“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

Looking back at London & South East Classic Club winners (Part 11.)

David Coward-Talbott of Chelmsford. 

When convoying for the London & South East Classic Club, I took the Classic birds to Bordeaux seven times and Bergerac once and the race always fell on the French Bastille Holiday weekend. What a brilliant race the 2012 Bergerac turned out to be! Outstanding returns, with a lot of first bird verifications on the day of liberation. The last L&SECC old bird race of the season took place from Bergerac, when members entered 515 birds. The birds were liberated on Sunday 15th July at 06.45hrs into a west / north west wind at the liberation site. This meant a steady race was expected and the anticipation of day birds for this 450 plus miles race would turn to reality as 25 first day birds verifications were recorded with some members getting more than one pigeon home on the day.

David Coward-Talbott of Chelmsford won 1^st and 3^rd open L&SECC from Bergerac and he needs no introduction, being one of the premier fanciers in the Essex area for many years. He was particularly delighted in winning the Classic from Bergerac as he had achieved it with one of his favourite pigeons, a three year old red cock called ‘King’. This game cock had a 240 mile race and a 300 mile race with the BICC on his build up to the Bergerac and was sent sitting ten day old eggs. He was being prepared for the NFC Tarbes race, but peeked to soon and was sent to Bergerac. ‘King’ had won several other prizes from France, the best being with the BICC in 2011. He was fantastically well bred, with his sire being a son of ‘Den Dax’ winner of 1^st open French NFC from Dax and his dam being ‘Red Helen’, daughter of ‘Full Try’ winner of 1^st ‘ace’ pigeon long distance KDBD 2044. Champions breeding champions! David clocked two pigeons on the day from Bergerac and the second was very close up behind ‘King’ to recorded 3^rd open.

David’s main racing loft is a five section, 50ft x 8ft structure and he races cocks on the widowhood system. The racers are paired up in the second week in February and cocks don’t rear any youngsters, being trained on eggs before the first Federation race. David is only interested in Classic and National racing from France and uses the Federation inland races as training for the main events. His 32 pairs of stock pigeons are paired up at Christmas and these are housed in a 16ft x 12ft loft. The Coward-Talbott loft produces 100 young birds to race each season and these are not put on the ‘dark’ system, being raced natural, and are flown through the full programme. David told me he is very hard with his young birds, is always satisfied he has the best left at the end of the season. He is from a pigeon racing family and his grandfather, J. E. Talbott of Ipswich, raced pigeons successfully in 1890. David’s father and uncles were all ‘pigeon and dog’ men and he has never known life without pigeons. David Coward-Talbott has won it all in his year in the sport and when he raced north road he won 1^st open Combine nine times! A wonderful racing record!

Doug Mitchell of Maidenhead. 

London & South East Classic Club had a wonderful entry of 992 birds for the last old bird race of the season from Bordeaux. After a one day holdover the birds were liberated at 0615hrs with no wind, becoming light northerly en-route and members enjoyed an excellent race with over 60 birds recorded on the day.

The Maidenhead loft of Doug Mitchell recorded three day pigeons to win 1^st, 41^st & 51^st open flying 455 miles, Doug's winner was a two year old Busschaert blue chequer hen sent sitting 12-day old eggs and had previously won 24^th open in the L&SECC Yearling Angers Derby in 1997. Her dam also a blue chequer was also clocked on the day from Bordeaux and she was bred by Ernie Moan of Windsor from Corbett / Busschaert bloodlines. Her sire was obtained at the late Alan Brown's clearance sale and Doug said it was a pigeon that wasn't fancied at the auction as it was bred in 1986, but he really liked this handsome Busschaert, so he purchased him. In the hand his Classic winner was medium, long cast, and I noticed she had previously broken her leg. This game hen was clocked at 18.26hrs, recording a velocity of 1097 ypm, lifting £675 prize money and pools.

