RODNEY MUSTPRATT

of Reading

by Les Parkinson

With distance in mind During the mid eighties I came into contact with the above named fancier when I was passing on a few of the winning Busschaert's from the "Highview Lofts" of David Hulme who has now been joined by Chris Knowles.

Rodney was keen to introduce these pigeons which were then in their heday winning well into 30 plus 1sts a year from Worcester to the competitive 500ml events which his pigeons have excelled at since he first started competitive racing.

Since that time I have kept in touch with Rodney and on occasions wondered why he has not been mentioned at any length in the fancy press. So to bring this very knowledgeable fancier more into the limelight I persuaded him to help with a report. With the end result being an insight into the wins and problems that have been prominent throughout his racing career. Since we first met we have had some very good pigeons off Rodney to win on both land and channel both from his Janssen and Dordin family's.

Rodney was born right on the South coast in the town of Poole Dorset in the January of the 1941 and like most modern day fanciers his father was also known to be keen on the sport and flew a team of racers as a young man in partnership with his cousin, at Newtown, Parkstone, Poole, Dorset. Then at the tender age of 12 he really got the bug when his next door neighbour and mate, Jimmy Brake obtained ten birds from his brother-in-Law with the result being that Rodney had now found a team of pigeons on the doorstep that he could work with, this was not a big team but ten pigeons that he took a shine to and was able help him with the birds. They had a Fancier who lived 4 doors away called Mr. Robinson who had two lovely lofts which housed the then popular Fuller Isacsons. He tried to breed Black Barred Mealy's but his Mealy bred Blacks and the Blacks in turn bred Mealy's. He used to make Rodney and his partner us sit in the corner to look and listen. As time went by circumstances changed and it was a shame when he had a mental breakdown caused by the wife of a Fancier who lived behind him. We did not know then but she was suffering from the change and was hounding poor Mr. Robinson because he flew a better pigeon, Rodney never knew what happened to him after that part of his life.

The one thing Rodney does remember is that the fancier concerned moved to the bottom of the road just at the time Rodney went into the Army after which all contact ceased.. A point that was the norm of years gone by with young pigeon fanciers was that Rodney and a few friends gathered together and formed a boys club with some very good help off Tom Godlington. Rodney remembers well the times they had when he competed against the likes of class mate Michael White, a very good fancier in his own right and , Ronnie McConnald still flying today in the Poole area. Their highlight was when the Dorset County Flying Club let the young stars of the future have their own prize night with them. Some of the Countries best flyers then and now flew with this club.

The first fancier who got Rodney started when I left the army was George Harrison who lived in Windsor and was the first source of new blood into the lofts that Rodney was now going all out for, these were the first pigeons that Rodney actually owned himself. A friend of George was a coal man called Mr. Lewis of Maidenhead who was the next fancier whose pigeons entered the newly formed team for Rodney who remembers well the first bird which was a Red Cheq Delmotte-Jurion NURP.60 AFC356 NUHW60 AFC356. Rodney broke him out and he raced well for Rodney winning 2nd club Fraserburgh, 1st club Thurso 502 miles. Clocked by a friends son Mark Winchester at 05.40 2nd day. He left the loft at 22.00 appox on the Saturday as these lofts were at his mother-in-Laws which were next to a school. The caretaker told Rodney the bird arrived just after he left which is no doubt something that has happened to many fanciers over the years, you leave the loft for whatever reason and along comes the bird.

Another good bird bred for Rodney came from Joe Miles of Grassmoor and his brother Pop, flying as Miles & Tideswell. Joe was the nicest and kindest man that Rodney has ever met his wife Bertha was also very nice and they were like a second Mum and Dad. The pigeon NURP62NN 2552 Black Cheq cock with a white patch on his back from the consistently winning Grooter family of the day. In fact won every long distance race on the North but many times youngsters from him also won making him a superb pigeon to have in the loft. He bred Cheq's, Blue Pied's and Mealies, a mealy cock from him was sent to Berwick in the Two Rivers Club (2 bird). It poured with rain and was a cold day the at about 18.30 Rodney came out of the loft doors in a thick white jumper just as he flew in which really did startle the pigeon and caused him to fly out. The result being that he settled on the house and would not come in until next morning. The winning pigeon was not clock until 19.30 or just after. This all happened when Rodney was racing his pigeons to the loft in Old Windsor.

Condition is something that Rodney learned about at an early age and with his keen interests at the time being football and cricket he always prepared himself for the job. At football Rodney was playing to County Standard and was also a very good all rounder at Cricket. In his younger days he can recalls many fanciers who caught his eye including Vic Robinson, Reg Christopher and Alf Baker to name three of the great's of the day plus many more who more than held their own when it came to competitive racing. At that time Rodney was a very good friend of David Hughes of Windsor whom he also put in the top bracket of fanciers. In fact it was through David that Rodney first met the legendary Alf Baker who's birds he had had bred many winners from even to this day "Flec" has Baker blood in him. Other good fanciers of the modern day include Mr & Mrs Palmer & Mark - Birmingham, Mick Maitland Rochdale and Taylor Bros of Newbiggin.

