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The Joe Murphy Column Received an email from Karl Murphy from Coalisland & District in Killyleagh Northern Ireland who informed me that he has done well with pigeons bred down from me. He won the section from Bude 277 miles with the NIPA who is a son of ‘Gerald’ my birthday cock. He won 1st club 1st section 104th open NIPA 5620 birds (see photo). Karl also timed his first bird on the second morning from Plougastal a distance of 442 miles; however, he was badly injured; but hopefully will now win Karl a Bronze Award. His bloodlines are Mark Bulled x ‘Wingdown’ lines. He had 2 hens down from a red hen from me at the King’s Cup race, but this turned out to be a hard race with only 37 birds’ home in 2 days; unfortunately, Karl never had the 2 hens’ home. Well done to Karl and I hope his success with the pigeons continue throughout the remainder of the season. It was the same over here with the SNFC Alencon Gold Cup race liberating there entry of 597 birds at 13-00 hours into a west south west wind. There was no pigeons on the day with the winning loft of Angus Orr & son of Brighton’s (which is near Falkirk) winning 1st region D 1st open timing in at 09-42 am on the 2nd day recording a velocity of 1053 for the 546 miles; they also timed their 2nd pigeon at 11-44 to win 3rd region 5th open which was a truly outstanding performance, so well-done lads. Dave Jamieson of Bathgate wins 2nd region D 2nd open with G Harrison of Lesmahagow winning 1st region E 3rd open; K B Whitham of Dunbar won 1st region B 4th open; with Frank Mitchell of Comrie in Fife having a great race winning 1st 3rd & 4th region C; 6th 15th & 16th open flying 552 miles; Ian Noble of Kilwinning won 1st region F 8th open and the partnership of Maskame & Cordiner of Peterhead won 1st & 2nd region G 1st & 2nd north section 12th & 18th open flying 632 miles; A Nicholson of Annan wins 1st region A 1st south section 14th open. When you consider these birds were not liberated until 13.00 hours to have the 7 section winners within the top 14 birds in the open race is truly fantastic. My congratulations go to the convoyer’s who looked after the birds, and to the race control team who decided to wait and have a early afternoon liberation. From the longest race from Fontenay-sur-Eure with the SNFC had 71 members sending 203 birds these were birds liberated at 05:50am into a northerly wind, changing to south westerly wind in North France and variable southerly wind in England. The probable winner of 1st region D 1st open timing in at 07-15 on the second morning was my dear old friend Jock Strang of California in the North West Federation. Jock and his late brother Willie won 1st open Scottish Central Combine Avranches in 1984 with their lovely blue hen named ‘California Monarch’ see photo. So, this shows you the calibre of fancier Jock Stang is. He purchased his SNFC winner from Dave Jamieson as a batch of youngsters for racing (Jock is a hard task master and the blue cock is the only one he has left) and is now named ‘Strang’s Delight’. His sire is a 2016 mealy cock bred from the sire of ‘White Mick’ a winner of 2nd open SNFC Ancenis flying 598 miles when mated to the dam of ‘Rosery Beads’ winner of 3rd 4th & 11th SNFC Ancenis. The dam of ‘Strang’s Delight’ was a chequer white flight hen bred by Menne/ Daughter; my thanks to Dave for sending me a copy of ‘Strang’s Delight’ pedigree. Continuing with the Fontenay-sur-Eure race result. It was good to see the Alencon Gold Cup winners Angus Orr & son of Brighton’s once again to the fore making the open result. Norman McCulloch & Son of Dalbeattie are 1st region A 2nd open; 1st region B is A Simpson Earlston while from my area of Fife Joe Mullan of Lumphinnans wins 1st region C with Frank Mitchell of Comrie taking 2nd place. Tom Richardson Newmains wins 1st region E with my old pal Stewart Maskame & his partner wins 1st region G and the North section; who wrote; ‘Hi Joe, Hope this note finds you and Margaret well. As promised, I have forwarded a couple of photos of our Alencon Doo’s. The doo inside the loft is the section winner who is now named ‘Ruth’s Reward’ his sire is a son of ‘Anders Boy’ our 1st section 27th open SNFC Yeovil winner who flew 444 miles; he himself is a grandson of our Silver award winner ‘Maverick’ ‘Poppy’ who won 1st open SNFC Ypres flying 498 miles. Red Grizzel winner of 2nd north section 43rd open SNFC Clermont flying 