sapper756

May I wish ALL readers of the Joe Murphy Column a Very Merry Christmas and I hope you ALL have a lovely day; and may I wish each and every one of you all the Very Best for 2023. I would also like to thank all the fanciers who throughout the year have remarked how much they enjoy the column. With quite a lot of fanciers and their wives also enjoy the weekly joke, which seems to go down well. Christmas is a special family occasion and we normally go to our oldest sons for Christmas dinner. This year is going to be something special as both he and his wife have a Ukraine mother and daughter whom they took in after the appeal to help families out. They are lovely and the young girl’s English has improved tremendously and she is enjoying school in Scotland. So hopefully when we raise a glass to celebrate Christmas we can also think about her husband and the girl’s father; and with any luck they will be able to join up once this terrible war is over. Wet Weather Like most fanciers within the UK, we have been having terrible rain and everything is soaking wet. I shut over half my windows in my small stock loft to try and stop the rain from getting into it, but to no avail; as it still gets in. I am blessed in the comfort of knowing that I have a bucket of Respiro San Dry and I sprinkle this on the floor and it act as a quick drying agent, absorbing moisture and within hours the loft floor is dry again. I swear by this product and you can obtain it from Phil Gardner his email address is; pgardner25@btinternet.com Slabbinck-Cattrysse While speaking to Jim Hannah the top Scottish pigeon photographer one day, he said he would send me an old RP dated the 27 th November 1965; which had the sale of the above family of pigeons. My father was a great Slabbinck enthusiast and he purchased a couple of pigeons of this breed in 1959 & 1966. (see photos of bird’s pedigree). I also found a cutting from the RP in Scottish Notes, regarding Fife; From the Fife Federation Christchurch race with an entry of 1157 birds, Tom Stevenson & son (this would be you and your dad -Ronnie) who won Leven club. Davy Cook won Kennoway with Joe Murphy & son (this was yours truly) the only two Kennoway members making the open result. In my dad’s scrap book was a De Belgische Duivensport dated the 25 th March 1969. I have enclosed a photograph of this; it measures 43 centimetres by 62 centimetres and has 4 full pages. I have also added a few photographs of their wonderful winning pigeons. The Tip a famous pigeon in the family; He was a winner of 11 x 1 st prizes and won over £1000 (which was a fortune in those days) The Tip flew NFC Pau and won 31 st open 3207 birds; 102 nd open 3560 birds in English Nationals. He was sire, grandsire, great grandsire of many of Slabbinck winners. The Tip was a son of ‘Bismark’. Blauwetik Barcelona’ Belge 55 3016795. Five times Barcelona International, 1100km, This remarkable long-distance ace won 41 st open 3578 birds; 41 st open 4114 birds; 15 th open 3599 birds; 80 th open 3300 birds; competing against ALL Belgium; ALL Holland; All Germany; All Luxembourg; All France; All Great Britain. Even as a 4-year-old in his first attempt he was placed 471 st with 481 birds competing-a terrible race when many birds were lost. ‘Grace Kelly’ Violet Eye Hen; an exceptionally nice hen; raced well as a yearling; won 3 prizes in the first 6, also 14 th & 22 nd Orleans; was then stopped for stock. As she was something special. Her sire was The Tip and her dam was a daughter of The Joe Murphy Column 2 ‘Little Mo’; who was a little Diamond. Her half brothers were The Favourite; The Young Tip & Wittepenne and they won 21 x 1 st prizes between them. ‘The De Pol Hen’ Cattrysse at it best. She was a ½ sister to the famous 6 times Barcelona cock; another brother was ‘Bismark’ winner of 11 th , 28 th & 23 rd international Barcelona; The Oude Pol, produces numerous national winners and his stock was wildly sought after as his offspring were also very good producers. Sire of Oude Pau was 1 st national Pau from Pol Bostin, his dam was a sister of De Kleinen, also a 1 st prize National winner for Cattrysse, they were paired together and both fanciers had an egg each. So, fanciers will see that the Oude Pau was a first cross. Another hen was the De Ide Hen; her sire was De Boer; always stock; he was a brother to two 1 st prize National Winners; De 90 and De Draaier; winner of 297, 4901franks by 1964 only. He was a phenomenal racing cock, whose wins made history in Belgium. Dam of De Ide Hen; was De Boerinneke 61 3301395. A daughter of the famous outstanding ACE long distance pigeon of ALL Belgium in 1958. De Jerome from De Ide of Gistel in Belgium; Paired to a sister 58.3301287 who is De Durumeaux 55.3016912; Sire of two 1 st prize national winners. I could go on and on about this wonderful family of pigeons as I was brought up on them when I was a young boy. So, looking over my late father’s old loft book has brought up so many happy memories. The thing that caught my eye was how Cattrysse used the crossing of two inbred families to heightens the vigour of their strain. If you look at the breeding of my own pigeon in the 2023 Blackpool Charity Sale you will see that I have done exactly the same principles at these past wonderful fanciers. