LADIES' DAY
by Keith Mott
In a previous article I wrote that I had a visit from Laura Harmour, who works at the Natural History Museum in London. She wanted a meeting with me as she is researching lady racing pigeon fanciers for a personal project that she is been working on for some time. Laura is a lover of horse racing and is a regular visitor to Sandown Park and Kempton Park race courses, and regularly treats injured racing pigeons at her home in Surrey. She was fascinated by the good success some woman have had in what is a mostly male dominated sport!
I have met many premier woman fancier in my time in the sport and the first one that comes to mind is my good friend, Karen Haley of Abbots Langley. Karen was the secretary of the Watford club for 30 years and a major worker for the sport in her area. She is an outstanding fancier pigeon fancier in her own right and won the Federation many times when she raced with her late father, Bryn English. I think I have known Karen and her husband, Terry Haley for nearly 35 years and all that time our Karen has always been at the top of the game, being one of the premier North Road fanciers in the Hertfordshire area. Terry and Karen have been a good friend of my family for many years; in fact Terry is my son, Mark’s godfather. Karen has never been or had the desire to be a pigeon partner with Terry, as she says they would both want to do it their own way and fall out and she only flew with Bryn with outstanding success for many years. A really great pigeon family!
Another great woman fancier is Clare Norman of Southampton and she is certainly one of the best pigeon secretaries I’ve ever met in my time in the sport! She works full time in her husband, Martin’s, building firm, looks after her family and still does a wonderful job with her own pigeons and for the Central Southern Classic Flying Club. The family pigeon partnership, Martin, Clare and their son, Jack, race as ‘Manor Lofts’ and recently won the British Barcelona Club ‘Blue Riband’ race from Barcelona (680 miles). Their winner, the champion four year old grizzle cock ‘Olympic Ric’, has won a long list of premier long distance positions in the National and Classic on the widowhood system. The Norman family are some the hardest working people for our sport I’ve ever met and have won some top positions through the years, including 1st open Central Southern Classic Flying Club Bergerac a few seasons ago. I came out of convoying retirement in 2010 and became the chief convoyer of the Central Southern Classic Flying Club for one very enjoyable season. I have always said how brilliant Clare Norman is at her jobs as secretary of the CSCFC and now I’ve worked with her that year, I now know first-hand just how brilliant she is! The Central Southern Classic Flying Club motto says: pigeon racing at its best. I agree with that, but they do have the best secretary in the sport!
Going back a few years I can remember two brilliant Surrey husband and wife partnerships where the ladies were the brains behind their outstanding success. The first was Reg and Helen Lorenti of Kingston. Although the partnership was called Mr & Mrs Lorenti, Reg maintained that the partner's successful team of Channel racers was solely managed by his wife Helen and he was only a 'dog’s body'. It all began when their eldest son, Peter, persuaded his father to buy some pigeons for him when he was about 13 years old in 1973. Peter eventually gave up because he was unable to get the birds trained as the Lorenti's had no transport at the time. When Helen saw the birds being culled before selling the best, she stepped in and said that she would take over the loft and racing. Peter was a member of the Kingston club and Reg said it was simple to just change the racing title to a Mr & Mrs Partnership. Most of the members of the Kingston club gave her help and advice, with John & Peter O'Connor giving her youngsters and stock birds. The partners also obtained Kirkpatricks from Mick Worsford of Woking, who had won 1st Combine twice from Bergerac. The 1984 season saw Helen win 1st & 4th SMT Combine from the very hard Le Mans race, with 2,086 birds taking part. The Combine winning pigeon was their good blue cock 'Blue Max' and he was bred from the late John O'Connor's Combine winning family of Busschaerts. The Le Mans event was the race of a life-time for the partners, also recording 4th Combine with 'The Louella Hen', a Kirkpatrick grizzle hen bred Louella Pigeon World in 1983.
The main strain in the loft was Kirkpatrick obtained from Mick Worsfold and Louella Pigeon World and four late breds from the late John Carmichael. Helen and Reg had two lofts forming an 'L-shape and trapped through drop holes. The young bird section had an aviary so the youngsters could get out in the fresh air as often as possible. All birds were raced on the Natural system and were trained from Winchester and Basingstoke with the 'Lucky Foreman' transporter. They raced 20 pairs of old birds and kept six pairs of stock birds, breeding about 50 youngsters each year. The stock birds were paired up in February and racers in March, with Bergerac in mind. The partners raced Natural as the system appeared to be the one for distance racing and allowed hens to be raced. The Lorenti's had a go at North Road racing in 1984, recording several good positions including 2nd Club Banff, with only two birds being clocked on the day of liberation.
