“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

LOOKING BACK OVER THE YEARS (PART 29.)

Tom Gilbertson of Carlisle

The 2004 season saw Tommy Gilbertson win the Federation from the long distance again, following a lifetime of successful pigeon racing at 500 and 600 miles. The season previous Tom recorded 1^st club, 1^st  Federation, 1^st open Combine Sartilly (431 miles) with his good blue chequer pied hen, ‘California Belle’, and 1^st club, 1^st Federation, 10^th open Combine Nantes (534 miles) with ‘California Cher’. For me, what put the icing on the cake with Tom’s latest success was that ‘California Cher’ is another bred down from the brilliant, Champion ‘Jay Bee’. During my 45 odd years in pigeon journalism, I have visited most of the premier long distance racing lofts in the U.K. and I must say that Tom’s loft in Cumbria must rate as one of the best, with Champions breeding Champions. Tom’s is loft with quality in great depth. Although I had the pleasure of meeting Tommy previously, I first had a chance to view his loft of wonderful long distance racers, while filming the ‘Many Miles with Mott’ videos, a few years ago. Tom had had several outstanding seasons, with his previous Cumbria Combine win being from Sartilly (431 miles) and won the Federation Averages. Tom told me, the pleasure aspect of that Combine win was that the winning pigeon, a blue pied hen, called ‘Emergency Whinona’, was an inbred pigeon from a half brother and sister mating. The dominant bird was the champion racing hen, ‘Jay Bee’, a winner of 1^st club, 1^st Federation, 1^st open Cumbria Combine Niort (604 miles), on the day of liberation for the Gilbertson loft. This gave Tom enormous pleasure because he is really interested in the breeding side of the sport and says he has been fortunate that his family has done well for other fanciers, all over the U.K. The Gilbertson loft has won countless major prizes in long distance racing through the years, including four times 1^st open Combine, five times 2^nd Open Combine, four times 3^rd open Combine and twice 1^st Open Channel races. A fantastic family of pigeons!

The loft was originally founded in 1920 by Tom’s father, Frank and from day one it has been active in long distance Channel racing only. Frank came into pigeons as a 12 year old schoolboy and loved the thrill and mystique of racing them from the long distance. The loft is based on pigeons obtained from Dr. Buckley of Nottingham in the war years and Bricoux pigeons brought in 1968. Tommy says, the Dr. Buckley pigeons were a family based on the old successful families of W. Barker, Delmotte, Grooters, Toft, J.L. Baker, Gits, Logan and Osman, expertly blended together by the doctor, who was one of the top long distance fanciers at the time. In 1939 he had in his loft 20 pigeons that had flown Marande (660 miles). Frank Gilbertson concentrated on the longest old bird race from Nantes (534 miles) every season and the loft won the 1^st open Federation many times through the years, winning many Federation Averages.

The Gilbertson loft has always raced on the natural system and the 40 pairs in the main racing loft are paired up on 1^st March. Tom pairs a few stock birds to his best racers, as he says it gives them a ‘safe’ mate when racing and a quality mate for breeding. He doesn’t train the old birds much these days because of the very bad sparrow hawk problems, but tends to race them more often to keep them fit. In Cumbria they have a really bad hawk problem and in April 1998, Tom had eight birds killed in ten days. ‘Red Alert’, the 3^rd open Combine Rennes winner, was killed, as was the 2^nd open Combine Nantes hen, ‘Hollie’. He picked up this champion blue hen dead, 100 yards away after liberating her on a training toss. Premier racers, ‘Jackie’ and ‘Jacko’, were both hawked, but fortunately survived to go into the stock loft.

Tom’s main racing loft is 40ft. long and is an ex-service loft, purchased by his father after the Second World War. The loft has its original nest boxes and partitions, but has a renewed front with open- door trapping and glass louver windows. He says he is reluctant to replace the old loft because the birds love it and race well to it. It was one of two war service lofts in Carlisle during the war and has a corn store and three sections for natural racing. Tommy says he has one set mixture to feed his birds and he has had outstanding success with both the 75% beans mixture and a widowhood mixture. It makes no difference as long as the corn is of the highest quality. His preparation for the long distance events is three races from 100, 150 and 180 miles, then a jump into Sartilly. They are put down on eggs for Rennes (474 miles), Nantes (534 miles) and Niort (604 miles). At that time Tom maintained that 80 % of his best performances for the last 15 years have been with hens.

