pictorial

racing pigeon

international

COLIN MACGREGOR
AND
ANDY LAWRIE

Featured in this issue… No 595 • £4.95

Derek Hay • David Reynolds and Simon Shearsby 95
Luc Vervoort and Nicole Van Nuffel
John Kirkpatrick • South East Summary
Colin Macgregor and Andy Lawrie 9 770033 740075
 Racing Pigeon Pictorial
International
In this issue…

No 595
Page

The Racing Pigeon Co Ltd

4 Derek Hay
PO Box 12760
Colchester, CO1 9TZ
Scotland’s Finest
phone 01206 250880
(international + 44 1206 250880)
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Email address:
David Reynolds and
editor@racingpigeon.co.uk Simon Shearsby
Website: www.racingpigeon.co.uk
ISSN 0033 7404
16 The Virtuoso’s of Hallaar
Editor: Lee Fribbins
Production: Stephen Rickett
Luc Vervoort and
Advertisement/Subscriptions: Nicole Van Nuffel
Carly Huggins

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34 South East Summary 2021
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references to trade names or proprietary products may 42 SNFC East Region Winners 2021
be necessary in articles in Racing Pigeon Pictorial
International. No endorsement of such products is
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Colin Macgregor and
which are not mentioned.
Andy Lawrie

WITHOUT LIMITS • ICON OF THE SPORT – JIM BISS

©The Racing Pigeon Co Ltd 2022

AVAILABLE FROM THE RACING PIGEON

Jim Biss – Without Limits – The Ultimate Icon
Written by Lee Fribbins – Editor of The Racing Pigeon, Racing Pictorial OTHER BOOKS IN THE
WITHOUT LIMITS SERIES
International
Jim Biss was one of if not the greatest fanciers to have ever graced
our shores. The sport of pigeon racing in the UK had in Jim Biss an
extraordinary talent that made him certainly one of the Ultimate Icons
WITHOUT
LIMITS
of his generation but also one of the greatest exponents in Europe of
all time. Jim was one of those fanciers that didn’t just get a
performance a season that for many would be once in a life time that
those fanciers would be proud of but created a team of pigeons that
achieved results many could only dream of on a week after week
basis and season after season.
* 1st, 2nd and 7th Pau Grand National in 1993. * The famous
‘Champion Natrix’ winning Marseille BICC National an incredible
three years running. * 25x1st Nationals at middle/long distance events, RACING COCKS
17x2nd National and 19x3rd National. * Kings Cup from Pau plus 12x1st Section NFC and 4x1st
Open Midland NFC. * 1976-1984 alone he won a staggering 9x1st National, 6x2nd National and
by Lee Fribbins

7x3rd National. * Winner of the coveted British Marathon three years in a row.
In this book I take a look at Jim’s life, his racing methods, his lofts and the infamous pigeons that
made him a household name with descendants of his fine team still winning around the world today.
A true gentleman and Icon of the sport.

UK £22.45 EACH INCLUDING P&P

For Europe and the Rest of the World applicable postage charges apply
To order phone 01206 250880 with your credit/debit card details or post
cheque/PO made payable to ‘The Racing Pigeon’, PO Box 12760,
Colchester, CO1 9TZ or visit our website www.racingpigeon.co.uk
 Scotland’s Finest
DEREK HAY
from Kirkintilloch, Glasgow
by Mary Thomson
When did you start the sport?
In 1973 aged seven years old I started
keeping pigeons with my grandfather,
we flew in partnership as McCrae &
Hay.
Who was your first major
influence?
My grandfather, Wull McCrae, he was a
legend in our area and a very strict
fancier whom was not slow in telling
me when I got things incorrect. Wull
was never one for making excuses and
I quickly learned from an early age that
if you look in the mirror you usually
find where you have gone wrong and
whom to blame for one’s
performances. My grandfather passed
4 Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
Derek with his 3rd West
Region, 25th Open Ypres 2019.
away in 1991 and is still sorely missed
to this day.
Can you give brief details of your
first loft, birds, management etc?
Both my grandfather and I flew our
pigeons to a twenty four by six foot
loft, made up of three eight feet
sections. The loft held eighteen pairs of
Natural old birds and eighteen young
birds. All of the young birds were flown
to the perch except for two pairs
which were bred in the month of
January, these birds were intended for
the Young Bird National race later that
season using the Natural Darkness
system in the seventies. The old birds
had one or two training tosses with
the Federation transporter and then
they were flagged every day. They were
flagged once a day up until they
reached 200 miles in the racing season
then were flagged twice a day for an
‘Magic’, five time SNFC diploma
winner, including 1st West Region,
flying 520 miles as a yearling and
SHU Ace Yearling Award.
hour thereafter. No fancy treatments
given to the pigeons in those days,
survival of the fittest and everything
was increased for the longer races,
especially the Scottish National Flying
Club’s Gold Cup National race from
Rennes.
How long have you raced to your
present location?
My grandfather passed away in 1991
then in 1992 I entered my first ever
Scottish National Flying Club’s National
race flying on my own and I was 7th
Open in a head wind from 510 miles.
Many said I would fall away without the
knowledge and skill from the old man,
but little did they know that I was left
to my own devices beforehand. In 1994
I went into partnership with my wife
Linda and my son Craig. We flew in the
name of D & L Hay & Son for a few
years and had a lot of success. Then in
2001 we moved to our current
address, ironically the last Gold Cup
National race we flew at the old loft
we won 1st West Section, 5th Open
and 1st National Hen from the Scottish
National Flying Club. This has got to be
one of the greatest thrills that I have
ever experienced in my whole life!
When we moved to our present
address, I recall being out the back
garden measuring it up for my new
lofts. The lofts were erected before I
had even finished decorating the house.
This will now be our twenty first
season flying to the location.
Can you give any details of your
present loft set up, ie overall
dimensions, orientation, number
of sections etc?
Initially when we first moved to this
location I erected a thirty by six old
bird loft and a ten by six young bird
loft but as the years have progressed I
have added aviaries and another young
bird loft. I covered the whole lot over
with profile sheets and made all the
birds trap into an aviary before finding
their way to their sections. The loft
faces east and has a perfect draw of air,
with no draughts right through all the
racing sections. Every section has
access to the aviary for a bath.
Strangely enough the main aviary is in
the centre of all the lofts. Some
fanciers refer to my loft as ‘the Tardis’
because it looks small on the outside
but has lots of different sections and
hidden parts!
How many birds do you keep;
stock, racers and young birds?
At this present time I have eighteen
Three of Derek’s SNFC Region winners.
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
stock pairs, sixty five racers and
between fifty and seventy young birds. I
used to only keep twelve old birds and
in the team I had three Scottish
National Flying Club Section winners
and six Federation winners. So quality
always over quantity but nowadays
what I am striving is for both quality in
quantity.
What system do you use to race
the pigeons, eg Widowhood,
Roundabout, Natural etc?
My old birds are raced on the
Roundabout system and then mated
for their chosen main race at the end
of the season. This maybe tweaked in
the future and I may have a section on
The old mealy cock, superb distance
pigeon scoring twice from 600 miles
and breeder of a first West Region.
the Natural system and the rest on
total Roundabout all year. My young
bird team are put on the Darkness and
flown to the perch.
When do you mate your stock
birds, racers?
I usually mate all my birds, both the
stock and racers between the second
and third week in January. I then float
the eggs off the stock birds over to my
racers and let the stock go back down
on eggs. I take young birds off my main
racers and fancied yearlings as well. I
believe that you can potentially get
some of your best young birds from
your most successful yearlings.
Do you mate the birds you intend
for the longer races at a different
time to the other racers?
No, all the pigeons are mated at the
same time but are split before going
down on eggs again. This stops them
moulting their flights. I re-pair them all
again before the first race and then
split the pairs again after sitting five
days.
What is the preparation of the
racers prior to the first old bird
race?
My birds do not get out the loft to fly
until two or three weeks before the
first race due to the growing bird of
prey problems in the area. They are fed
into flying condition before letting
them out the loft for the first time that
year and because of the pigeons being
split from their mate they fly a
considerable about of time around the
loft. Firstly starting off for about fifteen
minutes then after three days the fly
for thirty minutes. On the tenth day
the team fly for about ninety minutes
easy, without any problems. They get
tested by a vet and treatment is given
only if needed.
Do you force fly your pigeons
during exercise or are they left to
do as they please?
I never force fly my pigeons nowadays, I
learn from a horseman pouter fancier
in Glasgow. He could not believe we
racing pigeon fanciers chased the
pigeons away from the place they love
most, their home. He was correct and
when the pigeons are in correct form,
they want to fly anyway and sometimes
during the racing season can exercise
themselves too much. There has been
many an occasion for myself that my
hens have flown for hours during the
week and the cocks have not trained
as well. Yet the cocks prove themselves
far better on race days and completely
slaughter the performance of my hens.
It is all educational and I have always
taken notes on how they perform at
home. Observation is the key to
everything in racing pigeons.
How often do you train your race
birds before and during racing?
5
My old birds get one training toss
before the first race and the do not go
back into the training basket again until
the National races come around, which
is about six to seven weeks later. They
will get one or two more longer
training tosses because by that time of
the year they shall be re-mated. When
it comes to my young bird team they
‘Lady Linda’.
receive around ten training tosses
before the first race and then they get
two to three trainers through the
week during the racing.
How far do you usually train?
The old birds get one twenty mile toss
before the season begins and then
longer tosses leading up to the
nationals. My young bird team are
never trained further than twenty to
twenty five miles.
Is there any specific preparation
for the birds before National
races?
Observation is the key to success in
pigeon racing and every pigeon needs
are different. Notes are made during
the nesting cycle of what makes each
pigeon tick and this is applied for
motivation at the main events. Health,
fitness and a happy environment are
essential as well. All this means nothing
‘The Jinx’ and ‘Beauty’, both 2nd West Region at 550 miles and 630 miles.
6 Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
if you have not got the tools for the
job, especially in the long distance
racing.
How much racing do your young
birds receive and how many
training tosses do they have in the
year of their birth?
Any young bird that is darkened must
be raced as much as possible. If the
racing programme is seven races they
shall get at least five of them. All my
young birds are well schooled in the
year of their birth and this is a must in
‘Peggy’, 1st West Region 5th Open
Gold Cup National and two SHU
awards and is responsible for over a
hundred diplomas, being Derek’s
best racer and breeder he ever had.
my opinion. If I have any later bred
pigeons then they shall be trained to
sixty five miles if possible.
Do you race your race your young
birds on the Natural system or
Darkness/Light system?
I race my young birds on a semi
Darkness system that I have tweaked
for over thirty years. It is not as
stressful for the young birds and they
tend to perform brilliantly. All of them
are flown to the perch.
What are the main bloodlines
that you house now and which
lines have proved the most
successful?
The main bloodlines in my loft are my
own family that originate down from
my 1992 7th Open SNFC winner ‘Lady
Linda’ she was the grandmother of
‘Peggy’ 5th Open SNFC, she was an
outstanding racer and breeder and
responsible for over a hundred
Scottish National Flying Club diplomas.
I also had a prolific hen from Jock Allan
that crossed well with my own
bloodlines for good six hundred mile
performers.
What are the bloodlines of your
breeders?
Most of my stock are from my own
tried and tested family of pigeons, but I
also have a mixture of top distance
pigeons from all over the UK.
Do you inbreed or pair unrelated
pigeons for: Racing and Breeding?
I like to cross the best of local fanciers
pigeons with my own to breed my
‘Beauty’, 2nd West Region 11th
Open from 630 mile being her
second race of the year.
racers. It’s putting the best to best to
create better. For breeding, I like an
inbred pigeon from a winning family
crossed with an inbred pigeon from
another winning family. Get all the
good winning genes together and let
the pot boil.
Do you introduce new breeders
and how often?
I always try and pay attention to the
quality of my young birds. This
determines whether I need a cross or
not. Saying that, I can always find a
spare box for proven pigeons and am
always on the look out for a goldmine
breeding pair.
What selection do you use for the

‘Wimbledon Hen’, 1st West Region, 606 miles after being badly injured by
hawk, being the only bird in Lanarkshire Social Circle race time.
pigeons that you introduce ie:
performance, handling, bloodlines
etc?
Performance and proven bloodlines are
the main ingredients we are looking
for. It helps if it looks good and handles
well but not too important.
How do you pair your breeders, ie
pedigree, performance,
inbreeding, handling?
I like to pair best to best but also try
and picture what the young birds
would look like. I rarely put two similar
eyed pigeons together and I try to
balance the size of the pigeons. A small
cock goes with a larger hen and vice
versa. I was taught when I was a lad
that Breeding is Gold and Racing is
Silver so I put as much effort as I can
into my breeding strategy every year.
Do you buy from famous fanciers
or from fanciers that you believe
have better birds?
It is a misconception that only famous
fanciers have good birds. There are
good pigeons in most lofts but to get
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
them winning you need the fancier as
well. I don’t buy many pigeons
nowadays, I usually exchange pigeons
with top fanciers if I feel it would
benefit both lofts.
Can you give details of some of
the top pigeons that you have
raced?
I am very lucky to have had some
super distance pigeons over the years.
Here’s a few recent one. ‘Lady Linda’
was 2nd, 2nd and 3rd Section SNFC at
over 500 miles and 7th Open. ‘Peggy’
was 1st West Region 5th Open Gold
Cup and Best Old Bird Performance in
Scotland. She was retired at only two
years old and was never out the top
eight Open in any race she had, 60-550
miles. At stock, she must be one of the
best ever breeders in Scotland being
responsible for over 100 SNFC
Diplomas. ‘Spider’ had four SNFC
Diplomas and a Silver Award, he was
never out the top 100 open from 500-
600 miles (grandson ‘Peggy’). ‘Little
Owl’ had three 606 mile Diplomas,
46th, 23rd and 11th Open, only pigeon
in the West Region to ever achieve
this. She won a Silver Award and is a
double granddaughter of ‘Peggy’. ‘Jinx’
was 2nd West Region Alencon, a son
‘Peggy’. ‘Cloud Nine’, 1st West Region
SNFC, granddaughter ‘Peggy’. ‘Malkie’,
four SNFC Diplomas including 1st, 3rd
West Region. ‘Beauty’ was 2nd West
Region 12th Open 630 miles SNFC.
‘Belter’ was 2nd West Region 12th
Open 577 miles SNFC. ‘Bluebell’ was
1st West Region by 50 minutes. The
Wimbledon hen was 1st West Region
17th Open 606 miles after losing 40
minutes trapping because she had been
badly hawked (half a tail and wing).
‘Magic’ has four SNFC Diplomas, 1st,
3rd, 6th and 16th Section SNFC and
voted Best Performance Yearling in
Scotland.
I’ve had over 40x1st Sections, 7x1st
West Region, 7x2nd West Region,
8x3rd West Region and 6x4th West
Region, with many more in the top 10.
Every single position is memorable and
I’ve learned never to demand success,
‘Belter’ and ‘Little Owl’. ‘Little Owl’
is the only bird in history of the West
Region to win three times at over
600 miles, being 11th, 13th & 45th
Open.
so take every one with great honour
and respect. My success at National
level does not include winners I had
whilst in partnership with my
grandfather. The system I do with my
pigeons helps me compete at every
race I enter from 60-600 miles and I
have been the top prize winner in any
club I have flown in, in the last 20 plus
years, breaking all points records many
times. I’ve competed in three different
Federations and been the Champion in
every one. An example of how my
pigeons race in club/Federation is 2019
when they won 14x1st, 14x2nd, 13x3rd
Clubs and 69 times in top 10 in
7
 so wouldn’t treat my pigeons unless
needed. Natural form is the best form
and sometimes building up an immune
system makes it easier for a pigeon to
hit good form, every year.

