Keith Mott

Three Borders Federation - Wincanton 1

The Three Borders Federation got the 2012 season off to a great start when member sent 1,701 birds to Wincanton at the beginning of April. It was a hard start to the season with the birds having to negotiate the 95 mile fly home in a North East head wind, but returns were first class on the day.

In recent seasons I seem to have written a lot about the brilliant South Downs partnership of Colin Crook and Andy Iddenden, but they have been one of the most consistent winning lofts in the Federation over the last half a dozen years or so. Colin and Andy have started the new season in great style, winning 1st and 2nd Federation from the first race with a Frank Carson / Gaby Vandenabeele and a Paul Arnold / Staf Van Reet. Talking to Colin after the race he told me the two widowhood cocks came together and the Vandenabeele blue cock knocked the Staf Van Reet off the landing board and walked on the ETS pad first. Crook & Iddenden race in one of the strongest clubs in the south of England, the South Downs RPC, and they recorded 13 birds in the Wincanton Federation result.

The first ten in the Federation result from Wincanton were: 1) Crook & Iddenden 1325: 2) Crook & Iddenden 1322: 3) M/M Frank Carson 1321: 4) Vic Emberson 1319: 5) Malik & Khan 1310: 6) M/M Frank Carson 1305: 7) M/M Frank Carson 1301: 8) Crook & Iddenden 1301: 9) M/M Danny Allison 1300: 10) M/M Danny Allison.

Andy and Colin have 63ft. of loft, with the 12 pairs of stock birds housed in a 10ft. section with a fight and the rest of the loft being for the racers. Trapping is open doors for the old birds, “Super” traps for the youngsters and the whole structure is cleaned out every day. The old birds are raced on the widowhood cocks and celibate hens systems and the whole loft is paired up on Boxing Day, so the first round of eggs from the stock birds can be floated under the racers. The widowhood cocks start the year by rearing a pair of youngsters and their mates are taken away while sitting the second round of eggs. They are repaired five weeks before the first Federation race, then are given about six 20 mile training tosses and are put on the widowhood system two weeks before racing begins. The racers are fed on a first class widowhood mixture and are not broken down, not even for the short sprint races. The lads like to show the hens for a long time on marking night, could be as long as an hour, with the cock bird on the bowl and his mate outside the box. They are never allowed to tread. On their return from the race the cocks get their hens for two or three hours, depending how hard the race has been. Colin and Andy enjoy all Federation racing from 80 miles through to 450 miles, but have a go at the odd Classic race from time to time. Andy told me the cocks stay on the widowhood system all the time and are never repaired for the longer races. The main families kept are Paul Arnold / Staf Van Reet and the new Gaby Vandenabeele, which have all been very successful.

The 2011 old bird season proved to be one of Colin Crook and Andy Iddenden’s best to date recording: 6th, 7th Federation Wincanton (1865 birds), 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th Federation Yeovil (2230 birds), 1st, 2nd, 9th, 14th, 15th, 16th Federation Kingsdown, 15th Federation Newton Abbot (1625 birds), 23rd Federation Newton Abbot (1476 birds), 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 12th, 16th Federation Kingsdown (1321 birds), 14th, 19th, 20th Federation Kingsdown (1090 birds), 14th Federation Taunton (1080 birds), 23rd Federation Yeovil. The partner’s brilliant yearling Staf Van Reet widowhood cock won the Federation two weeks on the trot in 2011 and from Kingsdown beat his loft mate on the ETS by only a second. The South Downs RPC partnership were runners up for the Three Borders Federation Individual Points Trophy in the 2011 season. Colin and Andy won the Three Borders Federation ‘Ken Besant Memorial Trophy’ in the 2011 season for ‘best pigeon of the year’ with their good blue cock, ‘Frank’ and he recorded: 2nd Federation Kingsdown, 2nd Federation Yeovil (twice beaten by loft mates), 7th Federation Wincanton, 14th Federation Wincanton, 16th Federation Kingsdown, 23rd Federation Newton Abbot. A partnership who has been out standing for the last 30 years is the 2011 Three Borders Federation champions, Frank and Susan Carson of Mitcham and they bred Colin and Andy’s good Gaby Vandenbeele blue widowhood cock, ‘Frank’. He has won a list of premier positions in the last three seasons including 1st Three Borders Federation Kingsdown. This game cock raced to Frank’s loft as a young bird and yearling and when Frank packed up for a while in 2008, the pigeon was gifted to Crook & Iddenden, too set the place alight with brilliant performances.

The partners had 50 young birds last season, putting the 40 first rounders on the Darkness system and left the 20 second rounders natural. The youngsters are put on the Darkness on weaning, being closed down from 5p.m. until 8a.m. every day, and are taken off the system on the longest day in mid-June. The young bird team get lots of training tosses up to 35 miles before the first Federation race, then get two tosses a week once the season starts and all race the full racing programme. They are raced to the perch, but if they want to pair up they are allowed too and nest bowls are put into the section.

Colin and Andy won the Federation several times and 1st SMT Combine in the 2010 season. Their Yelverton SMT Combine winner in 2010 was their ‘darkness’ Staf Van Reet blue chequer hen, ‘The Combine Hen’, and she was bred from stock birds obtained from Paul Arnold of North Cheam. Her sire is their good dark pied cock, ‘Keith’, and he is a grand son of Paul’s champion breeders, ‘Santa Vos’ and ‘The Guvnor’. She was a member of Crook & Iddenden’s 50 bird strong young bid team in 2010 and had one Federation and the two L&SECC Guernsey races on her build to her Combine win. She was never paired up and flew natural to the perch. A nice twist the story is she was lost off top of the loft when very young and returned home with an orange plastic ring on her leg, just before training started. Colin says he has never taken the ring off and she still wears it today! The partners had so my star birds in the 2010 season it’s a bit hard to pick out individuals, but one must be the widowhood grizzle cock, ‘The Dove’, and he won several premier prizes in 2010 including 2nd open SMT Combine Messac. A few years ago Paul Arnold brought in some Roland / Janssens pigeons to try and bred Colin a pair of white grizzles. The hen of the nest pair is the dam of ‘The Dove’ and also the grizzle widowhood cock, ‘Dusty’, winner of 1st Three Borders Federation Wincanton and 1st South Downs Premier Honiton in 2010. These two brilliant racers have different sires, both being Paul Arnold Staf Van Reets.

Roy Baker of Ash

I was sorry to hear of the recent passing of Roy Baker, who was a very popular fellow and exceptional pigeon fancier. He was a regular visitor to the London & South East Classic Club marking station at Leatherhead and was one of the ‘old school’ of pigeon fanciers, by racing cocks and hens on the natural system from the long distance. The L&SECC has a Merit Award for pigeons that score three times in the first 50 Open prizes from the longest old bird race, which must be one of the hardest accolades to win in the sport. Roy was always around the top of the open result from Pau, Tarbes and Bergerac, and was the first fancier to win two Merit Awards in the Classic. His two champions were: ‘Georgina’, a red pied hen which recorded 11th, 37th, 12th open L&SECC Pau (547 miles), and his beautiful blue chequer hen ‘Miss Easy’ who chalked up 26th, 2nd, 32nd open L&SECC Pau (547 miles). Two great performances put up by an exceptional long distance fancier!

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT