Joe Murphy Article 18th December 2023

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Continuing with my articles on fanciers from the past; I came across and article done by Dale Newcombe of
Mackmerry, which he called ‘A Royal Occasion’. He wrote; After appearing five times in the first five
SNFC race results, I have finally made it, ‘Lady Diana’, with her wing flight perfect, homed to her chipping
eggs t win Scotland’s Blue Riband Race, Rennes 1981. The race as it turned out was a complete test of
courage and stamina with 22 out of a liberation of 6412 birds clocking on the day. Everything seemed to be
against birds making it on the day, North East headwind, moderated too strong. 05-45am liberation, overcast
and cold at times, but as was mentioned in this article earlier, 22 gallant birds made it home on the day, in
my case 543 miles. I offer credit and congratulation to the fanciers involved. ‘Lady Diana’ rewards were 1 st
overall, Car Nom, £1500,00 pools and prize money plus a grand collection of trophies. I can’t explain the
excitement I felt as ‘Lady Diana’ flew past me into the loft, and after clocking I felt that she would be well
in judging by the aforementioned factors. One can only guess how I stove to keep calm as later that evening
and early next morning the ultimate prize in the SNFC Race Programme was slowly becoming a reality as
other times filtered through. Living in the shadow of my father ‘Eddie Newcombe’ either makes or breaks a
fancier. I was determined to be one of those that made it. I set about building my team in the year 1969 with
the acquisition of my father’s blood. I shopped around and it was obvious that quality blood lay on my
doorstep. I have tried various other strains but I met with little success. My SNFC results in the early years
were up and down but encouraging, meanwhile my father’s loft was turning out supreme performances, 2 nd
open Rennes 76; 1 st open Rennes 79; 1 st 2 nd 3 rd Avranches (2) 1980, Those results acted as a spur and
challenge to me because undeterred I soldiered on until I had achieved consistency. With a few near misses
for the No 1 position, this along gave me a tremendous boost, as this was the reward for the hard work and
endeavour I had applied to my team. Then along came ‘Lady Diana’, flown out to the young bird national,
all the way to Dorchester as a yearling, over to Rennes as a two-year-old. 121 st open, then on a similar race
programme as a three-year-old to record the success of my career. I could fill a book on feeding and methods
I have tried, but at the end of the day tested bloodlines, sound corn coupled with hygiene and training, are
enough to prove to a fancier if his methods are ideal. A constant study on the threads of breeding with the
aid of his loft log book should obviate any necessary corrections. Although I must admit that finding a good
breeder is far from simple, but the search can be simplified if a fancier acquires the best blood available, his
chances of finding a top producer are greatly enhanced. I have always believed that to compete with the best
you have to fly the best. I am a stickler for quality, and ‘Lady Diana’s’ pedigree strengthens my view with
such factors as forty years of trying and testing with a host of top performers contained within. Either as
breeders or racers, or both. My father’s 1979 Rennes winner ‘Festival Live Circuit’ another hard day winner,
also contains similar bloodlines of stamina, endurance, also speed on the fast days, three factors which I
believe Scots pigeons have and must have in abundance to combat the ever changing weather and
geographical condition which they encounter during their 500/700-mile ordeals. My type of pigeon is simply
a family that handles well, looks well and performs well, being of medium size. The birds must show
durability to a high degree also the vital factor, intelligence. With those traits in hand and blended
throughout the colony, one can stand at the loft on liberation day s with an above average degree of
confidence, letting nature and the weather take over, good birds will adjust. As the National Results prove
when you see the regular appearance of the back garden or allotment fancier pushing and beating the
established men with the aid of their own personal champion. I consider myself to be a grateful contender
with regard to the fierce competition that surrounds me and I offer sincere congratulations to keep the
pressure on. I hope you have enjoyed this short story on Dale, and I agree with what he says regarding
racing pigeons, they must be bred from proven winners which have been tested at 500 miles and their
offspring will either breed good racing pigeons or breeders of good pigeons. Joe M

Special ‘Doo’ & ‘Good Friendship’

Received an email Angus Orr & son of Brighton’s which is near Falkirk which goes like this; Hi Joe, I
wonder if you would like this short story for your weekly column. It’s about a very special ‘Doo’ and the