Doug had been in the sport 50 years and was started by his late father, who was a very keen long distance flyer, racing 728 miles from Pau into Yorkshire. Doug carried on his dad's love of long distance racing and had won many major prizes in the Classic and National races, including 6^th open NFC Saintes in 1996. He raced 24 pairs on the Natural system and never bred off old birds until they have proven themselves in the race basket. He had a stay in hospital early that year and could not pair up the racers until April and his team sent to Bordeaux had only cast two flights. Most of the training was done by his wife from the south coast, with Channel racing in mind. He fed Spillers Formula Al mixture and added beans and peanuts for the long distance. Doug had three lofts, the main one being a smart 24ft four section loft with open door trapping, sand litter on the floors and widowhood-style nest boxes. He bred 50 young birds each season and never paired his yearlings, until they have shown some promise racing. Young birds raced the programme, including Channel events and were raced to the perch. He was not in favour of the ‘Darkness’ system, as he liked his youngsters to have a full moult in their first year. Doug let the young birds pair up if they want and his wife did most of the young bird training.

John Haynes of Slough. 

The 2002 season saw me finish a six year stint as Convoyer for the London & South-East Classic Club and I must say, although at that time I was out of that side of the Classic, it was still very dear to my heart and I could write a book about my time convoying the classic pigeons to the Continent. The London & South-East Classic Club sent nearly 2,800 birds to its first race of the 2002 season from La Ferte Bernard. There was a great buzz of anticipation at the Sutton marking station, with this being the club's first race from France after the previous season's foot-and-mouth ban. At the car park liberation site, I held over because of adverse weather in France, but with a clear sky on the Sunday morning I liberated at 08.15hrs in a light south-west wind. The convoy cleared the site very quickly and I anticipated a good race. My Catteralls driver, Gary Haslem and I travelled back through France in brilliant flying conditions and on arrival at Caen docks we saw that the Channel was perfect.

The weekend after the race saw me make the 25 mile drive to Slough in Berkshire to visit the winning loft of John Haynes. This was the third time that I had visited his garden, as this great fancier and gentleman had won the L&SECC three times in recent seasons. He previously  won 1^st open Perth in 2001 with his champion blue cock ‘Stumpy’, which was my vote for the Classic's ‘Ace Pigeon’ of the season, having also recorded 4^th open Thurso (500 miles) and John won 1^st Open Guernsey (young birds) in 1999. His La Ferte Bernard classic winner was a handsome two year old Deweerdt / Cooper dark chequer cock raced on the widowhood system. The La Ferte Bernard race was his first time in France and he had four inland training races in his build up to his Classic win.

John had been in the sport for over 30 years and was no stranger to winning big-time races, having previously recorded 1^st open BICC Pau in 2007, 1^st open SMT Combine when in partnership with the Gilbert family; 21^st open Saintes NFC; 8^th open Pau L&SECC (with the grandsire of his Guernsey Classic winner); 8^th and 15^th Open Yearling Derby L&SECC and 3^rd open Sennen Cove L&SECC just three weeks prior to winning the Perth Classic in the 2001 season. He raced 36 cocks on widowhood and in 1999 tried a few hens on a semi-widowhood, with outstanding success, winning 21^st open Saintes NFC with a yearling blue hen. The racers were paired up in late January and when the first-round of youngsters were 15 days old the hens were taken away before they lay their second round of eggs. The cocks finish rearing and were on widowhood when the squeakers were weaned. He had two teams of widowhood cocks, one for sprint and one for the Channel, and all got six training tosses before the first Federation race.

John's premier sprinting cock at the that time was a handsome blue Van Reet and he had recorded 14 times first in the club and 3 times 1^st Federation. John told me his champion sprint cock was getting too old and was then in the stock loft. He had his own corn mixed up by a local corn chandler to the Geoff Cooper method. The three section widowhood loft was a very smart affair, with tiled roof, open door trapping and 12 nest boxes in each section. The widowhood hens and young birds were housed in another 24ft loft and this had the super traps for speed with the young birds. He kept his young hens and cocks separated during the week, putting them together on marking day, and they flew on the darkness system. The main families kept were Geoff Cooper, Staf Van Reets, Braakhuis and Janssens. The 12 pairs of stock birds were paired up at the same time as the racers, so the stock eggs can be floated under the yearling racers. When selecting new stock birds he liked good winning lines but they had to be well-balanced in the hand and of good feather quality. A great pigeon racer!

