Update on the racing pigeon Family DeWeerdt of Kortemark
By Joe Murphy
Readers may recall my report and visit to Bernard DeWeerdt of Kortemark a few years ago; however I have observed that his nephew Filip has achieved some outstanding results this past season. (As have many others fanciers who use this family of pigeons) I hope to confirmation to you in this story the DeWeerdt family has enhanced the history of the racing pigeon sport throughout Europe. It all started away back in 1947 the (year of my birth) when the founder of this great strain father Emiel along with his wife Elisabeth started up their colony of pigeons in the village of Kortemark. This moment in time was to become unique as it was the start of a family of pigeons that have excelled over this 68 year period and has become known throughout the world as one of the most famous names within our sport. They have amassed some outstanding results over the years and here is just a fraction of them.
1st national Montauban 1974 hens
1st national Brive 1975 hens
1st national La Souterraine 1977 4368 youngsters
1st national Cahors in 1978 with SPIRITUS
1st international Barcelona hens in 1980
1st national Barcelona in 1981 with LIESBET
1st European Cup in 1984
1st West European Super Marathon 1984
1st General Champion of Belgium KBDB 1987
1st West European Super Marathon 1989
1st national and 1st international Bordeaux (Dax) 1992 with EMIEL
1st national Bourges 1993 hens
Emiel and Elisabeth had 2 son’s Bernard and Freddy who became involved with the pigeons with the 2 younger men taking on board the wisdom from their beloved father. They would often spend many hours in the winter months discussing the breeding potential of the colony and how to improve it and it came as a sudden shock when Emiel died in 1990. Bernard and Freddy took over the running of the lofts at their parent’s location with Bernard building a house at the top end of the garden and the main racers have been housed there since 1984.
Bernard and his wife Annie had a boy named Tim and Freddy and his wife Martine had a boy named Filip and the 2 grandson’s also joined the pigeon racing family DeWeerdt. This next generation is now starting to make a name within the pigeon sport hence this short update as Filip has now won 1st provincial Marseille into the West Flanders district in 2015. At the present time the family has 2 different loft locations with the majority housed in roof of Bernard’s home however Filip lives about 500 meters away in Kortemark. With this young man upping the rivalry between his father and Uncle Bernard and Tim to see who has the first pigeon home from the national or international races that creates a lot of enjoyment for the whole family. Filip’s small assembled family of birds is all related to the original top winning DeWeerdt family. Like the majority of young working fanciers Filip goes to work and completes a 9 hour job and therefore has to attend to the pigeons at 06.00 in the morning and then again when returning from work in the early evening. He depends on other members of the family to help at times and as his dad Freddy has recently retired he will be a great help in letting the youngsters out in the afternoon and Filip can attend to them prior to working with the old birds. Now for the reason for this short review as Filip has had a tremendous season with the highlight his 1st provincial win from Marseille. Since 2009 the birds have been liberated in Toulon, and this liberation point makes the race even harder as immediately after liberation the birds require to gain height to overcome the Luberon Mountains plus a few miles onwards after the valley they need to climb over the Vaucluse Mountains. This difficult start seems to benefit the DeWeerdt birds as since this move to this race point they have won 4 times 1st club and twice 1st provincial.
The Family DeWeerdt 2015
Family Links
Filip is provided with a number of babies from the main loft in Bernard’s roof and he supplements the successful ones to his few breeding pairs which he houses himself. The basis of Filip’s race team go back to the early years with the input of Marcel De Smet (Waregem) and Charles Vanderespt (Ostend), a couple of Emiel Denys, 1 of both André Vermote (Ostend) (a half Denys-half Vanderespt) and Julien Vaneeno and a variety of Gerard Mommerency (Kortemark) who were Deweerdts raced and selected on the shorter distances, which make up 99% of the current colony. On several occasions birds were bred together with their good friend Paul Lemahieu. Filip is more cautious with his young pigeons and the majorities are trained in the year of their birth to Ypres. Then as a yearling he tries to give them at least one national race if possible with his aim that they gain experience from being liberated with thousands of birds at this yearling stage of their lives. At 2 year old they are raced from 600 to 700 kilometers and occasionally some go right to the end of the season to Narbonne to finish the championships. He likes to really start the old bird racing career at the age of 3 with them partaking at least 2 international races during this time. He like the old generation of the family likes to keep the birds as close as possible to nature and his feeding system is selected from Naturaline mixtures, supplemented with barley where necessary. The only other added supplement he uses is grit and antibiotics are avoided as much as possible. The vet is contacted only if required and hopefully any problems are managed with prescribed drugs. Filip remembers taking 2 of his pigeons to the vet prior to this year’s St Vincent race, one of the 2 showed slight symptoms of respiratory failure and the vet proposed to treat the entire loft, (this did not sit so well with Filip) so eventually it was decided to just treat the so called sick pigeon and leave the other bird alone. The results of this outcome was when it came to the St. Vincent race the 1st prize was won by the untreated bird while the treated pigeon was late home. Which proved the DeWeerdt family theory that these long distance events are down to a pigeons naturally ability to fight the elements of nature rather than the use of strong medical intervention.
2015 Season
This year has been a very testing season when the racing pigeon has had to show their ‘grit of steel’ and determination and of course their love of home (which to me is very important) and Filip’s troopers have come to the fore as can be seen by his following results.
