“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
John & Danny Barrett of West Ewell.
The mighty Esher club were really getting into top gear, after taking the first six positions in the Three Borders Federation result from Yeovil, they then came back the following weekend and won the first four positions from Honiton. The Federation members sent 1,327 birds to the third race of the season from Honiton (130 miles) and the event was very fast with the leading pigeons doing over 2200ypm, and Esher members recorded 12 birds in the Federation result. John Barrett of the Esher club won 1st and 2nd Federation clocking at his loft in West Ewell and I must say his two pigeon were way out in front of the competing field.
When it came to doing well in the Federation races, a partnership that was very consistent and did well every season was John Barrett, and his late son Danny. John lost Danny in early 2012, but was soon back in winning ways with their pigeons; it’s great to see John back at the top of the Federation result after his tragic loss. Danny was a brilliant pigeon racer and good worker at the Esher club, he is greatly missed. The partners had been premier prize winners in the very strong Esher club several times and were Three Borders Federation Individual Champions in 2009.
They had great season racing in the Three Borders Federation in 2011 winning: O.B: 1st, 10th, 16th, 20th Federation Wincanton (1865 birds), 6th, 7th, 25th Federation Wincanton (2105 birds), 11th, 14th Federation Yeovil (2230 birds), 4th Federation Kingsdown (1966 birds), 16th, 17th, 20th Federation Newton Abbot, 4th, 5th, 6th Federation Falaise, 9th, 25th Federation, 5th Federation Kingsdown (1090 birds), 16th, 23rd Federation Tours (777 birds), 4th, 7th, 12th Federation Yeovil (1021 birds), 10th Federation Bergerac, Y.B: 10th Federation Wincanton (1260 birds), 8th, 9th Federation Yeovil (1497 birds), 12th Federation Taunton (1525 birds), 12th Federation Newton Abbot (885 birds) and lifted the ‘Federation Rose Bowl’ for winning the Combined Average. John and Dan’s good Staf Van Reet blue pied hen, ‘69323’ was runner up for the ‘Ken Besant Memorial Trophy’ won by the best bird of the year and she recorded 10th Federation Wincanton, 14th Federation Yeovil, 4th Federation Kingsdown and 9th Federation Kingsdown. The partners 2011 Federation winner was their good Staf Van Reet blue pied widowhood cock, ‘69327’, and he also put up a brilliant performance winning 1st Federation Wincanton, 5th Federation Kingsdown and 12th Federation Yeovil. A wonderful loft performance!
I have only known Johnny Barrett a few years, with the first time I met him being when he joined my club the Esher & District RPC, with his good friend, Bob Carter, and since then they have both set the club on fire with their outstanding performances. The mighty Esher club certainly dominated the Three Borders Federation results in the first few young bird races of 2009, the highlight being when the Federation sent 1,958 birds to the Wincanton (2) and the Esher club took the first eleven positions, plus 13th with Mark and Les Duffell of Hersham breaking the run by taking 12th Federation. John and Danny Barrett took the first five places, flying 95 miles and clocking the five youngsters in 18 seconds on their ETS system. In my many years association with the Three Borders Federation, at that time I couldn’t remember a club taking the first eleven prizes before! The following weekend the Federation sent 1,928 birds to Yeovil (107 miles) and the Esher supremo’s, John and Danny Barrett clocked two birds in 2 seconds to win 1st and 2nd Federation, with the Esher club taking six positions in the result. Brilliant pigeon racing! At the end of the 2009 season the Federation Points champions were Esher (244 points) and the Individual Points Trophy winners were M/M John Barrett & son of Esher (69 points).
John & Danny Barrett were Esher premier prize winners several times over the seasons racing to their loft in West Ewell. The partners raced their 16 pairs of old birds on the roundabout system and the racers exercised around the loft twice a day during the racing season to maintain their fitness. They broke down the racers from Saturday through to Tuesday morning, being fed on Super Widowhood and Depurative mixtures, the same method as with widowhood cocks. The old birds did not fly out around home in the winter months and were locked up after the last race in September until the first round of youngsters were weaned the following season. The birds were paired up on Boxing Day each year and when the first round of youngsters were 18 days old the hens were taken away and then they were on the Roundabout, being trained well before the first Federation race. John liked racing at all distances through to 450 miles and sent their birds every week in the Esher club. The Roundabout hens and cocks were both sent to the same race and John told me the hens raced best in the last few seasons. At that time the Barrett’s had used three section of their loft for the Roundabout system, with the middle one being the nest box section and so minimize the time the racers see their nest sites and keep them keener. The 40ft loft was ‘L’ shaped, with grilled floors, which were cleaned out once a week and the partners were on to the ETS System for the first time in the 2009 season, maintaining it helped out with trapping the birds. John didn’t keep any stock pigeons and the main families raced were Staf Van Reet and Vandenabeele. The 40 young birds were raced on the ‘dark’ system, with them being put on about a month after weaning as it was still winter, with long dark nights and were taken off in June to start their training. John told me the babies started their training at 20 miles because they tended to lose more on any tosses shorter than that and finished training with about three Winchesters (50 miles) just before the first Federation race. If the young birds were fit and well they were sent to every race, with two training tosses mid-week.
