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“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT - 22-04-21

“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

LOOKING BACK OVER THE YEARS (PART 39.)

Colin Allison of Redcar.

Fanciers who exhibit at the Peterlee NEHU Show a few years ago will know the hard-working Show Manager, Colin Allison of Redcar, who was not only one of the sport's workers but was an ace racer, winning 1st open Up North Combine Maidstone Young Bird National (14,047 birds) in 1997.

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Colin started up in pigeons as a six year old with strays and, after several seasons in the boy’s club, starting racing in 1965. He says one of his best seasons was in 1977 when he won 23 firsts racing in two clubs He had always raced his pigeons on the natural system, turning onto the roundabout system in1996 and winning a record four times 1st Federations in four races on the trot that season. The 1997 season saw him win the greatest prize, 1st open UNC Maidstone, with his wonderful blue pied hen, ‘Miss Destiny’, and she didn’t have the best build up to her Combine win. This Van Reet darkness youngster got lost for three weeks from her first race of 60 miles and returned home in good condition. She went straight back to Peterborough (150 miles) to record 27th Federation before going to the  Maidstone National to win 1st open with 14,047 birds taking part. Her sire won the Federation in 1996 and her dam had recorded 2nd and 3rd. A wonderful winning family! Colin went on to the roundabout system as he never fancied widowhood as his hens have always been outstanding. One of his best was the blue chequer Busschaert, ‘Third Choice’, which had won many outstanding prizes from Lillers, including 1st club, 1st Federation, 14th open UNC (25,000 birds). This roundabout racer had also won 24th open UNC Folkestone (20,000 birds) and two televisions.

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His main racing loft had four sections, corridor trapping and was a rather smart pantile loft that was set in his very neat garden. The nest boxes in the old bird section were set out facing one another on the two sides of the parting and he paired up the racing team at the end of January. All the old birds’ reared one pair of youngsters before going onto the roundabout system, where he said his birds were outstanding up to about 320 miles. He fed a good Versele-Laga mixture and sometimes broke down until Wednesday during the racing season. The hens and cocks were trained separately twice a week up to the mid-racing season.

The Allison loft housed several families, including Van Loon. One of the premier Van Loon racers was the blue hen '550' which had recorded 1st Federation Harlow and 1st Federation Epping. Colin told me on my visit that she liked 200 miles on a fairly fast day. Her sire had bred his best three hens. He kept a young bird team of about 50 birds each season and started the darkness system in 1997 so he could compete in the young bird events. They were put on darkness when weaned, got eight hours' light per day up to late June and were raced to the perch. The youngsters were trained down the east coast to Scarborough (35 miles), starting at ten miles in the Cleveland Hills, After they had gone down the coast, they went down the A19 (which Colin called the inland route), then into the first race. The whole young bird team raced up to 150 miles, then some were stopped. Although Colin won 1st UNC on darkness, he was not happy with their performances at the yearling stage. He said he was mostly interested in old bird racing and at that time told me he may stop using the darkness system.

Whittaker & Richards of Houghton-Le-Spring.

Whittaker & Richards won 1st open Up North Combine (14,000 birds), 2nd open Queen's Cup Beauvais in 1996 with their good Janssen blue cock, ‘Lee's Boy’. This champion widowhood cock was no stranger to winning, having previously won in 1995, 1st club, 50th open UNC Beauvais and 2nd club Harlow (beaten by loft mate). Another star of the 1996 season was the ace widowhood Janssen blue cock, winner of 1st Federation and 2nd Federation that year. One of his best stock cocks was a blue chequer pied Janssen which had bred three section winners and on the road had won many firsts and 1st Federation himself. A fantastic pigeon! On my visit to the partners' loft, the widowhood section contained six 1st Federation winners.

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Lance Whittaker started racing in 1966 at Easington Lane, with natural pigeons, and liked sprint and middle-distance racing best. He won the ‘Young Bird Average’ in his first season and prior to winning the UNC in 1996, won 2nd open UNC Ashford Young National and in 1976: 2nd open UNC Beauvais.

