“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

Looking back at London & South East Classic Club winners (Part 5.)

Clive Turner of Capel.

The London & South East Classic Club got the 2011 season off to a great start in early May, when the members entered 1,811 birds in the Alencon race. For several days before the race, according to the early weather reports, it looked like it was going to be a good race and it proved to be so, with Rube Johnson liberating the convoy at 09.15hrs in to a light South East wind. The Classic’s transport manager, Clive Turner, won the race by a ‘country mile’ and also took 4^th open just for good measure! It was very pleasing to see Clive win this Classic as he was a great worker for our club, maintaining and garaging the L&SESS transporter at his yard near Dorking.

The first pigeon we looked at on my visit to Clive’s loft was his 4^th open Alencon winner and she was a yearling blue hen, raced on the roundabout system. This game hen had previously won race cards in the Horsham club as a young bird and was bred down from Clive’s old Busschaert and Janssen family. Her grand sire won Bergerac twice and her grand dam had a wonderful eye sign, winning many firsts in open eye sign shows. After looking at several premier racers, Clive handed me his 2011 L&SECC Alencon winner, ‘The Classic Cock’. This handsome three year old Staf Van Reet blue pied was raced on the widowhood system and has been one of Clive most consistent racers in recent seasons, winning 15^th Federation Lulworth as a young bird, 6^th Federation Yelverton and 6^th Federation Tours as a yearling, 3^rd Federation Kingsdown at two years of age and that season won 1^st club Newton Abbot before winning the L&SECC Alencon by 32 ypm clear. Clive tells me he is bred in the purple from a long line of good winners and his great grand dam was Tony Mardon’s champion breeding hen, ‘Rose’. A brilliant widowhood cock!

The 2016 racing season ‘kicked off’ very special for Clive Turner, with him winning premier positions in the club and Federation, and 11^th open (5^th member) in the first BICC race from Falaise (3,685 birds). Clive’s Falaise pigeon was a roundabout dark cock bred down from his old Busschaert family and this game three year old was only flying in his second race on the 2016 season. Clive has been a premier fancier in the South of England for many years, producing performances out of the ‘top draw’ every season in the Horsham Club, South Coast Federation and Nationals.

The last two seasons have been outstanding and 2013 being no exception winning many major positions including: 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 6^th, 8^th, 10^th, 11^th, 12^th, 13, South Coast Federation Fougeres, 4^th, 12^th South Coast Federation Saintes, 2^nd South Coast Federation Bergerac, 8^th section A, 48^th open NFC Tarbes (548 miles) Grand National, 11^th section, 28^th BICC Agen (487 miles), 3^rd open L&SECC Tours, 2^nd open L&SECC Bergerac, plus five firsts in the very strong Horsham club. A brilliant loft performance! After Clive Turner’s great success in 2011 when he won 1^st open London & South East Classic Club Alencon (1,811 birds), he has repeated his very high quality performances in the 2012 season, winning 1^st Horsham RPC, 1^st South Coast Federation, 1^st Combine Saintes (374 miles), 1^st, 2^nd Horsham RPC, 1^st, 3^rd South Coast Federation (800 birds) Fougeres (192 miles), plus many other premier prizes in the club and Federation. Clive won the Combine from Saintes with his good widowhood mealy pied cock, ‘The Saintes Cock’, and he was bred by Keith & Betty Mott of Claygate from two Busschaert / Staf Van Reet stock birds bred by Richard and Ken O’Connor of South Norwood. The Saintes Combine winner was latish bred in 2010 and has had very little racing, but as well as winning the Combine he has won several top positions inland in the strong Horsham club this season. His sire is the mealy pied stock cock, ‘Young Roman’, who is the sire of several good winners and is son of the champion Busschaert, ‘Roman Nose’, winner of four times 1^st Federation, when mated to the Paul Arnold / Staf Van Reet hen, ‘Dawn’, winner of 1^st Combine. The dam of ‘The Saintes Cock’ is a daughter of the O’Connor’s ‘Champion of Champions’, ‘Batman’, winner of 17 first prizes, including five times 1^st Federation and 4^th open Combine.  Champion ‘Batman’ is a Busschaert and half brother to Champion ‘Roman Nose’. A fantastic family of winners! Clive’s 3^rd South Coast Federation Fougeres winner in the 2012 season was also bred from Keith & Betty Mott blood lines.

