“ON THE ROAD” WITH KETH MOTT.

Looking back at Midlands loft visits over the years (Part 1).

Alwyn & Lynne Hill of Swinderby.

The month of November saw me visit the highly successful partnership of Alwyn and Lynne Hill of Swinderby in Lincolnshire. The Hills were only in the sport for six years and won over 200 times first and 36 times second open Federation. Although they mainly enjoyed sprint racing, they won 1^st section in the North Road Championship Club three times, as well as 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd section, 5^th, 7^th, 9^th open in the 1998 North Road Championship Club Young Bird National. The first bird that Alwyn gave me to handle on my visit was 'Super Blue', a handsome blue Van Reet widowhood cock which has had 21 times first with 16 prizes in the first ten in the Federation result. This great pigeon had won a RPRA Merit Award and although he was a sprint racer, won 1^st club, 8^th Federation from 317 miles. A wonderful pigeon!

The Hills had a brick double-decker old bird loft with seven sections for racing widowhood cocks, and they favoured open window trapping, with straw litter on the floor all the year around. The main family kept was Staf Van Reet, originally from Bert Hession of Blackpool and their best stock hen, 'The Golden Hen', was from the very best Dave Allan lines. They raced only north road with the very strong Peterborough Federation, Notts and District Federation and North Road Championship Club and were highly successful in all of them. The partners raced only cocks on the widowhood system and paired up the racers the second week in January. They all reared at least one youngster and when these were 15 days old, the females were taken away and the cocks finished the rearing. When the hens were re-introduced, the cocks were gives eight to ten training tosses on good days only, and were put on the widowhood system when sitting seven days on their second round of eggs. The cocks were never trained in the racing season, only flying out around the loft twice a day. They were fed a first-class widowhood mixture and were put on breakdown after the race, until Tuesday night.

Alwyn says his widowhood system was very basic and geared to save work and time. The widowhood hens were housed in a wire flight at the rear of the widowhood section and on marking nights would be placed in their nest boxes through a small trap-door in the back of each box to save time. We looked at many of the Hills' premier racers, including 'The Young General', a Van Reet mealy cock, which had won the Federation four times racing on widowhood. This champion racer is a direct son of the 'Golden Hen' and Alwyn believes him to be a record holder at that time, being the only bird in the very strong Peterborough Federation to win 1^st open three times. Another champion racer we handled was a young brother of 'Super Blue', which Alwyn called 'Treble Five'. These ace racers had won many firsts up to 250 miles and were runner-up for the 1997 RPRA Merit Sprint award. He also won 18^th open in the mighty North Road Championship Club from 250 miles with 4,200 birds competing.

The partners housed 30 pairs of stock birds, which were paired early, on 15^th December. One of the top stock birds, a handsome ten year old chequer pied cock, was put on the bull system in 1998, and produced 41 youngsters, running with six hens! Alwyn says because his young birds were bred so early they would want to pair up in late April, so they were parted for three months and put back together after two or three young bird races. He put 26 youngsters on the darkness system, with the remainder staying natural, but says they were on the dark naturally being bred so early, with only eight hours' light per day in January and February. The young birds were trained very hard and were started at a very early age and raced through to the longest race. Alwyn Hill a brilliant pigeon racer, now very successful racing long distance!

Steve Lubelski of Mansfield

Steve Lubelski of Mansfield had enjoyed great racing with his widowhood cocks for many years, topping the very strong local Federation at least once a year since 1989. His local club sent 300 plus birds most weeks and in 1998 he had a brilliant season, winning many firsts and, on one race from Little Rissington (369 birds) he took the first six positions in the club.

