We purchased the YOUNG LICHTE BOURGES from Mike Ganus who bought him from Flor Vervoort. He was one of Vervoort's key breeders. SIRE: The famous LICHTE BOURGES of Maurice Voets. DAM: Daughter famous KLETSKOP (Gommaire Verbruggen) when coupled with SHEENA, the KLETSKOP's half-sister. The KLETSKOP was bred from a son of SCHILDERIJ coupled with, the KLEIN ASKE, a daughter of Maurice Van De Velde's infamous AS, 1st National Ace Short Distance Belgium 1974.  The KLETSKOP's mother is also a daughter of the KLEIN ASKE when coupled with the DIKKE from Florent Goris, BELG 86 6511017/86 DIKKE GORIS (2° Nat. Ace Middle Distance KBDB’79. Gommaire, who later also got hold of the famous DIKKE GORIS from Florent Goris from Heist-op-den-Berg, noticed to his surprise that there seemed to be some degree of relationship between the DIKKE GORIS and SCHILDERIJ.  In their pedigree we find POOT (grandsire of the Merckx-Bruynseels) recurring several times. The YOUNG LICHTE BOURGES was an excellent breeder for Flor Vervoort, Mike Ganus and now is an excellent breeder for Lamberton Racing Pigeons.

AS  2231035/1972 1st Ace pigeon K.B.D.B 1974 speed

We have come across the name 'AS' many times. Gommaire bought this marvelous racer at the Maurice Vandevelde sale in 1976, and he also developed into a superior breeding bird later. To say he made his mark on the colony is this time to put it too mildly.  As became a completely dominating figure and Gommaire, who was already a feared champion, found himself on the highest rung of the ladder, in the rarified air at the top of the Brabant middle distance world. But with every rather sporadic- sally on a semi national or national, he proved to be able to brush off even the strongest rivals in the country.

SCHILDERIJ first among equals

Schilderij 5349262/79, grandson of Schilderij of Jef Vansweevelt, is the living evidence of this. Gommaire managed to acquire him in a much less spectacular fashion. During a film evening organized by the Mariman company in Testelt uncle Louis Van Diest bought a ticket from the inimitable champion from Tessenderlo. He was there with two youngsters and uncle Louis chose the grandson of Schilderij, for a song in comparison with the record (at the time) price paid for AS and the crazy amount spent on Witneus.  Thanks to Jefke Vercammen from Beerzel we were able to trace the origins of Schilderij-Verbruggen in fine detail. By the way: the worth of Jefke Vercammen cannot be underlined too often. After all it was he who provided Jef Vansweevelt with the right kind of birds. Schilderij-Verbruggen's pedigree holds not a few surprises. Firstly, he is not a son of Van Sweevelt's Schilderij but a grandson.  Gommaire, who later also got hold of '680' and the famous 'DIKKE' from Florent Goris from Heist-op-den-Berg, noticed to his surprise that there seemed to be some degree of relationship between these cocks and Schilderij. In their pedigree we find Poot (grandsire of the Merckx-Bruynseels) recurring several times. Could it be possible that the late Professor Kricke from Dusseldorf (Germany), well known in Belgium, was right after all when he boldly declared : 'Should one be able to trace the precise origins of most ace racing birds, then one would find that they all go back to just a very few families!'

Reprinted from a Report by Johan Kempen which can be found at http://users.telenet.be/gommaire/engels/report%20vansalen.htm