Do you give your breeders any

vitamins etc whilst breeding?
Good nourishing feed, clean, fresh
water, grit and minerals. What more do
they need?

How many old birds do you race?

Usually about 30-33 pairs, this includes
latebreds. I go to every race,
‘Spider’, four time SNFC diplomas club/Federation and National and
between 500 to 600 miles. haven’t missed a race in 20 years.

Section of Federation. Top prize winner,
Sprint Champ and Combine Average
winner in Federation (only fancier to
complete full programme).
How many rounds of youngsters
do you breed from your best
pairs?
I like to take two pairs from my best
pairs but some years space stop that
happening. I must cut back on my stock
team.
Do you pair your best breeders to
more than partner each year?
Sometimes I’ll take a late bred from my
best breeders with a different mate to
How many young birds do you
race?
I usually race about 50-60 young birds
but have competed successfully with a
very small team also. I raced only seven
young birds one year and put two in
Another one of Derek’s National
pigeons.
the top 10 of the West Region in the
Young Bird National and got 7/7 when
most failed to time.
Derek holding ‘Solo’ 1st West Region
SNFC.
birds have and do you race them
each week?
If my young birds are darkened then it
would be foolish and pointless not to
race them most weeks. I usually miss
one week with them but that usually is
at the start of the season, the first or
second race.
For how long do your young and
old birds train each day?
My old and young birds fly once a day
for as long as they want, this could
sometimes be up to three hours
(especially old hens). My young birds
get out at 9am and I go to work, I get

Do you race both old hens and

cocks or cocks only?
Both, I hate the thought of leaving a
potential Champion lying dormant in
the loft.

Scored in Young Bird National.

see what the young birds look like in
preparation for mating the following
year.
How many youngsters do you
breed from your best breeder?
Four or six at the very most.
Do you medicate before pairing?
I only medicate if really needed and
advised to by a vet. I wouldn’t take a
paracetamol if I didn’t have a sore head
Do you medicate before racing?
Only if essential and advised by a vet.
What distances do you race from?
Every distance from 60-700 miles. I get
a buzz from every race, I am a fanatic.
How many races a year do your
old birds have?
Yearlings get around eight races and my
older pigeons get three or four before
the big one.
How many races do your young
‘Alana’, the only young bird in the
west region to score at both SNFC
and SNRPC Nationals being 1st and
8th Section season 2019.
them in when I come back at 12 noon.
My old birds get out in the afternoon
(hens) and cocks at night. The reason I
do this is when I mate them up again I
can still continue with the same loft

8 Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595

 success higher. Apples usually fall close
to the tree.

How do you select the pigeons

that you will send for the next
race, blood spot, apple bodied,
grease spot etc?
Observation around the loft is more
important than blood or grease spots
in my opinion. I like birds that can’t sit
still or the complete opposite, birds
that you don’t see or hear. The birds
that self motivate themselves are the
ones we want.

What signs do you look for that a

pigeon should be stopped racing?
If I have a decent pigeon that is starting
to come late regularly, I will stop it
immediately. Sometimes pigeons may
be injured or mentally affected in some
way and we can’t see this. It’s better to
put them aside for the year and
concentrate in getting them through a
good moult.

Decline of the sport any ideas to

‘Malkie’ four SNFC diplomas including 1st and 3rd West Region.
flying system as the hens are off nest in
the afternoon and cocks at night.
Do you give supplements whilst
racing?
No.
Give some brief details of your
feeding methods for young and
old birds?
I feed heavy protein, Junior UK and
Versele Laga Start Plus mixed whilst
‘Solo’.
rearing young birds and continue with
the same feed whilst the young birds
are darkened. When the young birds
start flying well I add more carbs and
I’m a big believer in feeding barley as
it’s a great indicator of how much you
should be feeding your pigeons. My old
birds get a mixture of protein and high
carb goodies to repair them at the
start of the week after a race, I then
lighten the feed with barley for a
couple of days and then give
Widowhood mix then energy on the
build up to the weekend.
When do you retire a racer and is
it based on results or selection?
I’ll retire a good racing pigeon if I think
it can breed its like or I need to retain
the blood for future breeding.
When buying pigeons do you buy
from a proven pairing or would
you buy a nice handler from
unproven lines, or based on strain
names only?
I like to introduce from proven
pigeons, it makes your chances of
increase membership?
I’ve said many times that the Unions
should be paid pro rata per member
and that would be an incentive that
would get them trying to encourage
more fanciers and young people into
our sport. The Unions should be
frequenting schools and discussing our
sport with the kids. We also need
more Public Relation Officers to
publicise our sport , not just in the
pigeon magazines but in all media
sources. Secondly, the BOP has a
massive negative impact on our sport
and this will only get worse unless we
fight back. Stopping giving to all
charities and looking after our own
first would be a message to the
Government that we mean business.
I would like to thank Derek for taking
the time to complete the questions for
this Pictorial article. Derek is one of
the most competitive distance flyers in
not just the west of Scotland, but
Scotland as a whole, which is not an
easy task to do. He has been in the top
three positions in the West Region
twenty four times, 8x1st, 8x2nd and
8x3rd positions. With a vast collection
of over two hundred and fifty diplomas
and a top prize winner in every
Federation he has flown in. He is one
of Scotland’s finest and I wish him
continued success in his racing career.

Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595 9


David Reynolds…
I feel very honoured and humbled to
be asked to put pen to paper and
write a little bit about myself my
background and how the pigeon bug
got me. As well as some of the things
that I do with my birds with an
explaination of why I do some of
these things, some of the benefits are
in my opinion directly responsible in
helping my small team to achieve
some great results from 550 miles up
to 1000 miles. 1 hope to give as many
pigeon men and women a
opportunity to understand how and
why I treat my birds as I do. It’s not
just the feeding or the special system,
but more the little things that can and
do make a difference in the birds
fighting with all there might to get
home, or giving up and falling by the
wayside.
But first just a little bit about my
background. I am David Richard
Reynolds born 11.11.1960 in
Southend-on-Sea, Essex from good
working class stock,. As a young boy
growing up in a seaside town in the
70’s, I had a care free childhood with
day’s out, down the beach eating
home made egg sandwiches with
more sand than is tasty, candyfloss
and ice cream from Rossies, Crab
Fishing from the Pier and of course
those lovely jubbly Cockles in vinger,
perfek me old China.
I had a sound Education (when I
attended), loved sports, followed West
Ham United, and just had a ball until
one day the world got really
10
DAVID REYNOLDS
SIMON SHEARSBY
interesting. My uncle got himself six
white doves, which he promised me,
when he let them out they would all
come home to him. Then after a six
week wait the day came for him to
let them out. I was there watching as
all six flapped their wings and flew
into the distance never to be seen
again. Unfortunately by then I had
really caught the pigeon bug and soon
started hanging around on Saturday’s
with old guys that raced pigeons
waiting for the birds to return home
from the races, it was such a fantastic
sight to see them as they folded their
wings and bulleted through the traps,
the rubber removed and clunk it’s in
the clock, wow wow wow. 1 was well
and truly hooked.
My father built me my first loft when
I was 14 years old catching birds from
the high street and breeding young
birds to race. I then joined the
Prittlewell Racing Club and gained a
good sound grounding on how our
wonderful sport was run/organsised.
The time came as it comes for all
young men for me to look for work. I
joined the British Army as a Sapper in
the Corps of the Royal Engineers, a
decision I have never regretted
however it meant the end of pigeon
racing for many years.
After spending 20 plus years in the
British Army I was keen to get back
to pigeon racing, those few schoolboy
years flirting with sprint racing (1974)
had been enough to tell me I loved
the sport, and after hopping around
the world I married in 2008 and
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
AND
settled in 2010 in Grimmen,
Mecklingberg-vorpommen, Germany.
A quiet small town in the far north
east of Germany on the Baltic coast
close to the Polish border, with my
wife and family in we brought the old
mill house, with the windmill without
sails in the garden. My parents live
with us and are enjoying their
retirement in this quiet idylic part of
the world. This was the starting point
to form what would become
Dandilofts Marathon Pigeons.
The Birds
First and foremost is the pigeons
must be 100% fit and that must be as
natural as possible, easy to say not so
easy to achieve. But with time and
patience and some research into
natural additives and understanding of
the flock response to outside
influences, you can raise the level of
natural immunity and ability to cope
with levels even under stress and
therefore treating the birds becomes
a thing of the past. 1 avoid medicine
wherever possible, 1 do have the
birds tested twice a year just in case
but apart from having worms once all
others were negative, 1 used to use
preventative medication but found
that the antibiotics that are in them
kill not just the bad bacteria but the
good as well so it can mess the birds
up more than the sickness itself
would have.
So 100% in good health the birds are
flying around the loft racing off out of
sight, showing off in the sky, clapping
away they will be in my opinion ready
for racing. They are paired together
end of Februrary begining of March,
raise one round and when the young
are 14 days old the hen is removed
and all the birds are then on
Roundabout, that’s the end of
preparation and the season can begin.
All birds go every week to the local
sprint to middle distance club until
one week before their allocated long
distance races starts, normally that
would be 240 miles and four races, at
this point they are jumped to a 500
mile race from France, and continue
then to have 500 mile races every
two weeks up until two weeks before
there National or international is
planned. During this time they are on
a very high fat Diet with the last
seven days, a mix of mainly Hemp,
Sunflower Seeds without husks and
peanuts, this ensures they have plenty
of extra reserves ready to be used in
the coming race, after all a marathon
is not a walk in the park they will be
working hard for up to or beyond
three days. They are during this two
week period on rest, they fly only if
they want to and a bath is made
available every day if they wish to use
it, then the day before I basket they
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
are put together with their partner
and are allowed free range for the
whole 24 hours, then it’s all up to
them. Little things like watching how
the birds are loft flying and how
aggressive to other birds are
important signs of form if the
preparation is too short or not ideal
the form will sometimes not show
itself until they are on the transport
this is why some birds do surprise us
with a great performance.
The Roundabout System
This is an in depth look at the
Roundabout system that is practiced
at Dandilofts in order to highly
motivate both hens and cocks to race
over the distance of 500 to 1,000
miles for at least 12 weeks if not a
little longer.
Commonly referred to as the
Roundabout system, it enables a
fancier to race both hens and cocks,
providing he/she has enough space in
the loft. What is a little different at
Dandilofts is that the yearling and old
birds are kept seperate for the whole
year this is mainly due to the different
race programmes they fly and
therefore the different feeding regime
that the two teams of birds require.
The yearlings only racing to 360 miles
and do not need such a heavy diet as
the marathon birds do. Having said
this both sets of birds are raced and
trained in the same way, which
teaches the yearling just what is
expected from them in the years of
racing that follows.
The loft lay out is very basic, two
sections, one for the cocks with 16
nest boxes and the one for the hens
with 16 V-perches. Dandilofts have a
team of maximum 16 cocks and 16
hens and the same in the yearlings
loft, of course it may not always work
out that there are only 16 birds, but
ensuring that they have enough space
without overcrowding is essential,
hence the limit (overcowding is the
biggest problem in many lofts
nowdays, and is the cause of many of
the health problems that plague the
modern day birds and fanciers which
can also in turn cause a high rate of
losses from both old and young birds)
so Overcrowding must be Avoided at
all cost. Having selected the team for
the coming season here at Dandilofts
11
we pair the birds together for just
four days in January just to get the
pairs used to their boxes and their
sections. This is the start of the
Roundabout for all the birds. Here at
Dandilofts Germany the teams are
out every day in every weather, while
I realise this is not possible in every
area due to the BOP population.
Luckily however the losses here are
very small and normally only the
latebred birds that don’t yet have the
experience to cope with the BOP are
lost. Each day the hens are let out
first from both lofts (yearlings and old
hens).
For the duration that the hens are
flying the cocks are moved over to
the hen sections to wait their turn.
The time the hens spend flying is
really not important, what is
important is that when they are first
let out they disappear out of sight
even if its only for five minutes, this
showing their willingness to fly which
in turn means they are in good health,
when they return and are ready to
come in they must only enter into
the cock section and subsequently to
their nest box. They are not fed at
12
this point and the section is then shut
to allow the cocks to be let out. The
same rule applies to them they must
disapear out of sight for at least five
minutes, meanwhile the adjoining flap
to the hens section is opened and the
hens are called to eat in their own
section, at first its slow and strange
for the new inhabitants but after
three or four days they know exactly
what is expected from them and it all
runs smoothly. The cocks are then let
in and fed, after 10 to 15 minutes all
food that is left is taken away and the
loft and nest boxes are cleaned out.
This allows me to see if the cocks are
in good health and if they have rested
overnight, a very good indicator for
the new starters is when the
dropping are spread all over the nest
box the bird is not getting the rest he
needs and should to be observed to
ascertain the reason why. (other cock
or mice etc).
This whole procedure is then
repeated in the evening if the light
allows. Another little difference that
Dandilofts does is once a week the
hens are left in the cocks section
overnight with the cocks in the hens
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
section this strenghtens the bond to
the nest box and its amazing the
tenacity with which a hen will defend
her box.
At the end of February the teams will
be paired together and allowed to
raise one round of youngsters, when
the youngsters are 14 to 16 days old
or when the cock starts driving, the
hen is put back into her own sections
during the day, this is where the
fancier needs a lot more time. At
approximately 4 o’clock the hens are
let out and the cocks are driven into
the hens section, the hens are then
let into cocks section and stay there
until 9 o’clock the next morning, the
reason I do this is as I said before to
keep the strong bond to the box and
the section from both sexes, as this
love and bond for this section is what
we want for them to race well. Also it
allows the feeding of the young birds
to be shared between both parents.
When the young birds are 24 days
old they are all taken away and the
birds are back on the Roundabout for
the rest of the training before the
first race. It is important now that
there is no contact between the
sexes until the basketing night of the
first race.
Race procedure is different for the
distance races as for the short
training races.
The Short Races
For the short races basketing is a
Friday evening, the birds are kept in
their section the whole day with no
loft flying. Approximatly one hour
before they are due to leave for the
club, they are allowed together in the
cock section, there is no hard and fast
rule for the lenght of time they spend
together I just see how they are
behaving together and wait until they
have settled in their nest bowls. As a
rule of thumb it’s not more than 10
minutes. The cocks are then basketed
before the hens and go off to the
club. I try never to overcrowd the
baskets as it can be hot sometimes
and they may have a long wait and so
the birds would use up more energy
trying to keep cool and avoiding the
each other if its to tight in their
baskets.
On return from the race they are
allowed to stay together for about an
hour before they are returned back
to the hen then starts again for the
next weeks race. This system is used
for the whole season (12 races) for
the yealings. As a footnote the hen
section has metal grills on the floor
to help avoid the pairing up of the
hens.
The Distance Races
When I start the long distance racing
after normally four weeks of short
training races there is firstly a two
week rest and build up period which
is also used to reaffirm the
Roundabout system with the twice a
day loft flying as was done at the
beginning of the year. This is carried
on up until the day before basketing,
which is normaly a Wednesday. The
hens are then allowed into their
boxes with the cocks for a 24 hour
period, they are given nesting
material, this is a highlight for the
birds and they enjoy every second of
the time together building nests and
flying up and down, before on
thursday morning the cocks are
basketed. The cocks are first and the
hens always second and not until the
cocks are out of the loft (no reason
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
just the way I like to do it) the old
adage, “If it works don’t change it”.
On return from the race the birds
spend a few hours together before
returning to their own sections and
the two week rest and reaffirm
period starts again. I have the birds
that are on this system racing over
550 miles four or five times over a 12
week period, and achieving some
great results.
As you can see it’s not all that
complicated but it does involve a bit
of work and planning from the fancier,
but as I have said in previous pieces,
the fancier needs to work as hard if
not harder than the birds do to get
good sustainable results and build a
winning team of Marathon Pigeons. In
2020 Dandilofts sent 62 times over
550 miles and upto 805 miles, from
this 58 returned giving a 93% success
rate with many placing in the top 10
in the Section.
The pigeon sport gives me so much
pleasure that the results really come
in second pace to there ability to
make me smile, however it is a sport
and results help to see where you
stand against the other fanciers that
race your distances and your level, ie
International, National or club. As the
new year 2022 is here I decided to
look at the statistics over the
distance since 2016, and I must say it
has given me a boost and also
astounded me that the little warriors
can be so tenacious and single
minded in there ability to get home at
all costs. Since 2016 Dandilofts
Germany have sent 181 pigeons
(many of them numerous times) over
550 miles in club, National and
International races. From the 181
warriors I lost 24 of them that’s a
return rate of 86.75% and from the
181 1 had 76 in race time claiming a
place on the results sheet, that’s 42%
of all birds sent and that has made
more and more determined to push
the boundaries of the possibility, and
set my goals even higher. All this has
been made easier because Herbert
Mulders gave me the Braakhuis strain
to try out in 2011 and I haven’t
looked back since. It has proven to
me that the right birds for the job in
hand is absolutely essential, if you
want to attempt to compete at any
level in this sport, of course the man
and the system play a part in the
success or failure but the basic pigeon
is the biggest part of the puzzle.
I expect my pigeons to work very
hard and so myself as the coach or
trainer needs to work as hard if not
harder to be at the top of my game
every week. You must (whatever the
systems are that you implement in
the loft) carry it through to the very
end. This is never as difficult as when
we have had a few bad races and are
debating changing something, which I
am sure I have done many times but
there is always the little stubborn
voice telling me to stay convicted to
the plan and see it through to the
bitter end, and then analyse and break
it down to improve it fot the next
season. One of the most important
parts of loft management for me is to
have at all times around the lofts a
true belief or positivity, not just in
yourself and your system but in the
abilities of the birds to compete at
the level you are competing at. I think
all creatures on this earth are linked
together with the invisible thread of
the universum and can sense human
emotions both good and bad,1 think
my birds can sense my belief in there
ability when I hold them prior to
basketing with a few encouraging
words and a positive handling of the
bird may just be enough to make him
work just a little longer and harder to
get home. I would say I have a winner
mentality, 1 always expect to win
whatever race we enter, even when
the odds of winning the lottery are
better I still await the miracle, we of
course don’t win them all but I still
belive we will before every race
liberation that feeling of what is
possible drives you into a frenzy of
anticipation.
Simon Shearsby:
From the Beginning
I first started racing pigeons in 1992
young bird season in partnership
racing from the North, breaking the
novice status in the first year. My
partner and I raced together in ‘92
with good success timing yearlings
from Thurso, however at the end of
the ’92 season we decided to go our
separate ways. Then in 1993, I built a
loft at home and started racing young
birds with moderate success over the
winter. I read as many books and
watched as many different videos as I
could. So many, that in the end I had
13