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that I’m in the same bracket as them but one thing I have learnt over my 75 years is this is the way to go if you wish to succeed in racing pigeons. Joe’s Joke No one believes seniors; everyone thinks they are senile. An elderly couple was celebrating their sixtieth anniversary. The couple had married as childhood sweethearts and had moved back to their old neighbourhood after they retired. Holding hands, they walked back to their old school. It was not locked, so they entered, and found the old desk they’d shared, where Andy had carved “I love you, Sally.” On their way back home, a bag of money fell out of an armoured car, practically landing at their feet. Sally quickly picked it up and, not sure what to do with it, they took it home. There, she counted the money - fifty thousand pounds! Andy said, “We’ve got to give it back.” Sally said, “Finder’s keepers.” She put the money back in the bag and hid it in their attic. The next day, two police officers were canvassing the neighbourhood looking for the money, and knocked on their door. “Pardon me, did either of you find a bag that fell out of an armoured car yesterday?” Sally said, “No”. Andy said, “She’s lying; she hid it up in the attic’. Sally said, “Don’t believe him, he’s getting senile” The agents turned to Andy and began to question him. One said: “Tell us the story from the beginning.” Andy said, “Well, when Sally and I were walking home from school yesterday ....” The first police officer turned to his partner and said, “We’re out of here!” Season Best Wishes to ALL May I once again wish all readers of my column a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year; I hope you all have a very enjoyable time; God Bless. The Joe Murphy Column 3 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

British International Championship Club Phil Hodson of Irlam Salford, an 800-mile fancier A truly amazing experience ‘A truly amazing experience’, this is how Phil Hodson described timing his 1st North West Section winner from Barcelona over 849 miles on 8th July 2022, taking 33rd Open. There are several fanciers, albeit few and far between, who relish the challenge of extreme distance racing, this is usually over 800 miles. The BICC International races allow fanciers to compete at these extreme distances with races over 700 and 800 miles. The fancier Jim Emerton, himself an 800-mile virtuoso, thought that reporting on extreme distance fanciers would offer an insight into the mind set of these fanciers and encourage others to think about taking up the challenge. For many years now, Jim has sponsored three fantastic BICC trophies, to reward those fanciers who have excelled at the distance. They are awarded to the winner of the highest velocity over 750 miles, the best two bird average from Barcelona and the ACE International pigeon award, presented to a bird recorded in two International races in the same year. This report is part of a short series on one of those fanciers, Phil Hodson of Irlam, in City of Salford, Greater Manchester. Phil is in line to pick up two of those trophies, the Jim Emerton Barcelona Dream Trophy for the highest velocity over 750 miles and the Jim Emerton Trophy for the longest flying bird in race time. Phil started keeping pigeons in 2019 and bought 6 young birds from Tumley Lofts. As a beginner, they kindly have him any extra 2 to start him off. These birds have raced well and are mainly raced by Thomas, Phil’s son, who enjoys racing the shorter races. However, Phil quickly came to the realisation that sprint racing wasn’t for him, and it was the longer races that caught his imagination. It appeared to everyone who knew Phil, that this was no surprise. Phil has been a long-distance walker and has walked from Land’s End to John O’Groats in one continuous walk. It took him 52 days with an average of 26 miles a day. In fact, Phil has walked up to 48 miles in one day and has walked many of the long-distance walking routes throughout England. Phil enjoys the challenge of long-distance walking, and he has taken this approach into his pigeon racing. He isn’t someone who looks for instant gratification with the pigeons, and when he took 1st Section Barcelona back in July, Phil said to me, ‘Good morning, Mike, I am just calming down now, from clocking a bird in from the BICC Barcelona race! What an experience that has been, she clocked in at 6.56am on the 14th July, a few minutes after I had let my son’s young birds out. He had a bird with a bruised wing which landed almost straight away, and I watched as a bird landed on my let board. Thinking one of my young birds had got in with his, I returned to the loft to find the hen looking at an empty feed bowl then looking back at me. I said out loud, you can have as much as you want. I had tears in my eyes, what a bird, she had flown 849 miles in a north wind through warm weather; what a tough race. I was quite surprised to find she had lost very little weight and was in good shape. What a bird to complete a personal challenge!’ Phil is 59 years old and is a retired engineer having worked on commercial vehicles, mainly for Mercedes. He races out of a converted 40-foot trailer and prefers the open hole, flying the natural method as advocated by Jim Emerton. In fact, Phil has gained much of his knowledge from reading Jim’s books. However, hawk attacks have forced him to vary this and control the times that the birds are exercised. He feeds them on a hopper of layers pellets with a premium race mix. Phil obtained his long-distance birds from an Elimar online auction following the advice of his friend and fellow pigeon fancier, Steve Carroll. They went out on a trip to Lier pigeon market in Belgium and this is where they had the conversation about Phil’s passion for the distance. Phil recalls Steve saying to him that sprinting wasn’t going to appeal to him and that he needed to race pigeons in the same way as he walks, over the distance and often for many days. Steve was right and he has supported Phil ever since he took up the sport. Mike Mathews, a retired fancier, has also provided some sound advice, for which Phil is extremely grateful. The birds Phil bought were from the original Etienne Meirlean family. Phil has adopted an approach of experimentation with the birds to see what they can do. On one occasion, he took 6 late breds to Cheltenahm, 105 miles, for their first toss and they all made it back home. Phil also trained his old birds from Cheltenham on five consecutive days and on