1967

First bird i bought for 50p my oldman hated it said it would never be a doo its first S.N.F,C Race Rennes 1988 It was 1st club 1st fed 9th East Section 18th Open winning £187 he was sire gsire etc to 15 birds to be in the top 10 Positions S.N.F.C.3rd Open Sartilly 2nd Open La Ferte Bernard in 2006 i decided to to line breed back to him i got 11 l/breds ended up with 10 cocks 1 hen. In 2007 i put 10 rings on l/breds yougbirds in the nest of his National doos but just took 6 hens in 2008 raced them to Selby 165 miles then stopped them until i noticed the S.N.F.C were having a race from Ypres 426 miles. Day of basketing looked at them will i wont i fk it send some sent 6 10th Open and 20th Open 6 from 6 come Falaise 2 weeks later sent the yearling hen that was 20th Open Ypres back to Falaise 502 miles she was 187th Open shes been over the water 7 times (never raced 2011 ripped to bits by bop)52nd Arras,74thFalais only once out the top 3 in club in channel races i have 24 old birds from her in loft now so i will be racing 24 young-birds all down from her so no matter what yb i clock in this year it will make me think right back to the first bird i ever bought . Best 50p i ever spent

At the tender age of five i acquired my first pair of pigeons.They were the first pair of racing pigeons i ever saw and completely mesmerised me.So much so i just had to have them.As a matter of fact i can still feel the strange feeling to this very day.The racing pigeon has facinated me ever since.In 1935 i started racing pigeons at the age of ten.With only four youngsters i enjoyed the thrill of clocking in four on the day in evry race through the race programme to 200 miles.In retrospect it was i suppose quite an achievement.Our clocksetter Ernie Jones presented me with a medal for this feat.Thankfully i still have this commemorative medal to this day.The year 1936 witnessed my first real success.With great prideand joy i won The Young Bird Average and a splendid cup for my pains.Then came the war,and i saw service with theArmy in Italy. Racing commenced again for me in 1946.The great pigeons that followed and their offsprings are the foundation base of the Biss family.Fortunately their blood can still be traced through the long years in my family of pigeons to this day.Other than those fanciers i have bred and selected Biss pigeons for their foundation breeding there is no place else in the world that this unique family can be found,only at the headquarters,the now famouse Hillside Lofts.Generation after generation of champions,ana this successive continuation of the line with the winning genes has continued from 1946 to 1988.Today only Widowhood Cocks have been raced,this has continued since 1970. The Biss family of long distance pigeons has produced for me and other fanciers Hundreds if not Thousands of winners at all distances.They are indeed a versatile family.They can and do hold their own at short distances.However,they do excel at middle and long distance.It is realy these races that appeal most to me.Many thousands of pounds have been spent to establish this unique family. Purchasing the champions of the day irrespective of the cost to strengthen the Biss family of champions is an expensive business.Especially when so many are found wanting as breeders. Actually less than half have retained.The offspring are tried tied and tested relentlessly.They have to win at all distances.With the emphasis on the long distance races.Furthermore they have to be of good physical type.Above all else my pigeons must show intellegence and posses a quiet temperament.''Temperament''is for me of the greatest importance.Tame pigeons, are for me are a must and give me great pleasure.In 1970 the late Pierre Dordin,Harnes,France,was at his greatest,it was then that i purchased all his champions.His San Sebastian International winner Scout who was one hour ahead of the opposition.Scout had previously won 1st prize Angouleme National and 3rd prize St Vincent National.Other champions purchased included Remuant,the Dax winner.Spahi the Libourne National winner,with his famous Hen the Bleue de Valliant was actually the very first champion racer purchased.Romulus,Sosie,Sombrero.Talisman and Unanime were purchased soon afterwards.Then followed the purchase of that truly great London North Combine winner''THE BIG FELLA''probably the greatest pigeon ever to compete in the London North Road Combine.The acquisition of the Big Fella was followed by the purchase of four 1,000 mile winners including Tams Delight,The Conqueror,and Lionheart.Also six Palamos 650-700 National winners.These included Knightsdale Lady and the Berwick Hen.At the trueman Dicken dispersal sale i purchased his two best racing and breeding cocks Amigo and Barthalemew half brothers being from the same dam Mrs.BB.Also a first prize winner from Barcelona National winner herself.Mrs.BB.was daughter of the Mealy Hen 352 who won twice 1st prize Lerwick 621 miles etc.This great hen 352 was the foundation hen of the Trueman Dicken family that became famouse for their outstanding performances at the extreme distance.

