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The Joe Murphy Column 1 Margaret and I travelled through to Newmains in Lanarkshire for the sale of Billy Bilsland’s pigeons. There was a good turnout of fanciers, with many coming from a good distance. Even as far as Liverpool and a fancier who obviously lives in the UK but has a loft in China. The pigeons were in excellent condition and to be honest sold themselves, as they were bred from the Scottish National winners or were grandchildren from them. David McCaig did a wonderful job as Auctioneer with fellow fanciers also helping out, and ex SHU president and good pal of Billy’s John Barlow dealing with the transactions. Everything run smoothly however I was quite shocked that very few fanciers from the Lothians and Edinburgh area, with none from Fife. Dundee had a couple of fanciers present and they went home with a bird or two. Overall, I think everyone who attended was happy and some of the TOP pigeons made their way to new homes in England. Billy and Isla were pleased and it will now cut down on his work load and give them both more time to see their grandchildren. A Shock I was very disappointed in reading in today’s BHW that Jim Donaldson of Peterhead had passed away. In the late 1980’s I was an HGV driver and worked for a kitchen company and delivered kitchen, worktops, etc. throughout the whole of Scotland. On a Monday I would leave Fife and travel through to Glasgow, Greenock; down to Dumfries, Gretna and finish up at Langholm, where I spent some great hours with Anne & Derrick Norden. The following day I would travel up the east/central area of the Lothians and finally return home to Kirkcaldy. The lorry was loaded up on the Wednesday, I would travel up to Forfar; Brechin; Stonehaven, Aberdeen; then moving on up to Peterhead, where I met up with Jim Wiseman. He was just starting up in the sport of pigeon racing, but at night he would have Irvine Buchan; George Duthie, Jim & Anne Donaldson and we spoke about pigeons and had a great time. The next week we would go to Jim & Anne’s and I did this for a good number of years. One night we discussed the feeding of racing pigeons and how to load them with carbohydrates prior to going to the nationals. As I was leaving to go and sleep in my lorry; Anne gave me some money and asked, ‘Can you get me some of that special feeding and bring it up in your lorry next week’, which I did. The friendship we had was something to behold and I actually introduced Jim & Anne to Dennis Dall when they came down to Fife with their national birds. I kept in touch with both of them plus Irvine; but Jim Wiseman had a business that dealt with the fishing boats that came into Peterhead harbour and he did not have time for racing pigeons. Over the years we drifted apart as I changed jobs and finally did my HNC in social work and worked as a senior social care worker, in old people care homes. Before finishing up working in with Deaf & Blind service users. The point of the above is I cannot believe that not one person could not find the time; to phone or email me informing me that Jim Donaldson had passed away. To read it in the obituary column and see his photo in Keith Molts column was a complete shock. To Anne and their family, I send my sincere condolences at the passing of their dearly loved one. Rest in Peace my old friend. Edinburgh International Charity Racing Pigeon Show 1986 Another dear old friend of mine; Henry Mair of Irvine has forwarded me the advert for the above show which was printed in the BHW on 31 st October 1986. There was two Grand Auctions the first on Saturday 8 th November at 2-30pm with the Sunday auction on 9 th at 1-00pm. The auctioneer was Oliver Thompson. The Saturday sale had some famous names with birds on offer such as; Davidson & Little of Cockenzie; Albert Witty of Malton; John Carmichael of Annan; The Joe Murphy Column 2 David Rose of Aberdeen; Hugh Brown of Stonehouse; Wilson Noble of Fraserburgh; Brian May of Rotherham; John Ellis of Dundee; Alf Rothwell of Tynemouth; R Telfer & Son Motherwell; G Duncan of Deal; Hendry Maid of Irvine; Johnny Park