Pau: won 16th place from 236 birds and was also 132nd national (1 prize from 3 entered)
Agen: 8th from 165 birds and also 138th national (1from 2 entries)
Barcelona: 18th from 187 pigeons (1 from 3 entered)
St. Vincent: 1st from 127 pigeons and also won 44th national (1 from 3 entries)
Marseille: 1st from 124 pigeons and won 61st national (1 from 2 entered)
Narbonne: 22nd from 142 pigeons (1 from 2 entered)
Perpignan: 13th, 34th and 54th from 180 pigeons (3 from 4 entries)
As you will see some very good performance have been achieved and when you consider they had very little basket work prior to going to these events it makes them all the more special. However it was not just Filip who did well with the birds as Bernard, Freddy and Tim also scored well from the world famous Barcelona International this year winning the following positions;
In the local club a 187 pigeons they won 2, 3, 4, 6, 8,15, 16, 19, 20, 32, 41, 43, 46, 47, 56 and 58 also winning 98th, 192nd & 215th national from 7791 pigeons (winning 16 prizes from an entry of 30 birds). The previous week from Pau provincial 541 birds: winning the following places; 5, 36, 90, 96, 128, 147, 151, 161, 177 (with 9 prizes from an entry of 15 birds) and after that Marseille provincial 124 birds: winning 10th & 36th (with 2 out of 3 entered winning a prize) and Narbonne club 142 birds: winning 5, 20, 24, 32, 34, 41, 44 (winning 7 prizes from an entry of 10 birds)
‘The Kave’
Now for some information on Filip’s birds starting with the ‘The Kave’ Belge 12 3154686. ‘Kave’ is slang for Chimney and you may be wondering how he obtained this name and believe me this is an astonishing story. Two days after the national Poitiers race in 2014 the pigeon did not return from his daily exercise which was very odd considering he had already flown very well in the racing season. Filip was at a loss for his disappearance and wondered if a bird of prey had killed him. Then exactly 7 days later his neighbour came out and was standing looking at his chimney pot as he suspected that something wild was in the chimney. Freddy assisted his fellow citizen by opening up the chimney and came across the chequered cock that appeared fine and his feathers and nose were intact but were entirely black but they were well pleased to see the pigeon. The cock was placed in a nest box and recovered quickly and completed a very good full moult. The family were indeed lucky that this did not happen during the winter time as the neighbour could have had his fire burning and that would have been the end of the pigeon’s life. However this year The Kave was entered into the Agen international but did not win a place. However Filip was surprised at how ‘full of life’ he was the following morning after the race that he decided to baskets him for Marseille. The evening weather of the Marseilles race in Kortemark was not good with dark clouds and drizzle falling and they did not think they would get a bird home from the race on the day. Then at 20-41 hours they saw a flash of wings and onto the loft dropped ‘The Kave’ to win 1st provincial and 61st open national. As a matter of interest his brother won 39th international Perpignan in 2014 while a sister number 12/562 won 51st international hens from Perpignan and another sister number 11/663 won 4th club Barcelona in 2015 beaten by 2 loft mates. ‘The Kave’ breeding is as follows his sire has the blood from Gerard Mommerency (Kortemark) crossed with a half-brother of 'Goran' winner of 20th national Montauban 6711 birds he also won 9th national Brive from an entry of 19.477 birds. ‘The Kave’ dam is a sister to Loutje and Trappist these go back to the ‘old family’ of the DeWeerdt Dynasty as they are from a ½ brother to Iban winner of 10th international Perpignan 17.570 birds, also Cecil sire of Tia winner of 1st club Barcelona and Joan 1st provincial 4th national Barcelona (you must agree a brilliant line of winning pigeons).
St Vincent
I now report on the ‘St Vincent’ Belge 11 3012775, a week prior to the Marseille race the loft showed it was coming into top form when Filip timed the only pigeon on the day at 21-48 hours in a very hard race from 880 kilometres from St Vincent winning 1st club prize against 127 pigeons and 44th national. He is a ½ brother to ‘Favori’ winner of 1st Marseille 2014 at 8 years old this outstanding cock has previously won 5th Perpignan and won twice from Barcelona. The sire of the St Vincent is from a son of ‘Kedir’ when coupled to the nest sister of ‘Masahiko’ (a son of Emiel) while the sires dam won 425th international Perpignan from 17.570 birds, as a matter of significance she is also a daughter of ‘Emiel’. The dam of the St Vincent is direct from ‘Jim’ a winner of 82nd national Irun 5252 birds plus he also won twice from Barcelona when he was paired to a granddaughter of ‘Magnus’ winner of 4th national 19th international Dax he was also 33rd and 128th international Dax and 36th international Perpignan (as a matter of interest ‘Magnus’ is a son of ‘Masahiko’ therefore a grandson of Emiel) so you will see that the breeding of this pigeon is a 100% DeWeerdt
‘Liesje’
‘Liesje’ chequer hen rung Belge14 3007962 she is a winner of 1st club Argenton 2015, her sire is son of ‘Triple’ who scored a prize in 3 international races in 2010 winning from 1801st international Pau 8.170 birds, 1948th international Tarbes 15.035 birds and 207th international Perpignan 15.756 birds. ‘Liesje’ dam (is one of MY favourite pigeons Joe M) ‘Inita’ a 5 times winner from Barcelona her performances are as follows; 2005 she won 22 club Perpignan 216 birds; 2007 she won 1249th national Barcelona 12.612 birds; 2008 she achieved 69th national 11.484 birds & 207th international Barcelona 23.708 birds; 2009 winning 206th national 13.503 birds & 424th international Barcelona 27.669 birds; then in 2010 she won 777th national 12.641 birds & 1621 international Barcelona 25.750 birds winning 4th best Belgian national Barcelona racer between 2008 and 2010 she then went on to win 2829th national 12.170 birds Barcelona in 2011 proving she is a very ‘Unique’ pigeon and it was little wonder that Bernard retired her to the stock loft.
Management
Filip has followed the basic DeWeerdt family methods as little has changed over the years making them true sportsmen, with no additives or medicines required to win a race. Their belief that only the toughest survive and the ‘even tougher win’ against some of the most competitive fancies within our pigeon sport. Filip has proved that the DeWeerdt family of pigeons are certainly not reducing in strength and in fact the opposite could be said as many fanciers are now using them as a cross. To have a family of pigeons continue to compete against the best in national and international level for a 68 year period is nothing short of ‘astonishing’. They have never held public or internet auctions and they certainly do not belong to the ‘big (professional) sellers’ that we see today. That perhaps is one of the main reasons why they simply keep on breeding and racing after all these years with the ‘fun and enjoyment’ they have always experienced and they have no commercial pressure from the outside. The whole family still enjoy the sight of a pigeon homing from a national or international race and if they win a prize then they appreciate the bird’s efforts all the more. Filip can look back with great pride on a very successful season and the whole family can take great pride that their pigeons are still achieving ‘greatness’ on a constant basis.
