sapper756

The late, great Cecil Bulled of Harlow. Mark Bulled is the son of the late, great Cecil Bulled, who was one of our greatest North Road racers of all time. Mark told me, ‘the best feeling in pigeon racing is to clock in late at night from 550 miles and my real love in the sport is the long distance events. My best pigeon moments were just sitting with my dad waiting for the Combine pigeons! Mark has been in pigeon racing all his life, coming from a brilliant family of pigeon fanciers, with his father being Cecil Bulled and his grandfather being Sid Marsh of Croydon. He tells me his dad started up in pigeons on meeting his mother, Barbara. Pigeon were always a part of Mark’s life when he was a lad, cleaning out the loft and training the birds with his dad, but started to get really keen at the age of about 14. He was very close to Cecil and the pigeons gave them a lot of time together. Mark is now a long distance racing 'legend' in his own right, winning in recent seasons: 1st open NFC Tarbes, 1st open L&SECC Tarbes, 1st open BBC Fougeres, 1st open BBC Fougeres, 1st open London NR Combine Berwick (Yearlings), 1st open London NR Combine Lerwick, 2nd open NFC Messac, 2nd open BBC Bordeaux, 2nd open BBC Fougeres, 3rd open NFC Messac. Fantastic pigeon racing by any standard! When racing with his late father, Cecil, he recorded 1st open London NR Combine Thurso, 1st open London NR Combine Lerwick (four times), 1st open L&SECC Thurso, 1st open London SR Combine Bergerac. I first met Cecil and Mark Bulled in the mid-1990’s, when I visit their home in Harlow with Doug Went to film them for the ‘Many Miles With Mott’ video series. What great day out that was, the partners were winning it all in front of them and Mark was busy working to set up his own team of pigeons at his new address. The next time I met them was in 2001, when with the foot and mouth epidemic and resulting ban on racing from France, the London & South East Classic Club switched from Pau to Thurso in the north of Scotland for the longest old bird race. The Thurso race was won by Cecil and Mark, whose past performances on the north road have been electric, being especially deadly at Thurso and Lerwick with the London North Road Combine. After he recorded 4th and 5th open L&SECC Perth in 2001, I predicted that he would win Thurso and he did! The Bulled loft sent ten pigeons to the Thurso Classic (493 miles) and clocked five on the day of liberation, recording 1st, 10th, 14th, 19th and 26th open. A brilliant performance! Cecil Bulled was born in Croydon and first became involved with pigeons when he met his wife, Barbara, the daughter of the late Syd Marsh. When Syd took over the secretary’s job in the Selhurst Flying Club, the young Cecil became his assistant, calculating the velocities on race checking night. He obtained his first pigeons in 1962 and flew in partnership with his brother in law, Doug Marsh. The first stock was obtained from members of the Selhurst club, in the guise of Syd Marsh, Stan Hunt and Denny Kimber. In his youth, Cecil, was very keen on football and went to school with Peter Notridge, president of the Surrey Federation. Cecil was an accountant by trade, but later retired. He had been racing pigeons for 40 years and said Bill Bailey of Harlow was the best pigeon man he had known. They were very good friends, but the biggest enemies when it came to racing the pigeons. Cecil told me he could remember a Bordeaux race in the early years and they sent pigeons which were really only ‘hoppers’. It was a really bad race with few returns in race time, and the young Cecil and Doug were in the garden for three days, with no arrivals. Cecil vowed then that he would only compete in the long distance events when he had the utmost confidence in his entries. Cecil and his partner, son Mark, had three lofts, a 10ft widowhood loft, an 11ft young bird shed and the main 18ft loft construction, which housed natural racers, stock birds and the widowhood hens. The partners’ 20 widowhood cocks and 12 pairs of stock birds were paired up the weekend after the B.H.W. Blackpool Show in January and the natural birds were put together at the back end of February. The birds were raced on the basic natural and widowhood systems, with no frills or fads, and