“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
Three Borders Federation (Wincanton Race 2).
The weather forecast was horrendous for the Saturday of the second Three Borders Federation young bird race from Wincanton, so it was decide that the birds would be marked on Saturday night for a Sunday race. The decision was spot on, with the members enjoying a great race with excellent returns. Dom McCoy liberated at 08.00hrs into a west / north west wind and the leading pigeons made over 1800 ypm. Terry and Sue Lenard of the Ashridge club enjoy some great success by recording their second Federation winner of the season and taking the first five positions in the Wincanton Federation result. This was the partners first young bird race of the season, after have some bad luck on the build-up. Terry had his ‘A’ team first round youngsters in two crates in the garden and while he was in the house getting ready for work, they were attacked by a Fox. The Fox chewed two dowels out of the end of the crate and killed 12 of the 14 youngsters in it! He had to replace the killed birds with ‘B’ team later bred youngsters, which was a major setback for his racing preparation. Terry missed the first race and sent 16 babies to the Wincanton race, with the first three birds on the ETS being ‘B’ team youngsters. His Federation winner was the Ceulemans / Peter Van Der black pied cock, ‘Parkview Kayla’s Bro’ and he is half-brother to Terry’s good Federation winning hen, ‘Kayla’s Girl’. The second bird home, to win 2nd Federation was the Ceulemans blue pied hen, ‘Parkview 34’. Well done to Terry and Sue on yet another great performance!
The first ten in the Wincanton (2) Federation result were: 1) Terry & Sue Leonard 1818: 2) Terry & Sue Leonard 1814: 3) Terry & Sue Leonard 1812: 4) Terry & Sue Leonard 1793: 5) Terry & Sue Leonard 1792: 6) Terry Goodsell 1789: 7) Terry Goodsell 1788: 8) Malik & Khan 1787: 9) Paul Arnold 1787: 10) Terry Goodsell 1787. This was race number fourteen of the season and at this point the Esher club are leading for the ‘Federation Points Trophy’ with 53 points, with the Ashridge club being R/U on 48 points.
The Three Borders Federation were at Wincanton on the last weekend of April for the second old bird race and members sent 855 birds, for what turned out to be fast race, being liberated at 12.15hrs in a southerly wind. A partnership who were ‘knocking at the door’ on the previous weeks Federation result from Wincanton (1) recoding 4th, 8th, 9th, 10th was Terry Leonard and his wife, Sue, of the Ashridge club. The partners hit the top spot on Wincanton (2) recording 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 12th, 15th Federation. I spoke to Terry after the race and he told me, ‘I had four birds come together from the race and they all landed on the trap board together, and one got knocked off and finished up on the ground in front of the loft. The one that finished up in the garden was my good Ceulemans hen, ‘Parkview Princess’ who won 1st Three Borders Federation from Blandford in 2022. It frightened the life out of her and she finished up on the house roof and missed out on another top Federation position. The Wincanton Federation winner was a Ceulemans cross blue chequer hen from the best Frank and George Bristow bloodlines and she is now named, ‘Parkview Consistent’. This game hen has had other wins from in land race points. The second pigeon on the ETS from the Wincanton race was the blue cock, ‘Parkview Blue Boy’ and he was bred down from ‘Rossi’, the 2007 Belgium sprint champion for Eric Ceulemans’. The Ashridge club had a brilliant race, recording: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th, 16th, 24th Federation. Brilliant pigeon racing!
Terry and Sue Leonard won several premier positions in the Three Borders Federation in the 2022 season including 1st Federation twice, with ‘Parkview Princess’ and Parkview Sue’s Boy’. Terry told me, ‘These pigeons which are mainly Ceulemans which came to us through Frank and George Bristow, who started racing the Ceulemans in 2007, with outstanding success. My stock team are all from their winners that are retired to the stock loft’. In spite of the problems the Covid 19 virus has put on pigeon racing, the competition in the Three Borders Federation had been strong and hard in the 2020 season, and the mighty Ashridge RPC had come out on top for the third season on the trot, winning the ‘Federation Points’ Trophy’, with 114 points. Terry & Sue Leonard of the Ashridge club won the ‘Individual Points Trophy’, with 73 points and won 1st Federation several times in the 2020 season. Terry & Sue Leonard’s positions in the Three Borders Federation in the 2020 racing season were: (Old Bird): 12th, 16th, 18th Federation Honiton (925 birds), 22nd Federation Newton Abbot (846 birds), 19th Federation Yelverton (708 birds): (Young Bird): 3rd, 4th, 6th, 14th, 18th Federation Wincanton (1,051 birds), 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th, 21st, 23rd Federation Wincanton (750 birds), 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 23rd Federation Blandford, 10th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th Federation Wincanton, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 14th, 15th, 18th,24th, 25th Federation Honiton (608 birds), 4th, 6th, 11th, 12th,13th, 15th, 16th, 17th Federation Newton Abbot (314 birds). Brilliant pigeon racing!
