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British Homing World Blackpool Show (Part 1.) In spite of the Covid and Bird Flu problems looming over the 2022 show, there was only one thing guaranteed when the fanciers travelled to Blackpool for the 50th British Homing World ‘Show of the Year’ was that they would have a great time! Although it was a great success and good fun, the 2021 live event had to be cancelled and had to go ‘on line’ because of the Covid restrictions. Well done to the Blackpool Show committee on making the pandemic restriction workable for our favourite show this year and getting the birds back in the pens for the 50th anniversary event. With the show being staged in the North West of England in January, some years the weather is a bit cold and wet, but this year’s show weekend was treated to blue skies and wall to wall sunshine, which made this year’s event even more special. Thousands of fanciers made the drive up to Blackpool in mid-January for the main event of the Show Racer calendar, the British Homing World ‘Show of the Year’. Everyone anticipates and looks forward to this wonderful weekend in Blackpool, not only for their annual fill of ‘pigeon fun’, but mostly to meet up with good pigeon friends. Last year’s event attacked a show entry of 2,000 birds and ‘Supreme Champion’ and “Best in Show’ was won by John and Alice Bell of Catrine in Scotland. John tells me, this is the third time they have won the double at Blackpool, winning ‘Best in Show’ three times and ‘Supreme Champion’ a record seven times. They have had five open shows this season, including the BHW Blackpool Show and have won ‘Best in Show’ three times, plus ‘Best Show Racer’. Well done to John and Alice, a brilliant performance! Their seventh Blackpool ‘Supreme Champion’ was their wonderful two year old mosaic hen; ‘Gracie’ and she previously won ‘Best in Show’ at the RPRA Southern Region Show in High Wycombe last November. John & Alice travelled the 400 miles from Ayrshire for the High Wycombe Show and won six classes, ‘Best in Show’, ‘Best Opposite Sex’, ‘Best Show Racer’ and ‘Best Points’. A wonderful performance by the partners and this year’s Southern Region ‘Best in Show’ is their fourth in recent years. The ‘Best in Show’ winner, now named ‘Gracie’, was their yearling mosaic hen competing in her first show ever and she is a daughter of ‘Mervanic’, the winner of ‘Best in Show’ RPRA Southern Region Show for Nicole Bell in 2016. Now the wonderful ‘Gracie’ has gone on and become the ‘Supreme Champion’ at the greatest show in the pigeon sport, the BHW Blackpool Show! John and Alice won ‘Best in Show’ at this year’s Blackpool event with their good four year old mosaic heh, ‘Alice’s Dream Girl’ and she is a full sister to ‘Gracie’. What a fantastic family of Show Racers! John told me his best show racer is his old dark chequer hen, ‘Alice’s Celtic Lass’ and she has won many premier positions including: the Hurlford Open Show, the Kingdom of Fife Open Show and the North Eastern Open Show, with over 450 birds entered. The beautiful hen has been a class winner at many open shows, even in 2014 at the age of seven, but she has been a champion in the stock section, breeding champions with different cocks each year. In the 2009 season she bread a nest pair of chequer cocks, one of them won Best in Show at the BHW Blackpool Show in 2011 and he also went on to be reserve ‘Supreme Champion’ at the same show, being beaten by his brother. The chequer cock’s nest brother won Best in Show at the North Eastern Open Show in 2010 and then won most consistent bird Scottish East Region Show Racers Society 2010 and the went to Blackpool, winning ‘Supreme Champion’ in 2011 and beating his nest mate. John said, ‘I don't think this has ever been done at Blackpool by a nest pair before. ‘Alice’s Celtic Lass’ also bread a chequer hen in 2011 and she won the Kingdom Open Show, and then went into the ‘Supreme Champion’ class at BHW Blackpool Show. The next year this hen went to Blackpool and won the Inter Society Yearly Hen Class and then went on to win reserve Best in Show. This great hen then went on to other top cards at the Blackpool Show. She bred a chequer cock in 2012 that won ‘Supreme Champion’ at the East Region Show Racer Society Show in 2013. He went on to win five firsts in the Society and was the most consistent bird award, and represented Scottish East Region in British SR Federation class at Blackpool in 2015. The champion chequer hen, ‘Alice’s Celtic Lass’, also bread a chequer cock in 2013 which won Best in Show at the North Eastern