George Seagroatt “Mr Bergerac”

Watchfield In The Vale Flying Club with MB
*Remember there are No Secrets from a Bottle, just Hardwork, Dedication & Determination*


Well folks we are now in the middle of March and the new season is fast approaching, i’m sure there are plenty of members who have commenced training to get them ready for the early races. We ourselves will start training early April as our first race will be the 17th April racing with both federations, we normally look at the first race as an educational event and a refresher to knock the cobwebs off and then start to get them into top gear for the season ahead.

I did have reason recently to call in and visit our president and drop a ring off, as we drew George in the club breeder exchange and has written previously this next lot of youngsters of ours will all have NFC rings on and housed separately from our first round and go on the dark, so decided to use the opportunity to carry out a mini loft report as promised.

Loft Report – George Seagroatt “Mr Bergerac” 2009 with 1st, 2nd, 3rd Club Bergerac
Also winning the club Old Birds Averages 2009 with a velocity of 1053ypm and the Continental Averages 2009 with a velocity of 938ypm

The lofts and gardens at the rear of George’s lovely home are an absolute credit to both George and his lovely wife, who obviously spend a lot of time cultivating this wonderful and tranquil setting. By his own admission George is a lover of the longer races and gained his rightful rewards by achieving the 1,2,3 at Bergerac a distance of 476miles to George, although he has achieved some fantastic results over the years from the sprint events he has obviously concentrated his efforts in the recent seasons on the longer races.

George races his birds on the roundabout system and the birds are in immaculate condition and flying the skies out at the time of our visit (as can be seen by the pics), all birds are trapped into a central sputnik and fly/run round to their own section, George was a little concerned with the lack of yearlings within the team as he had some bad luck with the youngsters last year, but this mistake has certainly been amended for 2010.

The race lofts are of timber construction with flat roof and “L” shaped with old birds in one half and youngsters in the other, with a separate stock loft with large aviary. Hens are housed in the first section on “V” perches capable of housing 25/30 hens, the cocks next door in conventional widowhood style nest boxes, the cocks perch on the front of the box and a maximum of 20 cocks when full, there is a small corridor running along the front of these sections which leads to the young bird section.

The young bird loft is constructed with the front half glazed with sliding glazing units with mesh behind (the glazing can be removed when it gets to hot), this section is capable of housing 40 youngsters with no problems and as detailed these are trapped into the sputnik then run along the short length of corridor into their own section.

The loft environment is certainly in good order and obviously is healthy for the birds housed (as can be seen by the condition of all birds), there was no stale smells or smell of pigeons which you get in some lofts, the ventilation has certainly been adapted and corrected over the years by George.

The original family housed by George consist of some of the best Busschaerts which originate from Ken Aldred, Louella and a chap from London and have served this loft very well over the years in fact the first two from Bergerac were from this blended family, the winner being a 5yr old cheq pd cock with a velocity of 698ypm and the 2nd being the old boy of the loft and old favourite an 8yr cheq pd cock on 676ypm, i handled these birds and these still felt like 2yr olds and going by the quality and condition of these cocks and hens i predict a very good season for George with similar results from these tried and tested birds in 2010.

We then had a quick look around the stock loft, currently housing 8 pairs and to be honest i was taken aback by the quality of the inmates. The majority being some of George’s secret weapons that he has obviously been acquiring on the quiet recently, with the majority of these being more sprint biased birds such as the Rene Newelaerts, Soontjens, Maris and Gaby Vandenabeele families with the majority originating from Karen Newcombe up in Scotland. These birds were exceptional quality and will certainly make their mark on the club over the coming seasons.

I did write in an earlier article that the clubs seems to have had a severe injection of interest and motivation recently and will certainly have an increased competitive edge for this coming season and George has certainly got that “twinkle in his eye” as testament of my initial thoughts and i have no doubt whatsoever that this once dedicated flyer who concentrated mainly on the distance races will certainly be amongst the winners in all races during 2010.

Well that’s it for this week, try hard, work harder, be happy and good returns.

Any news/views to Mark Brown



could members please bare with me as these reports of marks are very extensive and also include photos.......