‘NATIONAL FORUM’ WITH KEITH MOTT. This week’s ‘NATIONAL
FORUM’ sees the third and last of my features on 1st. open N.F.C. Pau winning lofts.
I have enjoyed writing these Pau winning specials very much and this time we are going
look at two premier fanciers from the south coast.
Fred Hall & Daughters of Worthing.
Fred Hall won the Pau Grand National with his champion blue chequer widowhood cock,
‘Foxgrove Prince’, in 1998. The weekend before he recorded 4th. open London
& South East Classic Club Pau with his blue widowhood cock, ‘Foxgrove
Pencil’. Fred’s Pau National winner was two years old when he won and being
paired up in December, had every channel race on his build up to the Pau National. He was
a consistent young bird, winning prizes on the darkness system and on the build up to the
Pau race had no training whatsoever. He is of the Jackson & Andrews of Yorkshire
strain, being medium deep keeled in the hand, and on handling this great champion the day
after he won the greatest prize in the British pigeon racing sport, I noticed he was half
way up on his first flight. There was only a handful of pigeons clocked on the day from
Pau and this game cock flew the 518 miles, being clocked at 18.55hrs, with black clouds
and rain looming over the south coast loft. A wonderful pigeon!
Fred started in the sport in 1968, at the age of 16, and says racing then was very
different to these days. He had a very successful family of Janssens and Herman pigeons
for many years, but these were mostly wiped out in 1989 by a bad bout of salmonella. Fred
obtained late breds in 1993 from Jackson & Andrews and says this Yorkshire loft has a
wonderful record, averaging 40 first prizes every season. Fred bases his widowhood system
on Jackson & Andrews system and since obtaining stock from them, has never looked
back. The Hall loft is very successful at all distances, but in recent seasons has won
many positions in the N.F.C. including, 1ST. and 150th. open Pau, 53rd. and 176th. open
Sennen Cove, 81st. and 148th. open Guernsey, 98th. open Vire, and 147th. open San
Sebastian. The two Pau races in 1998 was the first time that he had sent the Jackson &
Andrews pigeons over 500 miles and the results were pure fairy tale. Fred likes races over
six hours, as the Jackson & Andrews birds need that time on the wing to get racing.
Richard Mauger of Guernsey won 1st. open Bordeaux with the B.B.C. in1997, with a blue hen
called, ‘Misty Lady’, and this champion was bred by Fred Hall, from his Jackson
& Andrews stock.
He pairs up the first week in December and races 24 cocks on the widowhood system. The
cocks get very little training, being sent regularly to Guernsey with the local Brighton
& Worthing 5 bird club, to get them fit for the main channel events. They are fed on a
heavy breeding mixture, also hand fed peanuts and maize for the long distance events. The
cocks are never broke down after the race. When Fred won the Pau National he lived at
Portslade and when I visited his garden, the day after his brilliant national win, I was
very impressed with his very smart loft set up. He is a first class brick layer and
needless to say, his two lofts were built of bricks, with smart closed in wooden fronts.
Fred is only a small team flyer and his small widowhood loft was a double decker, with a
great out look from the top section. He is very successful in the local Brighton &
Worthing 5 bird club, which only races from over the channel, and is their hard working
secretary.
John McGee of Worthing.
John McGee won the 1990 Pau Grand National with a Janssen blue hen on the widowhood
system and in 1998 he won 1st. open London & South East Classic Club from Alencon with
another blue widowhood hen bred down from the same lines. The 1990 season was one of his
best, winning 1st. open Pau National, 33 times 1st. club and several times 1st.
Federation. A brilliant season! John has recorded some outstanding performance in the
N.F.C. in recent seasons including: 1st. section A, 67th. open Pau, 19th. section A, 84TH.
open Sennen Cove, 4th. section A, 89th. open San Sebastian, 2nd. section A, 102nd. open
Guernsey, 7th. section A, 102nd. open San Sebastian and 8th. section A, 216th. open
Guernsey.
John started up in the sport in 1975 and has enjoyed outstanding success every season,
racing from all distances. The McGee loft has won the federation countless times through
the years and John says he enjoys any race, from 60 through to 600 miles. He races mainly
cocks and hens on the roundabout system, with a few cocks on the widowhood, all of which
are paired up in mid-February. The sexes are trained separately, but are often sent to the
same race, with no real problem with trapping if the cocks and hens arrive home together.
John has two smart racing lofts and both are closed in for the roundabout system. The old
birds loft has a pan tile roof, three sections, and the old birds are trapped in a
corridor and through open doors. The young birds loft has sputnik traps and the inmates
are raced on the light system. His wonderful team of youngsters are on the light 20 hours
every day and follow John around the garden, like a flock of sheep, looking for their
peanuts.
John’s pigeons are 90% Janssen, with a few Jan Aarden and are bred down from
Belgium Gold Wing champion bloodlines. He has the ‘Houdini’ bloodlines and says
his best racers including his Pau National winner are from these lines. His 16 pairs of
stock birds are housed in a nice big stock loft, with a wire flight. One of John’s
stock birds, which I looked at on my visit to his Worthing lofts, was a handsome blue
chequer cock, a retired champion racer which had won 20 times 1st. on the road and he was
half brother to the Pau National winner. His full brother was the sire of the 1998 London
& South East Classic Club Alencon winner. A wonderful family of pigeons!
If you need to contact me about N.F.C. matters, please telephone: 01372 463480 or
email me on: keithmott@btopenworld.com
