Sparrowhawk Brother of Mitcham

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Sparrowhawk Brother of Mitcham.

The SMT Combine sent 2,441 birds to Melle (360 miles) in June 1980 and once again with a lot of west in the wind the winners were on the Surrey side of the Combine. Dennis Burton of Feltham won the West Middlesex Federation, doing 1110ypm, and he was usually successful on the long, hard races with his Kirkpatrick pigeons. Sparrowhawk Bothers of Mitcham won the Surrey Federation and SMT Combine, doing 1137 ypm, with a two year old Sion blue hen named, ‘Miss Ann’, and she was sent sitting overdue eggs. Charlie Sparrowhawk told me at that time that she had been a very consistent racer and her build up to the Melle Combine win was two races from, Le Mans and Angers.

Charlie had been in pigeons all his life, joining the Mitcham Common FC in 1935 and raced pigeons obtained from the late Harry Hoad of Horsham. The Gits pigeons from A. H. Turner of Blackpool and Barkers from Joe Brooks of Bromsgrove were obtained in the early days and these were the base of the Sparrowhawk Brothers family in 1980. Their first loft was a converted chicken shed and they won their first race from Dorchester in 1936, with Gits / Barker red chequer cock.

The partners loft in 1980 was 33ft long, with three sections and open door trapping, and was self-built in 1947. Charlie told me, in his time in the sport, the brothers had won the Federation from the shortest race through to the longest, but preferred channel racing. They also preferred old bird racing, rather than young bird, maintaining there is more skill needed to win with old birds. Charlie’s wife, Flo and son John also raced pigeons in partnership, with outstanding success in the club and Federation. Sparrowhawk Brothers paired their 84 pairs of old birds on 14th February and bred about 80 babies each season to race. The old birds got very few training tosses and in fact only had five tosses in the 1980 season. They flew on the natural system because it took up less time and the brothers liked birds sitting over ten days for the longer races. The youngsters were weren’t trained too heavy, but raced through the full programme. The birds were fed on a good mixture of Tic beans, Maple peas, maize and tares, with condition seed. The brothers were not in to eye sign, but liked to see a nice rich eye on their breeders. Charlie rated Terry Goodsell of Mitcham the top local sprint racer and said he had got the widowhood system off to a fine art. They liked one or two late bred youngsters bred from their best, which were always put to stock. The loft was cleaned out every day and the nest bowls were changed only when the youngsters were weaned.

Charlie told me he hadn’t shown a pigeon since1938, but he was famous and very successful at showing his fine team of horses. In the 1980 horse showing season they had shown in four shows, recording three firsts and a second, including 1st at the Royal Windsor in the presence of HM the Queen. The late, great Charlie Sparrowhawk!

Text & Photos by Keith Mott (November 2025)