After a wonderful season in 2020 when Terry and Sue Leonard were Three Borders Federation ‘Individual Points Trophy’ winners, they came on and had an even better year in 2021. The competition in the Three Borders Federation had been very ‘hot’ that year and Terry and Sue won the Federation ‘Individual Points Trophy’ for the second time, plus a long list of premier positions including: 1st Federation Okehampton (735 birds), 1st Federation Kingsdown (485 birds), 1st Federation Yeovil (397 birds), 1st Federation Yeovil (615 birds). The Three Borders Federation were at Okehampton at the end of May for the fifth old bird race and members sent 735 birds, for what turned out to be a good steady race. A partnership who had been ‘knocking at the door’ all season was Terry Leonard and his wife, Sue, of the Ashridge club. They chalked up 1st, 2nd, 13th, 20th Federation from this 172 mile race, with the first two birds on the ETS being two yearling widowhood hens of the Eric Ceulemans bloodlines and bred from Frank & George Bristow stock birds. The Federation winner was a beautiful mealy hen now named, ‘Tony’s Girl’, after the partner’s eldest son, Tony. The Federation were at Yeovil for the fourth young bird race and the Leonard partnership recorded their fourth Federation winner of the 2021 racing season and at that stage of the season were leading for the Federation ‘Individual Points Trophy’. Terry and Sue’s Yeovil Federation winner was a game darkness Frank Bristow / Eric Ceulemans blue pied hen, now named ‘Parkview Princess’ and she was raced on the ‘door system’. Terry retired five premier racers to the stock loft in the 2020 season and the Yeovil Federation winner was bred in the first round off these birds. Both her parents are Frank & George Bristow pigeons, with her dam winning 1st Three Borders Federation from Honiton and her sire winning several firsts in the club, plus 2nd Three Borders Federation Truro (233 miles).
Terry and Sue had a wonderful 2021 season racing in the Three Borders Federation and won: (Old Birds) 7th, 8th Federation Blandford (864 birds), 23rd Federation Wincanton (927 birds), 12th, 14th Federation Honiton (885 birds), 4th, 8th, 9th,15th Federation (832 birds), 1st, 2nd,13th, 20th Federation Okehampton (735 birds), 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 14th, 25th Federation Honiton (682 birds), 2nd, 4th Federation Bodmin (698), 1st, 11th Federation Kingsdown (485 birds), 1st, 15th, 23rd Federation Yeovil (397 birds), 17th Federation Honiton (362 birds), 5th, 7th, 13th Federation Wincanton (366 birds), (Young Birds) 10th, 11th, 12th Federation Blandford (622 birds), 1st, 4th, 5th, 11th, Federation Yeovil (615 birds), 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 18th Federation Blandford (509 birds), 10th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 19th, 20th, 21st Federation Wincanton (502 birds). Congratulations to Terry and Sue on the brilliant 2021 season!
