“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT
Three Borders Federation (Blandford 2 YB Race)
The Federation had 1,110 birds at the comeback Blandford race in mid-August and the Spelthorne club topped the Federation result for the second week on the trot. This week it was the turn of Dave Watson and he had a ‘banger’ doing 1862 and winning the Federation by 25 ypm. A fantastic performance! A fast race was expected, with Dom McCoy liberating at 07.15hrs in a south west wind and the member soon had all their entries back on their perches.
The first ten in the Blandford 2 Federation result were: 1) Dave Watson 1862: 2) Ken Wise 1837: 3) Ken Wise 1837: 4) T. McCoy & son 1834: 5) R. Tingley 1813: 6) Tidbury & Garrett 1806: 7) Tidbury & Garrett 1806: 8) Ken Wise 1803: 9) Ken Wise 1794: 10) Tidbury & Garrett 1792.
Midway through the 2015 old bird racing season the Federation sent 752 birds to Fougeres in France with the SMT Combine and the convoying team produced one the best continental races of the season so far. The birds were liberated at 08.15hrs into a light North West wind and most lofts enjoyed 100% bird returns. The Spelthorne club had a brilliant race, recording 1st, 2nd, 5th, 18th, 25th Federation and club member, Dave Watson, winning the Federation and SMT Combine (1,294 birds). I haven’t seen Dave since the 1970’s when he had a greengrocers shop near to my mum’s home in Kingston and his wife, Carol, was the secretary of the now disbanded Kingston pigeon club. The Kingston club was one the strongest outfits in the south of England in those days and Dave and Carol were very successful racing their bird in it. After all those years Dave is still winning ‘big time’ and of course Carol is now the hard working secretary of the British International Championship Club. I’ve searched through my archive of thousands of photos and found this great old black & white picture of Dave Watson in 1977 setting clocks at the Kingston club. In the back ground is my ol’ mate, Peter Taylor and his late partner, Les Snell. Congratulations to Dave on his Blandford Federation win!
Ken Wise of the Isleworth club had a brilliant race from Blandford, recording: 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 23rd, 25th Federation. Kenny’s young birds are coming really well, also winning 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 24th, 25th Federation Yeovil (1,207 birds) the weekend previous and winning the first three young bird races in the Isleworth cub. The Wise loft also won 1st Federation Taunton (693) with an old bird in the 2016 season. (More about Ken’s 2016 season next week).
Although the racing name is T. McCoy & sons, the two partners are Billy McCoy and Mel Evans, with T. McCoy being Bill’s late father, Tom. The late Tom McCoy started up racing in 1964 and was very successful racing in partnership with Georgie Oliver of Bedfont. They raced in the old ‘City Arm’ club in Hammersmith and raced successfully on the long distance with Delbars and Kirkpatricks obtained from Johnson of Larne. Tom and Georgie’s best pigeon was a black Marriott hen and she recorded 2nd. and 3rd. open Combine from the long distance, and bred winners. Billy’s brother Dominic is also a pigeon fancier and races in the Chertsey area. Billy and Del Evans have raced together for about six years and their loft is sited at Hammersmith in London.
The Three Borders Federation sent 1,081 birds to the S.M.T. Combine race from Sennen Cove in June 2006 and because of adverse weather conditions at the car park liberation the convoy was moved to Truro (230 miles). The Richmond partnership of T. McCoy & sons had a brilliant race, recording 1st, 2nd club, 1st, 6th Federation, 1st, 6th open S.M.T. Combine (2,089 birds). The partner’s Combine winner was there yearling Janssen blue white flight cock, ‘The Real McCoy’, and he was raced on the widowhood system. Although he was only a young pigeon, he had won several other premier prizes, including a win as a young bird in 2005. The second pigeon on the clock from Truro, to record 6th open Combine, was another yearling widowhood cock, in the form of the Staf Van Reet mealy pigeon, ‘Taffy’s Choice’. Two weeks later the S.M.T. Combine were at Messac, for its first race of the season from France and the McCoy partnership had another ‘banger’, recording 3rd open with their two year old Janssen blue widowhood cock, ‘Jake’s Delight’. This game cock recorded his fourth club win from Messac, which was a very hard race, with only a handful of birds making 1200y.p.m. Great pigeon flying!
