Slim Timmis and his Phenomenal ‘Starbuck’ Family   

by Mike Lakin

It seems like ages ago now since I first met Slim, who lives just 4 miles away from my home in North Staffordshire, an area known as the ‘Potteries’ due to its close connections with the ceramic industry. At one time if you picked up a plate  you could’ bet your boots’ that it would have Stoke-on-Trent stamped on the back of it. It was a comforting thought to know that where ever you were, a part of your home was with you. Sadly times have changed and due to the powers that be the Pottery industry has been spread far and wide; some call it progress but I have another word for it - ‘stupidity’ - but that’s another story.

In truth it was only 10 years ago that I made the acquaintance of Slim Timmis, who at the time was a very keen novice. Slim in fact called at my home to collect a young pigeon of his which had strayed from his loft. During our conversation I enquired as to the base of the bird and I was told that it was bred from a Van den Bosche cock which he had acquired from a fancier in Birmingham. ‘’Why do you ask?’’, Slim questioned. I replied, ‘nothing really but it’s a nice type and if it flies as well as it looks it will probably win for you’. Little did I realise at the time that the youngster was in fact from the first nest produced by ‘Starbuck’, the very reason for this article.

Slim

This then is the Slim Timmis story. He is a family man living with his wife Jeanette and having two grown up daughters Natalie and Samantha who have both flown the nest but at times of need dad’s number is the first one which they ring!  As an aside Jeanette is the finest coffee maker in North Staffordshire and a visit to Slim’s is never complete without a mug of her coffee.

In 1999, though he was a complete novice at the time, Slim was an intelligent person and also a very quick learner, and being a friendly type he was able to ‘steal’ advice from several pairs of normally  ‘sealed lips’. This knowledge was absorbed and his results improved dramatically.

At this time ‘Starbuck’ was proving to be a very decent racer for his owner winning quite a few prize cards but he soon proved his worth in the breeding department when he bred ‘10’, a cock bird which was to become the loft’s first real top performer, which it turned out to be the nestmate to the pigeon that took a shine to my loft. ‘10’ won several 1st prizes at both club and federation levels. This chequer pied cock also won the Wrekin Federation’s ‘Gold ring’ race as a young bird. Slim told me that in his early days when he had only a few pigeons, he often only entered ‘10’ in quite a few races and very often he ‘brought home the bacon’

At this point I would like to say that Slim Timmis is a rather unorthodox fancier and on many occasions he has had me ‘scratching my head’ with some of the antics that he has adopted. For example at one time his birds simply wouldn’t trap, so what did he do? He kicked his stock birds out of their loft and moved his young birds into their place because he was convinced that they weren’t happy. Though I warned him of the possible consequences, the birds were swapped, the result being 1st and 2nd prizes the following week and Slim’s comment was ‘’the birds trapped mint’’. Yet another example was the time when his birds weren’t flying as well as expected, so he gave his dad all of his corn and he went out and brought in a fresh supply. I don’t know whether this improved his results but psychologically it worked so he was happy and so was his dad, who restocked his corn bins for nothing. This will offer you an insight into Slim Timmis who, when things aren’t going to plan, makes changes. I have both heard and read that pigeons don’t like change; quite obviously Slim has never read those books.

Starbuck

Over the next few seasons Slim’s results got better and better, especially with his hens. If truth be known, Slim actually prefers to race the fairer sex and he seems to have the knack of motivating his females. He is very secretive of his motivational techniques, simply saying ‘’I deprive them of what they want the most and the more you deprive them the better the results’’.

In 2005 Slim hit the headlines with 1st Band C and 42nd open with the M.C. C. from Fougeres 328 miles against 4267 pigeons. This was with a chequer w/f hen which was a daughter of his ‘Starbuck’ and a sister to the cock ‘10’ which I wrote about previously. Their mother was a pigeon that Slim acquired from his dad as an egg and this hen was in fact his best racer as a young bird and was the simple reason that she was paired to ‘Starbuck’. The month prior to his fine performance with the Midlands Continental Club, his good hen won 1st Newcastle & District Specialist Club from Messac, a distance of 360 miles and her daughter was clocked only 7 seconds later to record  2nd position. This providing a clear indication of the form that the hen which is now called ‘Skyway Express’ was in.

