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“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT - 14-09-23

“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

Three Borders Federation (Honiton Race).

The Three Borders Federation were at the Honiton liberation site at the end of August and enjoyed another excellent race when the Federation convoyer, Dom McCoy, released the birds at 08.45hrs in a west wind. The wind turned to south west half way home and the leading birds made over a ‘banging’ 1800 ypm, and the first ten positions in the result were gone in 9ypm. What can I write about the Ashridge ‘Master’, Terry Goodsell that I haven’t written before this season, except he recorded his fifth Federation winner of 2023, winning 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th Federation Honiton. He has won the Federation 'Individual Points Trophy’ several times in recent season and at time he is ‘red hot’ favourite to win it again with 82 points in his bag. It was the Ashridge club’s day with their members winning many premier positions, including the first ten in the Federation result. Right up there with Terry in the Federation result was Frank and Sue Carson, who having been ‘knocking on the door’ all season and they won 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 21st Federation in the Honiton race. Brilliant pigeon racer by these two Mitcham area lofts!

The first ten in the Honiton Federation result were: 1) Terry Goodsell 1817: 2) Frank & Sue Carson 1811: 3) Frank & Sue Carson 1811: 4) Terry Goodsell 1810: 5) Terry Goodsell 1810: 6) Terry Goodsell 1810: 7) Terry Goodsell 1810: 8) Terry Goodsell 1810: 9) Terry Goodsell 1810: 10) Frank & Sue Carson 1809. This was race number seventeen of the season and at this point the Esher and Ashridge clubs are joint leading for the ‘Federation Points Trophy’ with 60 points.

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Frank & Susan Carson of the Ashridge club are enjoyed a wonderful 2023 season and have been ‘knocking on the door’ on the Federation results all season, including being beaten by two yards to record 2nd Federation Yeovil. Their most recent win was from the Yelverton race, recording 1st 9th Federation. Frank and Sue have won countless Federation positions through many years, but I think the 2013 racing season was one of their best, winning 1st open L&SECC Guernsey (old bird), and long list of positions in the Three Borders Federation, including 1st and 2nd Federation three weeks on the trot, plus 1st and 2nd 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 previous 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 previous. She was 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.

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The star pigeon of the Carson loft in the 2013 season had been the yearling blue pied cock, ‘Mr. Stoner’, and he recorded 1st open London & South East Classic Club Guernsey (800 birds), and 1st club, 1st Three Borders Federation, 1st 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 is joint 1st open SMT Combine! This wonderful cock had won other premier positions in the 2013 season including 13th 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: 1st Federation, 1st SMT Combine Yelverton (1596 birds), 1st Federation Exeter (938 birds), 2nd Federation Honiton (1149 birds), beaten by a loft mate, 3rd Federation Newton Abbot (985 birds), beaten by loft mate, 8th Federation Wincanton (1149 birds), 14th Federation Yeovil (1106 birds) plus several other premier positions including 1st 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 that season had been the Willie Jacobs blue chequer cock, ‘The 15 Cock’, and he had beaten ‘Alan’ twice in the 2013 season for top honors in the Federation results. The brilliant widowhood cock had won seven times first club and 1st Federation Wincanton (1995 birds), 1st Federation Honiton (1149 birds), 2nd Federation Newton Abbot (985 birds), 3rd Federation Wincanton (1701 birds), 3rd Federation Yeovil (1506 birds), 4th Federation Honiton (1172 birds), 6th Federation Yeovil (1106 birds).

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 1st, 3rd, 24th Federation, winning with their champion blue cock ‘Frank’, and then this brilliant cock went on to win 1st 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: 2nd Federation Kingsdown, 2nd Federation Yeovil (twice beaten by loft mates), 7th Federation Wincanton, 14th Federation Wincanton, 16th Federation Kingsdown, 23rd 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 1st 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 have 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: 24th, 25th Federation Yeovil (2230 birds), 3rd Federation Kingsdown (1966 birds), 3rd Federation Falaise (1174 birds), 14th Federation Newton Abbot (1476 birds), 22nd, 23rd Federation Kingsdown (1321 birds), 8th Federation Messac (857 birds), 25th Federation Kingsdown (1090 birds), 11th, 12th, 13th Federation Taunton (1080 birds): Young Bird: 3rd, 18th Federation Blandford (1380 birds), 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th 18th, 19th, 21st, 25th Federation Wincanton (1260 birds), 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 18th, 19th Federation Yeovil (1497 birds), 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 20th Federation Blandford (1657 birds), 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st Federation Newton Abbot (885 birds),7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 17th Federation Yelverton (880 birds). Fantastic pigeon racing!