the fifth day, the cocks left the basket and flew a few feet onto the top of a KFC restaurant. They sat there until he released the hens, and they then flew home with them. He says that this experience taught him that the birds had the physical ability to fly home, but they may have reached the motivational threshold and didn’t have the appetite to fly back immediately. From this, he learned that motivation is as important as physical fitness in relation to the birds’ desire to be keen to fly back to the loft. Nonetheless, he is still keen on training and racing as preparation for the distance and his 18 entries for the 2022 Barcelona race, raced Weymouth, 198 miles on Friday on 24th June, Yeovil on Sunday 26th June before being sent to St Philbert with the BICC on Thursday, for a release on Saturday 2nd July. He took 4th Section, 250th Open over 430 miles with his Barcelona hen being his second bird home. They were then sent to Barcelona on Monday 4th July. So, what does the future hold for Phil? He says more of the same. He has a team of about 100 young birds, and he intends to train and race these to find the ones capable of once again achieving the 849-mile distance from Barcelona. He has also teamed up with Jim Emerton and Nick Harvey to pair his Barcelona hen with Nick Harvey’s mealy cock which is bred from two Barcelona section winners into the west. One of those is the blue hen, Musgrove Inevitable, 1st BICC Section Barcelona for Nick, and 3 times Barcelona. The deal was sporting friendship to improve their extreme distance stock. And that concludes Phil’s account of his Barcelona section winner. If this has encouraged anyone to try racing from the distance in the Internationals, then the BICC will be staging 5 International races in the 2023 season. These will be from Pau, Agen, St Vincent, Barcelona, and Perpignan. Anyone interested in racing with the BICC to compete in these races, against the best in Britain and Europe, can join the BICC for £40 membership with £9.50 birdage for each International race. The BICC are always keen to welcome new members and Jim would love to see a new name lift one of his trophies. So, why not give it some thought over the winter? Mike Jackson BICC Press Officer Email:mike.jackson026@hotmail.com Tel:07964448291

Dave Bunker Brierley The Donaldson Hen "A tale of friendship and camaraderie tinged with a little sadness but overwhelmingly full of happiness" In the not so distant past well not for the older generation two men were drawn together over their passion. These were pigeon racing fanciers but not just any old pigeon fanciers these were marathon men a select few pigeon fanciers that push distance racing to their extremes. These two men Jim Emerton and Jim Donaldson both excelled at this genre of the sport but both also held the same yearning to push the boundaries that little bit further. Their meeting I liken to when two star's collide in that both not only shared their methods they also shared their families of their birds strengthening both families in in essence the two families became one and the two fanciers became friends. What’s all this got to do with the Donaldson Hen I here you ask? Well everything. Approximately three years ago I was searching around Facebook pigeon sites when I came across a photo post about the Donaldson Hen. I put a photo of my pair of direct Jim Donaldsons pigeons which my dad had previously bought for me for Christmas on the post. Out of the blue I received a comment which just said "swap" I replied "swap what" and that was the start of another friendship that was the Donaldson Hen weaving her magic again! The fancier who said "swap" was no other than Jim Emerton. Jim and i became friends he goaded, teased and pushed me (or at least that's what I tell the wife) with my pigeons to do better and I did. But more than this he taught me to believe that anything is possible if you dare to dream it and then do it. Last year Jim said to me "what pigeon if you could have would you like to have?" I replied "a pigeon off the Donaldson Hen to pair into my two to enhance my little embryonic beginnings of a family" We carried on chatting as we do said our goodbyes and i never thought anymore about it, well to be absolutely honest I did fleetingly think wow wouldn't that be great but I daren't dream! The next time we were speaking Jim said "you know I asked you what pigeon you would like and you said a youngbird off the Donaldson Hen" I replied "yes" he said "I can do better than that do you want the Donaldson Hen" well you could of knocked me over with a feather and of cause I said yes. I was like a kid at Christmas. Oh yes I know you'll all be wanting to know what her breeding is but again being completely honest this is secondary to the Donaldson Hen being a bastion for friendship offering hopes and dreams to the custodians of her. Anyway here's her bloodlines the Donaldson Hen is as Jim Donaldson in his own words said "she's the best of my family lines being bred off two Scottish national section winners at around 700 miles I have no better bred or looking pigeon" Here’s a few of Jim Donaldson's great pigeons that are in her lineage. Ancenis Lady the Dal cock, Reims Girl, Rennes Lass, Donanne, Little Lara, Blue Mist, Noit Lady and Circus Boy to name but a few. But here's a twist in this tale there is some boxes left blank in the Donaldson hens pedigree just with the colour and ring numbers and the words bred for stock documented. With a little research I have managed to track down what this line is and the pigeons are. Are you ready for the twist well here goes. The blanks which appear on the hens side of both the parent section winners of the Donaldson Hen are Unique a son off Barcelona Dream and Dark Enchantment called Unique because as Jim Emerton says "there's no other youngster with parents that both flew Barcelona at 879 miles so I called him Unique". So the