“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT”
Three Border Federation (Champions of the 2024 season).
The competition in the Three Borders Federation has been strong and hard in the 2024 season, and once again the mighty Ashridge RPC have come out on top, winning the ‘Federation Points’ Trophy’, with 62 points, but for the first time ever we have joint winners, with the Mitcham & Merton club also winning 62 points. Both these clubs on the same points, that’s how strong the competition is in our Federation! It is common knowledge that the Ashridge and the Mitcham & Merton are a very strong clubs, sending up to 200 birds a week and in most races, short or long, members have to more or less win the Federation to win these clubs. Needless to say these two club’s member’s presence is very strong in the Federation results and they have won many racing positions, including ten 1st Federation winners in the 2024 season. A fantastic performance! The Federation ‘Individual Points Trophy’ was won by Stuart Emans of the Mitcham & Merton club, on 77 points and he won 46 Federation positions, topping the Federation four times and won several other trophies in the 2024 season. The runner up for the trophy on 55 points was Terry Goodsell of the Ashridge club and he topped the Federation result sheet from Yeovil. Congratulation to Stuart on his brilliant performances!
On behalf of all the members of the Federation I would like to thank all the officers and worker for their good work in the 2024 racing season. They were just brilliant! Our hard working secretary, Bryan Poulton, tells me he has done the job for 38 years now, which is an incredible achievement. Bryan was born in Hersham, near Weybridge in Surrey, and first became interested in pigeons as a 14 year old when visiting his friend, Dave Newman, who was a pigeon fancier. He has now had his pigeons 68 years and still loves the sport. Bryan's father wasn't a fancier but was very keen on greyhounds, so with Dave's help Bryan obtained pigeons from Harry Wheatcroft of Reigate and Freddie Ranaboldo of Molesey, to start himself off in the sport. He started racing his pigeons in 1954 and says he admired the performances of Freddie Ranaboldo and Charlie Maycock, who were the premier local fanciers at that time. He had his first race with young birds in 1955, flying in the Walton RPC and recorded 3rd and 4th club. Bryan was a founder member of the Esher & District RPC and was their first secretary. The first Poulton loft was an orange box on stilts and after some help from local fanciers, including Mark Finestone, he progressed to a 20ft loft with a large bay.
Bryan says he likes the loft to have plenty of air circulation, but it must be dry and warm. The loft houses 30 natural pairs of racers, which are paired up on 14th February. Bryan says he likes to treat them as pets and tends to over feed them. He has no stock birds, only breeding from his best racers, and has a young bird team of about 50 birds each season. His pigeons are the original Heide family bred from the Wheatcroft cock birds and the Ranaboldo hens. He thinks the original Harry Wheatcroft stock came from Rey Brothers of Scotland. In recent years, he has introduced the Dordin and Cattrysse pigeons with outstanding success. The Poulton pigeons are now his own inbred family and he says they have always tended to be better from the longer races. From the Continent, he maintains that his best performance was racing from Bergerac in two clubs on the same weekend, taking the first three positions in one club and the first two in the other, all with birds clocked on the day of liberation. He has also won the Federation many times over the years.
The Three Borders Federation winners in the 2024 season were: 1) Frank & Sue Carson (Ashridge) 1st Federation Wincanton: 2) Ken Wise (Isleworth) 1st Federation Wincanton: 3) Terry Goodsell (Ashridge) 1st Federation Yeovil: 4) Vic & Lou Emberson (Esher) 1st Federation Honiton: 5) Stuart Emans (Mitcham & Merton ) 1st Federation Okehampton: 6) Frank & Sue Carson (Ashridge) 1st Federation Honiton: 7) Ken Wise (Isleworth) 1st Federation Wincanton: 8) Steve Oliver (Isleworth) 1st Federation Honiton: 9) Frank & Sue Carson (Ashridge) 1st Federation Wadebridge: 10) Stuart Emans (Mitcham & Merton) 1st Federation Honiton: 11) Jim Andrews & son (Mitcham & Merton) 1st Federation Truro: 12) Stuart Emans (Mitcham & Merton) 1st Federation Wincanton: 13) Vic & Lou Emberson (Esher) 1st Federation Wincanton: 14) Marcin Switkowski (Isleworth) 1st Federation Wincanton: 15) Terry & Sue Leonard (Ashridge) 1st Federation Wincanton: 16) Stuart Emans (Mitcham & Merton) 1st Federation Blandford: 17) Vic & Lou Emberson (Esher) 1st Federation Honiton.