The Turner pigeon set up consists of three very smart lofts, with a back drop of the beautiful Surrey countryside, and Clive races 30 cocks on widowhood, with the backup of 12 pairs on the roundabout system. He likes all racing, but prefers regular Saturday Federation racing and says he doesn’t race every week as he has 13 grandchildren and he likes to spend time with them in the summer months. The racers are paired at the end of January and are fed on a good widowhood mixture. Clive tells me he breaks the racing cock down during the season, but for a shorter period on the Continental events and has always practiced this method, even when he raced natural many years ago. Generally the cocks don’t see their hens on marking night, but get their mates on their return home, with the duration depending on how hard the race has been. The racers are trained prior to the first race, but never during the season and are exercised around the loft for an hour twice a day, and raced regularly to keep them fit.

Clive has had pigeons most of his life, but packed them up once many years ago, when he had a young family and was very busy farming for a living. He explained to me why he raced as D. Turner! When his son David was a lad he had a ‘five minute wonder’, obtaining a loft and some pigeons from a friend and when he got fed up with them, Clive took them over, but has never changed the ownership name. Clive had a period of his life living in Hounslow in the late 1960’s and raced in the Hounslow Mile and a Quarter Club in the company of greats like Freddie Meal, Hicks Brothers, Mr. Spratley and the great partnership of Claremont & Meads, who was the secretary at that time. He has been a great pigeon racer for many years and has been highest money winner in the very strong Horsham club several times over the years. He tells me he is a pigeon lover really, but doesn’t keep the widowhooders for the sprint races only, the whole old bird team race through to 450 miles. When I asked Clive what family of birds he kept he said, years ago they started off as the Busschaerts, which are the base family, but now he could call them ‘Turners’ as he has crossed in over many years and has now created his own family of pigeons which excel from 80 miles through to 450 miles. He says some of his original birds were purchased in Guildford market for £2 each! He has won many premier positions over the years, including 1^st Section in the National Flying Club and 9^th open L&SECC Pau (550 miles). The stock team is made with eight pairs of mostly good retired racers and these are paired up the same time as the racers so their eggs can be floated in the race loft. When I asked Clive what he looked for when selecting new stock birds, he said, ‘I can’t really explain, but when you get a bird in the hand, some tells you if it is right or not’. Clive races about 60 babies each season to the perch and only gives them minimal racing for education purposes only, but likes to train them well down to the south coast. He doesn’t use the ‘dark’ system with his babies, but races them natural to the perch and if they want to pair up during the racing season he allows them to do so for motivation. That’s our article for this month! I hope my readers have enjoyed our little up-date on the brilliant performances of one of the sport’s gentlemen, Clive Turner.

Frank & Susan Carson of Sutton.

Frank & Susan Carson of Sutton enjoyed a wonderful 2013 racing season and won 1^st open L&SECC Guernsey (old bird), and long list of positions in the Three Borders Federation, including 1^st and 2^nd Federation three weeks on the trot, plus 1^st and 2^nd SMT Combine. Fantastic pigeon racing! I had a week’s holiday in the south of France in mid-June of that year and on my return I visited the Carson’s home in Sutton to update Frank and Sue’s pigeon racing story. I last visited their loft for an article 30 years ago and although I’ve seen Frank about at pigeon functions, I think I’m right in saying I haven’t seen Susan since that visit 30 years ago. She is now a busy grandmother and looked really well. Susan takes an active interest in the running of the loft, for example she has trained youngsters while Frank is involved with the widowers. She kept records, cleaned out and anything else that needed doing. To get the best out of pigeons, Susan said, it's a matter of 365 days of dedication every year.

The star pigeon of the Carson loft in the 2013 season has to be the yearling blue pied cock, ‘Mr. Stoner’, and he recorded 1^st open London & South East Classic Club Guernsey (800 birds), and 1^st club, 1^st Three Borders Federation, 1^st SMT Combine Yelverton (1596 birds), being raced on the widowhood system. A nice little extra to ‘Mr. Stoner’s’ success story is the fact that his nest brother, ‘Alan’, was with him on the very same velocity from Yelverton (179 miles) and was joint 1^st open SMT Combine! This wonderful cock has won other premier positions in the 2013 season including 13^th Federation Honiton (1172 birds), being beaten by a loft mate. The widowhood blue cock, ‘Alan’, has a brilliant racing record in his own right, winning: 1^st Federation, 1^st SMT Combine Yelverton (1596 birds), 1^st Federation Exeter (938 birds), 2^nd Federation Honiton (1149 birds), beaten by a loft mate, 3^rd Federation Newton Abbot (985 birds), beaten by loft mate, 8^th Federation Wincanton (1149 birds), 14^th Federation Yeovil (1106 birds) plus several other premier positions including 1^st club Taunton. This fantastic nest pair of cocks were bred by Frank’s good friend, John Stoner of Mitcham, from the very best Willie Jacobs and Gaby Vandenabeele bloodlines. Another top racer this season has been the Willie Jacobs blue chequer cock, ‘The 15 Cock’, and he has beaten ‘Alan’ twice in the 2013 season for top honors in the Federation results. The brilliant widowhood cock has won seven times first club and 1^st Federation Wincanton (1995 birds), 1^st Federation Honiton (1149 birds), 2^nd Federation Newton Abbot (985 birds), 3^rd Federation Wincanton (1701 birds), 3^rd Federation Yeovil (1506 birds), 4^th Federation Honiton (1172 birds), 6^th Federation Yeovil (1106 birds).

