‘ON THE ROAD’ WITH KEITH MOTT.
Tom Gilbertson of Carlisle.
A while ago I received a letter from my good friend Tommy Gilbertson and I must say it was a very nice surprise, as I haven’t seen or heard from him for quite a long time. We exchange Christmas cards every year, but he has not attended the BHW Blackpool Show for a few years and I greatly miss our annual met up in front of the British Homing World stand on the Saturday. What a great man he is! Tom has not enjoyed the best of health in recent years and in recent years he lost his dear partner, Hazel. It was a great shock to us all and as Tommy said in his letter, Hazel will be a big miss in his life. He has not raced pigeons for a number of years and in recent times has concentrated on the breeding side of his wonderful family of long distance pigeons, with outstanding success. The late, great Eric Cannon of Godalming had some great crosses in the early 1990’s with Tom’s pigeons and produced some wonderful 550 mile champions, including: the N.F.C. Pau Merit Award winning blue hen, ‘Culmer Channel Queen’ and she recorded 364th open Young Bird National, 9th section, 98th open NFC Pau, 3rd section, 29th open NFC Pau, 5th section, 23rd open NFC Pau, 14th section, 183rd open NFC Pau. Another fantastic pigeon for Eric was Champion ‘Culmer Marion’, 1st open N.F.C. Sartilly in 1990. A few of the fanciers who have had good success with the Gilbertson pigeons in recent seasons are: David McDonald of Dalbeattie, 2nd open SNFC Bourges (603 miles) in 2010, G. & E. Archibald of Bilson, 2012: 4th sect, 10th open SNFC Alencon (559 miles), 2011: 4th sect, 13th open SNFC Alencon, T. Wardle of Pelton Buffs, 2012: 2nd West Durham Amalgamation Bourges (567 miles), Parker, Holland & Thomson of Holywell, 2012: 1st, 3rd Up North Combine Fontonay (476 miles) and G. Dalgliesh of Ecclefechan won with his champion blue pied hen: 1st sect, 27th open SNFC Falaise, 2nd sect, 3rd open SNFC Tours, 5th sect, 15th open SNFC Bourges, 7th sect, 27th open SNFC Alencon.
The Gilbertson loft has always raced on the natural system and Tom maintains that 80% of his best performances over the years have been with hens. The loft was originally founded in 1920 by Tom’s father, Frank and from day one it has been active in long distance Channel racing only. Frank came into pigeons as a 12 year old school boy and loved the thrill and mystique of racing them from the long distance. The loft is based on pigeons obtained from Dr. Buckley of Nottingham in the war years and Bricoux pigeons brought in 1968. Tommy says, the Dr. Buckley pigeons were a family based on the old successful families of W. Barker, Delmotte, Grooters, Toft, J.L. Baker, Gits, Logan and Osman, expertly blended together by the doctor, who was one of the top long distance fanciers at the time. In 1939 he had in his loft 20 pigeons that had flown Marande (660 miles). Frank Gilbertson concentrated on the longest old bird race from Nantes (534 miles) every season and the loft won the 1st. open Federation many times through the years, winning many Federation Averages.
I think the route from France into Cumbria through the mountains at the home end, is one of the hardest routes in the U.K., so full credit to Tom Gilbertson and the other flyers in the far north-west of England. The Channel winners are present in numbers in Tom Gilbertson’s loft, which shows the quality in great depth in the Carlisle loft. The 2004 season saw Tommy Gilbertson win the Federation from the long distance again, following a life time of successful pigeon racing at 500 and 600 miles. That season saw Tom recorded 1st club, 1st Federation, 1st open Combine Sartilly (431 miles) with his good blue chequer pied hen, “California Belle”, and 1st club, 1st Federation, 10th open Combine Nantes (534 miles) with “California Cher”. For me, what put the icing on the cake with Tom’s latest success was that “California Cher” is another bred down from the brilliant, Champion “Jay Bee”.
During my forty odd years in pigeon journalism, I have visited most of the premier long distance racing lofts in the U.K. and I must say that Tom’s loft in Cumbria must rate as one of the best, with Champions breeding Champions. A loft with quality in great depth. Although I had the pleasure of meeting Tommy previously, I first had a chance to view his loft of wonderful long distance racers, while filming the “Many Miles with Mott” videos, a few years ago. Tom has had several outstanding seasons recently, with his previous Cumbria Combine win being from Sartilly (431 miles) and won the Federation Averages. Tom told me, the pleasure aspect of that Combine win was that the winning pigeon, a blue pied hen, called “Emergency Whinona”, was an inbred pigeon from a half brother and sister mating. The dominant bird was the champion racing hen, “Jay Bee”, a winner of 1st club, 1s Federation, 1st open Cumbria Combine Niort (604 miles), on the day of liberation for the Gilbertson loft.
This gave Tom enormous pleasure because he is really interested in the breeding side of the sport and says he has been fortunate that his family has done well for other fanciers, all over the U.K. The Gilbertson loft has won countless major prizes in long distance racing through the years, including four times 1st open Combine, five times 2nd Open Combine, four times 3rd open Combine and twice 1st Open Channel races. A wonderful family of long distance pigeons. Thanks to Tommy for being a good friend over the years!
That’s it for this week! 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)