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Frank is a used car dealer by trade and has been in the sport 40 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 1st, nineteen 2nd,  twelve 3rd and twelve 4th, 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!

Mick & Lyn Chaplin of Woking.

Mick and Lyn Chaplin of the Pyrford club are enjoying a brilliant 2016 racing season, with the highlight winning, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th club, 1st, 2nd, 5th, 7th Federation, 1st, 2nd, 5th, 7th  SMT Combine (1,591 birds) Falaise. A fantastic performance! The convoy was liberated at 09.30hrs in a south / south east wind and Mick says, on the day the wind was spot on for his birds flying to his loft in Woking. His winning pigeon was his yearling blue chequer widowhood cock; ‘West End Vulcan’ and he won the Combine by five minutes. This champion cock has won 4 firsts and 2 seconds in the club in the first half of the 2016 racing season and won 1st club Exeter the week after he won the Combine. ‘Vulcan’ had five races as a young bird and on one side is bred from Mick’s old Burger family and his dam was a ‘Rutz’ pigeon from the late Tony Haywood. His nest mate has since won 1st club, 7th Three Borders Federation Kingsdown. Mick’s 2nd SMT Combine Falaise winner was his Jan Aarden Dark WF cock, ‘West End Jet’ and his parent came from the ‘House of Aarden’ lofts. This game two year old widowhood cock has previously won: 1st section G, 30th open BBC Messac, 4th section G, 88th open BBC Bordeaux. Mick told me, this season’s performances are a great follow up to his outstanding 2015 season, when he won: thirteen times 1st club, 1st section, 2nd section (twice), 3rd section (three times) in the BBC and 1st, 2nd section, 4th, 5th open in the BICC.

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Born and bred in Knaphill, near Woking in Surrey, Mick started up in pigeons as a 15 year old, in 1962 with Gift birds from Jim Povey and John Furness, his first loft being a 6ft x 4ft converted shed. He joined the Woking RPC, which was one of the premier clubs in the Surrey Federation at that time. He recalls that he won his first race from Nantes in 1966, with a little black pied hen, and all the premier fanciers in the Woking jokingly said it must have escaped from the basket. He married his wife, Lynette, in 1971 and had to sell all his worldly possessions including his pigeons so they could buy their first house.  He still maintained his interest in pigeons by clocking in for John Furness and cleaning his lofts out Sunday mornings. Finally in 1987 after moving to West End village he decided it was time to start up again and John Furness lent Mick several pairs of Frans Van Wildemeersch stock birds for three months. These, with a few of the Furness Burghers formed the base of the Chaplin loft today. Mick's great old cock "Champ" was bred from these original Van Wildemeersch pigeons. Further additions over the past few years of Stud Topper Busschaert lines, Van Loons from Tony Hayward and Jan Aardens from Derek Squire have further strengthened the team.

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Like most of the Federations in the UK, the Three Borders Federation postponed the start of the 2013 racing season by two weeks because the adverse wintery weather we suffered in the first half of April. The first race was flown from Wincanton when members sent 1,128 birds and enjoyed a good fly being liberated at 12.00hrs in a light south east wind. Mick and Lynette Chaplin of Woking recorded their good Snootjens dark cock, ‘West End Paul’, to win the Federation doing 1422 ypm. Mick tells me this widowhood cock is the only sprint pigeon he owns, but has been a very good racer, winning six first inland racing, and has flown the Channel twice winning 47th open BICC Le Mans and 117th open L&SECC Alencon. On the day, Mick thought ‘West End Paul’ came from the wrong direction to be any good in the Federation from Wincanton, but came and trapped like a rocket. Looks like Mick was wrong! Mick is a member of Pyrford RPC where he is the chairman, the London & South East Classic club, the National Flying Club and the British International Championship Club. Lynette, Mick’s wife has been a brilliant help with the pigeons all through the years and their three grown up children although not really interested in the pigeons have always looked after them while they are away on their frequent trips abroad. Mick says that the small Pyrford club is friendly and well organised and its members have won no less than nine times 1st open London & South East Classic Club races.