Open Show, then went into ‘Supreme Champion’ this year. As you can see she has bred champions each year with different cocks each time. Her father was a 2002 bird, with her mother being bred in 1997, so as you can see old birds can still breed champions Show Racers. ‘Alice’s Celtic Lass’ father was five years old and her mother was ten years old when I bred her and I hope she lasts as long as her mother did and still breeds champions’. John and Alice have two 24ft x 8ft lofts, which have a nice 3ft wire flight running along the front so the birds can get out in the weather and bath, and these are cleaned out by Alice twice a day. John works long hours and says a lot of loft management is down to his partner, which includes cleaning out the lofts as many times as ten times a day on the build up to big shows. He maintains this cleaning out is very important as the birds don’t have to be lifted and pulled about to clean their feet on basketing for the shows. Alice told me that if the bird’s feet are not cleaned on basketing day they look nice and powdery and not an unnatural pink. The birds are bathed at the beginning of the week and no litter is used on the loft floors. John mixes his own corn and this has a big maple pea content, and the birds are never fed condition seed. The pigeons are never fed maize prior the going to show, as Alice maintains it makes the candidates loose and messy in the pen. The twelve pairs of birds are mated up in late February as the partners like to enter two open Society shows which are after the Blackpool show at the back end of January. No stock birds are kept as all birds are shown and about 60 young birds are bred each, which are brought down to about twelve just before the show season begins. John told me, ‘I enjoy judging and have no favourite colour, when judging or in my own loft. I just love good quality Show Racers, whatever their colour! Showing is very hard work and to get a team ready for a big National event it can take up to a month to get them right. Our best ever Show Racer is the Darren Gibbons blue chequer cock and although we don’t keep stock birds, he is our main breeder, being the sire of many winners. I’ve lost count of the many open shows he has won and he has also won several times at the RP ‘Old Comrades’ Show and the BHW Blackpool Show. I would like to finish this article by saying how important Alice’s hard work is to our good success with our Show Racers. She is a wonderful pigeon fancier’. John & Alice Bell own one of the top Show Racer lofts in the UK at this time. Class winners at the 2022 BHW Blackpool ‘Show of the Year’ were: 1 (90 birds) Thomas Souness: 2 (91 birds) Dave Fussey: 3 (87 birds) R. J. Parker: 4 (79 birds) A, Freer: 5 (54 birds) J.K. & J.D. Lynn: 6 (53 birds) Matthew Donoghue: 7 (72 birds) John Barnes: 8 (76 birds) John Barnes: 9 (41 birds) Edson & Wheatcroft: 10 (42 birds) John & Alice Bell: 11 (41 birds) John & Alice Bell: 12 (39 birds) Nigel Rescoria: 13 (35 birds) J. & D. Fisher: 14 (35 birds) Nigel Rescoria: 15 (39 birds) S. Ferguson: 16 (39 birds) Edson & Wheatcroft: 17 (42 birds) Alistair Tankard: 18 (58 birds) Darren Christie: 19 (44 birds) John & Alice Bell: 20 (70 birds) Winters Family: 21 (72 birds) Coutts Brothers: 22 (72 birds) Master Aidan Winters: 23 (66 birds) William & Brian Massey: 24 (8 birds) Michael Wareing: 25 (11 birds) McCord & Turpie: 26 (21 birds) G. & K. Parker: 27 (19 birds) Miss Keelie Wright: 28 (42 birds) Todhunter & Grisedal: 29 (38 birds) McCord & Turpie: 30 (44 birds) William & Brian Massey: 31 (46 birds) E. & N. Yule: 32 (29 birds) Emmie & Olivia Gilliver: 33 (30 birds) E. Balmer: 34 (24 birds) Adam Christie: 35 (22 birds) Miss Keelie Wright: 36 (53 birds) Master Aiden Winters: 37 (51 birds) Master George Tytler. Darren Christie of Dunaghy in Northern Ireland won ‘Reserve Best in Show’ with his wonderful silver chequer hen, ‘Ewing’s Lass’, following on from his great success in 2019 when the Christie loft won ‘Best in Show’. The 2019 event attacked a show entry of 2,000 birds and ‘Best in Show’ over all at the Winter Gardens was won by a beautiful Show Racer silver blue cock owned by Darren. He has named his champion cock, ‘Barney’, and tells me he has had a lot of good wins previously, including ‘Best in Show’ at the INFC Show in Lisburn in 2017 and also won ‘Best in Show’ at an open show the week after the 2019 Blackpool event. He named his silver blue cock after his friend, John Barnes, who gifted him a silver blue hen which was his dam and his sire was blue cock bred through gift pigeons from Jimmy