THREE BORDERS FEDERATION 2011 ROUND UP
Part 2
by Keith Mott
I had an email from our Federation secretary, Bryan Poulton, this week and he has furnished me with the 2011 trophy winners. He has been in office for nearly 25 years and must rate as one of the best administrators in the sport today. A vote of thanks to Bryan for all his wonderful work again in the 2011 season!
‘Pigeon Fancier’ Trophy (1st Combine Race) J. & S. May: Harry Fielding Mem. Trophy (2nd Combine Race) M/M. R. Maybey & Son: Hartley Challenge (3rd Combine Race) M/M. R. Maybey & Son: Blackwater Rose Bowl (4th Combine Race) Dye & Romascan: Cooper Challenge (Winner Longest OB Race) Paul Arnold: Longest Old Bird Race Trophy, Paul Arnold: Gazette Perpetual Trophy (Best Average 2 Longest OB Races) A. Hand & Son: Cooper Challenge (Winner Longest YB Race) Crook & Keywood: Heritage Trophy (2 Bird Ave. Longest Y. B. Race) M/M. Frank Carson: Fred Mott Memorial Cup (Best Ave. Longest OB & YB Race) Paul Arnold: Ken Besant Memorial Trophy (Best Pigeon of the Year) Crook & Iddenden: Late A. Knight Trophy (Winner Continental Average) Slight & Taylor: ‘Pigeon Fancier’ Trophy (Inland OB Average)M/M. Frank Carson: Sandhurst Trophy (Winner OB Average) G. Dighton & Son: Falkland Trophy (Winner YB Average) M/M. Danny Allison: F. J. Elliott Trophy (Combined OB/YB Inland Races ) M/M. Danny Allison: Federation Rose Bowl (Winner Combined Average) M/M. John Barrett & Son: Federation Rose Bowl (Individual Points) M/M. Frank Carson: Federation Points Shield (Winning Club) Mitcham & Merton F.C.
The loft that has set the Surrey / Berkshire pigeon fancier alight in the 2011 season was that of Reg and Richard Maybey of Virginia Water who race in partnership with their wives, Jocelyn and Silvie. The partnership won 1st Federation seven times in 2011, with highlights being 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th Federation, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 8th SMT Combine Messac, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th Federation in the first young birds race and 1st section E. NFC Fougeres. Racing in the Hare Hill club (Three Borders Federation) they won: 23rd Federation Kingsdown (1966 birds), 1st Federation Newton Abbot (1625 birds), 5th, 13th Federation Newton Abbot (1476 birds), 1st Federation Alencon (900 birds), 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th Federation Messac (857 birds), 1st Federation Yeovil (1021 birds) and lifted the ‘Harry Fielding Memorial Trophy’ and the ‘Hartley Challenge Cup’. The pigeon racing at the Berkshire loft is very much a family affair with Reg and Richard being a father / son partnership and another important part of the team is family member, Harold Coleman, who has been helping out with the very successful pigeon management for over 20 years.
The Maybey partnership race their old birds in two teams, one on pure widowhood in the Berkshire Federation and the other on the roundabout system in the Three Borders Federation. The racers are paired the same time as the stock birds in late December and the widowhood pigeons rear at least one youngster before going on the system. The racers start training three weeks before the first Federation race and are given ten tosses up to 35 miles. Richard tells me, unlike most widowhood fanciers they continue to train for the first two weeks in the season and then they just get exercise around the loft twice a day. The roundabout racers are not broken down, getting a ‘Sports’ mixture all the time, but the widowhood cocks get depurative mixture for two days after the race as a breakdown and then go the ‘Sport’ mixture for the rest of the week. Both teams see their hens on marking night for about two or three minutes and on their return get their mates for about an hour, depending how tough the race has been. The partner’s present loft is Roy Bishop’s old Kidby loft which was sited at Weybridge and it was extended five years ago, making it 65ft long and ‘L’ shaped. Reg maintains a loft must be dry and they use deep litter in the stock and young bird sections, with the old bird racers getting the floor boards scraped regularly.