The partners raced 32 cocks on the widowhood system, trained them at the beginning of the season while sitting their first round of eggs, but they were not trained during the season, except on Saturday when they race and got a 30 mile toss. The cocks were only shown their hens on marking nights for the sprint events and never for the Channel races. They saw their hens for one hour on return from the race and were broken down from Saturday to Tuesday for the short races. The Channel birds got good com for eight days before the distance races and had peanuts added to their diet for the last three days. After the season had finished, the widowhood pairs were allowed to rear one youngster each, which were not retained. The smart loft was built on a hillside. The main family kept were of Janssen and Janssen-based strains, which were outstanding for the partners up to the middle distance. Lance had nine top stock cocks housed in separate sections, paired to two hens each, being paired up on 10th December. He liked good, silky feather on his breeders and was also a great believer in eyesign; he liked to pair a good pearl eye to a yellow sign. When I looked at Lance's youngsters, they were on straw deep litter and looked really outstanding. Lance was a great believer in a deep litter of sharp sand and straw for all his birds. The young birds raced the whole programme and got regular training tosses from 30 miles, with a few cocks being saved for the widowhood.

Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward of Teeside.

The Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward partnership was formed in 1990 and since then they have founded a wonderful stud of about 100 pairs of mainly Staf Van Reet pigeons. The loft had eight breeding sections and housed several Up North Combine champions. They had had major success in all the National shows in the UK, showing their birds which had raced during the summer months. The partners had a top class set up which consisted of several smart, very large lofts. All the lofts were closed in with the large stock loft having nice big aviaries and litter was used on all the loft floors. They raced 52 cocks on the widowhood system and their loft was 40ft long, with three large sections and plastic on the front for warmth. Music was played in the loft all day, so that people walking by don’t disturb the inmates. Andy Ward told me the lofts had to have open door trapping because, in the Up North Combine, the competition was so keen, if your pigeon loses seconds on entering the loft, it will be nowhere in the race result.

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Brownlee, Nee, Sons & Ward raced a few hens on the roundabout system in the Great Yorkshire Amalgamation (G.Y.A.). The South Bank, Cleveland, partnership had won countless top positions racing in the Up North Combine and G.Y.A., including 1st open UNC Lillers (18,437 birds) and 2nd open UNC Folkestone (23,643 birds). The main family were Staf Van Reet, which Peter Nee said were outstanding up to 450 miles. The birds were paired up between Christmas and the New Year when the lads were on holiday. The widowhood cocks were raced mainly up to 300 miles and were given lots of training up to the first race, after which they were exercised around the loft twice a day. The cocks went on breakdown until Tuesday morning and were always shown the hens on marking night.

The 80 young birds were put on the darkness system when they were weaned and raced through to the young bird national race, 250 miles. The youngsters were raced paired up with outstanding success and were trained from 30 miles every weekday during the race season. Malcolm Nee maintained the darkness system was a must for successful young bird racing, as it holds the moult and the birds are in a better feather condition if or the longer events. Litter was used throughout the whole loft set-up and the young birds, which were on a deep litter of straw, looked really wonderful.

John Cole of Staithes.

John Cole lived on the east coast at Staithes, North Yorkshire and was a retired fisher man. He used to fish out of Staithes Village, but had to pack up work because of ill health. The 1996 season saw him achieve one of his greatest ambitions by winning 1st open Up North Combine Folkestone National (2), with 22,168 birds taking part. The champion that won this race for John was his yearling bronze cock, ‘Zagreb’, a Meuleman x Geerts bred by Wintrip and Clarke, with his sire being a Meuleman bred by Bill Porritt and ‘Zagreb's’ dam was a Geerts bred by John himself. The main family kept were William Geerts from Bill Porritt of' Staithes, who had won the Up North Combine a fantastic five times. John purchased a Geerts hen from Attrill and Gregory of the Isle of Wright, at their auction sale at Barnsley. She proved to be a good buy and blended in well with the original Geerts, being the dam and grand dam of countless winners. John had birds from Wintrip and Clarke of Burnopfield and De Vadders from Mike Billam of Mastin Moor, which were crossing in well with the Geerts. John told me the William Geerts pigeons, pure or crossed were outstanding up to 310 miles.

