ALAN GROOM
of
Middlewich
by Les J. Parkinson
The
new Millennium started in the same fashion as the last one passed with
Alan Groom steeling the limelight in our local area. After the first
few weeks has won more than most are going to win all season so here
is the story on Alan Groom the man to beat. 40yrs as a secretary, 27yrs
being with the Middlewich 2B, many winners to his credit, more trophies
than anyone wants to clean, same loft since the dark ages. In the last
3yrs the highest prize winner winning 135 prizes in the club alone against
over 20 flying members sending as many as 400 birds per week, 112 federation
cards, well over 40 x 1sts notched up. And remember we are not talking
about the continental prize allocation this is Britain where if you
are not in the first half dozen you get nothing. Alan's a present day
Chairman, clock setter has tried his hand at race controller and as
an official with the Mid Cheshire Fed,. I think we better find him something
else to do to try and slow the pigeons down. We can go back 16yrs to
the October1984 edition of the pigeon racing Gazette then controlled
by the Bishop family from Weybridge in Surrey.
That
was when I first compiled an article on Alan Groom that was headed a
successful Widowhood flyer, things haven't changed because that is still
the case today some at the turn of the Century 16 years later. I said
earlier same old loft. Yes even the lofts have seen no major change,
there are no new modern day ideas about how a loft should be. No tiled
roof, the lofts are the same as they have more or less been since Alan
has flown his pigeons in Middlewich in the 60's. At that time we were
just changing to long trousers and the barbers was a place we only went
when dad laid the law down, if he was lucky. The next time that I looked
in on Alan regarding performances was he topped the Three Counties Combine
at Sartilly with a Geoff and Jane Aspin who bred the exchange Dark Busschaert
2yo cock which raced to the coast in 1995. Then in1996 was 3rd Middlewich
FC Weymouth 218 birds and went to fly Rennes and Nantes that is where
he spent a rare night out. Then in 1997 he collected 1st club 11th fed
Gloucester 1962 birds during the sequence of going to every inland race
being clocked on several occasions collecting good pool money. Then
this excellent pigeon won 1st club 1st fed 1st Championship 1st Cheshire
Combine 1st Three Counties Combine Sartilly against 13,947 birds.
Performances
come and go to all fanciers but this was a far cry from the very first
Federation race that Alan won as an up and coming member of the Shrewsbury
HS. That was on the 21st May 1955 and like most things connected with
his pigeons Alan still has the federation result even today some 42
years later. On that occasion Alan was an easy winner by virtue of being
the only fancier to top the 1000ypm barrier and was not an out of the
blue win because it was pooled ABCD picking up the biggest share of
the pools. It was interesting to note that the rings issued in the year
of that win l was starting school and were NURP54M8396. This was not
only Alan's first club winner but also the first occasion that he had
collected a top Federation honour in the Shropshire Fed. At that time
the heading read "Result of the race from Frome on 21st May liberated
11.40am, wind Strong WNW, Showerey and cold, no of birds 682". As with
the club Alan's was the only pigeon recording a velocity in excess of
1000ypm. The race was certainly a hard one because in the club the last
pigeon was on 526ypm with the last club on the fed result recording
a winning velocity of 917ypm which was over 100ypm behind Alan's excellent
winner. When you take into account that the race was only from Frome
into Shropshire you get the true picture of how hard the race was. The
race was that hard there was 97ypm between the first ten on the fed
result from such a short distance, Alan has hung on to the club and
the federation cards as well as a result to show for his first winner
in pigeon racing. This is another case as pointed out at the start of
this article, still there. Again at the start of the article I pointed
out about the fact that there was no real change in the lofts, that
is correct but the pigeons have changed as with any loft from one strain
to another.