I recently met up with Terry and we had a chat about his loft and young bird management. He told me, ‘The main loft is 35 years old and has been altered numerous times to the annoyance of Sue. My main loft is 18ft long and has three sections, the first section is for the first round babies which has 40 ‘pipo’ boxes converted into 20 nest boxes, and has three chimneys go through the ceiling. I have two young bird sections and both have grilled floors. The other young bird section has 35 of the same boxes and both have a ‘Unikon’ four bob hole trap. We feed our young birds Vanrobaeys & Beyers mixtures and both teams are school carefully with the training, so as to avoid knocking their confidence. They go through to 42 miles with their training before coming back to the 21 mile. We are not heavy users of antibiotics’ preferring to have screening done by vets and only then treating if necessary. They were jabbed twice in 2020 for PMV. We keep on top of any respiratory problems through checking them every three or four weeks and treating for three days if needed. They had no canker treatment this season as tests were clear and same with old birds last season and this season. All birds were darkness babies raced natural. We don’t clean out after May as we think this is beneficial, although both teams did go down with young bird sickness after their first race. Fortunately the younger team were started after the first so didn’t miss any races other than the Federation cancelled race which everyone missed. The 2020 Honiton Federation winner, ‘Kayla’s Girl’, is 25% Vander Merwe through a granddaughter of his National winning hen that also won a motor car, and is 75% Eric Ceulemans. The 2020 Blandford Federation winner, ‘Samantha’s Girl’, is 100% Eric Ceulemans. This winner came through pigeons from Frank & George Bristow, who I have bought pigeons from since 2014 and have become good friends with. Sue and I visit the Bristow family every year, except this year due to Covid. We are very grateful to Frank and George for the pigeons we have obtained from them and now have a very comprehensive stock team of their Ceulemans, off all their best lines’.
I first met Terry Leonard a few years ago when he came to my home in Claygate to have several of his Federation winners photographed and ever since he has continued to do well in the Federation and Combine results. Flying in the strong Ashridge club, members of the Three Borders Federation he had put some good performances in recent seasons. Terry won the Federation from Honiton in 2019, recording 1st, 3rd, 5th Federation and has previously won that season: 9th, 10th, 19th, 22nd Federation Blandford, 14th, 23rd, 24th, 25th Federation Blandford (2), 14th, 24th, 25th Federation Yeovil, 3rd, 11th Federation Kingsdown, 15th, 17th Federation Yelverton, 5th, 11th, 22nd Federation Exeter. The 2016 racing season saw the Leonard loft have some outstanding success, with the highlights being: 1st club Honiton, 2nd club, 20th Federation, 26th SMT Combine Falaise (1,591 birds), 1st club Blandford, 1st club, 10th Federation Yeovil (769 birds), 1st club, 3rd Federation Yeovil (878 birds), 4th, 5th, 6th club, 19th, 21st, 22nd Federation Exeter (651 birds).
Terry Leonard started up in pigeons at the age of twenty in 1978 and previous to that, was good friends at school with, Dave and Mick, the pigeon racing White Brothers of Epsom. After they had all left school Dave White moved into the house opposite Terry and after a few visits to Dave’s pigeon loft he caught the pigeon racing ‘bug’. Terry’s father had local pigeon racer Mick Heasman working with him and he presented some late bred youngsters to the young Terry too start him off in the sport. His first club was the Epsom Downs FC and his first loft was a 10ft x 6ft two section structure lashed up out of a load of wooden pallets that he had purchased for £10. They also straighten out the nails from the pallets and used then again! Terry and his dad built the loft, but he says, they were not carpenters and the shed reflected the fact! He also obtained birds from local Epsom fanciers including Dave and Micky White, Johnny Reynolds and Andy Norman, which started to win races from the outset. His early mistake was over feeding, but some of Terry’s early successes racing in the Epsom club were: 1st & 2nd club Blandford, 2nd club Vire and 1st club Bergerac. The fanciers who first impressed him with their performance was Bobby and Ken Besant of New Malden, who at that time were winning the Federation out of turn and in later years the late Ewell ‘ace’, Doug Walker. Doug was the first fancier to race on the widowhood system in the Epsom club and notched up countless winners in the early 1980’s. Terry race well with his ‘Heinz 57’ birds for several seasons and got more serious when Andy Norman bred him some pedigree Pol Bostyn stock birds. Andy put him in contact with Cliff Dobson of Idle Bradford and he had some of the first direct Bostyn pigeons in the UK, and Terry won well with them.
