Keith Mott writes about winning fanciers past and present

MR & MRS PETER MERCER

OF SPELTHORNE

Peter Mercer’s nickname at the Spelthorne pigeon club is ‘fat wallet’, because they say he is the richest man in Middlesex! I not sure about that being a fact, but he certainly is a great guy and is very successful with his pigeons every year. The 2007 season saw him win the Berkshire Federation again after winning it, plus 2nd open UBI Combine Wadebridge in the 2006 season. His 2007 Federation winner, which also recorded 3rd open UBI Combine (2186 birds) from Fougeres, was his Willy Thas blue chequer widowhood cock, ‘Good Win’, and he also won Champion Old Bird in the Spelthorne Club of 2007. This game cock was bred from gift pigeons from club mate and close friend, Brian Goodwin, and also won 1st club Wincanton (149 miles) and 2nd club Picauville (149 miles) in 2007. A wonderful pigeon! Peter also won R/U Champion Old Bird with his Goodwin / Thas dark chequer natural cock, ‘Fat Wallet’, and he won 2nd club Newton Abbot, 2nd club Yelverton and 2nd club Lulworth Cove. This pigeon is one of Peter’s favourites and races best when sitting ten day old eggs.   

The Spelthorne club’s 2006 2nd. open UBI Combine Wadebridge winner was another blue chequer hen and she was bred and raced by Mr. & Mrs. Peter Mercer. This game hen, now named ‘Laura’, was also a Willy Thas pigeon and was bred from stock birds obtained from Brian and Angela Goodwin of Hanworth. She was raced natural to the perch and had every race on her way to winning 2nd. open Combine from Wadebridge.

Peter’s 15 pairs of old birds are raced natural and are paired up at the end of January. The main family at the Mercer loft are Willy Thas obtained from Brian Goodwin and are fed a good quality ‘Gem’ mixture. The loft is 22ft. long and the six pairs of stock birds are housed in a 5ft. section at the end. When Peter is selecting breeders he likes a good type and the candidates have to be well balanced in the hand. Peter breeds 20 young birds every season, which race the whole Federation programme and they are trained every day from 20 miles. Peter started up in the sport when he was 14 years of age and has raced north and south road. He says, he is not really bothered about winning races, being a pigeon lover and just enjoys his birds in the garden. A great attitude!

MARRIOTT & SEERY

OF WEST DRAYTON

The London & South East Classic Club kicked off the 2005 season, with a banger of a race from Alencon, in northern France and with lots of wind and rain on the day, it produced plenty of thrills and spills. The heavy showers didn’t seem to have any bearing on the out come of the first classic, but the strong south westerly winds produced some very high velocities. La Ferte Bernard was the classic’s first choice for this 200 miles race, but with loss of the car park liberation site, so it was switched back to Alencon. I think it was a shame that the R.P.R.A. lost the La Ferte Bernard site, because it was one of the best the 200 mile stage. The Alencon site is not one of my favourites, it has a good open area for liberating the pigeons, but on my last visit had no facilities for watering the birds, or toilets. Back to the race! The members sent 2633 birds and after a good over night run down to Alencon, the convoyer liberated at 07.35hrs. in a south west wind. The returns were very patchy, with the leading pigeons making over 1900 y.p.m.

Marriott & Seery of West Drayton won the race with their all pooler, a champion widowhood Busschaerts cock named “Nobby” and he made a winning velocity of 1928 y.p.m. This game three year old blue cock was no stranger to winning, having previously recorded, twice 1st. club inland, 2nd. club, 3rd. Federation, 12th. open Combine Fougeres (beaten by loft mate) as a yearling and 1st. club, 1st. Federation, 1st. open Combine Fougeres (200 miles), 1st. club, 4th. Federation, 4th. open Combine Guernsey as a two year old. He is bred from the very best Busschaerts bloodlines, with his sire coming from Tom Sparks of Gravesend and his dam from Roy Fox of Harrow. Champion “Nobby” has won many other premier positions racing and has a brother named, ‘Milton Keynes’ that has won many firsts racing and has been fantastic at stock. A brilliant line of Busschaerts! Tony Seery sent six birds to the Alencon classic and clocked his winner at 10.49hrs, flying 212 miles.

Tony Seery has had pigeon on and off since he was a lad, with his brother in law, John Wight, starting him off when he started to race proper, many years ago. He formed his successful partnership with the late, Bill Marriott, in the mid-1990’s and has kept the same flying name out of respect for his friend, since his passing in 1999. He has won 1st. open Combine four times and told me he thought his best performance ever was when he was 2nd. open L.& S.E.C.C. Alencon in a north east wind, a few years ago, losing the race on decimal to the winner in Surrey. Tony races 20 cocks on the widowhood system and likes to race all distances with them, telling me, ‘if they are right, they go’. He pairs up the week after the Blackpool Show in January and all the racers rear a pair of youngsters before going on the widowhood. The cocks get about six training from Newbury (45 miles) before the first race and get daily work around the loft during the racing season. Tony’s widowhood system is a bit different from the norm, as he trains his cocks once a week during the season, in fact “Nobby” had three training tosses from Newbury in the week prior to his classic win.

Tony gets his feeding from Sough Corn and feeds Verselle-Laga Irish mixture, which is also unusual for the normal widowhood system, as it is a very heavy mixture and normally used by the long distance lads. The pigeons are never broken down. Tony told me he feeds heavy, that’s the reason why he has to train the widowhood cocks during the racing season. A very interesting system, which is very successful! He has a regular 18ft. “L” shaped loft, which houses the widowhood pigeons and stock birds and it has open door trapping. Tony has seven pairs of stock birds and the main families kept are Busschaerts and Janssen. They are paired up the same time as the racers and are kept on deep litter, with the feeding being “breeder mixture” and Hormoform. Tony is a great believer in Herbs and gives his birds them regularly, obtaining them from Ingram & Spavin. His 40 youngsters race to their own 10ft. loft, which has sputnik trapping and races them on the darkness system. He puts them on the system on Good Friday and takes them in mid June. Tony is not a keen young bird racer and some times only gives them two or three races in a season, with the cocks being stopped at 150 miles, and the hens going to the longest race. The babies are fed heavy and trained heavy, with lots of tosses from Newbury (45 miles). Congratulations to Tony on his brilliant classic win!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.

15/3/08