Frank and Susan’s positions won in the Three Borders Federation so far that season were: (Old Bird) 7^th, 8^th Federation Wincanton (1128 birds), 8^th,10^th, 14^th Federation Yeovil (1361 birds), 2^nd, 3^rd, 23^rd Federation Newton Abbot (985 birds), 1^st, 2^nd, 17^th, 21^st Federation Exeter (938 birds), 1^st, 2^nd, 11^th, 13^th Federation Honiton (1149 birds), 1^st, 2^nd, 9^th Federation (1109 birds), 1^st, 2^nd, 9^th SMT Combine Yelverton (1596 birds), 6^th, 12^th, 14^th, 18^th Federation Taunton (1237 birds), 13^th, 23^rd Federation, 28^th, 40^th SMT Combine Truro (1393 birds), 4^th, 13^th, 25^th Federation Honiton (1172 birds), 6^th, 9^th, 12^th Federation Yeovil ( 1106 birds), 6^th, 8^th Federation, 9^th, 11^th SMT Combine (400 birds) Bergerac. A brilliant performance by the Carsons!

Frank told me the main families raced at the Carson loft are mainly Willy Jacobs from Ernie Goodyear of Barnsley and a few Gaby Vandenabeele from Mark and Dickie Evans, and they race about 16 cocks on the traditional widowhood system. The widowhood system is very basic and Frank tells me he exercises the cocks around the loft for one hour only every day and feeds twice a day on Mabdor widowhood mixture and a light mixture on their return from a race. The widowhood hens are kept in boxes and are shown to the racing cocks on marking night. The widowhood cocks get the hens for an hour on their return home from the race and no training is given once racing starts. His main interest is Saturday Federation sprint racing, but competes in races up to 450 miles, having won at all points up to Bergerac (450 miles) and is very careful with his feeding, breaking the cocks down in the first part of the week. Frank told me, ‘our pigeons are raced on the conventional widowhood system, with the cocks being kept on grills in their nest boxes. We use a ATX Radiation heating system throughout the loft and we have never used deep litter, having slatted floors in all the lofts’. The partners have two very smart lofts, the main one being 40ft long and this houses the widowhood racing cocks, young birds and the eight pairs of stock birds, which also live in a nice spacious flight. The stock birds are paired up the same time as the race birds in January and their eggs are floated in the race section. The breeders are fed on Frank’s own premier breeding mixture, which is three top quality mixtures knocked up together. When bringing in a new stock bird the partners look at the premier performances already achieved by the family. The big main loft has slatted floors, heaters for winter breeding and the trapping is designed for ETS clocking. Their small loft houses the widowhood hens and is a store for their corn and baskets. The old birds, stock and racers, are paired up in January and the partnership breed about 50 babies to race each season on the ‘darkness’ system. The partners like young bird racing and the babies are trained well and race the Federation programme. The babies are trained once a day through to 60 miles and the Carson’s young bird policy is home, fed and left to rest. Once they reach the 30 mile training stage they are no longer exercised around the loft. They are darkened for 12 weeks from April to June and from the day of their first race they are put on the ‘lightness’ system. They race through to 170 miles, occasionally sending the one or two to France and all are flown to the perch.

