KEITH MOTT
Writes about winning fanciers past and present
“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT
Charlie & John Cudmore of Hanworth
Charlie and John Cudmore have been outstanding pigeon fanciers for many years in the Middlesex area, formally racing their birds in Richmond. I have admired their great performances for many years and finally my ol’ mate, Brian Goodwin, brought John to my Claygate home in November to have their 2015 winners, two Berkshire Federation winners and UBI Combine winner photographed.
The partners had a good racing season in 2015 with their young birds in the Bedfont SRFC recoding: 3rd, 4th, 5th club Yeovil, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th club Yeovil, 1st, 2nd, 3rd club Yeovil, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th club Kingsdown, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th club Guernsey (1), 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th club Yeovil, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th club Kingsdown, 1st club Guernsey (2). I gifted Brian a son of my champion Eric Cannon red chequer stock cock, ‘Foxwarren Fred’, in 2012, which he houses in John Cudmore’s stock loft and he has named him ‘Keith’, which is a bit of a surprise. This blue cock has bred several good channel racers in recent seasons, including: 77th, 153rd open BICC Le Mans National (3044 birds) in the 2015 season. The star 2015 young birds in the Cudmore loft were: “Little Rita’: This blue pied hen was bred by Lee Fribbins, from his winning Leo Rijn of Holland bloodlines and she won 1st club (twice), plus several other club positions, ‘The Trussler Hen’: Brian Trussler bred this blue hen and she won 1st club Yeovil and 2nd club Kingsdown in the 2015 racing season. She is a full sister to Danny Allison’s wonderful pigeon, winner of 1st club, 2nd Federation, 7th SMT Combine Bergerac (453 miles) in 2014, with only four birds clocked in race time in the Federation and only eleven in the SMT Combine. “John”, this blue cock was one of a batch of several youngsters bred by a fancier in Germany, obtained through John Gerrard, and he won 1st club, 17th open BICC Guernsey (2) for the Cudmore loft.
In recent seasons the partners won the Federation twice, once with an old bird which also topped the UBI Combine and the other was a youngster. The young bird was a Willy Thas blue hen named, ‘Katie’, which won the Federation from Kingsdown and she was bred by Brian Goodwin from direct Belgium stock birds. She was March bred and was raced natural to the perch. John had 38 young birds in 2007 and says he races very natural and never puts them on the dark system. Their training starts short, working then up to Dummer on the M3 motorway and then they get Frimley, junction 4 on the M3, three times a week. They are fed as much as they want on good mixture twice a day. John says he is very much a natural flyer and doesn’t believe in murdering youngsters with light feeding and heavy training, as he wants them fore channel racing in later life.
The partner’s old bird UBI Combine winner was a Willy Thas blue chequer hen named; ‘Christine’ and she won the combine from Fougeres in France, being sent sitting 12 day old eggs. She was also bred by Brian Goodwin and on her build up to her Combine win she had a couple of inland races, recording 2nd club Kingsdown. John has always raced the natural system and he told me, the birds race so well on it he would never change it. The Cudmores have brother to ‘Christine’ and he has been to Bergerac (450 miles) four times with the Classic and has been home four times on the day of liberation, flown natural. The Combine winner is named after John’s wife, Christine, who helps out with the birds and he says it is very much a family participation hobby with his pigeon, with his children, John, Carl and Katie taking a big interest in the birds.
The partners race 16 pairs of old birds on John own natural system and they are paired up at the end of February, with racing from France in mind. They are fed a heavy mixture of Maple Peas, Maize and Wheat, and after their pre season training they are given an open loft every day. John says his birds fly so well around the loft for 40 minuets each day, there is no need to train then, although once the channel racing starts he will give them the odd toss off the south coast at Worthing and Brighton. The Cudmores like channel racing, the longer and harder the better, and use the inland events to keep the birds fit. The loft is 18ft x 8ft, two sections for old bird racers, one for the youngsters and all trapping is through the open doors. They have one or two stock birds in Charlie’s garden, mostly original Brian Goodwin birds, but John says there is no need to keep stock birds, as Brian breeds him between 10 and 16 babies every year. John likes a medium sized pigeon in the hand, with strong back and eyesign, and the main families raced are the Emiel Deweerdt and Willy Thas birds from Belgium. When I asked John what their best performance was, he had a problem thinking of one as there has been so many through the years, but the Cudmores have won the Federation from Bergerac (450 miles), won the first five positions in the club from Bergerac and won Federation Averages. Brian Goodwin has bred the Cudmores a team of young birds from his Belgium imports every year since 1979, starting with his original Emiel Deweerdt pigeons, which won Bergerac at that time for Charlie and John, five times on the day of liberation in six years. John maintains a new starter in the sport should go to good local fancier to obtain his first stock and says from his experience his best birds have come from friends as gift birds.
When convoying for the London & South East Classic Club, I took the Classic birds to Bordeaux seven times and Bergerac once and the race always fell on the French Bastille Holiday weekend. The last L&SECC old bird race of the 2012 season took place from Bergerac, when members entered 515 birds. The birds were liberated on Sunday 15th July at 6.45am into a West / North West wind at the liberation site. This meant a steady race was expected and the anticipation of day birds for this 450 plus miles race would turn to reality as 25 first day birds verifications were recorded with some members getting more than one pigeon home on the day. What a brilliant race Bergerac turned out to be! Outstanding returns, with a lot of first bird verifications on the day of liberation. David Coward-Talbott of Chelmsford won 1st and 3rd open L&SECC from Bergerac and he needs no introduction, being one of the premier fanciers in the Essex area for many years. The 2nd open Bergerac prize was won by Charlie and John Cudmore, and they followed on from their great success of 2011 when they won 3rd open, 2nd SW section L&SECC Bergerac (457 miles). The Cudmore’s first bird on the ETS this time was their four year old Thas / Deweerdt blue chequer hen, ‘Charlie” and she was sent sitting ten day old eggs. Charlie Cudmore told me she was really racing all the way to her nest box on the day and in 2011 she was the partner’s second pigeon to win 56th open L&SECC Bergerac. On her build up to the Bergerac Classic she had the L&SECC Tours and several inland races when she scored doing over 2000 ypm. A real game little hen! The 3rd open winner in 2011 was the partner’s Thas / Deweerdt blue hen, ‘Katie’ and she flew Bergerac again on the day in 2012, arriving second bird to ‘Charlie’. She arrived in the evening and John had gone to clock station, and had his ETS cleared, so she never got clocked. Charlie says the sire of ‘Katie’ flew Bergerac four times on the day of liberation!
Charlie has been in pigeons all his life and has been racing over 65 years, and says there is no pigeon racing to beat channel racing. The Cudmore’s have been 2nd and 3rd open Combine many times through the years and it gave Charlie a great thrill to finally win 1st open UBI Combine in the 2007 season. The Cudmore’s are very much in to Rugby Union, with John being a second row forward for many years and is now a coach for Ealing Rugby Club, who plays in the National League. His brother, Mike, is full time in the sport and is director of Rugby at Ealing. Well done to Charlie and John on their wonderful 2015 performances!
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)