JOHN WOODWARD

In the early part of 1998 John Woodward made the decision to move North from Telford where he had been premier prize winner for the last five years. Little did John know how things were going to change over the next 18 months because that is all it took for some members of the local club to move away from the new competition that John had injected into the Hankelow club. However it was not all members who looked for pastures green, some stayed to show that the new kid at the club could be beat which was unlike most of the 1998 young bird season. The start of the old bird racing for 1999 saw things get even hotter when John re-wrote the record books with the Mid Cheshire Fed. Members entering birds into the club dropped considerably down to three members at one stage but those who decided that they wanted the competition eventually brought their birds back into the prizes. What made the performances during the old bird season better for John was that they were all yearling's which meant that there were no established birds that John could rely on. Also a point worth mentioning is that John is the winner of the old bird average in the club racing up to 470mls. As pointed out the membership did drop but as you will see later in the article it was the Fed where John's performances stood out.

John is a native of Cheadle, Staffs where his father raced pigeons and through visiting other fanciers with his father John became interested himself. In 1962 John was just 11yrs old when his father took him to the lofts of Frank Salt on Churchill Road, Cheadle and this is where John obtained his first stock birds from. These stock birds soon produced the goods and John began to pick up a few prizes. The fanciers at that time being 1962 who caught John's eye were the likes of Jimmy Chandler, Doug Bates, Herbert Chell, Fred Bentley, Brindley & Norcup, Clowes & Bloor, Bill Finney plus a few others whose names escape John at the present moment but all these were good fanciers of the day. There used to be about 70 members of the Cheadle H.S and we won the Channel Ave in 1968. That was with a couple of good pigeons one being a Red Hen and the other a son of her called "Mad Jack" which were from pigeons obtained off dads best friend Frank Salt. Talking about these times took John's mind back 30yrs to something his dad used to say to him, "Work comes before pigeons" how times have changed. John also said about his dad, "He would be over the moon with all the winning my brother and I have done. dad would not be able to justify all the money that goes into pigeons today". You nearly always hear the story of joining the sport until your life changes and the ladies come along, John was no different because his first spell with pigeons that started in 1962 only lasted until 1970 when they all went. The next time that John became involved was 1992 at Telford when as a greenhorn to the modern day racing set his sights on success.

What a success he has become and to the present day has been a major player at Telford and at his present address in Blackenhall. From the moment Elizabeth first set eye's on him she said that he is a winner with pigeons no matter where he lives which has proved to be the case. I remember many years ago when Brian Beardmore was known to eat, sleep and drink pigeons, John is out of the same mould. "When I was a Telford I really enjoyed the pigeons competing against such fanciers as Mr & Mrs Alan Houghton, Eric Jones, Dave & Neville Broadhurst, T.Greenfield, D.Smith to name a few. In my local club Hadliegh there was always good competition, each week the sprint was good and since we moved to Blackenhall at club level I find ti completely different. But one person I must mention from Telford is the Hadliegh Club Secretary Malcolm Hope who is unbiased to every member" I was surprised how John anticipated some of the questions when he did admit to making the usual mistakes in the pigeon world. Such as buying pigeons off every Tom, Dick & Harry (no offence meant to anyone with those names) and trying to make them run before they could walk, as the saying goes. What I was surprised at was that in John's own opinion one of his big mistakes was not reading enough but when you look at the time he was in the sport and the winning that he has done it makes you think. If he had read a great deal could he have gone down a different road and not won as well as he has to the present date. He does feel that he could have gained further experience by gathering more information about the birds he had or even purchased in the early days. How many times do we hear about how the new starter listens to too many fanciers instead of sticking to a tried and tested method that suits you.