West European Super Marathon 2015 Result
This is flown from 4 international races Pau; Barcelona; St Vincent and Perpignan, with 1st or 2nd nominated birds which mean you need to win TOP Prizes. They used to count Marseille instead of St Vincent but the committee changed this because many fanciers especially the westerly located lofts found the Marseille race too risky. The winner was De Smeyter Restian from Melden in Belgium with the 2nd placed fancier from France a Mr Pocholle of Morbecque. Filip DeWeerdt is 3rd Belgian fancier and was 12th in the top 15 placed fanciers an outstanding performance when you consider he only flew a small team of pigeons well done Filip.
Bernard & Freddy
Bernard informed me that due to lack of time they have been focusing on the 900 + km races and regard the shorter ones merely as a preparation for the longer work. Therefore they do not keep records of the shorter races and are often not even clocking nor racing young birds. However in the local club race from Barcelona with 187 pigeons entered they won: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8,15, 16, 19, 20, 32, 41, 43, 46, 47, 56 and 58 also winning 98th, 192nd & 215th national from 7791 pigeons timing in 16 from their 30 entries.
Pau provincial 541 birds, winning 5,36,90,96,128,147,151,161,177 timed 9 of our 15 entries;
Marseille provincial: 124 birds, winning 10 & 36 timed 2 from 3 entries:
Narbonne club 142 birds; 5,20,24,32,34,41,44 timed 7 from 10 entries.
Bernard disclosed, ‘Our other long distance results except from St Vincent and Perpignan which traditionally are the best in the season but not in 2015. As I mentioned before to you Joe the widowers were frightened and traumatized right after the ‘Dream Beats Festival’ across the road. Basketting was on the Monday after this weekend and we only scored 3 from 11 and lost 3 good birds (that’s the race Filip was 1st with the only day bird in the club he lives 500 meters away from the festival). The birds were apparently demoralized and we didn’t get them back on the right track for Perpignan and we shouldn’t have sent them but of course we are inexperienced with this matter. (I.e. the effect the flashing lights and loud music) and that is how ‘CLOVIS’ did not return from his final race. I’m to blame as Fred was more cautious and suggested not to send him and put him straight into the stock section. In addition to that we prepared some natural hens but this also went unusually and unexpectedly wrong (Murphy’s Law?). On the Saturday afternoon they had their daily exercise and I didn’t pay attention to them but when I closed the loft and prepared to wait for the birds returning from the Narbonne race I noticed that 4 from 15 hens were still missing. I supposed they were fielding which is common with babies in the nest but none returned while we were watching for the Narbonne arrivals. I feared they were poisoned and went searching for dead birds in the surrounding fields but did not see anything suspicious at all. Only a big yard with freshly sown beans could have been dangerous but I didn’t notice any dead birds at all so that was unlikely the cause. Anyhow on the Sunday afternoon 1 hen returned with obvious signs of having had a hard fly in fact she looked like she was returning from a long distance race. 2 more returned on Monday afternoon and the 4th arrived late on Monday evening while we were away to the club basketing the Perpignan birds, which made me, think they must have mixed with a big bunch of foreign race birds being liberated in the neighbourhood. We feared many of the other hens also had flown a hard race on the Saturday and were sent to Perpignan with ‘empty batteries’ and indeed we had our worse result since 1987 and lost ‘Picabo’, showing there are no certainties in the pigeon sport. As you know Joe the competition is so tough that everything needs to be right. Next year they are organising the same festival on the weekend of the Barcelona basketing and we really do not know how to cope with this’. I thought the above might be of interest to fanciers and I hope this situation is worked out for Bernard and Freddy before the main even. I wish them all the very best of luck for the future and I hope to see their name in the national and international results in 2016.
Bernard found some DeWeerdt 1st prize winners on other lofts in an old article (I think 2005) that may be of interest to you:
1st prize winner of the 1st national of the 1997 season (Brive 663 kilometres from 20.611 birds) for example was won by a DeWeerdt-cross, bred from a granddaughter of MIEL, a full brother to ANJA (1st International Barcelona 1980 from 2.106 hens), who became one of the basic pigeons of Noël Peiren of Zedelgem, also siring 2nd International Dax 1994 from 6.779 birds. Noël called this cock who was never raced on the distance and won several 1st prizes from sprint races “MIEL”, named after his breeder Emiel Deweerdt.
One of the Olympiad birds of Gaston & Danny Devooght (De Haan) also carries the same MIEL-genes. No wonder they claim this is the best bloodline they ever had.
One of the last nationals of the 1997 season should have been won by a DeWeerdt-cross, raced by Dirk Devos, a friend in Kortemark. Unfortunately the man fell asleep after having a family party ... loosing precious minutes, after being woken by his daughter. This was a granddaughter of SONY and still finished 1st in his club and 3rd National La Souterraine with 11.659 birds competing.
Some other examples of DeWeerdt-victories by other lofts, these are mostly pure and some are 50%-cross:
1st Up North Combine Lillers 17.651 birds (M. Brown, England)
1st nat Hannover 11.287 birds (Peter Nygaard, Denmark)
1st nat Argenton 5.405 birds (Gerard Degroote, Passendale, Belgium)
1st nat Ornskolsvik 2.000 birds 900km liberated at midnight (L. Lindgren, Sweden)
1st nat Hannover (Norway)
1st prov Bourges East-Flanders 5.360 birds (G & W Bracke, Schoonaarde, Belg.)