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Mick Chaplin has a very smart self-built loft 20ft long with three sections with stall traps and a small 6ft stock loft. The widowhood section has 18 nest boxes and the loft is cleaned out every day, when a light dusting of sand is thrown on the floor. He races 18 cocks on the widowhood system and these are paired up normally in mid-January but a couple years ago it was mid-February due to holidaying in Egypt cruising on the Nile. The Chaplin loft is flown on a basic widowhood system, with the racers being paired the same time as the stock birds, so the breeder's eggs can be floated. The cocks are put on the widowhood system while on their second round of eggs and are given as many training tosses as possible before the first race after which they are not trained with most of the team flying the whole programme. The hens are shown to the cocks on marking night for inland races only and get their mates for about an hour on their return from the race. Mick sometimes re-pairs a few cocks for the longer distance events and told me his good "69" cock which had won 1st club, 1st Federation, 7th open SMT Combine Le Mans when paired and sent sitting won 13th open L&SECC Pau & 6th open L&SECC Pau in consecutive years after which he was put to stock. The same procedure was adopted with the blue cock, ‘West End Boy’, resulting in 9th open NFC Saintes. Another very consistent cock is ‘West End Charlie’, who has flown the channel 20 times over the last 4 years winning many prizes including this year 35th open NFC Tarbes.  With Mick’s small team he has to be selective in his race selection and only sends small teams to the channel races. At the end of old bird racing, the cocks are re-paired so the widowhood hens can be trained with the young birds and they are sent to the L&SECC, NFC and BICC Old Hens races. This practice has been very successful for the Chaplin loft in the past few seasons including 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 4th & 6th open in the L&SECC.  In the NFC Old Hens over 20 open positions including 5th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 15th and 20th. Other principle recent L&SECC results include 1st open YB Guernsey, 3rd open Bergerac and in the BICC seven top 20 positions including provisionally 7th open in the old hens race also many club wins have been achieved.

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The birds are never broken down but are fed a mix of Gerry Plus and Widowhood mix and as the channel races get longer Irish mix is added, medication is used only in extreme cases as over the years Mick is very selective in his introductions as he believes this is one of the main causes of disease that is prevalent these days as ones own pigeons natural immunity can be impaired when pigeons are introduced from other sources. Aviform products are also used regularly in the water.  During the close season a winter mix and barley is used. He breeds 35 young birds for racing each season and they are put on the "darkness" system from weaning. After they are weaned, they are fed on maple peas for about four weeks and then are raced on a quality young bird mixture. The youngsters are raced to the perch, but nest bowls are put in the section and if they want to pair up for racing, they are allowed to.

The Three Borders Federation sent 931 birds to Messac on the last weekend in May 2010 and with a holdover, and adverse weather for most of the weekend, had one the hardest races of the 2010 season so far. The SMT Combine liberated at 08.15hrs in a strong west wind on the Sunday morning and had a good race. Mick and Lynette Chaplin of the Pyrford club two pigeons on the clock in six minutes to record 1st, 2nd club, 1st, 8th Three Borders Federation, 1st, 8th open SMT Combine. Just before the Messac race the Chaplin’s were on holiday in Cyprus for three weeks and the birds were looked after by their good friend, Martin Cutt, who seems to have a good edge on the condition with his feeding, as the birds were locked up for the three weeks. The first bird on the clock was, ‘Westend Jake’, a yearling Burger cross blue chequer cock and he had several races on his build up to his Combine win. He is bred from a line of good winners, with his grand dam winning 1st open L&SECC Guernsey (old hens) and his grandsire recording 6th and 13th open L&SECC Pau. The second pigeon recorded from Messac, to win 8th open SMT Combine, was the yearling cock, ‘Westend Lady Boy’ and he has been very good racer this season previously winning: 1st club Fougeres and second bird recorded from the NFC St. Malo race. His sire, another Burger cross pigeon, is one of Mick’s best racers recording: 1st club, 1st Federation, 7th open SMT Combine Nantes, 6th open L&SECC Pau and 13th open L&SECC Pau. A brilliant family of pigeons!

