HOUGHTON REGIS NEWS
Jo Cuthbert
A bit about newest and youngest member Aaron Coomber
The newest member to join Houghton Regis is Aaron who is not yet even 18 years old, but will be in time for the Blackpool Show. Aaron applied to race with us for young birds this year, after being allowed to build his own loft at his Mum’s house in Luton. If his name sounds familiar it is because Aaron is one half of the successful father and son partnership P & A Coomber who have had their fair share of success racing in the Borehamwood club.
P&A Coomber's Borehamwood loft
After me nagging and pestering for a few months Aaron has finally relented and given me some information on how he got involved in the sport and what he aims to achieve in the future. I haven’t known Aaron for long but I know that he is keen with his pigeons and that he has a competitive streak in him which means he will be a winner. I also like that he gets my sense of humour and that he and I can have a fair bit of banter without causing each other offence. I have already started stocking up on tissues for him next season, to wipe away his tears when he gets beaten by me, a mere girl.
Aaron is currently at college, carrying out an apprenticeship in carpentry and is already an expert at building pigeon lofts as he not only built his own 16 foot loft in the garden at his Mum’s but has helped on my loft extension. He hasn’t passed his driving test yet and currently plods around on a little moped thing that drives a top speed of about 15mph. I will no doubt regret this comment once he is training up and down the motorway in his own car.
His winning young bird bred by Paul Treanor
Aaron first had pigeons from 2007 when he kept some fancy birds. He tells me that he bred these to sell and that he and his Dad invested quite a bit of money into them. One day in 2010 Aaron noticed some pigeons homing to a house down the road so he went and knocked on the door. The guy who lived there was called Roy Channon and he invited Aaron up to the Borehamwood club on a Saturday night to see the result being calculated and to meet all the other club members. That first visit Aaron decided the fancy birds were not enough anymore and says he went home and told his Dad that they should sell them all and start to keep racing pigeons as this would be much more interesting! Lucky for Aaron his Dad Pete agreed and they applied to and were accepted into the club. All the other members helped them out with birds, including Phil Gomes, Dave Coulman, John Randall, Steve Lowen, Anthony Byfield and of course Roy Channon. They raced young birds in 2011 and at the end of the season changed all of the loft around to exactly how they wanted it. The loft is 24 feet, comprising of four sections. The Coombers paired up the birds on the 10th of December and bred 30 young birds for 2012, but Aaron says that the other club members gifted them birds yet again, for which they were very grateful. Aaron said the yearlings were coming steady in 2012 and they got their first club position from Wetherby, which was a hard race. This bird was bred down from one of the birds given to them by fellow member Pip Gomes and also Clive Baldwin. The bug really hit when they got that 5th position and in his own words ‘Pigeons started to become a very exciting sport and we were finding we were not far behind every week in old bird racing’. Aaron says his Dad worked the young birds hard, training them twice a day and in the first race they took 1st, 4th and 6th club, also winning 8th fed! They also took 1st club, 1st Thames Valley fed from Ripon and Aaron says the youngsters really did them proud, taking numerous positions in the top six week in week out. The birds are Staf Van Reets, Louis Coormans and some Sapins which Aaron says are always consistent.
Aaron's loft at his Mum's
The partnership soon had their first experiences of the shows, Doncaster and Blackpool and they were looking forward to 2013. This season they raced 45 widowhood cocks and had another successful year, their most memorable result being 1st club, 1st Fed, 8th Combine from Berwick with a blue pencil Louis Coorman cock. Aaron says they were chuffed as they never thought they would be achieving so much so soon. Again they trained the youngsters hard but tried to be more cautious racing, knowing this was their future team of widowhood cocks. They ended up with less young birds than they thought but knew they had a good team there to race in the following year.
2014 would turn out to be a bit different as Aaron wanted to see how he could do, racing on his own in Houghton Regis. He still takes a big interest in the team at Borehamwood and says his Dad was in the top six most weeks and added more winners to the team during the old bird season. I know one of the main reasons he joined our North road club is that he wanted to fly against his Dad in the fed. Young Aaron had a little bit of help training his young birds from myself and fellow new member Matt Thorne but I say little, as the times I could go training didn’t always match with the times Aaron could be around to get his ready. His first race with us was from Retford, 99 miles and in his first race he took 5th club. I do have to say though that I won the club this week, with a chec cock bred for me by none other than ..Aaron Coomber. Beaten by his own bred bird, cannot be bad! Well the next week, from Retford again, he really put me in my place as he beat me to first and second club. He then made me cry again taking his another winner and beating me into second from Wetherby, 145 miles. These winning birds were gifted to him by Paul Treanor of Leagrave and Phil Gomes of Borehamwood. Out of the four races he sent in, he was in the top four of the club five times, a terrific start to racing with us!
One of his fave Staf Van Reet cocks
Since racing he has been busy not only sorting out his own race team but helping Dad with his birds too. Aaron now has a team of 8 cocks and 8 hens to race the roundabout system in 2015 and claims his aim is to win Houghton Regis every week. I know I am going to have to pull my finger out and get a system for myself to make sure this doesn’t happen; otherwise I will never hear the end of it and will be needing the tissues myself.
I know that it is refreshing to find a younger person so interested and keen on the pigeons, it also helps to keep us oldies on our toes! I personally think Aaron will be one to watch for years to come and I look forward to him trying to put me in my place every week. Long may the banter and winding up continue!
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