By George Wheatman

Perth section winners 2010

While the winners take the plaudits and bask in the glory of their success – and quite rightly so – there were many other members of the North Road Championship Club who can look back on the race from Perth with great satisfaction. None more so than the section winners. Let’s take a look at them.

Section One

There was a very good pigeon into Lincoln to win this section and it belonged to the partnership of Davison and Ellis.

It was a three-year-old dark chequer Busschaert hen sent sitting ten days, and arriving at the Canwick Hill allotments at a speed of 2019ypm, to take also a prominent open position. Now she is likely to be aimed at NRCC Thurso.

She is bred down from the family of Tommy Henderson, of Lynemouth.

This Lincoln Newport partnership of Roy Davison and Mick Ellis has been in existence for 11 years but, unfortunately, will finish at the end of this season as Mick is suffering from pigeon fancier’s lung.

Previously Roy, who is 75 and suffering from problems following a hip replacement operation, was in partnership with Brian Arbon for 35 years. Both partnerships have been highly successful.

Roy and Mick race on both natural and widowhood, and are regularly prominent in the NRCC results as well as picking up lots of club cards.

Their best NRCC result was when they were second open from Thurso a few years ago with a cock bird bred out of a gift pigeon from Terry Welby, secretary of the Swineshead club and himself a keen distance fancier, and breeder of good pigeons for many other fanciers.

Despite his mobility difficulties, Roy travels six miles a day from his city home to the allotments to look after the birds, while Mick is the man who takes them training.

Roy’s brother is also a successful fancier in the south of England, and the boys were introduced to pigeons by their father, who was from Newcastle but moved to Lincolnshire during the war.

For many years the partners flew their pigeons on the natural system, very successfully, but during the past five years they have introduced a widowhood team which they were late starting this year.

They use the ETS system which they find very useful, and enjoy competing with the NRCC.

Section Two

If ever there was a partnership with national winning potential it must be the one between Tim Dales and Albert Sayers, of Louth.

Tim knows all about the heartache of being edged out of a Kings Cup win on decimals, by Frank Bristow two years ago, and Albert shared a young bird NRCC win with erstwhile partner Martin Wilkinson in 2007.

With Tim excelling at the distance, and Albert preferring sprint and young bird racing, the ingredients are all there for another breakthrough. Already they have been close in the opening races from Dunbar and Perth.

Tim is a 66-year-old game dealer and, at 67, Albert is a retired shepherd.

Their Perth section winner was a blue pied yearling Staf Van Reet widowhood cock bird of Albert’s breeding, and is likely to be in their team for Fraserburgh this weekend.

The mother of this pigeon was the national young bird winner, and the father a Van Reet stock bird.

Their second pigeon was second section from Dunbar.

Involvement in his business means an early start to his working day for Tim, and his contribution towards running the lofts, which are based at his home, comes later in the day, while Albert is on duty from 7am. They race both hens and cocks, but Albert says that he knows little about distance racing and that is Tim’s speciality.

As well as being one of the hot teams in the NRCC in the first two races, with the birds coming close together as a team, they have been in good form in the highly competitive Louth and District club which sends its birds with Hull North Road Federation.

Both fanciers have been highly successful when, in past years, flying individually

Success for them revolves around having good pigeons in the first instance, then making sure they are healthy and motivated, and, says Albert, you need to add a little bit of luck into the mixture.

Add a lot of experience and stock sense from both men, and you have a formidable partnership.

Section Three

Talking to the one and only Frank Bristow, of Horbling in Lincolnshire, is always an enjoyable experience, and is akin to having a masterclass into who’s who, and what’s what in pigeon racing, with anecdotes galore from this most personable of pigeon lovers.

Add his helpmate, John Bellerby, into the mix and, again, you have a team to match any in pigeon racing.

Success is no stranger to Frank, but he appears to be achieving it even more regularly at the highest levels. Two years ago he won the King’s Cup from Lerwick with the NRCC, and was only just eased out of completing a unique double when runner-up from Thurso to another outstanding distance partnership, Graham and Michael Britton, of Peterborough.