1st California Combine 600 miles, 2 x same bird within 2 weeks (P. Deboo, USA
1st Arizona Combine (V. Kruft, USA)
1st New York Combine 150 miles 1.840 birds (P. Murphy, USA) same bird in 1 season won : 1st , 2 x 2nd , 3rd & 4th with 1.400 to 1.850 birds competing
1st prov 1.050 birds & 2nd national Cahors 5.442 birds for (G. Hardeman, Westouter, B)
1st prov Bourges 6.090 birds for (J. Hausoul, The Netherlands)
1st Loughgilphead 6.000 b, 1st 17.930 birds, 1st 27.000 birds for (B. Fletcher, N-Ireland)
1st Midland National Angoulème 1.500 birds this same bird won 2nd national Angoulème,
1st Fed Weymouth 5.600 b (B. Ashman, England)
1st Lancashire Combine Weymouth 5.627 birds for (J K Whiteside & sons, England)
1st Kita Kanto race 6.069 birds for (Yoshio Irino, Japan)
1st Kinki 400 km-race 8.182 birds (Osaka, Japan)
1st Higashi-Bando-Chikurenmei Takamatsunomiya 500 km 4.202 birds (Japan)
1st & 2nd Nishi-Saitama-Chicu 700 km national 4.132 birds (M. Saito, Japan)
1st Higashi-Bando-Chiku Senshuken 400 km 9.870 birds (Japan)
1st Tokai Silver Cup 600 km race 1.328 birds 2.239 birds (Little Angel loft, Japan)
1st champion yearlings Westvl & Interprov (average 4.000 birds) and 1st interprov Angoulème 1.244 birds (G. Mommerency, Kortemark)
1st Lourdes, 1st Brive, 2nd national Ace pigeon KBDB & Olympiad bird (Deceunicnk-Vanhoucke, Nieuwpoort B)
1st Clermont (in 1 season: 5 x 1st: 1.008 bs, 901 bs, 1.050 bs, 538 bs, 421 bs, 2 x 2nd: 1.240 bs & 698 bs & 2nd nat ace pigeon sprint KBDB (M. Pierpont, Gits, Belgium)
1st nat Ace Pigeon (hen) & 2nd international Barcelona 28.128 b (Hermes, Germany)
DeWeerdt-birds have won 3 times 2nd international Barcelona since 1981!
1st national Tarbes 20.000 b (H. De Zeeuw & R. Deen, the Netherlands)
1st NFC Nantes 10.591 b (M. Spencer, England) bred from G/D of ‘Thor’
1st international Perpignan 11.614 b (Y. Vanlerberghe, Vleteren, Belgium)
1st Up North combine Lillers 21.115 b (D Carter, England)
1st national Lanwell 3.949 b (J. Smith, Australia)
1st semi-national Bordeaux 3.026 young birds (G. Deprez, Kortemark, Belgium)
1st national Carlisle 5.893 b (P. Sendell, Wales GB)
1st club (9 times), 3 x 1st fed with OLLIE, British Olympiad bird, Amsterdam for (B. Matthews, Butterknowle GB)
1st Kladno (4 times: 1.441 b, 1.426 b 1.491 b, 1.263 b) and 2 x
1st Vary (1.367 b & 1.008 b) with STEFAN Olympiad bird Gran Canaria (Simko Ondrej, Slovakia))
1st semi-nat Ludvika 2.367 b, 1st prov Esbjerg 1.401 b
1st NFC PAU 5.976 b (Harding Bros, Bath, through G. Cooper, England)
1st NFC Saintes 5.470 b (S. Dangerfield, England)
1st provincial Jorkoping 1.195 b & 1st open Scandinavian Championship 1998 (C. Petersen, Hillerod, Denmark)
1st sect K NFC Nantes 428mls A Slinger & son Glossop; 9th sect K Pau 700mls; 1st sect 2nd open MNFC Saintes 535mls
1st NW Grand National Sartilly George Bollenberg & Parker of Penwortham Preston this same pigeon won 1st Preston 2 bird open Sartilly (twice) 5th NW Grand nat.
1st LNR Combine Lerwick 9.141 b (J. Peters, England)
1st Fed Exeter (68 miles) 2.560 b, 1st fed Weymouth 2.077 b, 1st sect & 3rd NFC Pau 3.800 b; (6.000 members) 1st old bird average, 1st old & young bird average, 1st Lowest Coefficient, 1st Gold cup best average Nantes Pau Ponterson, 1st best average Nantes & Pau, 1st best average individual pigeon Nantes & Pau, 1st two bird average Pau, best Euro Pigeon lowest coefficient 3 year period ’95, ’96 & ’97 and ’96, ’97 & ’98 (all won in 1998 by G. Cooper, England)
1st 420 km race 15.701 b (A. Uytendaal, Australia)
1st Bundaberg 1.075 km, only day bird ever (G. Davison, Australia)
1st Seoul 1988 Olympic Game international Futurity race (R. Yang, Taiwan)
1st semi- national Jarnac 2000 3.579 b (J-M. Thibaut, Belgium)
1st provincial Dax East-Flanders 2002 (Degraeve- Van Geert, Belgium)
1st nat Dax 5.026 b 2003 (J. Mylle, Zonnebeke)
1st nat Pau (Saintes) 2003 (Mark Gilbert, England)
1st old bird average national Flying club 2005 (John Haynes, England)
1st section J Tarbes 1.080 km 227 b, 11 nat FC 4.066 b 2005 (Harold Hamplett, England)
1st provincial 2.128 b & 2nd national Barcelona 2002 13.021 birds (Raf Verdonck, Belgium), both sire and dam are off springs of a brother to SPIRITUS, purchased by Paul Lemahieu; 1st international Olympiad race San Sebastian 2002 by Rebecca Denys is also an offspring of this same brother to SPIRITUS who is also siring PAUL, superb racer (4th nat Perpignan, 48th & 58th nat Barcelona) and basic pigeon of Andre Vermote (Ostend) for ex. Grandsire 4th nat Castres 2002 3.222 b.
Many more winners really too numerous to mention, amongst them more famous names who are having champions carrying Deweerdt genes, like Noël Peiren, Georges Bolle, Gaston Devooght, Gaby Vandenabeele, Emiel Denys, Brockamp’s 1st international Marseille winner who also was a Deweerdt offspring through Etienne Vanhaverbeke (Ichtegem), winner of 2nd international Barcelona also with Deweerdt line etc. ?
