“ON THE ROAD” BY KEITH MOTT.

The late Dick Brooker of Claygate.

You will quite often hear me say that the sport of pigeon racing is losing all it’s great ‘character’ and one of those ‘character’ was the late Dickie Brooker of Claygate. My ol’ mate Dick was ‘Mr. Pigeon Racing’ and loved the sport! Dick maintained pigeon racing is full of disappointments and to be a pigeon man you have to accept these and carry on. Dick must have had many disappointments in his 60 odd years in the sport but his outstanding performances over the years more than outweigh the disappointments.

Dick had been racing pigeons for over 60 years, joining Cobham & D.R.P.C. in 1932, flying pigeons from his late cousin, Bill Palmer, and Dick's then next door neighbour, the late Harry Lusty. Dick said he used to see pigeons while still in his pram as his neighbour flew in the local clubs and Dick actually had his first pair of birds in 1925 when he was eight years old. He kept them up to his death in the late 1990’s. Dick was a sergeant in the Army Pigeon Service during the war and served under Major Claude Hill. He would sit for hours telling a tale or two about the pigeon service when he served at home and overseas.  When he started up in pigeons Dick said he learned his trade from great fanciers like Frank Taylor, Harry Branch and Frank Kightly. Dick obtained birds from Frank Taylor and Harry Branch, and once he got a team together he took some beating. His first loft wasn't very practical in fact it was an old chicken house, but it was kept clean and well ventilated and the inmates raced well.

One of Dick's best racers was his dark chequer Busschaert cock 'Mighty Mack' which had won many good positions including six times first in London Coly Midweek club. 'Mighty Mack' was pigeon of the year in London Coly in 1983 winning four races and untold pool money. This great pigeon strayed into Dick's loft as a youngster and since Mr Richards of Ilford gave him to Dick, he has won six firsts for the Brooker loft. The Brookers' team were raced on the Natural system being paired up on 14^th February and his two lofts housed two pairs of stock birds, 15 pairs of racers made up of the Fleming, Dordin, Busschaert and Cattrysse strains. His old bird loft was 18ft x 8ft with two sections and the birds were trapped through drop holes. Young birds were raced to an 8ft x 4ft loft and trapped through bob holes. Dick scraped the lofts most days and loft white was used on the floors to dry up any damp. Dick said good ventilation and air flow are very important in a loft and you should not smell pigeons in the loft. Dick says the best fancier in his area was undoubtedly the late Alex Fleming of Esher, who was at the top level in the Surrey area for nearly 40 years. Dick had great admiration for the late Eric Cannon of Wormley and Ron Wasey of New Addington. Dick had held many top posts in the racing pigeon sport but said his biggest thrill was when he was voted in as president of London Coly, following in the footsteps of many great fanciers, including the late Wing Commander Lea Rayner and Col Patterson.

Another of Dick's best pigeons was the six year old Dordin blue cock, ‘The 13 Cock' and he had won many prizes including seven firsts and bred race winners with three different hens. He was bred from a stock pair obtained from his good friend, Vic Wise of Richmond and was bred from the best Dordin bloodlines. Dick's good blue cock '51' was a son of 'The 13 Cock' and he had chalked up 1^st Club Exeter and 1^st Club Nantes.

Over the years Dick had won at all distances, and one old pigeon that came to mind was NURP52KT887 and he was 4^th Barcelona (698 miles) in the first Barcelona International organised by London Coly. '887' was the first pigeon into the London area from Barcelona in 1956. The year 1972 saw another good pigeon from Barcelona when Dick's blue chequer cock NU68P14286 was 2^nd Sect, 6^th open, 788^th open International. He said he had won races at all distances, his first winner being from Marrenes in 1933, but he had always maintained that one must not keep harping on what you have won, but keep looking forward to what there is to be won. Dick's late wife, Margaret, although not able to handle the pigeons was always able to note birds' arrivals and help Dick keep records. Dick said that pigeons should be dealt with as individuals as every bird has its own best racing condition. Any pigeon two years old or over depending on its breeding should be able to fly any distance, but one should not generalise on this, as some strains excel up to 150 miles, some up to 300 miles and some at any distance. He liked to give the birds plenty of work, but knowing how much is necessary for the individual pigeon is the keyword. Many pigeons are ruined by over training and young birds need to be schooled well over the ground for club racing, but many long distance men do not train youngsters at all in the year of their birth. Dick firmly believes they must have a certain amount of training in their first year.

