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IN THE 4 GROUND - RE-VISITED. PART 4.
DICKY JONES, STOCKTON.
By Davey Barkel.
“From Greyhounds to Pigeons!”
My fourth Pigeonland loft visit was well overdue. Time as always with me, is something of a commodity in short supply these days. I thought I’d best make an effort this weekend and try and get a couple of loft reports actioned. Dick Jones (DickJ) has been a popular and friendly member of Pigeonland for quite some time, and I had requested a loft visit to him quite a while back. After a thoroughly interesting chat over the phone with the reluctant Dicky, I’m pleased to say he eventually gave in and agreed. The Queens Cup race from Clermont is just over, and the Teesside lads have something special to smile and shout about again! The weather however is not as joyous as the area, being cold, damp, dreary and miserable! Welcome to a normal day in my beloved North East of England!
Amanda & myself are up earlier than normal for a Sunday morning, hoping to get a training toss in with her “Darky” squad on the way to Stockton. Alas, the weather was too inclement for their inexperience, so her pet “hooligans” got a day off! We had arranged to meet Dicky at a wildlife sanctuary on the Billingham turn off. We were late, by about half an hour! An electrical issue with the house and the alarm made our departure slightly later than expected, but thankfully, all was sorted relatively quickly so disaster and a hefty bill for an Electrician’s Sunday call out was thankfully averted! Which the way our luck has been running lately, I was pleasantly shocked at!
We made the 25 mile trip in good time, arriving to find the smiling Dicky patiently awaiting us! Brief introductions over, we followed him and within a few minutes we were on the allotments of the Stockton West End club.
Dicky showed us into his garden, and first thoughts upon entering was how neat and spacious his lofts were. I took a few photo’s, and we quickly got on to “cracking on!” about pigeons! Sport & animals have been in the Jones family for years, Dick was originally into Greyhound’s, just like his father before him! Dick was actually a Trainer both at Sunderland, and at Cleveland Park, where he had his kennels. His brother-in-law Billy Clamp was also a pigeon man, and was a good flier in his day. Dick’s youngest son, nicknamed “Joner,” is a pretty tasty cage fighter! It was interesting to hear that Dick’s brother Herbert was a good jockey, and lost out to the legendary Lester Piggott by only 1 winner in the Apprentice Championship! After Herbert retired he became quite a successful race horse trainer.
Dick races as S & R Jones, though oldest son Steve works long hours now and doesn’t have a lot of time at the lofts. Dicky loves the birds though, win, lose or draw. Listening to him “crack on” his passion for the birds flows freely. This passion though, well it nearly went altogether. Many years ago, he had bought birds in, top birds, from Ronnie Walker of Darlington, an ace fancier from way back. They were Amiels, and were doing the job at the time. Dick arrived at his loft one day to find birds with their wings pulled off running around the garden. Blood everywhere. He was finding birds under peoples cabins and lofts up to three days after. The Police caught the culprits, three boys, the eldest of which was eleven. Dicky was awarded damages, to the tune of £10! The incident had sickened Dicky to the core, and having met the man and seen exactly how passionate he is, it has had to have been so horrific and unimaginable to have affected him in that way, that badly. He was talked around into racing his youngsters out until the end of the season, and topped the Fed by 20 minutes from one race where the birds came through a thunderstorm! Fortunately, for the fancy and many, many fanciers, novices and new starters alike over the years, Dick got himself over the tragedy and kept on!
The neat and tidy lofts house a race team of 20 cocks and 20 hens flown on roundabout. Young Bird team is 40 youngsters on the Darkness system. Family is basically “All Sorts” mixed in together, though the base are Lefebre-Dhaenens from Massarella. These come through Champion “Magic Blue” and UNC Winner Champion “Olympus!” There are a few Busschaerts, and several nice looking birds from the Moore Bros. Treatments are Medi-Pet, and he believes in best to best when pairing up. Winner to winner, but stressed he has also tried “love pairings,” and has had success this way too!