UK Continuation of Spiritus and Liesbet Lines
When I first started to become interested in the DeWeerdt family I contacted one of the most fanatical pigeon men I have ever met: this was Guy Reed of Isle of Wight who is an encyclopaedia on the DeWeerdt family and he has achieved some outstanding success over the years with this family of pigeons. Through this friendship it was Guy who introduced me to Bernard DeWeerdt on a visit to Belgium and I have to say that my relationship with both fanciers has given me a lot of pleasure within the pigeon sport and has kindled my ambition to win another Scottish National. Here is a little background on Guy when he flew as Witney and Reed. His story is as follows;
Starting with “Westlake 92” rung GB91N32592 winner of 1st Bergerac bred and raced by Witney & Reed from a pigeon obtained from the Ponderosa U.K through a local friend and fancier R.W. Whittock. The sire of “92” was blue bar “Young Fenomeen” 90.A.98733 who sired 1st Bergerac, 3rd Nat Nantes, 40th & 41st Saintes Nat; 95th Nantes Nat; 33rd Rennes etc.; etc.: His sire was “Blauwe Fenomeen” NL81-728827 (Pol Bostyn lines) Ace Pigeon all Holland when paired to Janssen hen NL89-2555398(Rocky line) The Dam of “92” was GB90M23101 from “The Box 2” pair purchased from G G Cooper being from his DeWeerdt/Vermotte family. Sire to “101” was 88N15994 G/son of “Spiritus 1st Nat Cahors 12th Nat Cahors, 23rd Nat Montauban, 4th Nat Limoges, and 35th Nat St Vincent. Ace breeder/racer; “15994” bred a Dynasty of winning pigeons as did his Ace breeding hen “07093” a G/Daughter of “Liesbet” 1st Nat Barcelona hens 2nd International Barcelona 13.202b. Their origins of course were “DeWeerdt” and they are the mainstay of the loft today. DeWeerdt origins were Van Der Espt and Marcel Desmet. “Westlake 92” being a DeWeerdt cross and being sire, g/sire & g/g/sire of many winning pigeons for me and other prominent fanciers, including 2x 1st Pau classic Pau winners, “Westlake 92” died at the age of 25years old. Despite having moved loft location three times, each year national positions were achieved and in 2004 I purchased another bird direct from Bernard, whom I thought was a hen that turned out to be a cock, and was named ‘Hennie’. He was bred from a son of ‘Magnus’ and was a ½ brother to ‘Iban’. The dam of ‘Hennie’ was a daughter of ‘Jal’ a brother to ‘Raldo’. ‘Hennie’ is the sire of ‘Stan’ a red cock who flew the channel 11 times with his best position being 98th open Southern Classic Tarbes and 7th Section 32nd open NFC Tarbes (to a new loft location).The dam of Stan was an Stan Dangerfield DeWeerdt from his 1st San Sebastian winner. A ½ sister to ‘Stan’ (same sire) is ‘Trewdee’ was a late bred and unraced as a young bird and yearling however she won 5 times from France. Her Dam was "Emily2" a granddaughter of "Emiel" with her best position being 41st open NFC Tarbes. Her nest brother also competed from 6 channel races winning 140th NFC Poitiers 326th NFC Tarbes and 77th Bordeaux National. Another sister to ‘Trewdee’ won 303rd NFC Tarbes. While a grandson of ‘Hennie’ and the old ’92’ line won 897th NFC Tarbes as a yearling and won 173rd national Bordeaux flying the channel 5 times. As a matter of interest Guy only trains his birds on the island with no club racing, and lifts them right into a national or classic race and as you can see he has achieved some very good results over the years Joe M.
Recent Winners
The eagle-eyed fancier would also be fully aware of the amount of UK fanciers who have had fantastic success with DeWeerdt birds or DeWeerdt based pigeons over the past few years. Which to me proves that it is probably one of the most prolific families’ to grace our shores and more importantly to win at every level of the sport. Giving the sort of success to the distance minded fancier that the Janssen’s did for the sprint to middle distance racers. Having said that, DeWeerdt could also be construed as one of the few true ‘all round’ families, with an attitude to race hard when the ‘going gets tough’. Today’s top names in the UK are also well documented, however, it is worth pointing out that greats such as Geoff & Catherine Cooper have established their own family based on DeWeerdt birds from Kortemark.
1st NFC Tarbes 4035bs with ‘George’ his dam was a granddaughter of Emile
1st International Bordeaux 10622 birds fastest from 22.029 birds with ‘Farmer George’. His sire is Farm Boy winner of 12th International Dax he is a grandson of ‘Emiel’ while his dam is ‘Pearl’ a daughter of the above ‘George’.
1st international Pau winner ‘Wollongong’ mother is Gina, a daughter of Georgina, the dam of George.
8th international Pau; won by Georgia Jean her sire is Blue Legend, a son of Legend 1st International Dax 2003 for Brian Sheppard and her dam is a daughter of George, winner of 1st Grand National Tarbes and g/sire to Farmer George 1st International Bordeaux. She is called Georgia Jean in memory of Brian’s wife Jean
16th international Pau with Carla Page her dam is a daughter of Magnus when he was paired to a daughter of ‘Kedir’
1st international hen’s St Vincent and 3rd open international Farm Ivy her sire is a ½ brother to Farmer George great grandson of Emiel when mated to daughter of Kedir
Farm Evie sire was a grandson of ‘Legend’ 1st International Dax in 2003 for Brian Sheppard of Trowbridge. Evie’s dam is a ½ sister to Farmer George, being a daughter of Farm Boy when paired to a daughter of Iban a top racer for the Deweerdt family.
The same day Catherine and Geoff Cooper won 1st International Pau the national winner in Belgium was also a DeWeerdt offspring (Marcus line = brother Anja, 1st International Barcelona hens which is a brother and sister to ‘MIEL’, the basic reproducer for Noël Peiren.
