Dad's Birds

[NeilA]

I can only speak from my experience Andy and I can tell you with absolute certainty that the Van Hee into Rugeley in races up to 240 miles were brutally exposed. I can't ever remember him beating me inland once with a Van Hee - not ever. More than that I'd say I'd have at least 90% of my birds home before Dad had a Van Hee turn up. I even used to go across to his lofts 10 min after we'd timed in and locked up to start watching for his. He wasn't fussed, he was smart enough to know their strength

We flew at No.34 and Dad flew at No.36. He had 25-30 yards off us from all races, so you can see how close our lofts were. You couldn't even blame the Management because when he went and got faster pigeons in 1983 under the same Management the new birds were instantly competitive inland.

Now that's not the fault of the Van Hee's. They were what they were. The further the distance, the more time on the wing they had the better they were - and at Saintes and Bergerac I'd have backed Dad's Van Hee's against anyone. But sprinting - no they were brutally exposed.

Below is an image of his 1991 Fed Topper from Saintes at 488 miles "Grunter"

One of Dad's Van Hee's (that he bred) also won 1st Open MNFC Bergerac at over 600 miles

At the distance - a great pigeon. Sprinting, absolute crap

You never needed to go to the club in Rugeley to see if you were in the shake up or not. From my garden when Rugeley was in its glory I could see 36 different lofts from where I stood. There were even 8 lofts in 16 gardens in our road - so you soon knew if your birds were up to par or not.

Happy Days.

I was thinking how did the van hee pigeons handle sprints in a competitive area
The article mentions you father added new birds VDB I’m guessing they were your litherland pigeons

[MIL]

He was a bloody good pigeon he was Neil that "1111"

I'd argue the "84" was better; but nonetheless he was a boster

[MIL]

I was thinking how did the van hee pigeons handle sprints in a competitive area
The article mentions you father added new birds VDB I’m guessing they were your litherland pigeons

Easy answer to that one Neil. They never! I can't remember the Van Hee ever taking a card for him inland (Water was a totally different matter). You can't expect a distance pigeon to go head to head with a sprinter in sprint races and hold its own. It never did. Our sprinters beat them week in week out, month in month out, year in year out.

The Paramyxo was the trigger to get faster birds in 1983 because he knew that if he was flying a programme where 240 miles was the longest race then he'd have a season of getting his arse kicked - and he'd never stand for that.

Yes, in latter years once the Van Den Bosche came in and he saw what they were doing it was only natural that some made their way across the gardens

[NeilA]

I was thinking how did the van hee pigeons handle sprints in a competitive area
The article mentions you father added new birds VDB I’m guessing they were your litherland pigeons

Easy answer to that one Neil. They never! I can't remember the Van Hee ever taking a card for him inland (Water was a totally different matter). You can't expect a distance pigeon to go head to head with a sprinter in sprint races and hold its own. It never did. Our sprinters beat them week in week out, month in month out, year in year out.

The Paramyxo was the trigger to get faster birds in 1983 because he knew that if he was flying a programme where 240 miles was the longest race then he'd have a season of getting his arse kicked - and he'd never stand for that.

Yes, in latter years once the Van Den Bosche came in and he saw what they were doing it was only natural that some made their way across the gardens

Yep
Totally see that

[MIL]

I was thinking how did the van hee pigeons handle sprints in a competitive area
The article mentions you father added new birds VDB I’m guessing they were your litherland pigeons

If we're talking "sprint" Neil, then you can't expect the Van Hee to compete with these 2 Van Den Bosche (as examples)

[NeilA]

Super pigeons

What was the base of the vdb I have Kellens in my head as a family they crossed with or am I getting fvw confused with vdb
The Desmet pigeons seemed to be in a few strains that we’re very successful at that time

[Andy]

I can only speak from my experience Andy and I can tell you with absolute certainty that the Van Hee into Rugeley in races up to 240 miles were brutally exposed. I can't ever remember him beating me inland once with a Van Hee - not ever. More than that I'd say I'd have at least 90% of my birds home before Dad had a Van Hee turn up. I even used to go across to his lofts 10 min after we'd timed in and locked up to start watching for his. He wasn't fussed, he was smart enough to know their strength

We flew at No.34 and Dad flew at No.36. He had 25-30 yards off us from all races, so you can see how close our lofts were. You couldn't even blame the Management because when he went and got faster pigeons in 1983 under the same Management the new birds were instantly competitive inland.

Now that's not the fault of the Van Hee's. They were what they were. The further the distance, the more time on the wing they had the better they were - and at Saintes and Bergerac I'd have backed Dad's Van Hee's against anyone. But sprinting - no they were brutally exposed.

Below is an image of his 1991 Fed Topper from Saintes at 488 miles "Grunter"

One of Dad's Van Hee's (that he bred) also won 1st Open MNFC Bergerac at over 600 miles

At the distance - a great pigeon. Sprinting, absolute crap

You never needed to go to the club in Rugeley to see if you were in the shake up or not. From my garden when Rugeley was in its glory I could see 36 different lofts from where I stood. There were even 8 lofts in 16 gardens in our road - so you soon knew if your birds were up to par or not.

Happy Days.

I was just saying that the Van Hees were the base of my family. I brought 4 pigeons from a very good fancier who had pigeons from Eric Cannon. He was giving up pigeons myself and my dad had the pick of his loft. I brought 2 cocks and 2 hens that had flown Thurso 500 miles. I paid the princely sum of £10 each. One of the cocks was unfortunately killed when my loft collapsed in the storms of 1987. The other cock became the father of the loft. I had other birds in the loft, Busschearts, Ko Nimpus, Cattrysse, and others. They were all blended into a winning family but the Van Hee cock was in nearly all of the pedigrees of the winning birds. Whether they were the widowhood cocks who won from 90 miles, 60 miles when in Cornwall where they still won, to 350 miles, or the few naturals I kept for the distance. Lerwick 650 miles when racing North in Worthing and Pau 550 miles when racing in Cornwall. Had the only bird in the Cornish combine from Pau one year.

[MIL]

Super pigeons

What was the base of the vdb I have Kellens in my head as a family they crossed with or am I getting fvw confused with vdb
The Desmet pigeons seemed to be in a few strains that we’re very successful at that time

George Litherland fundamentally got his Van Den Bosche via Albert Babbington

In the 1970's "Babbo" was murder in the West Midlands. Absolutely fantastic

It was through the lines of "The Super Couple" that the birds really took off in the UK

As all good Belgian families they were a mix of all sorts really including Karel Meulemans, Adrian Wouters and Jerome Kellens

[MIL]

These were the founders of our Van Den Bosche Neil

[NeilA]

These were the founders of our Van Den Bosche Neil

Lovely to see the montages
The babbington x planets were fantastic pigeons into east London when I was a boy
Unfortunately I couldn’t afford them but visited lofts of lofts in the Dagenham / Romford area that were having fantastic results with them