STORIES OF THE CHAMPIONS

Part 8

by Keith Mott

CH. ‘NIGHTLIGHT NANCY’ Ron & Brenda Wasey of New Addington

Ron Wasey is without a doubt one of the best pigeon fanciers I’ve met, winning many premier positions in combine, classic and national over many years. He has only sent to Pau a few times in his pigeon career, the first time winning 1st open NFC Pau, the second time winning 4th open NFC Pau, the third time he didn’t clock in and the fourth time in the 2002 season, when he chalked up 1st open London & South East Classic Club from Pau. Brilliant pigeon racing!

Ron is a retired teacher and raced with outstanding success for many years with his wife, Brenda, but after leaving the sport for several years, he returned in recent seasons flying in partnership with Terry Lloyd. The 1981 NFC ‘King’s Cup’ Pau race had a then record entry of over 6,000 birds and Ron won the race with his wonderful blue hen, Champion ‘Nightlight Nancy’, who incidentally only passed away a few years ago at 22 years of age. This was his first attempt at Pau, 553 miles and the hen was sitting on 14 day old eggs, being liberated at 06.00hrs, and was clocked at 18.45hrs on the day. Previous to winning the Pau national, ‘Nancy’, who was bred from birds off H. J. Humphrey of Tottenham and Roy Drake of Catford, won several premier positions including: 1980: 2nd club, 2nd Federation, 5th open combine Dax, only two birds in the Federation on the day of liberation and beaten by a loft mate. Ron always geared the whole loft to be sitting about 12 day old eggs for the Pau National and proved to be most successful.

His brilliant performances over the years had put Ronnie in the top handful of elite fanciers in Great Britain. Highlights of seasons previous to 1982 were: 1979: 3rd section E. 4th open NFC Guernsey, 1st, 2nd and 3rd open Croydon Federation Dax, 530 miles, only two birds on the day of liberation in the Federation: 1981: 1st open NFC Pau, winning the King’s Cup and R.P.R.A. London region award, 3rd open London & South Coast Combine Dax, the same day as winning the Pau National. The loft had recorded many other 1st Federations wins in these years, both inland and from France. Ronnie had a brilliant Pau Grand National in 1982 and many rate Ron’s performance as even better than when he won 1st open in 1981, as the weather and wind did not favour his birds. In the 1982 event, he clocked his great hen, ‘Landymores’s Lulu’, to record 1st section E. 4th open NFC Pau. This great hen won the ‘F.G. Wilson Trophy’ for best average by the same pigeon at the Nantes and Pau Nationals in the 1982 season. ‘Lulu’ was a full sister to champion ‘Nightlight Nancy’, the 1981 Pau National winner and ‘Lulu’ had previously won many premier prizes including: 1st club, 7th Federation Blandford, 3rd club, 3rd Federation, 6th open London & South Coast Combine Dax (beaten by two loft mates), 2nd club, 7th Federation, 10th open Combine Tours and also in 1982: 101st section E. 281st open NFC Nantes. The last race of the NFC programme in 1982 was the young bird Guernsey and Ron was 36th section E. 74th open with his Hetru / Dordin cock, ’Cornelius’, thus securing ‘The Langstone Gold Cup’.

In the seasons after ‘Nightlight Nancy’ won the Pau National, she bred many outstanding racers in Combine and National events. ‘Nancy’ and ‘Lulu’ had an outstanding blue pied brother called ‘Sole Survivor’ and he won 1st club, 1st Federation, 4th open Combine (4,007 birds) Nantes, 1st club, 1st Federation, 4th open Combine (7,501 birds) Le Mans and 1st club, 2nd Federation, 9th open Combine (6,490 birds) Tours. Ron says he had several good winners the same way bred to his national winner and a blue, full sister he gifted to John Barratt, won 1st London Federation (by 20 minutes) and 3rd London Federation in races from France.

CH. ‘SOLITAIRE’ Eric Matthews of Ashford

Next I'm going to feature a very special fancier, who I have knew and respected since the 1970s, the late Eric Matthews of Ashford. He was a bricklayer by trade so it's understandable that his wonderful loft in Ashford were partly built of brick. Although I'm going back a few years with this article, Eric retired from his very successful building business and moved to New Milton and was still one of the premier fanciers in the Hampshire area. His team of Cattrysse and Silver Dawn pigeons had kept him good and steady, making him one of the most consistent fanciers in Middlesex over the past 50-odd years. Eric found his pigeons a great relief from the pressure of business when he was working and they took his mind off building problems when he was at home. Eric first purchased the Silver Dawn pigeons from Hughie Ambler of Southend in 1955, obtaining two pairs to start. All the Silver Dawn/Moss pigeons in the Matthews loft went back to those original two pairs. Those pigeons won inland, but really excelled at the long distance. Eric's main family in Ashford were made up of two lines of Cattrysse pigeons, one from Les Davenport and the other direct from Cattrysse Brothers some 50 years ago. I think Eric Matthews was one of the pioneers of racing pigeons from the long distance on the widowhood system, perfecting the method 50 years ago and being one of a very few fancier to be consistently outstanding over a lot of years, on the system.