Terry now races in partnership with his wife, Sue, to their loft in Carshalton and when he was interested in sprint racing he was very successful racing the Paul Arnold / Staf Van Reets pigeons. One of his best sprinters was the Staf Van Reet mealy cock, ‘Taunton Boy’ and he was bred from stock obtained from Paul Arnold and Vic Emberson. This brilliant cock won 1st Federation Taunton, 1st Federation Portland, 1st Federation Taunton and was 2nd Federation Taunton, being beaten by his nest mate when they dropped on the loft together. Brilliant pigeons! The current loft is an ‘L’ shaped Kidby style structure and is very well ventilated with chimneys in the roof. Terry races his cocks on the widowhood system and these are housed in two sections with a glass frontage. These sections are very spacious and he tells me he never keeps more than eight cocks in each parting. He has 30 young birds to race each season and these live in a nice 6ft x 6ft section. Terry tells me he stole his wife’s 8ft x 6ft garden shed to house his 12 pairs of stock birds and now her new replacement shed has also been taken over for extra young bird accommodation. What sort of man is he! Deep litter is used in the young bird compartments and Terry tells me, since he started using the litter he has not had young bird sickness. He thinks the main factors behind good health in the pigeons are a well ventilated and bone dry loft.
He races the widowhood system and says he has tried various feeding systems, breaking down, not breaking down, but now feeds a light mixture at the beginning of the week and a high carbohydrate strong mixture for the last couple of days before the race. He doesn’t show the hens to the racing cocks on marking night, but is a great believer in leaving the hens with their mates on their return from the race, some times several hours. The cocks are trained well before racing, but never after it has started, only exercising around the loft for an hour twice a day. They stay on the widowhood right through the season, but Terry says he will try re-pairing for the longest race at some time and see if this improves the results. He told me resting pigeons after a hard fly is very important, as some times they look OK, but are they alright inside? The loft has won many premier positions in the Federation, Combine and Classic through the years including 2000: London Federation young bird average, 2007: 10th open L&SECC Tours, 2008: 7th open L&SECC Guernsey (2), 2010: 1st SMT Combine Fougeres (215 miles), plus many times 1st Federation.
The Leonard loft’s three top racers were: ‘Fougeres Express’ a two year old widowhood blue chequer cock and he won 1st Woodside FC, 1st Surrey Federation, 1st SMT Combine Fougeres, lifting the ‘Eric Matthews Trophy’. This game cock was a Romani Janssen / Kees Bosua cross and his sire won 1st Federation twice. The Combine winner was bred down from a wonderful line of winners, with his mother winning the Federation as a young bird and his grand sire winning seven times 1st club, three times 1st Surrey Federation and 1st SMT Combine. A brilliant family of winners! ‘Mr. Consistent’ another two year old blue chequer Romani Janssen / Kees Bosua widowhood cock and he had won a list of premier prizes in the Federation and L&SECC. ‘The Blue Boy’ a nine year old blue cock bred from the Paul Arnold bloodlines and is a grand son of Paul’s champion Staf Van Reet stock cock, ‘The Guvnor’. This great old widowhood cock won several top prizes including 1st Surrey Federation Portland and 2nd Surrey Federation Messac.
The two main families kept at the Leonard’s loft these days are Kees Bosua and Romani Fitzhugh Janssen, which have raced well pure and crossed. The stock birds are paired up in December and the first round of eggs are floated under the widowhood cocks. Terry visited Kees Bosua’s loft with some friends who were purchasing stock birds in 2005 and all the Leonard birds are bred from those purchases. Terry currently races about 40 young birds every season and is a great believer in schooling them well, by giving them many 30 miles plus training tosses before their first race. He puts his young birds on the ‘darkness’ system, giving them nine hours day light every day and they are taken off on the 21st June. He races them to the perch and they are allowed to pair up to motivate them for racing. The youngsters are raced through the programme to the longest race, Wadebridge (214 miles).
The late Fred Elliott of Thorpe.
I was very sad to hear of the passing of one of our best local fanciers, Fred Elliott. Fred and I go back many years and he was a brilliant pigeon racer long before we ever met. He telephoned me up about a month or so ago before his passing and in our conversation he said then that when he had his heart by-pass operation twenty odd years ago the doctors told him it would keep him going another few years, and there he was talking to me on the phone in his early eighties. Fred was noted for his after dinner speaking and his joke telling, being chairman and president of several organizations through the years. The great Fred Elliott passed over and the sport of pigeon racing lost another one of it’s great champions.
