The Late Alec & Molly Martin of Worplesdon by Keith Mott

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The late Alec & Molly Martin of Worplesdon.

I first met the late Alec & Molly Martin in the early 1970s being drawn by their fantastic per-formances in the National Flying Club and SMT Combine which I covered in the fancy press. A 20-mile drive to Worplesdon, near Guildford in Surrey took me to the outstanding lofts of Alec & Molly Martin. Alec was nick named 'Mons' Martin and his loft 'Little Belgium' as Alec was a student of the Belgian families and the lofts housed the Belgian strains of Pol Bos-tyn, Denys Brothers, Descamps Van Hasten, Janssen of Arendonk and Fabry. I asked Alec why he preferred the Belgian pigeons and his answer was that he believed the best criterion when buying stock is pedigree with a family history of winning pigeons. Where else do we find so many crack lofts that make a habit of winning national and international races? Most of the Belgian champions are raced on after national events and prove they are not flukes, but most English national winners never see the light of day after they win. Alec maintained the main factor is birds bred from winners paired to winners. The racing records of these great Belgian champions show they are not just one-off performances, the list is endless. He said look at the racing records of ‘Benohi’ (Bostyn), ‘Bliksem’ (Denys Brothers), ‘Prins’ (Denys Brothers) and ‘Motta’ (Van Hee) to name a few, whose racing careers were long and strong, being second to none in the world for quality. Alec said there had been a marked take over with Belgian pigeons in this country in the early 1970s. Look at the Busschaert pigeons in the sprint events and the Cattrysse NFC winners in the early 1970s. Many of the top fanciers in England today owe their success to the Continental breeders. Alec always said if you can't beat them, join them, which seems to be very good advice. Everyone is trying to breed that champion and Alec took what he hoped to be a short cut with the best of the Belgian pigeons.

The Martin's loft record in short and long distance race since the 1970s and 1980s was second to none and must have rated as one of the top south of England lofts, scoring premier positions in the Federation, Combine and National every season. The partners had been premier prize winners on numerous occasions in the Godalming DFC, which was the strongest club in the RPRA Southern Region, with a membership of 70 and every position was hard earned with a club radius of 10 miles. Alec and Molly had many great seasons but 1979 was a bumper year recording many firsts with the highlights being: 2nd SMT Combine Le Mans (smash), 42nd SMT Combine Angers, 5th SMT Combine Niort, 23rd SMT Combine Bergerac, 6th SMT Combine Plymouth (young birds), 1st Surrey Federation Exeter, 1st Surrey Federation Weymouth (young birds), lifting ten cups and trophies including the Surrey Federation Continental Average, SMT Combine Continental Average and the SMT Combine Old Bird and Young Bird Combine Average. One of the principal pigeons in lifting the Federation and Combine Averages was the Fabry blue cock ‘Radar’ and he recorded 2nd SMT Combine (3,011 birds) from the Le Mans smash. In the early part of the season he was on widowhood and Alec named him ‘Radar’ because he homed in thick mist from Le Mans. The Martin's 5th SMT Combine winner from Niort was The Warren x Medway blue cock ‘Rising Star’. The pigeon to tie up the averages was the Young Janssen x Fabry red cock ‘Milo’ and he was 6th SMT Combine (2,451 birds) Plymouth. This little cock was a grandson of Alec's ace Janssen stock cock ‘Chief’, which bred many good pigeons for the Martins and he was purchased from Roger Timmermans of Strombeek, Belgium, and was a grandson of ‘Oude Voss’ and the world-famous ‘Merckx’, both of Janssen Brothers of Arendonk. Another golden year for the Martins was 1975 when they won 1st club, 1st Surrey Federation, 3rd SMT Combine Ber-gerac, 1st club, 2nd Surrey Federation, 15th SMT Combine Avranches, 2nd club, 3rd Surrey Federation, 9th SMT Combine Niort, 16th section E, 55th open Pau(NFC). As well as many other firsts, they lifted the Surrey Federation Old Bird Average Cup, Surrey Federation Channel Average Cup, Surrey Federation Longest Old Bird Race Shield, 55th open Pau NFC and 3rd SMT Combine Bergerac was recorded on the same day. A brilliant performance!