The Carson loft has bred several premier racer for other fanciers and the Esher partnership of Crook & Iddenden, had a brilliant race from Yeovil (1) in 2013, recorded 1^st, 3^rd, 24^th Federation, winning with their champion blue cock ‘Frank’, and then this brilliant cock went on to win 1^st Federation Yeovil (2) at the end of the season. Colin Crook and Andy Iddenden won the Three Borders Federation ‘Ken Besant Memorial Trophy’ in the 2011 season for ‘best pigeon of the year’ with their good blue cock, ‘Frank’ and this wonderful cock recorded: 2^nd Federation Kingsdown, 2^nd Federation Yeovil (twice beaten by loft mates), 7^th Federation Wincanton, 14^th Federation Wincanton, 16^th Federation Kingsdown, 23^rd Federation Newton Abbot. Frank and Susan Carson bred Colin and Andy’s champion Gaby Vandenbeele blue widowhood cock, ‘Frank’. He has won a list of premier positions in the last three seasons including 1^st Three Borders Federation Kingsdown. This game cock raced to Frank’s loft as a young bird and yearling and when Frank packed up for a while in 2008, the pigeon was gifted to Crook & Iddenden, too set the place alight with brilliant performances. Frank and Susan brought their Gaby Vandenbeele pigeons from Mark and Dickie Evans in 2003 and 2004, and were direct out of their champions, including the great ‘Shadow’. Frank and Susan won the Three Borders Federation Individual Points Trophy in the 2011, with 53 points, and they have always been regarded as one of the better racing outfits in the London area over the last 30 years, always being at the top of Federation and Open race result sheets. They had enjoyed a brilliant 2011 young bird season racing in the Three Borders Federation and their two Federation winners were both Willy Jacobs pigeons raced to the perch. The Carson loft had a brilliant season racing in the Three Borders Federation winning: (Old Bird): 24^th, 25^th Federation Yeovil (2230 birds), 3^rd Federation Kingsdown (1966 birds), 3^rd Federation Falaise (1174 birds), 14^th Federation Newton Abbot (1476 birds), 22^nd, 23^rd Federation Kingsdown (1321 birds), 8^th Federation Messac (857 birds), 25^th Federation Kingsdown (1090 birds), 11^th, 12^th, 13^th Federation Taunton (1080 birds): (Young Bird): 3^rd, 18^th Federation Blandford (1380 birds), 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, 5^th, 14^th, 15^th, 16^th, 17^th 18^th, 19^th, 21^st, 25^th Federation Wincanton (1260 birds), 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, 18^th, 19^th Federation Yeovil (1497 birds), 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 6^th, 7^th, 20^th Federation Blandford (1657 birds), 17^th, 18^th, 19^th, 20^th, 21^st Federation Newton Abbot (885 birds),7^th, 8^th, 9^th, 10^th, 11^th, 12^th, 13^th, 14^th, 17^th Federation Yelverton (880 birds). Fantastic pigeon racing!

Frank is a used car dealer by trade and has been in the sport 35 years. He told me, ‘Susan is a major worker with our pigeons and must take a share of the credit for our success over the years. Our youngest daughter Kimberley lends a hand when needed. I prefer sprint racing and have owned some really good widowhood cock in the early 1990s, which won up to 17 firsts each racing Saturday and Wednesday. Years ago we won the Kingston Open, when that was the main race to win with the best racers in the South of England sending their best. That was a great buzz! Over the years Susan and I have held most of the offices in the club, including Secretary and Chairman, but I personally think the modern day small clubs should amalgamate and create bigger clubs for better competition, to lift the sport out of decline. In my opinion John and Darren May are two of our best local fanciers, having put up some brilliant performance in the Combine, Classic and National over many years. Two great pigeon racers! Susan and I used to use the eye sign method in our stock loft, but as time has gone by we have gained a lot of experience, which has told us that breeders of winners come in all shapes and sizes, and some with not so good eye sign. In the stock loft we pair winners to winners, or breeders of winners to breeders of winner together! We are great believers in working the pigeons, but we also know they need rest and as soon as the last young bird race is over, we part all the birds and the loft is completely shut down for two months of the moult period’.