1988 R McLaughlin Salsburgh 38th Open 5thWest section Sartilly 1 2883 Birds

12th £453.20 D.Blyth & Son Carluke vel 1329.5

1 £288 J.Thompson & son bo'ness Vel 1403 ''Deanfield Oh So Sharp''SU86CA5068 Cheq Hen 1st s.c.c 510 Miles 2 £166 R.Cormack Winchburgh........ 1388 3 £265 W.Frew Condorrat............ 1364 4 £61 J.Turnbull Broxburn.......... 1362 5 £34 T.Arthur Winchburgh.......... 1357 6 £137 T.C.Ogilvie Stirling........ 1351 7 £13 W.Stwvenson Lauriston........ 1350 8 £708 A.Johnston Stenhousemuir.... 1345.95 9 £261 Bain & Mc Gregor Condorrat.. 1345.92 10 £44 Mr & Mrs.J.Gauld Bathgate... 1344

1. £376 J.Whiteford & Sons Newmains vel 1081.8 2. £176 J.Wallace......... Larkhall.... 1081.5 3. £254 A.S.Hamelton ......Netherburn.. 1073.7 4. £147 G.Brownlie........ Carluke..... 1064.2 5. £86. A.Brown........... Bellshill... 1063.6 6. £554 A.H.Eadie&Kelly... Newmains.... 1058.8 7. £88. J.Hannah.......... Blantyre.... 1054. 8. £103.R.Alexander....... Salsburgh... 1045. 9. £92. A.Fowler.......... Border...... 1040. 10.£77. W.Barclay......... Carluke..... 1036.60 ...............4/06/1988

1 J.McNeill Broxburn vel 1149 2 R.Cormack Winchburgh.. 1145 3 A Orr Bo/ness......... 1133 4 J.McNeill Broxburn.... 1107 5 J Hadfield Blackburn.. 1101 6 S.Cleland West Calder. 1099 7 T.Paterson Pumpherston 1097 8 D.Cooper Winchburgh... 1091 9 R.Cormack Winchburgh...1079 10 G.Russell Philipstoun. 1071 LOUELLA PIGEON WORLD SPONSORED COLOUR TELEVISION WINNER WAS A.ORR BONESS

J Hannah Blantyre or D Hannah Burnbank

1 £278 D.Blyth & Son Carluke vel 1365.5 2 £100 J.Hannah Blantyre vel 1360. 3 £544 Mallan & McFadyen West Scotland vel 1342. 4 £133 A,Deans Uddingston vel 1341. 5 £49 Quinn Brothers Motherwell vel 1338.5 6 £177 Martin & King Allanton vel 1338.4 7 £188.25 R.Alexander Cam/m'de vel 1332.5 8 £111 Ward & Baird Burnbank vel 1332 9 £77 Martin & King Allanton vel 1330.6 10 £67 R.Baird Salsburgh vel 1330.5

Jim done the footnote on the sartilly 2 race the rest was done by James Flockhart my fault Gareth should have put the foot note on a seperate post