twist in this tale is that the Dark chequer hen is the Dam of both section winners SU 06 NE 757 who flew 3rd section SNFC Alencon 32 open 631 miles 2009 was Jim Donaldsons 1st bird from Bourges 739 miles 2nd section Tours 705 miles 2011 Just out of time from Noit 775 miles smash only 7 birds back in race time 2012 and of course she is the dam of 2 section winners. The dark hen SU 06 757 is a granddaughter of Jim Emerton's Bicc record holding Barcelona Dream flying Barcelona at 879 miles. Although I never spoke to Jim Donaldson I know Jim Emerton did to check with him to make sure it was alright to pass the Donaldson Hen on to me. Sadly not long after Jim Donaldson passed away but his legacy still lives on in his racing results and in the kind gestures he did. So there is a moral to this tale, life sometimes can seem bleak especially if you get involved in the politics. Pigeon racing is more than just winning and the pigeons being a conduit to perform the task it's a form of escape, solitude and you being in control. It's about friendship and camaraderie and winning is just a bonus. The humble pigeon is an extension of the fanciers personality giving us fanciers the opportunity to dream and make dreams become reality if you only dare to believe. Yours in Sport Dave Bunker Brierley

Have a great Auld Years Night folks. And hopefully 2023 brings you all success for the racing season. Thanks once again for your support Sapper756

I have contacted the 2 fanciers who are the winner & runner up for The Dewar Trophy for 2022; these were John Hodgson of Annan and Dennis Anderson of Annan. To obtain information on their winning pigeons; I explained to both fanciers that I'm hopefully going to write a book on The Dewar Trophy Winners and their runners up; the Dewar Trophy is awarded to Scotland’s Bird of the Year, next year is the 50th anniversary of this award. Because of the Covid virus we have not raced from France these past 2 seasons. So, it was a pleasure to get back into the swing of things in 2022 with pigeon racing from over the channel. I have acquired a lot of quality information on the majority of previous Dewar Trophy winners throughout my research. In-fact I can remember the very first winners of the trophy which was won in 1973; this was to the father and son partnership of William & David Ree of Broughty Ferry near Dundee. The partnership won the Dewar Trophy for the best Channel Performance over 600 miles with their grizzle cock; named ‘High Degree’ who won 1st open SNFC Nantes flying a distance of 642 miles recording a velocity of 1040 from a convoy of 1689 birds. This Ree partnership had a very successful plumbing business in the town, but more importantly to me they also had an outstanding record at long distance racing in the SNFC. Their results were exceptional as they had previously won 3rd, 26th 31st 32nd 44th 46th 50th & 61st open from Nantes. From Rennes a distance of 580 miles they won 28th 150th 196th 237th & 274th open in the space of 4 years period. From Beauvais a distance of 528 miles they won 27th 39th 41st 52nd 112th & 116th open and from the 1975 Usher Vaux Avranches race with an entry of 6414 birds the W & D Ree loft flying a distance of 542 miles won 76th east section 109th open. They were without doubt a very successful distance loft and a worthy frontrunner of the Dewar Trophy. The runners up to the first Dewar Trophy winner were Jock & Ann Grieve of Auchtermuchty with their famous blue cock named ‘Jock’ who won 2nd East Section 2nd open Nantes national flying 630 miles. He also won 1st east section 2nd open the following year flying 98 miles further than the outright winner. He was a wonderful pigeon and I remember going to view him at the Grieve’s loft in ‘Muchty’ as the local’s call it. Back in those days fanciers used to go and visit the winners of the big open races, and there was none better than a ‘National Winner’; and believe me you were always made welcome. I think I got the inspiration from this and I wanted to learn as much as I could from speaking to these successful fanciers, which has continued even to this day nearly 50 years later. Next year 2023 will be the 50th Anniversary of the Dewar Trophy and I would like to get the book printed as soon as possible after the winners have been announced. 2022 Winners This year I contacted the winner John Hodgson of Annan, unfortunately he is away on holiday, and has promised to contact me when he returns. However, I have been successful in speaking to the runner up who was Dennis Anderson of Annan. Dennis sent me an email as follows; ‘Hi Joe, it was good to see you at the SNFC dinner, and I’m sorry that I did not find the time to come and speak to you. Please find the performances so far of my pigeon named ‘Cipo’ who is our Runner Up to the Dewar Trophy Winner. His dam was bred by ‘House of Aarden’ through their Padfield’s family crossed with my own Anderson/Jan Aarden family which I have had for 35 plus years. ‘Cipo’ is a chequer pied cock rung SU19 S 2225: As a young bird he won 8th section A 8th south section 188th open SNFC young bird Buckingham national; from an entry of 1548 birds sent by 211 members. As a yearling he was paired to a potentially good racing hen and both of them had scored in early Annan homing club races; but we had a bad race from around 120 miles and he came home a little out of sorts. I decided to rest him for a couple of weeks which then turned into being for the rest of the season. You may remember Joe, 2020 was the year we only had 2 old bird SNFC races from Maidstone and Reims. I sent 14 birds to Maidstone and had 3 of them on the result on the Saturday. Then 3 days later; I sent 12 to Reims including my good cock ‘Bonnyrigg Lion Heart’ a chequer cock SU18 S 3182; he won 1st section (only bird on the day in the section and he was on his 5th flight) plus 21st open SNFC Reims from an entry of 1490 birds in 2020. The following