Frank was born in Battersea, South London, and his grandfather was a fancier flying as J. Carson & son in the Chelsea & South Lambeth club. Frank spent a lot of time with his grandfather and as a result became interested in racing pigeons. When his grandfather died in 1978 he moved in with his grandmother and took the pigeons over. In the early days Frank got a great deal of help from J. Langbridge who at the time flew in the Carshalton club. Frank's interest prior to pigeon racing was football for a local club as a boy, and just prior to taking over his grandfather's birds he successfully showed boxer dogs. Frank had then been in the sport six years and the first club he flew in was the Hackbridge DHS. His grandfather's stock were mainly Andre Vermote and Rene Boizard and Frank's performances were fairly good considering the knowledge and resources that he had at hand. At the end of 1981 the Carson’s decided that they wanted to fly the Widowhood system, so they went to their now good friends, Peter & Geraldine Hookins of Wimbledon. The Hookins were very successful Widowhood fanciers and Peter gave all the help and advice he could. Frank said he had gone from strength to strength since then. In the early days he made all the typical novice mistakes, overcrowding and over training. Penning several articles on Frank and Susan over many years, I can remember in 1984 the partners had the season of a lifetime winning twenty ­seven 1^st, nineteen 2^nd,  twelve 3^rd and twelve 4^th, flying in two Saturday clubs and a midweek now and again. The Carson’s raced the Widowhood system and in 1984 the eighteen cocks won twenty three 1sts, the other four winners were young birds. Frank once told me the high points in his time as a pigeon fancier were winning the Old Comrades eye sign class and the first time he won the Federation. Frank Carson is a born pigeon racer and has always been successful!

Mike & Lyndsay Armitage of Ash.

My assistant for the first London & South East Classic Club Guernsey young bird and old hens classic of 2008 was my son, Mark, and I must say I really enjoy have him riding ‘shotgun’, as he works hard, and is great company. For several days before the first young bird event from Guernsey, according to the early weather reports, it looked like it was going to be a holdover with rain over the Channel Islands on that Saturday, but my weatherman Steve Appleby, studied his carts and told me there could be a window in the weather for an early morning liberation. On the day Steve and I put our heads together and had an early release, too produce an excellent race against all the odds. I liberated the 2,151 birds at my earliest time ever at Guernsey and on my return home, late on Sunday morning; it was great to hear that the members enjoyed a very good race, with excellent returns. On our arrival at the Guernsey car park liberation site the sky had broken cloud cover and was bright and starry. I got no sleep as I knew it would be an early liberation or a hold over until Sunday and was keen to keep an eye on the weather and prepare the transporter for release. I rang my race advisor, Steve Appleby, at 06.00hrs and he gave me a favourable weather report for the English Channel and main land England, but informed me that the pending bad weather was about 40 miles west of Guernsey and coming in. I watched the weather with anticipation and with the sun braking through the 60 per cent broken cloud cover, we liberated the 2,151 birds at 06.30hrs in a brisk south / south west wind. The convoy broke into three batches and cleared Guernsey in a northerly direction in good time. After parking the transporter in the dock yard we had a full English breakfast at our regular café on the sea front and noticed it started to spit with rain at 08.00hrs, and then the Guernsey weather took a nose dive. At that time our birds were just hitting the south coast of England and were hot-foot on their way home. It was a work of art getting liberation and good race that day from a rain soaked Guernsey, but we beat the weather and enjoyed a good young bird and old hens classic!

Mike and Lyndsay Armitage of Ash sent six widowhood hens to the old hen’s classic and had a brilliant race, timing in five of his entries to record 1^st, 7^th, 26^th, 75^th and 91^st open. Wonderful pigeon racing by any ones standards! Mike’s classic winner was his good yearling blue hen, ‘LuLu’, and she was raced on Mike’s widowhood method, which he says is really a jealousy system. This game hen won the old hen’s classic by over 50 ypm and also beat the young bird classic winner! She had every ‘Lion Brewery’ Mid-Week Hamworthy race and three Federation channel races on her built up to her Classic win, and was not stranger to success having won several premier prizes for the Armitage loft. Her sire is Mike’s good racing cock, ‘Centenary Boy’, winner of 1^st club, 365^th open Nantes Centenary Race (65,000 birds) in 1999 and he was bred Roger Lowe’s Hartogs and Mike’s old family of Marriott. The dam of ‘LuLu’ was one of the premier stock hens at the Ash loft, ‘The Taylor Hen’ and she was bred by Colin Taylor of Kent.

The Armitage partnership have won 1^st open British International Championship Club from Le Ferte Bernard and have won the London & South East Classic Club three times, and although I've visited their home many times, one of my first visits as a pigeon writer was when he won the Classic from Alencon , with 3,252 birds competing. I was chief convoyer and press officer for the Classic at that time, and drove down to the ‘Lion Brewery' to see his winning pigeon. Mike's winner, a Fountainhead Janssen blue chequer cock was raced on Mike's own semi-widowhood system. This handsome pigeon, named “Wonder Boy” by Mike's young son, Tom, had won five races previously and raced in the Weymouth mid-week race on the Wednesday, before winning the Classic on the Saturday. The Armitage loft had a brilliant weekend winning 1^st and 10^th open L&SECC Alencon, 8^th open BICC Le Ferte Bernard and 1^st club Sennen Cove. A fantastic loft performance for one weekend!