When we talked about the lofts, where they came from and how they were made John said he was showing his age. But you are no different John my first loft was one of those orange boxes off the market which were divided in two. At one stage even using the old tea chests which reminds me that some good fanciers also used them for nest boxes many years ago when there was not as much money about. When John was telling me about that he said "Now I am showing my age" not at all John they were used before and after you started. John's first loft or should we say, something like, was built by his late Uncle Bill and made out of the old orange boxes, so no change there. Times have changed with the present day loft being 38ft x 8ft with a pan tiled roof containing five sections with the importance being put on the ventilation which to John and probably most fanciers is important. The point was also made that a pan tiled pigeon loft roof should not be felted because that is where the benefit of such a roof is lost. Since moving John has had a much larger team of stock birds consisting of 30prs which will allow him to build up a new race team as soon as possible. However once John is satisfied that he has the right team in the race loft the stock birds will be reduced. The complete team rear around 100 young birds with all being allowed to rear. The stock birds are paired up on the 10th December but the racers are left until March onwards depending on where they are to be raced. The type of pigeon that is preferred at these lofts is small to medium even though there have been a few of the bigger type of pigeon that has been housed and won but in general the small to medium are the order of the day.

John is a traditionalist and races the accepted widowhood system but is always looking to improve which is why he does have an occasional go at racing hens on their own widowhood system that has brought him some good results. John has always preferred to race the cocks on the widowhood system Which allows him to send the birds every week for the inland races but when the channel starts they are only sent every other week. With the 1999 season being a new start for John he trained his yearlings in the same way that he trains young birds and therefore trains them as much as possible before the first race. The training will change from now on because in the year 2000 he will have 2y.olds as well as the yearlings this means that the old bird race team will only have between 8 & 10 tosses before the first race. The youngsters are started six weeks before the first race and they will have as many tosses as possible. In the early stages of training John might take the youngsters twice a day for the early short tosses but will soon increase the distance. John is very observant and studies the pigeons constantly when they are exercising or generally around the loft, this is where he will pick up if they are on form.

Feeding is straight forward but all depends on the weather, a good widowhood mixture is used twice per day with depurative given if the conditions require the change of feeding method. Versele Laga is the main corn that John uses with the addition of Red Band. Prevention of disease is very important and the birds are treated before the birds are paired. Treatments are for worms and canker then when the racing starts they are treated every two or three weeks to avoid the birds picking something up in the basket which can quite easily affect the whole loft. As regards to any pet theories that John has are firstly the birds must be in A1 condition. But the one I like which I believe is the downfall of any loft is that you must not go down the garden to the birds if you are in a bad mood. John jokingly said take it out on the wife first but I dare stake my life on it that Pauline would have something to say on that one. John was saying that to get to the top it is dammed hard work and you should always show respect to the winners, those names that you read about every week. On why fanciers do not win John said, "My own personal ideas of why fanciers are never successful include a lack of dedication because if that is not there then you are going to struggle to get amongst the prizes. Your number one priority is to ask yourself is 'How much do you want to win'. Fanciers also listen to other fanciers far too much and try all the different ideas that they have heard about and in the end the pigeons like the fancier get confused. My view is that you should keep everything around te loft simple, the simpler the better."

"The one big problem that I have living out in the country is not dissimilar from a lot of other fanciers around the British Isles because I too have the hawks taking my pigeons. When the pigeons are outside I do try to be with them because I also have a problem with cats. in February this year I watched helpless as the hawks were chasing the pigeons around the sky but there was no need to worry. On this occasion because they eventually left them alone and all the pigeons returned safely. John is not in a I a lot of clubs at the present moment because he is comparatively new to the area, even so he is a member of the M.N.F.C plus the local Hankelow club which races with the Mid Cheshire Federation. John also likes to race the birds at all distances and in his first full year with the yearlings only he is probable winner of averages in both the local club and the fed. There have been some great results, 17/4. 1st Mid Cheshire Fed Gloucester 1698 birds. 24/4 2nd & 22nd Fed Mangostfield (1) 2259 birds. 1/5 1st 2nd 3rd Fed Mangotsfield 2566 birds. 8/5 1st 3rd 5th Fed Wincanton 2295 birds.15/5 15th & 23rd Fed Wincanton (2) 2375 birds.22/5 6th fed Newton Abbot 2177 birds. 5/6 1st 4th 7th 9th 26th fed Wincanton (3) 1706 birds. 13/6 6th & 11th fed Vire1023 birds. 19/6 6th fed Wincanton (4) 1666 birds. 3/7 2nd 4th 7th 11th Wincanton (5) 1435 birds. 17/7 22nd fed Sartilly 693 birds. 24/7 8th 12th 17th 25th fed Kempsey 1918 birds.31/7 16th fed Gloucester 2168 birds. 14/8 9th fed Mangotsfield 1636 birds.28/9 7th fed Newton Abbot 1245 birds.

