The Late John Furness of Woking by Keith Mott

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The late John Furness of Woking.

In my time as a racing pigeon writer I have visited many lofts which are based on eyesign, but I think the late Johnny Furness' loft must take the cake. I have never seen so many good eyed pigeons in one loft and this had been achieved by many years study of the subject. He paired up on eyesign and said it's a method of getting the best out of your birds in the shortest time. The Furness pigeons won the Federation countless times, but in 1977 from a young bird Weymouth event, he created a record by winning the first thirteen positions in the very strong Surrey Federation, with 2,437 birds competing. The week before the race John was working away and the birds had to be kept in the loft, so on his return he gave them a 40 mile toss every day from Monday to Friday the marking day. He sent 26 birds and his heart must have been in his mouth as 16 dropped on the loft together and he managed to clock 13 to set a fantastic record at that time.

My good mate, Mick Worsfold, took me to John's Knaphill home for the loft visit and as always, it rained. The Furness loft housed three main families, Hansenne, Kirkpatrick and Burghers, with the Hansenne pigeons being best for long distances and hard days. The first pigeon John handed me to inspect was his great Burghers blue chequer pied hen 'Melody', winner of: 1976: 1st club Weymouth, 2nd club Exeter, 3rd club Plymouth, 1st club, 8th Federation, 11th Combine Wadebridge; 1977: 2nd club Weymouth, 1st club Exeter, 1st club, 3rd Federation, 41st Combine Laval, 5th club Angers, 1st club Weymouth; 1978: 2nd club Vire, 3rd club Laval, 2nd club Exeter, 1st club Exeter, 1st club Weymouth, 5th club Bergerac and she bred winners. 'Melody' was a wonderful hen, handling medium appled bodied and was a grand-daughter of John's champion Burghers stock hen 'Bernadette'. The stock hen was bred by Bernard Burghers and was the dam of fourteen 1st prize winners, including 1st and 2nd Combine and five Federation winners. Next to hand was a handsome yearling dark chequer cock named 'Eric' and he had recorded in his short racing career, 1st club Niort (350 miles), three times 2nd club and four times 3rd club.

John's neat racing loft was 25ft long, with drop hole trapping; the 15 pairs of stock birds were housed in two smaller lofts. The whole loft was paired up about 14th February and about 40 youngsters were bred each year. The birds were raced on the natural system, with a lot of attention paid to correct feeding and training. John said he liked hens for the longer races, sitting about 12 to14 days and thought it's important to look for fitness in your birds before entering them in the long events. He doesn't worry unduly about the moult, as he says it's a natural condition.

He was born in Capetown, South Africa and his father kept pigeons but didn't race. John started up at the age of seven and joined a boy's pigeon club, flying races up to five miles. In his first proper young bird season at the age of 12 he won the young bird Average by 640 yards with only eight youngsters. This was with birds obtained from Frank Lewrey, the pre-war Woking ace. John said he served his apprenticeship under Frank Lewrey, clearing out and doing odd jobs for him. His first loft was a converted 6ft x 4ft chicken shed and he raced in the Woking Racing Pigeon Club, which was the club he raced in for over 40 years. He said Frank and the late Fred Seaman of Woking gave him a lot of help in the early days.
Another outstanding racer housed in the loft was the ten year old Hansenne dark chequer hen 'Solitaire' and she was the last daughter of 'Elizabeth', Ned Rees Welsh Grand National win-ner. 'Solitaire' was medium appled bodied in the hand and had won twice 1st Federation, five times 1st club, flown Pau twice and was the dam of many winners at stock. 'Katy', a blue pied hen, was another outstanding racing Hansenne, having won seven first prizes and flown Pau twice.

John maintained that good light and the correct flow of fresh air are the key factors in good loft design and said novices should not attempt to learn by their mistakes. He said he would like to revert back to rail transport, with panniers and wood chips, as he thinks peat isn't very good for the birds. The late Eric Cannon of Wormley was John's nomination for the best fan-cier in the Surrey area and says his performances in National Flying Club races over the years have been outstanding. John was the secretary of the Woking RPC and the chairman of the Surrey Federation.

The birds were fed on a good mixture of beans, maize, wheat and turkey starter pellets, re-ceiving 1oz per bird. Iron tonic was given once a week and they were trapped with a little small seed. The old birds got 40 mile tosses two or three times before racing and raced up to 600 miles, with the yearlings going through to 450 miles. Youngsters were made to fly most of the young bird programme and John maintained that fly aways with youngsters were caused by overcrowding. He said consideration for the birds and attention to details are key factors on the road to success. We all make mistakes, said John, but lots of fanciers are only fanciers on Saturdays. When selecting producers, he liked medium size birds, with contrasting eye colours and said pairing two eyes which are the same will result in the youngsters having diluted eyes. I'm not an eyesign man myself, but the most unusual eye I have ever seen belonged to John's good Hansenne blue pied stock cock 'Brahah' and he told me it was a violet eyesign. 'Brahah' was the sire and grandsire of many winners up to 550 miles. John had tried latebreds in all ways, but could not do a thing with them, although he reckoned they made good stock birds. John said he didn't like deep litter and would never use it. Plenty of feeding and green stuff are the order of the day for a good moult.

John Furness had a bumper season in 1979, recording many firsts including 1st club, 4th Surrey Federation, 4th SMT Combine Le Mans and 1st club, 1st Surrey Federation, 2nd SMT Combine Angers. John's Angers winner was his Hansenne blue hen 'Katrina' and she was a daughter of the good blue pied stock cock 'Brahah'. She was sent to Angers sitting 12 day old eggs and had previously won 1st club Exeter in 1979. The white Burgher hen 'Beatrix' was the 4th SMT Combine Le Mans pigeon and she was a daughter of the champion Burghers stock hen 'Bernadette'. 'Beatrix' previously won 1st club Exeter and 1st club Blandford as a youngster.

For many years the SMT Combine's longest old bird race was flown from Bergerac (450 miles), but in 1987 it was flown from Marmande about 30 miles further than Bergerac. Mem-bers sent 2,852 birds for this Blue Riband race and although leading pigeons recorded over 1200ypm, day birds were very few and far between. John Furness won the Combine with his handsome two year old Burger pied cock 'Serenade'. This bird won several good positions including 2nd club Nantes in 1987. 'Serenade' was raced on widowhood and was bred from the cream of the Furness Burgers including 'Melody' and 'Bernadette'. There you have it, the late great John Furness, one of best fanciers ever in the Surrey area.

Text & Photos by Keith Mott (December 2025)