In 2006 this fabulous hen enjoyed an amazing season winning 4th North Staffs Federation against 5005 birds from Mangotsfield 107 miles with a velocity of 1712 y.p.m. This was soon followed by 4th N.S. Fed from Yelverton 193 miles, 3774 birds. I would like to point out that Slim is not in the best of positions Federation wise, so these results were all the more creditable as Fed wins in Slim’s area are as rare as ‘snowflakes in June’. 2006 was the year that was blighted by the dreaded ‘bird flu’ so it was very late in the season when the cross channel racing ban was lifted but both Slim and his ‘Express‘ were ready and she was sent to Alencon with the Midlands National Flying Club, which is a distance of 334 miles along with 5565 of the cream of the Midlands pigeons. She homed in style to win 1st N.W. Section and 1st Open with a velocity of 1569 y.p.m. winning over £1000 in prize-money and the priceless Gold Medal sponsored by ‘Fenlands Stud’. Immediately after this fantastic result the ‘Express’ was put to stock, after all, what else was there for her to achieve? For her fine results in 2006 she won an RPRA W.M Meritorious Award. Proof of the wisdom of the decision was soon highlighted when her daughter ‘14824’ won 20th Section J in the National Flying Club 2007 Tarbes  race, a distance of 675 miles proving to all the ‘doubting Thomas’s’, myself included, that his ‘Starbuck’ birds can win from 70-700 miles. For those readers wishing to know how he motivated his National winner, I can inform you that she was paired to a fantail cock but only allowed to be with him for a very short time after her arrival. A case of absence makes the heart grow fonder perhaps?

Slim's loft

Over the next couple of seasons the results continued culminating in 2009 with yet another National victory, this time from Tours, which is a distance of 412 miles (620 kms). On this occasion Slim did the job in fine style for not only did he win 1st NW Section 1st Open M.N.F.C. but was also 2nd section and 14th Open and this time he hit the Jackpot because his winner, now named ‘Skyway Jet’, was heavily pooled, which surely shows the extreme confidence that Slim had in the bird as not only did his yearling cock bird win the £1000 cash prize for his victory but another solid gold medal sponsored by the Fenlands Stud, which is owned by Darren Peters, the ‘Racing Pigeon’ sponsored Yearling National collecting a magnificent crystal decanter and glasses and the Unikon sponsored E.T.S. prize. It doesn’t end there though as he also won his proud owner a ‘Carribean cruise’ holiday for two people. It is doubtful if anyone has ever won more out of a U.K. national race. This gives great credit to the Midlands National Flying Club which, with their sponsors, help generate amazing prizes.

The day following this latest success I visited Slim to photograph his birds for the papers and when I asked him about his winning bird, I was absolutely astounded to be told that this cock was once again from the nestbowl of ‘Starbuck’ but this time when the super breeder  was coupled to ‘Skyway Express’, Slim’s 2006 national winner. So this latest winner was the result of a father x daughter mating. I was just digesting this information when I was told that the 2nd Section winner was ‘14824’, the daughter of the ‘Express’ and so the granddaughter of the fantastic breeding cock ‘Starbuck’. This must prove that the ‘Starbuck’ gene pool is one of pure gold.

Unbelievably the successes of 2009 doesn’t end here as in the M.N.F.C.’s  young bird national race from Falaise, which turned out to be a ‘brute’ of a race as the weather conditions proved more difficult than forecast as the wind on the channel was gusting with 20-25m.p.h. north westerly winds and very a choppy sea. This resulted in only approximately 10% of the 3720 entry making it home on the day. Each one of these gallant birds proved their worth that day. It is an old saying that ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going’. Well a grandson of ‘Starbuck’ homed to win 1st North West section and 24th Open and this was on a day when the North West of the club really didn’t have a prayer but obviously nobody had informed this pigeon of this fact. A while later Slim got another grandson of the ‘old man’ to be 21st section and 97th open. This was on a day when scores of excellent fanciers failed to see an arrival get home.