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Mike and Lynette had a wonderful 2009 season, with the high lights being their 3rd open L&SECC Guernsey (old hens) and 7th open BICC Falaise (old hens), both recorded in August. The partners have put up many outstanding performances through the years, but their fantastic result in the London & South East Classic Race from Guernsey in 2003 must rate as their best ever! The L&SECC got the 2003 young bird season off to a good start, when the members sent 2,036 youngsters and 395 old hens to Guernsey. The Saturday morning of the race kicked off with full cloud cover over Guernsey, but the convoyer played the waiting game and liberated the convoy at 11.15hrs in a light northerly wind, with bright sunshine on the baskets. The birds cleared the Island well and returns were excellent. Mick and Lyn had the race of a lifetime, recording 1st open Young Bird Classic and 1st and 2nd open Old Hens Classic. When I visited Mick's home a week after the classic, he was bubbling with his brilliant success and he said it was the best race he had ever had. Mick clocked his Young Bird Classic winner first at 14.22hrs and it was his good "darkness" blue pied Frans Van Wildemeersch hen, “Chaplin's Girl", raced to the perch. This game little hen had three races on her build up to the Guernsey Classic and is bred down from "The Champ", who Mick says, is the father of the loft. Mick tried the "darkness" system for the first time that year and halfway through the season, Mick and Lyn went away on holiday for three weeks and their non-fancier son looked after the pigeons. He was given the instructions on how to keep the "darkness" system going, but Mick is doubtful that he followed them and is not sure if his youngsters were in total darkness or total light for the three weeks he was away. Mick says whatever the lad did he did the right thing, as the Chaplin youngsters had been coming brilliant! Mick told me that prior to the Guernsey classic the youngsters were flying well around the loft and in the week before the race, the whole team including the old hens were given four 40 mile training tosses, which he maintains put them right. He said the loft was on good form for about a month and recorded 1st club, 2nd Federation, 5th open Combine Bergerac (450 miles), 39th, 80th, 125th and 149th open L&SECC Bergerac, clocking all four birds on the day of liberation, just a couple of weeks before the Guernsey classic.

The Sparrow Hawk problem population has increased dramatically over the past few years locally and has lost at least five birds he knows of to attacks around the loft. Mick thinks that the future of pigeon racing as we know it is bleak as there are no youngsters coming into the sport.  When Mick started pigeons there were six other young boys in the local Woking club all of whom turned out to be successful local fanciers. Also with clubs and federations getting smaller and smaller the way forward will be for amalgamations of clubs with the Federations undertaking inland racing only and the specialist clubs organising the channel racing. In the longer term the outlook for pigeon racing will be more centralised with individuals buying or breeding birds to be raced against others from a single loft by a loft manager/trainer on their behalf as is becoming more popular with the increase on single loft races. There you have it the wonderful success of Mick and Lynette Chaplin of Woking!

Reg and Richard Maybey of Virginia Water.

The loft that set the Surrey / Berkshire pigeon fancier alight in recent seasons was that of the late Reg Maybey and his son, Richard, who raced in partnership with their wives, Jocelyn and Silvie. The pigeon racing at the Berkshire loft was very much a family affair with Reg and Richard being a father / son partnership and another important part of the team was family member, Harold Coleman, who had been helping out with the very successful pigeon management for over 20 years. The partners won the Three Borders Federation four times in one season and also won the Berkshire Federation four times, and to topped off a brilliant season by winning 1st open SMT Combine (3,174 birds) Messac. The Combine winner was the two year old widowhood blue chequer cock, called quite plainly ‘The Combine Cock’, and previous to his Messac win he recorded several premier positions including 1st club, 5th Federation Yeovil. On the first race of that season Reg and Richard put up a fantastic performance by recording 1st, 2nd, 3rd Three Borders Federation and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Berkshire Federation on the same day. The partners won 1st Federation eight times in that season. Brilliant pigeon racing!

