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Copied from Facebook 11th Dec 2025 Billy has penned a wee note about Solway Federation West Section Fancier of the year Jim Russell. Winner of the West Section Fancier of the Year Trophy in 2025 was Jim Russell from the Nith Valley Club, Dumfries. The Federation trophies were presented several weeks ago at the Fed. AGM, but Jim was unfortunately unable to attend. Michael Currie the Federation President informed the members that he would deliver the trophy to Jim’s home address by hand and would get a photo, which would be posted on the Federation Facebook page. In recent days Michael visited Jim’s home; having been told that he had not been in best of health but pleasingly on arrival was a bit better and in grand fettle for the visit and together they had a great chat reminiscing on by-gone years. Michael was much impressed also when he learned that Jim had won the trophy racing ten pigeons only. In recent years he worked with examples of the Van den Bulck family, which he obtained from friend and fellow Club member Mervyn Halliday who in turn purchased his stock from P and D Racing Stud and Ludo Claessens, which he obtained from Louella. As the 2025 season drew to a conclusion it was generally known that due to advancing years and indifferent health the final race in the 2025 Federation race programme was to be Jim’s last ever race as he had decided to retire from the Fancy. For him, however, to conclude the season, being named West Section Fancier of the Year Federation was extra, extra special.

VID-20251211-WA0006.mp4

Well done greatwork

Thanks Buster! That's all I'm hoping for, that people find it as useful as I do myself!

Well done a great tool, hope folks make use of it

Copied from Facebook 10th December 2025 What follows is a copy of my notes taken at the AGM it is not an official version, if you notice any mistakes please message me and I will change. The North of Scotland Racing Pigeon Federation notes taken at AGM What follows is a copy of my notes taken at the AGM NOT THE OFFICIAL MINUTES AGENDA 1. Adoption of the minute for the 56th Annual General Meeting held on the 8th December 2024 2. Matters arising. 3. Balance sheet for the year up to November 2025. Excepted 4. Presidents address 5. These are the office bearers for 2025/2026 President :- Paul Thomson Senior Vice President :- Stuart Maskame Junior Vice President :- Alex Fulton Secretary/Treasurer :- Ruth Cordiner Race Controller :- Vacant (officials dealing) Transport Manager :- Abby Milne Driver :- John Harvey Results Co-Ordinator :- George Duthie SHU Delegate :- Sandy Milne PRO :- Sandy Milne Fed Show Convenor :- Sandy Milne 6. PROPOSALS 1. The Federation reduces the annual federation fee to £50 - Defeated 2. Federation should have a savings account. Balance sheet to show where funds are housed and the savings interest rate. - Defeated 3. Federation to have a draft 2/3 year plan. Where we are aiming to be. - Defeated 4. One member from each club to have admin access to existing Fed Facebook page. - Defeated 5. Inverness club to have their birds picked up in Inverness from their club. – Defeated 6. If the above proposal is rejected the Inverness club members be given a membership fee concession (discount) to cover the cost of the additional expenses their club incurs having to cover a 3 hour trip which includes fuel costs every time we take part in a race. - Defeated 7. The Federation find an alternative for the Brechin lib site due to the over presence of B.O.P. Not excepted as should be part of a race programme 8. 2 weeks break between the last old bird race and first young bird race. Excepted 9. 3 week break between end of old bird racing and start of young bird racing, reason being incase Old birds increase by a week due to adverse weather - Defeated 10. 2026 race season to commence the second week in May (9/5/26) (INV) Rejected 11. Old bird racing to start 2nd May - Rejected 12. Old bird racing to start 18th April - Rejected 13. Old bird racing to start 25th April - Excepted 14. Young bird racing to start 18th July – Dependant on race programme 15. Successful Old bird programme was the one submitted by Deveron Valley 1) Brechin 2) Perth 3) Perth 4) Lanark 5) Langholm 6) Tebay 7) Garstang 😎 Newark 9) Crieff 10) Frome 16 . Successful young Bird programmes was the one submitted by Deveron Valley 1) Brechin 2) Brechin 3) Forfar 4) Perth 5) Lanark 6) Langholm 7) Tebay 😎 Garstang AOB No items raised meeting closed

Hi I was wondering if you still have the boxes and how much your selling the sets of 4 i was hoping to buy three of them Many thanks Billy McEwan

Congrats drian great flying

Sorry to hear this George, can you provide more details and photos if possible? Good luck for the future

I have to give birds up so if anyone looking for some birds pm me as they all have to go

Hi everyone, For those of you who’ve been following my updates or chatting with me about the struggle of paper loft records, I’m thrilled to announce that LoftBuddy is officially finished and available! It’s been a massive effort, but I’ve built the digital loft management system I always wanted—one that’s fast, reliable, and keeps pace with the demands of the breeding and racing seasons. 💰 Free to Use, Built for Fanciers Yes, that’s right: LoftBuddy is completely free to use. My goal was to make professional-grade record keeping accessible to every fancier. The app is supported by minimal, non-intrusive advertisements. For anyone who prefers a completely clean interface, there will be an optional, low-cost subscription to remove all ads. ✅ What's New & What It Does LoftBuddy is now fully featured for the upcoming season, handling everything from first egg to final race result. 1. Painless Breeding Round Management The biggest feature I focused on was making breeding records instant and clean: Quick Logging: Log Egg 1/Egg 2 dates for all your pairs. The app automatically calculates the estimated hatch date—no more counting days! Automatic Pedigree Builder: When the chicks hatch, you simply input their ring numbers, and LoftBuddy immediately creates a new bird profile for each one, pre-linking them to the correct Sire and Dam to build their digital pedigree instantly. Complete Control: I’ve just finished adding the ability to easily edit or delete entire breeding rounds if something goes wrong, keeping your records clean and accurate. 2. Digital Bird Profiles & Lineage Every bird has its own profile with photos, colour, strain, and race data. Get instant access to the full family tree (pedigree) of any bird, anytime, anywhere—no need to dig through folders. 3. Data-Driven Decisions You can record your birds’ LPI/scoring, and LoftBuddy gives you an estimated LPI for the offspring of a pairing, helping you make smarter pairing choices. 💻 How to Get Started Since this is a web application, there’s nothing to download! You can access it on any device—phone, tablet, or desktop. Simply visit the link below to sign up and start migrating your pairs immediately: LoftBuddy App Link: https://loftbuddy.winfort-lofts.co.uk/ I appreciate everyone's encouragement while I was building this. I am now fully focused on user feedback and future improvements. Please sign up, try a few pairs, and let me know your first impressions, feature requests, and any bugs you find! Happy flying and good luck for the new season! Cheers,

