Joe Murphy Article 20th April 2023

sapper756 · April 22, 2023

This week is the start of the 2023 season, with many federations holding their first race of the new
season. If you wish to have your weekly results published in my weekly column, then I need the
details by Tuesday night, as I normally spend Wednesday typing up my article and then send it away
to the pigeon papers at night once I have proof read it. I you wish to add a photo of your club or
federation winner, then please do so. Nowadays everyone has a mobile phone, so you can take a
photo at the club hut of the winner and then email it to me at joejmurphy1@gmail.com PLEASE
REMEMBER THE J in the middle of my name and the 1 at the end, you would never believe how
many people tell me they sent me an email and I never printed it. I always ask did to put the J in the
middle, ‘Oh I never saw that’, hence the reason I never received their email. Check this out at the
bottom of my article. It is up to you the CLUBS OR FANCIERS if wish publicity for your pigeons. I
look forward to hearing from my regular press officers on a weekly basis; and I wish EVERYONE
all the best for the 2023 season.

Best Wishes

Charlie Job from Edinburgh; phoned me to say that my old workmate Stewart Peaston of South
Queensferry who is 69 years old has been moved into a care home, which is very sad. Plus, the fact
that his dearest friend Stewart Roberts from the same area has developed cancer. The latter moved
down to Ayton and he won the young bird national 3 times in; 2000; 2001 & 2003. Jack & Stewart
Peaston won 1 st & 2 nd open SNFC Avranches on the 16 th June in 1981; after a 3 -day holdover the
convoy of 1334 members sent 4363 birds; were liberated at 05-45am into a North-to-North West
Wind. Stewart and his dad were flying 512 miles 804 yards and their 2 birds arrived together to be
timed at 20-45-16 and 20-45-20 for the only 2 pigeons recording a velocity over 1000 ypm. Both
pigeons were cocks and were both blue pieds. (as a matter of interest Mr & Mrs Murphy of
Kennoway won 1 st club; 153 rd east section 198 th open in this race). I did an article on Stewart and his
dad in the 12 th March 1992 edition of the BHW and thought it would be good to retype this as a
memento to my dear old friend. Plus, the new season will soon be upon on and my article will be
about this year’s racing, so I will finish my trips down memory lane with this reminisce.
Joe Murphy visits S Peaston and Son at South Queensferry -1 st & 2 nd SNFC Avranches.
One of the perks of being a scribe is that you get to meet many great pigeon fanciers and to handle
their birds. When these fanciers and birds have won the Scottish National Flying Club, then it makes
it even greater thrill. This applies to the father and son partnership of S Peaston & son of South
Queensferry won the SNFC from Avranches. Stewart the son of the partnership was a very quiet
spoken person and you are not long in his company before you find out what a knowledgeable
pigeon fancier his is. I met him at the Bo’ness show and asked about coming to visit him for a loft
report for the paper. I travelled through to South Queensferry and was made very welcome. Stewart
stays with his parents and his father Jack has allowed his some to do his own thing with the birds. As
he said to me ‘He is making a good job of it so I don’t interfere’. Jack started keeping pigeons away
back in 1933 but, due to moving house on the land where the loft was kept, he gave up the pigeons.
In 1975 while thinking about his retirement in a few years’ time, he decided to start up again. With
having a big garden, a loft was soon erected, He obtained some birds from Winchburgh club
members and bought some from local auction sales in the area. He also had some birds from Jock
Watson of Kirklistone fame, who was a very good SNFC flier and won a car a few years ago from
France in the Combine. By this time Stewart took an interest in the birds, with others brought into the
loft. Stewart purchased a pair of stock birds, after reading an article in the paper on the
Workman/Baker birds that were doing very well at the distance racing. So, he sent to the Famous
Louella Lofts for a pair of this family. What an investment they have been for the Peaston’s. These

