“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

Three Borders Federation (Yeovil Race).

With the end of the old bird racing coming up the competition between the clubs is very intense in the Three Borders Federation and the third from last race flown from Yeovil was the Isleworth Clubs turn to be ‘top dog’. The convoy was liberated at 07.30 hrs in to a South / South West wind and the member enjoyed a ‘banger’ of a good race. I was talking to Paul Arnold, who won the Esher club, after the race and to demonstrate how good the race was he said, ‘I had another fantastic race the weekend, Keith, sent 17 birds had 14 home in 50 seconds! Couldn't quite get them on the clock quick enough and looked like a lunatic running around the garden trying to shepherd them in. It's a good job the neighbours know what I'm like and the other three birds turned up within three minutes, and just like that it was all over. It really was great fun!’ As I previously said it was the Isleworth club’s day, with their members recording: 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 5^th, 7^th, 18^th Federation. One of the sports great workers, Graham Evans won the Federation with his handsome blue pied cock, ‘Roland’. This two year old widowhood cock is one of Graham’s last Roland / Janssen pigeons and previously won 1^st club, 4^th Three Borders Federation Blandford (565 birds) earlier in the season. Graham told me, ‘this two year old cock took to the widowhood system fine, but has never set the world on fire, but this season seems to have got the idea and came out and won 1^st and 4^th Federation’. Well done to Graham!

The first ten in the Yeovil Federation result were: 1) M/M Graham Evans 1793: 2) Mirek & Malgorzata Burczak 1792: 3) Mirek & Malgorzata Burczak 1988: 4) Fred Kimpton 1770: 5) Mirek & Malgorzata Burczak 1769: 6) Peter Williams: 7) Mirek & Malgorzata Burczak 1763: 8) Paul Arnold 1760: 9) Paul Arnold 1760: 10) Paul Arnold 1758. This was race number twelve of the season and at this point the Esher club are leading for the ‘Federation Points Trophy’ with 55 points, with the Ashridge club being R/U on 43 points.

The Three Borders Federation held one of the season’s fastest old bird races from Exeter, when the 548 bird strong convoy was liberated at 12.00hrs in a strong south west wind. This was the last old bird race on the 2016 season and Mr. & Mrs. Graham Evans of Brentford had a brilliant race, recording 1^st, 3^rd Isleworth Club, 1^st, 3^rd Federation. The partner’s Federation winner was their outstanding six year old widowhood blue pied cock, ‘Thor’ and he has a list of top performance to his credit, including: 2016: 1^st club, 1^st Federation Exeter (548 birds), 2012: 1^st club, 1^st Federation Honiton (1,017 birds), 1^st club, 4^th Federation Yeovil (2,055 birds), 1^st club, 17^th Federation Honiton (850 birds), 2011: 1^st club, 17^th Federation Kingsdown (1,966 birds), 4^th club, 21^st Federation Kingsdown (1,090 birds) beaten by four loft mates, 2^nd club Kingsdown. What a brilliant cock!

In the course of a racing season I write many times how delighted I am to see good workers in our sport do well racing their birds! In the normal run of things, secretaries, chairman, presidents and dare I mention, pigeon writers, find it very difficult to compete properly with their birds, because they put so much of their pigeon time and effort in to their pigeon jobs. Graham Evans took over the Isleworth SRFC secretary’s job in 1995 when my late aunty, Beat Penn, retired and has worked hard in the office ever since, only retiring recently. Graham has proved to be an exception to the rule and in spite of being club secretary for many years and Three Borders Federation delegate for the very strong Isleworth club; he is very successful racing his pigeons.

Graham races a small team of cocks on the widowhood system and likes racing up to 300 miles, and told me he doesn’t dislike long distance racing but hates the long wait at the loft for arrivals. The cocks have about four inland races before being split in to two teams, one for inland and the other for racing from France with the Combine. He feeds a standard ‘widowhood’ mixture and never breaks the racers down, but always shows the hens on marking night. He is a great believer in supplements and uses Travipharma products. The cocks are well trained before the first Federation race and during the season have regular daily exercise sessions around the loft to keep them race fit. The Evans partners have a smart 16ft x 5ft racing loft which consists of an 8ft section for the widowhood cocks and the other 8ft half of the loft houses the young bird racers, and all clocking is on the ETS System. Graham tells me he is a ‘scraper’ man and he says a fancier can find out a lot about the health of his birds from their droppings, and has never used deep litter, although can’t see anything wrong with the idea.

