THE NORMAN SOUTHWELL SERIES Part 5 by Gareth Watkins...

ALAN HOLDAWAY of Portsmouth

Consistent success from Pau

Alan Holdaway from  Farlington near Portsmouth, Hampshire has, over recent years, become the man to beat in the south of England at Pau. Flying a predominantly Southwell-based family, he has earned the respect of his peers with a string of top finishes in classic competition in cross channel races.

Alan started in the sport in 1980 although his father and uncle had kept pigeons before this. The first birds housed were a “liquorice allsorts” mixture obtained from local fanciers and friends. The Southwells were introduced via A & T  Deacon in 1988-89 and to this base four cocks were added, one each from G.Scadden, F.Stanley and G .Kirkland plus one Stichelbaut stock cock. The “Scadden Cock” has proved to be a terrific stock bird – not surprising really as he contains the best of the Southwell blood and has  2nd, 6th & 7th Open NFC Pau winners in his pedigree. However, the Deacon – Southwells dominate the type, as most birds are small/medium-sized dark chequers with the occasional chequer and blue.

Yet again, we see a small team set up with just 40 old bird racers and six stock birds producing a small team of just 30 youngsters annually. Such is the reliability of the foundation stock of Southwells there is no need to breed vast numbers of youngsters to replace losses. The old birds are mated in late February/early March and are allowed an open loft whenever possible. If the birds are exercising well at home then they are left to get on with it, but if this is not the case they are given regular training.

Youngsters get one or two races in their first year and one of these is usually the young bird National from France with the NFC. Some years they are lifted straight into the young bird National for their first race after a brief inland training programme. As yearlings they go out to Saintes 350 miles, with two year olds and older going to Pau NFC at 525 miles. The Pau team usually have one, or at most two, preparatory races before the big one depending on the type of racing they have experienced in the build up. All birds are hand fed a good all round mixture of beans, peas, tares and maize throughout the year and are treated for canker and paramyxo  only. Other than this they are generally left to their own devices and are not constantly disturbed with scraping and cleaning as the loft is cleaned just once per week.

The  three sectioned old bird loft has a pan tiled roof and as the photograph shows the birds enter via sputnik traps. The small young bird team are housed in a 12 ft x 10 ft loft with associated aviary situated at ground level in the garden.

Alan has moved loft a number of times in recent years and his performances are all the more creditable when you consider that he has had to re-settle the birds to new locations and yet has still managed to win top National honours. Incidentally, the present location is only a short distance from the former home of that great long distance fancier, the late George Stubbs.