# The Facts about the History of the RED BADGE, WARLEY ROLLER, COMPETITION ROLLER as they are known in Birmingham and the Black Country England



## James Linden (10 mo ago)

Red badges ,Warley Rollers, competition rollers are commonly used terms for this strain. These birds were in fact bred from Birmingham Rollers. In Birmingham and the black country, as people will know its a heavily built up area so fanciers started to concentrate on shortening the roll to stop the birds rolling down and smashing off the roofs. Also about this time fanciers started to breed for looks my grand father was one of many he had them for many years. He knew Bill Pensom personally before he emigrated and he was a great friend of Ollie Harris, who i met loads of times when i was a young boy. I.m now 50 yrs old . Ollie Harris used to collect birds from fanciers and send them to Bill in America now i know this for a FACT, he bought some off my grandad one in particular i remember well was a red badge birmingham roller double rung 1975 i think ?and this was the best roller i.ve ever seen in my life it could roll like a wheel deep but not dangerous it was a stray i caught in with my kit. Now back to birmingham rollers that Bill imported Ollie would go round Birmingham and the black country visiting fanciers and pigeon cages (pet shops) collecting birds for potential importation he would watch them fly if they were good enough he'd purchase them and send them to Bill after he'd bred off them of course Ollie was a wiley old fox (businessman) bless him .Obviously there was a niche market ( money to be made) in the USA so Bill and Ollie had a good thing going Ollie would buy them and sell them to Bill for a profit and Bill would import them breed from them and cash in fair play to them i say. Now when i look on web pages today i can see exactly what my grandad used to say to me all those years ago as a young boy, all the long faced drab coloured birds left the area ie chequer badges, balls, oddsides also known here as horitorys. Mealys, red chequers, smokey blacks, etc A lot of those ended up in America as i can see the type on the web in videos etc.
not many solid reds,yellows or blacks went there because the fanciers here kept them for themselves . Now onto the Badges fanciers of yesteryear now nearly all gone RIP cultivated this breed for looks and rolling ability from 100% original Birminghams no crossing of other tumblers i.ll name a few Billy Mates, Freddie Scattergood, Bluey Baker, Norman Silver, Feddie Baker, Geoff Coleman, Billy Allsopp, Freddie Biddle, Horace Round, Horace Potts, Freddie Round,Trevor Garman, Johnny Heywood, Reggie Haines, Bert Walton, Wayne Greenhill, Paul Steadman, Brett Davies, Myself. As you can tell by the names and there was plenty of others too. they was well cultivated some specialised in certain colours mainly Red some Yellow and Black others namely Reg Haines specialised in what we class as coloured uns. Dun, cheq, blue, in fact any colour some saddles, oddsides etc. I.d challenge any Birmingham Roller purist to DNA test a Red badge it will carry the exact same blood genes and ancestry as your Birminghams also a good kit of badges would beat any kit of Birmingham Rollers hands down in competition they are the ultimate competition birds. Another thing even today after years of selective breeding you still breed the odd Birmingham type out of badges my friend Brett Davies from Tipton purchased a family of Red Badges From Horace Potts from Bloxwich who got them from Dicky Britain. They had been bred for over 40 yrs Red badge to Red badge year after year. No other birds in the loft what comes out? A blue cheq badge birmingham type its called a throwback. Also i.d like to mention a few men who in their day had tremendous competition birds Bert Walton, Johnnie Haywood, and Fred Round in their heyday in the 80,s they had the best kits ever to grace the skies of the West Midlands...Legends.. i hope this post is recieved well by fellow fanciers and enthusiasts of roller pigeons i just wanted to clarify some factual information and explain a cultivation of a line of birds thats been occuring here in Birmingham England since the late 40,s early 50,s up to the present day . Another branch is the Wolverhampton Magpie and the Wolverhampton Badge these descend from the originals but have been bred for purely looks and crossed with various birds to get vast array of colours opals,andulusian, almond etc. Hence their flying ability has diminished although beautiful birds Benco has the best of this strain. The only downside to the Warley Rollers nowadays is the specialist breeders Competition fliers are getting fewer and fewer the younger generation haven't the interest and if something isn't done ie promote the breed all those years of selective breeding will be lost forever which would be a travesty.........


