“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

 North Road Championship Club Lerwick Winners (Part One)

 This week we are going to visit some North Road Championship Club Lerwick ‘Kings Cup’ winning lofts. The NRCC was founded in 1901, basically to fly Lerwick, and the Kings Cup was presented to the club by King George V. Fanciers had to fly over 475 miles from Lerwick to get in the NRCC which had a very strong membership of 2,000 lofts, with nine sections, 60 clock stations and four marking stations, the main one being in Grantham. The club raced a four-race programme each season, with the highlight being the Lerwick National.

Albert and Dennis Taylor of Eastwood.

One of highlights of the 2008 racing season for me was when I saw my late mate, Dennis Taylor, in the BHW and to read the news that he had won 1st and 2nd open NRCC Perth with 3,374 birds competing. We go back a lot of years and to read that news was just brilliant! In recent years Dennis has raced his pigeons on his own after his brother, pigeon partner and best friend, Albert, passed away. In recent seasons Dennis has won many 1st Federations and has been premier prize winner several times, but to win the North Road Championship Club for the second time is the icing on the success cake. It would have been great if our Albert was here for the win and it’s nice that Dennis has named his latest NRCC National winner ‘Albi’ after his late brother.

Dennis had never looked back, winning everything in front of him with his widowhood pigeons, since he took early retirement from his shop fitting job in the mid 1990’s. The two Perth pigeons came together, but Dennis wasn’t impressed with their time, expecting them faster in a strong North East wind and was happily surprised they were well up in the reckoning on his phone verification. The three year old blue cock, ‘Albi’, has had some good previous form winning 1st Midlands Two Bird Club Thurso as a yearling and was bred down from Frans Van Wildermeersch bloodlines, originally obtained from Sid and Kitty Reeves of Swadlincotes in the mid 1990’s. I visited Sid and Kitty, with Albert Taylor, when we were making a ‘Many Miles with Mott’ video and Albi liked their birds and obtained some stock from them, which the Perth National winner was bred down from.

Albert Taylor was a good friend and we travelled great distances together around UK, whilst making my 'Many Miles with Mott' pigeon videos. I first met him in 1995 when he rang to congratulate me on my first two 'Many Miles with Mott' videos, saying in his blunt way, that they were the best pigeon tapes he had seen. He said they had one thing wrong with them; they didn't feature any north road fanciers. My reply was that, if he could arrange some premier Midlands north road loft visits, I would come up to Nottingham for a week and feature them on our No. 3 video. The result was Albert arranging that video tour plus several other 'Many Miles with Mott' video projects and we became great friends. We had some great times together, going on several long video tours of Cumbria, Scotland and the Up North Combine areas together and we enjoyed every minute, of them. He had a big influence on the production of several of the videos and, when I finished after video Number 18, I know he really wanted us to carry on and produce even more.

He worked at a Nottingham brewery, as a clerk, all his working life and on taking early retirement several years ago, started writing for the Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Borders in the British Homing World. Albert and his brother Dennis had been in the sport since 1956 and before them, their father was also a pigeon fancier, from 1927 until the Second World War. Albert became interested in pigeons at the age of 15 when his father brought some fantails home and, with help from local fanciers, he started to race with gift birds. The brothers joined Eastwood & District FC and won their first race in 1958 from Lerwick (500 miles). The pigeon that won their first race was a cock that cost 15/- (75p) and it raced to a loft made of orange boxes and fish boxes, with lino on the roof! Dennis said that Larry & Michael Gaunt of Heage, their great friends, have been an enormous help through the years and a lot of their best bloodlines came from the Gaunt loft. An early mistake made by the Taylor Brothers was to send good birds to races they should never have gone to, just to keep in club averages. The 1990 season saw Albert & Dennis win one of the greatest races in north road racing, the North Road Championship Club Lerwick King's Cup event. The brothers were new members of the NRCC in 1990 and their winning pigeon, which they called ‘Tame Red’, won the King's Cup at their first attempt. This was after one of the longest holdovers since the early 1930s from this race point, some 10 days in the basket ‘Tame Red’, one of a. batch of 28 young birds bred for the brothers by .Larry & Michael Gaunt of Heage, was clocked after just over 13 hours on the wing. This champion cock was quite a character and was so tame he walked up Albert's arm and stood on his shoulder. ‘Tame Red’ bred many premier winners and only died a few years ago at 14 years of age. Albert always said his biggest thrill in his time in the sport was seeing the NRCC secretaries, Ian & Marie Johnson, walking up the garden to verify ‘Tame Red’ as he was probably going to be the out right King's Cup winner. ‘Tame Red’ proved to be a champion at stock, breeding countless premier racers, including the blue cock 03040, which won in 1997: 72nd Open Lerwick NRCC and in 1998: 18th Open Lerwick NRCC, 1st Federation Lerwick, winning over £1,200 - a wonderful pigeon.