In the 1980s the Middlesex loft housed so many outstanding pigeons, including 1st Combine winners, but I think the best was the great Cattrysse champion blue cock, ‘Solitaire’. He was a Davenport Cattrysse bred down from Les' first national winner, ‘Game Lady’, and Eric said at that time that ‘Solitaire's’ eye was the same as the Davenport champions. Eric paired up by eyesign and tried to breed the Cattrysse champions' eyesign into his birds. ‘Solitaire’ was very nice in the hand, being medium, and his outstanding racing performances are. 1974: 1st club, 1st Federation Plymouth (1,743 birds), 1995: 1st club, 11th Federation, 30th open SMT Combine (4,256 birds) Niort, 1976: 1st club, 1st Federation, 5th open SMT Combine Bergerac (4,003 birds), 1977: 1st club, 1st Federation Plymouth (1,688 birds), 43rd section Nantes NFC, 4th club Laval, 1978: 2nd club, 8th Federation Plymouth and bred some outstanding racers. A true champion!

CH. ‘ANY DISTANCE’ Derek Human of Petersfield

Derek Human and I go back many years, starting in the early 1980s when he had his wins in the Central Southern Classic Flying Club and he came to my home in Claygate to have his young bird champions photographed, and I covered his successes in the fancy press. Derek is a very likable guy, who has always got a smile on his face and along with his pigeon racing son, Adrian, is always up for a laugh. I for one was over the moon to hear the great news that he had won the greatest prize in long distance pigeon racing in the 2007 season, 1st open NFC Tarbes Grand National and did it in fantastic style. His wonderful champion, ‘Any Distance’, won 1st open Tarbes (540 miles) with 3,477 birds competing and won the strong Section B. by 133 ypm clear. A brilliant performance at the highest level! This game five year old Cattrysse blue chequer hen was sent to Tarbes feeding a nine day old youngster and has won a NFC ‘Certificate of Merit Award’ for recording three positions in the first 100 in the Pau National open result, previously winning: 8th section, 70th open NFC Bordeaux, 11th section, 71st open NFC Pau. Champion ‘Any Distance’ has had a brilliant racing career, winning other premier positions including: 1st section, 16th open NFC Chale, 15th section, 251st open NFC Fougeres, 19th section, 369th open NFC Sennen Cove. A champion racer in the truest sense of the word, winning at the very highest level and as her name suggests, at any distance! Derek says she was sent to Tarbes in her favourite nest condition, feeding a baby, and the squeaker she was feeding when she won the National was donated to the NFC Young Bird Auction and raised £470 for the club. In the early part of the season she was separated from her mate to hold her moult and then was sent to the very hard Central Southern Classic Flying Club Cholet race, where she scored in the first few in the open result, and then was repaired so she had a youngster for the Tarbes National.

I visited Derek Human’s loft in 1996 and at that time he lived in Alton. The Human family lived in a converted barn set in the wonderful Hampshire countryside and Derek had a great record in Classic and National racing, winning many premier positions, including 1st open CSCFC twice in the early 1980's. The 1996 season saw the Human loft win 1st and 2nd open Nantes British Barcelona Club National and several other good wins channel racing. Derek’s BBC National winner was his Davenport x Cattrysse blue hen ‘Rose’, who was raced on the Natural System. Derek had a bad hawk problem living in the Hampshire countryside and lost many pigeons each year to predators. His champion hen 'Rose' was picked up in the lane outside the Humans' home, being badly injured by a hawk attack. It took her two years rest to get over it, then, she came out to win 1st open BBC Nantes in 1996. Previously to winning Nantes 'Rose' won 6th open CSCFC Bergerac and was named after Derek’s little granddaughter who was pigeon mad, and was constantly in the loft with him. Derek lived in Cornwall for a while, and said that with the number of birds of prey he saw there, he would never race his birds out of the West Country.

CH. ‘CEZAR’ Dorin Melinte of Harrow

Dorin Melinte was born in Romania, not far from the great Nadia Comanici and he had a few birds when he was a young lad, which he obtained from a fancier who lived next door, but had to pack them up on emigrating to the UK in 1999. Some years later, in 2011, Dorin was in Spain on holiday with his family and their attention was draw by a batch of pigeons on the beach, and being bitten by the pigeon bug again, on their return home decided to get some proper racing pigeons. They looked on the internet and found, Mr. Riley of Enfield, a local fancier who was selling a family of pigeon and they purchased their first twelve birds for Dorin to start his pigeon racing career at the age of 30 years old. Dorin started racing in the Harrow club with young birds in 2012 and won his first race that season. His first racing saw him with several premier positions, including 28th, 37th open NFC Fougeres (4,350 birds). The original stock birds bred winner from the outset and one pair in particular have bred several premier racers, including Dorin’s champion cock, ‘Cezar’, and his nest brother, ‘613’, which was the cock that won his first race and broke his novice status. The Riley pigeons have won from all distances from the outset for the Melinte loft, including: three times 1st Federation and 1st Combine La Mans in the 2013 season, and 1st, 2nd section BICC Perpignan International. Dorin has become very interested in the long distance races from the south of France and northern Spain.