of Aberdeen; Robert Rome of Annan; J F Roberson of Jedburgh. The Sunday sale started at 1-00pm; again, Oliver was the auctioneer; Birds were donated from Ritchie & Whyte of Cairnbuig; J Elliot of Duns; McIvor Brothers Carnwath; George Gartshore of Deal; P G Hastie & son North Berwick; McIvor Brothers Carnwath; F Douglas & son Aberdeen; Matt Jamieson Annan; R Bearhope of Coldstream; Fear Brothers of Clandown; W Ferguson & son Annan; W (Taffy) Bowen of Rhondda; Davy Rose of Aberdeen; Stan Sudlow of Jedburgh; R & H Kennedy of Irvine; Bobby Carruthers of Bonnyrigg; Robert Cormack of Winchburgh; Bob McDonald of Fraserburgh; A H Bennett of Church Stretton; Brown & Gormley of High Valleyfield; Bob Mayo of Chester; Jim Hannah of Blantyre; G Turnbull of Cornhill on Tweed; Wally Pope of East Ham; Bernard A Miles of Brighton. I can remember some of these names; these fancies were household names within the sport. I was 39 years old at this time and some of the names mentioned above were like ‘supper hero’s’ to me; just like football players are to the youngsters nowadays. Gourdon & District RPC Annual Open Show Received an email from Margaret Hay of the above club who write’s, ‘Hi Joe, It’s almost that time of year again for the ‘Doo Show’ at Bervie, so I’m asking if you could announce the details in your Joe Murphy Column page. The details as follows: The Gourdon & District Annual open show will be held on Sunday 27 th November in the Masonic Hal; King Street Inverbervie. Penning will be from 09-00am to 10-30am; with judging starting at 11.00am prompt. Entries are £1.00 per bird with the prize money being £20.00; 1 st is £10.00; 2 nd x £6.00; 3 rd x £4.00. With teas and coffees, bacon rolls; sausage rolls and dumpling. There will also be a raffle and sale of 2023 youngsters. Classes are as follows; Class One; Any Age Cock Through Wires; Class Two; Any Age Hen Through Wires; Class 3; Likely Old Cock; Class 4; Likely Old Hen; Class 5; Likely Young Cock; Class 6; Likely Young Hen. Class 7; Eye sign; this can be duplicated into any of the above classes. If interested then send your entries to David Hay (jnr) on 01561 361588; or David Hay (snr) on 01561 361526. Entries close on Friday 25 th of November at 10.00 pm; there may be late entries if pens are available; very much appreciated Joe, kindest regards Margaret Hay’. I think you will have to give Margaret a phone to see if the show is still on due to the ‘Bird Flu’ rules that are now in place. 4 Generations Last week Margaret and I met up with our great grandchildren one afternoon at their home. We enjoyed spending time with the older girls when they came home from school. We also managed to hold our first and only great grandson named Remy; who is now 2 months old. As we were enjoying this special time and listing to Remy’s 2 big sisters; Dylahn & Daisy, our grandson Blaine and his dad our oldest son Mark came into the house. This was a fine opportunity to have a photo taken of our 4 generation of the Murphy family. I have attached a photo of us which is a very special occasion and more importantly a very special one. The Joe Murphy Column 3 Joe’s Joke A bloke goes to his doctor’s and said he wants castrating, the doctor said ‘Have you given this a lot of thought’ the bloke replies ‘Yes; it is what I want’. So, an appointment was made and he attended the hospital and was castrated. When he came round and sat up in bed; he turned to the lad in the next bed to him and said ‘What are you in for?’ The lad said ‘Oh I’ve been circumcised’ ‘Oh shit that’s the word’ says the bloke. Please continue to keep the news flowing; to 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 you can also view online editions on: www.elimarpigeons.com www.fancierchat.co.uk www.pigeon-chat.co.uk - www.Pigeonbasics.com - Pigeon Racing the Basics! - thecanadianpigeoninternational.com www.internationalracingpigeon.com or https://sites.google.com/site/internationalracingpigeon/ Who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland? © COMPILED BY JOE MURPHY

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Wishing Raymond a very speedy recovery.