The stock loft has three sections, grating floors and houses 24 pairs of stock birds, which are paired up on 14^th February. His stock loft has not only bred champions for his own racing team, but for many other premier long distance lofts in the U.K. He takes three pairs of youngsters off the stock birds, which are mainly retired racers or latebreds off his best racers. When selecting stock birds, they must be from the very best winning bloodlines and have a good eyesign. When I asked Tommy what he thought of the darkness system for young bird racing, he said he was worried that it might affect them badly in later life. His young birds are housed in their own loft and raced natural to the perch. A few extra young birds are bred these days because of the hawk problem, but Tom normally races about 45. He likes his youngsters to race the full programme, but says he has a lot of success with old birds that have only gone up to 100 miles as young birds. They are given a lot of training tosses up to 45 miles and are fed heavily, as he is more interested in them in their later life.

In recent years, Tommy has concentrated on the breeding side and many U.K. National winners and premier long distance lofts have his bloodlines running through them. One of the star pigeons in the loft then was the champion blue hen, ‘Jay Bee’, who won many major prizes racing including 1^st open Cumbria Combine Niort (604 miles), clocked on the day of liberation. She is dam and grandma of countless winners including ’Hollie’, winner of 2^nd open Cumbria Combine Nantes in 1995, and the blue cock, ‘Jackie’, winner of 2^nd open Cumbria Combine Nantes in 1996. ‘Jackie’ was 15 hours 21 minutes on the wing and with only five birds recorded, was the longest flying competitor timed in. As I stated previously, the 1998 Sartilly Combine winner, ‘Emergency Whinona’, is inbred to the champion breeder and racer, ‘Jay Bee’. A fantastic hen!

    

A wonderful red chequer hen that took my eye on my visit to the Gilbertson loft was ‘Red Biddy’, who won Rennes in 1997, being sent on a small youngster. Tom said he had normally never had much success with pigeons being sent to races feeding youngsters, but ‘Red Biddy’ was the exception to the rule and raced well in this condition. Her sire was the champion racer, ‘Red Alert’, winner of 3^rd open Cumbria Combine Rennes in 1992. They were bred down from the old famous Gilbertson, ‘Peanuts’ bloodlines. Tom said, the red line in his loft was a very important side of the family and another very good red chequer racer was ‘Johnny’, winner of 2^nd open Combine Rennes in 1987. On my visit to the Carlisle loft we looked at many other premier racers, including ‘Jacko’, winner of 1^st open Anglo-Scottish Borders Amalgamation Niort (604 miles). This wonderful dark chequer cock won the race by 90 minutes clear and afterwards had his back ripped open by a Sparrowhawk and had to be retired to the stock loft. Tom showed us his champion stock cock, known as ‘The Blue Cock’, a breeder of many top racers including ‘Hollie’. ‘The Blue Cock’ was the son of the Dr. Buckley’s blue chequer cock, ‘Frankie’, winning for the Gilbertson loft: 19^th open Combine Sartilly, 4^th open Combine Nantes and 1^st open Combine Nantes.

I think the route from France into Cumbria through the mountains at the home end, is one of the hardest routes in the U.K., so full credit to Tom Gilbertson and the other flyers in the far north-west of England. The Channel winners are present in numbers in Tom Gilbertson’s loft, which shows the quality in great depth in the Carlisle loft. Thanks to Tommy for being a good friend over the years!

The late Eric Fox of Bakewell.

I visited the wonderful county of Derbyshire for the “Many Miles with Mott” video many years ago, but one loft visit that was very special for me was the one I made to the great Eric Fox, who lived in Bakewell, a lovely town set in the Peak District countryside. Eric told me, in no uncertain terms, that the well-known cake which comes from his hometown is called Bakewell Pudding, and not Bakewell Tart, as I’ve always called it. Eric Fox’s performances in National racing through the years were endless, with the highlights being flying in the National Flying Club, four times 1^st Section Pau (683 miles), three times 1st. Section Nantes and 5^th, 7^th, 15^th and 46^th open.