The 1999 season was very quiet for the young bird results cpmpared to 1998 but as john pointed out he will have a good steady team of yearlings and 2y.olds for the first season of the new millenium. The pigeons that have won these prizes are Janssens which have probably flown the best during the last season, Hartogs, Busschaerts, Staff Van Reets and Desmet Mathjys. However what John did say is that he is always on the lookout for good pigeons which he believes is where many fanciers fall down by being content with what they have in their lofts. What you need to do is go out and look for further improvements so that you are not left behind. If you do not try to improve your stock and drop down the list, it takes an a long time to get the team back on a winning trail. When John took the first three in the Mid Cheshire Fed John was highly delighted because of the strong competition but he still rates his best performance as 1st Rennes, 2nd Sec 5th Open Midland Nat Nantes when he was racing to his old Telford lofts. Then when he moved there was a lot of talk about the pigeons, they would not win the same racing to the Cheshire area which gave John a bigger incentive to make a point. John did prove the point that his pigeons would win in stiffer competition by rewriting the records. John also has his own ideas on how the sport should go forward but getting ideas into practice is not that easy. I dare say that his thoughts on clubs will cause a few raised eyebrows "I feel that there are a lot of things we can do to improve the sport with the main aim to have bigger clubs. There are too many small clubs about that should join together to make bigger clubs, better competition which in turn would make the winnings worth competing for". It was rather odd that John should have said that at that particular time because I had been talking to Syd Cousens from Bolton who pointed out that at one time his local club were all members of the North West Classic. This allowed the members to compete in a bigger club as well as keeping their own identity. The winnings were better, the competition was better and the credit was given to the winners far better than if they were at normal club level. When I talked to John about this he said that was more to his way of thinking if the sport is to go forward.

On racing into the next Millennium John Said, "As regards to the year 2000, I shall be racing more or less the same as I did at Telford with more hens. Regarding attitude towards racing, I went over to collect a youngster purchased at a breeder buyer from the lofts of Grayson & Sylvester. (By the way Steve I still have the youngster) Kenny Robinson was with me and we had a good talk about the pigeons and winning races. I will never forget that morning, as Steve said it is like "Chase the Ace" with his Ace being Burton & Hill who he is now up there with. My "Ace" is to win as many 1sts as I can and also to win the National. Another memorable evening was down at the Middlewich 2Bird with Frank Speed when I had the pleasure of meeting John Allbutt and Brian Beardmore plus other winning fanciers. It was nice because they appreciated and understood what I had achieved during the season and all the hard work that is involved with winning". "There are just a few people that I would like to mention. Frank Speed who helps me a great deal when I had to move lofts and pigeons from Telford at very short notice. I hope I have paid him back by letting him have some really good pigeons. Also Kenny Robinson for helping me out on numerous occasions, Kenny will be taking a big part in the new season, as the saying goes "Two heads are better than one". Also we had better mention the other half Pauline for being very patient with me. Many times my patience has been stretched, especially when clocking in on race days. Plus all the detours we have had to make for the pigeons when we have been going on our holidays".

Early '99 when we visited John we were impressed and at that time I said that he would be the one to beat. I still believe that to be the case and considering that he was only racing a team of yearlings it will be interesting to see how he goes on for the year 2000. John rewrote the record books at the start of 1999 and I have no doubt that he will have another good season but what he will win I have no idea that we shall have to wait and see. The new Millennium sees John starting with a bang and the excellent results are still coming with the Fed members feeling the full force, how long they maintain that we shall have to wait and see. But knowing John they will not let him down.