THE FIFER Posted April 11, 2019 Report Share Posted April 11, 2019 The Joe Murphy Column Away back in 1986 Mr & Mrs John Gibson of East houses near Dalkeith won a Gold Award (for 5 times a winner into Scotland from France)in the Scottish National Flying Club with ‘Sartilly Express’. This hen contained the bloodlines of ‘Lionheart’ who flew from Palamos 1000 miles and was raced by Henry Mair of Irvine in Ayrshire. The late great Jim Biss also had‘ Lionheart’ bloodlines and purchased ‘Sartilly Express’ from the Gibson’s to gointo Hillside Lofts at Brundall. Henry and John Gibson were to go down to Hillside to meet up with Jim Biss and Henry phoned and asked me if I would like to go with them. This was a chance in a lifetime and I willingly agreed, however on the morning we were to leave John Gibson was not well and Henry and I drove down to Norfolk ourselves and were to stay overnight and travelled back the next day. This was a great experience and one I will never forget but more about this visit to the great Jim Biss another day. Obviously spending many hours together in the van Henry and me hit it off and have remained friends ever since. Henry was a legendary writer and poet and has been writing for almost 5 decades and experienced many struggles along the way in promoting his books. One of his books ‘Alone I Rebel’ an autobiography withpoems was on sale for £4 when it was first published in 1975. It appealed to young Russian people with its sentiments and it was only a limited edition of 1.000 copies; so anyone who purchased one did well. The book was inspired bythe death of Henry’s uncle, Peter Mair, in a Leicester doss house after man years of sleeping rough. He said ‘When I came out of the army I had an uncle who died penniless, he was told by the lady from the doss house not to try and judge his uncle as he was a very proud Scotsman who loved to write poetry’.Henry told his dad that he wanted to show a bit of compassion for his uncle and people less fortunate and try to get his poetry published. He took 200 books and travelled to Edinburgh to try and sell them. He was a young father and working in a factory so did not have the money to send copies out to publishers. So he had to deliver them and walked the streets and offered them to bookshops on a ‘Sale or return basis.’ He also managed to get some of them into Napier and Edinburgh University and he was tickled pink. A few weeks later Henry’s inauguration work was named ‘Book of the Week’ in the Sunday Mail. These early recognitions encouraged Henry to continue with his literary ventures and he went on to see his work translated into French and Russian while involved in this task. Henry was amazed to see his acclaimed autobiographical book selling for £910.48 and was flattered by his new found fame. Henry informed me that his daughter Donna contacted him totell him about his book on Amazon. ‘It is the scarcity of it now Joe which has made it so valuable’. Henry has 100’s of poems published over the years and the biggest influences in his life have been Robert Burns, Hugh MacDiarmid and Edwin Morgan. He said ‘Poetry has always been in my blood; it reflects a state of mind and is a very worthwhile art’. Henry is also a very keen pigeon man and reads his pigeon magazines every week. I have attached a photograph of Henry with Hugh MacDiarmid’s pipe which was sold for £600 to the Irvine Burns Club to raise money for the children’s hospice. Well done my old friend and more power to your pen! Henry Mair see text Good SNFC Birds This week I cover 4 birds from the Solway region starting with K Thomson of Wamphray who has a blue chequer cock SU14S6038 that as a 2 year old won 51st section A 135th open from Buckingham flying a distance of 244 miles from an entry of 4328 birds sent by 521 members. Last year he was again sent to Buckingham with an entry of 2941 birds entered by 441 members and he won 25th section A 25th open. A few weeks later he was set up for Maidstone and again he was to the fore winning 8th section A 76th open from an entry of 3001 birds sent by 444 members. My next pigeon highlighted is raced by Dennis Anderson of Annan this is a blue chequer cock SU15S7253 as a 2 year old he was sent to Ypres in a convoy of 2320 birds sent by 409 members and won 9th section A flying a distance of 384 miles. In 2018 he was sent to 2 nationals the first from Liege a distance of474 miles but failed to make the section or open result however won Dennis some pool money. He then went to the Roye race a distance of 444 miles and he won 11th section A 53rd open from an entry of 747 birds sent by 186 members so therefore requires one more section A prize from over the channel to gain his SNFC Silver Award. We now come to the loft of Gordon Grant of Gretna who has a mealy cock SU14S2023 who has won 3 section diplomas 2 inland and one from over the channel. As a 2 year old he won 21st section A 47th open from Buckingham a distance of 223 miles flying against a convoy of 4328 birds entered by 521 members. In 2017 he was sent to the same race point and won 10th section A 155 open from an entry of 4170 birds entered by 495 members then in 2018 he was sent to Liege a distance of 468 miles and won 15th section A but no open prize from an entry of 1072 birds entered by 327 members.Last but not least is a grizzle cock SU16S1603 raced by Craig Halbert of Eastriggs as a yearling he won 25th section A 118th open from Bedhampton from an entry of 6065 birds entered by 634 members. Then in 2018 he was sent to Buckingham a distance of 224 miles and won 63rd open but no section prize from an entry of 2941 birds sent by 441 members. He was then sent to Maidstone a distance of 304 miles and he won 17th section A 127th open from an entry of 3001 birds sent by 444 members. Bo’ness Homing Society Will be holding there breeder buyer sale on Saturday 13th of April, viewing from 12 noon to 13.00 hours in the club pre mises these will be open from 11am the post code for the Bo’nessc lub hut is EH51 OJU. The prize money the last 2 