Members of our Federation(East Of Scotland) have been very succesful through the years. Neil Campbell won Rennes in 1947 eith White Dawn.Joe Hodgson of Drem won the Rennes race in 1955.John Ross won it in 1969,the following year the Knox Bros won it with''summerfield princess''.Eddie won it in 1981.Jimmy Jackson of Haddington also had the Honour of winning our blue riband of pigeon racing.Jimmy Clydesdale of Ormiston won the Nantes rsce in 1955 five years on and it was F Trezbriek of Dunbar who took this 600 miler 1985 saw Davidson & Little of Cockenzie win with Five times a lady.Jim Brunton of Dunbar won Averanches with True Grit in 1975 ,and five years later Eddie Newcombe won Averanches, in fact, he took the first tree positions.Alex Forbes of Prestonpans won Sartilly 1 Woof &Thompson,Sartilly 2 Tom McEwan did it in 1985.The Young Bird National was won by the Knox Bros from Redditch in 1977. John Bosworth also won this event as did A McEwan Eddie Newcombe and as recent as 1987 it was Jim Scott from Ormiston.That makes it 21 wins in National races which i'm sure would compare to any Federation in Scotland. After father died and the birds got poisoned we were left with a small team and subsequently had to do a rebuilding exercise.Wilf,my young brother,was left with the loft at New Winton and i started with my good son with a ten foot loft which still exsists today.I got seven late-breds and two old birds down from the old loft and these are the origination of my team.In 1969 i bred a blue cock that went on to fly the channel no fewer than 14 times,always doing it in race time.In his last year of racing he acheived in competing in three distance events, Rennes,Nantes and Averanches and timing at 6.59pm on the first time from one of them.His sons and daughters have all done well from the channel,one of his daughters crossed the channel six times before i retired it.It was given up to my brother to put to stock as i had no room for stock birds.Amonth later he gifted it to Charlie Dickson of Dunbar Charlie phoned me to say he was going to break her.She came back to me but i kept chasing her.For three days she sat on my house roof and on the third i chased her again ,and i could see her heading eastwards to Dunbar and that was her broken she was the grandam to Charlies 5th Open Rennes in 1987. He also got a blue cock and a blue hen from Wilf that were breeding winners The New Winton birds did Charlie a power of good,and played a prominent part in winning Scotlands own fancier of the year award. One of the best distance lofts in Scotland was Donaldson Bros Jimmy & John both now deceased were proper gentlemen, and still remember them sending father a telegram of congratulations on the occasion of winning all over the country and their own pigeons carried the name Lammermoor something or another,after of,course,the Lammermoor Hills just south of our Federation. Another good family of pigeon fanciers were the Nisbets of Trannent Wull ,Johnny and their father Bob Wull was christened ''The Dol King'' as he exccelled at that race point year after year.John Nisbet also had some outstanding pigeons from Rennes and Nantes,and his son Robbert now residing in Pencaitland is keeping up the name Nesbit by winning 6th Open Nantes in 1987. In our club at the moment we have Tom McLeod,my next door neighbour,he is a hard man to beat in every channel race,any race for that matter,year after year.His winnings for eight years are over £10.000 not bad going is it,?On the other side of me is John Bell who is another great fancier . Ican remember his father as a boy giving John Hay of Macmerry a hand over to Winton carrying the basketin the early thirties.He later became a succesful fancier in Trannent L.H.S.young John started up himself and has put up some outstanding performances such as 3rd Open Averanches and 10th Open Rennes and is in this years very hard to beat as is Tom McLeod.In conclusion i must say i have met many good people through the pigeons and would recommend any youngster to take up the hobby.Also let me say when you posses the finest pigeons trained to perfection,you must expect them to fail at sometime through no fault of their own.It is then that you must carry on and try even harder to achieve your ambitions.Once you reached your goal you must not slacken off.Results are not achieved wiyhout hard work by both the fancier and his pigeons.But the rewards are there for those who try and succeed in this most frustrating and yes , the most satisfying of sports. There was one race left when Jimmy Flockhart finalised this article and i'am happy to say that he himself won 7th Open from Sartilly 2 with a Red Pied Hen her sire was a Mealy Cock .It flew the channel six times,winning in Averanches and Rennes from his late fathers old strain.Dam was one of Bobby Caruthers stock hens,winner of the Sartilly 2 race was yet another East Of Scotland Federation member, none other than Harry Harper formerly of London and now Dunbar, with little emma three quarter Busschaert and Krauth.JIM RENWICK

