Once again WP tells the story of Phil' the cockney' Hyslop and his SNFC winners. Some fancier and even bigger character.
Enjoy.
On 23rd September there was a Post on this site, which showed a photograph of the front page of the September 1990 issue of the Gazette, with the pigeon featured being Blue Pied hen āNewington Sharlisa, that was bred and raced by Philip Heslop from Annan.
Having previously lived in London, Philip moved to Annan following his marriage and influenced by friends and work colleagues he decided to enter the Fancy assembling a modest team of pigeons that were gifted to him by several local fanciers including Billy Dalrymple, with whom he formed a close friendship. In the early days a young Pied hen entered the loft, which he reported and was allowed to keep. It was bred by Peter Virtue from Cockburnspath and contained the lines of SURP62E7236 on the Damās side, which was a noted stock bird in Peterās loft and a Kirkpatrick cock from John Jackson from Longtown on the Sireās side that contained the lines of ā443ā and āSolway Kingā. This hen developed into an absolute beauty and when Philip entered her in a local Show that was judged by Tom Little from Creca it not only won its Class but following the Show Tom spoke to Philip and told him he was so impressed with it he should ānail it to the floorā. This hen proved to be a superb breeder producing a number of really good pigeons, including a cock that was 1st South Section 21st Open Avranches.
In 1981 Philip attended the Clearance Sale of Eddie McCall from Wigton in the company of Billy Dalrymple. Present at the Sale also was Ian Axe from Owston Ferry, who by chance knew Billy and in conversation Billy introduced Ian to Philip. By coincidence, Ian shared a friendship with Andy Irving, who was also friendly with Philip; Andy was actually the brother of Jimmy Irving of āSolway Kingā fame and when on one occasion Ian was visiting Andy at Annan he was taken to Philipās home to view the pigeons. The bottom line was that a friendship was formed with Philip receiving pigeons from Owston Ferry containing best bloodlines. He obtained his first youngsters from Ian Axe in 1982 and to illustrate the quality of the birds received, in 1983 he was 10th, 15th and 100th Open in the Yearling Derby organised by the Scottish Midweek Specialist Club with all three of the winning pigeons having been received from Ian the previous year. In 1983 also he won the W.J. Gass Trophy in the Federation for the best average from the two Open races with Ian Axe bloodlines being influential in winning the trophy.
In 1990 Philip realised an ambition to win a Scottish National when he headed the result from Sartilly (1) with āNewington Sharlisaā. The convoy was released at 6.30am with Philip timing the winner at 3.20pm, recording a velocity of 1449ypm and heading the result by 52ypm. āNewington Sharlisaā was a 1988 bred Blue Pied hen that had two races as a youngster and went to Dorchester as a yearling. She was coupled during the third week in February 1990 and reared a pair of youngsters in her first round, was dummied on the second round and was then set down for Sartilly on her third round of eggs, going to the race covering ten day eggs. In preparation she went to five inland races to Cheltenham and was then given five training tosses with her fifth toss being from Windermere that is off the regular route on which the Solway birds work, which meant that she had to āthinkā to negotiate her way home. The Sire of āNewington Sharlisaā was a Blue Pied Delbar cock, which Philip obtained from Ian Axe. Dam was a Dr. Manil Delbar Grizzle hen that Philip had on loan from friend Alex Graham, having been bred by Alan McCulloch. Having said that the Dam of the Pied hen was received on loan from Alex Graham, in should be explained that in former years I worked at the Cochran Boilerworks and as part of my job I interfaced with a several fanciers who worked in other Departments with one such fancier being Alex who was a Product Inspector and as the years passed, he and I became close friends. Alex had an interest in the pigeon hobby having been influenced by his father, Willie Graham, who was a very able fancier and close friend of John Kirkpatrick, indeed when JK was suffering from a terminal illness in his final years, Willie assisted him to care for his pigeons. With his fatherās team at the back door of the family home and visiting the loft of John Kirkpatrick with his father, one could understand why Alex was steeped in our hobby. He told me often of being at John Kirkpatrickās loft when āGalabank Princeā and āGalabank Dukeā homed from Nantes in 1952 to be 1st and 2nd Open National. He said that when the first pigeon arrived, John Kirkpatrick was in the house shaving and his father was in the loft. The pigeon hit the