year he won 37th section 239th open from SNFC Huntington 3891 birds; then from the SNFC Maidstone race 3460 birds he won 12th section 178th open flying 305 miles; that same year he won 5th section 23rd open SNFC Yeovil 282 miles; 1152 birds; he then went to the SNFC Guernsey race a distance of 381 miles and he won 17th section 23rd open contesting against 1237 birds. Then in 2022 ‘Cipo’ was sent to the first old bird national from Upper Hayford a distance of 226 miles and won 38th section 156th open from an entry of 3002 birds. He then went to the SNFC Yeovil race with a convoy of 1631 birds and he won 38th section 70th open flying 282 miles. He was then sent to the SNFC Gold Cup race from Alencon a distance of 474 miles with the convoy of 713 birds and he was to the fore winning 2nd section 2nd open. Joe, you have seen his performances so far and I think he is the best ‘Doo’ in my loft for the 2023 season. All my Widowerhood cocks were at the first inland national from Upper Heyford which turned out a tough race, they were held over and liberated on the Sunday with many Doo’s out for the night. On the Monday night I decided to re-pair all the widowerhood cocks up and they went to Reims sitting around 10/12 days on eggs and in great condition. When I timed ‘Cipo’ from Alencon at 17-38pm, he went back onto his eggs and was as keen as ever and straight away I decided to consider him for the Carentan race, providing he exercised around the loft and continued to look as if Alencon had taken little out of him which it hadn’t. With him going back onto his eggs and his hen being as keen; they sat over their time and I gave him eggs that chipped out 3/4 days before basketing!! When Michael Currie came to verify him after winning 2nd section 2nd open from Alencon; I told Michael he was probably going to Carentan in less than 2 weeks, Michael said ‘He was in great condition with plenty of body that you’d hardly think he had anything taken out him from being at the Alencon race!! My Doo’s are always for racing and sometimes you need to have the bottle or take a chance, especially when sending back a ‘Doo’ that had been 2nd open Gold Cup, but; he proved my decision right and junior and I were pleased to see him hit the trap on Carentan night at 21-37pm to win 5th section 13th open SNFC. I’ve raced Doo’s since joining Annan Homing club for the 1978 season and been fortunate to have scored many top positions in club, section and open results but my best feeling ever was after timing the pied cock ‘Cipo’ from Alencon race. Then taking a call from my grandson Dennis junior that night to say he’d timed his blue cock in at 21-24 and then seeing both our names on the national Lib-Line. Young Dennis is only 14 years old (he turned 14 in August) and totally racing his own team of pigeons. Dennis Snr also bred the blue cock SU20S6420 who is now named ‘Super Ally’; he was raced by Dennis Anderson junior; and won 27th section A 44th open SNFC Alencon Gold Cup. Young Dennis is looking forward to racing him again next year. The blue cock was bred by Dennis senior and his dam is the hen that is paired to ‘Cipo! Young Dennis’s loft has now been brought down to his grandfather’s place and all his Doo’s have been broken into their new surroundings. Young Dennis has commandeered a load of his granddad’s 2022 youngsters. Which will give him a good team of around 30 racers to start the 2023 season with. Which he’ll race on his own but as his granddad says ‘We are ‘, i.e.; Team Jan AAndersons’ and we’ll work and help each other to get the best out of our racing teams in 2023 and hopefully many more years ahead. Dennis senior says ‘It’s great having young Dennis involved and being as interested as he is; which Joe this has awoken the sleeping Giant in my loft; and given me back my ‘mojo’ for racing the doo’s again especially from the SNFC Channel distance races!! Dennis senior has sent me a few photographs; One of young Dennis loft and you can see by the colours which football team he supports. I thought that when I saw the name of the pigeon i.e., Ally McCoist. ‘Cipo’ won 6th place in the Titan Games Long Distance Category & also the Scottish Homing Union Ogilvie Trophy as well as being the Runner Up for the Dewar Trophy in 2022. My thanks to Dennis senior for the above details and photographs to go with my column, and his kind words regarding my work within the pigeon sport in Scotland. © COMPILED BY JOE MURPHY

I noticed in this last week’s BHW an advert for the position of Secretary/Treasurer for the SNFC; saying this would be a Full-Time Appointment. Surely in this present climate within our sport this has to be a PART TIME post. Back in 2006 when certain individuals including the then president of the club; did not get their own way at the SNFC A.G.M. They walked out and within a week or so formed the Scottish National Racing Pigeon Club to compete against the SNFC. During their first season they had 225 members (including members of the SNFC) sending 1531 birds to their inland race from Newbury. This year 2022 the SNRPC sent 399 birds to Eastbourne; and 390 birds to their Newark young bird race (no details of members). This shows the club are losing members nearly every year. When the SNFC present-day secretary took over the post in the year 2014; we still had the challenge of competing against the Scottish National Racing Pigeon Club; the club averaged between 431 to 645 members to the nationals. With entries from 1355 birds to the Gold Cup race sent by 431 members. With 645 members sending 4855 birds to Maidstone inland national. At the present time 2022 the most membership was from the inland race from Upper Heyford with 369 members sending (this includes fanciers who are in both Scottish Nationals) 3002 birds. From the Alencon Gold Cup race 142 members entered 713 birds and from their other channel event from Carentan; 97 members sent 396 birds. Therefore, the