Eric’s wonderful old lofts were set on the side of a disused quarry and the view from the main racing loft was staggering. The loft housed 20 pairs of stock birds and 20 pairs of racers. About 50 young birds were bred each season, but half these were sold, to cover the corn and racing bill. Young birds were never raced in the year of their birth, but given about 30 training tosses up to 50 miles. As yearlings they were sent to 500 miles plus and flew that on the day of liberation. Eric maintained that by saving the young birds, they matured better and made better old birds for the long distance events. The whole loft was paired up in early March and Eric told me he had not been bothered with inland racing for over 30 years. He had always flown the natural system, with both his cocks and hens being outstanding, apart from one season when he decided to go widowhood. The season after the changeover, he sent three natural hens to Pau (683 miles) and recorded 1^st and 2^nd Section, 7^th and 106^th open (6928 birds). The third hen came home two days later and so he decided to stay natural.

Since 1946, Eric had only brought in 14 birds to add to his old base family, eight of these were from Albert Bennett. He raced only South Road, as he loved channel racing and was a member of the National Flying Club, Midland National Flying Club and the Darley Dale Club. Soon after my visit to his loft, Eric phoned me to say his champion red chequer cock,’57986’, had died of old age. What a fantastic pigeon he was, winning 2^nd section, 7^th open M.N.F.C. Angouleme (velocity 720), 1^st section, 46^th open N.F.C., 4585 birds, (velocity 666) and won Section K. by over ten hours. He was sire and grand sire of many winners from Nantes, Bordeaux, Bergerac, Saintes and Niort. The dam of ‘57986’ was Eric’s good red hen, ‘59242’, winner of 2^nd section, 106^th open N.F.C. Pau, 3rd. section, 323^rd open N.F.C. Pau. Eric told me his most thrilling experience in pigeons was owning and clocking his great blue chequer hen, ‘43286’, six times on the day from 520 miles, each time after 9.30am. A once in a lifetime pigeon! The late Eric Fox, another of our greatest long distance fanciers!

The late Bobby Adair and son Martin Adair of Flimby.

One of the all-time great long distance lofts in Cumbria is that of Bobby and Martin Adair of Flimby. Bobby said that their greatest achievement was winning the Federation Average Cup a record eleven times! To win this fantastic cup, worth over £22,000, fanciers have to clock in at all races and the Adair’s had also been runners-up twice.

The loft’s record in long distance racing was second to none, with it winning the Combine several times. The partners won the Combine from Nantes, 512 miles, in 1996, the year when I travelled up to Cumbria to visit the Adair family. They won their very strong Combine with their champion blue chequer cock, which had previously won 54^th open Combine Sartilly the same season. This game chequer cock won the Combine from the longest old bird race, flying into a North West wind head wind, and was clocked at 20.55hrs on the day of liberation. There were only five birds clocked in the Combine on the day and the other four were 50 miles short in South Cumbria and were clocked after the Adair’s champion. A brilliant performance!

The Adair loft’s performance in Combine racing have been outstanding and include: 1996: 54^th Combine Sartilly, 6^th, 21^st, 36^th Combine Rennes, 1^st Combine Nantes, 5^th, 17^th, 30^th, 42^nd Combine Sartilly (2). 1997: 30^th Combine Sartilly, 8^th, 19^th Combine Rennes, 9^th, 49^th Combine Sartilly (2), 29^th Combine Cheltenham (young bird). 1998: 8^th Combine Rennes, 8^th Combine Nantes, 27^th Combine Sartilly (2). 1999: 48^th Combine Picauville, 21^st Combine Rennes, 7^th Combine Nantes. The loft has put up many outstanding performances throughout the years including winning the Combine from Rennes and Nantes on consecutive Saturdays in 1988, and 1^st Federation three times in four Channel races in 1989. The Adair’s won 1^st Federation from Niort in 1989 and 1990 with the same pigeon, their champion ‘Niort Hen’, a blue pied natural pigeon, which raced out of her socks when sitting on 12 day old eggs. The Federation only went to Niort three times and she won it twice, recording 5^th Combine both times. The first time she won the Federation by 90 minutes and the second time by 4 hours. All the pigeons that beat her in the Combine again flew 50 miles shorter into South Cumbria. Another wonderful pigeon!