platform and Alex alerted his father, telling him the yellow one was home. He told me that āGalabank Princeā was a pale Red and was known by John Kirkpatrick and his father as āthe yellow cockā. His father timed the pigeon and John Kirkpatrick came out of the house half-shaved. Following the death of John Kirkpatrick, Willie raced the team for a further season in the name of Mrs. Kirkpatrick and in 1954 was 3rd Open from S.N.F.C. Rennes with āGalabank Remembranceā. In time Alex married, with his wife Margaret, being the daughter of Alan McCulloch from Waterloo, Wishaw, who was another super fancier. Alan was 2nd Open S.N.F.C. Rennes 1952 and importantly had the magical ability to produce quality pigeons on a regular basis. Following his marriage, Alex entered the fancy in partnership with friend Adam Donaldson, with Margaret ābehind the scenesā actively contributing to the success story. On forming their loft, Alex and Adam used the Kirkpatrick lines of Willie Graham, stock obtained from friends in West Cumberland and introductions from Alan McCulloch. Over the years they gained a number of successes, including 1st Section Avranches 1981 and 1st Section Sartilly 1985. They additionally won an S.N.F.C. Gold Award with their winner having scored from the channel with the S.N.F.C. on eight occasions and in 1969 won the Young Bird National. Alex had a great eye for a pigeon and having been beside him, on visiting lofts, was well aware that he always but always selected the best pigeons in the shed. On the day before basketing for the Sartilly National in 1990 he called me on the internal phone at our work and said ācome with me tonight to Philip Heslopās and handle the Blue Pied hen heās sending to Sartilly, it will be a first time ever Billy, the scribe has attended at the loft and handled the National winner before it went to the raceā. He added āI was there last night and had a hold of it, itās an absolute topper, is in marvellous order and it wouldnāt surprise me one wee bit if it came out and won the Nationalā. Well, Alex was a bit of a joker and believing it to be a wind-up, I chose not to go. Well as explained above, the Pied hen did indeed win the National and in retrospect, I maybe should have heeded my friendās advice.
Move forward to 1993 and Philip gained his second National win. Pigeons competing with the S.N.F.C. from Nantes formed part of a large convoy including birds from several North of England organisations. The race was planned Saturday for 3rd July and whilst the English entry was released on schedule, the S.N.F.C. entry was āheld overā due to an unfavourable weather forecast for the North of England and Scotland. Conditions were no better the following day but with an improved forecast on the Monday the Scottish entry was released at 8.30am on Monday 5th July into a light North wind. The race proved difficult with no arrivals on the day of liberation. Philip Heslop timed at 9.17am on the second day to head the result on 822ypm, 43ypm ahead of the second pigeon in the result with the second pigeon in the Section being 6 hours behind the race winner. Philip only had a single bird at the race but it was but it was a right good one, having scored on several occasions as youngster including 17th Section 216th Open from the Y.B. National. She wasnāt raced as a yearling as she was injured but was back on the road as a 2 y.o. going through the programme to Sartilly being 39th Section 56th Open. She went to the channel again as a 3 y.o. on this occasion being 46th Section 154th Open Rennes. The intention was in 1993 to send her to Rennes again and in preparation she was paired in early March and reared a pair of youngsters, thereafter going to four inland races with the Federation through to Cheltenham with the plan being to set her up for Rennes. She threw her third and fourth flights together however, which prompted Philip to change her race to give the new flights ātimeā to grow and went to Nantes covering 12 day eggs. The National winner was a Blue Pied hen that was bred by Ian Axe, the Dam a dark eyed Blue Chequer bred by Robert Venus, bloodlines being Jan Aarden containing long distance lines through to Barcelona with the noted āDolleā being quoted prominently in the pedigree. Sire was Blue Delbar cock āBrianā, Sire of many winners through to 500 miles. He was out of two direct Delbar imports, āLa Roseā and āLe Sirrocco. āLe Sirroccoā that was out of a 1964 Blue hen when paired to āPetit Blueā 1st National Libourne. As explained Philipās first National winner was named āNewington Sharlisaā with the Nantes winner being named āNewington Martinaā.
There you have it, the story of Philip Heslopās two National winners, adding words to the photograph that appeared on Solway Federation Facebook page on 23rd September.
Billy Wortley