UP NORTH COMBINE LOFT VISITS (PART 1) Rod Adams of South Shields. In my near 50 years as a pigeon fancy press ‘scribe’, you can imagine how many premier lofts I have visited over the years and my visits to Rod Adams’ railway siding racing loft are some of my most memorable. I first became aware of Rod Adams in the early 1980’s when I saw him on ‘The Fancy’ television programme, which featured the Up North Combine and some of its premier members at that time. It featured several top lofts, including Ralph Iley and Bill Porritt, who’s lofts I also had the great pleasure to visit in later years. ‘The Fancy’ was one of the best things, featuring pigeon racing I’ve ever seen on TV and it remands one of my favourites until this day. I don’t think Rod races his pigeons now, but like myself, writes in the fancy press regularly and keeps a few pairs of birds in his back garden to play with. On one of my most recent trips to the North-East of England I had the great pleasure of visiting the railway siding loft of the pigeon ‘scribe’ and one of the premier long-distance fanciers of the mighty Up North Combine, Rod Adams of South Shields. I have visited his establishment several times over the years and first visited Rod's loft with the “Many Miles with Mott' video camera in the mid-1990’s, and since then he changed his loft for a new ‘L’ shaped structure, with a pan tile and plastic roof. The smart new building is about 40ft long and has open-door trapping into a full length corridor, which Rod likes because he can stand in the dry and can observe the inmates. The best feature of the new set-up is, in my opinion, the white plastic cladding on the front, which is completely water proof and will never rot. I must say though, it was a bit sad to see his old green loft gone, as it was one of the most famous in the North-East of England, being sited on the allotment by the railway tracks. Rod is a man of character, holding great respect in our sport. On our arrival at his lofts, he invited, 'Big' Bill Young and myself into the cabin and made us a nice cup of tea. For many years he had concentrated on the longest old bird race from Bourges, which is 570 miles to the North-East. In recent years he has been rewarded for his dedication by winning 1st open Bourges in the mighty UNC. He maintains that there is nothing better than a pigeon that flies 15 or 16 hours home on the night from this race point. His greatest performance, he feels, was his Bourges Combine win, although through the years he has had some good hens which have had dual high positions in the UNC returning on the night from Bourges. Also, the loft has recorded five times 1st Federation from Bourges in the last few years, which is a fantastic achievement. When I asked how long he'd been in the sport, he told me, 'I have kept pigeons since I was 10 years old, but I have been racing on my own since I was about 20, having kept birds now for over 50 years. I was fortunate enough to start off in an area where we had when we were about 16 years old, what we used to call a 'Pudding Club', a boys' club where we raced each other for a pot of money. 'Gradually, after looking after other people's pigeons, I decided to fly my own in 1959 and I was fortunate enough to fly behind a man who was a living legend in South Shields, a guy called Tommy Burke. Tommy taught me how to race pigeons. At that time I couldn't win any races but I got Tommy's pigeons, acquired his methods, and in the space of about 5 years I was winning inland averages. In 1971 I was flying in partnership with a guy called Herbie Elliott. In that season we had 16 times 1st inland, but we couldn't time from the distance, so I decided there and then , to get rid of inland pigeons and concentrate on the distance’. Rod won the UNC from Bourges with a lovely little chequer hen which he had called 'Little Miss Bourges'. I asked him a little bit about her background and about her build-up to her Combine win and he told me, 'They must be bred to do the job. She’s bred from a full brother to the two good hens that were actually given to me by Alan Hindhaugh. Now, the dam of this hen is bred through Sonny Galloway's Combine winner called' School Mistress', and down to a hen off Herbie Elliott called '2953', whose dam actually had three times 1st t federations on the Channel including 9th Open Combine Melon. 'When this little hen was a year old,' said Ron, 'I told some Scottish fanciers that I’d win the Combine from Bourges with her and in fact I called her 'Little Miss Bourges' to make the point she's small, she's female and Bourges is a long way away. When she was a yearling I simply took her to Lille, which is about 350 miles and out of there she came home on the day. As a two year old, the race that actually made this hen was the Greater Distance Club race organisation that we had in the North of England with about 50 fanciers devoted to long-distance racing and this little hen went to Sartilly. I hadn't realised how west Sartilly was, about 436 miles to me, and in fact the winning pigeon took about 12 hours. I had actually looked up and thought the race was finished. She was the sixth bird home on the day, wasn't touched and she had learned from that experience. She'd gone up the wrong side of the country, but rectified her mistake. 