The photo of fancier & bird, shows Dicky with his pride and joy, “Albert.” This cracking Cheq White Flight Cock named after his father-in-law, won the Durham Combine from Hatfield YB National in 1999. This fine auld fella (I’m talking about the bird Dicky!) only ever had three races in his racing career, winning a 4th, then a 3rd the week before the Combine race, then he topped the Combine! He’s showing his age now, but the quality still shines from him. Dicky affectionately smiles and says “he has a perch for life!”
Only a year later, and Dicky won the Millenium Race in the Durham Combine as well. Again, this race was from Hatfield YB National. A Blue Cock bred from a Belgium Cock x an Alf Rothwell Busschaert hen! There is a bit of a story behind this. Dicky is from the “Old School” fanciers. Will help anyone where possible. From his small team he’s bred around 30 youngsters as gifts to new starters and friends this year alone. Another instance of this is his endless efforts in encouraging youngsters. Club mate Phil Ayres, (see IT4GR 5!) is just starting out and is getting his young family actively involved. Phil’s 6 year old son, (nicknamed Big Phil!) is loving being around and involved with the birds. Doing the clocks they got to reading Phil’s clock. Being the acting secretary, Dicky is taking the details. The clock lad shouts out Phil’s clock readings, eagerly watched by “Big Phil!“ Dicky winks at the clock reader, and says “Is that the Special Nom Bird?” The clock reader smiles, looks back at the dial and responds “Aye, looks like it is” Dicky produces a £5 note from his own pocket and presents it to the beaming 6 year old! Dicky said the youngster was showing everybody the fiver and everyone was making of him! It’s things like this that will help captivate youngsters like little “Big Phil” and pull him into the game. I bet he remembers that moment until he‘s old and grey! Sheer Quality Dicky, absolute Sheer Quality!
Little anecdotes like that show the character of Dick Jones, and although I’ve digressed a little from what I was saying about the Millenium winner, it’s slightly connected! As I said earlier, Dicky will help anyone he can. He gave some young lads that were just starting out, 4 youngsters bred from his best stock, on the understanding that if they ever let them go, or they finished in the sport, the birds would be returned to him. The lads had a go for a couple of years, then finished, with 3 of the 4 gift birds returning to Dicky. It was one of these “returnees” that bred the Millenium winner!
Besides the Combine and Millenium Race wins, another career highpoint was winning £3000 (split with the breeder) in a Breeder / Buyer race!
His advice for novices is to go to the main people in your area, any decent fancier will help you out. You get your best birds as gifts. Take for instance, he went to a fancier to buy some top Busschaert’s, but the guy had none for sale. A while later the guy turned up with two gift eggs for him. Only one of the eggs hatched, and turned into “The White Tailed Cock,“ winner of 9 races, and a top breeder too. Sire of a bird with 3x1sts, amongst others!
I asked for a funny story, though he can laugh now it wasn’t as funny at the time! Only 5 weeks ago he was awaiting the race birds. A bird comes, goes to trap the door. As it dives Dicky edges along the gantry, slips, goes headfirst into a door handle opening up a large gash over his eye. The bird gets a shock and misses! Dicky temporarily loses the sight in his eye, the lads on the gardens come rushing over to make sure he’s ok. Bird in the mean time still flying round! All the lads are trying to take him to hospital the gash is that bad, but all Dicky wants to do is time the bird in! He had to chase the lads out of the garden until he’d timed his bird!
I could of cracked on with Dicky for hours, really could! We had to visit another fancier too, so had to make a move. Dicky presented Amanda with a box of chocolates, and made a donation to the site for its running. He would not take no for an answer and said he would be offended if it was refused as he enjoyed the site so much!
Thanks for the hospitality and the time Dicky, we honestly really did enjoy it. We look forward to you coming up and having a look at “Taffy’s Lofts!“ It was great to be in such interesting and genuine company, I hope that you enjoy the write up as much as we did the visit!
All the best………..