Fitzpatrick of Cambuslang in Scotland. When I asked Darren what he looks for in a Show Racer he told me, ‘what I look for in a pigeon is a good darker eye, nice strong colour, pear shape in the hand and a good strong head. At present my birds are my own family and to create this family, I obtained birds from James Fitzpatrick, Alistair Tankard and John Barnes’. Darren was 12 years old when he started up in pigeons, the main reason being because his next door neighbour, Andy McCook, kept pigeons and he has now been in the sport 30 years. He obtained his first stock from Thomas Rouke and he gave Darren a pair of mealies to start him off and his first winner was a mealy hen. Thomas Rouke, Harry Spratt and Fitzpatrick & Fleming drew his attention on their performances in the early years. T. & K. Mawhinney of Ireland have a wonderful family of blue pied racing pigeons and they won ‘Best Racer in Show’ twice at the BHW Blackpool Show, first time winning ‘Best Racer in Show’ in 2014, both with blue pied cocks. Darren’s first successes were achieved with the Thomas Rouke and the Fitzpatrick & Fleming pigeons, when competing in the Northern Ireland Show Racer Society and his first loft was 10ft x 6ft, with two sections. He considers T. K. Mawhinney who shows Racing Pigeons to be the best fanciers in his area and he is a good friend, who gives Darren advice and help when needed. Darren was in partnership with Thomas Rouke for twelve years and they were known as Rouke and Christie. He tells novice to get pigeons from top fancier and look at different loft set up before choosing they own loft set up. Darren works as a council worker and is a part-time DJ, and told me his biggest thrill in his time as a pigeon fancier was winning ‘Best in Show’ at the BHW Blackpool Show. The Scottish father and son racing partnership of William and Brian Massey of Rosewell won ‘Best Young Bird in Show’ with their beautiful slatey pied cock, ‘Fram’. Very pleasing for me, because I’m her number one fan, William and Brian’s wonderful pied hen, ‘Olivia’ won class 23. What a hen! As I previously stated the annual BHW Blackpool Show weekend had to be cancelled in 2021 because of the ongoing Covid problem and had to go ‘online’. There was a strong Scottish dominance of the ‘On Line’ Show with both of the top awards going north of the border! The ten classes attracted an entry of 474 birds which were competing for outstanding prize money, in spite of a free entry. ‘Best in Show’ was won by Coutts Brothers of Scotland, with the champion blue cheque cock, ‘King Louie’. These lads from Aberdeenshire are really ‘setting them alight’ winning at all the National shows in recent seasons. ‘Best Opposite Sex’ also went to Scotland, with William and Brian Massey winning with their good pied hen, ‘Olivia’. I had some good fun, judging 68 Show Racer old hens in Class 2. I asked Brian how his sport had been with recent Covid problem and he told me, ‘the 2020 season saw us win five firsts racing, Old Bird Average, Yearling Derby, Young Bird Knockout and Combine Average. When racing I believe preventative is better than cure! Mixing with birds and stress I believe it’s a must to be treating for canker and respiratory every couple weeks alternative! Any major problems get test kit and swabs, UK and German vets we use for these. Of course due to Covid we did not show in 2020 other than the online pictures, but 2019 was a great season in the show pen with eight 1st prizes at the Open shows and awards from stage being ‘Best in Show’ and ‘Best Racer’ Ayr NR Show, ‘Best Opposite Sex’ Clydesdale Show, ‘Champion Young Racer’ Fife Show, ‘Champion Young Bird’ Scottish Homing Union Show and all these shows were Blackpool qualifiers with 400 plus birds competing in the show. My most thrilling experience in the sport would be the 2015 BHW ‘Show of the Year’ and winning three firsts for me and my dad and then seeing three firsts for my son, Craig, in the young fancier, meaning we’d came down from Scotland and six birds from our loft were on the ‘Specials’ table at Blackpool. That was a buzz! In terms or showing our racers from 2010 to 2019 and last season showing with Covid, we have won the following major prizes: six times ‘Best in Show’ awards, ‘Best Opposite Sex’ NEHU Show, three times ‘Champion Young Bird’ Scottish Homing Union Show, four times 1st prize BHW ‘Show of the Year’ Show. We won many first prizes and awards but that’s the major awards for us’. (January 2023

Set of 9 in sets of 3 up and over boxes

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How did the vet visit go?