1st national Pau winners are Jo and Robert Bernaert from Middelkerke
We now come to one of the supreme top names within our sport:
Mark Gilbert's the Winkfield Wizard who has set the UK pigeon sport alight by his outstanding performances: One of Mark's best DeWeerdt stock cocks was a 6 year old cock a full brother to ‘Raldo’ winner of 4th International Perpignan, when mated to an Eric Cannon hen, a daughter of “Culmer Bess”, (prize winner 3 times in the top 100 from Pau NFC) they bred Southfield Pau and Southfield Night Flight. When mated to a daughter of “Emiel”, a winner of 1st International Dax for the Deweerdts he also sired Southfield Darkie.
‘Southfield Pau" 1st BICC Pau;
‘Southfield Night Flight’ 1st NFC Pau/ Saintes ‘
‘Southfield Darkie’ 1st BBC Messac
‘Southfield Tiger’ 1st BICC Barcelona 700 miles he also won 10th BICC Pau 33rd BICC Agen 20th Classic Tarbes 303rd NFC Tarbes Sire is a son of Emiel 1st International Dax while is dam is a daughter Magnus as a matter of interest won 19th, 33rd and 128th in international racing.
‘Southfield Marseille’ 1st BICC Marseille he was also 227th International 11200birds, his mother was a granddaughter of Ted & Magnus Sire Rutz pigeon. He is a 2010 bred cock and in 2010 he scored in the top 100 in two Young Bird Nationals. Then as a yearling he went to Agen International and came the next morning, and then went onto Saintes to score 96th Open NFC. Then as a 2 year old he went to 3 inland races, 2 short channel races and then scored 30th Open BBC Poitiers, 350 miles. He then went to Tarbes with the NFC and scored 10th Open from 570 miles. Three weeks later he was Mark’s only entry for Marseilles and won 1st open.
1st BICC Pau winner in 2014 flying 562 miles mother was bred from a direct sister to ‘Iban’ when paired to a direct son of Pau 06 winner of 1st international Pau
1st section 3rd open NFC Tarbes 2015 race winner dam is from ‘Ted’ & ‘Magnus’ and went on to found families of long distance racers across Europe.
2nd section 4th open NFC Tarbes 2015 winner material grandmother was a daughter of ‘Iban’
Mark won 3rd 4th & 5th BICC Agen 2015 with the 3 birds all grandchildren of his 1st international Dax winner ‘Southfield Supreme’
4th BICC 5th International yearlings 4500 birds 29th open International Agen 10.510 birds in 2015 mother was a direct daughter of ‘Darkie’ mentioned above.
At this point we must congratulate Geoff Cooper and Mark Gilbert for perpetuating and developing these DeWeerdt bloodlines further and taking them to new heights.
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In the 2010 National Flying Club's Grand National race from Tarbes with the Entente Belge, many good performances were recorded by the NFC members, none more so than Paul and Helen Kendal from Wantage, with their 1st & 7th open National, (with only 2 pigeons entered).
David Hughes from Windsor was also 3rd & 5th open national - another very good performance. A fact which many do not know was that in the first 15 open places on the result 8 birds are descendants of DeWeerdt family either pure or crossed. To have 50% of the top birds sharing the same gene pool is quite exceptional.
The first pigeon clocked was “Litton Glory” raced by Paul and Helen Kendal bred by Mark Dorrington from Litton. ‘Glory Times’ was bred from a brother to “Morning Glory” who was twice 2nd open Pau National. “Morning Glory” and his brother are 75% DeWeerdt blood.
The 3rd & 5th open National pigeons raced by David Hughes from Windsor were both great grandchildren of “Emiel”,
Paul and Helen clocked their second pigeon to win 7th open National. Named “Glory Times”, he is also inbred to “Morning Glory”
Geoff and Catherine Cooper from Peasedown St John are 8th open with a 2 year old cock called “Woody”, bred from their “Emiel” lines.
Mark Gilbert from Winkfield timed a yearling hen to win 12th open National. She was bred from his top breeding pair, the sire being a son of “Ted” and “Roxanne” when he was paired to a daughter of “Magnus”.
Geoff and Catherine Cooper also clocked a second pigeon to win 14th open National. This cock, called “PD”, is once again from their “Emiel” lines.
Andy Parsons from Salisbury 2nd NFC Tarbes in 2014 was a cross with son of "Magnus" and he clocked a 3 year old hen to win 15th open she was also a great granddaughter of “Emiel”. Many of Andy’s birds scoring from Tarbes now have DeWeerdt put into his Cannon- Burgess family.
As a footnote to this piece, Geoff Cooper won Ace National Fancier from Tarbes in the years 2008, 2009, and 2010, and Mark Gilbert was 3rd, as seen on PBO Solutions NFC Data website.
Mark Gilbert also won the National Flying Club Averages for the Best Average All National Races and Geoff and Catherine Cooper were runners up.
The National Flying Club organized seven races in 2010 and for two fanciers to have won 1st & 2nd Averages, one living in the East and one in the West, shows the calibre of their birds.
Mr & Mrs Mark Gower purchased two cocks from Guy Reed were ½ brothers 60763 and 03100 both being sons of ‘Westlake 92’ winner of 1st open Bergerac - 60763 was paired to a daughter of 03100 and bred "L.B.J" winner of 1st open Pau C.S.C.F.C. The cock 03100 also bred birds to win 4th open Ponterson; 23rd open Pau, 93rd open Dax, plus others in the clock on the day from 400 & 500mls. The cock 60763 also bred birds to win 130th open NFC Saintes, 12th Fed Bergerac, 250th open Pau NFC, 8th Fed Bergerac, 55th Open Bergerac, 3rd section 21st open Messac, and of course was the Sire of "L.J.B" 1st open Pau.