Ray and Kathy Osgood of Gateshead.

One of the biggest success stories of the London & South East Classic Club in the 2000 season was when Ray and Kathy Osgood won the Bordeaux race with their champion red chequer hen, ‘Apache K.O.’. I liberated the Classic birds at 0600hrs in a light north-east wind at Bordeaux and there were over 100 pigeons clocked on the day of liberation. A brilliant race! Ray clocked his champion Busschaert natural hen at 15.50hrs on the day of liberation, being sent to the 450-mile race on two small youngsters. This hen was a champion in the true sense of the word, having previously won in 1999: 2^nd open Bordeaux L&SECC, only bird on the day in the section. She was bred by Berkshire fanciers Gordon and Kevin Curtis and purchased at the Berkshire & District Federation breeder/buyer sale. Ray says it was the best £30 he has ever spent.

The weekend after the race I drove to Windsor in Berkshire to visit Ray and Kathy, who were secretaries of the local pigeon club. Ray had called his neat loft set-up 'Apache Lofts' after a boys' football team he used to manage. He started up in pigeons in 1975 and raced north road for many years, winning Thurso three times, 1^st Federation Thurso and won 1^st open Combine from a young bird Durham race. He raced most weekends but said his loft was really set up for long distance events, which he liked best. He paired up in February and raced roundabout and natural to two different lofts, with the whole team being paired up for the long distance races. In the 2000 season he re-paired three weeks before the Bordeaux Classic and fed extra maize for the longer races. Ray trained twice a week from 30 miles and used the sprint races to get them fit. Ray and Kathy had two very smart lofts set in their wonderful garden, which was tended by Kathy. The loft set was, one at 12ft for the roundabout pigeons and a 24ft loft to house natural racers and young birds. The Osgood’s kept Silvere Toyes and Busschaerts pigeons, and Ray maintained they cross really well. They kept ten pairs of stock birds and only bred about 20 youngsters each season, which were raced through to 200 miles. Ray told me at the time that he tried the darkness system in 1999 and didn't like it and said he never let young birds feed youngsters, only racing them to the perch. Ray and Kathy were a very nice couple and what a wonderful hen ‘Apache K.O.’ was!

Bellchambers Brothers of Brentford.

The London & South East Classic Club had a good turnout of birds for the first Young Bird and Old Hens Classic race, flown from Guernsey at the back end of August 2010. True to recent form, the weather on the day had a bitter / sweet edge to it, resulting in a funny race, with very fast velocities and considerable bird loss. I was at Carentan with the Central Southern Classic Flying Club birds that same day and the weather in France and the English Channel were brilliant, but it appears not to be so good in main land England. The convoy was liberated at 12.30hrs in to a strong south west wind and the leading pigeons recorded over 2000ypm.

The Old Hens Classic was won by the highly successful Bellchambers Brothers partnership of Brentford. Their winner, named ‘Westwood’, was purchased at the MCC young bird auction in 2009 and was bred by Midlands partnership of Westwood Brothers. This game hen was bred from the best Cattrysse bloodlines and was bred down from Colin Lloyd’s National winner, ‘King Arthur’. ‘Westwood’ won the Guernsey Classic being sent on two big babies and as a young bird recorded 29^th open L&SECC Guernsey.

The very successful Bellchambers partnership race in the Isleworth club and have enjoyed very successful racing every year, with 2005 being one of their best seasons racing in the Three Borders Federation. They lifted three premier trophies and won: 1^st, 5^th Federation Bergerac (longest old bird race); 1^st Federation Messac; 2^nd, 5^th, 7^th, 10^th Federation Lulworth; 4^th Federation Kingsdown and 7^th Federation Exeter. In the very strong SMT Combine the Brentford loft recorded 1^st open Messac (2,885 birds) and 11^th, 20^th open Bergerac (1,795 birds).

