin have 63ft. of loft, with the 12 pairs of stock birds housed in a 10ft. section with a fight and the rest of the loft being for the racers. Trapping is open doors for the old birds, “Super” traps for the youngsters and the whole structure is cleaned out every day. The old birds are raced on the widowhood cocks and celibate hens systems and the whole loft is paired up on Boxing Day, so the first round of eggs from the stock birds can be floated under the racers. The widowhood cocks start the year by rearing a pair of youngsters and their mates are taken away while sitting the second round of eggs. They are repaired five weeks before the first Federation race, then are given about six 20 mile training tosses and are put on the widowhood system two weeks before racing begins. The racers are fed on a first class widowhood mixture and are not broken down, not even for the short sprint races. The lads like to show the hens for a long time on marking night, could be as long as an hour, with the cock bird on the bowl and his mate outside the box. They are never allowed to tread. On their return from the race the cocks get their hens for two or three hours, depending how hard the race has been. Colin and Andy enjoy all Federation racing from 80 miles through to 450 miles, but have a go at the odd Classic race from time to time. Andy told me the cocks stay on the widowhood system all the time and are never repaired for the longer races. The main families kept are Staf Van Reet and a new one called Hongerloot, which have been very successful.

Colin Crook & Andy Iddenden had a wonderful racing in the Three Borders Federation in 2010, with the highlight being 1st Federation (923 birds), 1st SMT Combine Yelverton. Chris Slight and Trevor Taylor of the Esher club won the SMT Combine from Messac in June 2010 with their champion yearling Staf Van Reet black hen, ‘Non-Returnable’, which was bred by Crook & Iddenden. In the same race Colin and Andy were 2nd Three Borders Federation, 2nd open SMT Combine, being beaten by the black hen that they bred and gifted to the partners from Esher. The icing on the cake for Colin and Andy was to win 1st open SMT Combine from the last and longest young bird race, flown from Yelverton in mid-September and finish off a brilliant season in great style!

Colin and Andy’s 2010 Yelverton SMT Combine winner was their ‘darkness’ Staf Van Reet blue chequer hen, ‘The Combine Hen’, and she was bred from stock birds obtained from Paul Arnold of North Cheam. Her sire is their good dark pied cock, ‘Keith’, and he is a grand son of Paul’s champion breeders, ‘Santa Vos’ and ‘The Guvnor’. She was a member of Crook & Iddenden’s 50 bird strong young bid team in 2010 and had one Federation and the two L&SECC Guernsey races on her build to her Combine win. She was never paired up and flew natural to the perch. A nice twist the story is she was lost off top of the loft when very young and returned home with an orange plastic ring on her leg, just before training started. Colin says he has never taken the ring off and she still wears it today! The partners had so my star birds in the 2010 season it’s a bit hard to pick out individuals, but one must be the widowhood grizzle cock, ‘The Dove’, and he won several premier prizes in 2010 including 2nd open SMT Combine Messac. A few years ago Paul Arnold brought in some Roland / Janssens pigeons to try and bred Colin a pair of white grizzles. The hen of the nest pair is the dam of ‘The Dove’ and also the grizzle widowhood cock, ‘Dusty’, winner of 1st Three Borders Federation Wincanton and 1st South Downs Premier Honiton in 2010. These two brilliant racers have different sires, both being Paul Arnold Staf Van Reets. A partnership who have been out standing for the last 30 years is the 2011 Three Borders Federation champions, Frank & Susan Carson of Mitcham and they bred Colin and Andy’s good Gaby Vandenbeele blue widowhood cock, ‘Frank’. He has won a list of premier positions in the last two seasons including 1st Three Borders Federation Kingsdown. This game cock raced to Frank’s loft as a young bird and yearling and when Frank packed up for a while in 2008, the pigeon was gifted to Crook & Iddenden, too set the place alight with brilliant performances.

Two great London area partnerships this time, Frank and Susan Carson, with Lenny Graham and Crook & Iddenden! That’s it for this week, I can be contacted on telephone: 01372 463480.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.