The Joe Murphy Column 1 I had a phone call from a vet from Dundee; who said he had one of my pigeons brought into him. The ring number was GB1826509; I asked him how he gained my number and he replied he obtained it from the RPRA. He informed me that the pigeon was in a poor way and he thought a cat had caught the bird, and the pigeon was suffering and the nicest thing to do was to put the pigeon down. So I agreed with him, on checking my Pigeon Loft Organizer on my computer, this pigeon was not on my filing system. So, I don’t know how he thought the pigeon was mine. Anyway, whoever it belonged to will know that the Vet put the pigeon out of misery. My Trip down Memory Lane Over the years I have become very good friends with Guy Reed of the Isle of Wight; who raced (and still does) the Bernard DeWeerdt family of pigeons. I went with Guy; and his good friends Mark Gower who lives near Fordingbridge and his good friend Andy Parsons of Salisbury, we had a great weekend and these fanciers were ‘first-class’ and I thoroughly enjoyed their company; and have wonderful memories of my trip to visit Bernard in Belgium. Many fanciers throughout the world have done well with this family of pigeons over the years. Their champion ‘Emiel’ was named after Bernard’s father who died in 1990; and the pigeon won 1 st International Dax/Bordeaux against 9.493 pigeons in 1992. Other famous pigeons raced by the family were was ‘TED’ who scored 100% from 7 International races (3 x Pau; Dax; Narbonne; Perpignan & Carcassonne. ‘TOULON’ 1 st provincial Marseille (907 km); 40 th National 3.586 birds; 115 th International 11.933 birds. ‘KEDIR’ winner of 1998; 143 rd International Perpignan 16.025 birds; 1999; 78 th International Dax 12.880 birds; 2000; 34 th International Dax 11.807 birds (as a 7-year- old still scoring from Barcelona & Perpignan) ‘ROXANNE’ in 2004 she won; 107 th National Barcelona 12.245 birds 18 th national hens 3.012 hens; 378 th International 24.913 birds 111 th international hens 6.903 hens. 268 th International Perpignan 17.570 birds 61 st international hens 4.670 hens. Winner of 4 th provincial Ace Pigeon KBDB Extreme long distance; 13 th national Ace pigeon KBDB Extreme long distance (probably the best Belgian extreme long-distance hen in 2004); 1 st Barcelona Ace Pigeon FC Gistel 2004-2006 winner ‘Golden Feather Trophy. RALDO scored 100% from 13 international races sent 3 times each year. MAGNUS; won 4 th National Dax (868 km) 3.276 birds, 19 th International 7.194 birds; 36 th International Perpignan (928 km) 13.367 birds 33 rd International Dax 12.880 birds his sire was Masahiko a son of EMIEL. Finally, a pigeon I handled and fell in Love With was ‘INITA’ she scored from Perpignan; won 1249 th national Barcelona 12.612 birds; 69 th National 11,484 birds & 207 th International Barcelona 23.708 birds; 206 th National 13.503 birds & 424 th International Barcelona 27.669 birds; 777 th national 12.641 birds & 1621 International Barcelona 25.750 birds; Winning 4 th best Belgian National Barcelona racer between the years of 2008-2010 and in 2011 she won 2829 th National against 12.170 birds from Barcelona. It is enough to say that Mark Gilbert and Catherine & Geoff Cooper have done exceptionally well with the DeWeerdt family of pigeons over the years. For example; the Cooper’s ‘George’ was the winner of 1 st NFC Tarbes, he is also the grandsire to 1 st international Bordeaux; 8 th international Pau; 2 nd International Bordeaux Yearlings; 3 rd International Bordeaux Hens and is uncle to 1 st International Pau. I was appalled to read recently that their loft was broken into and some of their stock pigeons stollen. I have since heard that 3 or 4 birds have returned with their rings cut off. This will have broken the Cooper’s trust within the sport and hell mend the culprits who did such a disgraceful act. Another time while on holiday in the Lake District I visited Andy Gregson who also had the DeWeerdt’s family of pigeons and had done exceptionally well with them. John Little of Ecclefechan won my Sporting Challenge in 2010 with a hen bred down from stock off Andy. At The Joe Murphy Column 2 the time John wrote; Hi Joe; please find the details of my pigeons in your sporting challenge; it is