National Forum With Keith Mott
Brian and Thelma Denney of Strensall
Some say that Brian Denney’s Pau Grand National performance in the 2002 season,
when he recorded 1st. section K. 5TH. open, was one of the best
performances of all time in the National Flying Club. John Ayling had the only bird on the
day of liberation, in the form of his fantastic champion, ‘Home Alone’, and
Brian clocked his dark cock, ‘Tuff Nut’, on the second day, flying 738 miles,
with north in the wind, to record 5th. open. Brilliant stuff! When I asked
Brian about his wonderful pigeon he smiled and said, ‘ That was a great day when we
saw him coming from the Pau National and I knew that only one bird had been clocked on the
night flying 519 miles. It must have given John Ayling the thrill of a lifetime to clock
the only bird on the day in the Pau Grand National. ‘Tuff Nut’ had been clocked
from Saintes, 573 miles on the day, flying 15 hours, in the 2000 season and from Pau I
hoped that he had made it into England on the night, but that’s one thing we will
never know. After clocking him from Pau, he soon showed plenty of interest in his mate, so
I knew he was right and when I phoned Sid Barkel to verify him I was told ‘Tuff
Nut’ was the first bird clocked in Section K. Only four birds had beaten him with
4,085 birds competing and the fact that he had flown 738 miles on two hard days and still
up with the leaders made me feel very proud of my pigeon. Not long after the race, Bill
Harris, the N.F.C. president, phoned to congratulate me on ‘Tuff Nut’s’
performance, which was very nice and for days after the phone never stopped ringing from
fanciers with good wishes, from all over the U.K. The icing on the cake was the N.F.C.
prize presentation in Blackpool when my fellow fanciers acknowledged ‘Tuff
Nut’s’ wonderful performance.’
Brian Denney was born near Malton in Yorkshire and his father kept a few pigeons, but
never raced them, although he enjoyed taking them for short flights on his bike. Brian
first had pigeons when he was a school boy and used to visit two fanciers in the next
village, who really got him into pigeon racing. He went into the army for nine years and
started up racing pigeons in 1962, at his present home in Strensall, near York.
Brian’s first birds were obtained from Albert Witty and Derek Smith and both these
fanciers helped him with eggs from their best birds. The Derek Smith ‘Lolita’
family are still in Brian’s bloodlines today. He says he remembers his first winner,
it was a little dark chequer which came like a rocket and won the first race he ever
entered. In the 1960’s Brian admired the performances of Frank Cheetham who flew 709
miles from Pau and says he was on the front page of the pigeon papers every year after
putting up brilliant performances from Pau. His first club was the Acomb MWC in York and
he has the same loft that he started with in 1962, though he has made it bigger through
the 40 years he has been in the sport.
The loft is ‘L’ shaped and faces south. It has two sections for widowhood
racers, with 16 nest boxes in each, a section for the hens next door, two sections for the
stock birds and a large section for young birds. Brian maintains that space and
ventilation are the main factors in good loft design. He says deep litter is O.K. He used
it for many years and it can get dusty, hence good ventilation in the loft is needed. His
family of long distance pigeons are now his own and known throughout the pigeon racing
world as the ‘Bry-Den’ 700 mile family. This season he has 13 pairs in the stock
section, which were paired up in late January, and his stock team are all retired premier
racers, or children of his best pigeons, such as ‘Dark Peron’ and ‘The
Bordeaux Cock’. If he is trying new introductions, he prefers to race them first and
if they stand up to the test on the road he will take a youngster off them. Through the
years he has introduced some good crosses into the Derek Smith ‘Lolita’
bloodlines, the main one being Louella Van Hee pigeons. The main thing he looks for when
bringing in new pigeons is that they have good 500 – 700 mile performances in their
bloodlines.
Brian races cocks and hens on the widowhood system and normally keeps 25 pairs of
racers, which are paired up in February. He likes the yearlings to fly from France a
couple of times, which can be 350 to 400 miles, and the only time he would re-pair for Pau
is if he had some good hens he wanted to send. Brian has raced hens and cocks on the
widowhood with equal success, and says the disadvantage of re-pairing for Pau is they soon
throw flights. The Denney pigeons are hopper fed beans as a base, mixed with a good
widowhood mixture and the birds get a lot of Hormoform. Sometimes the hens are let through
to the cocks on basketing night and sometimes Brian just turns the nest bowl over. The
short club races are used for training and on their return from a long distance race they
sometimes stay with their mate overnight.
One of Brian’s best hens was ‘Blue Pau’ and she was a champion racer
and breeder, winning 3rd. Section K. 41st. Open N.F.C. Pau, 738
miles, 4th. Section K. 201st. Open N.F.C. Pau. She was the dam of
many outstanding racers including ‘Classic Lad’, winner of 1st. Open
Northern Classic Saintes, 573 miles on the day of liberation. Brian says at one time he
used to win at all distances, but he is now only interested in long, hard races where only
the best come through. He likes the wait and as long as there is a chance of getting one
home he is there ready to clock them in. Other principal pigeons in the Denney loft
include: ‘The Pau Hen’ 1st. Section K., 118TH. Open N.F.C.
Pau ‘Whitetail’ 4th. Section K., 51st. Open N.F.C. Pau, 5th.
Section K., 234th. Open N.F.C. Pau ‘The Bordeaux Cock’ 7th.
Section K., 109th. Open N.F.C. Pau, 8th.Section K., 133rd.
Open N.F.C. Saintes, 3rd. Section K., 85th. Open N.F.C. Nantes
‘Dark Peron’ 3rd. Section K., 33rd. Open N.F.C. Saintes
and the grandsire of ‘Tuff Nut’. A wonderful loft of long distance racers!
Brian has about 40 young birds to race each season and they race natural to the perch.
They are trained in stages up to 55 miles and are raced to the south coast, about a 220
miles fly, and are hand fed twice a day on the same mixture as the old birds. Brian is now
retired from work and says his wife, Thelma, has always been interested in the pigeons. He
told me that she is very capable of doing anything in the loft and has clocked in for him
many times when he was working. Their two daughters, Susan and Lynn, have always taken an
interest in Brian’s pigeons. Brian is not interested in the eyesign method, although
he likes to see a nice bright eye with plenty of colour, and he maintains the basket is
the true test if a pigeon is good or not. He has been secretary of the local club for 20
years and says he thinks the sport is going backwards, with clubs getting smaller. The
future is with the National if it gets it’s house in order, with entry fees and prize
money. He likes inbreeding and line breeding and practices it all the time, saying it is
the only way to keep a good family going strong. Brian likes latebreds for stock and in
the winter months increases the beans and peas for the heavy moult period.
This ‘NATIONAL FORUM’ has given me extra special pleasure to write as Brian
and Thelma are good friends of mine and are two of the nicest people I’ve met in
pigeon racing. I can be contacted on Tele: 01372 463480 or e-mail address: keithmott@btopenworld.com
Text by Keith Mott ( N.F.C. Press Officer )
