THE FIFER Posted December 13, 2019 Report Posted December 13, 2019 The Joe Murphy Column This past week we have had a severe frost up here in Scotland with everything covered in a white layer of fine ice and you have to watch your footing when outside. I’ve been emptying the drinkers at night and even the little bird bath in the back garden. Cleaning out the loft is not a problem and it is like sweeping up ‘marbles’ and it takes no time at all to do this task. The one thing the birds love when it is like this is a bath but you have to make sure you empty it before it becomes dark or you’ll have problems in the morning if you forget to empty it. SNFC Rennes 1914 I received a phone call from Anne Barrett of Kirkintilloch asking if I could help her out by supplying some information on a trophy her grandfather Thomas Bell of Kilsyth won in the SNFC Rennes race in 1914 flying in partnership with Mr Lockhart; YES 1914 which is 105 years this year when they won 3rd open. Anne’s family are hoping that I can obtain some more information for them. They would like the complete story behind the trophy as it is part of the family history. Anne said, ‘Thomas was my mum's father -in- law therefore was my grandfather. The story as far as we know it is from the Rennes race he and his partner a Mr Lockhart were 3rd open at 1350. As far as my mother can remember the bird landed at Castlehill in Kilsyth which is about 2 miles (uphill) and Thomas ran to where the bird had landed to encourage it to go home. Thomas was presented with the trophy at the annual presentation which Anne’s mum still has and Anne has kindly attached some photographs of the trophy and one with her niece Mairi McLean holding the trophy. In the hope that I could find out more about the trophy or if anyone else can help the family out. If you can then please contact me at my address below, I have spoken to Robert Cormack who is an encyclopaedia as far as I’m concerned on the subject of pigeon racing into Scotland. However Robert could not help me out as this event as it was even before he was born. On checking the SNFC 100 years of Racing Pigeons into Scotland I discovered that Doctor William Anderson became the president of the club that year 1914. At that famous meeting, Dr Anderson joined forces with the secretary Tom Dickson, there were already doubts about the military situation in France and the fears that the 1914 race could be jeopardised. As it happened Rennes went ahead in the summer despite the looming hostilities. From an entry of 440 birds competing the winners were Sharp Brothers of Newtongrange doing a velocity of 1369. 2nd place was J H Dow of Glasgow with his bird doing 1355 and Lockhart and Bell of Kilsyth were 3rd on 1350. As far as Anne’s mother can remember the bird landed at Castlehill in Kilsyth which is about 2 miles (uphill) from the partner’s loft. Thomas ran to where the bird had landed chased it encouraging it to go home. (I’m not sure if the bird had been raced to a loft in Castlehill as Thomas joined Mr Lockhart who was an aristocrat and lived in Kilsyth.) The bird retuned to the loft and was clocked at 1350 (this was not the time but the velocity for i.e. the yards per minute the bird was recorded with from the race. Thomas Bell was presented with an Empire Vase trophy at the national presentation (see photograph of Vase). This was to be the last Rennes SNFC race for some time and the Gold Cup, so proudly acquired a year earlier, was put into safe storage. The sum of £20, about half the club’s reserves, was placed in Government War Loans, and Mr Dickson was kept busy noting the names of members who went off to join the colours. The club decided that those who enlisted should retain free club membership. Many, of-course, were never to return. By 1917, the secretary Mr Dickson, too, had gone off to serve in the army and a few months later Dr Anderson announced that he too would have to be ‘Require being relieved of his duties for some time’. As he too, was off to serve abroad in the Royal Army Medical Corps. The end of the war came in 1918 but the chaotic aftermath prevented a quick return to normality. Another Weymouth race was hurriedly put together for 1919 when a mere 143 birds were sent. This low entry was not unexpected, the old bird season leading up to the National had been disastrous. However, the country had come through a terrible war and there was a natural mood to put it all in the past and to go forward. It was 1920 and the National was poised for a return that year to Rennes, its traditional race venue. Dr Anderson was a giant of a man, a president who was to lead the club for 35 years, and through 2 world wars; right on to 1948. The partnership of Tom Dickson and ‘The Doctor’ as he was apt to be know, steered the club’s development through its decades of sensational growth in the 1920’s and 30’s. Under their guidance and foresight, the club expanded in membership, in birdage, in performances and in prestige. They created, in the SNFC a pigeon racing body of world renown. Dr Anderson was also to go on to become president of the Scottish Homing Union and swiftly see it established as the ruling body North of the border. This, itself, was a key move in bringing organisations like the Lanarkshire federation back into the fold. He was also, of course, an outstanding pigeon racer and breeder. Indeed, there is no question that the doctor was the first truly outstanding figure in the history of the Scottish racing pigeon sport. Dr Anderson, on the outbreak of war, reached an arrangement with the McAlpine of Armadale family. He took over their stock and John McAlpine became the Doctor’s loft manager. Later John’s son Willie followed in the same role. As a matter of interest Willie celebrated his 87th birthday during the SNFC centenary year. If anyone can supply me with any other information regarding the above story then both Anne and I would be very grateful; you will find my details at the bottom of this article Joe M. Back of Trophy. Front of Trophy Mairi McLean holding the trophy see text Murphy's Joy Young Bird Losses One of most talked about subject in 2019 has been the amount of losses with young birds experienced during the season. Many fanciers like me have been in the sport for a long time and we cannot get over the amount of babies lost this year. I was speaking to a fancier friend the other day about the above subject and he reckons the reason for the heavy losses are ‘Hawk Attack’s’ especially at liberations sites. At the start of young bird racing hawks have young birds just leaving the nest and the parents then train them to hunt and make a kill. So you could have the 2 parents and say 3 babies all out hunting at the same time. There is nothing more obvious to them than to see hundreds or