indeed a privilege to once again be part of this fantastic competition. Everyone down here in the south section try to get into the first 3 in section from the Gold Cup race as this is your opportunity to take part in challenge and I was lucky enough to gain 2 nd section and open last year with my candidate named ‘Little Miss Darci’. She is a 07 bred chequer hen and won 1 st Hoddam flying club Worcester in 2008 and she was also 2 nd section A 2 nd open SNFC Alencon in 2009. As a young bird she only had one race and as a yearling she flew 7 races up to Mangotsfield 249 miles. Then as a 2-year-old she had 5 races before going to the SNFC Newbury inland national. She is home bred from a pair of pigeons from Andy Gregson from Preston; I took a fancy to the sire at Blackpool show and Andy selected a hen to pair to it. The cock was actually raced by Andy before I bought him and he had scored on a number of occasions through to Fougeres 378 miles. He gained 1 x 2nd; 1 x 3 rd ; 2 x 5th; and 2 x 6th in club and 1 x 15 th federation. These 2 pigeons purchased from Andy were bred in different years but are identically bred the sire and dam both being bred by Jac Van Der Wagen from Steenburgen with the famous De Barcelona Hen 65 20234862 featuring prominently in each side of the pedigree of the sire and dam.’ I also met Andy at Blackpool show where he had a stand and did very well; as a matter of fact, I got on really well with Andy; and I purchased some of his DeWeerdt family to go into my own introductions. Another great recollection was when at Blackpool Show Charity Auction, I sat next to Dennis Dall who was interested in Tom Riding of Stockport pigeon which was direct off his famous ‘Pau Cock’. Dennis paid over £100 for the pigeon which was more than my weeks wages at that time. He bred off the hen the following year and a youngster from her won the Auchtermuchty Classic young bird race, winning over £100 so he got his money back. He winked at me when I asked him the breeding and he said ‘Joe, Blood Aways Tells’ and he was right and I have always remembered that. The nearer you get to the ‘Champion’ be it a national winner, Gold OR Silver Award winner. The closer you get to the direct ‘Winner’ then the more chance you have of breeding a ‘The Good’s’; we are not stupid enough to think that EVERY BIRD will breed winners; but somewhere along the line be it a grandchild or great grandchild; the winning line will come out. I also have a pleasing memory of going to visit Tom & May Riding in Southport. Kevin was a small boy at this time but wanted to keep me company. We departed early in the morning and by the time I drove to the Forth Bridge he was sleeping. We stopped at Southwaite service area for something to eat; and soon after he was sound asleep; by the time I arrived at Tom’s he had woken up. After seeing Tom’s Pau Cock and handling some other quality pigeons; his wife May had made us something to eat; she had an old-fashioned range and when she gave Kevin some rice pudding; he was nearly licking the plate. He swears he never tasted rice pudding like it in his life. When we started to drive home, he fell asleep and woke up as we came over the Forth Bridge; and said ‘I’ve had a good day’, which I laughed at as he had slept most of the time. When we got home all he could talk about to Margaret was about May’s ‘rice pudding’ we both had a good laugh and these are great memories indeed. Obituary Wilma Peggie of Methilhill; I was sorry to read about the passing of Wilma age 73, on 14 th January 2023; She was the wife of Jimmy, and mother to son Gary and his sister Gail; and mother-in-law to Jackie and Terry. Also, Gran and Gaga to Reis and Neve; dear Sister, Auntie, and special friend to many. Wilma will be sadly missed by all. The Funeral service will be held in Methilhill Bowling Club on Friday 10 th The Joe Murphy Column 3 February at 10-15am; thereafter to East Wemyss Cemetery where Wilma will be laid to rest at 11am, to which all family and friends are respectively invited. Joe’s Joke Angus Broon of Glasgow comes to the little lady of the house exclaiming, "Maggie, could ye be sewin on a wee button that's come off of ma fly? I canna button ma trousers." "Oh Angus, I've got my hands in the sink, go up the stairs and see if Mrs MacDonald could be helping ye with it." About 5 minutes later, there's a terrible crash, a bang, a bit of yelling and the sound of a body falling down the stairs. Walking back in the door with a black eye and a bloody nose comes Angus. Maggie looks at him and says, "My god Angus, what happened tie ye? Did you ask her up the stairs like I told you too?" "Aye," says Angus. "I asked her to sow on the wee button, an she did, everything was going fine but when she bent doon to bite off the wee thread, Mr MacDonald walked in." 