flew south road with the Stanstead Invitation Club, with outstanding success. The main pigeons raced were the old Croydon family, Soontjens from F. Sheader of Scarborough and the W. Grodon Busschaerts. The old family liked hard racing, 14 hours on the wing from 500 miles, and the Soontjens and Busschaerts were outstanding for the general club work. Cecil maintained his best performance to date was in 1995 when he was 2nd, 9th and 12th open London N.R. Combine Thurso (493 miles), with only 20 birds clocked in the combine on the day of liberation. Brilliant pigeon racing! He said he had been fortunate to own a number of good pigeons over the years including: ‘The Owl’ winner of 1st open London NR Combine Thurso (only bird on the day in the combine): ‘Little Dot’ winner of 1st open London & South Coast Combine Bergerac (478 miles): ‘17567’ winner of 1st open L.N.R.C. Lerwick (582 miles), 1st Section H. in the North Road Championship Club: ‘20729’ son of ‘17567’ and winner of 1st open L.N.R.C. Lerwick (582 miles): ‘14114’ son of ‘The Owl’ and winner of 2nd open L.N.R.C. Thurso (only three birds on the day). The London North Road Combine presents a hall of fame award to a pigeon that scores three times in the first 100 open positions and the Bulled loft had won three awards with, ‘The Ugly Hen’, 3rd, 32nd and 97th open: ‘Day Return’, 12th, 57th and 80th open and ‘Victoria’, 2nd, 14th and 38th open. Cecil’s wonderful family of pigeons had won the Federation many times through the years in sprint and middle distance races. A brilliant loft of pigeons! Cecil Bulled had been racing in the London & South East Classic Club for only a few seasons, but had won the North East section several times. Being a north road flyer for many years, he turned some pigeons south in 1998 and won the London & South Coast Combine from Bergerac in the 1999 season. In 2001, when the foot and mouth restrictions stopped racing from France, he turned his birds back to north road and when the L&SECC decided to race from Perth and Thurso he was delighted. In the race prior to winning the Thurso Classic, the Bulled loft clocked four birds in the very hard Perth Classic to record 4th, 5th, 11th and 62nd open. Cecil’s biggest thrill of his 40 years in pigeon racing was when he clocked ‘The Owl’ from Thurso in 1975, flying 15 hours 3 minutes to cover the 493 miles, and the only bird on the day in the London North Road Combine. He told me his wife, Barbara, was a great help looking after the pigeons when he was away, as was his partner, Mark, who also has a successful team of birds at his own address. Cecil maintained that he was a poor young bird racer, with his main aim each season, being to get some well raced cocks to renew the widowhood team. He believed that to be successful with young birds, they have to go on the darkness system, cocks and hens separated to be put together on race marking day. Cecil fed his youngsters widowhood corn mixed with 20% depurative and liked them to race up to 300 miles. All the Bulled pigeons were trained hard, with young birds getting two 40 mile tosses every week during the racing season. For the long distance events, he liked natural birds sitting ten day old eggs and he told novices, don’t run before you can walk, serve your apprenticeship in husbandry well. Two of the best fanciers in London race in his north road club, said Cecil, in the form of Vic Shaw, and his own son Mark, and he described them as dedicated fanatics who will never be beaten! Cecil liked showing his pigeons, but found it hard to find the time to do it. When he judged, he looked for condition first, good head and eye, with a balanced, rounded body. The Bulled’s practiced inbreeding and line breeding, particularly back to good winning pigeons, but were not too keen on latebred youngsters, although they let their widowhood cocks rear a baby after racing has finished. The lofts were scraped out daily and brushed with garden lime. Cecil said he had tried deep litter on the loft floors, as did a lot of good fanciers, but his seemed to stick to his feet and finished up on the carpets in the house. There you have it, the late great Cecil Bulled of Harlow. What a fantastic pigeon racing family! Full article to appear in the BHW soon. (November 2022)