John & David Staddon from Evercreech in Somerset winner of 1st open BICC Carentan with a 2 year old hen called ‘Shapway Annie’ (after Bernard DeWeerdt's wife) the dam of was “Shapway Lady Gilbert” bred by Mark Gilbert. She is from a son of DeWeerdt’s famous ‘Ted’ when paired to daughter of ‘Magnus’. The ‘Ted Cock’ won 170th open Tarbes as a 2 year old late bred and his brother won 12th & 170th NFC Tarbes and 14th NFC Saintes. The Dam of “Shapway Lady Gilbert” is “Southfield Jean” a full sister to the “Treble Cock” who won 12th National Palamos, 5th National Perpignan, 21st National Pau, 34th National Dax, 1st Greater Distance club Palamos and 8th L.S.E.C. Pau (some pigeon JM) The sire of Shapway Annie is from Geoff and Catherine Cooper a chequer cock called ‘Shapway Lord George’. He is from Mtoto when Mtoto was paired to Georgina. Mtoto is a son of Sylvester who was 4th
International Dax when paired to “Zania” 163rd & 189th national Barcelona for DeWeerdt in Kortemark. Georgina is from a son of “Emiel” when paired to a sister to “Nicholls” 3rd National Pau, “21” top racer and breeder, “Fiddle” 2nd National Perpignan. Georgina is the mother of ‘George’, 1st NFC Tarbes. ‘George’ children are breeders of long distance National Champions. ‘George’ is breeder of ‘Pearl’ mother of ‘Farmer George’ 1st international Bordeaux 10,622 birds 1st fastest overall 22,029 birds, 3rd west section national Tours, 135th NFC Saintes 3,484 birds, 150th open Fougeres 2,161 birds, 1st west section BICC Falaise, 4th and 15th national Fougeres. ‘George’ is breeder of ‘Darkie’ the sire of 2nd international Bordeaux yearlings, 3rd international Bordeaux hens. Georgina was also dam to Gina, winner of 2nd national section from Carentan, Gina is the dam of G & C Coopers Wollongong winner of 1st International Pau 8572 birds. Georgina is a sister to “Mr Consistent” 37th international Dax.
Andy Gregson of Preston has supplied me some results with DeWeerdt only birds
Andy and his good lady Debbie have won the following;
1st North Lancashire & S Cumbria Combine Rennes 391mls plus RPRA Meritorious Award.
1st Lancashire Combine 521mls Niort (NW Lancashire Bird of the Year)
1st NW Lancashire Fed Fougeres
1st NW Lancashire Fed Rennes 8 Combine 4309bs
1st NW Lancashire Fed Rennes 3 Combine
1st Bamber Bridge open (2 birds) Rennes
1st Preston open (2 birds) Sartilly
1st Flight master Scotland One Loft Race
1st Section C in the NWCC Picauville
1st Gold Ring NWCC Picauville
1st Great Britain 21st Europe 22 Championship MIRA World Championship Portugal
Andy and Debbie have won over £10.000 in the Sun City Million Dollar race between 2007 and 2009. They are responsible for Combine, Open, Amalgamation, One Loft Race winners, Gold Medal winners, Gold Ring winners, RPRA Meritorious Award winners, hundreds of club, fed and section winners, Bird of the Year awards and 11 x National winners
For example Andy has supplied pigeons to the following Welsh Fanciers;
John & Ann Rake of Caldicot in Wales who have a fantastic record with their DeWeerdt crossed family of pigeons winning the following national positions;
1st Welsh SRNFC Pau with ‘Steepholme Boy’ flying 579mls winning RPRA Award he was bred by Martin Greetham and Dee Schofield. The Rakes let the partners have a daughter of their 2nd open Pau hen and she was mated to a cock containing all the best of Mick Spencer’s bloodlines (he also had DeWeerdt bloodlines) and a pair of babies was sent back down to Wales and one of these proved to be Steepholme Boy.
The star of the Rake’s loft was a beautiful medium sized chequer hen ‘Bergerac Hen’ from DeWeerdt crossed Van Bruaene crossed Van Wanroy bloodlines. She won 11th open British Barcelona Club Messac and 14 days later was one of only 8 birds clocked on the day into Wales from Bergerac after 15 ¾ hours on the wing to win 8th Open Welsh National and 22nd Open CSCFC. The same hen in 2005 won 11th open National Cholet and 6th open National Bergerac so you will see a very special pigeon:
1st Welsh SRNFC Nantes; with ‘Cottage Rake’ breeding back to the ‘Pau Cock’ they were
2nd Welsh SRNFC from Saintes winning RPRA Meritorious Award winner
1st Welsh SRNFC Tarbes 2014 with ‘Steepholme Charlie’ 592 miles; this cock had previously won 11th open Tarbes in 2013 and 18th open Tarbes in 2012, unfortunately he was lost at Tarbes in 2015
Mark Sparey of Abertillery who won 1st Welsh SRNFC Bergerac with chequer cock ‘Rhiw Parc Jimmy’ who previously won 5th national Tarbes flying 606 miles. This cock also won 1st Gwent Greater Distance Club and an RPRA Long distance award, his sire bred by Andy Gregson from his direct DeWeerdt family. Mark Sparey also won 1st 2nd & 3rd open Welsh SRNFC Eastbourne with the 2nd and 3rd open winner containing DeWeerdt bloodlines.
Gareth Watkins from Wales: brother scribe and press officer for the BICC is also a top pigeon man and has success at National level with DeWeerdt pure and crossed. He wrote to me saying ‘In the late 1990's I had a DeWeerdt cock from John Rake from Wales’s breeding winners from 57 miles to 570 miles with a Southwell hen from John McLaren. These included two sisters one was 1st club 3rd Fed from 57 miles and the next week her sister was 1st club 3rd Fed plus a good National position from 570 miles. More recently my winner of 1st club 1st section 13th open National Falaise was a DeWeerdt cock bred from an egg gifted to me by Mark Gilbert. My winner of 1st club (only bird on day) 2nd section 6th national Saintes was a DeWeerdt crossed Busschaert as a matter of interest Joe this cock had many club prizes in shorter races as well, yours Gareth.
Other fanciers to do well with birds from Andy are as follows;
L Delia 1st National Flying Club
F Dimella of South Australia winner of 1st open also a double winner and 3 x SAHPA winning hen she is also direct from the Andy Gregson UK imports.