Another great lady pigeon racer was the late Chris Cox of the Godalming club and she raced in partnership with her late husband, Ron, to their loft in Cranleigh. Year after year Ron and Chris had put up outstanding performances in the National Flying Club and Combine, but in 1978 they won the ultimate in Combine racing by recording 1st open from the SMT Combine old bird Vire event. Ron and Chris' combine winner was a Gunn grizzle cock, ‘Rowly Jim’, which was bred from two of the best pigeons at Rowly Lofts. The partnership were Godalming Club champions in 1976 and 1977, with many outstanding positions in the South Coast and Surrey Federations. The main foundation of the loft were seven pigeons purchased from the late G. L. Gunn of Farnham in 1957, when the partners had just started up. These Gunn pigeons had been successful for the Cox's from the word go and had shown their best on hard days when the chips have been down. Chris said some of their best birds were bred down from these originals, including their Champion Red Cock, winner of 41st British Section Barcelona 1965, 31st British Section Barcelona 1966, 15th British Section Barcelona 1967. Also red chequer cock, ‘146’, winner of 180th open Pau NFC and 1st Federation Nantes, plus a hen to win 63rd open Pau NFC and more recently a hen to win 11th open Nantes NFC. They had introduced several gift birds from Alec & Molly Martin of Worplesdon, which also raced well. They obtained four gift birds from Mr Chinnielinski of Woking and two of these birds won 1st Federation for Ron and Chris. Several Cattrysse birds were introduced with outstanding results. Their set-up consisted of two lofts, one 24ft x 6ft for the racers and another 21ft x 9ft with flight, which housed mostly stock birds and some old favourites. The birds were trapped through drop holes and Chris kept the lofts spotlessly clean.
Ron and Chris ran their own Butcher's shop in Cranleigh and didn't find much time for training but the birds got an open loft on most days. The feed was a good mixture of beans, maple peas, tares, maize, wheat and barley which they mixed themselves. Linseed was given once a week. Grit and clean water were always before the birds. The stock birds and birds which were wanted for the shorter races were paired the third week in February, with the distance team being paired up later. The race birds were left to run together and were allowed natural love pairings. Over the years they raced the young birds hard and then raced them very lightly as yearlings, which wasn't the case with the loft's 1977 star ‘Rowly Princess’. She won 1st club, 1st Federation, 9th open SMT Combine Bergerac in 1977, previously having very little racing. Princess was a two year old Gunn blue hen and both her sire and dam had flown Bergerac on the day of liberation. The partner's performances in the Nationals were outstanding as follows: 1962: 140th open Pau; 1965: 180th open St Malo; 1967: 63rd open Pau; 1971: 11th open Nantes, 6th, 66th and 123rd open Avranches; 1973: 80th open Pau; 1974: 146th and 181st open Pau, 19th open Avranches; 1975: 154th open Pau, 124th and 165th open Vire; 1976: 274th open Avranches; 1977: 148th open Nantes (Pau not flown in 1976 and 1977). Ron and Chris' performances in the Federation and Combine were endless but they won the South Road Federation Averages Trophy 1970 to 1972, runner-up 1975 and South Coast Federation Continental Trophy 1970 to 1972, runner-up 1976. They won the Surrey Federation Longest Old Bird Race Shield (1st Federation Bergerac) and the 50th Anniversary Trophy (1st Federation Weymouth young bird) in 1977. Many major trophies had been won in 1978, including the E. Matthews Trophy for 1st open Combine Vire. When I visited Ron and Chris' home the pigeons and lofts were in wonderful condition and full credit to Chris’ hard work.
I first met the late Nora Major in the mid-1970 and she really was one of the best lady fanciers I’ve had the pleasure to meet. I first visited her Putney loft in 1977 for an article. Nora was a great worker for the sport, always willing to help anyone and was famed for her blunt manner. A spade was a spade with Nora, but she got the job done.