The late great Bobby Adair was born into the pigeon sport, but had to pack up in the war years. He went into cage birds at that time with outstanding success and won both the English and Scottish National shows in 1961. Bobby’s seven year old son, Martin, became interested in pigeons, so they re-started with two strays in 1965, with some help from Bobby’s newly retired pigeon fancier father. In their first season the partners won three inland races with eight young birds. Bobby and Martin raced only the natural system, with 24 pairs which were paired up the first week in March if the weather was good.

Bobby maintained that they liked to win all races, but set their stall out for the long distance Channel races. The old birds were trained about five times before the first race and then no more because of the very bad Hawk problem in Cumbria. The main racing loft was 35ft x 8ft with a tiled roof and open door trapping. The whole pigeon set up was very smart and Martin also had a small loft in which he housed his world famous champion show fantails. He was a premier fancier in the show fantail world and travelled all over the globe judging.

Bobby always told me that his family of pigeons were ‘Loxley’, because it was formed around their race basket, but they were originally Vandies, with several selected crosses to get them out to the long distance. They had a young bird team of 50 birds each year, which was more than they use to race, but in later seasons had a few extra babies because of the losses to the Hawks and the local Pylons. They got four training tosses each week for a month before the first race and the whole team went through the programme to Cheltenham, 201 miles. The young birds were fed very heavy, as the partners wanted them for the long distance in later life.

Well, Bobby is no longer with us, but I must say the Adair’s loft was one of the very best long distance establishments that I’ve had the pleasure to visit! The Adair Family were smashing people and made us very welcome when we visited their home.

Des Coulter of Worthing

A few years ago, Eric Cannon and I, had a day out on the south coast visiting pigeon fancier friends and the first loft we visited was the top long distance set up of Des Coulter, who is a specialist at the Classic and National longest events. In 1995 Des won 1^st British Section, 260^th open International (6,844 birds) San Sebastian Open (534 miles); 1^st section, 4^th open Barcelona (British Barcelona Club) 663 miles and 5^th open Barcelona (British International Championship Club), a fantastic performance.

His small loft is set in the Sussex countryside, with rolling fields and hills all round. Like the surroundings the loft is very natural in its looks and its approach to racing the greater distance events. The loft is 14ft x 6ft with bob wire trapping and has bales of straw and nest boxes everywhere. Des uses three inches of straw on the loft floor as litter and said he thinks straw helps combat stress for the inmates. The loft has a small section where Des weans his youngsters, but all the old and young birds are run together in the same section through the summer. Des has an open loft most of the time and the birds are at liberty to run the fields and countryside. All the birds are raced on the Natural system, being paired up in mid-March. Des likes races around the 650 mile mark.

The loft has won many premier prizes in long distance races through the years, the highlights of  which are: 1992: 1^st open British Barcelona Club Perpignan (583 miles), 1995: 4^th open Barcelona, 1994: 3^rd open Palamos (650 miles),1984: two birds on the day from Lerwick (646 miles), 1981: clocked one on the day from Thurso (550 miles) won 2^nd  open Combine, 1983: 1^st, 3^rd, 9^th Federation Lerwick (646 miles), 1984: 1^st, 3^rd, 7^th, 13^th Federation Lerwick, 1983: 17^th open Combine Thurso, 1980: 5^th Federation Thurso, 1981: 3^rd Federation Thurso, 1982: 4^th Federation Thurso, 1982: 2^nd Federation Stonehaven, 1983: 35^th Federation Stonehaven, 1982: 1^st Federation Berwick, 1983: 1^st Federation Berwick, 1995: 1^st Federation Bergerac, 1990: 1^st, 17^th, 18^th open Perpignan, 23^rd open Palamos, 1991: 16^th, 24^th, 35^th open Palamos, 1986: 11^th, 12^th open Combine Bergerac, 1990: 1^st, 2^nd club Niort, 1991: 4^th open Combine Bergerac, 1991: 7^th open Combine Niort, 1992: 3^rd open Combine Rennes, 1992: 9^th Federation Bergerac, 1992: 3^rd, 5^th, 7^th, 8^th open B.I.C.C. Bordeaux, 1995: 5^th open B.I.C.C. Barcelona, 1^st open B.I.C.C., 160^th open International San Sebastian. Des’ champion 1988 Grizzle cock, ‘The Palamos’, won ‘The Spanish Diploma’ in the British Barcelona Club. A wonderful loft record!