two birds plus a Jock Watson dark chequer hen and a Tommy Arthur ‘Smithy Cock’ have proved to
be real class. The whole loft stems from these 4 birds. Both Jack and Stewart have put a lot of
thought and working into their team of pigeons, read on and you will see what I mean. The stock
Massarella pair, only the cock is left as the other took ill in the winter and had to be put down. This
was after taking her to the vet 3 times. The partners were very sorry to see her go. The cock is a blue
bar white flight with a strong back. He has a lovely feathering and is a good handler. He also had a
red iris with a yellow circle. It was very dull while I was at the lofts so I didn’t get a description of
the birds’ eyes. The above cock, when paired to the Massarella hen (I will call them the No 1 pair) is
a blue pied cock a big bigger in the hand and a bit longer cast. He has a gap between the secondaries
and primaries with his last flight longer than the ninth flight. He is a nice-looking pigeon and was on
or the 3 birds I picked out when entering the loft. This cock was paired to a Jock Watson dark
chequer hen. She is also a nice pigeon in the hand and she also has a big step between the
secondaries and the primaries, plus a big step between the sixth and seventh flights. She also has a
very black and brown yellow eye. This pair bred ‘Suspension Jack’ the national winner. Like the
other birds he has a very strong back and is a big strong cock that you would think could fly forever.
He also has a nice silky feathering with the step between the fifth and sixth flights. He has a red
yellow coloured eye but as I said earlier, it was too dark to have a good look at the bird’s eyes. A son
of ‘Jack’ has won 1 st club Penrith, 1 st Central Combine Yearling Derby from Cheltenham. He has the
same characteristics as the above birds and is a very nice handler, called ‘Suspension Crack’. He in
turn is the sire of a blue pied cock (My pick out of the loft along with the blue pied cock mentioned
already and his brother). He is a lovely feathered bird, not too big in the hand, just right for me. He is
a bull eyed pigeon, a real topper. He known as ‘Suspension Vice Versa’ the winner of 2 nd open SNFC
Avranches. His dam is out of a Jock Reid hen crossed to the Tommy Arthur ‘Smithie Cock’. So,
fanciers will see what I mean about how the Peaston’s have bred their birds, five generations and
every one of them still in the loft. I picked out 2 hens in the loft and Stewart told me that both were
bred from the Number One stock pair. Yes, a lovey team of birds and a credit to Jack and Stewart.
As stated earlier, Jack gives Stewart a free hand but he helps out a lot in the loft if Stewart is away
training the birds. Jack always stays at home and watches them returning home, giving them their tit-
bit. Then about half an hour late, Jack will feed the pigeons. They are not believers in giving the
birds big grain when returning from a toss or a race. For the start of the 1981 season the birds were
paired up later than usual as the weather was very cold. They paired up on the 14 th March, 14 days
later than normal. The birds have four or five tosses prior to the first race then they just go to the
weekly races. Training for the nationals doesn’t start until the bird have reached Stafford, their last
race, and once they are down on eggs are trained every day, weather permitting from Carter Bar.
This meant getting up at 4am, and along with Tommy Arthur, going down the road with the birds,
returning about 7am. Jack had their breakfast ready for them before Tommy went off to work. The
training lasted about 2 and a half weeks, either from Carter Bar or Dunbar. The training was stopped
two days before basketing for the Avranches race. ‘Suspension Jack’ was sitting on chipping eggs
and half an hour before basketing. Stewart slipped a youngster under him. ‘Suspension Vice Versa’
was sent sitting 16 days on eggs. The birds were held over in the basket for 3 days before being
liberated at 5-45am in a north – north west wind and a very steady race was forecast. It was the same
wind at Carter Bar when Stewart and Tommy were down early in the morning with their Rennes
birds for a toss. They both thought that if the Avranches birds were up then they would be lucky to
have them home on the day. They dropped into Dougie Stewart’s house to find out if the birds were
up. Like all fanciers, the birds were not far from their minds all day long and after their evening
meal, the Peaston’s, along with club mate Colin Reid, settled down to watch for the birds. It became
cold and quite chilly. Mrs Peaston brought out a cup of tea for the men to warm them up. When the 2
birds came over the house roof, (They had flown right up the River Forth, turning left at the Road