‘Barcelona Cock’ has flown 16 times
over 550 miles. Results include 35th
Section 64th Open, 21st Section,
20th Section, 7th Section, 8th
Section, 17th Section 142nd Open.
that much information I didn’t know
what to do with it. The ’94 season was
a learning curve, trying all sorts of
different methods with the birds. It
was the young birds of ’94 that
changed things for me. I set my stall
out to do as well as I possibly could,
and for my efforts was rewarded with
runner up young bird averages. More
importantly ‘48404’ and ‘48816’ were
born, among a few other good birds.
‘48404’ went on to win 7x1st prizes
from all distances including Thurso. As
good as ‘48404’ was, ‘48816’ was
‘Hienzie’ 15 times over 550 miles.
Results include 12th Section, 29th
Section 56th Open, 1st Section 6th
Open 550 miles velocity 2047 flew
7hrs 11mins, 21st Section, 11th
Section 117th Open.
14
special. He won many races, but also
scored from every racepoint on our
calendar from 56 miles to 530 miles.
His best was 29th Open NRCC
Lerwick.
I have won more than my fair share
on the North Road, from all distances.
Unfortunately, with success comes
jealousy. I was accused of all kinds of
cheating including using drugs. My last
season on the North Road was 1998,
racing only four Widowhood cocks,
yes four. However, those cocks won
many races but I was getting 1st &
2nd, 1st, 3rd & 4th, 1st, 2nd & 3rd
team performances. Thurso that year, I
sent four cocks. I was 1st, 2nd, 3rd &
5th Club with the only three birds on
‘Old Hollander’ seven times over 550
miles including twice at 805 National
Brive, 80th Section being one of the
three longest flying birds timed by
Dandilofts in the German National.
around me then winning many top
Open positions in the MNFC at all
distances, out to Bordeaux 530 miles.
Unfortunately, in 2010 my relationship
broke down and the pigeons had to
go. I dabbled with the birds before
joining up with my dad Frank McBride,
not my biological dad, but we met in
1992 through the pigeons and we are
more like father and son than friends.
He has guided me from a boy to the
man I am today. As for the pigeons, we
‘Big Bertha’ nine times over 550
miles including 805 miles National
Brive. Results 18th Section, 22nd
Section, 33rd Section.
that day in the top 10 in the Section
NRCC and three very good open
positions. That was my last race
North. All my stock, race and young
birds were sold, to my now best mate
Andy Smith, who at the time was our
Convoyer. He also received the four
cocks and their hens. At the end of
1998 all the lofts were sold and that
was the end of pigeons…or so I
thought.
I was lost without my birds. So in
1999, with my own hands, I built a ‘Mr Reliable’ nine times over 550
30ft x 8ft tiled loft from scratch, 90% miles including twice 805 miles being
of the loft was built from reclaimed one of the three longest flying birds
timber as I had a young family and timed by Dandilofts in the German
funds were limited. In 2000, I decided National also also 3rd Section 65th
to tackle the South. It took me a Open, 7th Section 90th Open, 14th
couple of seasons to get a team Section and 18th Section.
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
have been going through the motions,
not putting in the work and you only
get out of the pigeons what you put
in. We both lost that buzz for the
birds, but I know not having them
wasn’t an option. As dad loves having
them around and until recently, he
was out there every day doing more
than his fair share, while I was
working.
I had lost the enthusiasm. I needed a
new challenge. That was to be
International Marathon Races. We had
good birds up to 530 miles, but a
different level of pigeon was required
for 600 to 800 miles. Which brings
me to David Reynolds, Dandilofts
Germany. I joined all the groups on
Facebook, including Extreme Distance
Pigeons. That was when I noticed
David and what he was doing with his
marathon pigeons. So I contacted him
with the hope that I could somehow
get some of his birds to the UK.
David believed that I would not be
able to get a courier to come this far
north to collect birds. That was the
first hurdle. I tried several routes but
hit a dead end every time, determined
to get his birds I was even willing to
drive myself. Luckily, through
Facebook I was given the details for
an international courier who
collected the birds, then Walkers
collected them from Holland and
delivered them to me.
David was getting a lot of enquiries
for kits in the UK so an agreement
was made between David and myself.
I would breed the birds to save the
fanciers the extra carriage costs on
top. Due to so many kits going out
last year and very positive feedback
from those who raced them, at the
end of 2020 David rang me and asked
me to be his official UK loft partner.
It was a no brainer for me, but ran it
by my dad first as usual. The first
batch of 25 birds were quality but
through the summer of 2021, David
and I decided that I had to have the
best of the best, without affecting
David’s stock loft or race loft. So
everything that was retired at the end
of that year, that was destined for the
stock loft, was to come to me. The
likes of the ‘Hienzie’ has flown 15
times over 550 miles with many to
positions, the ‘Barcelona Cock’ 16
times over 550 miles, ‘Old Hollander’
09 ring but bred in 2015 wasn’t raced
until 2018 but has flown seven times
over 550 miles including two at 805
miles and ‘Big Bertha’ who has flown
nine times over 550 miles including
one at 805 miles. David has also sent
more direct children, brothers and
sisters from the stock and race birds.
There will be many that will read this
and think, so what. I can get my birds
to fly 500+ miles. But read on, David
isn’t happy just getting them to fly it
once or twice a year, his are sent
every two weeks 550+ miles, three
times, four times sometimes five races
over 550 miles in one season. I’m not
saying that no one else does it, but
never in my 30 years as a fancier, have
I read or seen evidence of it. Typical
example: ‘Mr Reliable’ bred in 2017,
his first race 550 miles 2019. So
between 2019 and 2021 he’s flown
nine times over 550 including twice at
805 miles.
Unbelievable pigeons, I think anyone
will agree.

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Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595 15
 THE VIRTUOSO’S OF HALLAAR
I
LUC VERVOORT AND NICOLE VAN NUFFEL
BELGIUM’S BEST KEPT SECRET!
by Chris Williams
had just put the telephone down as the streetlights
came on and began filling my room with an extra-
terrestrial glow. Under normal circumstances this
would have been unnerving, but my mind was too
pre-occupied with pigeons to take much notice, this
always seems to happen to me when talking to
Frank Bristow. We had been discussing the pigeon game
in all its glory and the many continental Aces he has
become acquainted with over the years, which I enjoy
immensely as there is always something to learn. Although
a lot of racing seasons have passed since I had visited
Belgium for the first time. Frank has such an in-depth
knowledge of that great pigeon principality and her
fanciers that it is easy for the hours to fly almost as fast
as the pigeons of that great nation, so vivid his accounts
16
of their exploits that I had felt I had been on a virtual loft
tour. My brain couldn’t process fast enough what I was
hearing. Laying in the dark unable sleep excitement
coursing through my body like a thunderbolt. You see
dear reader I had just been told of a fancier whose
pigeons race the stars out of the heavens, yet despite this
success he is relatively unknown by the media and fancy
at large and consequentially is ‘overshadowed’ to a degree
by those in the public eye, conclusive proof perhaps of
the fact that it is indeed ‘the hand that holds the pen
writes history?’
The time has now come for me to attempt to rectify this
situation and let the world know that there are still those
fanciers left in pigeon sport today who prefer to let their
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
basket and pigeons do the talking rather than clever
advertisements that we see all too often in the modern
age.
It is to one of the small lofts that has a big reputation
among those ‘in the know’ run by the kind of fanciers I
love to write about, the real fanciers that have a pigeon in
their heart and prove perfectly that it is possible for a
real small fancier to race very well, their biggest loft is 4
x 2m housing 16 pairs and the smallest loft has 9 pairs
and is 1.5m x 2m, so obviously the emphasis here is on
real quality pigeons, forged in the fire of some of the
strongest competition in the pigeon racing world today. In
which we find many ‘household names’ compete and yet
are left undone by the skill and true passion of these two
truly devoted and above all modest pigeon fanciers. It is
my privilege to present you now with the story of the
incredible Luc Vervoort and Nicole Van Nuffel, from the
village of Hallaar, a true hot bed of sprint and middle
distance racing which is located in the Belgian province of
Antwerp and is part of the municipality of Heist-op-den-
Berg. Here Luc & Nicole practice pigeon racing the only
way they know ‘with great passion’. This wining mantra
does not surprise us in the least for the name of
Vervoort and top level pigeon sport go hand in hand and
is one steeped in the great traditions of total dedication
to the racehorse of the sky! In order to fully appreciate
their total commitment to competitive pigeon racing we
need now to dig a little deeper, after all if you truly want dare I even say mystical bond with their birds. Luc gave an
to understand what it is which truly motivates someone
to, as the Belgians say ‘play with pigeons’ then we must go pigeon racing. However with the strength of the
back to the very beginning.
The year was 1966 England were world football
Champions, in Belgium Frank Sinatra was No 1 in the
single charts with ‘Strangers In The Night’ and in pigeon
racing a 12 year old Luc Vervoort followed in the
Nicole showing us that like Luc her heart is also with pigeons. We ask
ourselves is this a ‘secret to success?’ I think so.
footsteps to the pigeon loft of his grandfather, father and of us know that Union Antwerp for example is referred
his famous fancier uncle, for who can forget the late
master fancier, who was known the world over, I am of
course referring to the fabulous Flor Vervoort who is
remembered with great respect thanks to his phenomenal
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
performances with his pigeons. One in particular justly
deserves the title of Champion the iconic ‘Fieneke 5000.
With such a distinguished family ‘pedigree’ as this, it is no
wonder then that Luc Vervoort too became completely
possessed by pigeons and has remained so for 55 years.
Luc is skilfully assisted by Nicole Van Nuffel a charming
lady and a pigeon fanciers dream, who as you can clearly
see from the photographs has an almost maternal, or
‘Fieneke 5000’, one of the iconic birds in the history of
pigeon racing. Raced by Luc’s uncle, the late great Flor
Vervoort
adamant, no, when I asked, are there any secrets to
relationship between the fanciers and pigeons that exists
within this loft, in my humble opinion it positively plays a
tremendous part of their success. Not only do I salute
them for this as it is fantastic to see like fanciers of old,
they strive to think like a pigeon but this extra time
obviously pays dividends as I was unsurprised when asked
what they loved most about pigeon
sport. Luc and Nicole responded with
“we get the greatest of pleasure when
the birds come home like a rocket”.
They always spend time with the
pigeons and like to see that the birds
are excited to see them when they
enter the lofts again. With a super
connection such as this is it any
wonder they race so well? I think not,
of course you must race very well to
stand even the slightest chance
success in pigeon racing today, but
when you live within an area where
pigeons are a way of life and the
fanciers specialise in a specific
distance then you have to be prepared
to give that extra and all important
tender love and care. Belgium has a
distinguished reputation among pigeon
fanciers throughout the world, many
to as the University of Pigeon Sport but there is perhaps
another name we should learn as well because it could
easily be The Colosseum of Champions!
17
 and Nicole work with their small yet super colony of
pigeons. As Luc doesn’t speak much English, Nicole has
been instrumental in helping Luc answer my questions in
order to enable me to pen this article for which I am
grateful as she not only provided me with the majority of
the photographs but, also outlined their system with
young bird racing. Also clarifying a few points which
otherwise may have been lost in translation. The breeding
takes place in winter with 25 pairs, 16 in the bigger of the
two lofts and nine in the smaller loft, approximately 50
are reared with one round being taken from the 16 pairs.
Once the youngsters from the 16 are old enough the
parents are moved to an aviary, because the loft is
needed for the young birds. Remember space is at
premium here in Hallaar. Only the first round is raced.