Fred Elliott had been one of the premier pigeon racers in the south of England for many year, with the highlight of his brilliant racing career being in 1994 when he won 1st open NFC Nantes. His National winner was his Busschaert widowhood cock, Champion ‘Euro Lad’ and when I say champion, this cock was a champion in the truest sense of the word. His sire was Fred’s dark pied cock, ‘Euro Bird’, winner of 1st open SMT Combine Rennes. Champion ‘Euro Lad’s’ full racing performance was: 1994: 1st Section, 1st open NFC Nantes (11,400 birds) plus the car, 1993: 1st Section, 7th open NFC Nantes (12,027 birds), 1st Three Borders Federation Le Mans, 19th open L&SECC Le Mans (1,885 birds), 9th open L&SECC Tours (1,090 birds). A fantastic pigeon!
Fred had been in pigeon racing for over 60 years and his consistent outstanding performances through those years must rate him one of the all-time greats of our sport. The 1987 season saw the Elliott loft win 1st SMT Combine from Rennes with his ‘ace’ dark pied Busschaert Widowhood cock, Champion 'Euro Bird', which was bred by Fred's good fiend Mervyn Patt of North Devon. He also won 1st Three Borders Federation from Weymouth for the Elliott loft. This great cock had won several firsts inland and on the Channel and was the sire of winners including 1st open National and 1st open Federation. Fred had won 1st Federation countless times through the years, including five times 1st Three Borders Federation in 1988. The loft won the Three Borders Federation Two Longest Old Bird races from Niort (351 miles) and Bergerac (455 miles), chalking up 1st Surrey, Three Borders, South Coast Inter Federations (2,458 birds) from Bergerac.
Fred started up in pigeons at the age of 10, in partnership with his elder brother, Bert, and they called themselves Elliott Bros. The two brothers kept their partnership going all those years until Fred moved to Thorpe about 30 years ago. Bert, sadly died several years ago, but was an outstanding fancier in his own right. Fred said, Bert and he were the opposites in pigeon management, with Bert saving his pigeons for pre-set races and Fred racing his through the card week after week. The partner's first birds were the Gush strain from the late L. Crow of New Haw and the Moss strain from the late John Furness of Woking, a life-time friend of Fred’s. When he casted his mind back Fred said he can remember L. Crow win 1st and 2nd section Penzance National just after the war. One of the brother's best birds in those days was Gush red chequer cock which won several races, in the Old Woking RPC (Surrey Federation). Another good pigeon was a black pied hen called 'Solo' because she was from an egg which Fred won in a card game! The Elliott's main mistake in those early days was over feeding; also the loft was self-built, with a doweled front and bob wires. Fred told me he thought the bob wires were a mistake as they were too heavy in the bird's back and made them slow on the trap.
For many seasons Fred had raced both natural and widowhood but in 1989 he went over fully on the Widowhood system, as he said the widowhood cocks are five minutes better than the Natural. The loft was 18ft x 5ft, with two widowhood and a young bird section. The 1989 season saw 13 cocks raced on widowhood. Fred maintained that dryness was most important in good loft design. Fred was a scraper man, but had tried out different loft litters over the years. The Elliott loft won the Three Borders Fed from Bergerac with a widowhood cock in 1988 and Fred said his cocks race the programme. The cock’s feed got heavier as the distance got longer and they were not trained or raced midweek during the season. The cocks were trained up to the first race and the inland races were used to prepare the birds for the Channel events. Fred once told me pigeon racing is observation and you feed to what you see they need. Correct feeding is the key to success with racing pigeons.
Fred paired up on Boxing Day and the hens were taken away with the youngsters at about 18 days old. The hens then finish off the squeakers in the young bird section. The birds were hopper fed when the youngsters were in the nest and Fred said an early morning feed is very important. The birds were re-paired after about 14 days and the cocks were trained while sitting the second round of eggs. The cocks were put on widowhood after sitting ten days and were not trained any more after this. The cocks were let out one hour in the early morning and an hour at night. Fred said they didn’t fly around home very well early in the week, but improve as the week progresses and by Thursday and Friday flew around well. Most of Fred's team were Busschaerts from Mervyn Patt and Oliver Gittings both from North Devon. Fred was a self-employed plumber and only had limited time for his birds, so he said the widowhood was the best system for him. He weaned the young birds early and hopper fed peas to begin with, but maintains that the most important thing is to get the youngsters out and flying as soon as you can.