Readers may ask how have Slim’s birds performed in other peoples hands? The plain truth is that very few people have been fortunate enough to have got hold of any but his Dad has done well with his son’s birds with 4th and 11th and 16th North West section positions with the M. N. F. C.  Where the Timmis ‘Starbucks’ have performed magnificently is in the ‘one loft’ races in which Slim enjoys competing. The Europa races have been entered and in a three year period, the following positions have been won: 8th place and 1st £500 nominated with a g/dtr of ‘Starbuck’, 2nd placing in the 400 mile second race with yet another g/child and in 2007 he won 9th and 40th positions, all with the ‘old family’. All of these birds were bought back at the auction sales and are now in the Timmis breeding loft. Slim has horded his prized jewels just like the strictest miser; that is the reason why he is now reaping a very rich harvest with his most potent of bloodlines. We will reveal Slim’s thoughts on breeding a little later in the piece.

After a little persuasion six birds were entered in the ‘Sun City Million Dollar pigeon race’ for 2010. It had been explained that this was the fairest and most transparent of all the ‘one loft races’. Also the Sun City races are the most revealing event as an indication of a fancier’s pigeons on a world level. It was a confident Mr Timmis who sent his six entries, all closely related to his base breeder ‘Starbuck’. Despite warnings about caution, Slim was adamant of getting at least two birds in the first hundred positions from the 350 miles final race, which he and his syndicate partner Snooker had entered. This was a very big ask when you consider that there were over 6,000 birds entered from many of the finest fanciers in the world. Germany and latterly Belgium and Holland have learned that the Million Dollar race is the ‘shop window’ of who has the best middle distance birds globally and the ‘eyes’ of the pigeon world are watching to see whose birds are amongst the most prolific performers . One of the people who has enhanced his reputation immensely is that of Gerard Koopman who has had several fantastic results in Sun City. The prices his birds attain bearing ample testimony to this fact.

This then was the arena that Slim Timmis had decided to test his small back garden loft and birds against, with, I may add, outrageous optimism.

When the final race day dawned it was very clear that the birds were going to have their work cut out as a ’nose end’ wind was blowing and the chance of storms could not be ruled out. The racepoint was moved to Hopetown as there was more chance of avoiding the rain from this location.

As has been well chronicled only 141 gallant birds made home on the day of liberation out of a surviving field of 3,155 pigeons. Slim had four of his six entries in the final race convoy. These birds did their owner proud by not only realising his prediction but in fact he finished the day with three arrivals in 42nd, 55th and 138th places. The first two of his pigeons, a nest pair, of hens were bred from guess who? Yes, that’s right, ‘Starbuck’, the super breeder. These two, Jeanette and Angel 2, were the result of the old cock when paired to  his granddaughter. The third Timmis bird arrived after a 14 hours and 12 minutes fly and this cock, ‘Jack Sparrow’, was a grandson of ‘Starbuck’. It is difficult to convey to the readers just how brilliantly Slim and his partner Snooker’s birds performed; on a day when less than 5% homed the Timmis birds achieved a 75% strike rate. I would be very, very surprised to hear of anyone with such a high percentage of returns and certainly with three birds of one particular line. The most amazing fact, which Pieter Oberholster the U.K. agent who shipped out the birds, pointed out to me at the auction sale the day after the race is that ‘Jeanette’ the 42nd placed bird had thrown her 7th flight just prior to the race and ‘Angel 2’ the 55th open winner had her 8th flight bursting through. So it was obvious that they were in a far from ideal wing condition. I later mentioned this to Slim and he said ‘’yes, I made the mistake of shipping them over when they were too young and they must have continued to moult their primary flights’’. These facts make his birds’ performances even more commendable. The ‘Starbucks’ have now got the full set of wins at club, fed, national and now international levels proving without any question of a doubt their potency. Slim Timmis can now stick his chest out with good reason as his pigeons are proving to be more than a match for any loft worldwide. Not that Slim is anyway arrogant about his results. He is still an ordinary bloke who realises that he is lucky enough to be blessed with a wonderful line of racing pigeons. Though I believe he sells himself a little short, in his words he says “I’m just a fancier who has some very special pigeons which have proved themselves in all competitions. Proof of this is in the ‘one loft’ races where I have no actual input, then it’s all down to my birds.’’