The top racer in the Graham Evans loft in the 2011 season has been the handsome blue pied cock named ‘Apollo’ and this season he has recorded 2^nd club, 2^nd Three Borders Federation Newton Abbot (1624 birds) and 1^st club, 4^th Three Borders Federation Kingsdown (1090 birds). This widowhood cock has some other good wins, previously recording: 2^nd Federation Yeovil, 24^th Federation Yeovil, 1^st club Yeovil, 1^st club Portland, 2^nd club Truro and 2^nd club Exeter. A very impressive tally of premier sprint positions! Other top racers in the loft at this time are: ‘The Decimal Point Cock’ winner of 2^nd Federation Wincanton (1040 birds), 18^th Federation Kingsdown (1089 birds): ‘Zeus’ 1^st club, 21^st Federation, 38^th SMT Combine Bergerac (450 miles), being the only bird clocked on the day of liberation in the club, 13^th Federation West Bay (2400 birds): ‘Rhys’ 1^st club, 5^th Federation, 7^th SMT Combine Alencon, 1^st club, 13^th Federation Wincanton (1991 birds), 2^nd club Kingsdown, 3^rd club Falaise: ‘Athena’ 1^st NW sect, 2^nd open L&SECC Guernsey, 8^th NW sect, 55^th open L&SECC Guernsey, 13^th Federation Wincanton (2414 birds): ‘Artemis’ 1^st NW sect, 10^th open L&SECC Guernsey, 5^th NW sect, 38^th open L&SECC Guernsey, 12^th Federation Kingsdown (1234 birds). A top performer for the Evans loft in 2012 was the two year old widowhood blue pied cock, ‘Petty Boy’, and he won 1^st club, 10^th Federation, 28^th SMT Combine Yelverton (2,000 birds), 2^nd club, 21^st Federation Taunton (1,082 birds).

Graham houses his eight pairs of stock birds in a small loft and he pairs up all his birds, racers and stock, at the same in the second week of January, as long as the weather is not to cold. The main families kept are Van Loon / Janssen and Meuleman, and most of Graham’s stock came from Ken Wise, with some coming direct from Reis and Gerard Schalkwijk of Holland. He breeds 25 youngsters to race every season and these are fed on a good standard young bird mixture. These racers are trained three times a week throughout the racing season and being raced to the perch are not encouraged to pair up, but Graham says, with a big 8ft racing section they do mate up. He has tried the ‘darkness’ system, but maintain although they look great and race well, he has trouble getting them to moult their last two flights at the end of the year. The Evans’ young birds race the whole programme through to 180 miles.

Graham use to run his own engineering supply company, but it became too stressful, so when his wife started her own dog walking business he went in to partnership with her and this gives him plenty of time with his pigeons. He was born in Chiswick and was told by his family that his grandfather was a good pigeon fancier in Wales, but had passed away before he was born. The young Graham became interested in pigeons at the age of 14 and was became ‘hooked’ on the hobby when watching his friend’s dad exercise his birds around the loft. He went home and asked his dad if he could have some birds and with the answer being yes, the old green house in the garden was quickly converted into a little loft. His first stock were obtained from Shepherds Bush and Petticoat Lane markets in London, with the odd reported stray that the owner would gift him. Graham’s first race winner came when he was 16 years old and that was from Avranches in France. His biggest mistake in the novice days was obtaining too many different strains of pigeons from different fancier instead of concentrating on one or two good winning families. He told me the first pigeon fancier to help him out was Billy Bellchambers and he bred him six excellent youngsters to race, and remembers he was very keen on martial arts at that time, being Bruce Lee mad, and became quite good at the sport over the five years he was in it. The first two top fanciers who came to his attention were Howe & Perkins and Billy Bellchambers, who raced brilliantly from France in all types of weather, and the young Graham almost lived in their back gardens in the early years. Graham’s first strain of pigeons were Bruin Perking’s ‘Captain’s Pride’ Dordins and these raced well and won many shows. He has now been in the sport of pigeon racing for nearly 50 years and is still a member of the Isleworth SRFC, the first club he joint when he started up.