The 2002 season was another great one for the Bellchambers lads, when members of the N.F.C. sent 6,873 birds to the Guernsey young bird National and with a strong westerly element in the wind, a lot of the leading pigeons were in the London area. The Bellchambers family crowned a brilliant 2002 season by recording 1^st, 2^nd and 6^th open in the Guernsey National. The brother’s father, Bill, named the NFC winner ‘Nelly Bell’ after his late wife. The pigeon a Staf Van Reet / Meulemans cross blue hen, which was a cross that has been very successful in classic and national racing for the Bellchambers loft in recent seasons. ‘Nelly Bell’ was a darkness youngster, sent to the national sitting 14 day old eggs and is bred down from a long line of good winners. She was one of a team of 60 youngsters in the Bellchambers loft that season and had four club races on her build up to the national win, being rested for one week before the national. Bill and his two sons, David and Derek, put 40 youngsters on the darkness system and keep the sexes separated until the first young bird race, then they are let loose together, to pair up if they wish, in a big young bird loft. The young birds have three 30 mile training tosses every week throughout the season. The Bellchambers youngsters don’t exercise around the loft in the racing season, only going out the day after the race for a walk around the garden and a bath. I had a good chat with David at the NFC prize presentation in the December after their National win and he told me he is very hot on the young bird management and spends hours in the loft with them. In the Guernsey national the partners had three pigeons flying around the loft together and although ‘Nelly Bell’ was the third pigeon to the loft; she was the first bird on the clock and became the national winner. The 2^nd open winner was a pencil blue Van Reet / Meulemans cock called ‘Bill’s Lad’ and he was also a darkness youngster. Their fourth pigeon in the Guernsey national, which rated very highly in the open result, previously won 1^st sect, 3^rd open Guernsey in the London & South East Classic Club, three weeks earlier. The four pigeons clocked in the Guernsey national were all bred down from one blue white flight Van Reet stock hen purchased at the Rod Baxter clearance sale. The Bellchambers young bird team were on fire in the 2002 season winning: 3^rd, 4^th, 46^th and 50^th open L&SECC Guernsey (1,376 birds), 1^st, 2^nd, 6^th and 16^th open NFC Guernsey (6,873 birds), 2^nd, 6^th, 13^th, 26^th, 47^th, 78^th, 82^nd and 92^nd open L&SECC (2,145 birds). Young bird racing at it’s very best!

The Bellchambers partners started up in pigeons in 1969 with a few streeters in the garden and their first racers were obtained from Billy Sando, and the old West Middlesex Federation convoyer, Roy Perkins. The partner’s first winner was from Bournemouth in 1970 and they always enjoyed club and Federation racing up to a few years ago, when they started to concentrate on national and classic racing. The Bellchambers loft has won the Federation countless times and in races from France have recorded 1^st open SMT Combine Nantes in 1999 and 2^nd open SMT Combine Nantes in 2002. Bill told me at that time that the grand dam of their national winner, ‘Nelly Bell’, won 12^th open St. Milo young bird national in 1994, for the Brentford loft.

They race twenty cocks on the widowhood system and pair them up in February each season. The cocks rear a pair of youngsters and are on the system at 12 days on their second nest of eggs, when the hens are taken away. The widowhood cocks are not trained, just exercised twice a day around the loft and are not broken down, being given as much corn as they want. The birds are fed on Versele-Laga super widowhood and Bosmolen corn, and the widowhood team race through to 300 miles. The main family they keep is Van Reet and the eight pairs of stock birds are put together at the same time as the racing birds so that their eggs can be floated in the racing sections. Bill told me he likes latebreds for the stock loft and the partner’s national winner, ‘Nelly Bell’, was bred from two latebreds. Bellchambers Brothers one of the best racing partnerships in the Middlesex area today!

Daryll Luxford of Horley.