Bridge, over the house and onto the loft). All their hearts were going at the sight of them. Both Jack
and Stewart caught a pigeon each, took the rubbers off and Jack was having a bit of bother getting
the thimble to close, as he had 2 tops together. (They were using a STB as their clock had stopped a
couple of weeks before, so they didn’t want to take a chance with it for the National). Once they
sorted out the thimbles, they were then timed in at 20-45-16 and 20-45-20, only 4 seconds between
them. To be honest, they didn’t know which was bird was first into the clock with the mix up of the
thimbles. They had to wait until later to find out that the old cock (77 bred) ‘Suspension Jack’ had
beaten his grandson ‘Suspension Vice Versa’ a 79 bred to win the national by the drop of a thimble
into the clock. The Peaston’s sent 12 birds to the race, timing 4 into the clock with 3 on the result,
winning 1 st 2 nd 186 th east section, 1 st 2 nd & 238 th open, from 4363 birds. They had 11 out of 12 by
midday the 2 nd day. The reason they sent the maximum of 12 birds was the amount of work they had
put into the birds and they were looking that well. At about 10-30pm on the Wednesday night the
SNFC secretary Bobby McLaughlin phoned to congratulate them on winning the national, with
everything going ok, like the verifying the birds etc. But as the leading times were going, they would
be 1 st & 2 nd . They just couldn’t believe it and couldn’t sleep that night. In fact, Stewart went for a
bath at 3am to try and help him relax. As one will understand, this has been their greatest thrill, but
they have had their share of disappointments as well. The one that sticks out was the death of the
Massarella stock hen. But the thrills make up for the disappointments stated Stewart. The biggest
influence to Jack and Stewart were the members of the Winchburgh club. They are a great lot of lads,
and you to really have to go to win in this club. A lot of fanciers say that club racing does not count,
well, you have got to go some in this club even to have the first bird from an national race. As
Stewart says, ‘If you cannot win in your club, how do you expect to win in the federation or
national? If you win in Winchburgh club you need to fear no-one. The members all work together
and it’s a happy club said Stewart. He remembers the 4 th year in the club Jock Cormack from
Winchburgh (one of the top fliers in the SNFC) helped train the birds as the Peaston did not have a
car. That year they won 1 st club 96 th open SNFC Falaise (5967 birds). The first man to shake their
hand was Jock Cormack which is typical of the man. Jock could talk pigeons all night. Stewart and
Stewart Robertson went over to Jock’s loft on national night to see if he had any home or had heard
of any birds timed in. They sat with Jock in his car and talked pigeons all night and before they knew
it, was daylight and time for the race to open again. This is what pigeon racing is all about, and Jock
Cormack was one of the all-time greats. I have missed out the sizes of the 2 lofts etc. They have just
built a loft on top of their garage, 16 x 9 feet with open doors; this was for yearlings with a young
bird section to be added in 1982. The yearlings were now housed in the new loft, and have settled
down to it very well. Stewart put in the new loft for 4 days and then let them out. They returned to it
with no problems, while Stewart was altering this loft, the birds were going in and out quite well. He
says that ‘They are very inquisitive, and the building of the loft never upset the birds’ They have 4
pairs for stock birds, but also have a lot of children off them who are not raced, but are paired to a
good racer, and are always kept at home for them, and they breed about 40 young birds. (I HAVE
MISSED OUT THEIR FEEDING SYSTEM AS THIS HAS CHANGED SO MUCH NOW TO THE
PRESENT TIME Joe Murphy) They don’t force fly their birds round the loft, they have never been
believers in chasing them away from their home. If the birds were not flying when let out, then they
would rather train them down the road. If an old bird that has done something special takes ill, they
try to treat it, or take it to the vet, but, if young birds have anything wrong with them, they are killed.
It doesn’t matter what they are bred from. It’s out!!! As Stewart feels that young birds are only as
good as their next race. The birds are dewormed 3 weeks prior to pairing up and once again when the
youngsters have been moved, and the birds are back down on eggs. On a Sunday they will put Milton
into the water for sterilising the drinker. The birds have pic stones and a salt block plus grit and
minerals before them at all times. They also give iron and multivitamins in the water and Condies