The first pigeon we looked at on our loft visit was the handsome grizzle cock which won 1^st section, 1^st open Perpignan (584 miles) BBC for Des in 1994. This cock is a perfect type and is a son of Des' ‘Thurso Hen', which flew Lerwick on the day. At that time Des has been in the sport 40 years and has always been interested in the greater distance races.

He breeds 30 to 40 young birds each year and likes them to have plenty of training, starting at 10 miles up to about 50 miles. He trains and races east to west with Sussex SR Federation and uses the inland races as training, if he takes cards this is a bonus. He rarely sends his young birds across the Channel as he thinks the losses outweigh the rewards. He breeds a few late breds from his best bird each year, which he uses to breed from the following season. The birds are hopper fed on all beans and are trapped on a mixture of smaller grains, including peas and maize.

Star of the 1995 season was Des' wonderful grizzle hen 'Champion Clio' which won 1^st British Section, 160^th open International (6,844 birds) San Sebastian Open (534 miles). She had no other races before winning the San Sebastian Open in 1995. She flew the young bird programme from Chichester to Wadebridge and as a yearling flew Bergerac on the day. This champion hen was wonderful in the hand, being medium appled-bodied and is a daughter of the 1994 Perpignan BBC winning grizzle cock. Des owned a  truly wonderful family of long distance racing pigeons.

Bernard Bundy of Privett.

Bernard Bundy of Privett, near Alton, made a good 1980 season great by winning the Central Southern Classic Flying Club blue Riband race from Pau (531 miles). The Bundy’s were always a force to be reckoned with at any distance, but excelled in the long distance events. They had clocked in race time from Palamos five years on the trot, up to 1980. A few of their highlights at that time were: 1974: 1^st Federation Niort, 1977: 6^th open BBC Palamos, 1978: 1^st club Dax, 1979: 9^th open BICC Narbonne, 1980: 10^th, 17^th open CSCFC Saintes, 1^st open CSCFC Pau, 3^rd club Bergerac.

Central Southern Classic Flying Club liberated 734 birds at 06.30hrs in a south west wind for the Pau Classic and Bernard clocked his yearling blue hen, ‘Privett Princess’, on the day of liberation at 20.32hrs. A wonderful performance! Only six pigeons were recorded on the day and ‘Privett Princess’ lifted five CSCFC trophies for her win. This game yearling was sitting eight day old eggs and had two Rennes races on her build up to the Pau Classic. She was a Dordin / Bostyn cross and her dam was of ‘Sky King’ bred by the late great Jim Biss.

Bernard Bundy had two lofts, one 22ft x 7ft, three sections with a louvered front and the other 16ft x 8ft with two sections. He paired up his two pairs of stock birds in mid-February and his ten pairs of racers at the beginning of March, and bred about 20 youngsters to race each season. The Bundy partnership raced on the natural system, with an open loft and he maintained the pigeons were happier this way. Bernard was a self-employed builder and told me his most thrilling experience in the sport was the 1972 NFC Pau Grand National. There was thick fog and didn’t expect to see any birds home and hid dark chequer hen appeared out of the fog to record 27^th open and his other entry won 117^th open National.

The loft housed four main families Spangles, Schuman, Bostyn and Dordin, and they all crossed well, scoring up to 660 miles. When selecting producers, Bernard looked for a strong eyesign, preferably violet, strong back and good feathering. He was very interested in eyesign and said it is essential to know the strength of an eye and retain it. The Bundy’s hopper fed maples with a little maize and found after trying other diets this was the most suitable for the job they wanted their pigeons to excel at. The old birds were trained every Sunday from Bovington (55 miles), with a few 20 mile tosses mid-week, and the young birds were given a bit more work. Bernard told me he had a high regard for Les Davenport, because of the success he had achieved at National level.

Well that’s it for this week! I hope my readers have enjoyed this look back at five long distance champions of yester year. We will be looking at some more very soon. To view some old video footage of some of these fanciers and their birds go on to my YouTube channel. I can be contacted with any pigeon matters on telephone number: 01372 463480 or 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)