Flying in the mighty Derbyshire Federation in 1998, Steve won 1^st open Sartilly Championship race (1,812 birds), 12^th open Rennes Championship race (1,754 birds), 3^rd, 15^th, 20^th, 23^rd and 32^nd open Salisbury (5,139 birds), 1^st, 18^th, 19^th, 25^th, 27^th, 30^th  and 31^st open Marlborough (4,622 birds), 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 7^th, 8^th and 10^th open Little Rissington (5,065 birds), 2^nd, 11^th 20^th and 33^rd open Weymouth (2,965 birds), 8^th and 14^th open Little Rissington (2,846 birds), 16^th, 22^nd, 27^th, 33^rd and 35^th open Salisbury (4,177 birds), 7^th open Woodhouse West End, Sheffield Gold Ring race from Weymouth (580 birds). The highlight of Steve's 1998 season was when he sent 15 young birds to the Midlands N.F.C. race from Thorness and recorded 4^th, 19^th, 49th, 61^st and 76^th open (5,617 birds). Brilliant pigeon racing!

His outstanding success continued into the 1999 season, winning ten times first club in the very strong Mansfield Central F.C. Steve's performance in the Derbyshire Federation in 1999 was once again outstanding winning: 6^th open Marlborough (3,325 birds), 13^th, 18^th open Marlborough (5,661 birds), 12^th open Nantes (1,414 birds), 14^th, 15^th and 19^th open Weymouth (3,152 birds), 2^nd, 6^th 11^th open Warwick (3,444 birds), 8^th open Salisbury (4,431 birds), 5^th open Picauville (2,188 birds), 2^nd, 3^rd, 5^th open Warwick; 1^st, 4^th, 6^th, 11^th open Warwick (3,645 birds), 5^th open Exeter (1,215 birds).

I had a nice chat with Steve and he gave me a run-down on his management through the year. When the young bird racing had finished, he put the young cocks in the old bird section to get them used to the nest boxes and they were fed on a heavy mixture because they had been on the darkness system. It gave him a problem when he paired up because the hens were a little overweight but his priority was to get them through the moult. He usually paired his 10 pairs of stock birds and racers in late January, so he could float the eggs from the stock pairs under the racers and have two quick rounds from the main breeders. He parted the hens from the racing loft when the youngsters were around 14 days old. He did this for two reasons, the main one being that the cock concentrated on feeding the young birds as, if they were left together, the cock would drive the hen and would not feed the youngsters. Secondly, with the cocks only feeding, they lose most of their body weight and this will make them easier to get into condition for the first race. The young birds were weaned between 21 to 28 days, then the old birds were treated for canker and the nest boxes were completely cleaned out.

The cocks were put on depurative and their exercise was slowly built up to one hour morning and evening. When Steve said one hour, the cocks were locked out of the loft for one hour but they fly around for about 35 to 50 minutes, longer when they hit form. When he thought they were fit, he took them training and tried to have at least six training spins up to 30 miles before the first race. He always showed his hens before training and racing. He said he knows a lot of fanciers train really hard for four to six weeks before the first race and they are always there or thereabouts in the first few races but quickly fade away. He tried to keep his widowhood cocks fresh and never trained after the first race.

He fed a standard widowhood mixture, adding peas if the weather was cold or if they had head winds. Steve gave multi-vitamins once a week and they had salts in the water on race days. On weaning the youngsters, they were put straight on the darkness system from 5pm to 9am up to the beginning of June or if, after three or four consecutive days, they have not dropped anybody feathers. He liked the darkness system because you can fly the birds in good body and wing condition and, if they meet a bad race, they won't have a fret mark. He always got them to fully moult in the year that they were born. Steve found it makes no difference to the following year's performances, as nearly all his yearlings scored. He said he must point out that he didn’t have any lights or heating in his lofts and trained his young birds every day for six weeks before racing and every weekday through racing up to the 30 miles mark. Steve said pigeon racing management must be kept simple but some fanciers make hard work of it and constantly change their birds and methods. He said the system has worked for him and he had been highest prize and money winner for many years. One of the very best widowhood lofts in the Midlands.

Mick Gregory of Nottingham.