SNFC creates most revenue from the inland race points. However; I have it on good authority; subject to agreement; that the Central & East of Scotland Amalgamation is looking to re-start up in 2023; This consists of races from the 250 miles stage to the South coast of England; i.e.; Maidstone; Brighton; etc. They believe if the combination of the following federations; i.e., Aberdeen, Dundee, Angus, Fife, Central, North West, Midlothian, Traprain, Pentlandhills, East of Scotland, Scottish Borders ALL JOIN, they will be able to take the pigeons to the longest South Coast race for a £1-00 A BIRD. Plus, the fact again subject to agreement and some minor logistics, THEY can leave on the Friday night and be down in time to liberate the next morning if the weather is good. If this transpires; it will take all the birdage away from the SNFC inland nationals. Which would result in a massive loss of revenue to the club. Plus, the fact that if this appointment is made for a full-time secretary, then that person will be entitled to a full-time salary. Membership is dropping every year and you just have to look at the number of fanciers who are calling it a day. We have just seen our ‘Greatest Fancier’ Billy Bilsland winner of 14 nationals; give up the sport, plus there are others who are not so well known, but are members of the national, the pigeon sport is dying and we ALL KNOW THIS FACT; so, a Full-Time secretary will be a massive mistake in this present climate. Here is Another Example of this Fact I received an email with the sad news that the father and son partnership of Richard & Jamie Combe of Elphinstone are also giving up the sport. Jamie wrote ‘Hi Joe, hope you are well. You might have heard on the jungle drums but just to say that I'm intending to have an advert in the BHW on Thursday 24th November edition, advertising all the birds for sale. My dad and his wife are looking to move house and have put their house on the market now; so, the birds need to go asap. I wondered if you could give it a wee mention in your column that week, please? I don't have time to organise an auction so I’m just going to advertise them and sell them from the paper. I have a week off work from Friday 25th November until Monday 5th December and would hope to have the birds away during that week. I'll be happy to show any visitors the birds that are available, provided they make an appointment - strictly no unannounced visitors. I will have a sale list ready that can be e-mailed out so folk will know what is available. I can be reached on 07910 514078 or by e-mail jcelphi@hotmail.com Anyone who follows the SNFC results or reads my column will have read about Richard & Jamie Combe of Elphinstone; as their name has been at or near the top of SNFC results for many years. They have also raced some wonderful pigeon over the years, including; ‘Setonpark Caelan’ winner of The Joe Murphy Sporting Challenge; she did not only win this top award; but she was the only pigeon recorded in race time. Which was something unique as this had never happened before in my Sporting Challenge. Richard and Jamie also raced their famous ‘Midnight Son’. A dark chequer cock, who was one of the best, if not the best, pigeon that Richard & Jamie had the privileged to breed and race. His sire was ‘0400’ a black-splashed red chequer Kirkpatrick stock cock. His brother was rung ‘0399’ and won 33rd open SNFC Rennes as a yearling and his sister, ‘3220’ won 22nd open SNFC Sartilly. The dam of ‘0400’ was 8566 a dark blue chequer hen who won 5th open Sartilly (1) and 99th open Sartilly (2) with the SNFC in 1995. So, as you can see, ‘Midnight Son’ was bred in the purple! ‘8566’ in turn was a ½ sister of their great hen ‘Sapphire’ a winner of 5th open SNFC Sartilly (1) & 31st open Sartilly (2) in 1993; & 29th open SNFC Beauvais in 1994. Both ‘0400’ and ‘8566’ left a exceptionality amount of good channel winners for the partnership. As a young bird in 1996, ‘Midnight Son’ had 7 races out to Worcester (252 miles) and won 1st club from Penrith. He only had 3 races as a yearling from Preston, Stafford and finally Frome with the SNFC homing early on the 2nd day. In 1998 he was raced from Longtown, Penrith and Leyland before being sent to Frome with the SNFC. Then on the 8th June, after a one-day holdover, he won 9th east section, 16th open from an entry of 4005 birds. He was then entered in the SNFC Gold Cup race from Rennes and on the 28th of June after a 2-day holdover; he won 72nd east section, 131st open from an entry of 3019 birds. Finally on the 8th of July this same year he won 3rd east section, 7th open SNFC Sartilly competing against 2042 birds. These results with the SNFC won him the coveted SHU Dewar Trophy for Scotland’s Bird of the Year. He also won ‘Bird of the Year’ in the Edinburgh and Lothians Social Circle. It was his performance from the Sartilly race which gave him his name. The convoy were liberated at 09-00am, and he was timed – (amid much excitement - at 00-31) by Richard; hence the ‘Midnight’ part of his name. Somehow son Jamie, arouse from his bed when it was realised the cock was on the trap. He reached the loft -dressed in pyjama top and shorts; and in his bare feet - at the same time as Richard. And so, this is the reason the ‘Son’ part came of his name. ‘Midnight Son’ went on to win 109th east section, 241st open Frome against an entry of (3827 birds); then won 65th east section, 155th open from Rennes against a convoy of (2862 birds); and he then won 4th east section, 37th open Sartilly from an entry of 1973 birds with the SNFC in 1999. He then met with a serious injury in 2000 which greatly curtailed racing for a while until the partnership were sure he had fully recovered but in 2002 he was sent to Reims with the SNFC and he won 45th east section, 62nd open from a convoy of 2650 birds; thus, securing his SNFC Gold Award for winning 5 times from France. Needless