Fred's positions won in one of his best seasons in the Three Borders Federation was 1988 and he recorded: 1st, 2nd, 7th, 12th Federation Blandford; 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th Federation Weymouth; 1st, 12th Federation Exeter; 11th, 21st Federation Weymouth; 11th Federation Alencon; 19th Federation Exeter; 2nd, 8th Federation Le Mans; 6th Federation Weymouth; 25th Federation Tours; 1st, 3rd Federation Niort; 25th Federation Plymouth; 7th Federation Weymouth; 1st, 17th Federation, 1st Inter Federations (2,458 birds) Bergerac; 1st Federation Blandford; 8th Federation Weymouth; 7th, 19th Federation Exeter; 2nd, 6th, 15th, 16th Federation Wadebridge. Fred was premier prize-winner in the very strong Sunningdale and Surrey Championship clubs in 1988, lifting a wonderful array of trophies in the Sunningdale RPC. The Elliott loft won eight times 1st club, four times 2nd club, six times 3rd club and five times 4th club in the 1988 season, which was a fantastic performance as it was one of the strongest clubs in the Three Borders Federation. Fred's Bergerac Inter-Federation winner was a two year old Busschaert blue chequer cock called, ‘Overdrive’, and he had won the Federation several times on widowhood. The dam was a late bred hen from Mervyn Patt and the sire was bred by Fred from the ‘Rapido’ Busschaert lines. He said he got a greater satisfaction from seeing his friends getting success, such as John Furness winning 1st SMT Combine Marmande and George Burgess and Jed Jackson winning the Pau National. Fred was very proud of the fact that he was president of the Sunningdale RPC and the Three Borders Federation for many years. He liked any distance when it came to racing and said he was trying every week.
He told me he was great believer in culling pigeons and couldn’t understand why some fanciers keep pigeons in their lofts that have never scored on the road. Every pigeon in the Elliott loft had to earn its perch and once they got too old to race they have to go. Fred kept the very minimum in numbers, but all the birds that were retained each season for racing were sound and had previous form. When it came to young bird training Fred gave them hell and almost tried to lose them, but his method produced better pigeons. The youngsters were generally trained to line, but were also tossed from the east and west in an effort to teach them if they were taken off line in races. Fred was interested in eyesign and judged many eyesign classes every season. He said, if you have a family of pigeons and you know your family, eyesign is a shortcut to the good pigeons.
Fred said that there is too much toing and froing at Federation meetings and club delegates should be allowed to vote on matters without mandates. When delegates have to keep taking matters back to clubs it wastes so much time and delegates should be responsible and vote off their own backs. Fred told new starters in the sport not to pay big money for birds and no youngster is worth more than about £15. Fred didn't believe there are sprint or long distance pigeons; a pigeon is a pigeon and will perform, no matter what the distance, on how it is managed. Fred judged lots of shows in the winter months, but only showed his Busschaerts in his club shows to give some support. He liked inbreeding his Busschaerts, but said you must be very careful with this, but has bred good pigeons from a brother and sister mating. For the moult he fed the best and tried to get it over with as quickly as he can. He thought the quality of racing over the past 30 years had improved because fanciers these days had transport for training and so have improved their performance. Fred's very nice home was near Thorpe Park in Surrey and a small stream ran behind the loft. Several yards beyond the stream there was a massive gravel pit which is very strong in pike, bream and roach. The Elliott's home was a pigeon fancier's and angler's dream.