Dean Garrett of Feltham had a good race from Blandford, recording 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th Spelthorne club (beaten by Dave Watson), 6th, 7th, 10th, 20th, 21st, 22nd Federation. Dean is a premier young bird racer in the Middlesex and has won many top positions, including 1st open London & South East Classic Club. The L&SECC sent 2,450 birds to Guernsey in August 2009 for the first young bird and old hens classics, and being liberated in a strong tail wind the member had a ‘banger’ of a race, with the winners recording over 1800 ypm. It is very refreshing to see one of our young fanciers win the race and was particularly nice that Dean Garrett of Feltham took the top honour, as is a very good pigeon racer and loves the sport. This up and coming ‘ace’ won the young bird classic with his Soontjen / Janssen blue chequer hen, ‘Bill’s Dream’, which is named after his late grandfather, Bill Tidbury, who was his pigeon partner for several seasons. This game hen won the classic, racing celibate to a nest pan and previously won 9th Federation Guernsey when the Tidbury & Garrett loft won the first eight positions in the club. Dean told me the parents of ‘Bill’s Dream’ cost him £90, being purchased from sales at the BHW Blackpool Show and her dam, called ‘The £30 Hen’, was bred by Mr. & Mrs. Arrowsmith. When the L&SECC secretary, Steve Nicholson, phoned him to inform him he had won the race he was over joyed and just looked up to the sky and thanked his late grandfather for his help! Dean enjoyed a brilliant 2009 young bird racing season winning a long list of premier position, including several firsts in his club, 1st Federation and then 1st open L&SECC Guernsey.
Dean was born in Feltham, Middlesex (same as me) in 1981 and his late grandfather, Bill Tidbury, was a pigeon fancier, starting up when he left the armed forces. Bill fort in Burma, finally being taken prisoner of war and Dean says he was his best friend as well as my grand dad and still misses him very much. When Dean was a youngster he was a keen boxer, walking in the foot steps of his grand father and his cousin, Eric Boon, who were both good sports men in the boxing ring. Eric was famous for knocking out Arthur Danaher in the 15th round of their bout and had many top encounters all over the UK. Dean started racing pigeons in partnership with Bill in 1995 and he trained the youngsters, single up, from Cranford Park on his grand dad’s old GPO ‘postman’ bike. Dean was only 14 years of age and says he loved taking those north road babies for those short tosses on that bike, which paid off as they won several good positions in the club. In the early days the partners had some good success with their mixture of gift pigeons, which were mainly from George Oliver and he raced Cattrysse, Kirkpatrick and Fear Brothers pigeons. When Bill passed away in 2000, Dean got rid of everything, loft, clock, pigeons, the lot and hit the night club scene, and enjoyed the normal teenager pursuits of drinking and woman. After he had got that out of his system, he re-joined the sport in 2004 with several gift late breds from Allen and Janina Jenkins. Dean told me the Jenkins’ gave him a lot of help in the early days and these two wonderful people now live on the Isle of Barrow, off the coast of Scotland, but still in his thoughts. His first real season back was in 2005, when won several good prizes with young birds and was always at sales looking for good stock birds, which were mainly Janssen. He went to a sale at the ‘Lion Brewery’ PH in Ash and purchased two pairs of Eddie Wright / Janssens very cheaply, and they produced his good cock called, ‘99’, which won several premier positions including 1st club, 2nd Federation, 2nd Combine Fougeres. Another good pigeon was the Marcellis red cock, which was purchased for £11 from Mr. Davenport and he won Dean’s first race for him, recording 1st club, 3rd Federation, 26th Combine St. Nazaire. Some outstanding pigeons have been obtained from several local fanciers including, Rod Berry, Clive Yates and the L&SECC winning partnership of Jenkyn, Barrott & Rolfe. His club was the Bedfont SR Club and he is a member of the Spelthorne today, and told me it’s a great club. Dean tells me the best local fancier is the great Jack Newell of Feltham, who is a legend, winning everything in his life time in the sport, including 1st open NCF Pau.
Well done to these fanciers on a wonderful performance from Blandford! Well that it for another week. I can be contacted with any pigeon news and ‘banter’ 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).