to say, he had nothing more to prove and was then retired to stock and was the sire and grandsire of many good channel winner’s; not only for Richard & Jamie but also for great fanciers like; Eddie Newcombe, Bobby Carruthers, Dale Newcombe (all sadly no longer with us) and many others. To win 3 times in the top 10 of the east section of the SNFC, was a great feat at that time and ‘Midnight Son’ and as far as I’m concerned ‘Midnight Son’ will always be a Champion in my eyes. Richard and Jamie achieved many prizes within the top 5 open positions in the SNFC results; for example; they were 2nd open Tours, 2nd open Chenoise, 3rd open Sartilly, 4th open Rennes, 5th open Rennes and 3 times x 5th open Sartilly. They also twice won ‘The Fancier of the Year’ award in 1998 with Jim Renwick and in 2004 with my Joe Murphy Sporting Challenge; and they were also runners up in 2006. They have also won the SNFC overall and section averages plus the Gold Award mentioned above; They also won SNFC Silver Awards won in 2008; 2009; 2015; 2016 & 2018. I have highlighted a good few of these achievements in previous articles. My thanks to Jamie for his email and I hope Richard |& Jamie’s sale goes well, look out for the advert in this week’s paper. SHU Trophy Winners 2022 The SHU Celtic Trophy; was presented by Taffy Bowen of Wales; for the performance(s) Old Birds up to 300 miles. The winners were G W & P McAloney with the following performances; Race Point Organisation Date of Race Position in Race Number Birds Distance Velocity Alnwick Lanarkshire 30/04/22 1st Fed 5391 Fed 96-1091 1494 1st Section 1509 Sect Alnwick Lanarkshire 18/06/22 1st Fed 2462 Fed 96-1091 1270 1st Section 747 Sect Thirsk Lanarkshire 07/05/22 24th Fed 5072 Fed 154-627 1372 10th Section 1408 Sect Worksop Lanarkshire 21/05/22 31st Fed 3447 Fed 213-1717 1329 15th Section 1005 Sect Worksop Lanarkshire 21/05/22 15th Fed 3447 Fed 213-1717 1329 Yearling 7th Section 1005 Sect 213-1717 1329 Budworth Lanarkshire 14/05/22 32nd Fed 4250 Fed 189-1036 1246 Yearling 18th Section 1160 Sect 189-1036 1246 Alnwick Lanarkshire 3/07/22 34th Fed 1193 Fed 96-1091 1270 9th Section 643 Sect Wooler Lanarkshire 16/04/22 77st Fed 3484 Fed 77-1057 1362 32nd Section 973 Sect The SHU Yearling Trophy Friendship Cup; for Outstanding Performance was won by S & S Tierney of Edinburgh. From the SNFC Alencon race point flown on the 1st July 2022, flying a distance of 534 miles 449 yards recording a velocity of 1087.64 winning 21st open competing against 713 birds. This pigeon has already won 7th section B 47th open Yeovil, from an entry of 1631 birds, and also won 36th open Carentan from an entry of 396 birds. We move on now to the Annie Ross Bowes Memorial Trophy; which is awarded to the fancier who has donated their free time in promoting the pigeon sport in Scotland. The winner of this award is Joe Allan of Midlothian, nominated by Jimmy Simpson of the same federation. His letter is as follows; Dear Andrew, I would like to nominated Joe Allan of Easthouses for the ARB Trophy. Joe is in his 83rd year and has been an inspiration all over the Lothians for helping pigeon men; i.e., moving their lofts also house moving; anything you ask Joe he would always help. He has been Midlothian federation clock ‘convenor’ also convenor for the SNFC for more years than I can remember. I am 70 years old and could not have done ½ of what Joe has done, he also ferries race birds on Friday night from 12 clubs and brings the baskets back on a Saturday. As I have said before he is in his 83rd year, suffers from C.O.P.D and has vowed to die ‘A DOO MAN’. He lost his wife Violet 3 years ago and ‘Doo’s’ is all he has left. Hoping that you can give my nomination consideration yours in sport Jimmy Simpson’. I would like to congratulate Joe on winning this award, and I can also reiterate to Jimmy’s letter. Many years ago, I was asked to help out a widow whose husband had passed; she was wanting all the pigeons and loft removed. Our son Kevin was interested in her small stock loft and he purchased it. However; how was he going to get it over to Thornton in Fife, where he would collect it. Joe Allan come to the rescue and brought the loft over in his van. I have known Joe Allan for many many years, as we were both friends of the late Chris and Roy Anderson of Ayton; who were great fliers in their day. On many occasions when we visited the Anderson’s Joe would often be there as he had trained his federation members birds from down in this area at least twice a week. Then he would drop in and see the Anderson’s. Great memories and Chris and Roy had a fantastic team of birds, and the pigeon club room was in the bottom half of their property; opposite the Black Bull Pub in the main street of Ayton. Billy Bilsland lives in the top part of the village now, and we all know how successful Billy has been. Joe’s Joke A Cup of Tea One day a mother was out, and dad was in charge of his daughter. She was only maybe 2 ½ years old. Someone had given her a little 'tea set' as a gift, and it was one of her favourite toys. Her Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news; when she brought him a little cup of 'tea', which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such ‘yummy tea’, her mum came home. Dad made mum wait in the living room to watch their daughter bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!' Mum waited, and sure enough, here she came down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy; and Mum watched him drink it up. Then she said, (as only a mother would know), "'Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?" 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 Midnight Sun Seatonpark Caelon

Thomas has kindly gave his permission for me to share with Basics members CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Same to you

Who can enlighten us, as to what this contraption is being used for?

