A TRIBUTE TO FRED DICKSON OF CRAMLINGTON.
I was very sad to receive a message today from my friend, Pauline Brown, telling that my dear friend, Fred Dickson had passed away in hospital on the 6th October. This great ‘Up North’ pigeon racer was a good friend of mine for many years and you could not meet a nicer man. Fred celebrated his 101st birthday on 11th May and had to pack up his beloved pigeons recently but was still winning at the highest level up too his last racing seasons! My good friend had two bouts of Covid in recent years but was still in good form. He used to ride his bike to his loft on the allotments over two miles away from where he lives and told me he can’t ride up the hills any more. The local club he raced in packed up and not being a driver, and the nearest club being many miles away, he had to pack up his birds. Sorry for your sad loss to Pauline and our sincere condolences to the Dickson family at this very sad time – Keith and Betty.
Fred loved long distance pigeon racing and over the years has been outstanding racing at all distances, but very special at 581 miles from Bourges to his loft in Cramlington, Northumberland. He sent four birds to the Bourges race in 2013, with four Combines competing and with the race turning out to be a very hard push home, the birds clocked in the Combines on the day of liberation could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Fred lived at the top end of the North of England Homing Union area and clocked his good Eric Cannon blue chequer cock, ‘Northern Expected’, at 06.03hrs next morning to record 1st club, 1st Federation, 1st New North Amalgamation and 8th North of England Homing Union open result (2,355 birds). This wonderful round about cock had now flown Bourges (581 miles) three times and won 1st, 3rd and 4th Federation. A fantastic achievement! A half-brother to ‘Northern Expected’, a 100% Eric Cannon blue chequer cock, also recorded 1st Federation, 1st Amalgamation Bourges in the 2012 season. Later in the 2013 season Fred won with a yearling blue chequer cock bred by us in Claygate and he recorded 1st club, 2nd Federation, 12th New North Amalgamation Arras (377 miles) in a strong north east wind. These seasons were the tip of the ice burg, as Fred had brilliant success over a life time in pigeon racing!
Fred had had pigeons all his life and both his great grandfathers were outstanding pigeon racers in the North East of England. He owned a pigeon wall plate dating back to 1910, which belonged to his great grandfather, and this had all the Cramlington HS winners painted on it for that season. Fred’s trade was an electrician working in the coal mines of the north east of England for most of his working life, but when the coal industry went in to decline, he became a factory worker and found it hard to race his birds, having to work 12 hour shifts. In the year between 1950 and 1960, Fred told me he had the best pigeons in the local area and won many races from 50 miles through to 600 miles out of turn. The family of pigeons raced at that time was the Stassarts and had a red cock that won eleven firsts and twice 1st Federation. A sister to the red cock won five firsts, including 1st club Bourges (581 miles). In the 1957 season the club had 17 races with the Federation and the Dickson loft won twelve firsts.
Fred raced his small team of old birds on the natural and roundabout systems to his allotment ‘L’ shaped loft, which was 28ft long. Fred built the loft himself in 1989, with open door trapping and used sand litter on the floors. His real interest was in long distance pigeon racing, but told me, he only used the shorter Federation races for training, but he did enjoy these events and won a lot of premier prizes in them. Fred had no stock birds in the later years and told me the main families kept were Eric Cannon and Brian Denney, with 600-mile racing in mind. He had a great admiration for the late, great Eric Cannon and had followed his wonderful performances in the long-distance Nationals over many years. Fred obtained a couple of outstanding Eric Cannon based breeders from the Keith and Betty Mott loft in Claygate and from the late Ced & Clive Allwright, who had won the NFC three times in recent seasons. Fred sent his yearlings through to 431 miles and his old birds had to fly Bourges (581 miles), with the yearling being paired up in February and the channel birds in March. The birds were fed on ‘Gerry Plus’ and a quality ‘widowhood’ mixture, and were never broken down during the racing season, even on the shorter training races. The birds were normally trained prior to the first Federation race, then after were exercised around the loft for any hour twice a day. Fred told me his old birds had no training in the 2012 season but still won the Federation! Fred had a few short distance pigeons from his good friend, Tommy Laskey of Gateshead, who had won 1st Up North Combine. It has been very upsetting for me writing this tribute today, as with the passing of Fred Dickson, I have lost a dear friend, and the sport of pigeon racing has lost one of its great champions. Fred Dickson RIP.
KEITH MOTT (7th October 2026)
