“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

The late, great Cyril Medway of Southampton.

I must say that this week’s article is extra special to me personally, as it features one brilliant fancier who I admired in my early days in the sport. The late Cyril Medway of Southampton was my hero when I started up in pigeon racing, being the fancier who had superb long distance performances with a small team of pigeons. When I think about it, I realise I’ve tried to go down the same path as Cyril did in my 55 years in pigeon racing, having kept only a small team of birds and never having had a bigger loft than 15ft. long. Eric Cannon was a good friend of Cyril and in early 1977 he took me down to Southampton to meet the Hampshire champion

Cyril’s record, despite the number of birds he sent to the long distance races, is second to none. He must be one of the most respected fancier within these four shores, staying consistently at the top in the major distance races every year. The Medway loft won 1^st open British Barcelona Club Palamos in 1972 with the great pencil blue cock, Champion ‘Palamos Pathfinder’, who won the race by almost two days! After the event, Cyril had to take ‘Pathfinder’ in the kitchen every night for three weeks for safe keeping, but sometime after that he was sold to Japan, with two hens. ‘Pathfinder’ was bred from the dam of the loft, ‘Maureen’, when mated to a Hansenne cock from P.C. Morris of Andover and ‘Pathfinder’s’ performances were incredible, recording 2^nd club Guernsey, 2^nd club Exmouth, 1^st club, 3^rd Solent Federation Nantes, 58^th, 161^st, 135^th open N.F.C. Pau, 1^st sect, 1^st open B.B.C. Palamos (658 miles) velocity 637ypm. A true champion!

Cyril became interested in pigeons as a young boy and had his first pair in a box in the garden when he was 11 years of age. Three years later he joined the Southampton S.R.F.C. and was given a lot of help by Bill Yates of Southampton. Positions were few and far between, but won a Guernsey race in his first season. Cyril married Joan in April 1947 and they moved in to their Southampton address. I went down to visit Cyril in mid-February 1977 with Eric Cannon, a good friend of Cyril of many years standing. It was a great day! To hear these two great long distance fanciers talking was most interesting. On our arrival, Eric introduced us and then it was all down the garden to the Medway’s small 10ft.x 6ft. loft, to see the birds. When I asked Cyril how many birds he kept, he said he was overstocked with 12 pairs at that time, as he usually housed just 10 pairs. The very neat loft was built by himself and it sat about 4 feet off the ground to stop the cats problem that Cyril was always plagued with. Trapping was through bob wires and the birds bathed on top of the loft as he didn’t like them on the ground, because of the cats. The traps were wired up to a bell in the house and this was checked every time the bird went to a major race.

Cyril opened the door of the loft and the cocks were in the young bird section. He asked me if there was anything in there I fancied. The first cock I picked out was a handsome pencil blue, which had never been in a basket, as he was the last son of ‘Palamos Pathfinder’ before he was sold. This cock was very true to the family, being medium, apple bodied in the hand, with nice wide flights and strong back. Cyril said he didn’t go too much on the pigeon’s back as he had handled good pigeons with so called ‘weak backs’. I asked him if he had his great 1967 blue pied cock, ‘Palamos Kid’, winner of 1^st section, 9^th open B.B.C. Palamos in 1971, and he said the ‘Kid’ must be dead as he was the only pigeon not to return from his team that went to Avranches one year.

Next pigeon to hand was the great mealy pied cock, ‘Palamos Eric’, winner of, 1972: 1^st club La Reole, 1974: 22^nd open B.B.C. Palamos, 1976: 5^th open B.B.C. Palamos, winning the B.B.C. Channel Average in 1976, with his daughter who won 4^th open Rennes young birds. Joan timed ‘Palamos Eric’, in from Palamos; in fact, she did most of the clocking in as Cyril was at work more often than not when the birds came in from the Palamos National. The next gem we looked at was the dark chequer cock, ‘Palamos Ned’ winner of 3^rd club La Reole, 218^th open N.F.C. Pau. He was then sent to Palamos four times, recording, 1973: 17^th open B.B.C. Palamos, 1974: 88^th open B.B.C. Palamos, 1975: 10^th open B.B.C. Palamos, 1976: 66^th open B.B.C. Palamos. ‘Ned’ was the last son off ‘Maureen’ before she stopped laying at ten years old. He was a first cross from a cock loaned by the late Ned Hammond of Southampton. Next to hand was a blue cock whose sire was bred by Eric and Pat Cannon and whose performance was, 3^rd club Nantes, 19^th, 121^st, 490^th open N.F.C. Pau and 74^th open B.B.C. Palamos. Great stuff!