In more recent years, Frank has set his sights on south road racing, and has already made his presence felt with a national young bird win with the Midlands National and, only three weeks ago, a section win with the same organisation from Carentan.

Frank seems to scour the globe, well the continent anyway, for his pigeons and, as a result, comes up with names that are beyond my spelling ability. Suffice, then, to say that his Perth section winner was a blue yearling widowhood hen, part of a team that is flying particularly well this season, having shown promise as a young bird.

They are paired to old cock birds, retired from racing, which Frank describes as their “Sugar Daddies”. Perhaps it is all the attention that they receive from these old stagers that makes them so keen to come home at breakneck speed.

Frank’s love and unfailing enthusiasm for the sport, would make him an ideal Ambassador for Pigeon Racing. And he still gets a big kick out of every win.

Section Four

Winners of Section Four, of course, were the Norwich partnership of Nick Barran and Bob Frew, who were outright winners of the race with an outstanding pigeon that quite rightly goes into the Halls of Fame.

Section Five

There can hardly be a more consistent loft in NRCC racing than that of Miss M Judd, of Ramsey, winner of Section Five from Perth – and winner of countless section prizes in recent years.

Unfortunately I have been unable to make contact to give this bird, and the loft in general, the credit they deserve.

Section Six

There was a welcome win for another lady member in Section Six. And Mrs Kath Terry, of the small hamlet of Gipping, near Stowmarket, declared herself “over the moon” at her success.

Distance to her loft from Perth is 342 miles and her 2000ypm winner was a four-year-old Van Reet widowhood cock, whose sire was from Paul Arnold and dam from Geoff Milner.

Kath admits to being “over 60” and her pigeons are a big love of her life. She became hooked on the sport when doing loft chores for that illustrious partnership of Long and Cox.

Loft manager there was Fred Garnham, and he took Kath to a sale at Ipswich from where she bought her first pigeons.

That was 15 years ago and, along with her garden, the birds have played a central part in her life ever since. She flies with the Combes Ford club in Stowmarket, and has enjoyed good success in the past, but not as much as she would have liked recently.

The section win from Perth changed all that, and gave her a real boost, especially as she had 100 per cent returns from her six entries.

The winner had been a consistent, steady performer in the past. It also brought her the first win this season in the club, although she has had second prizes.

Kath competes only with widowhood cock birds because she finds this the easiest way to enjoy the sport. She also likes the social aspect of the sport, and helps out in any way she can at the club.

A non-driver, she is grateful for the help of Bernie in taking the birds to the club and for training.

Section Seven

 Highlighting the quality of the fanciers competing in the North Road Championship Club is the father and son partnership of Fred and Keith Dawkins, four times London Combine winners.

Fred, now in his 70s, has kept pigeons since he was 13, and son Keith is a roofer aged 50.

Their section winner was a two-year-old chequer pied from their own family which stems back to birds from the legendary Alf Baker in the 60s, the old Stassarts and Ameels. More modern breeds of Busschaerts and Van Loons have been introduced to what is essentially a loft for all distances.

They fly 367 miles from Perth, and have been members of the NRCC for the past two years, also having a good section position from the Dunbar race.

They have been enjoying another good season, and it would seem that Keith gets better results from his pigeons than he does from the football team he supports – nearby West Ham!

Section Eight

The family partnership of E Ball and Son, of Ipswich, won Section Eight and, in the process, proved that natural flyers can compete with the widowhood men.

Elaine and son Bradley are the partners, but it was the father of the household, Dennis, who was the spokesman on this occasion.

The section winner was a four-year-old Vandenabeele hen, sent sitting 14 days, and no stranger to success. She was second section from Perth in 2008, but had a rest last year, before returning to action to register club wins from Market Rasen and Wetherby this campaign.

Up to that weekend, the partnership had won seven of the nine races staged by Ipswich and District club, and the section winner may be aimed at Lerwick or Thurso to end her season.

Last year the partnership won the section from Fraserburgh, and in 2008 picked up a good section result from Thurso. They were second section from Dunbar this year.

They sent 12 birds to Perth, and had 11 in a period spanning threequarters of an hour.

Dennis said that Ipswich members all seemed to have good returns.