Up North Combine Loft Visit (part 3) by Keith Mott

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UP NORTH COMBINE LOFT VISITS (PART 3)

Terry Callan of Brotton.

The next fancier we are going to feature was one of the sport's workers and was a major cog in the workings of the NEHU Peterlee Show each year. Not only was Terry Callan a good worker but he was also an outstanding pigeon fancier, winning many premier prizes, including: 1996: 6th open UNC Folkestone; 1997: 1st and 12th open UNC Folkestone. Terry's UNC winner was his champion yearling blue pied Busschaert / Van Loon hen, ‘Nikki Louise’, which was named after his young granddaughter. This game hen was racing against 13,980 birds from Folkestone and won the North of England Championship Club, lifting the Gold Medal. ‘Nikki Louise’ was produced from a gift egg from the Washington partnership of Mr. & Mrs. Hindhaugh & Donaldson and was raced on the roundabout system.

Terry's father was also an outstanding fancier and he really started up in the sport in 1954, when he helped out at his dad's loft. Terry liked to race from any distance but his loft was arranged each season for what he really enjoyed, Channel racing. He races two systems; natural for the Channel races and roundabout for sprint and all the old birds were paired up on 14th February. The roundabout pigeons were raced natural to the nest for the first old bird races, before being split to go on roundabout and both cocks and hens went to the same races. The roundabout racers were broken down only on the day of the race and were never let out of the loft the day after, as they had to rest. In the north east of England they checked the clocks directly after the birds return so Terry always split the roundabout pigeons when he returns home from the club after race checking. The natural race team was fed twice a day on a heavy mixture, which was beefed up for the Channel races, and they were only trained if they were not exercising well around the loft. Normally they would fly for 50 minutes.

I must say that Terry's natural racers looked in brilliant condition when I visited and these were housed in a one section 12ft loft with open-door trapping. The main, very smart, racing loft had four sections and a nice big wire flight for the stock birds. On my visit, Terry showed me his good red grizzle black-splash cock, whose best nest condition for the Channel was sitting 14-day eggs. This handsome cock was a cross between Terry's old Channel family and Alf Rothwell's De Baere bloodlines and had won in 1997: 1st club, 6th Federation Bourges (Terry's sole entry); 1996: 2nd club, 2nd Federation, 94th open UNC Bourges. When Terry and his wife, Jean, moved to their present address in 1968, he obtained pigeons from J. & W. Douglass, who had won the Combine from Corneilles in 1965 with a widowhood cock and at that time, no one had heard of widowhood. The Holy Island lofts of J. & W. Douglass had a wonderful family of Bourges blues and in 1974 Terry won the Up North Channel Average with their pigeons. Terry introduced the Busschaert pigeons from Taylor Bros, Tom Larkins, Alan Hindhaugh and Alf Rothwell and won the UNC Average again in 1977. The Van Loons were brought into the family from Planet Bros in 1985 and these had been highly successful, right up to the present day. He kept 20 pairs of stock birds and when a new breeder was obtained it must have be from a long line of outstanding winners. Another top racer at the Brotton loft was the Busschaert chequer pied hen off the very best Tom Larkins and Alf Rothwell bloodlines. At that time, this wonderful hen had only flown Folkestone three times and had recorded: 1996: 6th open UNC (22,168birds): 1997: 12th open UNC (13,980 birds), being beaten to the loft by ‘Nikki Louise’ when she won 1st open Combine. Terry raced his 60 young birds on the natural system and although he had tried the darkness, said that if you are interested in Channel racing, this system doesn't let the young birds mature properly for long distance racing in later life.

Sonny & Phil Galloway of Hartlepool.

The first loft I visited belongs to the father and son partnership of Sonny & Phil Galloway of Hartlepool, an east coast town a few miles north of Middlesbrough. The area is a hotbed of pigeon racing and the Galloway’s have their lofts sited on some allotments alongside several other premier fanciers. At the time of my visit, Sonny had been in the sport for 50 years and said he remembers that years ago fanciers helped one another but these days the friendliness has gone out of pigeon racing. He was a bit of a tearaway when he was a lad and says that helping his father with his pigeons was the only thing that kept the young Sonny out of trouble. His dad was his tutor in outstanding racing pigeon management.