Mick Gregory was a carpenter by trade and this reflected in his wonderful loft set up which was sited on a hill side above his house. The four lofts were all his own work and were a credit to him. His best pigeon was his Janssen blue widowhood cock, ‘Jep’, and in one season he won four times first in the club, 1^st open Super Sprint Durham (£5 per bird) and three times 1^st Federation. Mick said this champion racer was on song for 14 weeks, winning the Federation from the first old bird race, then went on to win the Federation from the last two races and had never gone past the 180 miles stage in his great racing career.

Mick raced 32 cocks on the widowhood system but never hens and paired up in mid-January. Mick maintained his system was very simple, with the hens being taken away with one youngster at 14 days old and the cocks finish feeding one young bird. They were repaired two weeks later, with the cocks being trained ten days on eggs and then were put on the widowhood system. The races were never broken down and were hopper fed a good widowhood mixture, with seed added on a Friday afternoon. Mike sometimes showed the hens to the racing cocks on marking and said ‘Jep’ was shown his hen when he won the Federation the first time and wasn't when he topped the federation the second and third times.

The Gregory pigeons were split into two teams, sprint and long distance, racing on the north road. Another premier racer in Mick's loft was the Janssen x Van Loon blue chequer cock ‘43’ and he was a very bad trapper, but had won many prizes including 1^st club, 2^nd Federation Fraserburgh on 984ypm. His full brother was the ‘09’ and he had won 1^st club Lerwick (490 miles). Brilliant racers!

Mick had won the Federation many times and in recent seasons had won his section in the N.R.C.C. with Gold Medal winning performances. His main family were Janssen x Van Loon and said, on obtaining eight pairs of stock off Ken Darlington, had never looked back, recording brilliant performances. He kept 15 pairs of stock birds and bred 60 young birds each season. The young cocks were saved for the widowhood systems and the hens raced right through the programme to Perth. I was very impressed with his young bird, loft as his youngsters have to enter a mock-up race crate to drink, which teaches them to put their heads through the bars to get to the drinker. Great idea! He took a two week holiday to get his young bird team trained up, with lots of 40 mile tosses and said he hated young bird racing. The youngsters were not put on the darkness and were raced natural to the perch.

Alan Monk of Derbyshire.

The name Alan Monk had been at the top of the Derbyshire race results for many seasons, racing 34 cocks on the widowhood system. He maintained he liked racing from 240 miles through to Thurso 450 miles, with cocks only. He paired up on 23^rd January and the cocks were put on the widowhood system after rearing a pair of youngsters, with them getting about 14 training chucks up to 30 miles before the first Federation race. The cocks were never trained during the racing season and were only exercised once a day around the loft. The widowhooders were broken down from Saturday through to Monday during the racing season and the cocks always saw their hens on marking night before going into the basket. One of the best racing cocks was a blue chequer Van Loon bred by Alan's good friend, Dave Boot of Mansfield and he had won eight times 1^st club.

Alan had been a pigeon fancier for over 20 years and caught the bug from his father who was a fancier for many years. Alan's brother, Arthur, was his pigeon partner and they had won the Federation many times and the Midlands Championship in recent seasons. The racing loft was built 3ft off the ground and was 24ft long with three sections and open door trapping. While in Alan's widowhood sections we handled several of his top racers, one of which was a Busschaert blue cock that had won 1^st open Fraserburgh (318 miles) on a very hard day in 1997 and had previously won 1^st club Lerwick. Another premier pigeon was a mealy cock that had won 1^st Federation (twice), 2^nd and 4^th Federation.

Alan raced all his 70 young birds through to Perth (242 miles), as this set them up for the long distance races in later life and 50% of them were put on the darkness system. He maintained he only put half on dark because they don't seem to race well as yearlings after being on the system as young birds. The youngsters were trained every day and fed on super junior, with a few peas and maize added as the distance gets longer. The main families raced were Van Loon, Wildemeersch and Hermans, and the 16 pairs of stock birds were housed in a nice smart 14ft loft, with a wire flight. Arthur told me about the Monk's very bad hawk problem, saying they had some of their best birds killed in front of their loft and in the fields around their Derbyshire set-up.