When Johnny Barrett was a young man he was a champion Boxer and started up in pigeon racing in 1968, and after a twenty year partnership with Ronnie Keeley went in partnership with his son Danny in 2000. The Barrett alliance had been very successful through the years winning the Federation numerous time and 1st open Combine a couple times. John said the Esher club was brilliant, being a good friendly set up with ‘red hot’ competition.
Bob & Danny Carter of West Ewell.
In November 2019 I was very saddened when I received the email from the Esher pigeon club secretary, Mike Charlton, informing me that club member, Bobby Carter, had passed away after a long illness. Bobby had several times of serious ill health in his life, but being the strong-willed man, he was, he always kicked it off and got on with it. He was a fantastic pigeon race, but more importantly; he was a smashing man and would help anyone in trouble. Bobby flew his pigeons with outstanding success in partnership with his wife, Linda and his son, Danny and won the Three Borders Federation many times over the years.
The old bird racing season was pushing on and on the last Saturday of June 2015 the members of the Three Borders Federation sent 923 birds to Yeovil (110 miles). Bob and Danny Carter of the Esher club finely won the Federation after ‘knocking at the door’ all season and recorded 1st, 3rd and 15th from Yeovil and at this stage of the season were leading for the Federation ‘Individual Points Trophy’, with 28 points. The father and son partnership had had a wonderful 2015 old birds season, winning: 14th, 17th, 18th Federation Blandford (1,314 birds), 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th Federation Yeovil (1,444 birds), 3rd, 4th, 14th, 17th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd Federation Yeovil (1,628 birds), 16th Federation Exeter (1,217 birds), 5th, 19th, 21st Federation Honiton (1,189 birds), 8th, 22nd, 25th Federation Yelverton (887 birds), 1st, 3rd, 15th Federation Yeovil (923 birds), 25th Federation Taunton (874 birds), 3rd, 5th, 17th Federation, 9th, 11th, 35th SMT Combine Truro (1,512 birds).
Bobby, Linda and Danny Carter are three of nicest people you will ever meet in the sport of pigeon racing and they enjoyed another great season racing in the Three Borders Federation in 2015. Bobby said at that time that he was hard working with his pigeons, but told me he owed a lot of his outstanding success in recent seasons to his wife, Linda, his son, Danny and good friend, Ron Keeley, who all also were hard workers for the loft. The 2008 season saw Bob Carter and partners win the ‘Individual Point Trophy’ in the Three Borders Federation, with Johnny Barrett and his late son, Danny, being third up in the Federation points. Bobby Carter was always the man to look out for in the inland sprint races and one of his best races was in 2010. The Three Borders Federation got that racing season off to a great start when members sent 1,584 birds to Wincanton and liberated in to a light North East wind, on what turned out to be a perfect flying day. The 2009 Federation Points Champions, Esher & District RPC, really started the new campaign in great style with two of their members taking six positions in the Federation result. The Esher club had problems with their ETS marking system on the first night and all the member had to clock their birds on traditional timing clocks, with Bob & Danny Carter recorded 1st, 2nd, 5th Federation on my borrowed T3 clock.
The Carter partner’s raced 20 cocks on the widowhood system and all the racers were mated up in December. Bob told me the widowhood cocks exercised around the loft twice a day and during the racing season were broke down for the first half of the week on Depurative mixture, and then built up with Super Widowhood mixture in the second half of the week. Bob didn’t show the hens on marking night and the racing cock only got their hen for a short time on their return from the race. The cock were not broke down for the longer races up to 450 miles, being fed on Super Widowhood all week and Bob liked the cocks to be holding 8 to 9 flights for these events. The Carter’s had about 50 young birds to race each year and had raced on the darkness system in recent seasons, with outstanding success and great losses. Bob said, in his opinion the big losses with the babies each year is because of the Federations clashing! He trained the youngsters every day, weather permitting, up to 30 miles and raced them natural to the perch, but they were allowed to pair up if they wanted. They raced the full Federation young bird programme from 100 miles through to 180 miles. The Carter partnership raced to two lofts, a 20ft x 8ft structure with a tiles apex roof for the old birds and another 20ft x 8ft shed for the young birds. The most important feature of Bob’s lofts was that they were dry and well ventilated. When I asked young Daniel if the partners like deep litter his reply was, ‘Our experience of using deep litter was the amount of dust it created and as my dad cleaned out 365 days a year, it defeated the object of cleanliness’.