BHW ‘Show of the Year’ Blackpool 2022. 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. This 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! 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. 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. John and Alice Bell of Scotland won Reserve ‘Best in Show’, ‘Best Show Racer’ and Best Young Bird’ at the 2020 BHW Blackpool Show with their beautiful dark chequer hen, Cheeky Girl’. John and Alice have a brilliant record at the Blackpool Show, previously winning ‘Supreme Champion’ a record six times. Talking to John after the Blackpool Show, he told me he and Alice had had a wonderful 2020 show season. The first event they competed in was the NEHU South Shields Show in November and they won Best in Show (400 birds), with their five year old blue chequer cock, ‘Young Supreme’. This was the second time this champion cock had qualified for the ‘Supreme Champion’ class at the BHW Blackpool Show, previously winning ‘Supreme Champion’ at Blackpool and ‘Best in Show’ RPRA Southern Region Show in 2016. The following weekend the Bell partners exhibited at the Hurlford North Road Open Show (400 birds) and there were eight classes of racing pigeons and eight classes of Show Racer on the day. John and Alice won all eight Show Racer classes and ‘Best in Show’ with a young red hen, which also qualified for the ‘Supreme Champion’ class at Blackpool. The next show was the Clydesdale Open Show (500 birds) and they won three classes and ‘Best in Show’ with a two year old blue chequer cock, which again also qualified for the Blackpool ‘Supreme Champion’ class. The day after the Clydesdale show John and Alice travelled 225 miles each way to Snainton near Scarborough to win ‘Best in Show’ and Reserve ‘Best in Show’ at the BSRF Open Show. Two weeks later they showed at the Kingdom of Fife Open Show (450 birds), winning seven of the eight Show Racer classes and ‘Best in Show’ with their champion dark chequer hen, ‘Dottie’. This great hen had previously won ‘Best Opposite Sex’ as a young bird at the BHW Blackpool Show and ‘Best in Show’ as a yearling at the RPRA South Region Show. The following day they travelled 300 miles to Dordin for the Black Country Open Show (500 birds) and won five classes. John and Alice’s last show before Blackpool was the SHU Open Show at Symington and there was nearly 800 birds competing. They won three classes and ‘Best in Show’ with the pigeon that won ‘BIS’ previously at Snainton. John and Alice had five birds that qualified for the ‘Supreme Champion’ class at the 2020 BHW Blackpool Show. They had a brilliant Blackpool Show, winning four classes, Reserve ‘Best in Show’, ‘Best Show Racer’, ‘Best Young Bird’ and lifted eleven trophies. I asked John how he started up in pigeons and he told me, ‘I started with racing pigeons in 1974, at the age of nine and my first birds came from local fanciers, Eric Wilson of Mauchline who gave me two cocks and Sonny Mathieson who gave me two hens to mate to them. A year or so before that a friend of mine got some pigeons and I got hooked on them when I visited his garden. My parents agreed to allow me to keep some birds and with no experience I raced the whole young bird programme in 1975. I won my first race the following season and scored at the mighty Scottish National race from Rennes (552 miles), and I must say it was a great feeling! To breed and race birds that can race from France to Catrine, Ayrshire in the west of Scotland is a great buzz, as it is a very hard place to race pigeons too’. John flew his birds until the 2000 season when sadly his friend and mentor, Louis Campbell, passed away. He was always keen on showing his racing pigeons and took then to events all over Scotland, where he was very successful in local and open shows. The Bell loft had four racing pigeons that had won open shows in the same year with over 500 birds competing, at that time, and qualified for the Supreme Champion of Great Britain class at Blackpool and won Reserve that year. Whenever he went to the big National shows he would spend long periods of time looking at the Show Racer and thought how great they looked. Alice used to go with John to the big shows and she also took a liking the wonderful looking show birds, so they both decided to get a few and give proper showing a go. The first Show Racers were brought in, in 2002 and quality specimens proved very difficult to obtain. He was lucky to know, Raymond Murphy of Cambuslang in Glasgow, who was a very good showman who was going out of the sport, and was having a clearance sale. John visited Raymond’s loft and purchased a five year old silver hen and her son, which was a three year old silver blue cock, both being top quality. Other birds were obtained including a young blue chequer cock from Darren Gibbons of Grimsby. In the 2002 season the ‘Old Silver Hen’ won three big open shows and her son, the silver blue cock, won two classes at open events. John and Alice went to the RP ‘Old Comrades’ where the young chequer cock won his class and went on to win the Best Young Bird at the Scottish East Region Society Show, then went forward to Blackpool to represent the Society in the BSRF class. The 2003 season saw more good success with several open show wins with racing and show birds. John told me that Alice was very instrumental in the success as she spent a lot of time with the birds and made them very tame. They responded really well to her and sit on her head and feed from her hand. John maintains making her a full pigeon partner was one of the best things he ever did, as she manages the loft when he is working, cleaning out and feeding the birds. Well that’s my annual report for the 2022 BHW Blackpool Show! Congratulations to John and Alice Bell on yet another great Blackpool success! A special congratulations to the young fanciers: Adam Christie, Keelie Wright, Aiden Winters and George Tytler, who all won class’s. It is really great to see young people win at the very top level! It all happens again in Blackpool next month. (December 2022)

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May I take this opportunity to thank all Basics members for their ongoing support, since I have taken over the running of Pigeon Basics in April this year, I have been impressed with those members who have been loyal to Basics. It's not easy running an online pigeon website, when now a days, there are so many Social Network sites, which run free without any costs. But as long as Basics continues to run and pay for it's self, via Google ads and very much appreciated donations from members. I am happy to continue through 2023 MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS 2023 Sapper 756