In 2012 the Luxford family had extensive work carried out on their Surrey home and at one point had to move out for several weeks, making pigeon racing nearly impossible for Daryll. In what little racing he manage to have, he produced some really outstanding performances, the best by winning the London & South East Classic Club ‘Merit Award’ from Tarbes (548 miles) with his good blue chequer cock, ‘Fred’. The ‘Classic’ presents any pigeon that records three positions in the first fifty of the open result in the longest old bird race a ‘Merit Award’. These beautiful diplomas have the pigeon’s photo and full race details on, ready to be framed and hung on the wall at home. These wards are very hard to win and through the years only a small number pigeons have achieved it.  Daryll won the L&SECC ‘Merit Award’ with his John Puddephatt blue chequer cock, ‘Fred’ and he was bred by Gavin Mitchell in 2007. Both his parents were bred by in the Puddephatt loft, with his sire being a son of ‘Highdown Duke’, winner of 1^st section, 11^th open NFC Pau, 3^rd section, 24^th open NFC Dax, 10^th section, 70^th open NFC Pau and brother to ‘Louis David’ winner of 1^st section, 6^th open, 135^th International Dax (17,500 birds). ‘Fred’s’ dam is a daughter of ‘Highdown Prince’, who was clocked twice on the day from 500 miles, winning 3^rd section, 25^th open NFC Pau, 2^nd section, 19^th open NFC Dax, 2^nd section, 15^th open NFC Saintes. This game widowhood cock had flown Tarbes (548 miles) four times to secure the ‘Merit Award’ and recorded: 2010: 36^th open L&SECC Tarbes, 2011: 5^th open L&SECC Tarbes and 2012: 29^th open L&SECC Tarbes. A fantastic performance! Daryll has concentrated on the Classic’s longest race from Tarbes in recent seasons, racing the John Puddephatt of Ferring bloodlines and has recorded: 2008: 9^th open, 2010: 36^th open, 2011: 5^th open and 2012: 20^th, 29^th open. Daryll has a long list of premier performances won in 2012, including 1^st club, 2^nd South Coast Federation, 2^nd open Wessex Combine (1,700 birds) Saintes, 1^st club, 14^th South Coast Federation, 15^th Wessex Combine Tours (1,971 birds), both won with his brilliant Gaby Vandenabeele blue cock ‘JT’. With a team of only ten widowhood cocks the Luxford loft flew four channel races in the Reigate Coly winning: 1^st, 2^nd club, 37^th South Coast Federation Fougeres, 3^rd, 6^th club Fougeres, 1^st, 4^th, 5^th club, 14^th South Coast Federation, 15th Wessex Combine Tours, 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th club, 2^nd, 4^th, 15^th South Coast Federation, 2^nd, 14^th, 73^rd Wessex Combine Saintes.