maybe 1000’s of young pigeons being released at the one spot. They then dive into the groups of pigeons and show the youngsters how it is done. Obviously the young pigeons panic and try to get away from these murderers, and fly in any direction to escape. By the time the panic is over they could be 50 to 100 miles off their line and are lost and end up in the fields with the feral pigeons, of some might even go into a loft. My friend was telling me about his experience during the season. He took 10 old birds to Berwick on Tweed for a training toss prior to the Scottish national races. He sat for a while and let the birds go in one batch, and they were no sooner in the sky when the hawks attacked them. He could not believe it and as he watched his birds they dived down and landed on house roofs in a built up area. They were no sooner on the top of the roof when the cocks started cooing and chasing the hens who were also liberated about the house roof. It was as if nothing had happened he was amazed but still kept an eye on his birds. After a while one or two took off and then later the remainder of about 5 or 6 took off together and the hawk started to chase them and they headed out into the North Sea. He thought to himself well that’s the last I will see of them. When he got home an hour and half later ALL his birds were in the loft cooing about as if nothing had happened. As a matter of interest his birds put up some good performances from the nationals, however this is not the point of the discussion. He feels that the old birds had the brains to go down onto the house roof for safety from the hawks. Whereas young birds do not have this experience and when attacked they ‘panic’ and just fly anywhere to get away from the hawk or hawks. There is nothing you or me can do to rectify this as at race points the whole convoy has to be released at the same time. I know that when I raced the birds a long time ago I used to single up my birds (young birds as well when I had the time) as I was a believer in ‘making them into pigeons, by using their brains to get home’, without the help of others. I remember away back in 1976 my club mate Tam Chalmers (Brian’s dad) and I took our youngsters to Hawick (which was our first young bird race point in the federation race programme) the distance was 50 miles. We were going to let one of Tam’s and one of mine go together to save time. However after a cup of tea from our flasks, Tam went over and let his entire youngster out of the basket and they headed eastwards then north. I asked him what he was doing as we were there to try this experiment. Anyway I did release my babies in 2 with the last 3 of my 21 going in 3. We packed up and headed home and went into Galashiels for our breakfast, then into Kirkcaldy to collect items for Tam before heading to Kennoway were we lived. We went to Tam’s loft first and low and behold NOT A PIGEON, we could not believe it. So then into the car and round to my house, as we walked through the close between the houses, I heard Margaret shake the pea can and shout ‘come on –come on’. I said to Tam ‘Well I’ve got some home’. When we spoke to Margaret she had 14 home and they had come in 2’s all day. In the end I ended up with 19 return from my 21. Poor Tam never got a bird home and he had to go and obtain youngsters from anyone in the club who had some leaving the nest. My young birds that year turned out to be a good team as we won 1st & 2nd club in the federation open race from Leyland, and we timed from the young bird national from Cheltenham a distance of 300 miles. There is another point to this story; in the winter time we had interclub shows between Kennoway, Methilhaven and Leven club. One was held in the Douglas Arms function rooms above the bar, Dave Smith of Dunning was the main judge and he also judged the eyesign class. I was not into eyesign then as I did not know enough about it. Anyway after the show had finished Dave said he would like to come and have a look at our birds, so he came to the house prior to travelling back to home in Dunning. We went out had a look at the birds and examined their eyes. He picked a young chequer hen and said ‘This bird will win at 600 miles for you’. I did not have a clue so said ‘Oh I’ll let you know if it does’. The next day I was out looking at the birds eyes and especially the young chequer hen that Dave had picked, to see if I could find what he was looking for. She had flown Leyland as a baby 175 miles, then as a yearling she won 7th club Lancaster. As a 2 year old she won 118th east section 211th open from SNFC Falaise 519 miles competing against 5967 birds. In 1979 she flew Rennes 563 miles in the national but never made the open result. Then in 1980 she won 1st club 3rd Fife federation 9th east section 10th open SNFC Nantes 1872 birds flying 623 miles and was named ‘Murphy’s Joy’. I have added a photograph of her taken by Anthony Bolton at Edinburgh International Show. So Dave Smith was correct in his assessment of my yearling hen, as she did what he predicted and won at 600 miles, needless to say I then became interested in ‘eyesign’. Joe’s Joke Two guys are driving down Princes Street in Edinburgh when they come up to a red light. The guy driving slams his foot on the accelerator -pedal and they go zooming past the red light. His friend looks at him and says, "Hey, you just went through a red light." The guy driving says, "Don't worry about it. My brother does it all the time." So they keep driving and they come to a second red light. The guy driving slams on the accelerator-pedal and, zooms past another red light. His friend is pretty mad, looks at him and says, "Hey man, you just went through another red light. What the heck are you doing?" The guy driving tells his friend, "Don't worry about it. My brother does this all the time." They come to a third red light and the guy driving slams on the accelerator -pedal, zooming past the red light. His friend starts screaming at him, "What the heck? You're going to get us killed! Pull over and let me out." The guy driving screams back at him, "I'm telling you: don't worry about it. My brother, he does it all the time." So they keep driving and they come to a green light. The guy driving slams on the brakes. His friend looks at him and says, "Are you out of your mind? What the heck is wrong with you? You go flying past three red lights, almost getting us killed, and then you slam on the brakes when you have a green light?" The guy driving looks at his friend and says, "I had to stop; my brother might have been coming." 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...alracingpigeon/ Who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland © Compiled by Joe Murphy
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