“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

‘Show Racer World’ Number 9

Colin Bullard of Lowestoft

The month of November 2013 saw us make our annual drive up the M40 to High Wycombe for the RPRA Southern Region Show, which is one of the high lights of the show calendar in the South of England every winter. That year’s show held at the Hazlemere Community Centre turned out to be one of the best ever, with 596 birds entered. There was the usual auction of gift birds and the funds raised by the show and sale was donated to the RNLI and The Air Ambulance. I have been associated with the RPRA Southern Region Show since it first started all those years ago.

On the day ‘Best in Show’ was awarded to a beautiful opal hen who took every body’s eye in the pen as they walked around the hall and she was owned and shown by Colin Bullard, who travels all the way from Lowestoft on the East coast to show at High Wycombe. Colin is always the man to beat in any show he competes in and won BIS at the Southern Region Show in 2012, also with a another opal hen. He has had racing pigeons since he started at the age of 16, being very successful at club racing and has had Show Races about 30 years. His latest Southern Region BIS winner is closely related to his BIS winner at last year’s show and both are members of his mosaic family, which originate from birds obtained from George Bartle of Wretford. His opal hen is no stranger to winning, having won first at other premier shows. Colin has three small Show Racer lofts, which house about 20 pairs and these are all paired up in mid-February. He maintains the main factor in good loft design is that it is clean and dry, so his lofts are closed against rain and bad weather. He uses a sand and saw dust litter on the loft floors and the clean out is his first job every day. He has no special preparation in the days before a big show, but the birds get a bath every week.

No stock birds are kept and about 30 young birds are bred each season to show, and no Show Racers fly out. Colin has judged at all the main shows, including the BHW Blackpool Show and has won BIS East Coast Show, BIS Norwich Spectacular Show and BOS RP ‘Old Comrades’ Show. The Bullard garden is also the home of Colin’s racing pigeons and he races natural, with long distance racing in mind. He pairs the race birds the same time as the show birds and all are fed the same heavy maple pea and tic beans mixture. He really enjoys seeing the bird come in from the French race points and has won a nice few races through the years. Colin tells me he is only in pigeons for pure pleasure and only races in his local club and is not a member of any National clubs. Colin also won Best Racer at the Southern Region Show this year with handsome Dordin / Cattrysse blue pied cock too go with his BIS. Colin’s daughter, Lynn, has had her own 8ft x 6ft loft of Show Racers since she was ten years old and has been very successful through the years. She is now in her 30’s and has her own family, so time with the pigeons is hard to find, but she managed to win a class at this year’s Southern Region Show. Lynn has judged at many premier shows, including a class of Show Racers at the BHW Blackpool Show. Colin recently went in to hospital to undergo some surgery, which meant he could not lift for several. He has asked me to thank the local pigeon fanciers who helped him with his pigeons through this period, especial Phil Harrod, who cleaned his lofts out.

Phil & John Harrod of Suffolk

I recently had the pleasure of judging at the Southern Counties Show Racer Open Show, held at Gravesend in Kent and the turnout was excellent, with over 350 birds being entered. This was the fourth time I have judged this event in the last five winters and my granddaughter, Sasha, was my steward for the day. The hall at the Gravesend Rugby Club is ideal for holding shows and the SCSRS use the venue for all their Society and Open shows.

A young lad named John Harrod of Suffolk won Best in Show with a young blue show racer cock and entering a team of 30 plus birds that day, had won a hat full of prize cards. The parents of this near perfect cock were obtained from the premier Show Racer fancier John Bell of Scotland and were bred from a line of top show winners. John was ill on the day of the show, so did not attend, but his dad, Phil, penned the birds and lift the prizes for him. The Harrod loft won BIS at this event twice previously and the last time I met up with young John he had won BIS at the RPRA Southern Region Show a few winters ago. John told me then that he has all colours in his show racer team, but his reds, which were obtained from his father’s friend, are particularly strong in quality and win well whenever he exhibits them. He says his best performance to date is BIS at the RPRA Southern Region Show and has won several firsts at the BHW Blackpool Show. Fantastic performances put up by this young lad! John hah only been into Show Race for about seven years and says at that time that he had three lofts, which housed his big team. He feeds a heavy racing mixture and cleans out regularly, not being keen on deep litter on the loft floors. His dad, Phil, is very interested in the pigeons and drives John to all the shows.

Julian & Joanne Rice of Suffolk

The 2010 RPRA Southern Region Show was a bitter sweet affair for me personally, the down side being told that my good friend of many years standing, Ron Lacey, was packing up as show secretary, and this event was his last. He told me he was now approaching 80 years of age and was having trouble coping with the vast amount of work involved in organizing this wonderful annual show, which I can well appreciate. When I say that Ron is one of the sport’s great workers, it is an understatement; he has spent a life time working for the RPRA and the sport of pigeon racing in general. The 2010 Region Show attracted over 700 birds, which Ron told me at the time was a record.

Best in Show was awarded to a handsome dark pied cock who took every body’s eye in the pen as they walked around the hall and he was owned and raced by Julian and Joanne Rice of Suffolk. Julian likes the racing side of the sport and told me the BIS cock had flown the English Channel in the 2010 racing season. He has enjoyed a good racing season in 2010 winning some premier positions from Tarbes (600 miles). His teenage daughter Joanne is the show girl and has made quite a name for herself in recent years, winning many top honours at the Show Racer Society and National Shows around the country. She could not attend the Region Show this year, as she had to work, but I’m sure she had a surprise when she got home that night and saw her new BIS silver ware. She started up with show racers in 2003, with pigeon obtained from Collin Bullard and John Robilliard, and tells me she likes the yellows, creams and mosaics best. She has 20 pairs of show racers and gets a bit of help from her father, Julian, who has had pigeons since 1980. The Rice family race and show pigeons, and won best racer at the ‘Old Comrades’ Show, but say their Southern Region BIS is their best performance to date. Joanne has two lofts for her show racers and uses a sand litter on the floors, with fed being a good widowhood racing mixture. The birds are paired up the weekend after the BHW Blackpool Show and their get a bath every Monday, including the week before a show. The Society held its first show of the 2007 season at Gravesend in October and the members entered 150 young birds. Joanne Rice does a lot of her showing at the Southern Counties Show Racer Society these days and  won Best Show Racer in Show with her beautiful blue chequer hen a few seasons ago, which was a really good performance, as this was the first time she had shown in the Society.

Well that’s it for this week! I can be contacted with any pigeon matters 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).