In 1968 Nora built a loft for her 11 year old son, Francis, who wanted to race a few pigeons which were scrounged from here, there and everywhere. Francis had lost interest in the sport by 1969, but Nora had caught the bug and was intent to improve her stock and win races. In 1969 the turning point in Nora’s pigeon career came when she met Alex Fleming of Esher and obtained six eggs from him. By 1970 she had a loft full of Fleming pigeons and never looked back. Nora said at the time all her best pigeons were Fleming and she owed all her success to Alex. Most of her team in 1970 was bred down from the original six birds and she won her first race from Bournemouth that year and celebrated that same night with other club members by throwing a big party at her house. From that day the trophies poured in with the Fleming pigeons winning out of turn, but after all her great success she said the big thrill of winning had gone. She said that she was quite unmoved in 1976 when she recorded 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th club Dax (537 miles), having the only pigeon on the day of liberation in the Richmond club. She said the sense of achievement had gone and she felt ashamed when she took all the trophies in the club that season, leaving three trophies for 40 other members to share. Nora told me, she was a hopelessly addicted pigeon person and thought she should have been a man. She considered one of the nicest compliments she had received was in 1973 when she had won the much coveted ‘Brooker Gold Cup’, in the London Coly for the second time. A veteran of the sport came and shook her hand and with his congratulations he said, ‘Nora, you are a jolly good pigeon man, to win the ‘Brooker Gold Cup’. You had to nominate no more than six birds at the beginning of old bird racing, then on the night of marking for Niort, only one bird of the six may be nominated for the race. Nora won the Niort race with her one nominated bird two years on the trot.
I made my trek to Nora’s Putney home in the heart of the London Federation just before Christmas in 1976 and the first stop was her living room to look at her fantastic array of trophies. She had won many outright and said when she took one off the club, she always bought one to replace it. She had won twenty trophies in 1976 in the very strong Richmond & Dist. H.S. and London Coly, which also included Old Bird Average and Continental Average in the might London Federation. Nora’s loft was 24ft.x 8ft, four compartments and the birds were trapped through drop holes. They were cleaned out every day and all the old birds were raced on the natural system with very little training, as they were raced on Wednesday and Saturday. The feed was a good mixture, but was not given on a regular basis as Nora liked to give them a change. The three pairs of stock birds and 25 pairs of racers were paired up in late January and about 60 young birds were bred each year. All pairings were made by eye sign which she said she had learnt by reading S.W.E. Bishop’s book, ‘The Secret of Eye Sign’.
The first pigeon we looked at was the 1976 ace bird, a pure Fleming dark chequer pied hen, ‘72437’, and she recorded 1st club, 7th Federation Dax (536 miles) in 1976. She was the only bird on the day in the Richmond club and there was only seven on the day in the London Federation. She was a nice apple-bodied hen with a nice eye and strong back. A great pigeon! Nora’s family of club and Federation winners goes on and on, but her favourite pigeon was her blue chequer hen, ‘Blue Lady’, and she was Nora’s number one stock hen, breeding winners every year, and she was bred by Alex Fleming. Her best pigeon was her champion blue pied hen, ‘Nora’s Hen’, and this brilliant bird was a champion in the truest sense, winning, 1975: 3rd club, 1977: 1st club, 1st Federation, 1st open London & South Coast Combine (2,868 birds) Bergerac, 1st club, 5th Federation, 13th open Combine Nantes, 1978: 1st section E, 4th open N.C.F. Pau (£1,052), 1st club, 5th Federation, 18th open Combine Nantes, 1979: 26th section E. N.F.C. Pau. What a pigeon! She was bred from the Alex Fleming lines when crossed with a pigeon from Mick Graham of then Richmond and when Nora retired from the sport in the early 1980’s this champion hen was sold to C.H. Besant of New Malden for £1,000.
Nora’s loft housed many Federation winners and found it hard to tell of her best achievement but in 1974 she was highest prize winner in the West Middlesex Federation, winning Young Bird Average Cup, Federation Points Shield, 1st and 2nd Federation in June, and 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Federation in August. She was 1st, 2nd and 3rd club Bergerac (450 miles) in the Putney club in 1973 and Nora’s loft was premier prize winner in the Richmond club six seasons out of seven in the 1970’s. A wonderful record! As well as being the secretary of the Richmond club and the London Coly for many years, she was also a vice president of the RPRA London Region and president of the London Federation. She was very hot on bookwork, recording everything on paper. She didn’t like showing her birds and said she only put her pigeons into pens to support the club. Nora always told novices to get a family of birds from a premier flyer, like the late great Alex Fleming. Nora always maintained that there was no other pigeon fancier to match Alex! She was a very keen gardener and if my memory serves me right, I think she won the best loft and garden competition in the 1970’s. The late great Nora Major! Probably one of the best lady pigeon racers ever!
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 SRFC, West Middlesex Federation and SMT 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 SMT 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.
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 SMT 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 RPRA councillor since time began and was President of the RPRA 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, 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 to 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 SMT 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.
That’s it for this week! There are plenty of other great lady fanciers in our sport, such as Meg Murray and Barbara Matthews, but the ladies feature this week are all great fancier who I have known personally. I can be contacted on Telephone: 01372 463480.
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)