Stuart Emans of the Mitcham & Merton club enjoyed a brilliant 2024 season racing in the Three Borders Federation. He recorded many premier positions; including four times 1st Federation and finished up winning the ‘Individual Points Trophy’, and is the 2024 Federation champion. Stuart is a fireman by profession and has a very busy family life, and has only a very limited time for his pigeon racing. He is smashing man and with his very limited time for his sport, to win this trophy is a great and deserving achievement! Although Stuart has won the Federation four times this year, he said his wonderful Gerald Delaney blue hen, ‘Jade 821’, has been so brilliant in the 2024 season and given him a lot of pleasure, winning 2nd Federation Okehampton, 3rd Federation Wincanton, 5th Federation Wincanton and 15th Federation Honiton. This is Stuart’s 2024 performance in the Federation: (Old Birds) 3rd, 18th, 19th, 20th Federation Wincanton, 5th, 6th Federation Wincanton, 1st, 2nd Federation Okehampton, 15th Federation Honiton, 10th Federation Wincanton, 13th, 22nd Federation Honiton, 13th, 23rd Federation Wadebridge, 1st Federation Honiton, 12th, 13th, 15th Federation Truro, (Young Birds) 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th Federation Wincanton, 14th, 18th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd Federation Wincanton, 1st, 2nd. 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 25th Federation Blandford, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th Federation Honiton. Brilliant pigeon racing!
It’s amazing that only a few weeks earlier I wrote that Stuart Emans had never won the Federation from an inland race point and then he went on to win the Federation from Blandford, his fourth Three Borders inland winner of the 2024 season. Stuart lives in Sutton and for his profession he is a fireman. He started up in the pigeon racing sport in 2008 and has won the Federation several time through the years, the highlight was winning 1st Three Borders Federation, 2nd Combine Bergerac and winning the Federation ‘Channel Averages’. Because of family and work commitments he had to pack up his pigeons for five year and restarted up in 2023 with young birds from his good friends Gary Young and Gerald Delaney. The 2024 season has seen Stuart race those yearlings with outstanding success. He pairs up in in February and races his fourteen cocks and seven hens on the roundabout system. His smart 24ft loft is set up for ETS trapping and is made up of a section for the old cocks, another for the young birds and the roundabout hens are housed in an aviary. He is not interested in fancy pedigrees or eye sign when selecting breeding pigeons and maintains the basket is the only way to find out if a pigeon is any good or not. Stuart gives his birds about ten training tosses up to 27 miles before the first race and then they get two exercise sessions every day around the loft once racing starts. All the races are fed on Stuart’s own widowhood mixture, which he makes up himself and the racers are never broke down.
Stuart Emans won 1st Federation twice this season with young birds and we are going to talk about his youngsters and how he manages them first. His young bird loft 12ft x 3ft, an aviary on the front and all trapping is for the ETS System. When he weans his youngsters at three weeks old, they go straight on the ‘darkness’ system. They are exercised around the loft once a day and called back in with a whistle, which has been used every time they are fed. Feeding consists of a breeding mixture with a little Barley added and are fed a small amounts until they start to leave the Barley. The young bird team are kept on the breeding mixture until they come off the ‘Darkness’ on the 21st June. When they come off the ‘darkness’ they are fed on high Carbohydrate mixture, with Barley added and are fed as much as like until they leave the Barley. Stuart starts training the babies as soon as they start to rang from the loft. This is while they are on the ‘Darkness’ system. His first training toss is from five miles and the youngsters are kept at this point until they come straight out of the training basket, race home and go into the loft trap. They then move up to 14 miles and then finally 27 miles. Before the first race the young birds have been in the training basket on average around 30 times. All young birds are flown to the perch and not separated as Stuart doesn’t have the time with work commitments.
The 2024 racing season finished on a very sad note when Frank Carson passed away peacefully at his home with his family on Saturday 19th October. I have known Frank and his wife, Sue, since the late 1970’s and have never met two nicer people. Frank is a legend in the Surrey pigeon racing fraternity and has won it all at the top level over his many years in the sport. I’m so sad to hear of his passing! Frank had suffered some bad heath in recent months and son, John has helped his mum and dad race their pigeons, resulting in them having a wonderful 2024 season, which included them winning the Three Borders Federation three times. The Three Borders Federation held its first Wincanton race in April and flying 97 miles into Sutton, the Ashridge club partnership of Frank and Sue Carson, took ‘first blood’ and chalked up their first Federation win of three in the new campaign! I spoke to Frank and Sue’s son John after the race and he told me, ‘we are delighted with the Wincanton result! The winning yearling blue widowhood cock, ‘Junior’, is a grandson of our base breeder, ‘New Lady’ and she is a phenomenal breeding hen for us and responsible for winners for us, and others including multiple Federation winners and a BICC National winner. This wonderful stock hen is also grand dam of a 3rd Olympiad UK winner in 2023’. A once in a lifetime pigeon!