598 miles; and ‘Double Delight’ winner of 1st section 11th open SNFC Tours flying 708 miles. The doo in the aviary is the 2nd section winner he is bred from a son of ‘Maverick’ our SNFC Silver award winner when paired to ‘Poppy’ our winner of 1st open SNFC Ypres flying 498 miles. His dam is a granddaughter of Davie & Calum McDougall's ‘Nell’ winner of 1st north section 11th open SNFC Reims a distance of 622 miles. Stewart also won 1st north section Fontenay section winner I'll send details this week but a quick look at his breeding and he is a great-grandson of Rocket. Well Done EVERYONE!!!! I’m looking forward to reading all about these wonderful birds and their breeding in the final report. Results Central & East of Scotland Amalgamation race from Ramsgate was flown on 21st June with the 824 birds liberated at 05:00 into a light south west wind. to try and beat the heat of the day, for the 380 plus miles to the Lothians & Fife area and 460 to the North. The race sponsors were Aspen Joinery & Glazing Ltd; Bonnyside Engineering Ltd; Balnuith Alpacas; D J Civil Engineering; Apex; Scottish DL + With Pentlandhills federation sending 212 birds; Central federation sent 14 birds; Dundee 70 birds; Angus 177 birds; Fife 335 birds; Kingdom 53 birds and New Lothian 45 birds. Taking top spot and £100 first prize & £30 section prize, belonged to the Pentland Federation loft of Freddie & Willie Robertson from Edinburgh, who timed a 4-year-old Hereman Ceuster hen, a previous winner of many prizes. Their stock obtained originally from Derek Nicholls at Premier Stud. Second Pentland was Ricky Simpson from Gorebridge in 21st open, closely followed by 3 Pentland pigeons racing together in 25th open S & S Tierney, 26th Keith Wright and 27th Andy Miller. J Hynd & son of Fife federation take 1st & 2nd Fife, 2nd & 3rd Amal and another in 7th open position & the £50 sponsored 1st Yearling prize. Davie Glen leads the way in Angus with his fancied widowhood cock and takes the lion share of the pools, with Charlie and Glen Cameron timing three quick ones for 16th, 17th & 20th open. Mark Young of Dundee winning 6th open. J Brockie of Fife is 8th with John Wiseman of Dundee taking 9th spot and Davie Glen of Angus federation taking 10th open. R Simpson of Pentlandhills fed wins 21st open; First Kingdom bird is to D Stonehouse winning 30th open; with Central winner J Boyd winning 34th open; the Elite North’s R Bain wins 43rd & 44th open. The first Dundee pigeon was timed by Mark Young another form loft this season followed closely by John Wiseman. First & second in the Kingdom Fed is Darren Stonehouse in 22nd & 31st open. John Boyd timed the first Bo’ness pigeon to win 29th open and Roddy Bain wins the Elite North and also 2nd position flying 457miles for 43rd & 44th open. So, as you can see the prizes were well spread around the country, although not a coup in on this occasion, it turned out a tough but fair race in the heat of the day. Claims are now required by July 31st for the Edwin Newcombe Memorial Trophy for the Ace Pigeon best velocity over the 3 races. Well done to all competitors and massive thanks to all our Sponsors for 2025 & any repeat or new sponsors for next season will be gratefully received. It is also planned to have a small online sale of late-bred’s to raise funds for next seasons prize money too. Birds will be donated from some of the top performers over the seasons 3 race programme. Forfar RPC and Angus Federation results for our race from Ramsgate last week with the Central & East of Scotland Amalgamation. We had a drama on marking night when the transporter we were meant to going with broke down and we quickly managed to contact our driver and used the Angus & Dundee transporter. The 119 birds entered by 8 members were liberated at 5.00 a.m. to avoid the worst of the high temperatures forecast but unfortunately, we had an erratic race with large gaps between arrivals and many empty perches at night. Leading the way in the club and federation was Davie Glen who was over an hour clear of David Liddle in second position in the club and sixth federation. It took almost five hours to fill the first ten places in the club regards, David. From the Ramsgate old bird race flown on the 21st August 13 members sent 177 birds these were liberated at 05-00am into a light south east wind. Davie Glen takes the top spot and is also 7th open with Charlie & Glen Cameron winning 2nd 3rd 4th 5th & 9th