The Galloway’s have won the UNC several times and maintain that their old champion, which they called ‘The Bourges Cock’, was the best pigeon they ever owned. This wonderful cock had nine wins before he won 1st open UNC and bred 73 winners for the Galloway loft. The partners like racing from 60 through to 600 miles and have bred many top racers for other lofts in the north east of England including a 2nd open UNC winner for the late President, Ralph Iley. At that time Sonny and Phil's most recent UNC win was from Chenoise in 1998 and this was with a blue hen bred by Gordie Hastings of Berwick. This game hen had three races on her build-up to winning the Combine and was at her best sitting overdue eggs. She has several other good performances under her belt, including 10th open UNC Chenoise the season previous to winning the Combine. A fantastic hen! The Galloway’s race two systems natural and roundabout with their old birds and Phil says that the natural racers have done most of the damage. The 20 pairs of roundabout pigeons are paired up on 1st January, with the 20 pairs of naturals being put together on 16th February every season, training starting three weeks before the first race. The birds are fed a good mixture of beans, peas and maize and the roundabout team is broken down three days a week during the racing season. During the season the natural racers are trained from 30 miles twice a day up to Thursday and both the roundabout hens and cocks are raced on the same weekend. The natural old birds are raced to a 16ft section with open door trapping, and Phil says that they like them sitting due to hatch for Channel racing.

At the time of my visit the basis of the family was Janssen / Sions obtained from a Yorkshire fancier named Freddie Dawson in 1957, with the odd cross being introduced from time to time. Sonny says that when he brings in a new breeder he mostly looks for good winning lines, but picks out pigeons that he likes in the hand and although he judges eyesign shows, he never uses the method for pairing up. The latest successful introductions were the de Klak Janssens from Brian Long and he obtained them direct from de Klak. The partners' 15 pairs of stock birds are paired up in January and are housed in a three section, 28ft-long loft. Sonny showed me a nest pair of blue cocks, which were grandsons of ‘The Old Bourges Cock’ and both were champion racers on the natural system. The Galloway’s say that there is no such thing as a long-distance or sprint-type pigeon. Pigeons fly only to the distance they are managed for. Sonny said that the proof is this nest pair of blue cocks. One had won eleven times first in sprint racing, was several times 1st open Federation and was the sire of 46 winners; the other had nine times 1st, seven of them over the Channel, and loved having 10 hours on the wing. This nest pair, both being the same breed and type but both liking different distances when it came to racing. He maintains that when you have a good family of pigeons, you get to know the winning eye and you must breed for that, which is the advantage of the eye sign method.

The Galloway partners have tried both natural and darkness systems and maintain that the natural young birds are by far the best in the young bird races. They think that darkness young birds never make good old birds and have proved this fact in their own loft. The partners' team of 70 youngsters was raced all the way through the programme to Maidstone (260 miles) and like the old birds; they were trained twice a day up to Thursday during the racing season. They were fed heavily on a good young bird mixture and are raced to the perch, although the odd nest bowl was put in the box perch for any that might want to pair up. The young bird team was trapped through open doors and the partners have recorded many great young bird winners, with the local competition being very hot. When I met Sonny Galloway he was very much again at the darkness system with young birds and said he would never race it again. Thanks to Sonny & Phil for a very enjoyable loft visit all those years ago!

Richie Stephenson of Great Ayton.

We went to great lengths for our last Up North Combine winning loft this week and feature the widowhood loft of Richie Stephenson & Son. Richie's champion widowhood Van Riel blue cock was 1st open UNC Bourges (537 miles) in 1997 and 12th open UNC Bourges in 1998. This cock was raced on the widowhood system with a difference, being teased with a tumbler pigeon. Richie had been involved with pigeons all his life, starting racing in 1991 and in 1995 only raced six cocks on widowhood to win several top positions, including 1st and 2nd open Federation. He had always liked sprint racing but at the time only mostly interested in channel racing with the UNC. Richie told me his normal build up for the long-distance races was to race them down to the south coast, then two short Channel races, then into Bourges. He paired all his racers and stock birds 64 days before the first race, so some eggs could be floated, and only a small team of 16 cocks was raced. The cocks were fed on a first-class widowhood mixture and were only broken down if the racing was fast, with the main corn being beefed up for Bourges. The widowhood cocks were only normally trained before their first race and were sometimes repaired for the Bourges race, being sent driving to nest.

The Stephenson set-up consisted of three very smart lofts. Richie only kept eight pairs of stock birds, mainly of the Van Riel strain and when bringing in a new breeder, he liked medium-sized birds with good balance in the hand. The top stock cock was a blue Van Riel, bred by Tony Reed of the Midlands, and this cock had bred many premier pigeons, including the Bourges Combine winner. Ritchie raced his 40 young birds on the darkness system and kept the sexes separate, running them together on Friday night before going to the marking station. The young hens raced the whole programme down to the south coast and the young cocks were stopped at the 120 mile stage and saved for the widowhood system later in life. The youngsters were trained up to 30 miles and were raced to the perch. Full article to appear in the BHW soon. (November 2022)