Rodney worked with Tony Hustler and whilst he lived in the Poole area was a good friend of his and had a great day when his wife clocked "Ginny"and "Puff" from Barcelona. Also as a lad Rodney lived and went to all the shows etc. with Danny Challis. He flew youngsters from 2552 and won with them. Also Tony Stephens Rodney's Nephew who he thinks is a very modest and good, no great fancier but nevertheless is a good fancier for the sport. Other fanciers who have helped Rodney include Bob Arnold who Rodney believes knows more about pigeons than he will ever know. Bob lives in Datchet, Slough Bucks and is one of those fanciers who no matter how good or knowledgeable they are commit the sins of the sport which are that he is too kind with his birds and also over federation's and under races them. Another good friend is Bryan Lilley and also the late Toni Pourelli, Portsmouth both are men that Rodney admires in the sport, we must not forget Toni & Denise Harris of Immingham.

There are many mistakes waiting to be made in the sport and Rodney has made more than his share right from when he first started in the sport and still makes them today. A point about how fanciers work was highlighted over AFC60. 356 this pigeon he lost while training and to this day he still believes that it went back to George Harrison who farmed it out to other fanciers. In 1953 there was a great smash with the Irish birds with thousands going down. One entered Rodney's loft that was traced back to late Isaac Greenway, Victoria St, Belfast. Then when Rodney started back in the sport in 1962 Isaac sent him a pair to build his new team on. These were a light Violet Eyed Cheq Cock and a Dark Cheq Hen. Rodney later leant these to George and when Rodney came to ask for them back he had given them to a Mr. Rosser at Slough, however Rodney did eventually get them back. The sad story about these two fine pigeons was that the Hen died as soon as she had laid her first egg and the Cock never filled an egg again, Rodney believes to this day that they had both been nipped.?

The first loft for Rodney was 12'x 6' with two sections which grew to have a 6' x 12' aviary on the side then a 8' x 6' young bird loft, this making as L shaped loft. The present day racing lofts is 30' x 10' with 4 sections and has a corridor 4' wide for 24' or 3 sections then the young bird loft is 6" x 10" using the corridor. Rodney has swivel boxes for young birds, a 5' sputnik specially made and he also has the drinkers on the side of the sputnik which helps youngsters find water in the basket which I thought was a very good idea. The most important factor in any loft is ventilation but what you must do is make sure that you keep song birds out. Rodney has always stated that you will only get out of the sport what you put in and to emphasise on the point remember the part above where Rodney trained for his own sporting activities. as far as the pigeons are concerned Rodney trains them hard because he cannot let them out much if it is windy. There are several pylons within close proximity of the loft's which keeps the exercising of the pigeons limited hence the hard road work that they receive.

To keep these lofts right there are plenty of good stock hens which can be called upon at any time for their qualities. It doesn't matter how good a cock is if the hen is of poor quality you will only breed medium pigeons a medium cock with a good hen, you will get good birds.

There are about 40 stock pairs but only a few are bred from which allows Rodney to pair the widowhood cocks to the stock hens and spare stock hens to racing cocks, Rodney is also very generous in the fact that he does lend very good stock pigeons out.

There are 25 Widowhood Racing Hens which have proven a good bet and 30 Cocks which rear a good team of youngsters because with the pylons Rodney has many fatalities when they are exercising around home even so he does end up with about 20-30 to race. In 1995 only competing in the last 5 young bird races Rodney's lowest position was 12th Fed., most weeks splitting top fanciers Hudson & Lowe. The biggest part of the racing sees the pigeons raced on the widowhood system but he does like to see them sitting for Bergerac. Although he likes to race the cocks on the widowhood he cannot see the point of not Racing Hen's as he is a firm believer that a good Hen is always better than any Cock. Rodney makes sure that birds get the best corn money can buy which is Vanrobaeys 52 weeks of the year no changing to a cheaper corn once the season has finished, they get the best all the way. Rodney likes to pair up from February to March but if it were not for needing to get the widowhood cocks going he would much prefers to leave them until late March, all are paired together. The way Rodney prefers to breed is transfer the egg's from the stock to racers with one egg under each pair from the race team then leaving stock birds on pot eggs. One youngster each for race birds is enough if they are expected to do a full race programme more so when a Hen or a Cock is removed.