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 Who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland? © COMPILED BY JOE MURPHY Preview attachment Bert.jpg

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Lippa just had a phone call from a vet stating they are in her area, Kennoway, today and tomorrow, and that she should expect a visit.

This is a screenshot copy, therefore the links will not work, for information only

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Paul & Helen Johnson & Chris Greenwood of Hull. I first met Paul Johnson while I was on a weeklong filming tour in Yorkshire in the mid-1990 and at that time he was racing in the very successful Johnson, Wilson & sons partnership. Harry Wilson is no longer in the sport and Paul has been very successful racing in partnership with his wife, Helen, from there garden in Burton Pidsea, near Hull, for the last fifteen years. There is a third partner, in the form of Paul’s good friend, Chris Greenwood and he concentrates on the stock birds and breeding side of the partnership. The Johnson partnership has been the highest prize winners in the Holderness Flying club and East Coast Federation in the 2017 and 2016 racing seasons. They have won 36 x 1st, 30 x 2nd, 32 x 3rd, 28 x 4th in both the clubs, and 14 x 1st, 12 x 2nd, 10 x 3rd, 9 x 4th in both the Yorkshire Middle Route and East Coast Federation in those two seasons. They have also won 3 x 1st, 3 x 2nd, 2 x 4th, 2 x 5th, 2 x 6th section in the Midland National Flying Club in the last four years. Fantastic pigeon racing by any ones standards! Premier racers in the Johnson loft in recent seasons have been: ‘Jonno’s Boy’ winner in 2017 of 1st club, 1st Federation Huntingdon (895 birds), 1st club, 1st Federation Reed (972 birds), 1st club, 1st Federation Maidstone (779 birds), Beaten by loft to win 2nd club, 2nd Federation Billericay (548 birds). ‘Jonno’s Boy’ is the sire of winners, including 1st Federation and also an RPRA Regional Award winner in the 2017 racing season: ‘Legs Eleven’: 1st club, 1st Federation Redd (972 birds): ‘Treble One Seven’: 1st club, 1st Federation Peterborough (1,223 birds): ‘George’: 1st club, 1st Federation Huntington (673 birds): ‘Jackson’: 1st club, 1st Federation Billericay (548 birds) Beating ‘Jonno’s Boy’ by one second on the ETS: ‘Henry’: 1st ENE section, 1,089th open MNFC Coutances (8,903 birds): ‘369 The Monkey Drank Wine’: 2017: 2nd ENE section, 191st open MNFC Coutances (3,651 birds) Only two birds in the region on the day. The Johnson partners have always raced around 40 cocks on widowhood right from the beginning to the end of the season, and over the last two years when time permits they have been trying 12 widowhood hens racing to old cocks, but Paul maintains, there is still a lot to be learnt! The stock birds are usually paired in early December and rear their first round. The racing widowhood cocks are paired in early January for the proven cocks to rear some youngsters and also take some of the second round off the stock birds. The shorter distance cocks are broken down at the start of the week on depurative and then slowly building them up on Gerry Plus, then on to the widow mixture and fats at the end of the week. The longer distance birds only see the lighter food on their return and on the Sunday morning and have as much as they need especially the days leading up to basketing. The hens aren’t usually shown to the cocks before an inland race for two reasons, with no time after rushing home from work on a Friday afternoon and they think it excites them too much. The cocks know exactly what is coming after going to a couple of training tosses with their bowl turned