Champion 'Euro Bird' and his nest mate 'On A Promise' must have been the dream brothers as both these two widowhood cocks won the Federation twice. The nest pair were bred by Mervyn Patt of North Devon from Corbett / Sarah's Busschaerts and their grandsire was the champion cock 'Sheer Class'. 'Euro Bird' was also proving outstanding at stock, being the sire of several good racers including the pied cock 'Oly' winner of 2nd Three Borders Federation Le Mans and 2nd Three Borders Federation Blandford (beaten by loft mate). Fred's 1988 Bergerac inter-Federation winner was the handsome Busschaert blue chequer cock 'Overdrive' and this cock must have been the ultimate in a racing pigeon, winning the Federation from the shortest and longest races. This cock was bred at the Elliott loft and his racing record reads: 1st club, 1st Federation Blandford (1,576 birds); 1st club, 1st Federation Weymouth (velocity 2495); 1st club, 1st Three Borders Federation, 1st Surrey / Three Borders / South Coast Inter-Federation (2,458 birds) Bergerac. ‘Overdrive’s’ grandsire was Fred's good dark cock 'Boyt's Boy' and he won 1st Three Borders Federation Niort in 1988. This great pigeon had previously won 1st Basingstoke Open race, 3rd Bedfont Open race and was sire and grandsire of Federation winners. Another ace pigeon direct from Mervyn Patt was the dark cock, 'Storm Bird', and he has chalked up 1st Three Borders Federation Weymouth and 2nd Three Borders Federation Weymouth. There you have it, the late Fred Elliott of Thorpe, one of the all-time greats of the Three Borders Federation!
The late Arthur Payne – ‘Success on a push bike!’.
Arthur Payne was 80 years of age and had never driven a motor car, doing all his pigeon work on his push bike, including taking the birds to the local club on marking night. His little team of racers only had one Guildford (20 miles) training toss before the first race and was only out of the Three Borders Federation result a couple of times in the 2006 old birds season. Arthur didn’t send to the last two S.M.T. Combine races, but still finished up third in the Federation Individual Points Trophy at the end of old birds. His 2006 old bird performance in the Federation was: 23rd Federation (1,563 birds) Wincanton: 4th Federation (1,805 birds) Wincanton (2): 2nd, 17th Federation (1,737 birds) West Bay: 20th, 21st Federation (1,775 birds) Kingsdown: 23rd Federation (1,212 birds), 45th open S.M.T. Combine Yelverton: 8th Federation (1,223 birds), 48th open S.M.T. Combine Wadebridge: 5th, 23rd Federation (1,557 birds) Exeter: 8th, 23rd Federation (1,081 birds), 9th, 39th open S.M.T. Combine Truro: 6th, 7th, 12th, 17th Federation (1,376 birds) Portland: 3rd, 8th, 20th Federation (788 birds) West Bay (2): 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th Federation (1,068 birds) Lulworth. ‘Success on a push bike!’
Arthur Payne started the 2006 season, in the same fashion as he finished the 2004 and 2005 seasons – winning pigeon races! The star bird of the 2006 season once again was Arthur’s Champion ‘Kenny’ and he won several premier positions this year, including: 2nd Federation West Bay, 3rd Federation West Bay, 8th Federation Wadebridge, bringing his win tally up to seven times 1st club. Arthur chalked up 1st club, 6th Three Borders Federation, from the first race of the 2005 season, from Lulworth with his brilliant Jan Huybregts blue chequer cock, ‘Kenny’, and this great pigeon has lots of previous good form, winning in 2004: 1st club, 1st Three Borders Federation, 4th open S.M.T. Combine Poitiers, 1st club, 9th Three Borders Federation, 11th open S.M.T. Combine Fougeres. A brilliant performance! Arthur named the handsome blue chequer, ‘Kenny’, after his breeder, the late Ken Besant of New Malden, who produced him from stock birds obtained from John Keywood of Hersham. Other top performers of the 2006 season were, ‘Mark 1.’, ‘Mark 2.’ and ‘The 25’, all Janssen cocks bred by Arthur and Bobby’s friend Mark Kidby.
Back in the 1970’s I flew in the very strong Kingston club, Surrey Federation, with Arthur and he was always one fancier to look out for, especially in the channel events. This great fancier, who was 80 years of age, told me that after racing in the Kingston club for over 50 years he was very sad to see this great club stop functioning at the end of the 2003 season. 2004 was Arthur’s first season racing in the Surbiton Flying Club and won ten races that season, taking the first three positions several times. He enjoyed a brilliant season in the Three Borders Federation, recording 10th open Exeter (1,292 birds), 8th open Lulworth (2,384 birds), 9th open Fougeres (1,137 birds), 8th open West Bay (2,105 birds), 3rd open Exeter (1,584 birds), 1st open Poitiers (823 birds), 10th open Lulworth (1,629 birds), 18th open Kingsdown (1,140 birds). A brilliant loft performance! Arthur’s son-in-law is Bobby Besant of the old double National Flying Club winning partnership of C. H. Besant & sons of New Malden and he enjoyed his Saturday afternoons at Arthur’s loft, helping him clocking in.