The membership of the Scottish National Flying Club increased in the East due certainly to more of them cashing in on the prize list.The war curtailed channel racing and Dr William Anderson bought all my fathers channel birds including the first round of youngsters. I remember too that all fanciers had to join the N.P.S. (NATIONAL PIGEON SERVICE)if they wanted to purchase corn you had to breed eight youngsters for the Army and Air Force for every eight you bred ,you received 1cwt ,of corn,that was the only way you were allowed to keep pigeons. I joined the signals Corp, in 1940 and my father kept at that time 12 pairs of young birds.I went to Dundee and did my eight weeks training at Creif in Perthshire and later at Dufftown.Our division being 9th Highland, reserve for 51st Division.While at Dufftown we were made up of 51st Highland Devision as most of the original 51st were captured at Dunkirk.It was in Inverness that i first came across the Pigeon Service,we were in the cook-house having a late meal after working many hours laying lines,when three signalmen came in looking for a meal.They had been sent up to our Division asPigeoneers with a 1914 loft full of birds.This immediately intrested me.and quickly made arrangements with the loft sergeant to see the birds On seeing through the loft i applied for a transfer to the pigeon service,but through the Army channels this could take upto a year. I wrote home telling my father all about it and at one of the Delegate meetings in Glasgow he mentioned it to Dr Anderson who was delegate for west Lothian. He then advised that i write to a Mr Selby Thomas the National Homing Secretary of Gloucester telling him that the Dr had recommended me.Within a month my transfer was through and i was posted to the holding unit in Aldershot.I had to sit a written test under the supervision of Major Aukroyd and Sergeant Hammond and Alex King of Wishaw who was in charge of the loft at Aldershot. .After the test was complete i was told by Bill Hammond that i didn't need a handling test of the birds.About one month later we were made up as a unit for Northern Ireland.We arrived at a football field next to CrumlinJail called Girewood Park,from their was posted to Armagh Barracks with a loft of birds my job was instructing soldiers in different Units.Welinked up with birds as last line of communication.This proved to be a great personal experience for me,i met a lot of great fanciers during this period A E Robinson J M K McGugan John Jack I.H.U. Secretary Greer Galway.They organised shows for the charity and i was asked to judge at them and had some enjoyable nights with the irish fanciers,and being a scot, they would give me anything A E Robinson gifted me two hens .I got another two from J McGugan and they were introduced as crosses to our birds,which did well.When the second front was about to be launched we were sent back to Holding Unit at Aldershot to re-group and kit-out for the D Day landing in France.We eventually arrived in France and moved up behind the troops as they pushed through the Falaise Gap. We finished up in a football field in Brussels which had high poplar trees all around it.We were training one of our lofts of pigeons for night flying and we had them homing in complete darkness from 12 miles , there only sign on mous-trap loft was a sall red light. From there we moved to a village outside Eindhoven called Keldrop,we trained the birds from there to as far as the Red Caps would let us go to Mimegan Bridge over the Rhine,prior to the bridge falling.From there we made our way in to Bad-Salzuffelin in West Phalliax,and that was it the war was over. The last six months was a drag waiting to be demobbed.In march i was home for the start of the season 1946, demob suit and all.That same suit is still worn by Jim Renwick to this day or is it''smokey''? The Scottish National did not compete from France in 1946 but a race from Hastings was organised .We trained a red cheq cock for this race and as i was confident of its capabilities i had a few pound on him.He didnt let me down and was 9th Open into Scotland winning £162 the next year Rennes St Jaques was the race point chosen by the S.N.F.C.The birds were flown from London Airport and were eventually liberated at 10am on the Friday in a North West wind and heavy rain at night at the home end .So it was an early rise for my father my brother and his pal and myself.We were up waiting as early as 4.30am.My mother had breakfast ready at 7.30am and we could only go in two at a time.Father and i were first,we scarcely got seated at the table when we heard footsteps running towards the door with shouts ''its a bird James''i ran like mad to find my brother trying to put the bird in by cane to the wrong section of the loft on seeing this i took the cane and put him along the verandah and into his correct section.When i went to take the birds rubber of i could see it had been sitting in a field of clay over night.I couldnt see the ring,and in my haste to get it off i broke it in two and in these days we had to take inside and outside rubber ring numbers to put on the verification card which we had to post to the secretary.In my excitement i couldn't peice the ring but my brother took over and duly noted the numbers then timed it in.Also in these days we had to send telegram within hour of bird being clocked.we finished 2nd Open in race,winning £362. We had won over £400 altogether that season and my father asked what i was going to do with the money.90% of it was mine as i had pooled the Red Cock (EXPECTED). My two brothers had a couple of fivers on birds from Rennes so i decided to split the money four ways,giving us £100 each .My father and i decided to put £20 each into a fund and any birds that we sold and the income from the same would as well,for the next ten years the pigeons kept themselves,Certainly we couldn't afford to keep them from our wages. 1948 saw the S.N.F.C. Race from Guernsey,the following year it was Charleroi(France)which was to the East and most birds came up over the North sea,we lost our good bird(EXPECTED)in this one but managed to time in another pied cock at 4,45am next morning.We only sent two birds to each channel event,our performances were very encouraging and when you consider we had taken top positions like2nd Dol 2nd Rennes 3rd 5th and 6thNantes it could be said our results were outstanding.