The period from 1st March until 15th May the young
pigeons are placed on the Darkness system between the
hours 6pm – 8am. After coming off Darkness the cocks
and hens are separated and raced on the so-called sliding
door. On a Saturday two hours before basketing for
Sunday race they are allowed to mix and are separated
Sunday evening on return right up until mid-July when
they are allowed to nest. It is crystal clear both Luc and
Nicole know their pigeons inside out given that pooling is
a big part of racing in Belgium one can appreciate that
such knowledge goes a long way. Speaking of pooling it
has been said by some that since they win the pool
All the work pays off, Luc seen here with a trophy in money almost on a weekly basis that perhaps now is the
2019. That year also the pigeons did very well, for perfect time for, “a branch of the Vervoort-Bank” to open
example taking 1st prize from Noyon on 21/07/19 against its doors. How is that for an endorsement not only
1,105 youngsters in the entente Diamantverbond. regarding the quality of pigeons but this statement is also
great testament to the skill and knowledge of the fanciers
‘Diamantverbond’ loosely translated means Diamond involved and the feeling which certainly they have for
Federation and it is here where the pigeons of Luc pigeons and everything that is needed for managing a
Vervoort shine brightly as the real and absolute gems of racing loft.
sprint/middle distance racing. In order to give you as clear
indication as possible of the intense level and sheer As you have, I hope, grasped by now our subject is by no
quality of competition that is found in this organisation, I means a ‘mob flyer’ but a real connoisseur and such you
offer a quote from Ad Schaerlaeckens: The speed of a 1st can be assured that his success comes from having a firm
prize winner in a neighbouring club
would often mean an average prize in
Diamantverbond. If this doesn’t
convince you then please also take
into consideration the fact dear
reader that modern day ‘stars’ of the
sprint/middle distance discipline that
adorned pigeon publications and now
of course social media sites on an
almost weekly basis all race within the
ranks of the Diamantverbond. Yes they
race here but more often than not
they must give way to Luc Vervoort,
as we can see in this performances so
far with young birds in 2021. Luc sent
eight pigeons to Noyon and against
454 birds scored 2nd, 12th & 13th.
Sending 10 pigeons to Quiverain
against 547 pigeons taking 4th & 15th.

Now you have seen just a small

selection of the all-important results The number one breeding pair of the loft Looking at the photo of these two
let us turn our attention to how Luc pigeons you can clearly see why this loft is successful.

18 Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595

In pigeon racing a small set up doesn’t determine a fancier cannot succeed in getting super results as Luc and Nicole
prove here in Hallaar. The exterior of the loft is covered with plastic while the interior is wood.
foundation and at the foundation of this microscopic yet three super pigeons, one cock and two hens. We named
mighty loft we find the genesis of Luc Vervoort from two him ‘Finn’ after the grandson, and the hens were named
VIPs, which of course in this case means ‘Very Important after the granddaughters ‘Evi’ and ‘Angel’.
Pigeons’, and one in particular which gave Luc and Nicole
their “best moment in pigeon sport”. Belgium clubs and 2015 saw the purchase of a hen from the loft of Nick &
fanciers often hold a bon or voucher auction to raise Roger Thijs which Luc and Nicole christened ‘Godelief’.
funds, whoever purchases the voucher may then obtain a That same year she was mated to ‘Karltje’ and since then
youngster, it was in these circumstances that in 2013 the the pair went on to become the number one breeding
now famous ‘Karltje’ found his way into Luc’s capable pair of the loft. All athletes striving for success know that
hands and in that young bird season this cock had what standing still means running the risk of falling behind ones
was described to me as a “super season that year” which opponents and the same school of thought is applied
included a 1st Noyon with a two minute lead. As if that here at these lofts as Luc and Nicole searched the results
wasn’t enough the ‘Karltje’ began to make his mark in the for as they told me “very good pigeons from good
breeding loft as Nicole told me. The next year he gave us fanciers which gave good matches with our pigeons”. Luc

1st & 2nd ACE pigeon of Quievrain in the Diamond Bond Berlaar-Heikant in 2020

Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595 19


One of the fine racing hens from ‘Karltje’ x ‘Godelief ’.
and Nicole select strongly on results and good pigeons
with good results matter far more to them than theories
on eyes, wings etc, also they have no preference for
which sex races best for as Luc said, the sexes are not so
important as one year the cocks may race better and the
next the hens, it’s all about good pigeons for us, the
pigeon is the most important part! Training with the car
takes place in stages of 3km, 10km, 15km and 20km after
which they go on the club transporter for another
training toss .We all know that only pigeons that are
healthy will win races and so when I asked Luc about
medication and such I was told that “when the pigeons
are sick we go to the vet we don’t give them anything
beforehand”.
In each nation where pigeon racing is
found there are always slight
variations in terms of how the
competitions are structured. For
example some countries allow old
and young pigeons to compete
together in the same race, while some
only have one young bird race. As
both a fancier and scribe this
fascinates me because it never hurts
to look and see how others do things,
after all nobody knows everything and
he who fails to learn, learns how to
fail. I was interested to learn about
races Nicole referred to as “the
round of Belgium” in which Luc takes
part with old and young birds. I shall
now try to explain how it works. The
round of Belgium takes place from
roughly the second week in
September until the second week of
October. When the birds are entered
for this competition it is not known until the late evening
after basketing which route, for example North or South,
the birds will be liberated. This event generates a lot of
interest from some of Belgium’s elite fanciers.
Before drawing this article to a close, I would like to offer
my sincere thanks to Luc and Nicole for not only
allowing me to write this article but for taking the time
to answer my questions. When fanciers are as helpful as
these two it is a pleasure to write, and I am certain that
in the not too distant future more and more will begin to
talk about this ‘old-school’ back garden loft and the real
master fanciers who truly are The Virtuoso’s of Hallaar,
Luc Vervoort and Nicole Van Nuffel.

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20 Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595

 JOHN KIRKPATRICK
The Supreme Pigeon Fancier 1898-1954
by Joe Murphy
A few months ago while having some work done on our driveway, I took out generation as ‘One of the Best’
a tray of coffee and tea to the workmen. While we were talking it came to ever players. John Kirkpatrick was
pass that I said I had a Westminster Chiming clock that was not working. I also a fine footballer and had played
had taken it to a jeweller but they said I would have to leave it for a year, with Solway Star joined Workington
before they could look at it. Needless to say I never left the clock. The Town and played it the North East
owner of the company doing the driveway said he knew someone who League. His first marriage produced
would have a look at it for me and he took the clock away with him. Prior a boy Jack who moved to Rhodesia
to Christmas he arrived at our house with his neighbours who was holding
a clock. He informed me that the clock was in impeccable condition and
congratulated me on looking after the clock. I told him that I had done
nothing to the clock (in fact) I thought I had overwound the clock hence
the reason it had stopped. He then came into the house and set it up and
it chimes every 15 minutes and it is
like ‘Big Ben’ on the hour. It is truly
wonderful to hear it going again and
the man informed me that he had
done nothing to it but gave it the
once over and it has kept perfectly
ever since.
The next day a fellow pigeon
fancier phoned me just prior to the
hour and he heard the clock in the
background and remarked how
wonderful this was. When I told him
that this was the clock that the
1937 Westminster Clock, see text. famous John Kirkpatrick of Annan
was awarded for winning the SNFC
Gold Cup race from Rennes in 1937, you could have knocked him over with John Smith with the Kirkpatrick
a pigeon tail feather. We continued with our phone call and he remarked Clock, see text.
to me ‘Joe, you must do a story on this clock and the history of how you and in fact was captain of the
became the owner of such a wonderful piece of Scottish National History’ international Rhodesian football
to own a clock that the famous John Kirkpatrick had, wound up, and heard team who played against Scotland
it in his house all those years ago it truly wonderful. So I went back into my
in a friendly in Rhodesia. His
old files saved on my hard drive and looked for the original article which I
daughter Hannah married Andrew
wrote back on the 2nd December 2009. I went over it and proof read it and
here is the result, it was quite an in-depth story about one of the most Cowan through time became the

A
famous fanciers in fact a true legend who ever graced the sport of pigeon Secretary of Annan Homing Society.
racing into Scotland. I hope readers enjoy this story. After the passing of his first wife
John started to become friendly
few months ago I received a but it wasn’t and to be honest as with Fred & Jean Smith and would
phone call from a Mr John the conversation continued it join them on a trip to visit Jean’s
Smith from Jedburgh, he had became indeed a great honour to father Mr Moore’s who lived in 105
been given my number by a pigeon speak to this man. John Smith’s High Street. He also was a pigeon
fancier in the area. He had been mother was Jean Moore and her fancier and had a large 40 foot loft
informed that I was steeped in the sister was named Carrie. Jean out in the back garden. It soon
history of Scottish Racing Pigeons married Fred Smith who was to became apparent that it was Carrie
especially the SHU and the Scottish become one of Annan’s most who was catching John’s eye and
National Flying Club and had over respected footballers, he had pace, not Mr Moore’s pigeon and they
the years highlighted the quality of wizardry and scored goals for fun. married in the late 1940’s. When a
Scottish pigeons and I was to be Fred is still living in Annan and is young laddie in Annan John Smith
complimented on my contribution. now 98 years old and is would accompany his mother and
At first I thought it was a ‘wind up’ remembered by the older father to visit Aunty Carrie and

