History Part 1
'RAILWAY LINES & FEATHERS'
The Centenary of the Up North Combine, 1905 to 2005AD
By Jack Curtis
Let me take you back in time to a world devoid of electricity, telephones, television, cars, double glazing, roof insulation, cavity wall infill, semi and detached houses except for the wealthy, and many other facets of life we take for granted. To a world of cobbled streets, rows of tenanted houses, horse drawn dust carts which emptied the bins once a week, to shared toilets down the yard, communal taps if you were lucky, dingy gas lights mounted high up on street corners, and the lamp lighter with his bike, ladder, and long pole coming around each night to light them. Horse drawn carts of every description passing to and fro, loaded with all kinds of materials and produce, with their driver smoking their pipes under a coarse hawn sack if it was raining.
Candy men pushing their barrows around the streets shouting "Any rags or woollens," who would give you a goldfish in exchange for your old rags, but you had to provide an empty jamjar to put the fish in. Hawkers with their barrows shouting their wares such as "Caller herring ten a penny" or "Ripe plums" or anything else in season. Every house had at least one coal fire, with a great big cast iron range, which housed an oven and a boiler as well as the fire which heated the house, while the oven produced marvellous bread and pies, or puddings in the corner with liver and bacon, and many other tasty things to eat. Most floors were covered with canvas and a clippy or hooky mat lay on the floor in front of the fire irons, which sat on the hearth, and these mats were made from old coats and such like, with the whole family sitting around the mat frame on winter evenings busy trying to get the mat finished for Christmas. The chimney sweep was in constant demand to clean the chimneys, and the soot was saved to be put onto the allotment to soil to kill leather jackets and wire worms, as were the droppings out of the pigeon loft.
The towns and colliery villages were full of men blackened by the dirty industries they worked in, all wore hobnailed boots, fustian towsers, scarves or mufflers as we called them, hands covered in calluses from swinging picks, hammers, shovels, coals or steel plates, and these were the type of men who would form the back bone of the north east pigeon Fancy. Yes, there were also men of substance in the sport, and many of them worked very hard to set the Fancy going, but they willingly rubbed shoulders with their fellow fanciers, all pulling together man to man.
This was the world that the 'Mighty Up North Combine' was born into, to carry pigeon racing forward for the next century, thanks to the earlier advent of the railways. I don't think Abraham Darby knew or cared about pigeon racing when he produced coke from coal, but his new form of heating was capable of producing large amounts of steel relatively cheaply, compared with the previous methods of charcoal furnaces. Be that as it may, his cheap iron produced the rails and the actual engines, which enabled pigeons amongst many other things to be transported very long distances, in comparatively short time scales, and so long distance pigeon racing was born.
In the north east of England at the turn of the 20th century, pigeon racing was administered by several separate Federations, who all raced separate programmes, on a variety of routes. There was the West Durham Fed made up of 15 clubs, the Newcastle Fed of 14 clubs, Northumberland Fed 11 clubs, Mid Durham Fed 10 clubs, and the North East Counties Fed which had 30 clubs in the year 1903, and their convoyer was a man of some significance, by the name of Mr John Goodwin. Now prior to 1904 and 1905 the fragmented railways and their schedules often saw these small groups of pigeons, carried in old fruit or fish box vans, stacked basket upon basket, and shunted from one train to another en route to the various race points. The results of this mode of travel often resulted in many poor races with bad returns, due to inadequate feeding and watering facilities available en route to even inland race points.
From my reading of 1904 issues of The Racing Pigeon, it seemed apparent that John Goodwin was deeply concerned about these transport issues, and he took it upon himself to look at the rail facilities provided to large pigeon racing organisations such as the Lancashire Combine and others. These he found received much better care than the northern Federations, and he voiced his opinion to various individuals and committees, even contacting 'Nansen' the northeast scribe to The RP, who wrote his column named 'Up North' in The RP notes section. Once alerted the hard edge of common sense saw the five major Federations come together, and from these top level meetings the information and recommendations were fed back via the Federations down to club level.