Lets
start with the first pigeons that Alan brought into his lofts from Clem
Williams of Baschurch. A.J. Bloss, Bonmere Heath, W.G.H. Dicken Ellesmere,
Peter Cross Wallasey. Bert Bloss bred Alan a blue hen NURP53BFC164 that
won his first race from Monmouth as a YB in the Shrewsbury HS. Peter
also bred Alan that first Federation winner mentioned earlier from Frome.
Then in 1974 Alan purchased 2prs of Dordins from John Icke of Woore
who had one of the very best teams from this family in the UK at that
particular time. In fact if you take a look at the winning Dordins of
that time John probably provided fanciers some of the best racers they
ever had. These pigeons went on to win Alan many prizes during the mid
to late 70"s and at one stage more or less all the pigeons in the loft
were based on these lines. There were also the odd Boeyken lines brought
in that were a great cross and did very well with Alan's very good Dark
cock of the late 70s and early 80s being three quarter Dordin and a
quarter Boeyken. The Dark Cock won first prizes every year through his
racing career with the exception of 83 when he was 2nd club 10th fed
Dorchester recording a velocity of 999ypm, 2nd club 17th fed Plymouth
vel 844ypm. This showed what a good hard day pigeon he was, he also
won 3 x 1sts open races from Worchester, that is where Alan's reputation
as a Worcester flyer came from, things have changed since then. At Alan's
loft it might look from the outside that time has stood still but when
you look at the stock there is from time to time new stock purchased
to keep the family on a winning track.
In1984
there was a change from the Dordins when Alan brought into the race
team the Varheyes from Marshall Kendrick who at the time was one of
the top fanciers racing into the Shavington area. There was early success
with these pigeons recording good results and they started to beat the
more established Dordins nearly every week. This led to more introductions
from the same family and also some from Louella these being the "Black
Tony" lines which made first class cross with those from Marshall, it
is a known fact that the crosses were even better. These were not a
team to win for a few years because they are still winning for Alan
today, every year Alan looks for something to beat these. Alan then
purchased 6 young birds from Terry Edwards from Winsford being mostly
bred down from the Stan Heath of Tarporley Janssens which like any other
pigeon brought into these lofts flew very well for Alan. There was also
one Blue Chequer Busschaert Cock which has been possibly one of the
best racing cocks in the Middlewich 5 bird club and even when the birds
were held over he has left the opposition in his wake.
This
excellent cock goes back to the Melvin Bratt birds that Melvin won so
well with over the years, Melvin purchased the original birds at a sale
in Gee Cross many years ago. In 1996 Alan had 3prs of VDB that originated
from Bailey Bros of Rugley plus some other that came from John Kirk
of Warrington. Some have crossed very well with the Verheye family.
They have also produced winning lines with the Janssens of Stan Heath
of Tarporley. The first year he bred off the VDB Alan won 1st Picauville
Middlewich 2B and a Blue hen was 2nd Club4th Open in the Picauville
race of 99. These are the lines that are doing most of the winning in
Alan's present day team. There is a good 1998 Chequer Pied Verheye/VDB
that as a young bird won 4 x 1sts plus other prizes with her nest mate
winning 4 prizes as a youngster then in 99 collected 3 x 1sts. When
it comes to how many birds we house there can quite easily be a fluctuation
from year to year but at the moment. But in Alan's case the number housed
have never really altered a great deal and started with a team of 32cocks
on the widowhood system which Alan has never changed from.