Arthur’s set up consisted of two small lofts, which were scraped out regularly and they were very open, as he was a fancier who likes plenty of fresh air for the inmates. He said he had always been a scraper man and had never used deep litter on the loft floors. The old birds were raced on a type of roundabout system, with 25 pairs of racers being paired up in February. Never having driven a car, Arthur just rode a bike, so his hens were trained on the local pigeon transporter twice a week. The cocks were not trained, but exercised round the loft every day. The racers were fed a good widowhood mixture, being broken down in the early part of the season and were given extra maize as the races got longer. Just like the normal widowhood system, the hens were shown to the cocks on marking night and they race every week in the Federation. Arthur told me that ‘Kenny’, his first winner of the 2005 season, had flown in 25 races over the previous two seasons. The Payne loft housed several families of pigeons, including Janssens from Mark Kidby, Huybregts from John Keywood, Winkel and some birds introduced of Eric Cannon long distance family. The main stock cock was a Winckel called ‘Peanut’ and a lot of his winning bloodlines were in the loft. This wonderful old cock was Arthur’s favourite and used to come into the back kitchen, and eat peanuts off the table. ‘Peanut’ was never raced from France, but won many inland races for the Payne loft. He was a good racer, but a better breeder, and had bred no end of winners for Arthur. A grandson of ‘Peanut’ won two races in the 2004 season. Two of the top racers in the loft, ‘The Image’ and ‘Queenie’, were direct children of the old blue cock and Arthur said ‘The Image’ was the image of his father, and had won races every season. ‘Peanut’ was bred by C. H. Besant & sons and strayed in to Arthur’s loft as a young bird, but liked the Payne loft so much, he kept coming back and was gifted to him. A wonderful old pigeon!
Ray Roberts of Hersham.
In the 2003 season the Three Borders Federation sent 780 birds to its longest old bird race from Bergerac (450 miles) and only a few birds were clocked on the day of liberation. The Federation liberated at 0600hrs and Ray Roberts of the Hersham club had a brilliant race, recording two day pigeons, at 18.30hrs and 20.02hrs, to win 1st and 2nd club, 1st and 12th Three Borders Federation, 2nd open SMT Combine. Ray's Bergerac Federation winner was his good Staf Van Reet red chequer cock, named ‘The Red Cock’, which was bred by his good friend, John Allen of Chester-Le-Street. This game cock was raced on the natural system, being sent to Bergerac sitting 10 day old eggs, and had four channel races on his build-up to the Federation win: The second pigeon on the clock from Bergerac was his Busschaert blue cock, ‘Blue Vision’, and he was also sent to Bergerac on 10 day old eggs. Ray told me at that time, he must say a big thank you to John Allen for giving him his Bergerac winner and also to Danny Alison who helps with the training of the Roberts' pigeons.
Ray raced to a two section 12ft x 6ft loft at his home in Hersham and used sputnik trapping and a sharp sand litter on the floor. He put his eight pairs of racers together on Boxing Day and raced on the natural system with channel racing in mind. The main families raced were Busschaert and Staf Van Reet, with the birds being trained several times each week during the season, from Alton in Hampshire.
Being a pigeon fancier for 45 years, Ray started at the age of ten, winning his first race ten years later. His brother, Colin, raced pigeons in the early days and they obtained their first stock from a premier local fancier named George Wicks. Ray was a very keen Angler but pigeons and his sons took up all his spare time. He fed a good mixture all the year round and told me he was only really interested in long-distance channel racing, using the club inland races for training. Ray Robert’s loft had no stock birds and prior to winning 2nd open SMT Combine Bergerac in 2003, his best performance was 3rd open Combine Avranches. Ray told me he didn't like the darkness system and raced his young birds natural to the perch. He rated Johnny Keywood and Trussler Brothers the best local fanciers and said they were always at the top of the Federation result sheet.
That our article for this week. Well done to Terry and Sue Leonard for their Wincanton 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)