Bob told me he didn’t keep stock birds and over the last 25 years had purchased a lot of good birds off Barry Hall of Rayleigh in Essex, including pigeons to produce club, Federation and Open race winners. One of the most outstanding Barry Hall pigeons was the mealy cock, Champion ‘Rayleigh’, and he won eight firsts in the club and three firsts in the London Federation. The Carter loft had won about six other Federation races with Barry’s pigeons, including two 1st Federation winners in the 2008 season. Bob first met Barry Hall in 1984 when he sold the Carter butcher shops and went to work at Smithfield meat market in London, and said he has never looked back with his pigeon racing. He advised Bob on the widowhood system and supplied him with the birds to do the job. Another good friend who has advised the Carters with his health theory through the years was David Cook. The main families raced at the Carter’s loft were Lefebre Dhaenens, Janssen and Maurice Vereheye. In recent seasons an outstanding family of Gaby Vandenabeele pigeons had been purchased from Dighton & Lister of York and Dave Hawkins of Yorkshire and these birds had started to win premier Federation positions from the outset for Bob Carter.
Bob Carter was born in Battersea, London and obtained his first pigeons at the age of nine, and kept them with his friend, Donald Hawes. Their first birds were from Bill Patterson of Benfield Street and he sold them four pigeons for two shillings. The first was an 8ft x 10ft structure; sited in the back yard of the butcher’s shop and he raced mainly Sam Mayo’s Vandy pigeons. Bob remembers another Battersea fancier, Billy Colston, helped them get started with pigeons and their first winner, a blue cock bird was a gift from Billy. The cock was an Amule pigeon from the stock of the best local fancier in the 1980’s, ‘Scrubber’ Cook of Battersea and in those days they flew as Hawes Bros & Carter in the old Putney RPC. Bob’s uncle, Bob Taylor, was a very successful pigeon racer and years ago he flew in the Old Man’s Institute Club. Bob’s wife, Linda, was very keen on the pigeons and her father, George Atkins of Battersea, was also a very good fancier. From 1981 Bob raced with the help of his wife, Linda, as he worked all day on a Saturday in the butcher’s shop and she clocked in the winners racing on the natural system. In 1990 he started too raced in partnership with Steven Cook and raced the Barry Hall pigeons on the widowhood, with brilliant results. The year 1996 saw Bob become very ill and had to pack up his pigeons, but left his best birds in the care of a friend in the hope that he would return to the sport. In 1998 he had a lung transplant because he had Emphysema and luckily for Bob and his family the operation was successful and it gave him his life back. As he got stronger he wanted to get back into pigeon racing and top fancier and friend, Fred Roberts, said he would help him get back. They flew as Roberts & Carter and started by flying darkness youngsters in 1999, winning five times 1st Federation in seven races with the Barry Hall and Kenny Roberts pigeons. Bringing the story up to date, Bob had two partners the last years in the form of his son, Daniel, and Ronnie Keeley, and they were the Three Borders Federation Individual Points Champions of 2008. Bob said Ronnie had been a silent partner for about ten years and without his help he could not have kept the team of birds they had and been so successful. Previous to racing with Bob Carter partnership, Ronnie raced with Johnny Barrett and had great success for over 20 years racing together as Barrett& Keeley.
Bob enjoyed all racing from 80 through to 450 miles and told me his biggest thrill in recent seasons was to see the great grandchildren of his wonderful Champion ‘Rayleigh’ win the Federation. His most thrilling experience was a few years ago, when he raced with Fred Roberts and they flew their young bird team on the darkness system. On one race they had nine birds drop on the loft together, all nine were clocked to take the first nine positions in the West Middlesex Federation and then went on to take first six and the first three positions in the Federation that same season. Through the years Bob had won the Federation countless times! Bob was not a great lover of showing his racers in the winter months and thought the eye sign theory was rubbish saying as long as they had two, he was happy. He was a night worker on Smithfield meat market and held no offices in the pigeon racing sport because of the lack of time. He maintained the system of racing pigeons is very important to gaining success and fancier’s knowledge had improved greatly in recent times due to DVDs, media and internet web sites. His advice to a new comer to the sport was obtain your stock from the very best source you can and keep your loft clean dry and well ventilated. Bob said the London area is the home of many premier pigeon racers, but thought in the last 25 years Frank and Sue Carson were the best in the Federation. He had also admired his old Battersea friend, Ron Wasey’s, channel and long distance performances, including winning 1st open NFC Pau etc. Bob had never had latebreds and liked tame pigeons as it makes a calm environment in the loft. His opinion of the moult was quite short and sharp, ‘To be successful the birds have to be healthy and have a good moult’. His feeding for the moulting season was a large variety of grains, with lots of small seeds, and plenty of minerals and grit given fresh daily.
Well that’s it for this week! I hope my readers have enjoyed this look back at these two Three Borders Federation champions. I can be contacted with any pigeon matters on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email me on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com).