We looked at the rest of the cocks and they were all outstanding, then we had a cup of tea and a chat on the lawn, where I was told that Cyril was the secretary of the Southampton pigeon club for many years and was a first class clock setter. He fed beans and wheat when rearing, beans and a lot of maize when racing and some seed when the birds went to the National races. The birds were usually paired up on 13^th March, although they were mated a bit earlier some years. The base of the family was Barker and every bird in the loft in 1977 was bred through ‘Maureen’, except for two Eric Cannon pigeons and a Dutch pigeon. Only two stock birds were kept and they were the nest pair bred from ‘Palamos Pathfinder’ before he was sold to Japan. Cyril said he hadn’t wanted to sell his great champion, but the risk of leaving him in the loft was too great and he was offered a good price. He said his modest transport was a push bike until he sold ‘Palamos Pathfinder’! 1972 was an incredible year for the Medway loft, which won 3^rd club Nantes, 1^st club Niort, 1^st club La Reole, 218^th open N.F.C. Nantes, 19^th, 263^rd 269^th open N.F.C. Pau and 1^st open B.B.C. Palamos. A brilliant performance! Cyril didn’t show his birds, but he did a bit of judging now and again.

Next it was the turn of the hens to be inspected. Cyril said his cocks were even better than his hens, which were a smaller type of pigeon. One of the first we looked at was blue chequer pied hen NURP 58 Y 5014, the great ‘Maureen’. Although she was 18 years of age, this wonderful pigeon looked great. Her full performance on the road was, 1960: raced unpaired winning 1^st club Bordeaux (over 15 hours on the wing), 1961: 13^th open N.F.C. Nantes, 1962: 89^th open N.F.C. Pau, 1963: 267^th open N.F.C. Nantes, 41^st open N.F.C. Pau, 1964: 26^th open N.F.C. Pau, 1966: 62^nd open N.F.C. Pau, 1967: 148^th open N.F.C. Pau, then put to stock.. She won over £800 racing in the 1960’s and was the dam of the loft and of ‘Pathfinder’ and ‘Ned’, and grandma of the ‘Kid’. This great hen was solid gold!

We looked at a very nice 1976 blue pied hen bred from, ‘Palamos Eric’ and ‘Palamos Joan’ and she had 4^th open B.B.C. Rennes in the 1976 season, when there was only a handful of birds home in race time. Cyril said the birds wouldn’t fly around home when they were paired up so they got lots of training that season. The birds were trained from all over the place, but mainly from the west, down to Weymouth. Next to hand was the 1971 bred blue pied hen, ‘Palamos Joan’, and winner of, 1975: 9^th open B.B.C. Palamos, 1976: 13^th open B.B.C. Palamos. This hen was really nice in the hand and Eric Cannon really rated her highly. We looked at two hens which Eric Cannon bred for Cyril and their breeding was similar to Eric’s champion blue hen, ‘Culmer Blue Bird’. Cyril’s birds were very tame and he said they sat on his back when he was cleaning out! He also said he mob flew from Palamos in 1976, by sending five birds. Usually he only sent only two or three. Cyril’s wife, Joan, was a great help around the loft, feeding, timing in etc. and he told me, he could leave her in complete trust to time in , in fact, she even phones in the wing marks in the National races. He had hardly ever seen a Palamos pigeon come, as he used to work over the weekend, but did clock his great ‘Palamos Pathfinder’ when he won! That was a great day out in February 1977. I think it was incredible how Cyril Medway did so well at the highest level with only ten pairs of pigeons. Shortly after our visit, Cyril won 1^st open B.B.C. Palamos for the second time. A brilliant fancier!

A little look back at one of the sport’s legends this week, I hope my readers have enjoyed it. I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘banter’ on telephone number: 07535 484584 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).