Chequer w/f hen 'Skyway Express' - 2006 MNFC Alencon winner

We sat in the house and talked and I asked Slim about his super breeder ‘’Starbuck’’, the pigeon that has transformed his racing career. ‘What details can you give me?’ I asked and with his typical ’popeye’ laugh, he answered ‘’Not a lot really. I got him as a young bird from Mr Foster who came from Hollywood in Birmingham. He was 80 years old and not in the best of health as he was suffering with breathing problems, that is why he let me have the bird because he was struggling to look after his birds at the time. Sadly he passed away a short time later. I found out when I rang to let him know of my first success in the Midlands National in 2006. I spoke to his widow and she said that he would have been a very happy man if he was still alive as it was always his dream to produce a good National pigeon. I told her, well at least he has bred the father of one. She said ‘it is a comfort to know that’. ‘What about his breeding?’ I enquired. ‘’All I was told was that he was a Van den Bosche bred down from the pigeons that Albert Babbington brought over to England and I believe that he was the first and probably last English fancier to buy pigeons from  Adriaan Wouters, the racing partner of Karel Mueleman, as Adriaan died a short while later. I suppose that the really accurate name should be Wouters/Meulemans Van den Bosche.’’ Personally I thought that Albert Babbington, or ‘Babbo’ as the locals called him, deserves some of the credit also as he was not called the ‘Midlands Maestro’ for nothing. Slim continued, “Mr Foster’s parting words were ‘look after him and he will do you some good’.’’ I countered that was a bit of an understatement. Slim gave yet another of his ‘Popeye’ like chuckles and added ‘’yes, I know!’’

In the hand ‘Starbuck’ is small/medium in size but exceptionally well balanced. He tends to throw his size into his offspring as they all handle very similiar. His eye is the typical Van den Bosche colour, pearl and he has a full circle of mauve right around the pupil. Many I know scoff at the eyesign theory but, believe me, I have been fortunate enough to have handled as many National winners as anyone and one thing that is undeniable is that at least one of their parents have always possessed excellent eyesign. The other things which are very evident in ‘Starbuck’ are his strong skeletal bone structure and soft feather quality.

I wanted to find out about the Timmis breeding plan, though I already had a good idea on his thoughts. “Well the ‘old couple’ had been split up by the time ‘Skyway Express’ won her national victory but I was soon to find that whatever I paired ‘Starbuck’ to that he bred excellent pigeons and that gave me the confidence to inbreed with him and the results were the same - winners and more winners’’. ‘How close have you dared to go?’ I asked. ‘’Very close. Remember that ‘Skyway Jet’ my second national winner was the result of pairing of the ‘old cock’ with his national winning daughter. Since then I have paired the two national winners together and am very pleased with the results.’’ The next thing that I wanted to find out was what crosses does he use to put into the base family? The reply was “You must remember that the hen of ‘old couple’ is a totally unrelated pigeon to ‘Starbuck’ but I do bring in crosses, breed from them, then try and breed them out by putting the ones that raced  well back into my own family and in this way I get the benefit of the cross but the effect on my family is kept to a minimum.’’ I pressed the matter a little further by asking about his future plans and Slim answered. “As long as the results are good in my racing lofts, I shall continue with my present methods. I have several sons and daughters off the ‘old couple’ and paired together ½ brother sister matings, they are producing good results.’’ At this point I played devil’s advocate and asked ‘what if the results deteriorate?’ ‘’That’s quite simple, I will introduce more crosses to put to the base birds and race the offspring very hard and select the best. Then go back to my proven methods’’.

After hearing Slim’s thoughts my mind went back to the comments that the German Mueleman specialist Gerard Schleppehorst made to Victor Vansalen in his excellent book, saying that the Mueleman /Van den Bosche were excellent pigeons which affected their offspring 3 or 4 generations after a cross. It would appear that Slim is endorsing Schleppehorst’s belief.