Dick's introduction to eyesign was by the late Henri Rey during the war, with the late Tommy Buck. Dick had also visited Belgian lofts but from what they taught him a little knowledge can be dangerous, he said. A lot of eyesign judges don't use a glass, but a glass was a must for Dick, although he didn’t confess to be an expert, and would never judge an eyesign class.

Another of Dick's best racing Dordin cocks was the handsome blue 'Treble One' and he had three times 1^st Club and 1^st Surrey Federation to his credit. He was another son of the Vic Wise stock pair and brother to 'The 13 Cock'. One of Dick's best stock birds was a Dordin blue hen which he calls 'The Wasey Hen', bred by Ron Wasey of New Addington and she had bred a Federation winner when mated to ‘The 13 Cock’.

No one did more for the sport than Dickie Brooker, he was always out at some meeting or something and how Margaret stood for it all those years, God only knows. He was chairman and past president of Surrey Federation, chairman of SMT Combine, president of London Coly, chairman of Esher & Dist. RPC and chairman of RPRA Southern Region. He was also a much sort after show judge, but said he was not a showman, although showing in the winter months brings fanciers together and can be a good thing socially. We all still miss ol’ Dick, although he has been gone a few years now, he was a wonderful man!

The late, great Beat Penn of Brentford.

I was very sad when given the very bad news that my dear friend Beat Penn had passed away in 2007 and after all those years, it still makes me sad today. She was the ‘first lady’ of pigeon racing, dedicating a life time of hard work to our great sport and was one of the sport’s greatest administrators. She was also my aunty Beat and I loved her!

I’ve known Beat and her late husband, Ernie, more or less since I started racing pigeons in 1970 and at that time she was the secretary of the Isleworth S.R.F.C., West Middlesex Federation and S.M.T. Combine. I remember writing at that time that she was the best lady administrator in the sport!  I often hear pigeon secretaries, quite rightly, complain about their thankless plight, but this lady had three times as much as the average secretary on her plate and loved every minute of it.  She was the secretary of the S.M.T. Combine for many years, starting when it was formed in the 1960s and once told me the only task she hated was when she had to print at the bottom of a Combine result that a member had been disqualified through no fault of their own. Betty and I was guest of honour at several of those brilliant dinner dance, prize presentation she put on annually for the Combine.

Beat started as secretary of the West Middlesex Federation in 1962, with a short break when she had to retire because she had a major operation in 1971 and I can remember the great times we had at the annual Federation Show, held at Isleworth in those days. At that time Beat commented to me that the Isleworth club members were second to none and without their help she would not have been able to cope with all her jobs. She had held the secretary's job in the Isleworth club, off and on, since 1958.

I think one of Beat’s major triumphs in the mid 1970s was when the West Middlesex Federation needed a new transporter and they decided that a new top would be built on top of the old transporter chassis at the princely sum of £6,000. She told me at the time that the fundraising events put on by the member clubs were overwhelming, but they got their new transporter, and it was well worth the massive effort. The new vehicle had an aluminium body, air conditioning and held 264 crates, with the release system allowing many small liberations if required. When she took on the S.M.T. Combine secretary job it was still rail transport for the pigeons and when road transporters came in she much preferred the new form of transport, saying it made the job much easier and the birds' comfort was much improved.

Beat had been an R.P.R.A. councillor since time began and was President of the R.P.R.A. London Region; I think I’m right in saying that she was the first lady to hold that office. She was secretary of the London Region for many years and carried out lots of work for charity.

Beat flew pigeons in partnership with Ernie from the early 1970s, but prior to that was a silent partner with the birds since their marriage in 1944. Ernie was a shift worker at Heathrow Airport, which is sited only a few miles from their home in Brentford, so Beat’s input was very vital to the management of their very good team of pigeons. At that time she told me she didn’t pick out favourites in the loft, but I think she had a soft spot for the partners good blue cock, ‘904’, the winner of several first in sprint races. One of Beat’s fondest memories was the day of her daughter’s wedding and ‘906’ won the Exeter race, which gave the great day an extra edge. The loft housed many successful families and in the mid 1970s the Cattrysse pigeons were introduced from the Trussler Brothers partnership in West Molesey. Beat fed, cleaned out and clocked the pigeons, but when it came to pairing up etc, Ernie took the reins.