After many hiccups and arguments, with various compromises along the way, progress began to be made. The railway wanted the business, better carriages were agreed, and birdage costs were helped by the weight of numbers, with all round benefit to the members, and so the Up North Combine was born covering the entire north east of England. However I cannot find any massive fanfare, or even a full and complete list of the original officials and committee. Yes I have unearthed abridged versions which I will record for posterity, but there doesn't seem to be any specific committee publications. The nearest I have been able to get is a reference to an UNC meeting held at the Waverley, in Newcastle, on the 14th of October 1905, with a Mr J D Dodds in the chair, Mr Waddell representing the Northumberland Fed, Messrs Rood and Renwick of Newcastle Fed, Potts and Hall West Durham Fed, Mr Smurfhwaite from Mid Durham, and finally the president and secretary of the North East Counties Fed, and Mr E W Gooderham was the secretary.
Moody's hen, the 735 miles 5th Open winner that Logan purchased.
These men along with John Goodwin of the North East Counties, and his contemporaries from the other Federations, are the real founding fathers of what became the Up North Combine.
It was while digging through the 1904 RPs that I came across a reference to an UNC race from the French race point of St Lo, flown on the 25th of July 1904, with the birds being race marked at the Fish Dock in Newcastle on Wednesday the 20th of July. Clubs affiliated to the Combine were instructed that details and pooling of all the birds entered must be in the hands of the secretary by Tuesday the 19th. There were 484 birds entered for the race with the North East Counties Fed sending 233, Northumberland 183, West Durham 38, Newcastle 32.
The final outcome reported later was that the race was a complete disaster, with no birds home until the fourth day, and that one to a Mr Keithley here in Sunderland. So in truth this void race was the actual inaugural race, and what a way to start a new organisation, it must have been absolutely heartbreaking for the committee and members, after getting all of the ground work and details agreed, by all five Federations involved. Never the less no one allowed their heads to go down, and plans were laid for a Channel race from Jersey in 1905, which was to be an auspicious year for the north east in other ways.
First Joseph Lowe of East Boldon near Sunderland entered a pigeon in the National Flying Club's Marennes race, and timed in to win 87th Open flying 630 miles, when most other competitors were flying a much shorter distance, to become the first man in the north east to win money in an NFC race, against the whole of the English National membership. Then a Mr James Moody of Seaton Delaval up on the Northumberland coast entered his dark chequer hen in an Open race from Bordeaux, a distance of 735 miles to his loft, and timed her in to win 5th prize, a truly magnificent feat by any standard. So magnificent that it brought the great J W Logan to his door, he liked what he saw and purchased her for his stud at East Langton. Fate in the shape of these two men put the north east in the limelight, and set the stage for the infant Up North Combine to flex its infant muscles, weather permitting of course, and so the scene was set for another attempt at classic racing by the fanciers of the entire north east.
The five Federations mustered a total of 1,029 pigeons, the cream of the area for this race from Jersey a high 400 miler for distance. With the North East Counties Fed raising 368 pigeons, Northumberland sent 248, Mid Durham added another 157, and Newcastle sent 129, with the West Durham Fed sending 127. They were liberated at 5am on July 17th into a light north wind, and a steady race was expected, which proved to be the case, as the outright winner made a velocity of 1039 ypm. He was followed by three more loftmates doing 975, 931 and 734 all to the lofts of William Sheldon of Jarrow. His winner was a red Jurion cock '55' and he was some 29 yards clear of his nearest rival, which flew to Wearside to the loft of Mr T Conway rung RPF02.8256, and I have a photo of this lovely hen who was a previous winner of 1st Nottingham. In 3rd Open was Mr Johnson of Sacriston doing 998ypm, while the pigeon at 50th Open made a velocity of 708 ypm, and the result was signed by Mr E W Gooderham, who I take to be the secretary of the UNC for this race, and he was also secretary of the North East Counties Federation, working closely with John Goodwin the convoyer.