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## mercedes15 (Nov 24, 2021)

Hello, Great info, welcome back👍


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## Eezeerider (8 mo ago)

James Linden said:


> Red badges ,Warley Rollers, competition rollers are commonly used terms for this strain. These birds were in fact bred from Birmingham Rollers. In Birmingham and the black country, as people will know its a heavily built up area so fanciers started to concentrate on shortening the roll to stop the birds rolling down and smashing off the roofs. Also about this time fanciers started to breed for looks my grand father was one of many he had them for many years. He knew Bill Pensom personally before he emigrated and he was a great friend of Ollie Harris, who i met loads of times when i was a young boy. I.m now 50 yrs old . Ollie Harris used to collect birds from fanciers and send them to Bill in America now i know this for a FACT, he bought some off my grandad one in particular i remember well was a red badge birmingham roller double rung 1975 i think ?and this was the best roller i.ve ever seen in my life it could roll like a wheel deep but not dangerous it was a stray i caught in with my kit. Now back to birmingham rollers that Bill imported Ollie would go round Birmingham and the black country visiting fanciers and pigeon cages (pet shops) collecting birds for potential importation he would watch them fly if they were good enough he'd purchase them and send them to Bill after he'd bred off them of course Ollie was a wiley old fox (businessman) bless him .Obviously there was a niche market ( money to be made) in the USA so Bill and Ollie had a good thing going Ollie would buy them and sell them to Bill for a profit and Bill would import them breed from them and cash in fair play to them i say. Now when i look on web pages today i can see exactly what my grandad used to say to me all those years ago as a young boy, all the long faced drab coloured birds left the area ie chequer badges, balls, oddsides also known here as horitorys. Mealys, red chequers, smokey blacks, etc A lot of those ended up in America as i can see the type on the web in videos etc.
> not many solid reds,yellows or blacks went there because the fanciers here kept them for themselves . Now onto the Badges fanciers of yesteryear now nearly all gone RIP cultivated this breed for looks and rolling ability from 100% original Birminghams no crossing of other tumblers i.ll name a few Billy Mates, Freddie Scattergood, Bluey Baker, Norman Silver, Feddie Baker, Geoff Coleman, Billy Allsopp, Freddie Biddle, Horace Round, Horace Potts, Freddie Round,Trevor Garman, Johnny Heywood, Reggie Haines, Bert Walton, Wayne Greenhill, Paul Steadman, Brett Davies, Myself. As you can tell by the names and there was plenty of others too. they was well cultivated some specialised in certain colours mainly Red some Yellow and Black others namely Reg Haines specialised in what we class as coloured uns. Dun, cheq, blue, in fact any colour some saddles, oddsides etc. I.d challenge any Birmingham Roller purist to DNA test a Red badge it will carry the exact same blood genes and ancestry as your Birminghams also a good kit of badges would beat any kit of Birmingham Rollers hands down in competition they are the ultimate competition birds. Another thing even today after years of selective breeding you still breed the odd Birmingham type out of badges my friend Brett Davies from Tipton purchased a family of Red Badges From Horace Potts from Bloxwich who got them from Dicky Britain. They had been bred for over 40 yrs Red badge to Red badge year after year. No other birds in the loft what comes out? A blue cheq badge birmingham type its called a throwback. Also i.d like to mention a few men who in their day had tremendous competition birds Bert Walton, Johnnie Haywood, and Fred Round in their heyday in the 80,s they had the best kits ever to grace the skies of the West Midlands...Legends.. i hope this post is recieved well by fellow fanciers and enthusiasts of roller pigeons i just wanted to clarify some factual information and explain a cultivation of a line of birds thats been occuring here in Birmingham England since the late 40,s early 50,s up to the present day . Another branch is the Wolverhampton Magpie and the Wolverhampton Badge these descend from the originals but have been bred for purely looks and crossed with various birds to get vast array of colours opals,andulusian, almond etc. Hence their flying ability has diminished although beautiful birds Benco has the best of this strain. The only downside to the Warley Rollers nowadays is the specialist breeders Competition fliers are getting fewer and fewer the younger generation haven't the interest and if something isn't done ie promote the breed all those years of selective breeding will be lost forever which would be a travesty.........


Great historic info…….many thanks


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## mickbrooke12 (10 mo ago)

Hi I am Michael Brookes joined few months ago through John Rolf had rings but have not heard from u since Karl Bradshaw a
s told me of page and to send request hope I have done this right


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