22 Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595

Uncle Johnny at Galabank, as he
grew up he became fascinated with
the pigeons and would often cycle
up to Galabank lofts to help out his
uncle Johnny. These were special
times for young John Smith and
John Kirkpatrick looked on him as
a second son. John was with his
Uncle Johnny when he won the
Scottish National from Nantes and
remembers this with love and
affection. His Aunty Carrie loved
young John Smith so much so that
she left him the Westminster chime
clock that John Kirkpatrick received
as a memento of winning the 1937
SNFC Rennes race in her will. This
Gold Cup winner ‘Coronation
Express’ won the race in record
John Kirkpatrick.
time and believe it or not on the
same day that John Smith was born.
John Smith never kept racing
pigeons due to work commitments,
he became an administrator in
Cochrane & Co of Newbie Annan
and worked worldwide as senior
manager for L S Starrett Co Ltd in
Jedburgh, finally finishing his
working life as a retailer with a
shop in Jedburgh high street.
However his memory of the time
spent with his Uncle Johnny has
never left him and the reason for
his phone call to me was to see if
we could meet up as he wished to
present me with this Westminster
clock. We arranged to meet at Stair
Castle Hotel outside Pathhead and
John asked me to bring my wife
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
Margaret with me as he had also
been informed of her contribution
in assisting me over the years. We
met for lunch and John (being the
charmer he is) gifted Margaret with
six red roses and a box of
chocolates, we spent the whole day
sitting talking and believe me it was
indeed a great pleasure. There were
times when the memories of John’s
past caught up on him and he
became overcome, however this
was a true reflection of the man
whom we had met for the first
time and it endeared us to him. No
matter how well he had done in
life, deep down he was still the
little boy who visited his Uncle
Johnny away back in the late 1940’s
early 50’s and saw his National
winners drop out of the sky. I took
some photos of John with the
Westminster clock that is inscribed:
Prize Granted by SCWS Ltd Mr J
Kirkpatrick Winner Rennes Race
1937.
This treasured memory of John
Kirkpatrick’s early years has sat on
a table in our since we brought it
home and I look at it every day as
it chimes every quarter of an hour
and cannot believe that John Smith
presented me with such a
wonderful piece of Scottish Pigeon
history and I’m very proud that he
thought so highly of me to do so.
After our meeting I was on such a
‘high’ that I thought it only
appropriate to do some research
and compile an article on John
Kirkpatrick. The reason for this is
young fanciers like my son Kevin
could read about this ‘giant of a
man’ who transformed pigeon
racing in his short life time, they
could keep the article and revise
some of the history of the SNFC as
a memento of John Kirkpatrick.
Nowadays we have fanciers creating
their own part in the history of the
club and to be part of the history
and folklore of this great club is
indeed a great honour.
The Beginning
John Kirkpatrick was born in
Maryport in Cumbria in 1898 and
his family moved to Annan in 1912.
His father, who kept pigeons, was a
founder member of Annan &
District Homing Society and John
was always among his dad’s pigeons.
In 1924 John Kirkpatrick won his
first prize card when he appeared
on the Rennes result winning 32nd
Open result. Before winning 1st
Open SNFC Rennes in 1937 with
his fabulous three year old blue
chequer cock called ‘Coronation
Express’ setting a record at that
time with a velocity of 1559 yards
per minute. He was named after
the famous locomotive of that time
which broke all rail records and
here was a pigeon breaking the
record as the fastest ever Rennes
winning in the 43 year history of
the SNFC which was established in
1894.
‘Coronation Express’ flew Dol as a
yearling being well up in the
Federation Open result. The
‘Coronation Express’ 1st SNFC
Rennes 1937.
following year as a two year old he
won 72nd Open Rennes in a
disaster. In 1937 he was paired up
on the 7th March and yet by the
time he homed from Rennes he
was carrying three new flights and
had in fact thrown his fourth flight
in the basket. Since his first win in
1924 John Kirkpatrick gained
2x3rds, 4th, 2x5ths, 9th, 11th, 16th,
17th, 18th, 22nd, all from Rennes
and a 7th, 21st, 39th, 40th and 42nd
from Nantes. John Kirkpatrick was
totally convinced that distance
birds should be fully tested as
yearlings and his outstanding record
from Rennes and Nantes
23
consistently showed that his
champions had previously scored
from Dol as yearlings before
achieving further success at Rennes
or Nantes. In 1931 he was 5th
Open Rennes with a yearling hen
that went on to win 5th Open
again as a three year old. His red
chequer cock ‘Galabank Lad’ flew
Rennes as a yearling in 1933 when
he won 11th Open, he was sent
back the following year and won
18th Open and would have been on
the result the following year but
was disqualified over a timing
technicality. ‘Galabank Lad’ raced
from Nantes in 1936 and 1937
being 42nd and 59th Open
respectively and as a matter of
‘Galabank Duke’.
interest ‘Galabank Lad’ flew the
English Channel no fewer than 11
times.
In 1939 the Rennes convoy were
liberated at 7.10am into a west
wind and it was not anticipated that
there would be any pigeons on the
day. However there was three
arrivals into the Annan area, John
Kirkpatrick times his first at 22.17
hours and then another in the dark
at 22.58 hours. Bob Douglas timed
in a bird to split the Kirkpatrick
duo and to be 2nd Section. For
years the constitution of the SNFC
had been so worded that generally
it was believed that the first fancier
to win the Gold Cup twice would
be allowed to retain the famous
trophy. With many of John’s club
mates going to bed that night in the
belief that John Kirkpatrick had
24
indeed won the trophy for the
second time. However the
following morning a wave of birds
were timed into Central Scotland
and the eventual winners were
Anderson Brothers of Falkirk. To
end any confusion, the clause was
subsequently modified to make it
clear that the Gold Cup for all time
would remain the property of the
SNFC.
Hard Work
John Kirkpatrick had a very special
work engine and over a long period
initially as a footballer with
Workington Town in midfield, then
as a master pigeon administrator,
his attention to the detail of
essential requirements in preparing
pigeons to be at their peak at the
end of June each year was
remarkable. John was keenly aware
of what constituted a long distance
pigeon and with the outbreak of
the war he had already established
a remarkable family of pigeons.
However like many of us he was
not satisfied and was compelled by
introduction of a series of
successful importations.
In 1937 the year he won the Gold
Cup he was asked to attend a
winter show in Galashiels and was
introduced to a businessman from
the local mill a Mr Richardson who
showed him a pair of Belgian rung
Bricoux, a mealy cock and a red
chequer hen. John Kirkpatrick was
so impressed with these pigeons
that he purchased them direct from
Mr Richardson and what an
investment this turned out to be.
This pair proved to be without
doubt the finest producers the
racing pigeon the world has
witnessed and believe me all
subsequent Galabank Champions
can be traced back to this pairing. It
is worth noting at that time Mr
Richardson kept about 200 pigeons
in two large 40 foot lofts and he
had spent a small fortune on stock.
Many Scottish fanciers at that time
obtained birds from Mr Richardson
and without being disrespectful to
the man they had more racing
success than he had with the same
birds. John Kirkpatrick was a very
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
frequent visitor to Mr Richardson
after they stuck up their friendship.
The Bricoux pair in 1939 produced
the world Champion ‘Galabank
Supreme’ who was to become the
keystone in Kirkpatrick’s pedigrees.
This pigeon was brilliant on the
road with his favourite nesting
condition being feeding a big young
hen. However it was at breeding
the he excelled and was indeed the
sire, grand sire and great grand sire
of many winners.
Kirkpatrick’s outstanding
Champions in distance races were
in the main cock pigeons and he
had a consistent policy of
‘Galabank Supreme’.
introducing top class hens from
various sources to see if they fitted
into his closely worked out
breeding programme. Among those
that succeeded was a blue pied
Marriot hen from Mr Aitchison
from Brampton near Carlisle, the
sister of which had twice won the
East Cumberland Federation from
Nantes. He also in 1941 purchased
a Logan hen from Summer
Brothers from Wrexham, which
was logged as a granddaughter of
Logan’s ‘1826’. Other introductions
were a Barker hen ‘2716’ from L A
Barker of Bridgewater, direct from
‘Masonic Wonder’ and ‘Masonic
Cracker’, he also obtained a Gits
hen named ‘Lady Margaret’ from
the loft of Ed Clayon and the
famous 1948 bred grizzle hen ‘6498’
from Arthur Hill of St Just. Arthur
had put up some outstanding
performance into Cornwall after
the war flying on the new East to
West route from the continent.
However one of the final successful
imports was the red hen ‘5554’
from John Reid of Stenhousemuir,
she was of the highest quality as
she was a full sister to Jock Reid’s
2nd Open SNFC Rennes winner in
1950. In 1948 with the resumption
of Channel racing John was 2nd
Open from Guernsey with a five
year old red cock from ‘Galabank
Supreme’ Bricoux line. Three years
later he was again 2nd Open SNFC
this time from Rennes with
‘Galabank King’ he later won 35th
Open Nantes. His sire was the
cock who won 2nd Open Guernsey
and his dam was a blue hen from
the son of ‘Coronation Express’
when paired to a daughter of
‘Galabank Lad’ and the Marriot blue
pied hen.
Kirkpatrick’s own words
Following his success from Rennes
he was asked to contribute an
article to the first issue of the
Homing World Annual Diary (as it
was called at that time) in 1938. He
wrote ‘I felt it a great honour in
‘Galabank Queen’.
being asked to submit an article in
this the first issue of the Homing
World Annual Diary. While I do not
feel really able to do the occasion
justice, I shall at least try to make
this article as interesting as well as
instructive. Let me say at the outset
that this is no great infallible secret
in being successful with racing
pigeons, nor is there to my
knowledge any elixir or magic
potion. But I will now give my own
methods of feeding, training and
racing to a successful issue.
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
The first and premier consideration
is the food, I feed the whole year
round on a mixture consisting of
peas, beans, tares, wheat, Dari and a
little maize, but the quality of this
must be assured and absolutely free
from dust and dirt of any kind. The
food at all times must be given at
very regular intervals. Personally I
feed three times a day during the
long summer days, the times of
feeding during this period are at
7am, 12 noon and 6.30pm. At the
evening meal after the birds have
had their usual corn, I give them a
tit-bit in the form of seed mixture,
which is 25% Millet, 25% Linseed,
25% Rape and 25% hemp. When the
racing season is over and the days
get shorter I feed twice a day,
morning as early as possible and
early afternoon. At this time I
gradually increase the amount of
wheat in the mixture until it
presents 50% of the diet. I am a
great believer in wheat, as I am
convinced it is very beneficial
during the moult and at this time I
increase the seed mixture especially
the linseed. I, at times feed the
birds by hand, and never by hopper,
and I may be classed a fairly heavy
feeder, as I always give the birds a
full crop at every meal, but I make
sure there is never any surplus
food lying about. I give green food
via, lettuce, chopped cabbage,
plantains, watercress, chickweed
etc, whenever these are available,
these I believe are great blood
purifiers.
With regard to attention I give to
cleanliness in the loft. I clean it out
twice daily, morning and night,
changing the water on each
occasion and at the same time
putting a little grit on the floor, this
ensures the grit being always fresh
and dry, and the birds seem to
appreciate it better this way than in
a trough or hopper. I mate up
according to the distance I map out
for my individual birds, the longest
distance candidates being mated
later than the others. The stock
birds and yearlings are put together
the first week in March and the
others are mated at intervals in
accordance with their programmes.
Thus my ‘Coronation Express’ the
winner of the SNFC Rennes race
was paired on March 7th. It homed
with 2½ new flights, the 4th having
been dropped in the race basket.
This was perhaps a little advanced,
but it is, of course, evident that this
proved no handicap. I do not care
to have my Channel candidates
moulted beyond the 4th primary, as
‘Galabank King’.
any further advance in the moult is,
I consider, a severe handicap. Any
fast moulting bird which I have, I
delay pairing until the last week of
March, as also my Nantes
candidates, as our national Nantes
race is usually the third week in
July.
Training
I always give my racers five tosses
before they go into the first race –
9 miles, 15, 20, 30, 40 as I believe
that to have a chance of winning,
the birds must be thoroughly fit.
We have all heard fanciers state
‘They jumped this right from the
loft’, but how many times are these
birds in the prize lists? They may
certainly home, but to race to win
they must have training and
experience. I fly my bird’s Natural
system, although I may say I have
tried various ways. I tried the
Widowhood system some time
ago, but I was disappointed with the
results as it was frankly the worst
season I had for nine years. I do not
wish to imply that the Widowhood
system is no good but the Natural
system appears to suit myself, and
my birds are better than any other.
Immediately the racing season is
25
over I separate the sexes and never hens do equally well for me, as advisable. In regard to yearlings I
allow them together again until the either sex sitting 8 to 11 days is in am a confirmed exponent of racing
mating period. I also at this time the best condition for the channel yearlings across the Channel, I do
lime wash and disinfect the loft, races and most of my successes not believe that this is in any way
which I again do previous to have been gained with birds in this harmful as the following will testify.
mating. I also bathe each pigeon condition.
separately previous to separation, With a yearling hen I was 5th Open
with a solution of sodium of Late Breds SNFC Rennes in 1931, with this
fluoride, in lukewarm water to We hear some fanciers decrying same hen again 5th Open SNFC
which is added a little soap, this of late breds, but the best pigeon I Rennes in 1933. Another of my
course is only done on a sunny and ever owned was a late bred, this yearlings was my good red cock
warm day. was a cock bird and it won a 1st ‘900’, which as a yearling was 11th
prize at every stage up to Open SNFC Rennes in 1933, 18th
My loft has a southerly aspect and Bournemouth. Late breds as a class Open Rennes in 1934, 215th in
has fully one-third of the front are generally despised, but I think 1935 (disqualified), 42nd Open
lattice work, which ensures plenty this is the fancier’s fault and not the SNFC Nantes in 1936, 59th Open
of air and sunshine. In this district pigeons. If bred in July and trained Nantes in 1937 having flown the
we have no traps, all lofts Channel seven times, Rennes
being built to the open door thrice at 481 miles, Nantes
arrangement. When the 543 miles thrice and Dol
doors of my loft are open once over 450 miles. As a
the loft would appear to yearling my Champion
have no front whatever. The ‘Coronation Express’ flew
front has glass shutters Dol in 1935 and was well up
which I use only on the in the Federation prize list. In
occasion of heavy rain from 1936 he took part in the
the south-west as I like the Rennes smash winning 72nd
loft floor to be always dry. Open. My good mealy ‘2376’
Rennes six times, 3rd, 17th
My birds have regular and 129th Open also flew
exercise twice daily, morning Rennes as a yearling when he
and night for half an hour on took 17th Open position. I
each occasion. The hens are have won other good
exercised at noon for 45 positions in the Channel
minutes. This is imperative as races with yearlings and as
like athletes, pigeons cannot Joe Murphy and John Smith. will be seen from the above
compete with success unless all my best pigeons flew the
trained to the second. As the races 50 miles in September, then raced channel as yearlings. The older birds
get longer, the birds exercise is to 200 miles the following year must race from Rennes and Nantes
extended to 40 minutes morning with the old birds, they will on as all my racers must face the
and night, the hens then have one average show as good results as the music as only the best are worth
hour exercise at noon. I have no birds bred in March and April. If I keeping and how otherwise would
difficulty in making my birds fly at require a bird for stock I always you find them except by the basket
home, but if the train service were like it to be bred in the end of July test. These are my methods, but I
convenient I would give my birds as I think the old birds produce should point out at this juncture,
two tosses weekly, as I think these young, stronger and truer to type, that as we have been repeatedly
tosses would be more beneficial as at that time they are free from told by ‘Chairmen’ in the British
than the home exercise. the worries of racing. All my Homing World, observation in the
I race both cocks and hens with youngsters are trained and raced loft pays a big part in the success of
equal success and I very rarely send right to the end of our club pigeon racing.
a mated pair to the same race, as programme 186 miles. I have tried
I’m sure that a pigeon likes to see reserving half my youngsters after Advice for Novices
its mate when it arrives home. The completing the training and A few don’ts will not come amiss
best results I have had with cocks although they seemed to develop to novices who may read this
were when the hens were never into better looking birds than the article: Don’t overcrowd – Don’t
raced at all and should I see a cock others, I found the birds that had over breed – Don’t let your racers
racing well to a particular hen, I been raced as youngsters invariably feed too many youngsters – Don’t
always keep this pair together, not proved much better racers. It over feed – Don’t under train –
forgetting to give them the same would appear therefore, that race Don’t be afraid to give your birds
nest box. As I have said, cocks and experience as youngsters is too many tosses – Don’t forget