This 1905 Jersey race produced the Up North Combine's 'First Giant', in the shape of William Sheldon who was to go on from this triumph of 1905, to write his name in massive letters across the long distance records of the entire British pigeon racing Fancy. For apart from his many later exploits in Combine racing, he also raised his sights as both Joseph Lowe of East Boldon and James Moody of Seaton Sluice had already done, and went for the extreme long distance races of that period. In 1907 he sent his blue chequer hen '3319' to San Sebastian, with the Market Harbrough Open race, where she won 31st Open against all England, to become the first pigeon in Britain to successfully fly the distance of 806 miles.
In 1908 he prepared his blue chequer hen '86' who was bred in 1904, and recorded her in race time but out of the prizes, for a unique double at the extreme distance, and she was covered in clay but with rubbers intact, and in good condition allowing for such a journey. She looked so well that William was tempted to try her again in 1909. However that year saw him introduce a second candidate for the NFC Mirande race, and this was a direct daughter of his 1905 Up North Combine winner, when he was paired to a blue hen from the great Jules Janssen, one of the all time greats of the early Belgian Fancy. This mating produced the mealy hen '87', who became known as 'Sheldon's Mealy Mirande' (see 'Creation of a Strain' by Lea-Raynor, page 73) and she came home to win 55th Open NFC against 1,113 birds, flying into a strong north west wind and the winner into the Midlands made a velocity of some 860 ypm. She beat the next 800 miler by three clear days, and the third home by a week, she was an absolute sensation. He also recorded the hen '86' again, which made her the only dual 800 miler in Britain.
Even today after all of these years, I don't know of a fancier with a record anywhere near to William Sheldon and he is absolutely unique amongst real ultra long distance fanciers, and he did it all with a fifteen pair loft, which is simply 'bloody amazing'. His family of pigeons were based upon the Jurion and Gits pigeons, imported direct by Mr Carlin the cobbler of Haswell, and Sheldon flew brilliantly with them at all distances, from the short races right out to where it really hurts.
The multi millionaire founder of The Racing Pigeon Weekly, and also the leader in the formation of the English National Flying Club, one J W Logan, was so impressed with these performance that he again came north, liked what he saw and purchased a youngster straight out of the nest from the 'Mealy Mirande'. He turned out to be a mealy pied cock rung '9727' and went on to play a very significant part in the creation of the Logan strain, through his son '1197' who won 1st Section Rennes National and also Nantes, and this cock left a great line of pied pigeons in several parts of the country, with a significant number of National class pigeons including the red pied cock '69' who won 19th Open San Sebastian for Mr Logan, and at least one Scottish National winner. Apart from Logan many other fanciers were queuing up for this blood, and it seemed to hit on wherever it went. For 'Sheldon's Mealy Mirande' didn't fly 806 miles, she raced every inch of the way in a race where the winner to the Midlands only made 860 yards per minute, and she claimed 55th Open from 1,113 birds. Add the fact that she was a direct daughter of the first ever UNC winner and you know her class.
However I run ahead of myself as she performed in 1909, and we must return to 1906 for our history of the Combine, which sank into despair in that year and no race or races from France were organised at all, with the Federation reverting back to their old practices of going it alone. This period of despair couldn't and didn't last, for the forward thinkers within the north east area had seen and learned what other large organisations could achieve, both for the pigeons and themselves.
The Formation of the Up North Combine
On the 29th of December 1906 a meeting was convened, by prior agreement, between the north east Federations at the Tailors Arms in Durham, where Mr Pallister represented Mid-Durham, Mr Hall the North East Counties, Mr Sheldon South Durham and North Yorks, Mr Knaggs from Tyneside, Mr Coulthard the Chester-le-Street Fed, plus Messrs Howes and Bewick from Northumberland, Mr Hennesey-Newcastle, and Mr Heron and Mr Dobson. Messrs Smurthwaite and Sheldon were proposed for the chair, which Mr Sheldon moved should go to Mr Smurthwaite who was duly elected.
The agenda was drawn up by Mr Gooderham, the secretary of the North East Counties Fed, and after a fair deal of discussion a new Combine was formed at this meeting, which was to embrace the full control of racing, transport, convoying, race points, and all other matters pertaining. Mr Smurthwaite was elected president, Mr Gooderham was elected as secretary, and committee derived from the aforementioned members present. The secretary's fee was set at £2-2s per Fed, and a race programme of Doncaster, Nottingham, Rugby, Oxford, Bournemouth and finally Rennes was agreed, with the superb Mr John Goodwin of Tyne Dock, and Mr W Metcalfe of Bedlington, being approached to act as convoyers for these races.