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John raced cocks and hens on widowhood, which could be described as his own roundabout method and the hens went out first for 40 minutes exercise. While they were out, the loft was cleaned out and the cocks were driven through to the section with the box perches. The hens were trapped in the nest box section where they were fed and given the grit and pick stone pots. The cocks were let out for their 40 minutes exercise and the hens were driven through to the box perch section, then the cocks were trapped into the nest boxes where they stayed. John's very smart loft was L-shaped with 16ft for old birds (three sections) and 8ft for the young birds. The loft had lift-off fronts and John said they were the same type as Gommaire Verbruggen and Georges Sterckx had on their lofts, which were featured in the book, 'The Elite'. Ventilation was through louvres at floor level, but these were closed during the racing season as the loft was geared to heat, which John told me was very important for form. Each of the end sections had Norplex windows to let the birds in and out and they trapped through the open doors into the nest box section. John's wife, Barbara, gave him a lot of help with the birds; and she saw them in from training, fed and cleaned them out. I congratulated John on his fantastic Up North Combine win with ‘Zagreb’ and his loft and pigeons were a real credit to him.

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John Stott & son of Redcar.

Another Up North Combine winning loft that I've visited in the mid-1990’s was that of John Stott who had been in the fancy for 60 years and raced Busschaerts with outstanding success. He raced on the natural system because he liked to see them nest and his family of Busschaerts raced well up to the longest races. The partners' smart loft was sited on an allotment and only housed 14 natural pairs, and bred about 24 young birds. The birds were paired up in February and the Stott’s raced only south road with the local Grangetown St Mary's Flying Club. The loft had won many top prizes Channel racing through the years including 1st open Up North Combine (11,500 birds) Beauvais. The old birds got a light feed at daybreak and a heavy one in the evening and all the old birds raced through to 500 miles. Old and young birds got regular training tosses throughout the season from Thirsk, a 30 mile fly from the loft, and John liked birds sitting 12 day old eggs for the 500-mile races.

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A top pigeon at the Redcar Loft was the blue cock, ‘The Wanderer’, and this was the champion that won 1st club, 1st section, 1st Up North Combine (11,500 birds) Beauvais, 2nd open Queen's Cup (17,000 birds) Beauvais, 1st club, 11th Federation, 219th open UNC (13,000 birds) Beauvais, 3rd club, 21st Federation Lillers, 4th club, 18th Federation Folkestone, 4th club, 19th Federation Provins. A fantastic pigeon.

John & Janet Marsay of Staithes.

I also visited the wonderful Staithes set-up of John Marsay in the mid-1990’s who had twice won the mighty Up North Combine. The partners started up in the sport with young birds in 1987 and in 14 short years had put up some fantastic performances. They raced cocks and hens on the roundabout system and had won 1st open (twice), 2nd open, 5th open (twice) on the Saturday in the Up North Combine and twice 2nd open Up North Combine on the Wednesday racing. A fantastic loft performance!

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The Marsays kept 60 pairs of racers which were paired up on 22nd January and they liked racing from 50 miles through to 600 miles. The hens seemed to do best on the roundabout system and the racers were fed on a good widowhood mixture, but were never broken down. The corn was never beefed up for the long-distance events and the old birds were trained from 15 miles four times a week. The main racing loft was ‘L’ shaped with open door trapping and the whole pigeon set-up was very smart and clean.

The partners won 1st open Up North Combine Maidstone Young Bird National (23,600 birds) with a nice blue chequer Busschaert hen and John told me every youngster bred from her parents had won for him. John's wife, Janet, was a great help around the loft, cleaning out and feeding, and she liked the long-distance events best. The Marsays bred 70 youngsters each year and kept a lot of fantails which John said were a must for trapping the race birds. The partners' other Up North Combine winner was a blue chequer cock, raced on roundabout, which won 1st open from Folkestone (24,600 birds). The 45 pairs of stock birds were paired up in January and were housed in a nice, roomy loft with a wire flight. John kept several strains including Busschaerts and Hermans and went regularly to Belgium to obtain stock birds.

Well that’s it for this week! I hope my readers have enjoyed this look at these six great Up North Combine 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)