“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
Looking back at London & South East Classic Club winners (Part 11.)
David Coward-Talbott of Chelmsford.
When convoying for the London & South East Classic Club, I took the Classic birds to Bordeaux seven times and Bergerac once and the race always fell on the French Bastille Holiday weekend. What a brilliant race the 2012 Bergerac turned out to be! Outstanding returns, with a lot of first bird verifications on the day of liberation. The last L&SECC old bird race of the season took place from Bergerac, when members entered 515 birds. The birds were liberated on Sunday 15th July at 06.45hrs into a west / north west wind at the liberation site. This meant a steady race was expected and the anticipation of day birds for this 450 plus miles race would turn to reality as 25 first day birds verifications were recorded with some members getting more than one pigeon home on the day.
David Coward-Talbott of Chelmsford won 1st and 3rd open L&SECC from Bergerac and he needs no introduction, being one of the premier fanciers in the Essex area for many years. He was particularly delighted in winning the Classic from Bergerac as he had achieved it with one of his favourite pigeons, a three year old red cock called ‘King’. This game cock had a 240 mile race and a 300 mile race with the BICC on his build up to the Bergerac and was sent sitting ten day old eggs. He was being prepared for the NFC Tarbes race, but peeked to soon and was sent to Bergerac. ‘King’ had won several other prizes from France, the best being with the BICC in 2011. He was fantastically well bred, with his sire being a son of ‘Den Dax’ winner of 1st open French NFC from Dax and his dam being ‘Red Helen’, daughter of ‘Full Try’ winner of 1st ‘ace’ pigeon long distance KDBD 2044. Champions breeding champions! David clocked two pigeons on the day from Bergerac and the second was very close up behind ‘King’ to recorded 3rd open.
David’s main racing loft is a five section, 50ft x 8ft structure and he races cocks on the widowhood system. The racers are paired up in the second week in February and cocks don’t rear any youngsters, being trained on eggs before the first Federation race. David is only interested in Classic and National racing from France and uses the Federation inland races as training for the main events. His 32 pairs of stock pigeons are paired up at Christmas and these are housed in a 16ft x 12ft loft. The Coward-Talbott loft produces 100 young birds to race each season and these are not put on the ‘dark’ system, being raced natural, and are flown through the full programme. David told me he is very hard with his young birds, is always satisfied he has the best left at the end of the season. He is from a pigeon racing family and his grand father, J. E. Talbott of Ipswich, raced pigeons successfully in 1890. David’s father and uncles were all ‘pigeon and dog’ men and he has never known life without pigeons. David Coward-Talbott has won it all in his year in the sport and when he raced north road he won 1st open Combine nine times! A wonderful racing record!
Doug Mitchell of Maidenhead.
London & South East Classic Club had a wonderful entry of 992 birds for the last old bird race of the season from Bordeaux. After a one day holdover the birds were liberated at 0615hrs with no wind, becoming light northerly en-route and members enjoyed an excellent race with over 60 birds recorded on. the day.
The Maidenhead loft of Doug Mitchell recorded three day pigeons to win 1st, 41st & 51st open flying 455 miles, Doug's winner was a two year old Busschaert blue chequer hen sent sitting 12-day old eggs and had previously won 24th open in the L&SECC Yearling Angers Derby in 1997. Her dam also a blue chequer was also clocked on the day from Bordeaux and she was bred by Ernie Moan of Windsor from Corbett / Busschaert bloodlines. Her sire was obtained at the late Alan Brown's clearance sale and Doug said it was a pigeon that wasn't fancied at the auction as it was bred in 1986, but he really liked this handsome Busschaert, so he purchased him. In the hand his Classic winner was medium, long cast, and I noticed she had previously broken her leg. This game hen was clocked at 18.26hrs, recording a velocity of 1097 ypm, lifting £675 prize money and pools.
Doug had been in the sport 50 years and was started by his late father, who was a very keen long distance flyer, racing 728 miles from Pau into Yorkshire. Doug carried on his dad's love of long distance racing and had won many major prizes in the Classic and National races, including 6th open NFC Saintes in 1996. He raced 24 pairs on the Natural system and never bred off old birds until they have proven themselves in the race basket. He had a stay in hospital early that year and could not pair up the racers until April and his team sent to Bordeaux had only cast two flights. Most of the training was done by his wife from the south coast, with Channel racing in mind. He fed Spillers Formula Al mixture and added beans and peanuts for the long distance. Doug had three lofts, the main one being a smart 24ft four section loft with open door trapping, sand litter on the floors and widowhood-style nest boxes. He bred 50 young birds each season and never paired his yearlings, until they have shown some promise racing. Young birds raced the programme, including Channel events and were raced to the perch. He was not in favour of the ‘Darkness’ system, as he liked his youngsters to have a full moult in their first year. Doug let the young birds pair up if they want and his wife did most of the young bird training.
John Haynes of Slough.