years has been £1000 split between breeder and buyer and the officials hope to match that prize money again this year. The winner will be based on performances over the entire young bird season and will be judged by anindependent fancier. A sales list of all birds donated can be found on Pigeon Basics and if anyone would like more information, then please contact Martyn Brown on 07413405163 Letter Received a lovely letter from Rosemary from Yorkshire who wrote to me a while back and continues to read Joe’s Jokes to the members of her MS Exercise group she attends. She was going through some old files and came across a pile of jokes collected from many sources, and enclosed copies of some of them to me to use in the column. Rosemary has always had a strong sense of humour, which get her though the difficulties of her MS illness.While working she was a secondary school teacher and at times the pupils got away with ‘things’ because she was laughing so much. One instance was in the‘Bad’? ‘Good’? old days when pupils got the cane; she only caned for 3 things,one was for persistently being late. One boy, who lived across the valley from her on a small holding, whose family also kept pigeons, was always coming in late. This particular morning when he was late, she intended to give him the cane. Before doing so, she asked him why he was late, his reply was, ‘The cock didn’t crow’. She couldn’t cane him and laugh at the same time so he was let off. Another anecdote refers to a lad who lived in a house on the next street to the school. He never had a pen and she got so fed up with lending him one that one morning gave him 10 minutes to get home and fetch a pen. He arrived back in double quick time and when asked for the pen his reply was (in a broad Yorkshire accent), ‘Mi father ses, if tha wants mi to rite, thas to gie mesumat tu rite wee’. There’s NO answer to that!!! However, there is a lovely ending to this story. About 10 years later, Rosemary and her daughter were at a local pub quiz night. Just before the questions were asked, all was quiet, a 6 foot young man cane towards her with his hand out. Her first thought was,‘Bloodly hell, he wants to borrow a pen’. With everybody listening he said ‘I just want to shake your hand for making me work when I was at school’. Needless to say Rosemary felt 10 foot tall’. She finished off her letter saying ‘Keep the jokes coming; I’m sure many more people than I enjoy reading them’. I must thank Rosemary for her lovely letter and I attach her joke that I laughed and laughed all day about, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Joe’s Joke Making a baby, and there is not one dirty word in it, and it is funny!!!- The Smiths were unable to conceive children and decided to use a surrogate father to start their family.On the day of the proxy father was to arrive, Mr Smith kissed his wife good bye and said, ‘Well, I’m off now. The man should be here soon’. Half an hour later,just by chance, a door-to-door baby photographer happened to ring the doorbell,hoping to make a sale. ‘Good Morning, Ma’am’ he said, ‘I’ve come to….’ ‘Oh, no need to explain,’ Mrs Smith cut in, embarrassed, ‘I’ve been expecting you’. ‘Have you really? Said the photographer; ‘Well, that’s good. Did you know babies are my specialty,’ ‘Well that’s what my husband and I had hoped for. Please come in and have a seat! After a moment she asked, blushing, ‘Well, where do we start?’ Leave everything to me; I usually try two in the bathtub, one on the couch, and perhaps a couple on the bed. And sometimes the living room floor is fun; You can really spread out there’. ‘Bathtub, living room floor - No wonder it didn’t work out for Harry and me!’ ‘Well Ma’am, none of us can guarantee a good one every time, But if we try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven angles, I’m sure you will be pleased with the results’. ‘My, that’s a lot’, gasped Mrs Smith. ‘Ma’am, in my line of work a man has to take his time, I’d love to be in and out in five minutes, but I’msure you’d be disappointed with that’. ‘Don’t I know it’ said MrsS mith quietly. The photographer opens his briefcase and pulled out a portfolio on his baby pictures, ‘This was done on top of a bus,’ he said. ‘Oh my God’ Mrs Smith exclaimed, grasping at her throat. ‘Andy these twins turned out exceptionally well- when you consider their mother was so difficult to work with’. ‘She was difficult?’ asked Mrs Smith.‘Yes, I’m afraid so, I finally had to take her to the park to get the job done right. People were crowding around four and five deep to get a good look’.‘Four and five deep; said Mrs Smith, her eyes wide with amazement. ‘Yes’ the photographer replied. ‘And for more than three hours too; the mother was constantly squealing and yelling; I could hardly concentrate, and when darkness approached I had to rush my shots. Finally, when the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment, I just had to pack it all in’. Mrs Smith leaned forward, ‘Do you mean they actually chewed on your, uh….Equipment? ‘It’s true, Ma’am, yes…Well, if you are ready,I’ll set-up my tripod and we can get to work right away.’ ‘Tripod’‘Oh yes, Ma’am, I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on. It’s much too big to be held in the hand very long.’ Mrs, Smith fainted… Pleasecontinue to keep the news flowing; to Joe Murphy Mystical Rose Cottage 2Flutorum Avenue Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY1 4BD or phone 01592 770331 or Email tojoejmurphy1@gmail.com REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE or you can also view onlineeditions on: www.elimarpigeons.com www.fancierchat.co.ukwww.pigeon-chat.co.uk - www.Pigeonbasics.com - Pigeon Racing theBasics! - thecanadianpigeoninternational.comwww.internationalracingpigeon.com or https://sites.google...alracingpigeon/ Who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeontopics from Scotland ©Compiled by Joe Murphy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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