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The Joe Murphy Column 6 Nov 2022.docx

Scotland the home of the long distance champions. (Part 2). The late, George & Gareth Rankin of Glasgow. For many years the name Rankin has been at the top of the Scottish National Flying Club long distance results with outstanding consistency. The Rankin loft won 66 S.N.F.C. certifi-cates from 1975 to 1996 and over £11, 700 in national racing. The loft was the only one in the S.N.F.C. to be in the first 25 open positions from the Niort (673 miles) races in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1995 and 1996, with the same bloodlines. The loft’s star performers from Niort in the S.N.F.C. races are: ‘The Old Grizzle Hen’: 1989 3rd West Section, 23rd open S.N.F.C. Niort: ‘Westbound’, son of ‘The Old Grizzle Hen’, 1989 20th West Section, 88th open S.N.F.C. Niort, 1990 1st. West Section, 4th open S.N.F.C. Niort: ‘Hat Trick’, daughter of ‘Westbound’, 1991 3rd West Section, 17th open S.N.F.C. Niort: ‘The Blue Hen’, granddaughter of ‘Red Rocket’, George’s S.N.F.C. Gold Award winner and ‘The Old Grizzle Hen’, 1995 5th West Section, 25th open S.N.F.C. Niort: ‘Westbound Junior’, son of ‘Westbound, 1995 7th West Section, 36th open S.N.F.C. Niort, 1996 1st West Section, 24th open S.N.F.C. Niort. What a family of pigeons! George Rankin was born in Bangor, County Down, in Northern Ireland and as a lad kept all sorts of pigeons on his father’s farm in Drumawhey. He sold his tipplers and tumblers and at the age of 11, he purchased his first racing pigeons, including a wonderful black hen from Robert Smith of Newtonnards. Her sire had won Penzance three times to three different addresses. George joined Donaghadu R.P.C. in 1956 and raced 13 young birds, lost two and won a 6th. prize from Bray. In 1954 , the 11 yearlings won the old bird average, winning the last old bird race from Penzance (310 miles), 14 hours on the wing, with a black cock from the Smith black hen. This game cock had reared seven youngsters before going to Penzance. In 1955 he won the coveted ‘Miller Gold Cup’, then valued at £32,000 from Landerneau (427 miles) in a north east wind, liberating at 07.00hrs and clocking the only bird on the day at 21.04hrs, velocity 913 y.p.m., and winning six other trophies and a Gold Medal. A wonderful performance by the young George, as there were only 17 birds clocked in the three days of the ‘Miller Gold Cup’ race. Sire of his Gold Cup winner, ‘Landermeau Express’, was a gift from the top national loft in Ireland of Sloan & Whytes and George said he learned how to race pigeons from 600 miles from Leslie Sloan, a master of racing on the long distance. From 1948 to 1970 Sloan & Whytes were on the Irish National Flying Club , Northern Ireland and Co. Down Federation results from France every year, and the system that George works today is just about the same as the Sloan & Whytes winning system. Leslie Sloan died suddenly in 1971 and George sold his pigeons for his wife in the Muckamore Clubroom in Co. Antrim. In 1968 George won 7th. Open Young Bird I.N.F.C. Penzance (310 miles), 1st. Open East Down Combine and in 1969 won 11th. Open I.N.F.C. Nantes (550 miles), 1st. East Down Combine, with only 99 birds clocked in three days. The Rankins had several old bird lofts in their Blantyre, Glasgow set up, which totalled a length of 34ft, but only housed 35 natural racing pairs. The 50 young birds were housed in their own 16ft x 7ft loft and although they had a small stock loft, they liked to pair stock birds to the best racers, so all were flying out. George’s son, Gareth, said on my visit to the loft, ‘Good ventilation is very important in a loft and a fancier must keep using a hammer and saw until it is right’. The partners breed about 76 youngsters each year, with about 20 going to charity and club sales, and the rest race through to the young bird national (260 miles). All the old birds are paired about March 10th. each year, as in Lanarkshire in Scotland where they live they have cold Easterly winds early on and they are only interested in the National races from France, in June and July. The young birds fly out to 160 miles with the Lanarkshire Federation, which is the largest in Scotland and about ten are sent to the young bird Worcester National. All two year old and other pigeons are sent to the main four Channel races, if fit, with the S.N.F.C. Sartilly (500 miles) twice, Rennes (540 miles) and Niort (673 miles). George moved to Scotland in June 1872, with his wife, Marcia, and children, Richard, Gareth and Sharon. In 1984 the racing name was changed to, G. Rankin & son, when his son Gareth became very interested in the birds, at the age of 13, and he is a very good pigeon fancier. Gareth, a 6ft. 6in.tall 30 year old, when I visited the Rankin home, was very keen on long distance racing and had never missed a day at the lofts. The partners’ present family of pigeons has been blended together by themselves to produce pigeons that can fly 16 hours on the day and get going again the second day if needed to finish the job from the long distance. They