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making of a good friendship’. The year in question is 2013 and on receiving our weekly edition of the BHW
we were drawn to an advert selling young birds of the Soontjen Strain. We duly contacted the purchaser,
who was an elderly chap, residing in a small English village. My partner and I decided to drive South and
collect the birds in person, so after several hours of driving we arrived at our destination. Our welcome, I
will never forget: ‘Nice car, I should have charged you more’ and ‘Alex Salmond, I would shoot him’. Not
exactly the welcome I expected! However, we started to make our way through the rear exit to the garden
and on walking through the porch, I noticed a basket containing a few young birds, which did not look in the
best of health. So, I asked why they were there, he answered saying that they had been poorly, but he was
treating them to give to a new start. At this point, I thought what the hell have I done! Moving on, we made
our way to the loft, basket in hand, he entered the loft and after a bit of clattering around and grunting, he
came out with these youngsters that looked old enough to go to the first race. To say I was disappointed
would be an understatement, all the time spent driving and here I was with youngsters far too strong and
unlikely to settle. So, I headed homeward, back up north and put the young birds into the loft with a wire
cage open to allow them to get their bearings. After a few days, I decided it was time to try them out and
within five minutes they were in the heavens and gone. At least that is what I thought, until my neighbour
alerted me that a pigeon was sitting on bedroom windowsill at 6pm. When I went to have a look, I was
shocked to find it was one of the blue young birds that had gone out at 8am. I called to him, and he instantly
flew over to the trap and entered immediately as though he knew exactly what he had to do. From that day
he never looked back, he flew all young bird races, scoring on his way to the SNFC young bird national,
from Leicester (256 miles), where he timed in winning 2 nd second region D, 42 nd open and beaten by 3 yards
for winning the section. He was awarded the Scottish Homing Union, Unikon Trophy for exceptional
performance Young Bird. He also won Young Bird of the Year in the federation; it was only fitting that he be
named ‘Unikon Lad’. 2014 started well for ‘Unikon Lad’ scoring again on his way to recording 260 th open
SNFC Maidstone national (a distance of 374 miles). The following season, 2015; ‘Unikon Lad’ scored
again on his way to recording 313 th open SNFC Portsmouth (372 miles). Moving onto 2016, when
unfortunately, ‘Unikon Lad’ returned from a hard federation race, dragging his wing which was a huge
disappointment to say the very least, as I am sure he would have gone on to win an SNFC award. He did
appear to recover and started exercising and training with the cocks, so we decided to try him again,
unfortunately he failed to return from his next federation race, which resulted in sleepless nights thinking we
had made a mistake and was he not 100%. Weeks passed by and hope had now faded of ever seeing the blue
cock again, his closed box just a reminder of the wonderful pigeon that once occupied it. Then the
unthinkable happened, a letter arrived in the post to say he had been reported in the northeast of England, by
the well-known and successful partnership of Hall and Foster from Prudhoe. Syd recalls; ‘When he first
handled the blue cock, he knew instantly he was a good one and someone would be looking for him’. I could
not get the phone quick enough to phone Syd and just to hear that he was safe and ready to be returned was
one of the most special days to date. A good friendship was formed, and we talk pigeons on a weekly basis.
The blue cock now has pride of place in the stock loft, where he has produced birds to win at club,
federation, open and one loft races. He has also responsible for the following SNFC prize winners: 2 nd
section D, 34 th open Upper Heyford; 2 nd section D, 42 nd open Leicester; 2 nd section D, 39 th open
Buckingham; 3 rd section D, 14 th open, Huntington (‘Pitstop’ gifted to Syd Foster) 4 th section D, 32 nd open
Alencon Gold Cup (a distance of 546 miles) longest flying pigeon on the day of liberation being 15 hours 45
minutes on the wing. The moral of this story Joe; is that pigeon racing can bring people together and create
friendships to last a lifetime; Angus Orr & Son of Brighton’s; whom I thank for his information.