Davey B..........AKA ..Dicky Darky
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DICKY JONES, STOCKTON.
By Davey Barkel.
“From Greyhounds to Pigeons!”
My fourth Pigeonland loft visit was well overdue. Time as always with me, is something of a commodity in short supply these days. I thought I’d best make an effort this weekend and try and get a couple of loft reports actioned. Dick Jones (DickJ) has been a popular and friendly member of Pigeonland for quite some time, and I had requested a loft visit to him quite a while back. After a thoroughly interesting chat over the phone with the reluctant Dicky, I’m pleased to say he eventually gave in and agreed. The Queens Cup race from Clermont is just over, and the Teesside lads have something special to smile and shout about again! The weather however is not as joyous as the area, being cold, damp, dreary and miserable! Welcome to a normal day in my beloved North East of England!
Amanda & myself are up earlier than normal for a Sunday morning, hoping to get a training toss in with her “Darky” squad on the way to Stockton. Alas, the weather was too inclement for their inexperience, so her pet “hooligans” got a day off! We had arranged to meet Dicky at a wildlife sanctuary on the Billingham turn off. We were late, by about half an hour! An electrical issue with the house and the alarm made our departure slightly later than expected, but thankfully, all was sorted relatively quickly so disaster and a hefty bill for an Electrician’s Sunday call out was thankfully averted! Which the way our luck has been running lately, I was pleasantly shocked at!
We made the 25 mile trip in good time, arriving to find the smiling Dicky patiently awaiting us! Brief introductions over, we followed him and within a few minutes we were on the allotments of the Stockton West End club.
Dicky showed us into his garden, and first thoughts upon entering was how neat and spacious his lofts were. I took a few photo’s, and we quickly got on to “cracking on!” about pigeons! Sport & animals have been in the Jones family for years, Dick was originally into Greyhound’s, just like his father before him! Dick was actually a Trainer both at Sunderland, and at Cleveland Park, where he had his kennels. His brother-in-law Billy Clamp was also a pigeon man, and was a good flier in his day. Dick’s youngest son, nicknamed “Joner,” is a pretty tasty cage fighter! It was interesting to hear that Dick’s brother Herbert was a good jockey, and lost out to the legendary Lester Piggott by only 1 winner in the Apprentice Championship! After Herbert retired he became quite a successful race horse trainer.
Dick races as S & R Jones, though oldest son Steve works long hours now and doesn’t have a lot of time at the lofts. Dicky loves the birds though, win, lose or draw. Listening to him “crack on” his passion for the birds flows freely. This passion though, well it nearly went altogether. Many years ago, he had bought birds in, top birds, from Ronnie Walker of Darlington, an ace fancier from way back. They were Amiels, and were doing the job at the time. Dick arrived at his loft one day to find birds with their wings pulled off running around the garden. Blood everywhere. He was finding birds under peoples cabins and lofts up to three days after. The Police caught the culprits, three boys, the eldest of which was eleven. Dicky was awarded damages, to the tune of £10! The incident had sickened Dicky to the core, and having met the man and seen exactly how passionate he is, it has had to have been so horrific and unimaginable to have affected him in that way, that badly. He was talked around into racing his youngsters out until the end of the season, and topped the Fed by 20 minutes from one race where the birds came through a thunderstorm! Fortunately, for the fancy and many, many fanciers, novices and new starters alike over the years, Dick got himself over the tragedy and kept on!
The neat and tidy lofts house a race team of 20 cocks and 20 hens flown on roundabout. Young Bird team is 40 youngsters on the Darkness system. Family is basically “All Sorts” mixed in together, though the base are Lefebre-Dhaenens from Massarella. These come through Champion “Magic Blue” and UNC Winner Champion “Olympus!” There are a few Busschaerts, and several nice looking birds from the Moore Bros. Treatments are Medi-Pet, and he believes in best to best when pairing up. Winner to winner, but stressed he has also tried “love pairings,” and has had success this way too!