M Rickards 1st Combine 521 miles
J Leaver of Bamber Bridge 1st Combine 522 miles
Bryan Maude & son of Redcar who race with the mighty Up North Combine since 1997 they have won the following with DeWeerdt based pigeons:
29th Bourges 2349bs, 38th Bourges 2541bs, 102nd Beauvais 6649bs, 22nd Folkestone 25.199bs, 190th Folkestone 24.185bs, 119th & 170th Folkestone 13.419bs, 30th Brussels 14.943bs 350mls, 3rd Brussels 15.600bs, 200th Bourges 2.775bs 546mls, 1st section 3. 4th 52nd 59th open (last 2 yearling sisters) Bourges 2.123bs, 1st section 3.winning 4th 38th 40th 69th & 150th open Bourges 1.886bs, 37th & 95th Bourges 2.828bs, and 2nd & 3rd section 3 winning 5th 7th 39th 68th 102nd 112th & 241st open Bourges 3.137bs.
Isle of Wight fanciers;
Graham Rann & Daughters from Near Ventnor Isle of Wight: won with ‘Faithful’ a velvet dark cock of DeWeerdt x Schumann bloodlines. He has flown the channel 15 times resulting in each event, the highlight results are:- 4th Provincial, 6th National, 8th International Agen, 29th national Agen with a grandson of Stallone, 488th national Poitiers, 98th national Tarbes, 21st national Messac, 39th national Agen, 93rd national Saintes, 414th national Tarbes, 85th national Agen with a granddaughter of ‘Will’ direct from DeWeerdt. 6th national Bordeaux with a granddaughter of Andy Gregson’s ‘Pau Cock’, 10th Classic Bergerac, 89th national Agen, 41st Classic Tarbes, 68th Southern Classic Tarbes . The sire of “Faithful” is a grandson of the “Box Two Pair’ who were DeWeerdt bred birds, owned by Bob Whittock which he purchased from GG & CJ Cooper. The cock of the “Box 2” Pair was a grandson of “Spiritus” 1st national Cahors & the hen was a granddaughter of “Liesbet” winner of 2nd international Barcelona. Graham’s results are from 6 different Deweerdt based birds plus his 7th International Agen. The ‘Box 2 Pair’ were also the grandparents of Guy Reed’s 2 Classic winners “92” 1st open Bergerac and “Court-Out” 1st open Pau. Roger Merrin, who has several grandsons of the “Box 2” pair, bred “Faithful” for us. The dam of Faithful from Mr Robinson of Dunstable’s good Barcelona hen, which Roger bought at his entire clearance sale, is from Schumann lines.
Ed Rann: (Graham’s brother) won 2nd section 28th national Bordeaux, 50% DeWeerdt. 89th National Perpignan, 209th National Poitiers, 209th Tours National 14section 78th Open Tarbes National 50% DeWeerdt. 2nd section 28th National Bordeaux 50% DeWeerdt, brother to 24th Section 154th Tarbes National. Dark hen 58th Section 535th National Poitiers, 66th Section 616th open Saintes National, 16th National 75th International hens Agen, 51st Sect 386th National Saintes, 290th Falaise National 50% DeWeerdt.
Trevor Hazel's hen won 1st Sec: 6th national Tarbes from a DeWeerdt cross into his Shuman family she then bred his 1st open NFC Tarbes winner in 2013, overall Trevor has won 1st 6th 19th 66th 74th 163rd 178th 453rd and 513th open NFC Tarbes.
Fred Hayles has had success at his favourite race Tarbes Classic some of his results were with Deweerdt based birds and over the last few years has won 12th 13th 14th 18th 26th 31st 156th174th Classic.
Bob Whittock scored on many occasions including 2nd yb Classic, 2nd Bayonne, 1st Nantes etc.: all his results were with his original Cooper, DeWeerdt, Vermote and Busschaert birds.
Guy Reed said to me that ‘Basically anyone who gained ownership of DeWeerdt pigeons on the Island managed to score with them pure and crossed.
In Scotland
Andrew Lockhart of Larkhall in 2015 won 1st section E 180th open Eastbourne 386 miles with a chequer hen that dam was bred by Andy Gregson’s DeWeerdt’s
Tom & Scott McEwen of Elphinstone won SNFC Silver Award with their chequer cock ‘TMAC’ his positions from France are as follows: 82nd & 85th open Clermont 506 miles, 5th & 47th open Alencon 533 miles
George & Gareth Rankin of Blantyre had a grandson of Kedir and he bred a lot of good pigeons to win in the Scottish National Flying Club.
Ireland
Malachy McGuire & son Mark from Newry have done very well with a cross of a direct DeWeerdt 2003 hen a daughter of Iban when mated to a daughter of Magnus when he was mated to a daughter of Kim 1st Perpignan when paired to a son of their champion ‘Home Alone’ and this dark chequer cock on 16th April 2011 won 1st open 1053 members 24.873 birds, the following week he again won 1st open 1158 members from an entry of 30.000 birds. Both these races were inland but this was an outstanding achievement to win double 1st open NIPA from fantastic entries. As a matter of interest Home Alone won 1st open NIPA old bird National from Fougeres being the only bird on the day into Ireland flying 15½ hours on the wing. He bred countless top class performances breeding over 30 x 1st prize winners for the Maguire’s. He is also the grandsire of a pigeon to win the Millar Gold Cup this was also the only bird into Ireland from Dinard.
Conclusion
I could go on and on with a list of DeWeerdt based winners in the UK that would stretch from here to Tarbes and back and I apologise to the many fanciers I may have missed out. But this task of trying to update all DeWeerdt winners or crossed winners into this article has been nothing but ‘astounding’ and the more I have researched the more intriguing it has become. To be honest this has taken me at least 3 weeks compiling all the information above. However the one significance that is clear the DeWeerdt family of pigeons are without doubt one of the most resolute and consistent "winning gene pool" of the middle to long distance racing pigeon within our sport. I would even say they are as influential to long distance racing as the Janssen family were to ‘sprint’ racing.
© Compiled by Joe Murphy