Feedback on Column

Received an email from Brian Donnelly which goes as follows; ‘Hi Joe, hope you and Margaret are keeping
well. I have been enjoying your articles on good Scottish fanciers. Reading your article in the BHW issue of
1 st  December, 2023 you make reference to a friend of mine, the late Fred Leggatt of Dundee. This has

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prompted me to forward you the following; You mention that Fred scored in the first SNFC channel race of
1981 from Avranches with his single entry, this being the first of several good performances by this bird.
This 1979 bred blue chequer hen was named ‘The Wee Hen’, and turned out to be a very reliable pigeon
from channel races.  When she scored 76 th  open from Avranches, she was actually found wandering about in
the garden at around 05.30 am on the second morning. She was then doubled back into SNFC Sartilly race 
[again, a single entry] and she was clocked on the day to win 48 th  open. The following season, she was timed
on the day from SNFC Sartilly [1] race to win 153 rd  open, again she was doubled back into Sartilly [2],
despite being clocked on the day, she missed the result. The 1983 season, with no channel races, she was
timed from SNFC Dorchester race but missed the result. In 1984 she was entered in the SNFC Nantes race,
birds were liberated at 05.45 am and at 11pm, and no sign of ‘The Wee Hen’ Fred retired to bed ready for an
early rise next morning. Whilst lying in bed at the back of 11pm that night, Fred thought he heard a bird
landing on the house roof?  He went outside to check, and sure enough it was his hen from the Nantes race,
he managed to coax her in and timed her at 11-25 pm in total darkness.  She made the tail end of the SNFC
result, winning 47 th  east section, but never the less a very commendable performance from a game little hen. 
She was bred from birds that were purchased locally - Willie Peet x Alec Mitchell of Falkirk bloodlines, [via
Bill Handy]. Although she didn't produce any direct offspring to score, she was the grand dam to a very
good blue hen that was timed on the day, to score prominently from 1991 & 1992 SNFC Rennes races.
Incidentally, the blue hen had a cross of Edmund Johnston [ an-other fanciers mentioned in your article]
bloodlines in her pedigree. Perhaps the above would be of interest to your readers? Kind regards Brian
Donnelly.

Request For Help

I received an email from Alan Johnson who wrote; ‘My brother read one of your write ups in a previous
issue of the Homing World, it was around April/May/June 23 and it was a write up about a guy in Scotland
that has done well with the Hassell Donk family of pigeons. If possible, could you give me any contact
details to get in touch with him as we are interested in buying off him. I look forward to your reply, kind
regards Alan Johnson’. I wrote back to Alan asking for the date of the Article as I have gone over a couple
of them, but with the time I’m spending on my book I did not have too long to look, So if anyone can help
Alen out can they please get back in touch with me via email or phone, cheers.

Joe’s Joke

A husband is at home watching the football match when his wife interrupts, ‘Honey, could you fix the light
in the hallway? It’s been flickering for weeks now’. He looks at her and says angrily, ‘Fix the light now, does
it look like I have ‘Powergen’ writing on my forehead? I don’t think so! ‘Fine says the wife who then asks,
‘Well could you fix the fridge door, it will not close right’. To this he replied ‘Fix the fridge door, does it
look like I have ‘Frigidaire’ written on my forehead’. I don’t think so’. ‘Fine’ she says, ‘then you could at
least fix the steps to the front door as they are about to break’. I’m not a carpenter and I don’t want to fix the
steps. Does it look like I have ‘Taylor Woodrow’ written on my forehead? I don’t think so! I’ve had enough
of this. I’m going to the pub! So, he goes to the pub and drinks for a couple of hours; then he starts to feel
guilty about how he treated his wife and decides to go home. As he walks into the house, he notices that the
steps are already fixed and the hall light is working; as he goes to get a beer from the fridge, he notices the
door closes properly. ‘Honey’ he asks, ‘How did all this get fixed?’. She said, ‘Well when you left, I sat
outside and cried. Just then a nice young man asked me what was wrong and I told him. He offered to do all
the repairs and all I had to do was either go to bed with him or bake a cake’. He said ‘So what kind of cake
did you bake?’ She replied; ‘Helloooo, do you see ‘Mr Kipling’ written on my forehead? I Don’t Think So!
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.