'I let her sit for a month, sitting on eggs 12 days and sent her back to Bourges, which is 571 miles and we got a very strange race. The birds were liberated very late. In fact, it really was a two-day race and she turned in the next morning about 08.30hrs to be 30th open Up North Combine. The following season I sent her to the equivalent of Sartilly, which is Pontorson, maybe 45 miles more (possibly 40 miles) with the Northern Classic and she was clocked at 20.00hrs. As she wasn't tired, I lined her up for Bourges. She was sitting 12 days when she went and her youngster was still following her around, being not quite full grown and still sitting in the nest box with her. I gave her about three 35 mile tosses and in that month she literally had an open hole all the time. She was sent to Bourges fully pooled and I expected her to come. It was her fastest race and I was actually putting the birds in the car for a mainland race when she came. I lost no time and she really came well, not looking distressed at all. She's a beautiful little hen, evenly marked, very calm. She has a nice temperament and she's always been a bird I've fancied'. Rod is one of the personalities in our sport and has a great knowledge of racing pigeons and when I asked him about his management he told me, 'It's totally natural. I've never flown widowhood but I do fancy going with a small team to 600 miles. I normally pair the birds up the first week in March and keep about 40 pairs of racers which are all dedicated to 500 mile racing, sooner or later. 'I'm not a heavy trainer, giving them enough training early in the season so I don't lose them. There isn't a bird born that can't be lost at 80 miles on a bad day and I try to give them a select number of races. The older birds go to, say, 500 miles and will only get three races on the build-up, perhaps one at 80, and one at 150, then they go to Lille which is 300 miles, then Bourges, which is 570. I tend to race the yearlings on a more regular basis and they have to go to 400 miles. I'm fortunate enough to be able to get reasonable corn from the farm or fancier friends and I virtually hopper feed beans and peas from the farm, which I mix with a decent commercial mixture as I get nearer the Channel races, supplementing the feed with about 30% maize. My favourite condition for sending them to the longer races goes back to the days of Tom Kilner, who was a legend in the UNC. He always sent his birds 12 days sitting at basketing and I maintain mine at 12 days on basketing, although I've had some good results with birds on very small youngsters. There's no such thing as a system that suits the whole loft. What you have to do is pick the individuals out of the team. I've always said you can't breed a Combine winner; you have to breed the gene pool. Out of that perhaps you'll get a decent pigeon. I've always made my mind up that if anybody gave me the chance of two pigeons in the nest bowl, I would always take the smaller one. I don't think big 500 / 600 milers exist. If they do, they're one-off jobs and they never come again. My ideal pigeon for Channel racing at 600 miles is small to medium and I must say I do prefer hens.' Rod's pigeons looked very contented in the very spacious old bird section. When I asked what families of pigeons he races, he replied, 'Just an amalgamation of a lot of birds, mainly obtained within the UNC when I first started off and decided I was going to fly the Channel. I basically went to established Channel fanciers in the area - Billy Knapp, Billy Gibbons, Sonny Galloway, Ayton Marshall, well established names and I used these birds as a base. I turned out some pretty good performances over the years, crossing with Herbie Elliotts and one or two more birds, but the turning point came when I got two hens off Alan Hindhaugh, which were cousins to the 'Mean Machine', an exceptional bird in the UNC. These two hens, which were basically Busschaerts, turned in some tremendous Bourges performances for me, flying three times on the day between them and five times in the Combine result. I can take you into my stock loft now which is behind my house. It's a small loft; maybe 12ft long with an aviary and contains nothing except birds that are either bred from Combine winners or birds that have put up exceptional performances from Bourges. Within that block I have birds from these, late breds, and these are bred from the original stock and from the present team. I've always been conscious of the fact that in every area there are good individual local people so I collect all these winners from whatever areas I can within the UNC and bring them into the stock loft. I have about 14 pairs of stock birds. I've got light available and the loft is alarmed and I have an insurance policy because of the very fact that I have birds on a local site. I asked him if there is a type of pigeon he likes and he answered, 'Well, I think if you bring birds in you have to bring in the type that you like. I could get pigeons off Tom, Dick and Harry and they won't be as good as my own. I