Jimmy Fitzpatrick of Cambuslang (Scotland). by Keith Mott

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Jimmy Fitzpatrick of Cambuslang (Scotland).

I did two, one week video tours of Scotland in the 1990’s and I was lucky enough to visit many of the ‘legends’ of pigeon racing and showing north of the border. When we hit Glasgow I visited the great show racer loft of Jimmy Fitzpatrick, who was a great help at that time in setting up other loft visit for me in that lovely part of Scotland. This is my account of my loft visit at that time! The great Jimmy Fitzpatrick!

A good friend of mine in the Show Racer world is someone I admire for his skill in producing so many show champions, is Jimmy Fitzpatrick of Cambuslang, near Glasgow. ‘Wee’ Jimmy was in partnership with Roddy Fleming and they had won countless classes and trophies at every Classic show, including B.I.S. R.P. Old Comrades Show (twice), B.O.S. Old Comrades (twice), B.Y.B. Old Comrades (three times), many premier prizes at the B.H.W. Blackpool Show and three times Champion of Great Britain. Jimmy had kept show pigeons over 30 years, previously racing pigeons with his father, and 1971 won three races on the trot in the very strong local club, with over 55 members competing. At the end of the 1971 season Jimmy attended his first classic pigeon show and fell in love with the wonderful show birds he saw. He got rid of his racing pigeons and made his start in Show Racers, with a gift pair of eggs from Charlie Hanner. Later Jimmy met the ‘Master’ show man, Don Spedding of Cumbria, whom he considers to be the greatest stockman of them all!

Jim’s show team was housed in a smart six section loft at Cambuslang and the inmates enjoy an attached 24ft. aviary. The 25 pairs of Show Racers didn’t fly out, but were fed in the flight, to encourage them to exercise. Jimmy told me, he let all the birds out once, to try and get them flying out and they were all alright until they went around the house roof out of sight of the loft, and they were lost. Wood chips were used as a litter on the loft floors and the loft had heaters which were used on the night before the big show. The birds were paired up at the end of January and were fed a Channel mixture of beans, peas and tares. Jimmy made up his own seed mixture and fed groats when rearing. This loft competed in about 40 shows in a season and Jimmy maintained he had no favourite colour, but only liked good type. The birds got a bath the day before the big show, but just prior to travelling, the birds drinking water was withheld as the partners maintains their droppings were dryer for the show pen. He liked to enter a team of about 40 pigeons in the Classic and National shows, and had judged all over the U.K. In fact the first time I ever met Jimmy, was when he was judging the Devon & Cornwall show in the West Country, with Alan Spedding of Cumbria.

One of the partner’s best pigeons in recent years was the wonderful Red cock, ‘Red Rum’, and he was off Harry Spratt of Belfast bloodlines. This cock had won countless first prizes in big shows and was a champion breeder, being the sire of Classic winners. The many quality stock birds owned by the partners were housed at the Aberdeen home of Gary Coutts and about 150 youngsters were bred each season. Jimmy was a very hard man when it comes to selecting young birds and was happy to retain just one youngster from the whole season’s production. He maintains that when competing at National level only the very best stock will do. There you have it, Jimmy Fitzpatrick of Cambuslang!

Text & Photos by Keith Mott (May 2023)