The big break from pigeons came when Rodney joined the Royal Horse Guards (armour) and went to Cyprus during the conflict. Rodney did his eight jumps with the Guards Para to get his wings and Red Beret which to this day is his proudest moment. After 4 years everything went to pot in the army with the finish of the National Service and Rodney had moved on as much as he could so with the future in mind he decided to leave and rejoin the civies. Rodney has travelled the world and he was more than pleased when he had a wonderful visit to the Philippines meeting the Chairman and Committee of the Pigeon Society who made him feel so welcome and for their great hospitality Rodney hopes to repay them one day as they were a credit to the sport. Rodney's present employment is as a Prison Officer which he started at Winson Green, Birmingham, after which he had a spell at Parkhurst I.O.W. where he loved every minute and made friends with the best fanciers there on the Island and are still friends today. However as with all good things his spell on the Island came to an end in 1986 to be near his son who was so ill. Rodney is a big believer in the fact that if you are going to win with the pigeons then you have to give them you all also believes that if you give them your best they will give of their best.

Rodney is not one of the light and dark men either; because of the problem with the pylon wires he rarely races the young birds, sometimes they do go to the last four races and they are always in the result at or near the top. Even old birds are not sent to all the races because of the work commitment yet the prize list at the end of the season shows the name of Rodney Muspratt at or near the top on a regular basis.

The Reading 2.Bird has felt the full force of these pigeons during the 1996 season with 2nd & 4th Nantes, 1st Bergerac, 1st & 3rd Wadebridge to go with the Harris Cup, The C.A.V.Kirby trophy for the best average the three club races, the E.Greer trophy, Cantrell & Cochrane trophy plus three club specials. Rodney also collected 5 trophies from the local club and remember that he only competed in half the old bird races and 4 young bird events. I was looking at a piece on this fancier in the RP that went, "Probable winner of section C NFC Pau is Ivor Mills of Blandford, Dorset. His five year old blue Dordin hen is called "Della" after a local councillor and was bred by Rod Muspratt of Earley, Reading. She has flown Pau three times previously taking 67th Open CSCFC 1992 and has been 367th Open NFC Bordeaux and was a club winner as a yearling. Rod Muspratt, the breeder is one of the sports real nice guys and a great charity worker within the sport. He gave Ivan six YBs in 1987 amongst which was a Cattrysse hen which has taken 15 cards at Club, Fed, National and Classic level including 341st Open Pau NFC as a yearling and 41st Open Saintes CSCFC".

This is what Rodney had to say on his own pigeons and performances: "These results do not give you the whole picture. From Bergerac I have had as many as 7 in the clock before many members had one. This year '96 I had only one bird on the day. There were 3 more in the loft at 05.30. I left for work at 7 o'clock and I had 4 more. At lunchtime there were 12 out of 13 sent, number 13 came the next day. I did not clock any of these birds as I didn't want to upset the club members. My results in '91 were very much affected when my daughter Gillian was murdered in the March. I would send to the race, clock in, and then hand my clock in to the secretary about 4 o'clock but later in longer races, then off to Birmingham. Most times I would return on the Wednesday or Thursday. The Birds had not been out of the loft, only fed. The birds had no training but they were still put into the race, yet they did better than what I had ever hoped for. In '96 I only raced every other week yet I was 2nd highest prize winner in the club. I do not race a full young bird programme, sometimes never. Yet when I do they win, beating birds which have had 4-5 races. If I only had someone to help me as I have to work every other weekend and I know how much better they would do. Young birds sent out to other lofts have won well. A Police Sgt who I met through work started keeping pigeon's. I gave him the pick of my best and he won straight away".

Second year at the distance he was at the top each time, over the Channel. Well done!

Hugh Patterson, just one of many who won with my birds, another being Brian Mills, I-O-W won the Classic with one of my birds, Y.B Dordin. I gave some young birds to Alf Crawley in London. One of the young birds was 91st Open Y.B. National (Dordin). "Toni's Choice" a daughter of this cock was 1st CSCFC Cherbourg, 1st Sec B 10th Open NFC Cherbourg winning over one thousand pounds as a young bird ". On to the pigeons and a point that I have always felt that more fanciers should follow which is having a few Strains making up a team of Horses for courses. F.V.W. Verheyes, Busschaerts, Janssens, Dordin & Stichlebauts which make a very good team for Rodney that go all the way and with having such a team this fancier is able to suit what time he has available at any given moment. At the moment he has to work every other weekend he prefers the longer races, as far as they can go. In about 4 years time Rodney is looking to move back to Dorset, where he will spend the rest of his life looking after his pigeons which is why he is set on building a team of all purpose pigeons in preparation for that day. The intention is to have the lofts there two years before he actually moves so that he can compete as soon as he moves house. No doubt when Rodney does retire and takes up the pigeons full time we shall see his name more and more at the top of the results. For now I shall leave the report at that and look forward to another trip down to Early to see Rodney and the team of pigeons that not only race well for him but also many other fanciers around the country.