Crystals in the bath water on Sunday’s, but they never give the birds that are going to the nationals a
bath 2 weeks before the race. The loft is treated with Duramitex before pairing up and the inside of
the loft, is painted before the birds are put together. The lofts are scrapped out every day and are very
clean. They are going to try a sand litter down in the new loft, as they feel that they won’t have time
to study the birds. For cleaning out 3 lofts they have tried all types of deep litter in the young bird
loft with success, and feel this doesn’t put the birds up or down. They feel that the biggest asset to
any loft is to have a happy and contented team of birds. Let them know that you are the boss, and
keep them happy, because a happy pigeon with the loft of its loft, will give its all to get home in the
long-distance races. Some advice for new starters is to look for the most consistent fancier in your
area, not the one who wins one week and down the next. Get some young birds or late bred’s and
build up from there. It takes time so don’t look for great things too quickly. When I asked how they
would like to see the sport improve, Stewart said, ‘He would like to see the fancier who wins from
50 miles, getting the same publicity as the fancier who wins from 500 miles. He was grateful that I
took the time out for a loft visit, he knows that I can’t visit everyone, but feels that all the clubs
should appoint a PRO to supply scribes with weekly news and results as it’s a shame that the winners
of the club don’t get publicity. The numbers of people in pigeon racing are getting fewer and fewer
each year and we have got to encourage everyone in the sport, whether, they be big fanciers or not.
These are true words and I wholeheartedly agree with him. Trophies won by ‘Suspension Jack’ were
the Chris Catterall Trophy, John Cormack Memorial Trophy, Usher Brewery Silver Tankard, The
Circle Channel Trophy, (including Central, North West and West Lothian federations). SNFC East
Section trophy, and the Winchburgh Club Avranches trophy. I hope fanciers have enjoy this short
story on my old mate Stewart and we wish him well. I would also like to wish his old friend Stewart
Roberts all the best as well. I remember going to see his pigeons which were kept in the top part of
his house, and the birds used to go in and out a big window. Stewart let us handle some of his
pigeons and the body on them was outstanding, and me being me, asked to see his feeding and he
showed us this big barrel of ‘Barley’, I didn’t believe him that he fed this to his birds. He swore that
he did, and gave me some to take home and try it on my own birds. Which I did, I filled up hoppers
with this barley, and gave the birds their normal feed in the galley pots in their boxes. Two weeks
later I was handling my birds for the upcoming Avranches race, and a chequer hen handled a dream,
just like Stewart Roberts birds. So, I sent her to the federation race and timed her in from 500 miles.
Since then, I have always been a great advocate of feeding barley and still do so up to the present
time.

Best Wishes

While talking to Wilf Flockhart of Tranent he was telling me that Jim Kerr of Loanhead is not very
well. Jim was the secretary of Midlothian Federation at one time and he did an excellent job of it as
well. Margaret and I often visited him and his wife at their home in Loanhead in the 80’s if we were
over attending a pigeon auction sale; as this used to be the place most fanciers used. Jim and his wife
Gina were a lovely couple; and I know many other fanciers will wish Jim their good wishes.