are nearly all bred down from pigeons flying into Lanarkshire from 500 and 673 miles for the past 45 years. In 1993 they received, as a gift from Joe Murphy & son of Kirkcaldy, Fife, a son of ‘Mystical Rose’, 1st open S.N.F.C. Sartilly. In 1992 and 1994 he was paired to a daughter of ‘Red Rocket’, and result was the Rankin’s S.N.F.C. Gold Award winner and they bred, ‘Double Delight’, winner of 1st West Section, 13th open S.N.F.C. Sartilly in 1996. A young blue cock from David Mawhinney, in 1996, won 1st open Strathclyde Combine, a total of six Federations, from Stafford (220 miles), lifting £641 and a gallon of whisky. George said that it’s a thrill to clock pigeons in from France after 16 hours on the wing, but many of his good birds have been killed by Sparrowhawks and Peregrines, including some with three certificates in the S.N.F.C. He fed high protein for racing and a super widowhood mixture with best peas for the long distance events. The old birds got lots of safe 18 mile training tosses south of the loft, then after that there are hundreds of Hawks and Peregrines for the next 33 miles to Lockerbie. The young birds got training for only one week before the first race, because of the Hawks, then, just fly out around the loft daily. Most of the birds were sent to the long distance races sitting 14 day old eggs, due to hatch the day of the race. George told me on my loft visit, ’you have to find out what each individual pigeon likes to race to’. He had been Secretary, Treasure and President of the Lanarkshire Social Circle and at that time had been Vice President for many years. They did their stint marking at the local club and Gareth was on the clock committee. The late, Bobby Carruthers of Bonnyrigg. On my second trip to Scotland, I visited the National 'ace', Bobby Carruthers. Bobby started up in 1952 with nine young birds and after racing them through to 200 miles was left with eight. He started up when he left school and said all his childhood friends had pigeons. He had recorded countless positions in the first ten of the Scottish National Flying Club results through the years, including 1st open and three times 2nd open. He had had four Gold Award winners and in 1997 won 1st Federation and 4th open Sartilly, 496 miles Scottish National Flying Club on a very hard day. Bobby loved long-distance and said it's for him. He showed us many of his best racers including a blue chequer hen, which in 1995 was raced in the two Sartilly Nationals, being the only bird on the day in Mid-Lothian both times, recording 18th and 24th open Scottish National Flying Club. She had scored many times sent feeding a small youngster, including 7th Federation from a hard Fareham, 360 miles, as a yearling. Bobby only raced natural, and never paired his long distance team until the end of March. They were not put in a basket until the cold north-east winds have gone, and the weather is warm. They then got a 50-mile training toss every day until they were fit to do their work. They were hopper-fed beans and peas all the year round, but when racing starts they were given a sport mixture as well as the hopper. His hoppers were self-built and had a sloping board on the front, so when the birds threw the beans about, they just roll back into the hop-per. His main old bird loft was double decker, made of brick and had grilled floors with sputnik traps. All his nest boxes were closed in, ideal for long distance racers. The old birds used to get an open loft all the time, but because of the hawk problems in Scotland, Bobby couldn’t do it anymore. They were never let out of the loft in the winter, as he would have birds killed every day by hawks. The main family was Kirkpatrick originally from the late John Carrnichael of Lockerbie. Bobby bred a lot of youngsters each year because of the hawk problem and the race team was normally about 120 birds. The 26ft young bird loft was kitted out with nest boxes, as he liked his youngsters to pair up for racing and they went to all the way to the National race. He said at the time of my loft visit, the darkness system is bad for the birds in the long term, so he practiced the light system where the young bird loft lights are left on until 22.00hrs every evening until the end of April which pushes the moult on. Bobby maintained basket training is more important than lots of road work. He took a lot of trouble to teach his youngsters to eat and drink in the basket and their first three training chucks were from his front garden to teach them how to come out of it. The young birds got lots of training tosses up to 50 miles before the first race and they raced every week, up to 280 miles. Full article to appear in the BHW soon. (October 2022)

Another top quality workmanship loft built

We use to steam bent flights and feathers over a boiled kettle

Tom Hyslop has given permission to share

Saw this on Facebook and thought I'd share it with Basics members RIP Jim

Now in stock at Tumley Lofts https://www.tumleylofts.co.uk/

Congratulations young man, well done

Stephen has kindly given permission to share this with Basics members