The Menche-Haelterman family was founded on four birds, one of which was "Valere", a Grandson of Desmet-Matthys's 'Klaren'.
A great foundation pigeon of the strain of Desmet-Matthys of Nokere. The "Oude Klaren" was 21 years old when this photograph was taken.
Pictures and information taken from The History of the Belgian Strains
"The Klaren" raced from 1947 - 1952 before being retired to stock. He won a total of 489,499 francs during his racing career, which is equal to 5,320 pounds in English currency, or about $13,300 in American currency of (1987) today.
Part 1 - Second edition - July 1987
by Jules GALLEZ