look for birds that have got a performance history of 500 or 600 miles. There was a time when, if you got birds from Bourges by 9 o'clock on the second day, then you would have won 70% of the clubs. Now it's more a time when you see speed, so I look for birds that are the same size as mine, medium to small and birds which have an ancestry of flying distance races'. Rod likes to have between 50 and 60 young birds each year to race but because he prefers every pair of old birds to have a pair of youngsters he sometimes has more than this number, the surplus donated to charity sales. He trains his young bird team much the same as most fanciers, training and racing them through to 200 miles, just to educate them for Bourges. In later life, he races his young birds natural to the perch and when I enquired of him what he thought of the darkness system, he told me, 'It's been in my area for about 10 years and there isn't any doubt that when watching them racing, it's very impressive. I've never flown it because I'm interested in those birds as 2ys and I have a sneaking feeling that a lot of the top fanciers in the North of England, who've been on the darkness system, are tending to come off it. I also have a sneaking feeling that there might be a price to pay which there always is, whatever you do. You can't even force rhubarb without paying a price and I think later in life something might happen with those birds'. Rod's loft is very natural and all his young birds run with the old birds all through the season, only to be split up at the end of the year. The old bird racers are allowed to nest anywhere: if a pair wants to nest in the comer of the loft, on the floor, they are allowed to pure happiness, pure contentment, that's the name of the game. Did Rod think the sport has progressed in recent years? 'In the physical aspect of the sport, e.g. feeding, veterinary medicine and performance, I would say yes. The standards are much higher and they have progressed very much. When I was a young man, performances were put up which these days wouldn't come close. Some of the top fanciers of yesteryear would just not be in the hunt these days and training systems like widowhood and darkness for the youngsters and roundabout were all unheard of. The pigeons are more athletic as it is very, very rare now that velocities drop below 1000ypm. 'For most races, feeding has become an art. The corn available is better than it ever was and whilst vets haven't progressed very much in terms of what most of them know about pigeons, the average fancier's knowledge about diseases has certainly increased. However, I have to say that a lot of fanciers who self medicate their birds use antibiotics as if they were talcum powder and they're probably doing untold damage. 'Fanciers get into the habit of winning races and some top fanciers who don't win get quite annoyed. As far as some of them are concerned, there are only two types of pigeons- winners and sick pigeons- and can guarantee that if a top local fancier goes three or four weeks without winning a race, he thinks his pigeons are sick, but it isn't necessarily so. Timing mechanisms and clocks have all improved; quality of pigeons has improved; access to birds has improved. I must say that here in the North of England we've got a saying that you get your best pigeon for nothing and these pigeons come about through friendship. If you want friends in the sport, then you have 'to work at it'. Whenever I judge at the NEHU South Shields Show I always try and meet up with Rod, and I must say he always looks in good form. I always derive great pleasure from meeting Rod Adams and seeing his wonderful team of long-distance racers. He is a wonderful man and a brilliant pigeon fancier! Full article to appear in the BHW soon. (November 2022)

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Gerry Francis – Footballer and Pigeon Fancier! Many years ago I visited the lofts of Gerry Francis and at that time he was at the very top in English football, playing for Crystal Palace. Of course Gerry went on to become a very successful manager with Q.P.R. and Tottenham Hotspurs, and this is an account of my vist to his Berkshire home in 1979. Whenever one read of Gerry Francis, one always read 'Gerry Francis, Crystal Palace and England football ace, winner of many major awards including 13 International caps for England', but you never read of Gerry Francis the pigeon fancier, and how good a fancier he was despite the pressure on his time from his many footballing commitments. There are times when Gerry doesn't see his pigeons for days on end. He had been in the sport on and off since 1959, he said his first loft measured 2 feet x 4 feet and it was something of an innovation as it was mobile, yes, mobile. It was built and attached to pram wheels so that it could be moved in great haste when the rent man called as Gerry was not supposed to keep pigeons where he lived then. Gerry is from a pigeon racing family, his father Roy, and two uncles, Fred Harrington and George Francis were all active fanciers. He has a very high regard for his uncle Fred, who, he said, taught him a lot about pigeons. Gerry became