The Evans loft has won many premier prizes through the years, the highlights being: 15^th open Cancer Research Nantes Race (8614 birds), 1^st club, 1^st West Middlesex Federation, 2^nd SMT Combine Le Mans (8700 birds): GB 92 T 28510: 1^st SE Combine Rennes (1695 birds), 3^rd SE Combine Rennes (1929 birds), 11^th SE Combine Nantes (1698 birds), 19^th SMT Combine Rennes (6594 birds): GB 92 P 44081: 2^nd SE Combine Rennes (1896 birds), 9^th SE Combine Nantes (1876 birds), 18^th SE Combine Rennes (2079 birds): GB 95 T 07778: 1^st SE Combine Nantes (1698 birds), 12^th SE Combine Rennes (1896 birds): GB 93 N 89740: 1^st SE Combine Rennes (2079 birds): GB 92 T 28540: 8^th SE Combine Bergerac (1149 birds), 17^th SE Combine Rennes (1876 birds): GB 07 P 27065: 1^st club, 1^st Three Borders Federation, 4^th SMT Combine Wadebridge (1722 birds). Graham tells me the loft won two RPRA Awards in the 1995 season and another one in 1996, but one of his biggest thrills was sending five hens to the first L&SECC Old Hens Guernsey Classic in 2008 and winning 1^st, 5^th, 7^th, 11^th NW Section, 2^nd, 10^th, 27^th, 40^th open, then sent four birds to the second L&SECC Old Hens Classic that same season to record 2^nd, 5^th, 7^th, 8^th NW Section, 21^st, 38^th, 46^th, 55^th open. The following season in 2009 he sent five birds to the L&SECC Old Hens Guernsey Classic and recorded 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd NW Section, 10^th, 16^th, 21^st open. A fantastic racing record!

Graham enjoys showing his birds and maintains it prompts the fancier to check on the bird’s general heath and condition in the winter months. I can remember the wonderful shows the West Middlesex Federation held at Isleworth in the 1980’s, which attracted big birdage and I judged at them most years, and enjoyed every minute of it! Graham tells me he won BIS at the Federation Show in 1988 with his good pigeon, ‘Young Rob’ and still has the special he won that day, which was a photo of his winning bird. One of the reasons he stopped using the ‘darkness’ system with his babies was the moult and he tells me he thinks this is a very important time of the year. After racing has finished and the full body moult has started he gives the birds regular baths and changes the feed to a good moult mixture. I hope my readers have enjoyed this article on Graham Evans, a great all-rounder, worker and pigeon racer!

Three Borders Federation: Winners of Yester Year (Part 16).

Les Penycate of Hersham.

One of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in the sport of pigeon racing is Les Penycate and to say he has enjoyed some good racing seasons in recent years would be any understatement! His occupation all his life has been in the fencer building trade and he recently retired from work, which has reflected in his outstanding performances with his pigeons. He is from a fence building family and tells me the late great Surbiton pigeon racer, Arthur Coxon, who was a first class fencer all his life, taught him the trade when he was a young lad. The highlights of recent season for Les was: 2010: 1^st club, 1^st Three Borders Federation, 1^st open SMT Combine St Nazaire (297 miles), 1^st club, 3^rd Three Borders Federation, 5^th open SMT Combine Bergerac ( 450 miles), 1^st club, 5^th Three Borders Federation, 9^th open SMT Combine Messac (255 miles). What fantastic season! The Three Borders Federation held its last old bird race of the 2012 season from Bergerac at the end of July and were included in the SMT Combine convoy, which was 500 birds strong. The Combine were transported to the race point in the south of France and after a two day hold over the birds were liberated at 06.45hrs in a west / north west wind. Les Penycate won the Federation by a ‘country mile’ with a natural Hartog blue chequer cock, sent sitting eggs. The winning blue chequer cock was one of very few birds clocked on the day of liberation in the Combine and took 12 hours 37 minutes to fly the 454 miles home to West Molesey, and won the Federation by 59ypm clear. Les is successful in races from France most seasons and a few years ago won the Three Borders Federation from Nantes (282 miles) with an unpaired Staf Van Reet yearling blue chequer hen. This game pigeon also won the Messac race in the Hersham Club and was a gift from Les' good friend, the late Rod Wynn. Her full performances in 2002 were outstanding, winning 1^st club, 1^st Federation, 3^rd open SMT Combine Nantes (2,342 birds); 1^st club, 9^th Federation, 24^th open SMT Combine Messac (2,205 birds). A wonderful effort by an unpaired yearling!