MyFather George Flockhart started keeping racing pigeons in 1920 in the small village of New Winton which comprised of 33 houses.The only employment was the coal mines which meant all fanciers were coal miners.Aclub was started with elleven fanciers which took in members from yhe outlying villages and at one time they mustered as many as 24 members. A24 bird toulet clock was purchased and everyone ran to the club clock.They were all measured for running time,my fathers distance was 118 yards. Our next door neighbour's boy was three years older than me and was a good runner,sohe got the job of running with the first ring as i ran with the second one. Jim Learmouth usually got £1 from my father as he won a good few races in the race to the clock. His running eventually won him the Christmas half-mile at Powderhall Stadium . Jim Learmouth later owend the Tranmere Hotel in Tranent until his retirement and always showed a keen intrest in the pigeons.In these days we sent our birds to racepoints by rail which meant a half-mile carry to the station after the birds were race marked the young lads in the village organised a sweep at 1-/(5p)each,the winner would take all usually about £1 .It was all very exciting,especially as the winner was never disclosed until the sunday morning when the velocity was made out. In these days most fanciers couldn't afford to send to France and i recall Alex McNeil of New Winton,a great friend of my father,sending a Hen to Rennes in 1922 my father fancied her and was up at dawn next morning after liberation to watch for her.Alex was still in bed when she homed and had to be aroused to get her timed to finish 2nd Open to G.Gardiner of Glasgow. this was probably the right insentive for my Father to try for distance racing. Also in these days it was the done thing to pay a visit to local lofts on a Sunday morning, and i remember just before the start of the racing season in 1926 visiting Jimmy Robertson of Elphinstone,a small village one mile away. He asked me if i had any rings on me.I always carried a ring hoping to get a pied,Jimmy duly rung me a pied, its ring number was SURP26E2323. This bird went on to win out of Rennes twice and Nantes and bred in his lifetime 40 or so 500 milers. it was on Wegge&Gits bloodlines and lived to the ripe old age of 21.In 1933 my father gave Alex McLaughlin of Stenhousemuir a pied cock bred from it when he came to visit us one Sunday morning .In conversation about 500 milers, Alex was told to take the pied cock through to Dave Love who was his loft manager with the words still ringing in my ears,''if he doesn't time in out of Rennes i'll eat my bonnet'' As a two year old it had won Salisbury in club and Alex sent through £1 so that my father could visit him as he was going to America on holiday .His wife was an American and they went to their ranch every year . On going through his birds for the channel father asked why the Gay Pied Cock wasn't going . He said he was leaving it till it was three years old. As soon as Alex left the old boy told theloft manager to send it,and if it got lost he would give him one the same way bred.So of it went to Rennes. The birds were up in a north west wind and the Gay Pied was clocked on the night flying 35 miles further than the winner to Casey Bros of Strathaven and finished 2nd section 3rd Open in 1935.Ihave many memories of the past, most of them happy ones. I started work at the age of 14,jobs were hard to find.Iwas lucky to get one with the CO-OP in their markrt gardens and had to work three hours overtime every night for three pence an hour.overtime was never a convenient way of life for pigeon fanciers and even as a young lad it was something i could have done without.On the occasion of a channel race it could be slightly annoying having to put in these hours when you could have been sitting at the loft sampling the atmosphere that surrounds such events.Iremember onr Rennes race when we were getting wet,and the falling mist made it very uncomfortable for us when our old gaffer decided to call a halt for the day. Despite our condition it was a great feeling,and i was glad to get home to wait for the birds,not exactly looking for them,but more hoping as the weather was bad. As i was cycling home i met my father on his bike with the clock,my thoughts were that the clock had stopped and he was taking it for a re-set,and when i asked him where he was going he replied he had timed the Cheq Hen.What a thrill that was .The next day a big bentley car arrives at the door, it was Mr McCutcheon from Harrogate looking for George Flockhart. This gentleman was a chaffeur to a professor who had a patient in the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh and visited him once a month. on the Friday of the Rennes race they travelled to Edinburgh and had to have their lights on all the way owing to fog.Visibility was down to 20 yards and he told my father he did not know how the Cheq Hen managed to get through,she was only 6th Open and the winner was timed to a Mr Duncanson of Leven in Fife.there were only two birds clocked flying over 500 miles on the day.Iam sure thet this gave the fanciers in the East of Scotland theurge to try 500 mile S.N.F.C. racesas up to then only a few tried the long races upto the outbreak of the second world war.