26 Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595

pigeons require attention 365 days
of the year.
I feel I cannot conclude this article
without paying tribute to Mrs
Kirkpatrick, without whose help I
feel sure I would not have attained
the success I have, as the midday
feed and the afternoon feed in the
winter rest with her entirely and
on occasions I have been detained
at work she has always done what
was required in the way of
exercising and feeding the pigeons.
We cannot all be successful always,
I may be your turn in 1938 wishing
you all a happy and successful
season John Kirkpatrick.
Finest Achievement
In 1952 John Kirkpatrick was slowly
dying of cancer first detected three
years earlier and his health was not
the best, however this did not
prevent him from producing the six
pigeons he sent to Rennes,
according to one senior observer,
they were the ‘best fettle’ pigeons
he had seen in a lifetime. Prior to
the Gold Cup event the world class
racehorse trainer and jockey Sir
Gordon Richards came up to
Annan to view the pigeons. After
viewing and handling the pigeons he
flapped his cheque book on the
coal box where the pigeons were
basketed and said to John ‘Name
your price’. John Kirkpatrick replied
‘Man you couldn’t afford them,
there is a life times work in that
basket’ and the six pigeons were
subsequently dispatched to Rennes
for the National Gold Cup race.
John said that he believed the six
pigeons he had sent to France were
the best he had ever owned,
however he was disappointed with
the end result, although ‘Galabank
Prince’ won 40th Open position he
was not a happy bunny. John Smith
says ‘He was a very competitive and
never showed this in public
however he was unsettled for a
couple of days and blamed the poor
Rennes result on a south wind and
he claimed they needed a north
east wind’. His family were shocked
when he announced to everyone
that ‘Galabank Prince’ and
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
‘Galabank Duke’ were to be sent to
Nantes immediately after having
flown from Rennes. John Smith
continues, I will never forget the
drama and excitement of John
Kirkpatrick’s two pigeons in the
Nantes race. By the way, John
Kirkpatrick called John Smith (at 15
years of age) his ‘loft manager’, but
that was generous as he would say
a better title would have been
‘message boy’, obtaining for him
straw for the nest boxes and
messages from the local stores. The
Nantes pigeons were released first
thing on the Saturday morning in a
north east wind. John Smith can
recall a long nervous wait until dark
at 11pm, no pigeon’s home on the
day into Scotland. John Kirkpatrick
told young John Smith as he was
about to leave the Kirkpatrick
Presentation SNFC 1937, see text.
home, ‘You would be better set his
alarm for 3am as we will get
something in the morning’ and he
did as he was told. The Sunday
morning turned out to be a cloudy
morning and it remained that way
until around 9am and suddenly the
sky went blue and a pleasant day
lifted the spirits. John Kirkpatrick
had gone into the house to obtain
something for his wife and John
Smith noticed a dot in the sky and
seeing the pigeon pull its wings
back it started to drop down
towards the loft young John
shouted it’s ‘Galabank Prince’. The
great pigeon was duly clocked in
and John Smith was dispatched on
his bike to the secretary Jack
MacKay to find out if anything else
had been reported into Scotland,
no pigeons reported and as young
John returned around about 10am
he did not get the message out to
uncle John as he looked up and
there was ‘Galabank Duke’ shutting
his wings coming into to land. John
Kirkpatrick was elated to have both
his pigeons back and when he
heard the news from young John he
was even happier.
‘Galabank Prince’ won 1st Open
SNFC Nantes winning the
Ellsworth Trophy (for the best
average from Rennes and Nantes)
on his own having won 40th
Rennes a two weeks earlier, a
fabulous performance by a pigeon
and confirmed that John
Kirkpatrick would become
immortal as one of Scotland’s
greatest racing pigeon fanciers of all
time. Sire of ‘Prince’ was a red cock
a grandson of ‘Coronation Express’
winner of 1st Open SNFC Rennes
in 1937 he was also a grand son of
‘900’ who flew the Channel
11times his best wins being 11th &
18th SNFC Rennes, and a grandson
27
of the old blue pied ‘Marriott Hen’,
whose sister won twice from
Nantes for E Cumberland.
Dam of ‘Price’ was a red hen from
‘Galabank Supreme’ and the ‘Logan
Hen’ bred by Summer of Wrexham.
‘Galabank Duke’ John’s only other
entry in the Nantes race won 2nd
Open in what John Smith said was
‘The most wonderful day in John
Kirkpatrick’s life’. After this event
John Smith remembers the press
Kirkpatrick Fancy, see text
announcing that Roy Rogers, the
famous American cowboy and icon,
was to visit Galabank lofts, the kids
of Annan ensured a noisy and
hectic period of time.
The racing career and breeding of
‘Galabank Duke’ is interesting in
the fact that he also flew Rennes as
a yearling and again the following
year where he won 13th South
Section 205th Open. He went to
Rennes in 1952 and like ‘Prince’
was doubled back into Nantes. He
was kept on the road and flew
Rennes again the following year
winning 70th Open. The breeding of
the ‘Duke’ was as follows, his sire
was an inbred grandson of
‘Supreme’, being from a half brother
and sister mating. The dam of
‘Duke’ was a red hen a daughter of
2nd Guernsey Open, 1st Section
SNFC 1948 cock paired to a blue
hen which was from a son of
‘Coronation Express’ and a
daughter of ‘900’ and the ‘Marriot
blue pied hen’. As said earlier the
‘Duke’ was a brother to ‘Johnny’
28
3rd Open Rennes for Wull
Robertson. At stock the ‘Duke’ was
to prove a valuable asset to the
Kirkpatrick family.
Stud Book of 1953
John Kirkpatrick wrote, ‘At the
outset, my advice to all novice
fanciers and also to fanciers of
experience is to read intently, read
and observe, because it is by
observation that success in pigeon
racing comes. Observe the
condition and bloom on the birds
of your club Champion when he
brings his birds to the race marking
and it follows that you will then
realise that condition counts in
racing or for that matter in
showing, breeding or any other
aspect of the pigeon game.
Now how does that condition
come about? Not by haphazard
methods or should I say ‘lack of
method’. Even good food given
carelessly or at any old time does
not give proper results, which mean
simply that regularity in all things is
essential in pigeon practice. Regular
attention, regular food, regular
changes of water, in fact, I repeat
‘regularity’ is the ‘must’ we have
never to forget.
Then next point to settle is the loft
inmates, you must start right with
good stock and what better than
the stuff which is winning locally,
although it may be difficult to
persuade the local champion to
part with birds which may
eventually be competing against him
or herself. If you wish to purchase
out of your district, don’t be misled
by advertisements in which the
fanciers quote the hundreds of
pounds they win as they may be the
case of the long pocket enabling
those fanciers to pool heavily and
thus taking large cash prizes, even
though well down the prize list.
Much better to go to the man who
has been winning for years and
continues to do so, because he
must have a family of pigeons,
produced by himself, in which the
will to win has been long imbued
(instilled). He may not be able to
give you a newspaper of pedigree
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
proving that the birds you are
purchasing have had a big winner in
the family way back in the dim
1900’s, but what he will be able to
give you is winners in the family
within two or three generations at
latest which is what counts,
because I believe the winning genes
must be kept alive and what better
than by everlasting trial in which
the weaklings rapidly disappear.
One last word on this aspect, if
your birds are coming from a
district far removed from you own,
please give the protégé of these
birds at least three seasons in
which to prove themselves as the
new introductions have to become
properly acclimatised and used with
your methods. Yes, even if bred in
your own loft, the first and second
‘Galabank Prince’.
generation can have the habits and
methods of the previous owners
bred into them, strange but true!
During the period of old bird races
is when observation pays dividends,
study each individual race for each
bird has its own favourite condition
when it will do its utmost to break
all records to get home. For
instance, my old red cock, ‘Galabank
Supreme’ a real champion and
winner of over 40 prizes never
failed to win when feeding a big hen
youngster. Needless to say, I did not
let him impair his fitness by feeding
the big youngster which, was done
for him by other birds or failing
anything suitable, by myself. Study
your birds, therefore, if you want
your name at the top of the prize
list.’ (This still applies to the
present time and I have preached
this for a number of years in my
Joe Murphy Column).
Nearing the end
The following year 1953 John
Kirkpatrick was very ill and in the
Rennes race of that time his friend
Wull J Robertson won 3rd Open
Rennes with a four year old red
‘Galabank Frill’.
chequer cock called ‘Johnny’ bred
by John Kirkpatrick and in fact
‘Johnny’ was the nest mate of
‘Galabank Duke’, and he was to
prove very momentous at stock.
This was a great boost for John
whom I have said was not a well
man and was approaching the end
of his life. However he received
another ‘feel good’ factor when he
timed in a two year old red hen
‘Galabank Queen’ to win 1st
Section 3rd Open Nantes. She was
bred direct from ‘Galabank King’
when paired to a granddaughter of
‘Coronation Express’ and the red
cock ‘Galabank Lad’.
To round off the old bird season his
dear friend Wull Robertson timed
in to win 65th Open Nantes and
won the best average for the two
SNFC race. Wull had achieved some
outstanding performances in the
SNFC from as early as 1923, he
won 5th Open in 1925, 2nd Open
in 1927, this hen produced a
notable pair of pigeons, the cock
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
won 2nd Open while the hen
arrived a few minutes after him to
win 3rd Open from Rennes in
1931. At this time Wull Robertson
raced to a modest back garden loft
and many famous fanciers visited
his home as he was considered by
many as one of Scotland’s finest
flyers from that pre war period. He
was also a very adventurous fancier,
and had pigeons home from San
Sebastian a distance of over 800
miles to Annan on two occasions.
One of these pigeons was called
‘Carnera’ named after a famous
boxer of that time, and this pigeon
was the only bird recorded in to
Scotland from this event. So you
could see how a friendship was
established as John Kirkpatrick had
the greatest of respect for Wull
Robertson’s achievements and he
had set the standard that
Kirkpatrick wanted to achieve.
After a four year illness John
Kirkpatrick who was ill and in bed
‘Galabank Prince’, ‘Prince's Double’ and ‘442’.
sent for young John Smith, when he
went into see Uncle Johnny,
Kirkpatrick asked his wife Carrie to
give him £20 (a lot of money in
those days in 1954). He said to
young John ‘I want you to go out
and buy some fishing tackle’ in
those days you did what you were
told by your elders and John
carried out his wishes. He says ‘This
was typical of the man Joe he was a
giant in every sense of the word’.
John Smith became a very good
fisherman and on the 55th
anniversary his aunt Carrie’s
passing he arranged to have a
special Salmon Fly created by the
famous Borders ‘Gun Room’,
owned by Shaun Twight at St
Boswells in the Scottish Borders.
The fly was created by Iain Wilson
and matches the colours of
“Galabank Prince”. The first fly to
be tested on the famous River
Tweed by a gentleman from
Warrington, produced a 21 pound
salmon. The name of the salmon fly
is ‘Kirkpatrick’s Fancy’ and I have
enclosed a photograph of this fly to
let fanciers see it, John Smith has
the original and he kindly gave me
one of the last batch he had made
which is a wonderful gesture by
this man. I’m not a fisherman but I
have placed this ‘fly’ in the unit in
my living room and I will show this
off to any fishermen friends who
visit our home.
Passing of a Legend
John Kirkpatrick passed away a few
months after the old bird season of
1953 and his good friend Wull
Robertson died the same year.
Kirkpatrick’s wife Carrie decided to
race the Kirkpatrick pigeons for
one more season. The pigeons were
managed by the families’ great
friend Wullie Graham who had
helped her husband during his later
years. Competing from Rennes in
1954 the final season of the famous
Kirkpatrick Galabank Lofts, Mrs
Kirkpatrick timed in a three year
old blue chequer cock to win 3rd
Open Rennes and the pigeon was
aptly named ‘Galabank
29
Remembrance’, which had flown
Dol as a yearling, then Rennes as a
two year old. He was bred out of a
Barker hen purchased from Barker,
and his sire was from the famous
Hill of St Just grizzle hen ‘6498’
crossed with the immortal
‘Galabank Supreme’.
The Kirkpatrick birds were sold by
auction on Saturday 11th
December 1954 the world famous
Galabank Champions were
convoyed to the ZION Institute,
Hulme Manchester for the sale by
John Smith’s father Frederick
Anderson Smith, who was a top
footballer in his day and generous
Scottish Tenor supervised the day.
The late Lou Massarella purchased
the top four famous Kirkpatrick
Champions. On studying the
Kirkpatrick sales list ‘Galabank
Prince’ 1st Open Nantes went for
£125, ‘Duke’ 2nd Open Nantes
went for £200, ‘Galabank Queen’
3rd Open Nantes went for £105,
‘Galabank Remembrance’ 3rd Open
Rennes £145. Two other pigeons
made upwards of £100 Lot 5 a
brother to 1290 ‘Galabank
Remembrance’, Lot 6 a full sister to
‘Remembrance’ made £100. Like
the present day auction sales there
were some bargains to be had and
on in particular that caught my eye
was Lot 22 sire ‘Galabank
Remembrance’ dam ‘4041’ sold for
£20 while other children from
‘Remembrance’ like Lot 21 made
£37.10s.
Conclusion
I hope I have done some justice to
the great man John Kirkpatrick and
to John Smith, it has indeed been a
great pleasure for me to go over
the memorabilia that John Smith
left with me and I will photocopy
this and retain as a keepsake of this
wonderful area in Scottish Pigeon
folklore. I have tried to obtain a
loan of some pictures to go with
this article however the source
who has some would not loan
these out which is a pity as it
would have made a difference to
the story. I have endeavoured to
enhance the pictures John Smith
30
gave me by scanning them and
touching them up in the hope they
will reproduce and show you the
readers the quality of pigeons John
Kirkpatrick had and more
importantly won with. While
spending time with John Smith in
the hotel listening to his stories he
told Margaret and I about his Aunt
Carrie timing in ‘Galabank
Remembrance’ the year after John’s
death and this man was overcome
with emotion and apologised to us.
We told him not to worry as I
believe this is a reflection of how
John Smith loved his uncle Johnny,
thus proving what a very genuine
Red hen ‘2375’ granddaughter of ‘Prince’ red cock ‘4998’ son of ‘Supreme’.
person he was. To have been in the
company of John Smith and listen
to him narrative about a legend like
John Kirkpatrick was one of
highlights of my life as a fancier and
journalist for the pigeon press.
When you consider that John
Kirkpatrick was deprived of channel
racing during the second World
War from 1939 till 1945 when his
team were without doubt in their
‘prime’ plus the fact the man
passed away at the tender age of 56
years, one wonders what he would
have achieved had he lived say
another 10 to 15 years. The
comments of John Kirkpatrick in
the years books of 1938 and 1953
are not far of the mark for pigeon
fanciers at this present time, ok
feeding, training, racing has changed,
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
but observation, loft management,
hard work and obtaining quality
stock has not. Kirkpatrick kept it
simple and tested out his pigeons,
only the best survived and maybe
the present day fanciers should
apply this method.
I did the above with my yearlings as
I sent ‘Mystical Rose’ to the Fife
Federation Open Sartilly (515
miles) race as a yearling and she
won 1st Club 8th Open. The
following year I sent her to Rennes
and she took three weeks to
return home. While talking to my
good friend Wilf Flockhart of
Tranent he asked me ‘What
happened to the good chequer hen
you timed from Sartilly?’ I told him
the above and he said ‘Send her
back to Sartilly’. The following year
she won 1st Club 1st Fife
Federation 1st Region C 20th East
Section 83rd Open from an entry
of 3,180 birds. Three weeks later I
sent her back to Sartilly (2) and she
won 144th East Section 236th
Open from an entry of 3,673 birds.
Then in 1992 she was set up for
Sartilly (1) and won 1st Fife
Federation 1st Region C, 1st East
Section and 1st Open SNFC with
an entry of 3,293 birds. I then
stopped her for stock and did not
go for a Gold Award, she meant
more to me as she had fulfilled my
dream of becoming a SNFC winner
just like John Kirkpatrick. The same
year as ‘Mystical Rose’ won the 1st
Open from Sartilly we won 4th
Open SNFC Sartilly (2) with a two
year old but I also sent a late bred
cock to this same race. The night
before basketting for the Sartilly
(2) I went out to lock up the loft
and noticed this late bred red cock
sitting on the perch. He was in
immaculate condition but was only
a late bred so never thought
anymore about it. The following
morning when I went out to open
the loft at the back of 5am he was
still sitting on the perch and the
down feathers were all around his
feet and he looked like he had a V-
neck jumper on. His condition was
so good I handled him and decided
I might not ever get him in this
condition again in his life, so sent
him to the race. Jimmy & Gary
Peggie came to see our birds
return from the nationals and
when I told them I had sent the
late bred, they jokingly said they
were going to report me to the
‘cruelty officer’ . Low and behold
we timed him in to win 18th East
Section 30th Open 2,915 birds,
thus proving John Kirkpatrick
theory correct. As a matter of
interest Jim & Garry won the
SNFC in 2021 which gave me great
pleasure as we have been friends
for a long long time.
Fanciers in the north of Scotland
send their yearlings to Hastings on
the south coast and this is the
corresponding distance as John
Kirkpatrick flew from Rennes all
those years ago. They also
nowadays send their birds over to
France with the Nationals.)
Back to my original story, to John
Smith both Margaret and I thank
you for a wonderful day, it was
indeed a day we will both never
forget, and we thank you for the gift
of the Westminster clock won by
the ‘great man’ himself. I will cherish
this for the remainder of my life and
hopefully one of our grandchildren
will become pigeon fanciers. This
was indeed a great honour to
receive such a ‘gift’ and I am without
a doubt humbled by the generosity
shown by John Smith and I hope he
is happy with my above contribution
and may I wish John and his family
all the very best in health and
happiness for years to come.
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Recognised
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In this film
Roger explains his systems and
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Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595 31