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The Maybey partnership raced their old birds in two teams, one on pure widowhood in the Berkshire Federation and the other on the roundabout system in the Three Borders Federation. The racers were paired the same time as the stock birds in late December and the widowhood pigeons rear at least one youngster before going on the system. The racers started training three weeks before the first Federation race and were given ten tosses up to 35 miles. Richard told me, un-like most widowhood fanciers they continue to train for the first two weeks in the season and then they just got exercise around the loft twice a day. The roundabout racers were not broken down, getting a ‘Sports’ mixture all the time, but the widowhood cocks got depurative mixture for two days after the race as a brake down and then got the ‘Sport’ mixture for the rest of the week. Both teams saw their hens on marking night for about two or three minutes and on their return got their mates for about an hour, depending how tough the race had been. The partner’s very smart loft was the late Roy Bishop’s old Kidby loft which was sited at Weybridge and it was extended five years earlier, making it 65ft long and ‘L’ shaped. Reg maintained a loft must be dry and they used deep litter in the stock and young bird sections, with the old bird racers getting the floor boards scraped regularly.

The Maybey partnership’s performances in the Three Borders Federation in that year were: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 21st Federation Wincanton (1,367 birds), 5th, 6th, 8th, 17th Federation Yeovil (1,837 birds), 7th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th Federation Kingsdown (1,703 birds), 9th, 10th, 11th, 13th Federation West Bay (2,027 birds), 11th Federation Fougeres (1,038 birds), 1st, 22nd Federation West Bay (1,691 birds), 1st, 8th Federation Messac (1,008 birds), 1st open SMT Combine, 3rd Federation Exeter (1,415 birds), 1st, 12th Federation Kingsdown (1,453 birds), 20th Federation Tours (825 birds), 13th Federation Portland (1,228 birds).

In that same season the winners of the London & South East Classic Club ‘Brooker Gold Cup’ were Reg and Richard, with their good yearling widowhood blue pied cock, called ‘The Gold Cup Cock’. His sire was bred by Orly en Dirk Pals of Bovenkerk and was purchased on trip to Holland in 2007. His dam was a Grizzle gifted to the Maybey’s by club mate John Waldron and Richard said, ‘I took a shine to this hen the first time I handled her at the club and John promised me that when she retires I could have her’. She was a 2002 bred pigeon who has scored over the channel many times, with her mother being a Combine winner from Nantes and her father was a purchase from Lier market in Belgium. The partners previously won the ‘Brooker Gold Cup’ in 2007 with their good blue chequer hen, ‘The Classic Hen’.

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Reg and Richard bred 100 young birds each season, 50 for racing in the Three Borders Federation and the other 50 for the Berkshire Federation. Starting at 5 miles, they were trained on a gradually build up to 40 miles and were not raced on the darkness system, but kept natural all season. When they were weaned they went on to a ‘Breed and Wean’ mixture for a while, then on to their own light mixture of young bird and depurative. The old and young birds were all raced on supplements supplied by Ken Wise of Isleworth, from Travipharma and Natural Products. The partners had enjoyed many successes through the years with their pigeons, including 2009: 1st open SMT Combine Messac, 2008: 2nd open L&SECC Bergerac and 2007: 2nd open L&SECC Guernsey (OH). Reg said at the time, over the last few seasons they had specialised in sprint / middle distance racing, but in recent seasons had become members of the London & South East Classic Club and National Flying Club, so hoped to enjoy some quality long distance racing in the near future. Their family raced well up to Bergerac (450 miles) and in the last three seasons had won over 80 first prizes, including 18 times 1st Federation. Richard told me it was a great thrill to win the SMT Combine from Messac in 2009 and to achieve that allusive first after winning 2nd, 3rd and 4th open many times over the years. In their short time racing in the L&SECC, Reg and Richard had been very successful racing hens, with their main classic stars being ‘The Bergerac Hen’ and ‘The Classic Hen’. Both these two champion hens had put up fantastic results in the classic being raced on the roundabout system. I think their performances are well worth a mention with them winning: ‘The Classic Hen’: 2nd open L&SECC Guernsey (OH), 5th open L&SECC Guernsey (OH), 12th open L&SECC Guernsey (OH), 23rd open L&SECC Guernsey (OH), 55th open L&SECC Guernsey (OH), 72nd open L&SECC Guernsey (OH), 8th Federation Picauville: ‘The Bergerac Hen’: 2nd open L&SECC Bergerac (450 miles), 6th open L&SECC Guernsey (OH), 15th open L&SECC Guernsey (OH), 108th open L&SECC Bergerac, 3rd Federation Kingsdown. Two fantastic hens!