federation. David Liddle of Forfar wins 6th spot with D & D Hay of Gourdon club winning 8th open and Ian Scott of Forfar takes the number 10th position. Kingdom Racing Pigeon Association news from Pete Penman with the result of the Ramsgate race flown on the 21st June with 8 members sending 53 birds. The conveyor reported blue sky and the birds cleared the race point immediately. D Stonehouse of Rosyth club wins 1st 2nd & 5th open with his winner dong a velocity of 1419 for the 380 miles. Penman & Grubb from Coaltown are 3rd & 9th with E & E Young of Leuchars club winning 4th 8th 10th & 12th open. Tom Berwick of Leuchars club is 6th open A Brunton of St Serfs club winning 7th spot. Chic Dinsdale of the Coaltown is 11th open. North of Scotland Federation News from George with the Auchendinny 2 old bird race flown on 28th June; with 41 members sending 414 birds; these were liberated into a brisk west to south west wind. Topping the East section (21 members sending 235 birds) is A W Buchan of Fraserburgh & District with his bird doing a velocity of 1718. G Willox of Peterhead & District club wins 2nd & 6th section and open; S Witherspoon of Inverurie club is 3rd open with club mate J S Robertson winning 4th section and open. My old pal Stewart Maskame & his partner Cordiner of Peterhead & District club; (Sorry don’t know your first name) won 7th 8th & 9th section and open. Dave & Callum McDougall of the same Peterhead club are 10th section & open. The West section had 20 members sending 179 birds; with G Wilson of Devern Valley club taking top spot and 31st open. A Hay of the same club is 2nd 4th& 6th section 31st 33rd & 35th open. N Pirie of the same club wind 3rd section 32nd open and J Able is 5th section 34th open. R Wilson of Keith club is 7th section 36th open with A Fulton of Devern Valley club winning 8th 9th & 10th section 37th 38th & 39th open. Clubs First Bird A W Buchan wins Fraserburgh & District with a velocity of 1718.885 G Willox wins Peterhead & District with a velocity of 1695.955 S Witherspoon wins Inverurie with a velocity of 1683.196 D Ward wins Fraserburgh West End velocity 1632.505 G Wilson wins Devern Valley with a velocity of 1530.366 R Wilson wins Keith with a velocity of 1425.171 G Geddes wins Elgin & District with a velocity of 1133.121 Well done to A Buchan on topping the federation; and well done to G Wilson on winning the west section. Almond Valley Federation News of the Billericay race held on 21st of June with the 208 birds liberated at 06:00 hours. First & 18th open and 1st & 2nd north section is S Russell of Bonnybridge club with the winner a yearling NL rung pigeon. Winnning 2nd open 1st east section is C Ross of East Calder he is also 3rd east section 17th open. Winning 1st 4th 5th & 9th west section plus 3rd 7th 8th & 14th open is John Hadfield of Armadale. West Calder’s John Bird wins 4th 9th & 10th open 2nd 6th & 7th west section. Armadale’s J Burnside wins 5th open 3rd west section; with T Gavin of Fauldhouse club winning 1st & 5th club 6th & 19th open. Armadale’s D McBeath wins 11th open 8th west section with Freddie Jamieson & Son of East Calder club winning 2nd east section 12th open. R McConnell of Fauldhouse club wins 2nd & 6th club 13th & 20th open. With club mates C Smillie winning 3rd club 15th open and R Smillie winning 4th club & 16th open and Bonnyrigg club. Lost Received a phone call from Lee Graham asking if I could ask fanciers if they could help him out; as he lost a blue bar white flight cock which escaped from his loft. The cock’s ring number is GB24A03999, if you can help Lee out give him a call on 07562108251, he will be most grateful. Obituary Received a phone call from Donald McPherson informing me of the passing of Gibby Reed (age 78) of Aberdeen. Gibby had been keeping fine and was still looking after his pigeons. His dear wife died 5 years ago (sorry don’t know her name). Gibby was one of the finest men you could ever wish to meet a ‘happy go lucky’ man who was the sault of the earth. To his family we send out heartfelt condolences; rest in peace my old friend. Joe Murphy Mystical Rose Cottage 2 Flutorum Avenue Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY1 4BD or phone 01592 770331 or Email to joejmurphy1@gmail.com REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE or log onto www.elimarpigeons.com - cogeco.ca -forum@pigeonbasics.com who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland © Compiled by Joe Murphy