 DVD’s available from The Racing Pigeon
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 South East
Summary 2021
The 2021 season was a season of if’s
and but’s, will we or won’t we
regarding our seasons racing. Once
Brexit was confirmed the French
administration did all they could, and
succeeded in refusing the UK to race
their pigeons from France. A great deal
of work was put in by the RPRA plus
several prominent fanciers with
endless meetings, phone calls, emails
etc, to try and get the situation
resolved so that we could race our
pigeons from France. As we all know
now this was all to no avail, but well
done to all those that put in the time
and effort to try to resolve the
situation.
Because of the situation, many
Nationals and Classic Clubs either
raced from the South West of the
country or from the North. After all
the tieless work, the powers to be did
at the later part of the season and into
young bird racing managed to get
some Channel races from Guernsey.
Not ideal for some fanciers, whether it
was the Guernsey or northern race
points there were some fanciers that
lived within a stone’s throw from
some of the race points. For Northern
fanciers Guernsey was a decent race
for them being able to get a few
hundred miles race. For those in the
South they had a chance to race from
Lerwick, to the South Coast this was a
distance of 650 miles.
by Terry Peart
are two lofts that are just 10 miles
from me in New Milton. These two
lofts could not race their pigeons
more differently if they tried. One of
the fanciers is 84 years young Les
Kidd who is an out and out long
distance fancier and is one of the old
school racing a family of the old
English strains entirely on the Natural
system.
The other loft is the husband and wife
partnership of Rod & Angela Berry
also of New Milton, both the
aforementioned fanciers are ex
Londoners who moved down to the
New Forest 17 years ago. In contrast
to Les, Rod races his pigeons every lofts 2021 club positions included
week in Club, Federation, Nationals 13x1sts; within the Federation their
and Classic Clubs. 2x1sts were against 1,500 birds in each
race where the loft on both occasions
Starting with Rod & Angela Berry recorded the first ten positions.
who once again not only had a good
season Cub and Federation racing, In the British Barcelona Club race
they also recorded several top from Wadebridge at 160 miles the
National and Classic positions. The partnership clocked to win 1st & 2nd

The reason for putting this article

together is to highlight the fact that
several of the fanciers that I write
about weekly have had some
wonderful and exceptional
performances in the Nationals and
Classic Clubs racing both North and
South with their pigeons.

The first two lofts for me to mention Rod & Angela Berry.

34 Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595

Section 24th & 31st Open from 1,585
birds. In the BICC the loft competed
in two Guernsey races, the first race
with 5,269 birds competing they were
5th Section 5th Open with their good
blue chequer cock ‘The Dreamer’. As
a young bird this lovely cock also
scored with several Federation
positions that included 2x1sts and
1x2nd. His sire is a Leo van Rijn that
himself is a winner and he was paired
to the lofts top race and stock hen
‘Sweet as a Nut’, this Janssen hen
scored prolifically on the road with
2x1st Federations to her credit, she is
now a top stock hen that breeds
winner in virtually every nest.
A two year old chequer cock ‘The
Beast’ (named because of his size) has
more than proved himself in the past
couple of seasons winning several top
positions. As a yearling in 2020 this
cock topped the Federation from
Exeter, in 2021 he once again topped
the fed from Exeter with 1,580 birds
competing, he was then sent to the
NFC Guernsey race at 96 miles with
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
The complete set up of Berry & Matthews.
5,853 birds competing to record 6th
Section 193rd Open, the loft also
recorded 7th Section with their next
arrival. The sire of ‘The Beast’ is a Leo
Van Rijn when paired to a May Pigeons
‘Pitbull’ hen.
The partnership has only recently
imported the ‘Pitbull’ pigeons from
John, Darren & Josh May, also with the
same family coming via the Belgium
loft of Van Herv. A cross between
these two families has produced ‘Miss
Pitbull’ 5th Section 50th Open NFC
Guernsey from 2,674 birds competing
and ‘Little Pitbull’ 16th Section 37th
Open BICC Guernsey 1,984 birds
competing.
Some of the lofts other NFC
positions: 7th Section 72nd Open
Sennen Cove 5,738 birds; 8th & 9th
Section 268th & 271st Open Sennen
Cove 3,939 birds; 6th & 7th Section
193rd & 240th Open Guernsey 5,853
birds; 5th Section 50th Open
Guernsey 2,674 birds. BICC 5th
Section 5th Open Guernsey 5,269
birds; 11th Section 32nd Open Truro
5,345 birds; 16th Section 37th Open
Guernsey 1,984 birds.
‘The Dreamer’ – 2x1sts, 1x2nd
Federation. 2021: 5th CS 5th Open
BICC Guernsey 5,269 birds. ‘The
Beast’ – 2020: 1st Federation Exeter.
2021: 1st Federation Exeter 1,560
birds, 6th Section 193rd Open NFC
Guernsey 5,853 birds. ‘Miss Pitbull’ –
2021: 5th Section 50th Ppen NFC
Guernsey 2,674 birds. ‘Little Pitbull’ –
2021: 16th Section 37th Open BICC
Guernsey 1,984 birds.
We now come to Les Kidd. Les lives
on the opposite side of the road to
Rod. When it comes to pigeon racing
Les is a total opposite to Rod as Les is
what you could call, one of the old
school. Flying his pigeons completely
natural, hopper full of beans 24/7 no
training. Well, if you call three miles
training then I have told a porky.
Les is and always has been into long
distance racing so the cancellation of
Channel racing last season was a real
blow, not only to Les but to the many
Les Kidd of New Milton.
35

Racing loft of Les Kidd.
fanciers who only like to compete
across the Channel.
The outcome of Les;s season was that
after a lot of soul searching, he
decided to have one crack at the
longest race on the North Road which
was Lerwick, a distance of 650 miles
to New Milton. There is a story to
why Les wanted to participate in this
36
race which was run by the BICC.
The pigeon that Les Kidd clocked has
quite a story to it that I know
personally, so here goes, I’ll start at the
beginning.
In 2018 I was helping Charlie Lakeman
of New Milton with looking after his
pigeons as he was not in good health
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
so this was my way of keeping him
interested in his small team of pigeons.
In 2019 Andy Parsons of Salisbury
offered to breed us a couple of
youngsters, an offer I could not refuse.
One of these youngsters turned out
to be Les’s timer from Lerwick. I raced
this young bird giving her two channel
races as a baby. Unfortunately, Charlie
passed away before the 2020 season.
While Charlie was in hospital, I visited
him every day and we both decided
that I should race the pigeons the
following season. As we only had
around 15 pigeons to race, I decided
that after the season of 2020 what
pigeons were left would be sold with
the money going to Bournemouth
Hospital Cancer unit. Come the 2020
season I raced the 15 pigeons most of
which were yearlings.
I caught up with Andy at one of the
race markings, in our conversation I
said to him that your blue was the
pigeon that I had my money on, from
then on, I named the pigeon ‘Your
Blue’ bred by Andy Parsons of
Salisbury. As a yearling I raced ‘Your
Blue’ in four Channel races clocking
her in in all four races.
From the CSCFC Messac race she was
my 5th pigeon home to record 114th
Section 311th Open from 2,100 birds,
then it was the BICC race from Falaise
and she was my third pigeon clocked
for 94th Section 395th Open 7,378
birds, it was then the BICC race from
St Philbert this time my second arrival
recording 443rd Section 2,668 birds.
The final race was the one I was most
looking forward to the BBC and
CSCFC Pau race 518 miles. Of the 15
pigeons I started with I still had 12 left
so I sent nine of them to Pau and had
all nine home with six of these being
yearlings. ‘Your Blue’ was my main pool
pigeon of the nine and she was my first
The loft of Mark & Jane Adcock.
arrival to record 10th Section 32nd
Open BBC, 11th Section 23rd Open
CSCFC. Not bad for a yearling clocked
four times from four Channel races.
Had I been able to carry on racing at
Charlie’s she would have definitely
gone to Barcelona this season if
Channel racing was on. Once the
decision was made the nine pigeons
that flew Pau and the other three that
flew Bordeaux were all sold with the
proceeds going to Bournemouth
Hospital. Les Kidd purchased ‘Your
Blue’ with his intentions to send her
to Barcelona, but this was not to be.
Les got her flying out then paired her
up to stop her going back to Charlie’s
Garden. This year (2021) she was again
paired up and flying out freely with his
other pigeons but more often than not
she would come back later from the
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
direction of Charlie’s which
incidentally is only around a mile away.
With this year’s racing situation Les’s
only two races with no training were
two BICC races from Sennen Cove a
distance of 185 miles. Les entered
around twenty pigeons to each of
these races and ‘Your Blue’ was his
first arrival both times. On the second
race I was in the garden with Les and
she came to the loft from the
direction of Charlie’s so she could well
have had a pit stop there.
The next race Les was interested in
was the Lerwick race a distance of 649
miles 1,639 yards to New Milton. For
this race Les sent this hen to Lerwick
with her eggs hatched out the day
before going in the basket. Once again,
she was sent to this race with no
training at all, just loft exercise. From
his entry of three pigeons, she was his
first arrival, this was only after the man
who purchased Charlie’s bungalow
rang Les to say that a grey pigeon with
rings on was walking about the garden.
Les told him to frighten the pigeon up
and a few minutes later she dropped
on the loft. ‘Your Blue’ now has the
recognition of flying four Channel
races up to 518 miles then turned
north to fly just short of 650 miles
being the longest flying pigeon on the
result. With Channel racing being
allowed next year Les might be able to
give ‘Your Blue’ a crack at Barcelona.
The sire of ‘Your Blue’ is a son of
‘Dancer’ 3rd Open Palamos 678 miles,
45th Open CSCFC Tarbes, 270th
Open NFC Tarbes. ‘Dancer’ in turn is a
son of ‘Proud Mary’. The dam of ‘Your
Blue’ is a daughter of ‘02577’ 12th &
31st Section 56th & 201st Open NFC
Tarbes. ‘02577’ in turn is a daughter of
21st Open Pau when paired to the
dam of ‘Monty’ 1st & 3rd Section
Tarbes.
Hopefully with Channel racing
commencing this season Les can have
another go at his Palamos and Pau
races in which he has been very
successful in the past.
The next loft covered is that of the
Croydon husband and wife partnership
of Mark & Jane Adcock. After a ten
year break from racing Mark re-
started up in 2015. Mark and Jane’s
racing team consists of 22 cocks and
22 hens raced on the Roundabout
system. In the past two seasons this
small team of pigeons have recorded
for Mark over 40x1st Clubs and in the
Surrey Federation 9x1sts, 8x2nds,
9x3rds. Mark’s pigeons fly as a team as
the results show. The first ten
positions from Oakhampton 709 birds;
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, etc Honiton
888 birds; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th,
9th, 10th, etc Yeovil 1,272 birds; 1st,
3rd, 5th & 10th Yeovil 1,441 birds; 1st,
3rd, 5th & 7th Oakhampton 1,026
birds; 1st, 2nd & 3rd Federation and
Amalgamation Exeter 1,221 birds, the
list is endless.
These same Club and Federation
winners were also performing very
well in National and Classic races
particularly in the BICC races.
37