I recently met up with Daryll and when I asked him about his current racing system, he told me, ‘my present set up is three lofts, with two being for my racing old birds and young birds, and 8ft structure for the stock birds. In my opinion two most important factors are a dry loft and I put stock and young birds on deep litter and the other golden rule do not overcrowd. For the last two seasons I have raced cocks only on widowhood system and in my loft set up I have 12 boxes per section, but only a maximum of 27 are used over all. In the 2012 season I had ten occupied with my racing cocks, with a small selection for six hens to race natural in the Old Hens races at the end of the season, after they have been widow hens in old bird season. I do not breakdown or repair for the longer races, once my cocks are finished they are allowed to rear a nest, and then the hens are prepared for the Old Hens races. All the old cocks have a specific programme of between three and six races, if they remain fit and unharmed from predators. I’m now really interested in middle to long distance racing. My feeding is very simple, Versa Laga mixture in the morning with super widowhood in the evening, peanuts are added as the distance increases and the youngsters get both Versa Laga and super widowhood as well once they get over the channel. The cock might see their hens before a race, but it’s rare and if so it is for a few minutes only, as I found it wound up the cocks too much. However upon returning from the race they may get fifteen minutes to two hours depending on how hard the race has been. This includes my Tarbes candidates. You have to be an aware of your birds habits, i.e. most of my birds are fed in a trough but I have one cock, that as he comes into form, he will spend the entire time chasing the others, and boy is he spiteful, so he gets fed in his box. I would like to race my hens on widowhood at the distance but time currently does not permit, as I feel they are wasted. The few hens I’ve raced in recent seasons have won: 12^th, 182^nd open NFC Fougeres, 96^th, 98^th open L&SECC Vire and 14^th, 37^th, 47^th, 48^th open L&SECC Carentan. The distance cocks at two years old go to Tarbes, yearling ideally Bergerac 438 miles. The middle distance team, which all race up to 300 miles are made up of Gaby Vandenbeele, Van de Rhee and Janssen, and the 500 mile birds are all John Puddephatt bloodlines’. The 2008 season was Daryll’s first on the widowhood system and generally was pleased with his yearlings, concentrating mainly on the Guernsey races with the East Grinstead Midweek Club and won 2^nd, 2^nd, 2^nd and 7^th club in four races. The future seasons saw Daryll racing his old bird’s entirely on the widowhood system and concentrate mainly on the Classic and National races. He has had good success every season with 2011 being a particularly good season, the highlights being, 7^th open L&SECC Alencon and 5^th open L&SECC Tarbes.

Daryll was an outstanding fancier in the mid 1990’s recording several major positions with young birds in the L&SECC and NFC events, including twice 1^st open L&SECC Guernsey, but after a few years had to retire from the sport because of person problems. He returned to pigeon racing in 2004 and took up where he left off, winning major prizes. In spite of recent health problems Daryll Luxford enjoyed an incredible 2008 old bird racing season, with the highlights being, 1^st section, 4^th open NFC Alencon (7,067 birds), 9^th open L&SECC Tarbes, 93^rd and 115^th open L&SECC Tours. The 2008 star pigeon for the Horley loft was the handsome blue cock, ‘Oakleigh Belle Bleu’, and he recorded 1^st section, 4^th open NFC Alencon, 115^th open L&SECC Tours, 2^nd East Grinstead Tours Nomination and previously flew Tarbes (548 miles) with L&SECC in 2007. His sire was bred by Steve Deely from his good pigeon, ‘Young Windsong’, and the dam of ‘Belle Bleu’ was a Camphuis / Sanger Janssen stock hen. Daryll tells me his 2008 Tarbes pigeon wasted a lot of time trapping on his return from the 548 miles L&SECC race, but was recorded on the day of liberation and gave his a lot of pleasure. The pigeon, ‘Oakleigh Corinna’s Courage’, was bred from John Puddephatt bloodlines, through Gavin Mitchell and has several good performances to his credit, including 2008: 9^th open L&SECC Tarbes (721 birds), 258^th open L&SECC Alencon (2466 birds), 2007: 673^rd open NFC Alencon (6807 birds).

The main families kept are direct John Puddephatt from his super cocks, ‘Highdown John II’, ‘Highdown Duke’ and ‘Highdown Supreme’, for the long distance, Janssens from John Mellor and Louella Pigeon World and several other performance pigeons, including direct children of 1^st open National winners. Recently he was fortunate to be offered all of Neil Williams of Ferring birds, which were only the very best of John Puddephatt bloodlines, with him being a close neighbour to John. It was an offer Daryll could not refuse and although he was very sorry that Neil has had to leave the sport, as John Puddephatt said at the time, “Neil’s loss is the Luxford loft’s gain’. Daryll keeps a maximum of eleven pairs of stock birds and breeds about 35 youngsters for racing each season. He starts his training with several 5 mile tosses and says, ‘look at athletes they don’t just go out and start running marathons, they build up to the long events’ and that how he builds his pigeons up to the races from the south of France. They get two channel races from about 150 miles, then into Tours (365 miles) before going to Tarbes (548 miles) and get the usual short training from 20 miles as needed. The young birds get over 50 training tosses up to 55 miles and race through to the NFC and L&SECC races. Daryll tried the darkness system in the 2008 season and maintains young birds need rest as much as quality exercise, getting the balance correct is very important. His current employment is Contract and Insurance manager for East Sussex Fire Service and is based in Eastbourne, an 85 miles trip to work every day, but says he has never taken his birds to work for training. Daryll has won some outstanding positions with his pigeons through the years, including 1^st open L&SECC Guernsey (twice), but in spite of losing time his biggest thrill was clocking ‘Oakleigh Corrina’s Courage’ at 18.51hrs on the day of liberation from the 2008 L&SECC Tarbes classic, to record 7^th section, 9^th open.