A further meeting was then fixed for 19 January 1907, at the Express Hotel, Westgate Road, Newcastle, to deal with rules, race marking, etc in connection with the two Combine races, with representatives from the Midland, Great Central, and L & N Western Railways to organise special train services for the whole of the races. This outline of the foundation is of necessity an abridged version of what actually transpired, and doesn't cover all of the many small but important items which were dealt with, such as baskets and seals, with standard pincers etc. But it shows the skill and brains of our founding fathers in setting up an organisation which has really stood the test of time. All of this information comes from page 26 of The Racing Pigeon dated 5th January 1907, and is a true and bona fide record written by 'Nansen' the Up North scribe. Who I salute for his untiring efforts on behalf of the Up North fanciers, for he is immensely important source of information about these early years, which proves how important scribes really are within the sport, for they record via the Fancy press and the written word can and does survive.
Moving on through time I next find that the Bournemouth race was flown on 22nd of June 1907, when eight Federations raised 7,679 birds, and I have seen the full result of 50 pigeons. But in the interest of time and space let me give you the first three.
West Durham Fed delegates from 1909.
The outright winners were Laing Bros of Pelton Fell doing 1347 ypm, and I don't know any details of these men. In 2nd place comes a brilliant loft of Lowe & Dodds of Wearside doing 1339, and they are followed by Waggott the butcher of Hendon Road here in Sunderland, and I know this man owned a great Mirande pigeon, but his 3rd Combine was racing home at 1337 ypm. This was the type of race the new Combine committee needed to overcome the early days of classic flying, and after the hard work they put in thoroughly deserved, and so it was on to Rennes across the pond.
For this event the eight Federations mustered 2,696 pigeons and another good race resulted with the 1st Open winner for Reay Bros of Mutton making exactly 1200 ypm, with their fine pigeon named 'Black Diamond' shown on page 191 of The Racing Pigeon on 3rd August 1907, and he reminds me of Robin Henderson's Combine winner from Cormeilles in 1962. The 2nd Combine pigeon is again a really cracking dark chequer cock rung RPB1260, and flown by Mr Mason of Cleveland being only a yard behind the winner, a sample by any standard. Then in 3rd place comes that truly brilliant loft of Lowe & Dodds again to win in the Wearside club, for two lsts out of two races. This Mr Lowe is I think the owner of Joseph Lowe the fruit and potato merchant here in Sunderland, and boy did he have some really top notch pigeons, winning anywhere and everywhere, distance did not matter they were class. Proven by a 2nd and 3rd Combine in two races, and being the first northerner to win money from a NFC race, giving well over 100 miles away to his fellow competitors. Add Sheldon's first British 800 to that in 1907 and you can see it was a good year for the north east, which was important in bedding the new organisation down, and allowing the officers and committee to do their jobs, which they seem more than capable of handling.
I should add that president Smurthwaite was a truly great worker for the sport reading the comments within The Racing Pigeon pages, tireless and skilful to say the very least.
Sheldon's blue chequer hen '3319', Britain's first ever 800 miler of 1907.
As
was secretary Gooderham who worked and listened to John Goodwin his
convoyer, and these men need a special mention, not for what they did
'in' the sport, but for what they did 'for' the sport, as do all of the
founding fathers listed earlier.
The year 1908 saw the Combine consolidate its position by sticking to the same race programme as in 1907, and the Bournemouth race saw nine Federations sending 8,350 birds, in what turned out to be a fairly stiff race, with the winning pigeons all flying within the 900 yard pattern for velocity, with Mr Prince of Redcar coming out on top with a velocity of 929 ypm. With Bond & Robinson of Mutton breathing down his neck on 928 ypm, then came Elliott of Seaton Burn in Northumberland doing 920, to cover the first three in the result of only 50 positions.