Mark & Jane Adcock.
‘Miss Consistant; racing with the BICC:
9th CS Section 24th Open Cholet
2,859 birds; 9th CS Section 41st Open
Alencon 4,659 birds; 15th CS Section
2,668 birds 46th Open St Philbert
7,851 birds; 20th CS Section 33rd
Open Falaise 2,546 birds; 26th CS
Section 49th Open Alencon 4,914
birds; 9th Open South Coast
Amalgamation Le Mans 1,086 birds.
‘Miss Consistant’ is a granddaughter of
‘The Rock’ five UNC positions in turn
being a full brother to ‘Mucking Fagic’
1st UNC Bourges.
A full sister of ‘Miss Consistant’ is
‘Jane’. BICC positions: 34th Open
Guernsey 1,247 birds; 46th Open
Bordeaux 2,222 birds; 128th Open
Counstances 2,540 birds; 3rd Surrey
38
season was the BICC race from
Guernsey. From a convoy of 5,281
birds the partnership clocked their
blue cock to record 6th CS Section
2,095 birds 6th Open 5,281 birds flying
168 miles with a velocity of 1508ypm.
This is a self-bred pigeon from their
Federation Bordeaux 452 miles as a
yearling only three birds on the day.
`’Star’ BICC positions: 1st CS Section
737 birds 87th Open Le Mans 2,693
birds; 2nd CS Section 1,285 birds 3rd
Open Falaise 2,546 birds; 4th CS
Dave & Ashley Steer.
Jacob Poortvliet pigeons that they
purchased from Louella. Unfortunatly
for Dave his son Ashley has now
moved house so will be racing on his
own for the coming season so good
luck to both of you.
The next loft situated in Bromley Kent
goes under the name of Pinewood
Lofts. Pinewalk Lofts was started a
few years ago in 2018 by Tom Firmager
Section 12th Open Cholet 2,859 birds;
101st Open Le Mans 2,677 birds;
202nd Open St Philbert 7,851 birds.
Surrey Federation positions include
7th, 10th, 11th, 19th with up to 1,500
birds competing.
Another Croydon loft R Steer &
Son, consists of father Bob and son
Dave, unfortunately Bob’s not in the
best of health in recent years so Dave
has been getting some help from his
son Ashley. This partnership are
predominantly Club and Federation
fanciers although now and again they
will compete in a Classic race. The one
Classic race they competed in this past
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
along with Steve Dunn and Jim Elston, Combine racing as well as achieving
it was always said when these three some excellent National and Classic
were together it was just like the TV performances. A few years ago, this
sitcom ‘Last of the Summer Wine’. partnership with their blue pied hen
With the passing of Jim and more ‘Louisa’ won one of the fastest Young
recently Steve Dunn it was down to Bird National races recording 1st
Tom to keep the loft going. With all Section E 1st Open National Flying
the work that Tom does for the sport Club from Chale with 3,894 birds
he was finding it very difficult to spend competing with a velocity of 2009ypm.
the time needed for the pigeons, then The past couple of season’s Alan and
his saviour came along. Gary have continued their consistency

Top distance fancier Tom Williams

decided to pack up racing for health
reasons, he kept all his top pigeons to
just breed from to keep him
interested. Knowing Tom’s predicament
Tom offered his services to help out at
the loft, with Tom Williams taking on

bred by Dean Pallatt. With a velocity of

1828ypm this lovely cock recorded 6th
Section P 552 birds 71st Open 6,693
birds. With a full season under their
belt, having got to know one another
and working together I’m sure the
coming season will see more successes
coming to Pinewood Lofts.

The A & G Young partnership of

South Croydon is a father and son
partnership that are always very
consistent in Club, Federation, Alan & Gary Young.

Two Tom’s, Pinewood Lofts.

the loft duties and advising Tom what
was needed to be done regards
feeding, training etc, the pigeons have
now started to perform a lot better. If
there is to be Channel racing next
season then it would not surprise me
to see Pinewood Lofts on the results
of the longer races.

For the 2022 season the two Tom’s

will be racing 12 Widowhood cocks
for Channel racing, these will be
managed by Tom Williams, Tom
Firmager with advice from Tom W will
for the first time will be racing 14
cocks on Widowhood for inland
racing.

In 2021 Pinewalk Lofts competed in

their first old bird race with the
National Flying Club, the race point
was Guernsey a distance of 173 miles
to their loft in Kent. From this race
the first arrival was handsome blue
chequer cock ‘Pinewood Expected’
that was raced on Widowhood and Loft of A & G Young.

Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595 39

 few good positions in their few races
with the BICC last season. A nice blue
cock ‘The Major’ provided their first
ticket when he recorded 3rd CS
Section 11th Open from Guernsey
with 2,188 birds competing. This
pigeon is very well bred with his sire
being a brother to a pigeon called ‘Den
Tornado’ raced by Yves de Wit, this

the grandfather of the grizzle ‘Pitbull’

within their Club and Federation
racing winning many 1st prizes. The
slight downside of their pigeon racing
is that the pigeon loft is in Alan’s
garden so Gary has to fit his visits to
the loft around his work and his young
family. A lot of the management
between the two of them is on many
occasions done over the phone. This
has not prevented the loft scoring a
pigeon was later purchased by Stefan
Lambrecht. The dam is a direct Aerts
brothers pigeon, Aerts brothers bred
and raced the original ‘Pitbull’ who is
that is now a very famous pigeon.
In the stock loft was a newly
introduced pair of distance pigeons
bred by Peter Virtue from Scotland. A
daughter from this pair, a blue chequer
hen ‘Olive’ won the 8th Ace Young Bird
in the BICC with two performances
from Guernsey, 83rd Open from 2,188
birds plus 214th Open from 1,980
birds.

40 Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595

 SECTION B &
EAST REGION
WINNERS 2021
IN THE
SCOTTISH
NATIONAL
FLYING CLUB

A
fter studying the results of the
SNFC for season 2021 I decided
to compile a short article on
Colin and Andy and I’m eternally grateful
to Colin who has provided me with
information on the partnership and he
also arranged with Jim Hannah to supply
me with the photographs of his winners.

The Foundation
Andy and Colin first raced together in
Penicuik club, which was within the
boundaries of Pentland Hills Federation
from 1988 to 1991 winning many 1st
prizes during this time. During this time
they had a very good blue cock who won
12th East Section 60th Open Sartilly (1)
winning £147 flying 495 miles and
recorded a velocity of 1002ypm. This
pigeon was then sold at their clearance
sale and was bought by Jimmy White of
Gilmerton. Who continued to bring out
the best of his racing capabilities to the
extent that he won the following
positions; In 1992 he won 12th East

COLIN MACGREGOR
Section 25th Open SNFC Nantes flying
602 miles recording a velocity of 580 and

& ANDY LAWRIE

OF ROSLIN NEAR BONNYRIGG
by Joe Murphy
42 Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595

won £435 from an entry of 930 birds. The following
year 1993 on the 13th June from the Sartilly (1) race
he won 82nd East Section 136th Open flying 499 miles
achieving a velocity 514 and won £764. Then on the 5th
July of the same year he was entered into the SNFC
Nantes race a distance of 602 miles and he recorded a
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
velocity of 779ypm and won 1st East Section 2nd Open
competing against 625 birds winning £1,407 which was
a fortune in those days. He was named ‘Sir Colin’ after
Colin MacGregor and this wonderful pigeon won over
£5,000 in his racing career. He also turned out to be a
wonderful stock pigeon and was sire and grand sire of
many birds that won for Jimmy White. After going their
separate ways for many years Colin and Andy decided
to go back together into the pigeons and hopefully and
continued were they left off. They started in 2018 by
winning 14th Section B 57th Open SNFC Liege 509
miles from an entry of 1,072 birds; they then won 18th
Section B 52nd Ypres 427 miles plus another bird in
195th Open. From the Roye race they won 9th Section
B 39th Open, their second bird did not win a Section
prize but was 45th Open thus winning the partnership
the 2-bird average in Pentlandhills Federation. Since
being back together these four years they have won 20
Scottish National diplomas and they are still in business
of building a team of birds to compete at the highest
level in Scotland.
The picture of the red cock with Jim is a Staf Van Reet
out of Royal Oak Lofts and he has won twice in the
SNFC and is the sire of Dave Baldie of St Andrews
Silver Award winner. This Staf Van Reet red cock has
bred many good pigeon for the partnership to win in
the Nationals events.
2021 Season
As I said before the partnership won Section B and the
East Region Averages in the Scottish National Flying
Club during the 2021 season. Please find some more
details on these successful birds.
43
From the Huntingdon race 428 members sent 3,891
birds with Section B sending 939 birds. The partnership
entered seven birds and just missed the open result by
20 minutes. From the Maidstone race 433 members
entered 3,457 birds with Section B sending 678 birds.
The partnership timed in their mealy cock ‘4608’ to
win 14th Section B (678 birds) 30th East Region (2173
birds) 30th Open (3,457 birds). He was sent sitting on
44
14 day eggs and he had previously won 2nd Club
Wetherby. Two weeks earlier he was just beaten by a
loft mate for the red prize card. His sire is a mealy
cock gifted to Colin by Norman Renton, his dam was
also a gift from S & S Trattles Loft. The partners second
bird was a GB blue bar cock who won 59th Section B
275th Open, he was bred by Stuart Davenport of
Chirk in Wales.
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
From the Eastbourne race 180 members sent 910
birds with the convoy liberated at 8.30am into a very
light variable south west wind. The partnership timed
in two birds on the night with their first bird a two
year old blue cock ‘8013’ who won 8th Section B (197
birds – 547 East Region birds) 51st Open (he had
previously won 2nd Club from Billericay two weeks
earlier). The blue cock ‘8013’ sire is a son of Norman
Renton’s 1st Open SNRPC Tours winner while his dam
was a gift from Andy Miller of Edinburgh. She was bred
by Colin Asher Vandenabeele and this hen is also the
dam of Colin & Andy’s 2nd Section B 15th Open
Guernsey SNFC in 2021. The partners second bird
from Eastbourne was a two year old chequer white
flight cock. He is a very consistent pigeon and has
previously scored in the club and from Eastbourne he
won 11th Section B 71st Open. His sire won 18th
Section B 52nd Open Ypres in 2018 and his sister won
86th Open from the SNFC Roye race.
Yeovil race had 216 members sending 1,152 bird and
the partnership timed in a yearling blue bar hen ‘4577’
to win 8th Section B (144 birds) 24th East Region (415
birds) 60th Open. She had previously won 3rd Club
from Billericay and was sent to Yeovil sitting 12 day
eggs. As a matter of interest her grand dam is the Andy
Miller hen mentioned above.
As we all know with no racing from France in 2021
the SNFC held a race from Guernsey with 300
members sending 1,273 birds. The convoy were
liberated at 9.15am into a light south west wind and
cleared the site immediately into a north west
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
direction. Section A – 210 birds; Section B – 242 birds;
Section C – 178 birds; Section D – 131 birds; Section E
– 367 birds; Section F – 54 birds; Section G – 91 birds.
Colin and Andy time in their 2017 bred blue cock ‘438’
at 20-52 to win 1st Dlub 1st Federation 2nd Section B
(242 birds) 2nd East Region (551 birds) and 15th Open
(1,273 birds) and they have now named him ‘Dryden
Sonny’. He had five training tosses from about 30 miles
and was sent sitting 14 days on eggs. He previously
flew Eastbourne prior to going to Guernsey. As a
yearling he won 195th Open (no Section or Region
diploma) from SNFC Ypres (433 members 2,541 birds)
for the partnership. As a matter of interest his sire is a
2011 pigeon while his dam is the Andy Miller
Vandenabeele hen Silver Award winner named ‘Dryden
Jo’ SU10P7503. His positions are as follows: 2012 –
Maidstone 3,442 birds he won 285th Open; 2013 –
Maidstone 4,855 birds he won 368 Open; 2013 – he
won 238th Open from an entry of 2,356 birds from
Ypres winning the last Open prize on the result, that
same year 2013, he was 33rd Section B 186th Open
from Clermont with an entry of 1,500 birds; 2014 –
Ypres he won 140th Open 2,404 birds; 2015 – from
Alencon he won 15th Section 50th Open from an
entry of 1,427 birds. He was entered into the
Clermont race and he won 27th Section B 75th Open
competing against 1.547 birds to win his SNFC Silver
Award for the partnership.
From the Huntingdon Young Bird National, the SNFC
had 185 members sending 1,349 birds to this event.
Colin & Andy timed in a GB rung blue chequer cock to
win 86th Open and thus gain the Section B and East
45
Region Averages. Section B had 410 birds at this race
and the East Region had 869 birds at the race.
The Young Bird National winning chequer cock is full
of Combine winning bloodlines. His sire is a grandson
of ‘The Judge’ winner of 1st Open West Durham
Amalgamation Bourges (only bird on the day) flying
569 miles and ‘Diamond Queen’ winner of 1st Open
West Durham Amalgamation Bourges (only bird on
day) flying 569 miles and ‘Big Smithy's Little Sister’ who
is a full sister to Up North Combine winner ‘Big
Smithy’ winner of 1st Open Up North Combine
Bourges 580 miles on the day, and a daughter of
Marshall, Marshall & Smith’s No 1 pair known as ‘Euro
Star’ and ‘Pure Diamond’. These are responsible for
1st, 2nd, 5th, 9th, 15th, 29th, 33rd & 36th Open in the
mighty Up North Combine from Bourges flying a
distance of 580 miles.
The dam of the Young Bird National chequer cock is a
granddaughter of ‘Champion 40’ winner of 3x1st
Cumbrian Combine’s from across the Channel and a
winner of plenty of top 10 Federation positions from
125 out to 500 miles. ‘Lucky B’ is a winner of 1st Club
1st Federation 1st Combine from Saintes a distance of
46
520 miles winning on the day. ‘Victoria’ a winner of
7x1st, 7x2nd and 2nd Combine flying 340 miles beaten
on the decimal. Bred by Stuart Davenport of Chirk in
Wales.
Management
All birds are sent to the National’s sitting 12 to 14 days
on eggs. They are all trained very hard throughout the
season and have at least five races prior to going to the
Nationals. Feeding is Vanrobaeys with nothing in the
water.
The partnership race in the Bonnyrigg Pigeon Club
(which was famous for Bobby Caruthers in my time –
Joe M). This year 2021 Colin and Andy have won Old
Bird and Young Bird Averages as well as the Combined
Average. They are also members of the strong
Danderhall Pigeon Club. The partners usually have
about 100 young birds and these are put onto the
Darkness system and raced right out to the Young Bird
National a distance of 271 miles.
My congratulations go to Colin and Andy on a very
successful season and I hope their success continues in
2022.
Racing Pigeon Pictorial International — No 595
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