Dennis Taylor’s main racing loft was 32ft long, with open-door trapping and four sections, all for widowhood cocks. I was very impressed with how light and roomy the sections were: Loft white was used on the floor, which was cleaned every day. Dennis raced both widowhood and natural systems and maintained that the widowhood cocks won more prizes for him each season. Dennis was a retired shop fitter and was the main loft manager when the brothers raced together and really enjoys pottering around and cleaning out. Albert always told me he thought old birds start racing too early and young birds finish too late, in the year. Dennis insisted that young birds should have more short races and fewer long ones, as they are still on the learning path.

The second racing loft housed the natural racers, stock birds and young bird team. Most of the Taylors' pigeons originate from Larry & Michael Gaunt, but there were also Verheyes, Lefebre Dhaenens, Jan Aardens and Bras Penning, which have been highly successful. The old birds were paired up in February and Dennis bred about 70 youngsters each season. The two lofts were built well off the ground, which he thought was very important in good loft design, to ensure that they stay dry and well ventilated. The widowhood cocks got only four training tosses before the first race then were flown out around the loft twice a day. The young birds got about 10 training pitches up to 50 miles before the first race, then one midweek toss during the season. The Taylor brothers tried the darkness system for one season but didn't like it. Back in the mid 1990’s Albert told me his favourite condition for birds was for them to be sent natural to the long-distance races, sitting 12-day-old eggs. Dennis mixed several Belgian corn mixtures together to form his own racing corn and maintains that the birds benefit from every single thing in the mix, rather than feeding them just one grain. He used more maize as the distance increased. The lofts were scraped out 365 days of the year and Dennis said that deep litter may be alright for some fanciers but was not really for him.

Albert was a great lad and a 100% pigeon man. He was a great friend and is being sorely missed. Dennis has now also passed away but after Alberts passing several years earlier, still racing with outstanding success, recording many firsts in the club and Federation every season, and has won the NRCC for the second time. Two wonderful fanciers and good friends!

John Lovell of Lincoln..

One loft that I had great pleasure in visiting was that of the late, great John Lovell, a fancier I had admired for many years. John must have been the greatest long distance north roader of all time, winning five times 1^st open and three times 2^nd open in the mighty North Road Championship Club. John won the N.R.C.C. “King’s Cup” from Lerwick three times, the last time in 1989 with his good blue chequer hen, “Shetland Ede”. This Albert Bennett / Van Bruaene hen was raced on the natural system and won £3,057 when she lifted the “King’s Cup” from Lerwick. John also won the N.R.C.C. from Perth (twice) and 2^nd open Lerwick (twice), plus 2^nd open Perth. He hadn’t really raced in the Federation since 1989, flying only in the N.R.C.C., but previous to that was top prize winner in the Peterborough Federation for nine years on the trot.

John was in the sport for over 60 years, only breaking for five years to do air crew duty in the R.A.F. and always raced North Road. He raced only the natural system and liked hens for the long distance races. His 48ft. racing loft was set on a hillside overlooking the wonderful city of Lincoln and had seven sections, four for old birds and three for youngsters. John kept 40 natural racing pairs and paired them up on 26^th February, to ensure that his birds were on their first set of eggs for Perth and the second set for the “King’s Cup” event from Lerwick. He fed his own mixture and increased the maize content just before Lerwick. The old birds had only one training toss per week, but flew well around the loft, which had open hole trapping, and sand on the floors. John’s stock loft was 18ft.x 6ft. with a wire flight, and the nest boxes inside were the size of race crates. This small loft housed six pairs of stock birds, which were mostly outstanding retired racers. John’s main families were Albert Bennett / Van Bruaene and Geoff Kirkland, which were crossed together with phenomenal success. He paired his birds on the eyesign method and had his first insight into the method from his friends, Jack Humphrey and Hugh Ambler. He kept about 40 young birds each season and started training at ten miles, going through stages up to the Humber, 33 miles, before the first race. All the youngsters raced through to the N.R.C.C. Berwick race, which was a flight of 186 miles to the Lincoln loft. John Lovell, one of our greatest fanciers!

The late Frank Bristow of Horbling.

It was no surprise to read the news in the BHW that season that Frank Bristow had won the biggest prize in north road racing, when he recorded 1^st open North Road Championship Club Lerwick (1,699 birds), lifting the prestigious ‘King George Cup’. I visited his brilliant loft in the little village of Horbling in Lincolnshire with the ‘Many Miles with Mott’ video camera a few years ago and was very impressed with fancier and his pigeons. To win this wonderful 500 miles race had always been on Frank’s pigeon agenda since starting up in the sport over 50 years ago. The 2008 NRCC Lerwick National was a hard push home in a south west wind, with 39 game pigeons being verified on the day and Frank’s winning velocity was 1100 ypm. Frank Bristow’s winning pigeon, a four year old blue chequer cock now named ‘Kezie’, was bred by Brian Barnes of Lytham St Annes and was raced on the widowhood system. This champion cock had won several times previously and Frank named him ‘Kezie’, as it was his late grandfather’s nick name many years ago. It was great to hear of his wonderful Lerwick win!