over in an open nest box! On their return from the race the cock usually see their hens for approx an hour before being taken out. The cocks can usually have five or six tosses before the first race and sometimes have a livener in midweek race if they think it’s necessary for the first six weeks of the season, but never in freezing cold North winds in March. Paul says, ‘the season is a Marathon not a sprint’. The young birds are trained hard starting at one mile and working up to 12 miles, and are often put up in two’s and three’s on the River Humber bank when time permits. Because of the Humber and distance need to travel over the Humber Bridge the birds are very rarely trained from Lincolnshire. These days they only race the birds with the Yorkshire Middle Route and the East Coast Federation for the inland races and use the Midland National Flying Club for the channel racing. Paul thinks club and Federation channel racing will soon become a thing of the past, with the rising costs and Federations being reluctant to join together, and the birds learn a lot when having to split early from the pack and do it on their own. They treat their birds for canker and respiratory every four weeks alternating fortnightly, also using Naturaline and Cider Vinegar in the water and Gemthapax and herbal oils on their food. While moulting they feed the birds a strong protein mixture and while they have cast their last flight then start to bring them on to a depurative mixture before pairing early in the New Year. The young cocks and hens are split and the cocks are expected to start to claim a box in the widowhood section for January’s pairing up, and the new season ahead. I asked Paul if he liked long distance or sprint racing and what was some of his best recent racing performances, and he said, ‘we like all distances for racing but prefer 150 miles up to 500 miles. We have a 2009 hen off Stuart Ward’s ‘Sophie’ lines and her grandchildren are now producing Federation winners. One of her sons topped the YMR from Maidstone as a young bird beating a loft mate by one second, then as a yearling he topped it again from Eastbourne. Another top breeder is the 2013 bred Premier Stud / Sablon hen that breeds winners in every nest paired to four different cocks. Our most recent successful pigeon, ‘Jonno’s Boy’, is off a daughter of the Rawson hen crossed with the Sablons Freddyinx bloodlines. He topped the East Coast Federation three times in the 2017 season and was beaten by a loft mate by one second on his fourth attempt. We also in the last race of the 2017 season had a young hen win 2nd section MNFC Coutances (331 miles), with only two birds on the day and not many day birds in the country after a two day hold over. On the day she folded her wings and dropped straight into the loft after a 10 hour fly into a Northerly wind. She was bred out of a young Van der Merwe cock from Stuart Ward’s charity sale in 2016 when paired to a Jan Hoagland hen from his distance lines bought off Alun Jones / Red Star website. Some of our best performances have been mentioned above but another good performance came from ‘That’, a Van der Merwe cock direct off Stu Ward. He topped the YMR from Clermont, then topped the East Coast Federation two weeks later from Billericay and then went on to win the ‘Humberside Trophy’ that year for his outstanding Combined results. My most thrilling experiences in the sport so far was going up to collect the prestigious ‘Humberside Trophy’ in 2011 and topping the MNFC ENE section from Carentan three years ago for the first time and seeing the young hen come from Coutances just before dark in the 2017 season’. Paul and Helen’s present loft is 70ft long with two 10ft sections for the young birds, a 5ft section for a few racing hens on widowhood, two 10ft sections for the widowhood cocks, a large section that houses all their hens on poles and last, but not least, a section that houses the white racing birds that are only used for Helen’s wedding and funeral business “Dove Occasions”. The loft is well ventilated with the old fashioned clay pan tiles letting air through them, but no drafts and Paul is very adamant that the loft MUST be kept dry. The young birds are on deep litter right throughout