The photo of fancier & bird, shows Dicky with his pride and joy, “Albert.” This cracking Cheq White Flight Cock named after his father-in-law, won the Durham Combine from Hatfield YB National in 1999. This fine auld fella (I’m talking about the bird Dicky!) only ever had three races in his racing career, winning a 4th, then a 3rd the week before the Combine race, then he topped the Combine! He’s showing his age now, but the quality still shines from him. Dicky affectionately smiles and says “he has a perch for life!”
Only a year later, and Dicky won the Millenium Race in the Durham Combine as well. Again, this race was from Hatfield YB National. A Blue Cock bred from a Belgium Cock x an Alf Rothwell Busschaert hen! There is a bit of a story behind this. Dicky is from the “Old School” fanciers. Will help anyone where possible. From his small team he’s bred around 30 youngsters as gifts to new starters and friends this year alone. Another instance of this is his endless efforts in encouraging youngsters. Club mate Phil Ayres, (see IT4GR 5!) is just starting out and is getting his young family actively involved. Phil’s 6 year old son, (nicknamed Big Phil!) is loving being around and involved with the birds. Doing the clocks they got to reading Phil’s clock. Being the acting secretary, Dicky is taking the details. The clock lad shouts out Phil’s clock readings, eagerly watched by “Big Phil!“ Dicky winks at the clock reader, and says “Is that the Special Nom Bird?” The clock reader smiles, looks back at the dial and responds “Aye, looks like it is” Dicky produces a £5 note from his own pocket and presents it to the beaming 6 year old! Dicky said the youngster was showing everybody the fiver and everyone was making of him! It’s things like this that will help captivate youngsters like little “Big Phil” and pull him into the game. I bet he remembers that moment until he‘s old and grey! Sheer Quality Dicky, absolute Sheer Quality!
Little anecdotes like that show the character of Dick Jones, and although I’ve digressed a little from what I was saying about the Millenium winner, it’s slightly connected! As I said earlier, Dicky will help anyone he can. He gave some young lads that were just starting out, 4 youngsters bred from his best stock, on the understanding that if they ever let them go, or they finished in the sport, the birds would be returned to him. The lads had a go for a couple of years, then finished, with 3 of the 4 gift birds returning to Dicky. It was one of these “returnees” that bred the Millenium winner!
Besides the Combine and Millenium Race wins, another career highpoint was winning £3000 (split with the breeder) in a Breeder / Buyer race!
His advice for novices is to go to the main people in your area, any decent fancier will help you out. You get your best birds as gifts. Take for instance, he went to a fancier to buy some top Busschaert’s, but the guy had none for sale. A while later the guy turned up with two gift eggs for him. Only one of the eggs hatched, and turned into “The White Tailed Cock,“ winner of 9 races, and a top breeder too. Sire of a bird with 3x1sts, amongst others!
I asked for a funny story, though he can laugh now it wasn’t as funny at the time! Only 5 weeks ago he was awaiting the race birds. A bird comes, goes to trap the door. As it dives Dicky edges along the gantry, slips, goes headfirst into a door handle opening up a large gash over his eye. The bird gets a shock and misses! Dicky temporarily loses the sight in his eye, the lads on the gardens come rushing over to make sure he’s ok. Bird in the mean time still flying round! All the lads are trying to take him to hospital the gash is that bad, but all Dicky wants to do is time the bird in! He had to chase the lads out of the garden until he’d timed his bird!
I could of cracked on with Dicky for hours, really could! We had to visit another fancier too, so had to make a move. Dicky presented Amanda with a box of chocolates, and made a donation to the site for its running. He would not take no for an answer and said he would be offended if it was refused as he enjoyed the site so much!
Thanks for the hospitality and the time Dicky, we honestly really did enjoy it. We look forward to you coming up and having a look at “Taffy’s Lofts!“ It was great to be in such interesting and genuine company, I hope that you enjoy the write up as much as we did the visit!
All the best………..
Davey B..........AKA ..Dicky Darky
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