The 2002 season saw me finish a six year stint as Convoyer for the London & South-East Classic Club and I must say, although at that time I was out of that side of the Classic, it was still very dear to my heart and I could write a book about my time convoying the classic pigeons to the Continent. The London & South-East Classic Club sent nearly 2,800 birds to its first race of the 2002 season from La Ferte Bernard. There was a great buzz of anticipation at the Sutton marking station, with this being the club's first race from France after the previous season's foot-and-mouth ban. At the car park liberation site, I held over because of adverse weather in France, but with a clear sky on the Sunday morning I liberated at 08.15hrs in a light south-west wind. The convoy cleared the site very quickly and I anticipated a good race. My Catteralls driver, Gary Haslem and I travelled back through France in brilliant flying conditions and on arrival at Caen docks we saw that the Channel was perfect.
The weekend after the race saw me make the 25 mile drive to Slough in Berkshire to visit the winning loft of John Haynes. This was the third time that I had visited his garden, as this great fancier and gentleman had won the L&SECC three times in recent seasons. He
previously won 1st open Perth in 2001 with his champion blue cock ‘Stumpy’, which was my vote for the Classic's ‘Ace Pigeon’ of the season, having also recorded 4th open Thurso (500 miles) and John won 1st Open Guernsey (young birds) in 1999. His La Ferte Bernard classic winner was a handsome two year old Deweerdt / Cooper dark chequer cock raced on the widowhood system. The La Ferte Bernard race was his first time in France and he had four inland training races in his build up to his Classic win.
John had been in the sport for over 30 years and was no stranger to winning big-time races, having previously recorded 1st open BICC Pau in 2007, 1st open SMT Combine when in partnership with the Gilbert family; 21st open Saintes NFC; 8th open Pau L&SECC (with the grandsire of his Guernsey Classic winner); 8th and 15th Open Yearling Derby L&SECC and 3rd open Sennen Cove L&SECC just three weeks prior to winning the Perth Classic in the 2001 season. He raced 36 cocks on widowhood and in 1999 tried a few hens on a semi-widowhood, with outstanding success, winning 21st open Saintes NFC with a yearling blue hen. The racers were paired up in late January and when the first-round of youngsters were 15 days old the hens were taken away before they lay their second round of eggs. The cocks finish rearing and were on widowhood when the squeakers were weaned. He had two teams of widowhood cocks, one for sprint and one for the Channel, and all got six training tosses before the first Federation race.
John's premier sprinting cock at the that time was a handsome blue Van Reet and he had recorded 14 times first in the club and 3 times 1st Federation. John told me his champion sprint cock was getting too old and was then in the stock loft. He had his own corn mixed up by a local corn chandler to the Geoff Cooper method. The three section widowhood loft was a very smart affair, with tiled roof, open door trapping and 12 nest boxes in each section. The widowhood hens and young birds were housed in another 24ft loft and this had the super traps for speed with the young birds. He kept his young hens and cocks separated during the week, putting them together on marking day, and they flew on the darkness system. The main families kept were Geoff Cooper, Staf Van Reets, Braakhuis and Janssens. The 12 pairs of stock birds were paired up at the same time as the racers, so the stock eggs can be floated under the yearling racers. When selecting new stock birds he liked good winning lines but they had to be well-balanced in the hand and of good feather quality. A great pigeon racer!
Ray and Kathy Osgood of Gateshead.
One of the biggest success stories of the London & South East Classic Club in the 2000 season was when Ray and Kathy Osgood won the Bordeaux race with their champion red chequer hen, ‘Apache K.O.’. I liberated the Classic birds at 0600hrs in a light north-east wind at Bordeaux and there were over 100 pigeons clocked on the day of liberation. A brilliant race! Ray clocked his champion Busschaert natural hen at 15.50hrs on the day of liberation, being sent to the 450-mile race on two small youngsters. This hen was a champion in the true sense of the word, having previously won in 1999: 2nd open Bordeaux L&SECC, only bird on the day in the section. She was bred by Berkshire fanciers Gordon and Kevin Curtis and purchased at the Berkshire & District Federation breeder/buyer sale. Ray says it was the best £30 he has ever spent.
The weekend after the race I drove to Windsor in Berkshire to visit Ray and Kathy, who were secretaries of the local pigeon club. Ray had called his neat loft set-up 'Apache Lofts' after a boys' football team he used to manage. He started up in pigeons in 1975 and raced north road for many years, winning Thurso three times, 1st Federation Thurso and won 1st open Combine from a young bird Durham race. He raced most weekends but said his loft was really set up for long distance events, which he liked best. He paired up in February and raced roundabout and natural to two different lofts, with the whole team being paired up for the long distance races. In the 2000 season he re-paired three weeks before the Bordeaux Classic and fed extra maize for the longer races. Ray trained twice a week from 30 miles and used the sprint races to get them fit. Ray and Kathy had two very smart lofts set in their wonderful garden, which was tended by Kathy. The loft set was, one at 12ft for the roundabout pigeons and a 24ft loft to house natural racers and young birds. The Osgood’s kept Silvere Toyes and Busschaerts pigeons, and Ray maintained they cross really well. They kept ten pairs of stock birds and only bred about 20 youngsters each season, which were raced through to 200 miles. Ray told me at the time that he tried the darkness system in 1999 and didn't like it and said he never let young birds feed youngsters, only racing them to the perch. Ray and Kathy were a very nice couple and what a wonderful hen ‘Apache K.O.’ was!
That’s it for another week! I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘banter’ on telephone number: 01372 463480 of 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).