Tom McGoldrick of Walkerington.

On my video tour of the North Midlands I visited the lofts of Tom McGoldrick of Walkerin ton, which is near Doncaster in South Yorkshire. I think to call Tom's loft set up fantastic would be an understatement. The lofts were set out in an `L' shape, in Tom's massive garden. The two 60ft lofts were well ventilated, which was para­mount in Tom's view, and all the Natural racers were trapped through open doors.

Tom and his partner son, Tim, kept 100 race birds, 20 pairs of stock birds, which were all paired up in February and he raced about 80 youngsters each season. His birds were raced on the natural system, as they were mainly a Channel based loft, so natural suited them. They could beat the widowhood lads sprinting with the jealousy system, which Tom thought they have perfected over the years, with cocks and hens. The partners were not lovers of young bird racing and said the stress factor is detri­mental to youngsters. Main fami­lies raced were Janssens from Mr & Mrs Blakewell and Freek Romain of Holland. Albert & Dennis Taylor of Eastwood had bred a lot of good pigeons for the McGoldrick loft, including a 1^st Federation winner from their 1990 N.R.C.C. Lerwick King's Cup winner the ‘Tamed Red’. Tom had four pairs purchased at R. & K. Besant of New Malden clearance sale including several children of champion ‘Besant's Bishop's Pride’, their Bordeaux National winner. Other families in the stock loft were Busschaert, Rex Doe / Herbots, Cattrysse and Verheye.

The McGoldrick's were very selective with their racing and in 1995 only had eleven club races, winning seven firsts and 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd Federation, 5^th, 7^th, 8^th open Amalgamation (9,102 birds) Falaise. They had one N.F.C. race recording 2^nd sect K, 64^th open (11,670 birds) Nantes and two Northern Classic races winning, 1^st sect, 15^th open Rennes and 3^rd sect, 23^rd open Niort. The cock that won 64^th open Nantes N.F.C. was a pure Lefebre Dhaenen bred from two direct birds. The two top posi­tions in Northern C.C., 15^th open Rennes and 23^rd open Niort, were won with one pigeon, a wonderful blue chequer pied hen, bred by Albert & Dennis Taylor of Eastwood from their N.R.C.C. Lerwick King's Cup winner ‘Tame Red’. In the two young bird races that Tom competed in, in 1995 he recorded 1^st, 3^rd, 4^th (902 birds), all with R. & K. Besant youngsters.

Tom was a very hard trainer, and the birds got lots of tosses from the south coast, with Channel racing in mind. The Natural racers got an open loft all day and were fed on a good heavy Channel racing mixture. Tom said his best performance of all time was in 1978, while in partnership with his wife Sheila, he sent eleven birds to Falaise and recorded 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 5^th, 7^th open South Yorkshire Amalgamation (14,000 birds), a fantastic performance and one which Tom thinks will never be equalled.

John Dowd of  Derbyshire.

John Dowd raced 24 cocks on the standard Widowhood system with outstanding success. In recent seasons he had taken the first three in the Federation three times and in 1995: won 15 times 1^st club, three times 1^st Federation and in 1994: won 15 times lst club, four times 1^st Federation. When we visited the Derbyshire home of John Dowd he had just won the first big North Road Open race of 1996 season the day before. John liked races from 50 to 330 miles, but said he won a few prizes from Thurso and Lerwick in 1995. One of John's best racers was a three year old blue chequer cock which has six firsts to its credit. This great pigeon won on five Saturdays in 1995, 1^st club three weeks on the trot, then 7^th sect, 42^nd open Perth N.R.C.C. and 2^nd club, 2^nd Federation.

John's 24 cocks were always shown the hen on marking night and if a cock was late he was not given the hen on arrival from the race, with early birds getting the hen, from about one hour. The cocks were housed in two sections and were paired up on 19^th January. The cocks got 100% breakdown on Saturday, 50% and 50% mixture on Sunday and back on the standard Widowhood mixture as from Monday. John liked plenty of good maize in his racing mixture and trained the cocks three times in midweek, throughout the season. Training tosses were from about 30 miles and the hens were never shown on returning from training flights. John's best sprint racer was a four year old dark chequer Busschaert cock which has won six firsts in the club, three times first Federation, twice 2^nd Federation in races up to 250 miles.