interested in pigeons when he was about eight years old and raced with his father in the City Arms H.S. at Hammersmith. His first pigeons were from George Harrowell of Shepherds Bush, these birds were carefully broken to their new loft by Gerry. After he had successfully broken them, the local council promptly ordered him to get rid of them. It was my friend Mick Worsfold who took me down to deepest Berkshire to visit Gerry Francis' 'Thornlea Lofts' and for a change we had some sunshine on the lofts for the photographs. This was a standing joke as it always rained on my loft visits with Micky Worsfold, and on the way down we were driving through thick fog, and I reckoned that the Worsfold curse was running true to form. Gerry started racing from his present address in 1977 with seven Harrington latebreds from his father. One of the stars of the loft was a pigeon known as 'Thornlea Lucky Stumpy', he was one of those original latebreds and acquired the name 'Lucky Stumpy' because he returned home from a race minus three toes and suffering numerous other injuries. After recovering from those injuries this gallant blue chequer pied cock went back on the road and won in 1979: 50th Section E, 83rd Open N.F.C. Nantes (10,367 birds), 4th club Bergerac (453 miles) with only seven pigeons recorded in the club in two days, he had also won 15th Federation Weymouth (1,847 birds) and 4th Hansur Open Weymouth. 'Lucky Stumpy' was also proving his worth as a breeder, he was sire of a chequer pied cock 'Garth' who had only had four races and taken four positions, including 23d Federation with 1,330 birds competing. Another of the Harrington pigeons to do well for Gerry was a blue chequer cock known as 'Thornlea Bourne End', he recorded 2nd club, 14th Federation, 26th Open B.T.B. Combine Niort (3,750 birds). On the subject of eyesign, Gerry said he didn't know enough about it to base his pairings on it, but he did admit to having a liking for a pearl eye. The lofts housed various strains, the Harrington pigeons were of the Logan¬Savage Barker-Osman lines, there were also Dordins from Paul Smith, Cattrysse from Les Davenport and pigeons from F Wiltshire of Oxford. We got onto the subject of young bird racing and Gerry said that he didn't believe in pushing youngsters hard, in fact he had found that his best pigeons in later life were those that were only trained as youngsters and not raced. He also said that he disliked sending yearlings across the Channel. The lofts consisted of a three section racing loft with corridor trapping, plus two stock lofts joined by a nice spacious aviary. There were 10 pairs of stock birds and around 15 pairs of racers, it was usual for him to breed around 25 youngsters a year. Floor dressing consisted of a sand and lime mixture which was changed every few months. The birds had an open loft, but even so, were kept under control. All birds were raced on the natural system, always trying to get to know each pigeon as an individual, this way Gerry thought you discover each bird's best racing condition. When it came to training, the birds were not trained on a specific line, but in any direction, to all points of the compass, thus giving the birds a good sound education and at the same time making them think. On the subject of food, Gerry thought maize was a very underrated food and fed a lot of it with peas and beans added. On this visit we spent a lot of time in the stock loft, which housed some excellent pigeons including direct children of National winners. Inbreeding and line breeding were practised to create a family, although the occasional introduction was made, if it would do the family good. Although a great many fanciers do not like latebreds, Gerry was the opposite and really liked a few of them as he reckoned if they were schooled well in early life they would be as good as a youngster bred at the normal time. The one thing that he didn’t like were wild pigeons, they all had to be quiet and good natured in the Francis loft. At that time Gerry's pigeon activities were overshadowed by his commitments to football, as had been the case really since he left school. His football career started as a lad when he played for a social club in a Sunday league, this was his only chance to play, as his school was rugby orientated. The opportunity eventually arose for him to be able to train at Queens Park Rangers on a Tuesday evening each week. These training sessions eventually led to him signing as an apprentice. When he was 16 he made his first team debut for the club against Liverpool in the first division, since that time he had won 13 international caps. However, professional football did not give him much time for his pigeons and he said that it was only thanks to several good hearted local fanciers who helped him by often taking his clocks and his birds, that he was able to race at all. However, I am sure, that now that football demands less of Gerry's time, he is now more, Gerry Francis the pigeon fancier. I hope my readers have enjoyed this special walk down memory lane! Gerry is still racing his pigeons with outstanding success and is a great worker for the sport of pigeon racing. (November 2022)