Sad News

Received an email from Rob Finlayson, who informed us of the passing of John Smith of Jedburgh
in Bonchester Care Home on the 10 th of April. Rob wrote; ‘Hi Joe, as I read your column every week
in the BHW I thought you may like to know (if you hadn’t heard already) about John. He was a
character and will be a missed, regards Rob’. I contacted Rob and thanked him for telling me about
John, he was a great character and I was very sorry to hear of his passing. Fanciers may recall my
story on the famous John Kirkpatrick of Annan, who was married to John Smith’s aunt. We met up
just outside Pathhead and John gifted me the famous man’s clock that he won for being 1 st open

SNFC Rennes in 1937. (Ten years before I was born). Two years ago, while we were having some
work done on our driveway, the foreman asked me about the clock. I explained the story to him, but
said that the clock was not working now. He knew a man who lived near him who worked on clocks,
and if I was agreeable, he would take it to him and see if he could get it working. A few weeks later a
knock at the door and here was the foreman and the man with the clock. He said to me, ‘This is a
lovely clock son and you have looked after it well as the mechanism is ‘wonderful’. I told him I had
nothing to do with this as I had received the clock as a gift. He had the clock working and it has been
doing so right up to the present day. It strikes on the ¼ hour and chimes on each hour. It is my pride
and joy and I love hearing it every day. Now I will think of my dear friend John Smith every time I
hear the clock strike the time. My thanks to Rob for notifying us of John’s passing. Rest in Peace my
old friend.

Joe’s Joke

A farmer stopped by the local mechanics shop to have his truck fixed. They couldn't do it while he
waited, so he said he didn't live far and would just walk home. On the way home he stopped at the
hardware shop and bought a bucket and a gallon of paint. He then stopped at a feed store and picked
up a couple of chickens and a goose. However, struggling outside the store, he now had a problem -
how to carry his entire purchases home. While he was scratching his head, he was approached by a
little old lady who told him she was lost. She asked, "Can you tell me how to get to 1603
Mockingbird Lane?" The farmer said, "Well, as a matter of fact, my farm is very close to that house.
I would walk you there but I can't carry this lot." The old lady suggested, "Why don't you put the can
of paint in the bucket, carry the bucket in one hand, put a chicken under each arm and carry the
goose in your other hand?" "Why thank you very much," he said and proceeded to walk the old girl
home. On the way he says "Let's take my short cut and go down this alley. We'll be there in no time."
The little old lady looked him over cautiously then said, "I am a lonely widow without a husband to
defend me. How do I know that when we get in the alley you won't hold me up against the wall, pull
up my skirt, and have your way with me?" The farmer said, "Holy smoke lady! I'm carrying a
bucket, a gallon of paint, two chickens, and a goose. How in the world could I possibly hold you up
against the wall and do that?"
The old lady replied, "Set the goose down, cover him with the bucket, put the paint on top of the
bucket, and I'll hold the chickens."

Space Weather Forecast
27-day Space Weather Outlook Table Issued 10 th April 2023
UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest
Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index
2023 Apr 10 140 8 3
2023 Apr 11 145 10 3
2023 Apr 12 150 14 4
2023 Apr 13 152 5 2
2023 Apr 14 155 5 2
2023 Apr 15 158 5 2
2023 Apr 16 160 5 2
2023 Apr 17 160 10 3
2023 Apr 18 160 15 4
2023 Apr 19 150 5 2
2023 Apr 20 152 20 5
2023 Apr 21 155 15 4
2023 Apr 22 155 10 3
2023 Apr 23 158 5 2
2023 Apr 24 155 5 2
2023 Apr 25 155 5 2

2023 Apr 26 152 15 4
2023 Apr 27 148 18 5
2023 Apr 28 145 15 4
2023 Apr 29 142 15 4
2023 Apr 30 140 15 5
2023 May 01 140 12 4
2023 May 02 142 10 3
2023 May 03 140 8 3
2023 May 04 135 8 3
2023 May 05 135 5 2
2023 May 06 130 5 2
You will see from the chart that this weekend 29 th & 30 th April are high readings.
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 log onto www.elimarpigeons.com www.fancierchat.co.uk
www.pigeon-chat.co.uk who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland
© Compiled by Joe Murphy

Preview attachment John Smith with the clock see text.jpg