John kept twelve pairs of stock birds, paired up the same time as the widowhood cocks so their eggs can be floated under the racers. The Dowd loft bred about 60 youngsters each year and all raced the full programme. They got lots of 30 mile training tosses for about five weeks before the first race. John's loft was 50ft long, brick built with pan tile roof and open door trapping.

Ralph Jepson – ‘Racing for Fun’.

Ralph Jepson is a light-hearted man who is only in pigeon for pure fun, saying many fanciers take the sport far too seriously and lose the enjoyment and fun side of it. For fun or not, Ralph has been a great racer since starting up 60 years ago, winning countless top honours in Federation, M.C.C. and N.R.C.C. races. When I visited Ralph's Midlands home he was hobbling around having just broken his ankle, but he has always got a smile on his face.

Ralph's main racing loft housed 34 pairs of old bird racers and were trapped through open doors. He raced cocks and hens on the widowhood system and said he used to race ten hens on natural but found it much better racing them on widowhood. His lofts had all got half Perspex fronts, but were all well ventilated. His second loft had a corn store and this housed his 60 youngsters in two sections. The stock loft was brick, with a wire flight and this housed 12 pairs of breeders. One of his top stock hens was his ace racer 'Singer', and this game chequer pied hen won many major prizes including 4^th section 15^th open Fraserburgh M.C.C., 2^nd section, 5^th open Thurso M.C.C. and 1^st section. 5^th open Thurso N.R.C.C., always losing between five and twenty minutes on the trap.

Ralph used to be a miner, but finished through injury and raced all north road. The main team were Wildemeersch which excel from 50 to 500 miles and new introductions at that time were of the Van Loon stain. Ralph had been premier prize winner in the local club for many years and enjoyed racing from any distance. He said his biggest thrill in his time in the sport was when he, won the first four positions from Thurso 500 miles in two clubs then the following week taking the first four posi­tions from Fraserburgh in two clubs. The racers were fed on Super Widowhood mixture and depura­tive by Versele Laga and the breeders on a farm mixture of bean, peas and breeding pellets. The old birds were trained three times a week up to 20 miles and the youngsters got 25 mile tosses four or five times a week.

Hovell & Roberts of Sutton-in-Ashfield

The fantastic team of Hovell & Roberts of Sutton-in-Ashfield had won many thousands of pounds in the last 27 years flying north road with their Busschaerts, Cattrysse and Frans Van Wildemeersch. When we visited the lofts with the late Brian Hovell it was raining hard, but that did not detract the pleasure of inspecting their great team of birds.

First pigeon we looked at was a natural Busschaert chequer cock 'Speckle Head', and he had flown Lerwick (500 miles) five times and won 1^st section, 5^th open Thurso N.R.C.C. This cock was a good looker and had won ‘Best Racer’ at the Old Comrades Show at the NEC Birmingham. The partner’s loft which was sited on a local allotment was made of packing cases with a concrete floor. It was built in 1967 with sliding doors trapping to the old bird and young bird compartments. The team was made up of 25 pairs of stock, 30 racing pairs and they start with 50 young birds replacing losses to main­tain 50 until training. They raced natural for the first couple of races and then put them on Widowhood for about five weeks until and including the Perth race. Then they were paired up and put on natural ready for the big race from Lerwick. Brian received a special diploma for their good hen ‘Tracy’ for being in the first 100 open positions in the N.R.C.C. King's Cup Lerwick race, three years in succession, being 29^th open (4,235 birds). 26^th open (3,728 birds) and 16^th open (4,450 birds).