When I asked Daryll who he thought was the best local fancier his reply was, ‘Without doubt, we have a very strong club locally, with some very fine fanciers, but for consistently Peter Shubbs and the Neil & Dick Steptoe partnership are both incredible flyers’. Daryll tells me he likes to pair good performance pigeon together and pairs John Puddephatt’s together to maintain the winning long distance family. He is developing a good sprint family of Vandenabeele / Janssens and says his best sprint pair bred ‘Oakleigh Belle Bleu’, the 4^th open NFC Alencon cock. Daryll likes to breed close and will pair brother and sister together as long as they are from a rock solid family of good performers, and likes the odd late bred for stock. He thinks winter is the rest time for the pigeons, but years ago he liked to show his birds and has won BIS at the local events. His birds may only be let out of the loft for exercise two or three times during the winter period of October to December. He believes pigeon racing has progressed over the years, which has made fanciers keener and more professional with their feeding and racing methods, and maintains all clubs should have an open radius. Daryll loves Classic and National racing, but says they should have two races from the long distance every season and should have a look at joining the International. He maintains that club racing should be completely over hauled and every none trouble making fancier should be accepted into any club.

Daryll is over 50 years of age and the only other Luxford family member in the pigeon fancy was his uncle, Peter Robb, who gave him his first birds on starting up in 1990. In the early days birds and advice were obtained from Mike Armitage of Ash, Nigel Lewellyn of Southampton and Doug Gender of Storrington. His first club was the Horley North Road and his first major prize was 3^rd Federation Peterborough. The 1995 season saw Daryll Luxford have his third season on the trot with outstanding performances in the Classic young bird races. In the Young Bird National from Sartilly in 1995 the Luxford loft recorded 4^th, 17^th, 48^th sect, 40^th, 144^th, 314^th open, 1^st, 6^th Surrey Championship Club. At club level the babies recorded three times 1^st Club, five times 2^nd Club and 1^st Continental Club from Poole. Daryll didn't fly many old bird races in the 1995 season but did chalk up 49^th, 62^nd sect, 349^th, 524^th open, 4^th, 6^th Surrey Championship Club from the Pau (550 miles) National. In 1994 Daryll won London & South East Classic Club's young bird Classic from Guernsey for the second year running. The partners' 1994 winner was a March-hatched blue chequer hen named 'Lobelia' which only had two races as a youngster. She was first bird on the clock from Lyndhurst (66 miles) to record 12^th Club, then into the Classic Guernsey (154 miles). This game hen recorded 1^st open, 1^st SW sect, lifting £825 prize and pool money and £75 vouchers from Stock Nutrition. Sire of 'Lobelia' flew the Channel 12 times in three seasons including the Pau National in 1994. The dam was bred by Doug Genders of Storrington and was one of Daryll's favourite pigeons. Daryll won 4^th section, 40^th open Sartilly (NFC), 1^st Surrey Championship Club in 1995 with his blue chequer pied cock '12', he was a full brother to 'Lobelia' the 1994 Classic winner. '12' was only lightly raced in 1995 and also won 3^rd Club Poole, beaten by two loft mates. Highlight of the 1993 season was when their blue pied cock 'Rufio' won 1^st open, 1^st SW sect L&SECC Guernsey (1,465 birds). This game blue pied cock was the only pigeon in the convoy to record over 1400 ypm and his nest mate, also a blue pied cock, called 'Peter Pan', won 1^st Club Lyndhurst and 2^nd Club Lyndhurst in 1993. A fantastic performance by this nest pair which only had three races each as young birds in 1993.