Two for me please

Two for me please

THE NORTH YORKSHIRE town of Ripon was chosen in preference to the costal town of Tynemouth, in Co Durham,for The Welsh Young-Bird National of 1964.The 1,045 entrants for this race were liberated at 8.a.m. on August 29 and the leaders were being clocked soon after noon on that day,the first of these, WHU64B100, being to the loft of Buffet & Rees,at Pontypridd, at 12.17.p.m.,which eventually was placed in 3rd Open position, having flown 192 miles and making a velocity of 1,311.y.p.m. The winner of 1st Open and 1st Centre Section wasG.Williams, of Tongwynlais , Cardif, with his youngster WHU64K4569,which flew 195 miles, and recorded a velocity of 1,326.y.p.m. ahead of F.R.Fox's (Llanbradach) bird WHU64R115,Flying a distance of 190 miles. Well known Welsh National competitors, F.Channing & Son, of Newport annexed 1st East Section,velocity 1,328.9.y.p.m with partners Ashford & Jones, of Caerau, taking 1st West Section,velocity 1.236.y.p.m.

THE WELSH NATIONAL from Lerwick which is generally regarded as being one of the toughest assighnments for the birds from the land of the valleys and hills, once again proved to be a test supreme.with only 18 of the 226 birds entered in the race making it home on the day. The convoy being set of on their journey,of approximatley 600 miles to Wales,on June 20 at 4,30 a.m. and at 3.37 p.m. 11 hours later that day,the two years-old Mealy Hen WHU62A2876 was clocked by her owner,Mr K Bald of Phillipstown,to become winner of the race by 55 minutes, recording a velocity of 1,553 y.p.m. and winning £92 11s.A seven year-old pigeon WHU58K2105,raced by R Grantland,of Mountain Ash which flying a distance of 592 miles was clocked at 4.32 p.m. to win 2nd Open and £82.11s ., velocity 1,442 with WHU61D376 coming in at 4.45.p.m. to win 3rd Open and £120.1s.for D Pearce of Llantwit.The last bird clocked on the day was to the loft of G Fear, of Pontypridd,at 8.30.p.m. and a further 15 birds were clocked on the second day. The 1.002 BIRBS entered for the second of the annual Welsh National races,were liberated at 6.a.m. from Thurso on July 4, and a very good race ensued with all prizes and pools being won with birds making velocitys upwards of 1,300.y.p.m Two year old pigeons were well to the fore.with the first three and other prominent positions being taken with birds of this age. The winner of first Open and first centre section was Mr B Davis of Dowlais with his Blue Hen WHU62L3319 Known as''Miss Dainty''her velocity being 1,386 y.p.m. Mr Davis prize and pools ammounted to £96 11s Mr E Marshman of Ystrad Mynach gained 2nd Open 2nd centre section with his pigeon WHU62K389 to win £67 11s velocity 1,383 y.p.m. with C Hale of Tredegar in third position Open and Section with his Cheq Hen WHU62K1532 recording a velocity of 1,382 and winning £38 11s. Partners Turley&Higgs of Blackwood were the winners of 1st East section velocity 1,373. and to Jones Bros ofCwmgwrach went top honours in the West Section their bird recording a velocity of 1,378 Winners of pools and prizes in this event shared £1.889.