Brian trained the old birds three time a week in the early part of the season from 50 miles, and down to twice a week as the races got longer. Youngsters were tossed from 30 miles three times a week. Brian liked birds sitting 10 day old eggs for the long races, but depending on the individual pigeons. They had won 500 mile races two years running with a cock on three day old youngsters.

Ray & Anne Skillcorn of South Yorkshire

The Skillcorn loft had housed many outstanding racers including 'Charlie 1', who had several outstanding Amalgamation prizes to his credit including 1^st club, 1^st Federation, 1^st open Amalgamation (6,000 birds) Le Mans. Another star was '55' who was clocked every time he raced and recorded 1^st Federation Fareham (twice), 1^st Doncaster 2­Bird Championship Club, 1^st open Fareham (twice) and 1^st Moorends 2-Bird Open Wallingford, in his 30 card tally won in his wonderful racing career. The weekend that I visited the South Yorkshire loft, Ray took the first six positions in his club from Newbury. He had a very unusual widowhood system, where he races cocks and hens. Ray said his best performance was when his little blue pied hen won 1^st club, 1^st Federation, 7^th open South Yorkshire Amalgamation Poitiers in a thunderstorm and was only bird home on the day in two local Federations.

Ray & Anne's main loft was 56ft, with tongue and groove boarding and a tiled roof. It was self-built and had a 3ft corridor running the full length, with 8ft. wide sliding doors for quick trapping. The main loft housed racing birds only, with stock birds being kept in a breeze block shed and the widowhood hens had their own small loft. The Skillcorn loft housed 20 widowhood cocks and hens, 30 pairs of stock birds which were all paired up on 28^th January, with 70 youngsters being reared each season. The racing team consisted of Lefebre Dhaenen from Louella and some Van Leemputten, which were intro­duced in 1994. Ray fed natural corns and he bought most of their different mixtures and then mixed his own depending on the length of the races. Old birds raced through to 500 miles and he told me, all young birds must see the south coast, which was about a 200 mile fly, and occasionally if there was a young bird Channel race he would send some hens. Ray was a retired miner and both partners were great workers for the sport, being club secretary, Federation president, Federation treasurer, clock set­ters and Anne said chief cook and bottle washer for most of the fanciers in the club.

Brian Stone of Ripley

Brian Stone was born in Ripley and he started up in pigeon, the day he started to walk and looked after his dad’s birds. I first met Brian when I visited his Derbyshire loft factory of ‘Econolofts’, to video his team making up lofts for my fifth video. He was a regular advertiser in British Homing World and was well known for his ‘Stoney's Gone Mad’ slogan but not many people know he was an ace pigeon racer.

The Stone loft had had many premier wins through the years winning up to forty eight firsts in one season, also being top prize winner in five clubs and two Federations in one season. One of Brian's best birds was, 'The 01' Dark Hen', winner of eleven times 1^st club, three times 1^st Federation, 2^nd Federation and bred four Federation winners. The 1995 season saw the Stone loft being premier prize ­winners in Belper SR Club and North Derbyshire Federation, lifting Old Bird Average, Channel Average, Two Longest Races Average and Combined Average in the very strong Federation. Brian had been top prize winner countless times in different clubs and the Federation.

Brian's 60ft x 10ft loft was self-built and the main shell was an old porta-cabin from Derby hospital. It housed 20 pairs of racers, 10 pairs of stock and all old birds were paired up in the middle of January with about 80 young birds being reared each year. Brian raced cocks and hens on the widowhood system, but paired up mid-way through the season and to get the hens sitting for the long distance. He raced several families, the main ones being Busschaerts, Van Hee, and Babington Van den Bosche, Staf van Reets and Janssen all had to race from 60 through to 500 miles. Brian maintained no fancier should be refused membership of a club just because he is successful. He was a great believer in deep litter and rarely cleaned his loft out.

Well that’s it for this week! I hope my readers have enjoyed this look back at ten Nottinghamshire area champions of yester year. We will be looking at some more very soon. To view some old video footage of some of these fanciers and their birds go on to my YouTube channel. 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)