This race took place on 27th of June, and was followed on 14th of July with Rennes, where 2,344 birds were entered by the members, and these pigeons were well split up as their velocities prove. The winner to Mr K Johnston of Belmont near Durham City achieved a velocity of 996 ypm, while the pigeon in 2nd place to Mr Prince again, who was 1st at Bournemouth, made 842 ypm, and at 3rd Combine was Mr O'Brien of Jarrow on 790. I should add that Mr Prince figures in an article in The Racing Pigeon of 8th of August again by 'Nansen', and it shows Mr Prince in his back yard and he obviously races to the small outbuildings in the yard, with about ten pairs of old birds. While on the opposite page is a lovely photo of Mr Kennedy Johnston's chequer cock which won the Rennes race, clear as crystal and looking as if it had been taken yesterday.
Moving on to the year 1909 we again have two Classic races, with Bournemouth and Rennes as the venues, but in opposite order to 1908. For Rennes the Combine raised 3,702 pigeons, which were liberated by Goodwin and Metcalfe at 4.50am on 14th of July, into a south west wind. The winning pigeon was a fine blue chequer hen rung RPL052381 making a velocity of 1057 ypm to the loft of Mr Crossley at Redcar, and I see he like my late grandfather was a big feeder of grey peas. While in 2nd place Mr Wilson of the Cleveland Flying Club timed a fine red chequer cock rung RPY1906.3596. With Leask of Millfield claiming 3rd place, and the winning velocities were 1057, 1033 and 1032 ypm respectively.
The Bournemouth race was flown on 26th of July, when nine Federation sent 9,047 pigeons which were liberated by Goodwin and Metcalfe at 6.05am into a north wind, which was bound to keep the velocities down. This was proven when the winner to Moffatt of Tynemouth recorded a velocity of 923 ypm to pull himself one yard clear of the 2nd placed pigeon to Hall of Millfields loft, and this would probably be old Dop Hall who I remember as a boy. Thenjust one yard further behind Wilson of Bensham claimed 3rd Combine. In a hard but tight finish to these first three good pigeons, all doing a good 300 miles I would estimate.
Just to digress slightly, it was in this year that old Colonel Osman, the original and founding editor of The Racing Pigeon, came north at the invitation of Mr Joseph Ellis, the owner of Hindhaugh's Corn Merchants, to see for himself as he described them England's great 800 milers, and his comments on pages 618 and 619 ofthe 1909 Racing Pigeon gave some idea of his feelings. He saw and handled offspring of Wouters-Guertens famous long distance ace 'The Barcelone', at this Ellis loft which later in 1926 topped the Combine from Nevers, some 590 miles to his loft, and the man who obtained the little pied Hanssenne cock from direct imports which became known as the Champion ofthe Up North Combine for his cross Channel racing exploits. This man Jos Ellis was a truly outstanding fancier, and treated old Colonel Osman to a really delightful visit, where no expense was spared for the editor.
Taking him on to Sheldon, Jeary, Lowe and the other great pioneers of ultra long distance racing. Reading his report I can see he was truly and honestly impressed by what he saw, as was Mr Roamer, his companion on this visit. The December the 11th issue of The RP listed the clearance sale ofDr Morris of Bedlington's pigeons, amongst which was the champion Logan based hen known as 'Snowflake', and Logan obviously purchased this hen after she had won 2xlsts and Ix2nd from Rennes in the 1907, '08 & '09 Up North Combine races, and it was her daughter '1315' who produced the beautiful National winner '1 826' for J W Logan, which had previously won 8th Open for her owner.
Now in the interests of continuity let me take you back to 1962, when I wrote a loft report on a truly brilliant fancier, the late Ned Grimley of Trimdon Village in County Durham. Not many people will have heard of or remember Ned, but I do for he started racing in 1909 and won his first Channel race from Chimay in 1913. He was the only of many I visited for loft reports who took me back to long forgotten race points, such as Doncaster, Nottingham or Rugby. In fact the race points organised by the founding fathers of the Up North Combine which I highlighted in my report, blind to the knowledge that they were formulated by great leaders of the Combine, in fact 'The Founding Fathers', and I am proud of the personal link this brought me to men such as president Smurthwaite and his committee.