the year, even after the young cocks have gone to claim their perches in the widowhood sections at the end of the season, the young hens stay on it right through to the start of the next season before most of them become widowhood hens. Paul was born and lived in Hedon for most of his life until moving to his present address ten years ago and he says, none of his family had any interests in racing pigeons. He was a very keen amateur footballer for Hedon United on Saturday and Sunday mornings up to the age of 31 before retiring. Paul has been in the sport for 42 years, but for the first ten to fifteen years his football and work commitments in his family waste disposal company always came first. For the next fifteen years he was in a very successful pigeon partnership with Harold Wilson and for the last fifteen years, having the most success racing in partnership with his wife, Helen, from our present address in Burton Pidsea, with Chris Greenwood looking after their stock loft. The young Paul Johnson first became interested in pigeons when he met his now stock loft partner Chris Greenwood at the age of eleven when they both went to senior school. These days Paul looks after the racing side of the pigeons and Chris looks after the breeding. He became a member of the local South Holderness Flying Club at the age of sixteen and had to join under his father’s name because he was too young to join on my own. Paul obtained his first pigeons from Chris Greenwood and his father, who flew under the name of Andrews, Greenwood & sons and were the top fanciers in the area in 1970’s to the 1990’s. They gave Paul his first two pigeons and he housed them in his first small loft. They got him started and Paul said, ‘I just thought it was a case of breed a few young birds off these two pigeons, then send them to a race and they would just win! This was my first mistake as a novice. When I first start I didn’t realise the work that goes into a racing, breeding and keeping pigeons and it’s a 365 days a year sport, all about paying attention to the detail.’ Paul’s first loft was an old porta-kabin that had blown over on one of their old landfill sites that he rescued and rebuilt for the pigeons. The top fanciers at that time were, Harold Wilson, who later became Paul’s pigeon partner and Alan Sarel who both flew very well in their cubs and the Yorkshire Middle Route from all distances. In the early days flying with Harold under the partnership name of Johnson, Wilson & sons they had great success racing mainly the Cattrysse pigeons. For the past fifteen years under the partnership name of Paul & Helen Johnson they started racing mainly with Chris’s old strain and Van Loons, with two pairs of stock from Hughie and Colin Jackson, and a very good breeding hen from John Rawson. More recently in the past eight years they have introduced the Peter Van Der Merwe’s pigeons from their good friend Stuart Ward of Oldham and also direct from Peter Van Merwe himself. More recently they have brought in the De Rauw Sablon’s mainly from Premier Stud and they’ve producing some very good results, crossed with the Van Der Merwe’s or kept pure. Paul and Helen’s main two families of pigeons are Van Der Merwe and De Rauw Sablon and the stock team are paired in early December. After pairing they are moved off their winter mix on to a depurative to start bringing them in to shape and the heaters and lights are put on in the stock loft. When looking for new stock Paul and Chris like a medium sized bird that handles well, with a decent eye, but they maintain the eye isn’t the be all and end all. Performance is far more important to them than pedigrees, although they have them both with all their recent stock. When selecting the breeders the partners have no really views on eye-sign, apart from as long as they aren’t real wishy washy and they have one at each side of their heads! They inbreed for stock purposes only and never as near as mother and son, but we would regularly go grandmother to grandson. Chris never breeds late breds for racing because they take too much looking after during the winter months only for the majority of them to go missing early the following summer. Full article to appear in the BHW soon. (February 2023)