The main loft in the 1990’s was 15ft x 8ft with three sections, corridors and Sputnik trapping. The second loft was 15ft x 6ft and housed the young bird team. Daryll maintained warmth and ventilation are very important factors in good loft design. Daryll kept 16 pairs of Natural racers and bred about 50 youngsters each season. He paired up all the old birds in late January and the racers rear only one round, then they are trained from 50 miles up to the first race. He didn’t like the race team feeding youngsters and racing. At that time he believed the Widowhood system was the way forward for inland racing although his loft was geared for Channel races, as he maintained an experienced hen will always give that little extra over 500 miles. On restarting in the sport in 2004 Daryll obtained six stock birds from Keith Wilkins, which were Van Bruane, Kirkpatrick and Kellen and eventually purchased the John Puddephatt long distance bloodlines direct and from Gavin Mitchell. Daryll has always been keen on sport and played Hockey at the highest level for Sussex and England, and competed around the world with the British Army. As a 15 year old he had the 5^th fastest time in Europe at the 3,000!

Dick & Neil Steptoe of Oxted.

The London & South East Classic Club held its final race of the 2004 season, when members sent 1,600 young birds to Guernsey. The Saturday morning of the race dawned with blue skied, sunshine on the baskets, with a clear English Channel and the convoy was liberated at 09.00hrs in a fresh south west wind. The members enjoyed a ‘banger’ of a race, with the leading pigeons making over 2050 ypm and the classic secretary, Peter Coles, told me that only 10 members of the 190 who sent, failed to verify a pigeon.

Dick and Neil Steptoe of Oxted recorded the winning pigeon at 11.20hrs flying 165 miles and clocked another bird 6 seconds later to record 2^nd open. The father and son partnership sent 16 birds and their winner was a ‘darkness’ blue pied hen raced to the perch. This game hen won 23^rd open at the first young bird Guernsey Classic in August and is bred down from the Vic Oliver’s Van Reet bloodlines. She was given every Federation race in her build up and Neil told me that his youngsters normally get three 25 mile training tosses every week through the season. The second pigeon on the clock was another Van Reet blue pied hen, sent sitting due to hatch eggs and she is a granddaughter of the Steptoe’s champion hen, ‘Double Top’, winner of 1^st open Combine Alencon and 1^st open Combine Bergerac in the same season. A brilliant line of Van Reets! Neil says all the 50 young birds go on the ‘darkness’ system and race the programme each season.

At that time, Neil had been in the sport 21 years, with his father, Dick, joining him and forming the present partnership in 1990. They race 36 cocks and 12 hens on the widowhood system, with the hens being re-paired half way through the season to race the longer channel events, on the natural system. The Steptoe's have four lofts, with super traps, and pair up the racers in January. The race team rear a pair of youngsters and go on the widowhood when sitting their second round of eggs. They are given ten 30 mile training tosses when they are driving to the second nest and the whole team go to the first four inland races to get them fit, with some of the cocks staying inland for the season, and the hens being the main channel racers on the natural system. Neil says he breaks down at the end of the week and they are fed on ‘Gerry Plus’ and ‘Breeders Plus’. The double Combine winning hen, ‘Double Top’, was sent to Alencon, sitting 10 day old eggs, and then won the Combine from Bergerac feeding the youngsters when they hatched. Neil and Dick keep 20 pairs of stock birds, which are mainly Van Reet and Janssen, and these are paired up the same time as the racers, so their first round of eggs can be floated in the race loft. The stock team are fed on ‘Breeders Plus’ and are separated after they have reared two rounds of youngsters, the breeders and young birds are kept on deep litter, with the widowhood lofts being scraped out twice a day.

That’s it for another week! I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘banter’ on telephone number: 01372 463480 of 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).