After Having Their race for the Kings Cup from Les Sables for the four years from 1960 to 1963 the Irish National Flying Club chose Nantes as the point of liberation of their birds for this event in 1964 with pleasing results. Despite the birds being held in the baskets for seven days,until July 13th,the birds were evidently in good condition and no less than 21 of the entrants reached their lofts-more than 500 miles away-by night fall that day, and a further 200 birds were reported on the second day. The Winners of 1st Open and the Kings Cup were the Goudy Bros., of Muckamore,Co. Antrim, with their Blue Cheq Hen NU61P22970,wich flew 556miles to record a velocity of 1,111 y.p.m. The partnership who have had numerous successes in previouse National events, entered four birds in this particuar race and clocked them all their winner on the day of toss, two the next morning, and finally one in the afternoon of the second day. Top honours in this event were also taken by J.Greer. of Cullybackey, winner of 2nd Open on a velocity of 1,099 y.p.m. and Stewart Bros. of Lingoniel, winners of 3rd Open on 1,098 y.p.m. The Irish Y,B National was flown from Milford Haven on September 12.with an entry of approximately 2000 birds. The liberation was at 9.30 a.m. in a light easterly wind,with that a very successful race ensued. The premier position was taken by Smyth Bros. of Ballymena,with their Blue Pied CockNU64D37161 making a velocity of1,284 y.p.m. to win £155.Barr Bros also of Ballymena. claimed2nd position with a velocity of 1,260 y.p.m. In 3rd place was J Fitzpatrick. of Dunacloney, with a velocity of 1,259 .TO ROUND OF the 1964 season the Irish National Flying Club staged an''extra'' from Skibbereen, and this turned out to be a great successes with over 2000 birds competing for £2300 in prizes and pools. It was a close result with J Berner of Killyleagh being the winner with a velocity of 1,410 and winning £247, followed by W,J.Brown and Son, of Gregagh in in second place velocity 1,410 to win £110 , and J Flanagan.of Dublin, in third position, velocity. 1,409

24= 2x12 bird baskets

Yes i think lady jane came from Davie Forsyth as an egg he broke the record from Barcellona twice 1000 miles he used to sit in his car from 3.30 a.m. waiting for first lite to lib them then back at 10.30 p.m. for two weeks before chosen races i did read that he took a flask and sandwiches with him cause he could sit for upto 8 hours waiting on the weather getting better he comes across as a rite gent

Weather Reports for July 17-18th gave those members with the Scottish National Flying Club with birds entered for the Nantes race,high hopes of a good contest,but thunderstorms and heavy rain marred this event and caused the competitors much disappointment.Of the 1.260 entries liberated on July 17th not one made home on day.infact it was way past noon on 18th July before first arrivals were recorded. Mr G Kerr of Annan clocked at 12.22. p.m.,Mr&Mrs Horsburghat 12.43 p.m. and Mr.W.O'Neill of Larkhall had at 12.55 p.m. what was to be the last bird for more than two and a half hours- and the winner.! Mr.O'Neill's champion was his Blue Cecq Hen SURP61L3834, '' Lady Jean '' which had flown 598 miles and recorded a velocity of766 y.p.m. to win 1st Open 1st West Section- a truly magnificent performance. Mr Kerr gained 2nd Open 1st South Section with his Dark Cheq Hen SURP62S657 making a velocity of 711 y.p.m., and Mr&Mrs horsburgh-adding to their success in the Rennes Race - clamed 3rd Open 2nd South Section with their Dark Cheq Hen SURP60S5728 which flew 548 miles,recording velocity 707 y.p.m.