go, to race them home. They
were always beaten home by
the pigeons.
Steve decided to join the Royal
Marine Commandos at 18 years
old and had to abandon the
hobby he liked so much. His
other hobby is playing chess
and he was a serious chess
player representing Plymouth
Chess club on a number of
occasions whilst serving in the
Royal Marines. Obviously whilst
in the Marines he was unable to
keep pigeons as he was
continually going abroad and
he decided to become a silent
partner when home on leave to
learn about the sport with the
aim of starting up when he
completed his service. He served
his apprenticeship with Stan
Stout who taught him a great
deal about the sport of racing
pigeons, most of which holds
true today. Stan, who won 2nd
Open NFC Pau, always said
pigeon racing is common sense,
but common sense is not so
common.After 22 years service Steve left
the Royal Marines as a Colour
Sergeant and settled down in
Guildford, and now his job is a
warrant officer with a major
utility company. He soon went
back to his favourite sport
pigeon racing helped by
Annette, his wife and daughter,
Jennifer. They both take an
interest in the sport and when
required help out with any jobs
when necessary. His first stock
came from pigeons that were
given to him from different
local fanciers and believe it ornot the first race he won was
from Dax, 520 miles with the
Solent Federation when he was
a member of the Ash Vale Club.
Steve’s first loft was a Kidby
12ft x 6ft, which looking back
was inadequate and far inferior
to his present one. His biggest
mistake early on was failing to
work his birds hard enough,
and obviously they were not as
fit as they should have been
when entered into a race. He
also found he had little success
trying to breed and race at the
same time.When Ash Vale was disbanded
Steve raced with the Guildford
club which is his club today. The
club is grown in strength and
the partnership of the late
David May and his wife
Christine were ones to beat, as