Dorin raced only yearlings in 2013, his first full season in the sport and in the Harrow club won: the Combine Averages, Old Bird Averages from France and the Old Bird averages. In the Inter Counties SR Federation and UBI Combine the Melinte loft won: O.B: 1st, 2nd Federation Blandford (1,974 birds), 15th, 18th, 19th Federation West Bay (2,249 birds), 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Federation Kingsdown (1,725 birds), 10th Federation Blandford (1,675 birds), 11th, 16th, 18th Federation (1,690 birds), 11th, 18th, 20th UBI Combine (2,621 birds) Honiton, 6th Federation (1,105 birds), 26th UBI Combine (1,929 birds) Falaise, 1st, 18th Federation (740 birds), 1st UBI Combine (1,302 birds) Le Mans, 44th UBI Combine (856 birds) Poitiers, Y.B: 4th Federation Blandford (1,474 birds), 6th Federation Blandford (1,363 birds), 13th Federation Honiton (937 birds), 1st, 2nd Federation Tours (59 birds). This very hard young bird Tours (295 miles) races was run in conjunction with the British Barcelona Club and Dorin recorded the only two birds on the day in the Federation. Some other highlights of Dorin’s first full season were: 25th, 35th section, 26th, 38th open NFC Carentan (3,330 birds), 14th, 23rd, 42nd section, 39th, 62nd, 92nd open BICC Alencon (4,797 birds). A fantastic loft performance!

The best racing cock in the loft was named by Dorin’s young son, Vlad-Denis, and he has named the champion blue cock, ‘Cezar’. This great pigeon is a champion in the truest sense of the word winning: 2013: 1st Federation Kingsdown (1,725 birds), 2nd Federation Blandford (1,974 birds), 11th section, 34th open NFC Cholet (6,537 birds), 18th section, 24th open NFC Messac (6,495 birds) winning £730.00: 2014: 1st section, 7th open BICC Perpignan (624 miles), 41st section, 150th open NFC Tarbes (550 miles). ‘Cezar’ has an outstanding sister in the form of ‘616’ and she flew the English Channel nine times in the 2013 racing season, recording several premier positions including: 99th open BICC Agen (514 miles). A mealy cock and brother to ‘Cezar’ recorded 1st section, 7th open BBC Fougeres as a young bird in the 2014 season. A wonderful family of pigeons!

CH. ‘JOSIE’ Frank & George Bristow of Horbling

December 2011 saw Brian Goodwin and myself make the 150 mile drive up to Frank Bristow’s home in Horbling, Lincolnshire to see his fantastic loft and pigeons, and from that visit I produced an in depth article on this great pigeon racer. Since that visit, Frank had a brilliant racing season the following year and produced one of the best loft performances in the UK of the 2012 season. In my 45 years as a pigeon racing writer I have visited thousands of lofts all over the UK and I must say Frank’s wonderful double decker loft is one of the best set ups I have visited. It really is something special! Frank likes to race at all distances, sprint, middle and long distance, and told me, winning the NRCC ‘The King’s Cup’ from Lerwick is his best performance to date. The best performances are his NRCC Lerwick win with a velocity of 1100ypm and winning 1st open MNFC from Lessay doing 2260ypm, the fastest ever MNFC winner. Frank and his son, George, also won 1st open MNFC Bordeaux in the 2014 season. Frank has won countless 1st Federations through the years on both the North and South Road and is one of very few fanciers who have won National races on both the North and South routes.

The ‘star’ pigeon of the 2012 season was the champion yearling Ceulemans blue chequer hen, ‘Josie’, and she was raced on Frank’s own widowhood system. This game little hen’s performance must rate as one of the very best in the UK for the 2012 season, winning: 13th open, 1st open (Yearling), 1st section E. MNFC Yearlings National Carentan, 6th open, 1st section E. MNFC Fougeres, 128th open, 2nd section E. (beaten by a loft mate) MNFC Vire. A fantastic racing performance and went on to win the RPRA East Midlands Middle Distance Award and the MNFC (section E) Middle Distance ‘Ace’ Pigeon Award. This wonderful hen was 2nd MNFC (overall) ‘ace’ Pigeon and Frank also took the first four in the MNFC section E. ‘Ace’ Pigeon Awards! ‘Josie’ also won the J. & J. Tranter Queens Diamond Jubilee Loft, which was open to all RPRA Regions and Frank tells me it is a cracking 18ft x 8ft structure, which is now erected in the corner of his garden. If ‘Josie’ had not been beaten by a loft mate from Vire she would have won the section E. in the MNFC a fantastic three times that season. The pigeon that beat her for 1st section E. was a Ceulemans dark chequer widowhood cock and he had won a list of top prizes prior to his MNFC Vire win. The Bristow loft also won 1st and 2nd section E. from the MNFC young bird National flown from Chale on the Isle of White, making it four section wins in the MNFC for Frank in the 2012 season. Frank tells me he only raced his young birds South Road in the 2012 season and they were on fire, winning everything in front of them!

That’s our ‘Stories of the Champions’ for this week! Any pigeon ‘banter’ please give me a phone call on: 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)

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