In 1909 the little village of Trimdon was a fairly remote place, and a thousand or so years earlier it was even more remote, when the legendary Viking King of England King Canute stopped at this spot to be trimmed and shorn before he went on to Durham just a few miles away to pay his respects at the tomb of St Cuthbert of Holy Lindisfarne. This act by Canute gave the place the name of Trimdon. Nevertheless this village of Trimdon spawned another great man in Ned Grimley, for he too was an exceptional man in his chosen field of long distance pigeon racing. I would go so far as to say I don't know of a superior fancier, and I have written or studied the very best in the UK.
Ned started racing in 1909 when our Combine was just a baby with two families of pigeons, the first from the legendary Stowe Bros of Barrowford in Lancashire, which was the real hot bed for racing at that time; and a local family from Colman Bros of Jesmond which was based upon Logans and Wegges which were flying well at that time. He crossed the two families and in 1913 won his first Channel race from Chimay with '626'. He in turn became the grandsire of'8245' who won 1st Mons, 1st Chimay, 1st Chimay and 1st Nevers, some pigeon this hen with 4xlsts in cross Channel racing. '8245' was in turn the grand-dam of '9537' winner of 1st Amiens, 1st Nevers, 1st Nevers again when she was 6th UNC and only bird on the day in the Fed. Then '9537' became the grand-dam of '789' who won 1st Arras, 1st Nevers, 1st Fed only bird on the day and only nine in the entire Combine.
Mid Durham Fed delegates from 1909.
In turn '789' became the grand-dam of 'Ocean Queen' who I will outline later, and she in turn was the grand-dam of '7964' who won 1st Fed, 5th UNC Bourges being the only bird home on the day in the Fed in 1961, which attracted me to him in 1962 to write his loft report in the October issue of the old pigeon Racing News and Gazette. Needless to say that looking back today I did not do this great fancier justice, I a novice writer of one year's experience trying to create a report on a fancier of Ned's calibre. But I made a damn good attempt and still have that report in my files to remind me of this giant.
He was a stoneman at Raisby Hill Quarry, a very hard physical job, with moderate financial rewards for his efforts I would think. But his inherent skills as a fancier proved he was a man of infinite wisdom and skill, who produced a steady flow of really great pigeons over a fifty year career, the likes of which would be hard to beat in a 100 pair loft. Yet he did it with five stock pairs and six pairs of racers, which is almost unbelievable in this so called modern world. But let me take you back to 1946 when Ned bred the hen 'Ocean Queen' who became the only bird in the entire UNC to be timed in on the day of toss, from the 1951, '52, '53 Luxembourg races, winning 18th, 21st and 51st UNC with 5,515, 4,913 and 6,734 birds competing.
She also scored from Grantham, Dover, Brussels and Guernsey being 1 st Club, 2nd Fed from this race point. Two years later in 1948 he did it again breeding a blinder of a chequer cock which he named 'Air Mail' rung 9594 if you want to look him up, who became a real champion long distance racer as good as anything I have ever written up, and that's the truth and to say he ran close 'Blue Boy' is the greatest compliment I can pay Grimley's 'Air Mail'. He won the Fed from Brussels twice with ISfli and 45th UNC from 4,982 and 7,925 birds competing. Then repeated the dose but missed the first 50 of the Combine, He was then injured and missed a couple of seasons' racing, but once fully fit was put back on the road to win 1st Club, 1 st Fed, 12th UNC from 5,544 birds at 550 miles. On again the next year 1st Club, 2nd Fed, 24th UNC Bourges 6,000 birds. In 1956 he won 2nd Club, 10th Fed Bourges; in 1957 he won 2nd Club, 7th Fed Bourges; and in 1958 his eleventh season of racing he won 6th Club Ashford. Ned produced inland racers with 6xlst Feds, and 'Royal Mail' who was bred in 1955 won the 900 mile section from Barcelona in 1959, flying over 8,000 miles up to four years old. This man introduced me to the race programme of our founding fathers and I have commemorated that fact by including him in this 100 year survey.
Tyne & Derwent Fed delegates from 1909.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|