In loving memory of my dad Peter Dudman

As one of his daughters, I’d like to pay tribute to our loving dad, Peter Dudman, who passed away recently. Pigeon racing was one of his passions and was very much a part of our early childhood.

As children, Peter Dudman and his identical twin brother John grew up on Ditton Island near Hampton Court Palace. At the age of 15, Peter and John used to spend time with a local pigeon fancier, watching the pigeons come home after a race and it didn’t take many months before the twins had their loft built, and their first flock of pigeons which they too went on to race.

From 1949 the ‘Dudman twins’ raced their pigeons across the UK and Europe winning medals in the Nationals, Federation and Combined events. Their biggest achievement was gaining second place in the National Flying Club, where the pigeons flew from Nantes the money they won paid towards the deposit for their mother’s house! They were members of the Surrey pigeon federation between the 1940’s to early 70’s attending the Molesey club and other local clubs.

Peter joined the army at the age of 18 and served his 2-year national service in Singapore and in Hong Kong. John didn’t go because he had a shoulder injury and was therefore not accepted.  This was the first time they had ever been apart. Whilst Peter was away, John and their mum Rosalind (also a pigeon fancier) looked after the pigeons and carried on racing. Although 6000 miles apart, they wrote to each other constantly, with John and his mum providing regular updates on the pigeons’ progress. In one letter Peter sent from Hong Kong in May 1955, one page was about life in the army, the other 5 pages were all about the pigeons!

Wanting to know things like how many birds John was sending to the NFC in Guernsey and Weymouth. The pigeons really meant a lot to him. Whilst in the army, Peter won the Land Forces boxing championship in Kuala Lumpa.

In later life, sadly due to ill health he had to go into a nursing home. On one occasion while I was visiting my dad, an animal rescue centre visited the home with a variety of animals.

I was asked what my dad would like to see so I said a racing pigeon. To my surprise a racing pigeon was produced and Dads face lit up. It was a wonderful moment.

Peter died 16th May 2016 aged 81 and will be sadly missed by his wife Phyllis, daughters Karen, Clare and Amanda and his seven grandchildren.

CLARE HEAL (JULY 2016)