Frank and Sue Carson enjoyed a brilliant 2024 racing season and won: (Old Birds) 1st Federation Wincanton, 10th, 11th, 12th Federation Wincanton, 5th, 6th, 10th Federation Yeovil, 2nd Federation Honiton, 1st, 2nd, 21st Federation Honiton, 19th, 20th, 21st Federation Honiton, 1st, 11th, 21st, 22nd Federation Wadebridge, (Young Birds) 16th, 17th Federation Wincanton, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th Federation Wincanton, 9th, 10th 11th, 12th, 20th, 24th Federation Blanford,14th Federation Honiton. Well done to Frank, Sue and John!
The last race of the 2024 season was flown from Honiton in mid-September and turned out to be probable one of the hardest races of the season, certainly the hardest young bird race of the season. The birds had a stiff fly home in the head wind and the returns were patch throughout the day, but at the end of the race member reported good returns. Vic and Lou Emberson of the Esher club recoded their third Federation winner of the 2024 season, by winning the race and recording 1st, 25th Federation. Vic Emberson is a nice lad and is very popular in the Surrey pigeon racing fraternity, with him and his wife, Lou, both being good worker for the sport over many years. He is from a good pigeon racing family, with his uncle being the Surrey channel racing ‘legend’, the late Fred Emberson and Vic’s son, Neil is an outstanding pigeon racer in the Kent area. Vic had pigeons as a child, but really started racing in 1988 at the Banstead lofts. His late uncle is, Fred Emberson, who has been an outstanding channel racer in the London area for many years and he was a great help in getting Vic started in the sport. The Emberson loft has won the Federation countless times through the years; including five times 1st Three Borders Federation in the 2022 season and has recoded 1st open National several times, including 1st open NFC Fougeres (old hens) in 2004. Vic and his wife, Lou have won many major prizes in National racing in their years in the sport, but rated highly their performance in the 2005 season by recording 1st open BICC Alencon National. Vic’s recent account of the Alencon race was; ‘On the day of the BICC Alencon race the wind was strong westerly and we were expecting the winner to be in the East Section. On arrival, the cock came out of the east, confirming our belief that the winner would be in that section, but what a pleasant surprise we had when we were informed we had the leading pigeon, which was named ‘Valiant Leader’. This cock was half-brother to our 2000: 1st open Alliance of Specialist Clubs Millennium National race and car winner, ‘Alliance Leader’ and was also related to ‘Ellie’, our 2004 NFC Fougeres old hens winner’. A great family of winning pigeons!
Three Borders Federation 2024 trophy winners were: ‘Longest OB Race Trophy’ Jim Andrews & son: ‘Gazette Perpetual Trophy’ Terry Goodsell: ‘Hartley Challenge Trophy’ Vic & Lou Emberson: ‘Heritage Trophy’ Stuart Emans: ‘The Fred Mott Memorial Cup’ Stuart Emans : ‘Ken Besant Memorial Trophy’ (Pigeon of the Year) Terry Goodsell - GB 23 V 00062: 1st, 5th, 8th, 15th, 16th, 22nd, 22nd Federation: ‘Sandhurst Trophy’ Terry Goodsell: ‘Falklands Trophy’ Terry & Sue Leonard: ‘Federation Rose Bowl’ Freddie Ditch: ‘Federation Rose Bowl 2’ (Individual Points) Stuart Emans: ‘Federation Points Shield’ (Club Points) Ashridge RPC / Mitcham & Merton FC.
Three Borders Federation 2024 averages winners were: Old Bird Average: Terry Goodsell, r/u Freddie Ditch: Young Bird Average: Terry & Sue Leonard, r/u Freddie Ditch: Combine OB & YB Average: Freddie Ditch, r/u E. & K. Benjamin: Best Average Two Longest OB Races: Terry Goodsell, r/u T. McCoy & son: Best Average Longest OB & YB Races: Stuart Emans, r/u T. Baughton.
That’s my lot for this week! Well done to the Ashridge and Mitcham & Merton club members and to Stuart Emans of the Mitcham & Merton club on their wonderful success in the 2024 season! If you win and want a write up in this space, contact me 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)