Alan
did have a few paired up in a small loft but they did not suit the system
so Alan put a few youngsters in there for the darkness system. As pointed
out the widowhood system is the one that Alan settled on and in the
early 80!s perfected the system and was highest prize winner in 82 &
83 and has never looked back. In that small loft referred to Alan weaned
25 y.b.s into this loft in 1999 and when it came to training there were
20 left for the first race in July. By the time racing had finished
in September there were still 18 left and between them they had won
24 prizes with 3 flying Picauville. The number of stock birds has increased
slightly and now there are 8/10 pairs of stock to go with the widowhood
cocks that are paired in mid January to rear around 60 youngsters which
are raced hard down to the coast. Then after racing has finished the
cocks are allowed a further nest to settle them down for the winter
months. After they have reared their first nest and settled down again,
they are given approx 6 training tosses before the first race then no
more training. However they are exercised for 30 to 40 mins around home
which Alan has found sufficient to keep them fit, mind you local fanciers
have often commented on how well they fly around home. Alan likes to
race the pigeons every week on the land but select those to go across
the channel and if they have shown no real signs on land then across
they go. The young birds are a different proposition because the receive
plenty of training plus being exercised around the home each afternoon
The biggest change over the years has been the way that the pigeons
are trained because for many years the were taken on the back of the
Alan's old scooter which kept Alan mobile for many years, come to think
of it what ever happened to the old faithful scooter. The training of
Alan's birds is now in the hands of Fred Hollinshead who has been a
great asset to Alan and is very grateful for it (mind you he never looked
safe on that scooter loaded up with baskets). It is a known fact that
when Fred changes his car the size of baskets are taken into account.
Going
back to the lofts which as l pointed out earlier are nothing special,
they are just plain lofts that were built for the job and Alan has no
desire to change them. If you see Alan's loft you will realise that
all the extravagant lofts in the world will not beat good management
and top birds. The corn is purchased in bulk in the early part of the
year, there is little seed added to help them with the moult. The corn
as pointed out is bought in bulk in the early part of the year and is
always Natural which are also the make of the grits, pick stones, picking
bricks and vitamins that are used for these birds. The vitamins are
given on a Wednesday for both racers and stock with the pick stones
and blocks being in front of the birds all the time. Feeding is the
usual widowhood method which is depurative on a Saturday and Sunday
and they are built up during the week. The build up depends on the last
weeks race and weather if it is cold they will eat more. Feeding is
done through both pots in their boxes and troughs on the floor depending
on the circumstances at the time, the young birds are well fed too well
fed sometimes and are treated like the widowhood cocks being built up
during the week During the racing season the birds are treated for worms,
canker, and cocci as and when Alan thinks they need it using one product
one year another the next if you keep using the one product the birds
will get immune to it. All old birds get the same treatment before pairing
up. The one major set of products that Alan likes are Harkers because
he believes they are the best on the market. However for vaccination
Alan uses Colombovac because that was the one that he first used and
therefor has stuck to it. This is mainly because in the first place
it was a one dose vaccine and not two which is done for the old birds
in November and the youngster in late May early June depending on Fred's
training arrangements.
Just a bit on the young birds that are housed in a 8ft x 8ft loft with
75 box perches. On their racing Alan said that the young hens raced
every week right down to Weymouth if they are fit and in good feather.
The young cocks being the future race team are treated some what different
because a few are selected and stopped about three weeks depending on
the weather and how many empty box perches there are in the loft. There
is also the small loft for the darkness youngsters that are the backbone
of most young bird teams in the modern day racing loft. Alan's last
word, "I was reading a write up the other week and this chap said that
he was a club secretary, what he didn't like was that there were too
many non workers fining fault with the efforts of the few willing workers.
I know how he feels". Pigeons are Alan's life and his very understanding
wife Rhodda knows that because she to works very hard for the sport
and has been secretary for the local club for longer than I care to
remember. Alan is a bit sharp at times but the local fanciers now know
him and the fact that he is just about as hard working as they come
when it comes to the local organisations. He has now been top dog for
a few years and I wonder who will come along and take his crown. Here's
one for you to think about, in January 2000 Alan has 32 w/h cocks and
all are prize winners on the road consisting of 13 yearlings and 19
older birds. At these lofts the motto is "Racers must win and breeders
must breed". Having competed against Alan for so long I know what a
good pigeon he races and as I complete this loft for posting the 2000
season is just about to get under way and as we all know locally if
you beat Alan you will more than likely be in the prizes.