Les’ 2010 St Nazaire SMT Combine winner was his good yearling hen, ‘Debbie’s Girl’, who is named after his daughter and her parents are a pair of Willy Thas pigeons obtained from Mick Betts of Scawsby, near Doncaster. This game hen was lost training as a young bird in September 2009 and returned to the Penycate loft in perfect condition, in February 2010. She was paired up and sent to the first race of her life, inland, feeding a ten day old baby and two week later was entered in her second race from St Nazaire, and won 1^st open SMT Combine. Incredible! Les’ yearling were in great form last season, as his 5^th open Combine Bergerac winner was his yearling blue chequer pied hen, ‘Wynn’s Supremacy’. Both her parents were obtained from the late Rod Wynn of Shepperton and she was sent to the longest old bird race from Bergerac feeding a ten day old youngster. Les is a channel racing enthusiast and trained out of Worthing (50 miles) in the 2010 season, before hoping then into a 250 mile channel race, and then into Bergerac. The 9^th open Combine Messac blue hen is one of the stars of the Penycate loft, having previously being clocked as a yearling, in 2009, from Tarbes (550 miles) and recording 9^th open London & South East Classic Club. A wonderful performance! Les has named her ‘Messac Lady’ and told me she was bred from Hartog stock birds obtained from Phil & Maria Dunstall of Maidenhead. The 2010 season saw Les change his corn midway through to the Dutch ‘Garvo 7001 Sprint’ mixture and the bird stated to win out of turn two weeks later.

Les was born in Kingston in 1939 and his father kept pigeons before the Second World War, in partnership with his three brothers. In 1948, Les was given six youngsters by the premier East Molesey fancier, Joe Stediford, who flew an outstanding pigeon in National races at that time. Prior to owning his own birds, young Les was pigeon mad and fed the streeters in Kingston Market with bread. His father built a loft to house his six young birds and Les joined the Kingston &District Club, flying in the Surrey Federation. He soon added stock from the great Harry Branch of Mitcham to his Stediford youngsters and says that Joe taught him a lot about general pigeon management in the early days. The late, great, Freddie Ranaboldo of East Molesey was the premier fancier at that time, winning inland every week and he also won 1^st open Pau NFC. Les has been in the sport for nearly 55 years and says one of his earliest achievements was in 1952 when he won from Libourne with a red chequer after 14 hours on the wing and won the London Federation by a clear 1 hour 40 minutes.

Les mates his 20 pairs of old birds on February 25th and breeds a good racing team of about 50 young birds each season. He races on the natural system, exercising the birds around the loft twice a day, hopper feeding the old birds. He splits his birds into two teams, with the inland racers being trained from the west and the Channel birds being tossed in single-ups off the south coast. He likes to give his birds natural extras, including Epsom salts once a fortnight, garlic once a week, cod liver oil on the corn and honey in the water on race days. He is very keen on Channel racing and is a member of the National Flying Club and very strong Spelthorne RPC.

The main families kept are Van Riel, Barker and Janssen, with the recent introduction of Staf Van Reet. Les maintains that over the years the Van Riel pigeons have been brilliant for him, right through to Pau (556 miles). He says that he loves day birds from the long-distance races. In 1986 the Pau National was a very hard race and he recorded 19^th, 35^th and 315^th open with Van Riel pigeons. He likes his pigeons, old and young, to go to the longest race points and says that he feeds Versele-Laga because it's good, sound corn. His young birds have about 12 training tosses up to Winchester (50 miles) before going into the first Federation race. For the long distance races he has found the best nest condition for his racers to be in is a cock sent with a 14-day-old youngster, his hen having just laid and he favours hens sent sitting overdue eggs or feeding a small youngster. He considers Khan Brothers of Kingston to be the best local fanciers, as they are on a wave of success racing in the Nationals and Classics at this time. The lads are showing fantastic consistency. He maintains that long distance pigeon racing is a waiting game, with some strains reacting quicker than others, but he says that normally long distance pigeons take three years to mature and be able to do the job.