The partners won the Three Borders Federation four times in the 2009 season and also won the Berkshire Federation four times, and to top off a brilliant season won 1st open SMT Combine (3,174 birds) Messac. The Combine winner was the two year old widowhood blue chequer cock, called quite plainly ‘The Combine Cock’, and previous to his Messac win he recorded several premier positions including 1st club, 5th Federation Yeovil. On the first race of the 2009 season Reg and Richard put up a fantastic performance by recording 1st, 2nd, 3rd Three Borders Federation and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Berkshire Federation on the same day. The partners won 1st Federation eight times in the 2009 season. Brilliant pigeon racing! The Maybey partnership’s performances in the Three Borders Federation in 2009 were: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 21st Federation Wincanton (1,367 birds), 5th, 6th, 8th, 17th Federation Yeovil (1,837 birds), 7th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th Federation Kingsdown (1,703 birds), 9th, 10th, 11th, 13th Federation West Bay (2,027 birds), 11th Federation Fougeres (1,038 birds), 1st, 22nd Federation West Bay (1,691 birds), 1st, 8th Federation Messac (1,008 birds), 1st open SMT Combine, 3rd Federation Exeter (1,415 birds), 1st, 12th Federation Kingsdown (1,453 birds), 20th Federation Tours (825 birds), 13th Federation Portland (1,228 birds).
The Maybey family were originally based in Hounslow and Reg has been in the sport about 40 years, with Richard coming into the partnership as a six year old ‘floor scraper’. Reg recalls his first birds were six gift squeakers from his good friend, Charlie Francis of Shepperton and the only other family member to keep pigeons at that time was Uncle Arthur who lived in Wellington Road, Hounslow. Reg’s first club was the Egham North Road RPC and won his first race from Leicester. Early mistakes were over feeding. The first loft was a 16ft x 8ft structure, with 12 natural nest boxes and was purchased from a man whose divorce story appeared in the Daily Mirror and News of the World news papers at that time! Reg tells me the fanciers who were doing all the winning locally in those early days were Fred Elliot, George Worsfold and the Besant partnership of New Malden. The partners got more and more interested in the sport and bought in some Vandevelds, Delbar and Dordin pigeons which started to win straight away. A few years later a good Krauth hen was purchased from an auction at Ascot and she turned out to be a champion in the stock, producing winners every year, and then six Krauth youngsters were purchased from George Corbett to strengthen up the family. The Van Loon pigeons were introduced in 1989 when Reg’s wife, Jocelyn, purchased a pair from Clwyd Lofts at the RPRA Southern Region Show and they were called ‘the wonder couple’ as they bred many winners over the years. Reg says one of the best performances in the early days was clocking early in the morning to win 1st club, 2nd Federation, 3rd open Combine Dax (550 miles). The main family raced now is Ludo Van Tuyn and he is a Belgium fancier who has had a lot of success with his family of pigeons racing in Thailand and Germany. Reg and Richard still have a few Van Loon, Luc Bart Geerinx, and Joop Hock and recently purchased some original Willy Thas.
Reg and Richard both work in the Airfreight industry and the whole family are involved in making the team tick! Reg and Richard tend not to get involved with the politics of the sport, as they find their work stressful enough and view pigeon racing as a sport and a way to relax. They say, in their opinion the best local fancier is Fred Elliot of Thorpe, as his results and achievement in the sport over a long period of time, with a small team of birds are second to none! They also say Mark Gilbert of Windsor has been exceptional over the last few years. Richard is asthmatic and tells me the moulting time of the year is the worst for him, but never the less it is a very important time, with the birds being separated and fed on a good ‘Moulting’ mixture. Currently most of the birds in the loft are line-bred and the odd late bred is reared off the premier racers for the stock section. Congratulations to Reg and Richard on their brilliant 2011 season!
