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West of England Tumblers – Page 24 – Purebred PIGEON
Breed of the Issue - West of England Tumblers
AReturn to
theBreed
“West ofEngland
Tumblers”
By Jim Vines, Greenwood, Arkansas
I
have been raising pigeons since 1966 as a 12-year old boy in San
Jose, California. I can hardly remember a time in my life that
the pigeon hobby was not present in my mind and in my heart,
even when some segments of time didn’t allow for it, like when I
was a USAF-PJ and deployed. But even then, my birds were kept at
my mentor’s house, Carl Ewert, in a spare loft for safe keeping.
I first became introduced to West of England Tumbers by my
long-time friend, Gary Severe. After being discharged from the
military in 1980, I moved my family to Greenwood, Arkansas where
church was something that Gary and I had in common, and it was
how we were first introduced. Soon we realized that we had another
common interest – pigeons. Gary was a Roller guy first and foremost
at the time, but after a few years he had acquired a few different
breeds which included a very beautiful group of baldhead Wests. I
was a long-time Modena guy with an additional interest in Racing
Homers, but I found these Wests to be very intriguing. My oldest
son, Jeff, about 8 years old at the time, showed an interest in them
while we were visiting Gary’s loft. So Gary hooked him up with a
few pair of Red Bar and Cream Bar Balds to take home. Gary taught
Jeff some of the finer points of the breed when Jeff and I would visit
Gary’s loft, and at home I helped Jeff decipher the standard and
apply it to putting his pairs together.
After a few years of working with them in the breeding loft
and attending a few local shows, Jeff and I took a road-trip to the
1988 National Pigeon Association National in Peoria, Illinois. I had
entered my Modenas as usual and Jeff entered a nice team of Wests
consisting of Cream Bar Balds and Red Bar Balds. At the end of the
day, Jeff had his first National Champion at age 11 with a Red Bar
Bald young hen. I remember the West guys at the time being very
gracious and made it all a very big deal for Jeff, especially Jimmy
Krebaum and Gary Severe, and those are things one does not forget.
This impressed me a great deal and I really liked this group of peo-
ple in the WOET breed.
Then in 1991 Jeff and I flew out to the NPA National in Po-
mona, California, and Jeff repeated by winning a second National
Champion with another Red Bar Bald West young hen, which was
the offspring of the 1988 National Champion. When that occurred,
I remember Jimmy Krebaum saying, “Okay now it’s not cute
anymore.” I still laugh about that when the story is told. In fact,
Jimmy and I just recently reminisced about this event at the Cen-
tral California NWOETC Young Bird Show in Fresno in November
2022, and had a good chuckle. A couple of years passed after Jeff’s
second National Champion, and Jeff gained an appreciation for
the smell of gasoline and perfume and his pigeons were eventually
passed on to other breeders.
Then I became interested in Wests myself and wanted to add
one more breed in addition to my Modenas, Show Racers, and Racer
Homers. It was at the San Bernardino National that I was on a quest
to buy Black Baldheads. They were my favorite color at that time
and they simply were not available in Arkansas or anywhere in my
area, and luckily they seemed to be in abundance at this show. I
purchased a few pair from one Southern California breeder and I
worked on them for a few years, but there were no other West breed-
ers in the four-state region where I typically showed, so I eventually
lost interest and let them all go to a friend in Louisiana. My other
breeds were strong and competitive so that’s where my focus stayed.
After judging Modenas at the 2011 Pageant of Pigeons, I
returned home with the task of emptying my lofts after 45 years of
breeding and developing a family of Blue patterned Modenas, as my
wife was terminal with a pulmonary disease, and the pigeon dust
and proteins on my clothes created serious complications for her.
Jeff Vines with his 1988 National Champion West, a red bar
bald young hen. Jeff was 11 years old. Below in 1991 Jeff took
his second national championship with another red bar bald
young hen, daughter of his 1988 hen.