I think Frank's loft set-up was probably one of the best I've ever seen. The lofts were not only excellent but were full of pigeons of the highest quality. Frank's L-shaped, brick double-storey loft was built in 1976 and was not only very pleasing to look at, but was very practical, with a lot of thought put into the design. One half of the top floor was for the widowhood cocks, which were housed in four sections and the other half was taken up with young birds and widowhood hens. The 55 pairs of stock birds were kept on the ground floor. The racing sections had grating floors with the widowhood racers being trapped through open doors and the young birds through sputniks. The stock birds had a very spacious living quarters and could get out in a big wire flight in the summer months.

Frank had been in the sport for over 50 years and when it came to breeding winners he never relied on so-called individual strains. He paired the best to the best regardless of origin, but the main base strains that formed his impressive family were Janssen, Wildemeersch, Haelterman and the super line from Albert De Groote which was mainly of the famous D'Hondt family. When he found a certain breeding pair were producing above-average race birds, they remained together; others were given different mates for a couple of seasons. Frank was adamant that in today's fierce competition only the best will keep you at the top. While we were in his stock sections, he showed me many top breeders, including the retired racer 'Sammy', a wonderful Wildemeersch pencil pied cock which had won 1^st Northallerton (110 miles), 1^st Morpeth (166 miles), 1^st Berwick (209 miles), 1^st Fraserburgh (337 miles) and 1^st Lerwick (563 miles). This old cock took my eye as soon as I walked into the loft. The Wildemeersch hen he was paired to had also won many 1^st prizes racing. The breeders were usually mated around Christmas time and Frank spent several days making sure the pairs were suited to each other. His breeding birds normally rear two or three rounds of youngsters, but all the pairs were separated towards the middle of June.

Frank liked racing at all distances and had won the Federation from every race point on the north road, including Lerwick. He had won 268 first prizes between 1990 and 1998 and had won the section in the North Road Championship Club from Perth and Berwick. One of the top birds in the race loft was a Staf Van Reet pencil pied cock which in the 1998 season won 1^st Perth, 1^st Thurso and positions from Morpeth and Berwick, to win the East Midlands RPRA Region Middle-Distance award. Another ace in the racing section was the D'Hondt blue chequer cock 'Prince Albert', 1^st Section North Road Championship Club, Berwick, when raced paired up as a young bird, and winner of many prizes as an old bird on the widowhood system.

Brian and Angela Garnham of Butterwick.

The first loft that we are going to feature is the 1998 North Road Championship Club King's Cup winning loft of Brian and Angela Garnham of Butterwick, near Boston in Lincolnshire. This partnership has enjoyed many outstanding seasons since starting up in the sport in 1974, but say the 1998 season was one of their best. Brian has had pigeons all his life and as a lad had races with the other children, with him being the convoyer, because his racing bike had three saddlebags to carry the racers. Great times!

Angela likes long-distance racing and to win the King's Cup from Lerwick was a dream come true. The 1998 North Road Championship Club race was held over until the Monday, when the convoy was liberated at 9.40a.m. The race turned out very hard with .no day birds but the Tuesday morning blossomed with bright sunshine and the partners clocked their winner 'Butterwick Bon- Ami' flying 498 miles at 7.48a.m. This champion four-year-old cock is of the Frans Van Wildemeersch strain and raced on the widowhood system. This was his third time at Lerwick, having been clocked late on the day coming in from the south on his two previous Lerwick events, so Brian gave him three short training tosses before the 1998 race and he came in from the north to win 1^st open.

Angela is the main manager of their 27 widowhood cocks which are paired up in late January and trained well before the first federation race. Once racing starts the cocks are rarely trained, but fly out around the loft twice a day. The partners never race the hens and the cocks are broken down from Sunday to Tuesday during the racing season. They have a wonderful tiled-roof loft built by local fancier Alex Legget, who is a joiner. Alex was 3rd Open Lerwick North Road Championship Club in 1998. The widowhood sections have nine nest boxes in each and heaters for winter breeding. All trapping is through open doors into a corridor which runs the length of the loft. Brian and Angela have one other small tiled loft which is used for widowhood; 'Butterwick Bon- Ami' raced to that one. Angela's favourite pigeon is a handsome Staf Van Reet mealy cock bred by the Royal Lofts, which has won many top prizes including 1st Club Morpeth (twice) and flown Lerwick.

The Garnhams keep 20 pairs of stock birds, mainly Wildemeersch from Porter and Richardson of Newark and direct from Frans Wildemeersch. These are paired in late January, their eggs floated under the widowhood racers. When selecting breeders, Brian likes the very best winning lines and pigeons with character. The partners breed about 50 young birds each season. These are put on the darkness system on weaning at 24 days old and are trained up to the Humber Bridge, 60 miles. All race through to Berwick, 210 miles, with the North Road Championship Club and no young cocks are saved for widowhood, as Brian says he had found it to be a waste of time. He maintains the darkness system is excellent and isn't detrimental to the birds in later life. He won Fraserburgh in 1998 with a yearling cock that was on the 'darkness' the year previous.

Well that’s it for this week! I hope my readers have enjoyed this first part looking back at these North Road Championship Club Lerwick ‘Kings Cup’ champions of yester year. To view some old video footage of some of these fanciers and their birds go on to my YouTube channel. I can be contacted with any pigeon matters 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)