The Martin's first birds were obtained from Stan Edgington and Ron & Chris Cox of Godalming in 1959. The Belgian families in the loft were obtained at considerable trouble and expense and as the records show, bred birds to race and win Federation and Combines from 70 to 500 miles. Alec always told novices to buy stock from one of the successful one-family specialists, seek his advice and stick to that one strain. One of Alec's all-time best pigeons was the old pencil blue cock ‘77’ and he was off the Martin's old original family. This nice cock recorded 1st Hersham open Weymouth, being 60ypm in front of the next loft on the result sheet and the Martins recorded 1st, 2nd and 3rd open, 209th open Avranches Young Bird National, and flew Pau four times, three times on the winning day. His sire was Alec's ‘The Nantes Cock’, which scored four years in succession from Nantes including 6th section E, 36th open Nantes NFC. Another favourite at the Martin's loft was the Fabry blue pied cock ‘White Nose’, which won several outstanding club firsts against 500 birds. He had many top Federa-tion positions and scored in the 1979 Nantes National.

The main racing loft was 18ft x 7ft with three compartments, one for young birds, two for old birds, with a corridor running the length of the loft. The birds were trapped through bob wires and there was always food before them because the Martins didn't believe in keeping the birds short of corn. All the birds in the main racing loft were raced on the natural system. His stock birds were housed in a nice 16ft x 6ft loft with a flight and half this loft housed six pairs of widowhood pigeons. Molly cleaned and dressed the loft with lime every day and also changed the water twice a day. Molly Martin was a natural with pigeons, one of the best lady fanciers I have ever met! The birds were fed on a good sound mixture with extra maize being added just before Pau and Bergerac and they were given condition seed. Alec was the director in an engineering firm and had a fair bit of freedom for training, which he gave regularly at about 15 miles. He said he has given birds long training tosses but they seem to perform better with lots of short training tosses. The stock birds were paired up on February 14th and the racers in March. About 60 youngsters were bred every year as Alec thought the more youngsters bred, the better his chance of breeding a champion. He said that two of the main factors in success with pigeons is: '100% dedication12 months a year and go for the strongest competition’. Alec wasn't eyesign minded and said if he thought it was important he would study it and only keep one pair with the breeder's eyesign and a few feeders to rear all the winners. Molly was a great work force generally, managing and cleaning the birds and lofts. She clocked the first arrivals and paired up the race team. Alec maintained his most thrilling experience in the sport was in 1964, when he sent two birds for his first crack at the Pau National and recorded 160th open with very few home locally on the winning day.

The Martins won the Surrey Federation twice inland in 1979; one was an old bird and the other a young bird. The old bird was a Fabry dark cheq cock called ‘Monty’ and he recorded 1st club, 1st Surrey Federation, 2,611 birds Exeter. The youngster, ‘Well Away’, a Janssen cross blue cock, won the very strong Godalming Club by a very large margin and recorded 1st club, 1st Surrey Federation, 2,153 birds Weymouth. Alec lived in a hot-bed of great fanciers and said he had respect for a lot of them. In the 1970s he thought Cyril Medway of South-ampton was a great fancier, because of the size of the Medway team and the outstanding suc-cess he enjoyed. Alec liked the idea of the thing Louis Massarella was doing and said it's a good bet for the beginner to purchase birds from him because he offers good stock at fair prices. Alec said local small clubs should amalgamate, centralise their HQ, thus cutting expenses and providing better competition. Alec and Molly are no longer with us and were a brilliant pigeon racing team.

Text & Photos by Keith Mott (April 2023)