Les Penycate likes a bit of young bird racing and says that from his experience, fly aways are due to overcrowding. He gives his baby’s one third of their feed before they are let out of the loft, which he maintains calms them down. He gives the birds extra Wheat and linseed during the moulting period and likes to breed a few latebreds each season, but says it is very important to train them in the year of their birth, or they are useless. He has never used deep litter in his loft but likes a sprinkling of sharp sand and lime on the floors after cleaning out. He likes a good type of pigeon and when bringing in new stock birds, looks for balance in the hand, with good feather and wing. Well done to Les on his brilliant recent racing seasons!

Don Herbert of Spelthorne.

One of the strongest clubs in the Middlesex area today is the Spelthorne club, and since it was set up in 2000, its members have been very successful racing in the Berkshire Federation and Three Borders Federation. The 2006 season saw several Spelthorne members win the Federation, but one special performance was in the longest young bird race from Wadebridge (204 miles), when two of the members recorded 1^st, 2^nd Berkshire Federation, 1^st, 2^nd open UBI Combine (1,473 birds).

The Combine winning pigeon was a little Willy Thas latebred blue chequer hen, bred and raced by Don Herbert. The hen named “Dinky”, because she was only tiny, was sent to Wadebridge sitting 12 day old eggs. Don told me, she was so keen, she went straight on her eggs when she returned from the race and only took a drink and some food when her cock bird had also returned home. She had every training toss and race on her build up to her Combine win. Don bred about 45 young birds each year, but gave a few away to charity auctions and fed them the same as the old bids racers, on a Barley based mixture, with it getting heavier as the races got longer. The youngsters got lots of short training tosses to start with and were worked up to 50 miles before the first race, then got the odd toss from Lightwater (15 miles) during the racing season. Don said the young birds raced the whole programme and he never missed a race!

Don was a natural racer and starts to pair up each year on his return from holiday in January. He started with his six stock birds and then went on to the 25 pairs of racers. When obtaining a new stock bird he was not bothered what they looked like, but liked the pigeons eye and feathering to have a strong colour and not pale or wishy-washy. The main stock cock was ‘The Schoorisse Cock’ and his bloodline ran through the whole loft. This premier breeder was of the Gaevart Schoorisse of Belgium strain and won five firsts and 2^nd Federation twice before being retired to the stock loft. The main family kept were the Willy Thas pigeons obtained from Brain Goodwin of Hanworth and Don told me as well as winning the Combine with these birds in 2006, he had also won the Channel Average in the Berkshire Federation. He liked racing from all distances and said he preferred Channel racing, winning two or three races from France every year in the Spelthorne club. Don was great lover of Barley, with that being the base of his feeding system and corn was added according to the distance of the races. The birds didn’t get much training as they got an open loft all day, but they did go down to 30 miles to get them fit before the first Federation race and then they got the odd toss from Lightwater (15 mile) when needed. An open loft was very rear to have in those days with the Raptor problem and Don told me he lost about three or four birds every year to the Hawks. He said the first thing the pigeons do when they were let out in the morning was eat all the worm casts in the garden. Don’s 25ft two section loft was built by the Sunbury long distance fancier, Les Kid, and was built on brick pillars, 30ins off the ground. It had 25 nest boxes and an open timber slatted floor, with the birds being cleaned out off a concrete slab under the loft once every two years. He was not a great believer in keep treating a loft of pigeon regularly and said, ‘if I’ve got a pigeon that is off colour I will treat it, but not the whole loft’. Don maintained you must have dry loft to be successful!

Don started up in pigeon racing in 1950, when he joined forces with his father, Gordon Herbert, who was a very good fancier in his own right and raced in the Hounslow H.S. Gordon who was a natural flyer, liked to race from all distances and won firsts every year. Don started on his own when he got married in 1963, when he moved to Hounslow and flew just around the corner from the great George Burgess, who was a legend in the West Middlesex Federation at that time. Don won his fair share of races in the Hounslow and Isleworth clubs and his best pigeon then was an Alf Baker blue pied hen that recorded one second and two firsts in the longest old bird race from Bergerac (450 miles), three seasons on the trot. Don told me his great old Baker hen flew on the natural system and won her races sitting 8 to 10 day old eggs. Don was a founder member of the Isleworth club and he got the signatures of the first ten members. The Isleworth club didn’t fly in the Federation in its first season because it couldn’t afford the charges, but raced all inland race points through to Penzance that year and joint the West Middlesex Federation the following season, and won the Federation Shield.

That our article for this week. Well done to Graham Evans for his Exeter Federation win. If you win and want an article in this space, please contact me 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)