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The Maybey family were originally based in Hounslow and at that time, Reg had been in the sport about 40 year, with Richard coming into the partnership as a six year old ‘floor scraper’. Reg recalled his first birds were six gift squeakers from his good friend, Charlie Francis of Shepperton and the only other family member to keep pigeons at that time was Uncle Arthur who lived in Wellington Road, Hounslow. Reg’s first club was the Egham North Road RPC and won his first race from Leicester. Early mistakes were over feeding. The first loft was a 16ft x 8ft structure, with 12 natural nest boxes and was purchased from a man whose divorce story appeared in the Daily Mirror and News of the World news papers at that time! Reg tells me the fanciers who were doing all the winning locally in those early days were Fred Elliot, George Worsfold and the Besant partnership of New Malden. The partners got more and more interested in the sport and bought in some Vandevelds, Delbar and Dordin pigeons which started to win straight away. A few years later a good Krauth hen was purchased from an auction at Ascot and she turned out to be a champion in the stock, producing winners every year, and then six Krauth youngsters were purchased from George Corbett to strengthen up the family. The Van Loon pigeons were introduced in 1989 when Reg’s wife, Jocelyn, purchased a pair from Clwyd Lofts at the RPRA Southern Region Show and they were called ‘the wonder couple’ as they bred many winners over the years. Reg told me one of the best performances in the early days was clocking early in the morning to win 1st club, 2nd Federation, 3rd open Combine Dax (550 miles).

Richard said, when they brought in new stock birds it was normally a bird that has caught their eye, but they did like a bold looking medium sized pigeon, with good feather quality and nice eye. The partners liked the eye sign as one of the characteristic of the pigeon’s make up. They fed the stock birds moulting mixture, with high protein mixture and 30% Barley. Richard told me, they were very fortunate to own several pairs of stock birds that were responsible for breeding multiple winners. The main family raced was Ludo Van Tuyn and he was a Belgium fancier who has had a lot of success with his family of pigeons racing in Thailand and Germany. Reg and Richard still had a few Van Loon, Luc Bart Geerinx, and Joop Hock and at that time had purchased some original Willy Thas.

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Reg and Richard both worked in the Airfreight industry and the whole family were involved in making the team tick! Reg and Richard tended not to get involved with the politics of the sport, as they found their work stressful enough and viewed pigeon racing as a sport and a way to relax. They said, in their opinion the best local fancier was the late great Fred Elliot of Thorpe, as his results and achievement in the sport over a long period of time, with a small team of birds were second to none! They also said Mark Gilbert of Windsor had been exceptional over the last few years. Richard was asthmatic and told me the moulting time of the year is the worst for him, but never the less it was a very important time, with the birds being separated and fed on a good ‘Moulting’ mixture. At that time most of the birds in the loft were line-bred and the odd late bred was reared off the premier racers for the stock section. On looking over the information Richard had given me for this article, the thing that demonstrated the brilliance of their pigeons for me was the performance of their blue pied widowhood cock, ‘The 70906’, winner of 3rd Federation Kingsdown, 3rd Federation Wincanton, 6th Federation Lulworth, 15th Federation Exeter, 16th Federation Kingsdown and never scored higher than 3rd in the club, being beaten mostly by loft mates! Reg and Richard Maybey, a fantastic pigeon racing partnership!

That’s it for this week! Well done to Terry Goodsell for his fifth Federation winner of the season! If you win and want a write up in this space, 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)