Good morning folks

Good morning everyone 😊 🌞

Morning folks

The first young bird race of the year from Hereford and what a race that turned out to be!! A disaster of a race all round for everyone a very tough and hard race!! Ted chose 3 to send and with very minimal training due to constant peregrine attacks I told him we might not get any back!! But be was convinced he wanted to send so we did!! The clock was ticking and it started to unfold that today was going to be a tough race but we kept the excitement up by having messages through being told no one had heard of any clocked and with us living right out on the limb on our own we thought were still in for a chance to get one!! Ted waiting by the loft with his tub of corn and me pacing up and down the yard with Arthur praying one comes for him!! And finally after a very painful stressful day waiting we managed to clock 1 out of the 3 we sent!! The excitement from Ted calling it in and his face absolutely beaming with joy!! A memory that will be with me and I’m sure him forever!! A hen came and Teds famous saying was completely true today!! “She must have flown her heart out” and she did!! We managed to be 2nd club today with a hen chosen by Ted to send!! I’d like to congratulate the winners of today in this nightmare of a race!! And I’d like to thank the Wendel family for letting me have the opportunity to have there birds which bred this hen!! Today is what the sport is all about the excitement and thrill of racing with my boys!! Thank you all!! I can now relax!!

Well done ALL timers

Mhaven Berwick.xlsx

Well done ALL timers

Fed Berwick.pdf

Absolutely Buzzing getting our first club winner 270b 5th fed 1602b and 1st unc ring scheme winning £400 this pigeon was kindly given to mason as a gift by Derek Campbell told by good flyers to get rid of it for sitting in tree on first few training tosses , glad a never listened as it has made our season and made mason fall in love with pigeons so we all winners .

On 26/7/25,2 members sent 82 birds to Auchindenny 1, 1 D&D Hay 1051.20 2 D&D Hay 1050.41, 3D&D Hay 1047.39 4 D&D Hay 1047.13 5 D&D Hay 1020.39 6 D&D Hay 1020.03 7 W Dorward 1011.14 8 W Dorward 1011.01 9W Dorward 1011.01 10 W Dorward 1010.40 11 W Dorward 1009.17.

AF Auchendinny 26.07.25.pdf

LEEDS AMAL

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“Ricksen” Another top performer this year. As a young bird from his first ever race he was 2nd club 2nd federation Wooler 77 miles. He then went onto to be 5th club 5th fed this year from the first old bird race and he never looked back, he went to every single fed race and was in the first drop every week. It wasn’t until June until I sent him to Billericay 353 miles that he absolutely shone doing 58mph 1st fed AV 2nd fed AV 1st Sec 2ND Open SNRPC Billericay 2 weeks later he went with the SNFC back to Billericay and I timed him in again at 9.35 pm doing 38 mph and winning 1st Sec E 25th open Another top sensational yearling 🏆

Heres our club result for Brechin 2 youngbirds 70 miles to most. Its a well done to Andy Higgins on winning the race. 1st Andy Higgins 1484 2nd Andy Higgins 1423 3rd Andy Higgins 1423 4th Dennis Ward 1411 5th Dennis Ward 1403 6th Dennis Ward 1378

Heres our club result for Brechin 1 youngbirds 70 miles to most. Its a well done to Dennis Ward on winning the race. 1st Dennis Ward 1278 2nd Andy Higgins 1273 3rd Andy Higgins 1273 4th Andy Higgins 1272 5th Dennis Ward 1254 6th Dennis Ward 1253

Auchindinny 1st YB 25.pdf

Well done Ian

Well done all

Auchendinny 26.07.25.pdf

Sw wind