Here is another Loft Management App that I have been working on recently, free to use, and filled with fantastic features! https://loftbuddy.winfort-lofts.co.uk/

Copied from Facebook 8th December 2025 Dundee show 7/12/2025 Results OCTW - W Nicol OHTW - B Massey OCH - B Massey OHH - J Mackie (BIS) YCTW - B Massey YHTW - G Campbell YCH - J Mackie YHH - M Young (BOS BYB) Well done 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Dundee & Logie show today 7/12/2025 penning 10am judging starts 11am thanks

Working man prices prices

Thanks for your visit today and hope your happy with the ones you got ...best of luck with them cheers Dale

René Van Roose best known for his champion bird “The Rare,” which has won multiple national and international awards in middle- and long-distance racing. “The Rare” (2018 season): Won 4 Ace National Great Medium Distance (500–750 km) in Belgium. Awarded 1st Ace Great Distance Francolomb Awards 2018. René thus has a solid base with these Scheele breeders allowing him year after year to produce Ace pigeons for racess from 450 to 700kms.

Congratulations

Congratulations all

Copied from Facebook 6th December 2025

Bump

Copied from Facebook 2nd December 2025 Aberdeen Federation Trophy Winners 2025 Hamilton yearling Newark G.Reid 2 longest Y/B races S&A.Robertson Dove trophy Brighton G&C.Rae Guide dog G&C.Rae Best Avg 1st 6 O/B races W.Davidson Most Points W.Davidson Y/B Avg W.Davideon Best Ave races 7&8 O/B J.Coutts&Son R.MACKENZIE TROPHY (3 LongestO/BAvg)- J.Coutts&Son Mary Park Trophy Billericay J.Coutts&Son Aberdeen City Counsil Trophy J.Coutts&Son Best Avg longest O/B& longest Y/B races J.Coutts&Son R.Jopp Memorial Trophy 1st Abdn Fed SNFC Y/B A.Rae O/B Avg A.Rae Combined Avg A.Rae

Gilbert Brothers of Mitcham. The SMT Combine’s last and longest old bird race, Bergerac (450 miles) was flown in July 1979 and it was much the same as three channel races proceeding it, being tough with poor returns. The Combine winner, doing 1072.9ypm, was a yearling blue cock owned by Gilbert Brothers of the Mitcham Common FC and this club had set somewhat of a record. Out of the five Combine races flown in 1979 the Mitcham Common had recorded a staggering three firsts and two seconds in the SMT Combine and the 60 member club had an eight bird limit in place on channel races. Brilliant pigeon racing! Gilbert Brothers named their Bergerac winner, ‘Billy’, and he was bred from stock birds of the Bernard Miles / Stichelbaut and Bill Stevens of Wandsworth strains. ‘Billy’ was sent to Bergerac sitting chipping eggs and from the 1979 Le Mans smash he returned with a note in his ring after dropping in to a loft in France, which turned out to be a good single up training toss. The brothers had two lofts, a 12ft racing loft and 8ft stock loft with an aviary, and they liked plenty of good ventilation in their set up. When they started up 18 years previous, their loft was a converted Canary aviary which belonged to their father and this was stocked with birds obtained from several local fanciers. The Gilbert partners paired their 17 pairs of old birds up on 14th February and the mail family raced were Stichelbaut crossed with the Bill Stevens of Wandsworth pigeons. They had always raced natural, but gave the widowhood system a try in the 1979 season, and said at that time that the old bird races had to be planned, with the youngsters being raced to educate them. They trained as much as possible and fed on high carbohydrate mixture, with ‘Red Band’ for trapping. Fred Gilbert rated Terry Goodsell of Mitcham and R. Pool & son of Hackbridge the best local pigeon racers, because they were the most consistent. Apart from their Bergerac win the brothers also won 1st club, 10th Surrey Federation, 12th SMT Combine from the very hard Le Mans race in 1979. Terry Goodsell also of the Mitcham club was 2nd Combine, doing 1072.7 and this was the second time that season that Terry had been beaten on decimals in the SMT, he was previously 2nd and 4th SMT Combine from Plymouth. The 2nd Combine Bergerac pigeon was a Rosenbrek / Janssen blue chequer cock named ‘Terry’ and was sent to Bergerac driving his hen to nest. This game cock also won 4th SMT Combine Plymouth in 1978 and his sire was the champion racing cock, ‘Mr. Nice Guy’, winner of six times 1st club, three times 1st Federation and 3rd Combine Plymouth. Text & Photos by Keith Mott (December 2025)