The ‘Lion Brewery’ Mid-Week Club has its HQ at the ‘Lion Brewery’ PH set in the wonderful Surrey countryside at Ash and it is common knowledge that the pub has been run for the last 40 years by the premier pigeon racing partnership of Mike and Lyndsay Armitage, who have won both the BICC and L&SECC in recent seasons. The pub is a marking station for the NFC and BICC, and has been the home of the ‘Lion Brewery’ Mid-Week Club since 1980. Mike’s wife, Lyndsay, has a great interest in the pigeons and works very hard for all the clubs who are based at the pub in Ash. The very smart lofts are sited in the pub garden and Lyndsay has her loft of all white racing pigeon in the garden of the Armitage’s house next door to the ‘Lion Brewery’.

Mike Armitage started up pigeon racing in his home town of Hull over 60 years ago and has been an outstanding fancier over the years, winning many premier racing honours, including: 10^th open NFC Pau, the first ten positions in an open race and 1^st open Federation many times. Years ago he liked sprint racing, but is now in to channel racing with the BICC and NFC. He has been a publican for nearly 50 years and has been 38 years at the ‘Lion Brewery’, a wonderful little pub set in the Surrey countryside at Ash. The ‘Lion Brewery’ is very much a pigeon pub, with several clubs being based there, including the British International Championship Club, which has been there at Ash for over 20 years. He told me when the BICC first came to the ‘Lion Brewery’ it had 164 member and now it has progressed up to over 1,600 members, which he maintains is full credit to a great management team. Mike has three lofts totalling 160 ft. smartly set in the pub garden and all the birds are trapped through open windows to the ETS system. Mike has in recent seasons erected a new loft in the pub garden and I must say it looks very smart. The main 50ft Belgium style racing loft was purchased from Johnny May of Worcester Park after his recent retirement from pigeon racing and is kitted out with slatted floors, Perspex roof lights, German up and over nest boxes and the ETS. The families raced are Fountainhead Janssens and Busschaerts, Roger Lowe’s Hartogs and the fantastic Marriotts obtained from John Grey of Hull in 1977. The Marriott pigeons have been outstanding for Mike over the years and the 8^th open BICC Le Ferte Bernard winner on that brilliant weekend was a Marriott blue chequer hen, raced on the semi-widowhood.

The Armitage pigeons are raced on Mike's own semi-widowhood system, whereby he can race both cocks and hens in different races on the same day. He pairs up on 14^th February and the pairs are split in the normal widowhood way after their first round of youngsters. The cocks are raced and the hens trained in midweek, with them seeing one another two or three times during the week. Mike says he never breaks the racers down, but the racers are mostly fed on a first class widowhood mixture. He works very hard with his birds and they are so tame that prior to ETS, sometimes they used to land in the garden on their return from a race, and Mike could pick them up and clock them on the lawn. He keeps a bit of condition seed in his loft coat pocket and the birds follow him around the garden, looking for a tit-bit, which he gives them by hand. The stock birds are housed in nice big aviaries. He feeds all ‘Gem’ corn and never breaks his racers down. He pairs his stock birds up on 10^th December and the races in February, when they rear a single youngster before going on the widowhood system. At the end of the season Mike breeds a select few late breds off his best racers which are retained for stock. Mike breeds about 60 young birds for himself to race and these are put on a semi-darkness, which Mike says, they are taken off earlier than the conventional darkness pigeons, as he like them to moult as normally as possible. Mike uses the ‘Lion Brewery’ Mid-Week for training his youngsters and says, ‘a 100 mile race every Wednesday is brilliant education for them and then they race the Classic and National races’. Mike's lofts and pigeons are a credit to him!

Three Borders Federation 2023 Race Programme.

Old Bird: 22^nd April Wincanton: 29^th April Wincanton: 6^th May Honiton: 13^th May Okehampton: 20^th May Yeovil: 27^th May Bodmin: 3^rd June Honiton: 10^th June Truro: 17^th June Honiton: 24^th June Wadebridge: 1^st July Honiton: 8^th July Sennon Cove. Young Bird: 29^th July Wincanton: 5^th August Wincanton: 12^th August Yeovil: 19^th August Yeovil: 26^th August Honiton: 2^nd September Honiton: 8^th September Okehampton. Race marking and clock setting are all on Friday. Good luck! 

Well that’s our article for this week! We have featured three of the best lofts in the south of England this time and I hope you have enjoyed the read. 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)