A TRIBUTE TO PAT CANNON
by Keith Mott
Betty and I were very upset to hear the bad news of the passing of our dear friend, Pat Cannon of Godalming. Although I had not seen her for some time, we talked at odd times on the telephone and always exchanged Birthday and Christmas cards every year. Pat was in her 80s and her birthday was to be on 8th February. I was in my dining room writing out her Birthday card and my phone rang, and it was John Tyerman telling she had passed away while in the north of England visiting her son, John. I was devastated to hear of her passing, as Betty and I have been friends of Eric and Pat for many years. After Eric’s passing in 2000, Pat moved out of Culmer Lane and lived happily in a nice little cul-de-sac in nearby Milford. Pat loved her garden and was a regular Church goer, but after Eric’s passing she more or less withdrew from the pigeon racing scene. I have written many times through the years that the great Eric Cannon was one of the very best pigeon fanciers I’ve ever met, but our Pat was there with him and must take a tremendous amount of the credit for their fantastic success over many years. She was a big part of the pigeon partnership’s loft management and did a lot of the cleaning out and training of the birds off the south coast. She quite often had a day out at Worthing training the Pau pigeons, with Eric’s sister Joan and put the birds up in fours for a 40 mile fly home. I have many photos of Eric and Pat taken over the 30 years we were friends, but have included one my favourites of Pat taken in 1978 with our Caroline when she was a baby. Pat Cannon was a wonderful, loving person and the world will never be the same place without her in it! Betty and I would like to send our deep felt condolences to John and the Cannon family at this very sad time.
Eric started to keep pigeons in his early school days, with his first birds costing only a few pence each and trained his birds on a pushbike. He joined the local Godalming club as a junior member. The club comprised of some the best N.F.C. members of the time and growing up with fanciers of this calibre enabled Eric to learn the trade of long distance racing. Eric had to pack up pigeons due to four years in the Army on war service and after picking up a bad foot injury, he met his wife, Pat, a nurse at a war time hospital in Liverpool. One of Eric’s best pigeons after the war was the dark chequer hen, ‘Circle Queen’. She was a late bred in 1949, bred by the outstanding Godalming fancier, the late Stan Edgington, who won everything in Combine and National racing. “Circle Queen” was one of the first pigeons Eric raced on coming out of the army after the war and she was outstanding on the north and south roads. In 1949 flew Doncaster, 1950: flew three races through to Berwick, 1951: clocked from the N.F.C. Pau, 1952: clocked from Libourne, 1953: 171st open N.F.C. San Sebastian, 1954: 136th open N.F.C. Pau, 1955: 112th open N.F.C. Pau, 1956: 7th British Section, 120th International Barcelona. “Circle Queen” was the start of 50 years of fantastic long distance pigeon racing by Eric and Pat Cannon.
Eric and Pat’s family of pigeons started in 1950, when he purchased a blue chequer hen, ’50 1753’, from Mr Wiggins of Ipswich, costing him 30 shillings, her dam being a big winner from Lerwick. This wonderful hen was dam and grand dam of 34 pigeons to score in channel races. One season, Eric paired a daughter and a grandson of ‘The Wiggins Hen’ and they produced Eric’s champion hen, ‘Pat’, winner of 1st open Combine Bordeaux, 35th open Combine Bordeaux and 73rd open N.F.C. Nantes. ‘Pat’ was the dam of ‘St. Swithin’, winner of 1st open Combine Bordeaux, 8th open Combine Bordeaux and many more premier positions. Eric’s family of long distance pigeons went back to the originals although he brought in a cross every now and then, but Eric always thought it better to have a family of pigeons, providing the base is sound.
Eric remarked that he enjoyed Combine racing years ago, but in later years all his energy was spent on the National races. In spite of that, Eric and Pat won the Combine four times, with the blue chequer hen, ‘Pat’, winner of 1st open London S.R. Combine Bordeaux, grizzle cock, ‘St. Swithin’, winner of 1st open London S.R. Combine Bordeaux, dark chequer cock, ‘Evil Eye’, winner of 1st open London S.R. Combine Le Mans and the champion blue hen, ‘Culmer Lass’, winner of 1st open S.M.T. Combine Bergerac, only bird on the day of liberation in the Combine. The Cannons won the Surrey Federation’s longest old bird race shield outright for winning it three times. Eric and Pat’s most recent Combine winner, ‘Culmer Lass’, went on to win 1st section, 12th open N.F.C. Pau the year after her Combine win. This game hen also won two more positions from the Pau National, plus 49th open N.F.C. Nantes and is the grand dam of Champion ‘Culmer Marion’, 1st open N.F.C. Sartilly in 1990. The Cannon loft has won countless positions in the N.F.C. through the years, but the highlights have been: five times winner of the Langstone Gold Cup, for best average of three N.F.C. races, 16 times 1st section in N.F.C. races, 1st open Sartilly, 2nd open Pau, 4th open Pau, 5th open Sartilly, 5th open Avranches, 6th open Pau (twice), 8th open Sartilly and so on. The Cannons had 74 positions in the first 100 open positions in Pau Grand Nationals and lifted the 3 bird Average from the Pau National six times. Eric and Pat won four N.F.C. Pau Certificate of Merit Awards and if it had started a few years earlier, Eric would have won three other awards, with the three hens, ‘Culmer Julie Girl’, ‘Culmer Beauty’ and the great champion blue hen, ‘Culmer Blue Bird’. My wife, Betty, and I have been good friends with Eric and Pat for over 30 years and out of all their many champions through the years, ‘Blue Bird’, was my favourite. She was perfect in the hand and in the late 1970’s she recorded 6th, 28th, 57th, 118th and 251st open N.F.C. Pau, winning 1st section twice.
Eric and Pat Cannon, two great pigeon fanciers who have now both left us.
KEITH MOTT (February 2014).
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