Beat telephoned me a short while before she passed away and asked if I fancied a day out in London as she had to present a £1,500 cheque to the Richard House Children’s Hospice in Docklands. The money was a donation from the British Homing World ‘Show of the Year’ and I was pleased to go, as I hadn’t seen Beat for a while and it was such a worthwhile charity. My good friend, Peter Taylor, came along and we picked up Beat at her beautiful home in Brentford to start the two hour drive through central London to the Children’s Hospice, which was sited near Docklands Airport. On our journey too and from the Hospice, Beat and I had a really good laugh about the good ol’ days and the good times we had at the S.M.T. Combine prize presentations and West Middlesex Federation Shows back in the 1970s. This was the first time Peter had met Beat and after we dropped her back home, he commented to me, what wonderful lady she was, and that’s exactly what she was, a wonderful lady. That great day out in London was the last time I saw Beat Penn!

I don’t know of any other person who has done more for the sport of pigeon racing over the last 50 years than our Beat. She was up in her 80th years and still working tirelessly for the sport nearly till the end. I will miss her happy voice on the telephone, her Christmas card every December and I will greatly miss meeting up with her at the Blackpool Show every January. Beat Penn was one of the greatest people I’ve ever met in the sport of pigeon racing and I’m very proud that she was my friend.

Ron Lacey of High Wycombe (RPRA Southern Region Show).

The month of November every year sees fanciers make their annual drive up the M40 to High Wycombe for the RPRA Southern Region Show, which is one of the high lights of the show calendar in the South of England every winter. The show is held at the Hazelmere Community Centre and has a 750 bird’s entry most years. The show secretary for many years was my good friend, Ron Lacey and has told me on several occasions that he had to turn down all the late entries, because the show was full up, but if he could have accepted them all the entry would have been around 800 birds. The entry for this wonderful event is from all over the UK, including Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, and quite often the judges’ comment on high the standard of the birds entered. There is the usual auction of gift birds and with the funds raised by the show is donated to charity every year. Ron Lacey and his band of helper work hard every winter and put on one of the best shows I visit! We don’t seem to mention Ron Lacey’s band of stewards and workers in the annual write up, whom 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 November and it’s them same ol’ faces every year working so hard on this great event. Well done to you all!

The 2013 Southern Region Show saw my good friend of 45 years standing, Ron Lacey, return as one of the event organizers after packing up as show secretary in 2010. He told me at that time, he was approaching 80 years of age and was having trouble coping with the vast amount of work involved in organizing this wonderful annual show, which I could well appreciate. But Ron being Ron and one of the workers, he could not stay away and was back at the helm. When I say that Ron is one of the sport’s great workers, it is an understatement, he has spent a life time working for the RPRA and the sport of pigeon racing in general.

I have been associated with the RPRA Southern Region Show for many years and have derived great pleasure judging at this great annual event through the years. This great event is one of my favourite one day shows, which is now held at the Hazelmere Community Centre, near High Wycombe. The show moved to the Community Centre in 1996 and it has proved to be a first class venue for this major event, having two large halls for the show and charity pigeon auction. My good friend, Ron Lacey, former President of the R.P.R.A. Southern Region, had run the show for many years and prior to that Val and Tony Viccars were the show secretaries. I have attended the show most years, since it started at Ascot Racecourse in the late 1970’s and in recent seasons have booked the judges for the racing classes for Ron. Years ago I used to show and won many firsts with my racing pigeons, which I always considered a good achievement, with the ‘red hot’ competition at the Region show.  After Ascot the show moved briefly into Basingstoke and then went to Slough for ten years, being run by the late great Bob Arnold. I always remember Bob telling me that he had been in pigeons all his life, being taken tenderly into a pigeon loft at the age of ten days old, by his father, in 1920. Bob was a wonderful man and put a lot of hard work into the Southern Region Show through his many years as show secretary.

My good friend of many years standing, Ron Lacey, took over the job of show secretary a lot of years ago from Val and Tony who had to step down because of ill health and I must say, Ron did a brilliant job over a very long period and after his retirement, the present show secretary is Peter Gretton, who took over in 2015. 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 over 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 a few years ago and has won 1^st Federation Lerwick, with the bird on the day. Ron’s 30 youngsters are raced natural to the perch and have 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! Ron Lacey one the sports great workers!

Well that’s it for this week and I must say I’ve really enjoyed that little walk down ‘memory lane’, featuring three of the very best workers for our sport ever. If you win and want a write up in this space, contact me on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email me on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)