Danny Allison of the Esher club enjoyed another great season racing in the Three Borders Federation in 2011 and finished up winning ‘The Falkland Trophy’ (Federation Young Bird Average) and ‘The F. J. Elliott Trophy’ (Federation Combined OB / YB Inland Average). Positions won in the Federation in 2011 were outstanding, with the highlights being: O.B: 17th Federation Wincanton (1865 birds), 8th Federation Falaise (1174 birds), 12th Federation Newton Abbot (1476 birds), 22nd Federation Alencon (900 birds), 23rd Federation Messac (857 birds), 7th, 8th, 9th, 18th Federation Kingsdown (1090 birds), Y.B: 9th, 11th, 12th Federation Blandford (1380 birds), 15th Federation Yeovil (1497 birds), 13th Federation Taunton (1525 birds), 8th, 16th, 25th Federation Newton Abbot (885 birds), 3rd, 24th Federation Yelverton (880 birds).
At the end of the Three Borders Federation 2010 racing season and I was delighted to write that my ol’ mucker Danny Allison has won the Federation Individual Points Trophy and is the 2010 champion! The Federation is one of the strongest in the UK and our Danny won the championship with 48 points with his South Downs club mates, Colin Crook and Andy Iddenden, being runners up on 41 points. What can I write about Danny Allison that has not been written before about his great performances over his many years in the sport! He is a great lad and a very dedicated and successful pigeon racer. He works so hard with his birds, being a relentless trainer, with early morning tosses down the line to the New Forest area. Just a few weeks ago I was in the car park at Winchester training my young birds and Danny pulled in behind me with his van full of pigeons, training his and his friend’s, Trussler Brothers, youngsters.
With us both being Kingston lads, Danny Allison and I must go back well over 30 years to the late 1970s when we both raced in the Kingston & District HS, which was at that time one of the strongest clubs in the mighty Surrey Federation. Danny was born in to the pigeon racing sport with dad being a fancier and they flew in partnership for many years. They were very successful and when his dad came out of the sport, Danny took over the pigeons at a very young age. He has always raced on the natural system and has won many premier positions in the Federation and Combine through the years; the best being 1st open SMT Combine Bergerac (450 miles). In recent years he has been in partnership with Dennis Sheppard and Martin Penfold, both premier fancier in the Surrey area, but three years ago he decided to go it alone again and approached Trussler Brothers of West Molesey for some stock birds. Dick and Brian gave him 15 widowhood cocks with their mates and this generous gift by the brother is the base of Danny’s very successful team today. Danny told me that he is very grateful to Trussler Brothers, who have also given him other good stock pigeons and never charged him a penny! He calls them the ‘Godfathers’ of pigeon racing and says they are two brilliant blokes. Danny also told me they have been so generous with gift pigeons and advice, he owes much of his good success to them! I have know Dick and Brian since I started up in the sport, 40 years ago, and they were one of best lofts in the south of England then and they are still one of the best today. They must have lost count of the first Federations they have won through the years and have also won 1st open L&SECC and 1st open SMT Combine. Certainly two of the best fancier ever to race in the Surrey area!
Congratulation to Danny on his great 2009 and 2011 young bird seasons, and winning the Three Borders Federation Young Bird Average, and then being the Federation champion in the 2010 season. Well done mate!
Esher & Dist. RPC.
The members of the Esher club held a meeting at the Westend Sports & Social Club recently and Mike Carlton offered to run some open racing pigeon shows this a autumn, which will be held on Friday evenings at Westend. Penning is from 19.15hrs until judging at 20.00hrs and entrance fee will cost £2 per birds. The program is: 11th November: OB Eyesign / YB Eyesign: 18th November: YH (Handled) / OH (TW): 25th November: YC (Handled) / OC (TW): 2nd December: OH (Handled) / YH (TW): 9th December: OC (Handled) / YC (TW): 16th December: ‘The Prettiest’. Top judges have been invites, so come on down to the Westend Club and have some good pigeon banter with the Esher lads this winter!
Well that’s our article for this week! I can be contacted with any pigeon banter on telephone number: 01372 463480. See yer!
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.