John Gilmour SNFC Gold Cup Winner 2017

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Here's the story of John Gilmours Gold Cup winner, No.3 for the 'Fechan'.(WP Wortley).

In 2017 the S.N.F.C. Blue Riband event was flown from Alencon, with the convoy being released at 5.45am on Monday 3rd July, following a three day hold-over.   John Gilmour from Ecclefechan timed at 7.10pm to win the National with a velocity of 1049ypm, 39ypm ahead of the second pigeon in the result.    John is a member of a very successful pigeon family, with his father, Jackie, being a very good fancier.  Jackie and his brother Eddie, who flew under the loft title Gilmour Brothers and Martindale, won the Vaux Usher Y.B. National in 1963 with a Red cock that was bred by Hughie Falconer from Mid Calder.    In the 1960’s and early 1970’s, Jackie and Eddie housed one of the best teams of pigeons in the Solway area.   In 1967, for example, they gained the first three positions in the Section from S.N.F.C. Avranches and in 1974 they were 3rd Open S.N.F.C. Avranches.  In time the brothers formed their own separate lofts and as the years have passed they achieved individual successes.   In 2005, Jackie was 6th Section 29th Open Tours and in 2006 this same pigeon was 3rd Section 3rd Open from the equivalent race.   John Gilmour has had an interest in our hobby since he was a boy.   Our older readers will recollect the successful partnership of S. & J. Gilmour that raced
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into Ecclefechan.   This partnership actually comprised schoolboy cousins; Stewart and John guided and assisted by Eddie, who formerly competed under the loft title Gilmour Brothers and Martindale.   When John married he set up home in community of Waterbeck and joined Hoddom Club.   He and his wife subsequently built a beautiful bungalow at Ecclefechan, which has a large garden that contains an impressive pigeon loft.   The loft is 6’ wide and is ‘L’ shaped, containing an 8’ compartment for widowhood cocks, a 4’ compartment for Young Birds and 4’ store on the front elevation and a compartment for widowhood hens and another compartment for stock birds on the side elevation.   As the years have passed, he has timed several good birds from the Classics, consider, for example that in 2010 he was 3rd Section from the Inland National from Bovingdon, was 5th Section 56th Open from the S.N.F.C. Blue Riband event from Alencon in 2013 and in 2015 was 3rd Section 196th Open Eastbourne.  In time he worked the team on a widowhood method from the earlier races and re-paired them for the channel.   In 2017, however, he decided to continue racing cocks and hens on widowhood, right out to the channel.   This obviously paid dividends as he featured in the prize list in the very competitive Hoddom Club throughout the season and then came out and won Scottish Blue Riband event from Alencon, securing the famous Gold Cup and the King George V Cup.   The National winner is a Dark Chequer cock named ‘Gilly’, which was 2 y.o. when he won the Classic; it had five races as a youngster, raced from Lymm, Wollaston and Cheltenham as a yearling and in 2017 went to Charnock Richard (1), Charnock Richard (2), Stafford, Wollaston, Cheltenham and Marlborough, which was flown on the same day as the Inland National from Buckingham.   He reared two youngsters at the gateway to the season and was thereafter worked true widowhood.   He went to the race with his first flight ¾ grown.   Dam is a Theo Rutten, which was obtained from friends Shaun and Linda Trodden whilst the Sire is a Red Cock that was bred by Martin Adair from Flimby in West Cumbria.    Sean and Linda first purchased examples of the Rutten family some twenty years ago, direct from the breeders and through ongoing introductions have formed a superb team of Rutten pigeons.   Theo and Raymond Rutten reside at Groesbeek, Netherlands and are the owners of a superb family of pigeons based on the bloodlines of Janssen Brothers of Arendonk.   They first visited the Brothers at Arendonk in 1958 and continued to visit them on a regular basis, obtaining stock on an annual basis.   They also acquired pigeons from Jules Wouters of Keerbergen, who purchased the very best of Janssen bloodlines.   Theo and Raymond Rutten supplemented the Janssen line by purchasing stock from Gebr. Janssen, concentrating on the line of the ‘Chantilly’ and ‘Winterjongen and from Henri van Venrooij of Deurne, who obtained his original stock direct from Janssen Brothers.   National wins achieved by Theo and Raymond Rutten include 1st National Orleans competing against 17,211 pigeons. 1st National Montlucon competing against 7,000 + pigeons, 1st National St Quentin competing against 6,611 pigeons, 1st National St Vincent competing against 2,424 pigeons and 1st National Chantilly competing against 23,193 pigeons.    In 2016 Sean and Linda Trodden set the Solway Federation alight with this family, gaining a succession of sparkling results and at the end of the season were presented with the trophy as Solway Federation Fancier(s) of the Year.   In 2018 they were 2nd Open S.N.F.C. Maidstone and were once more presented with the Federation Fancier of the Year Trophy.     Move forward to 2019 and once again they were awarded the Percy Cameron Memorial Trophy as East Section Fancier(s) of the Year.   During the current season they were 1st Section 2nd Open S.N.F.C. Upper Heyford with a super Blue cock that was 1st Federation from Lymm (1), 1st Federation Cheltenham, 1st Federation again from Lymm (2) and with pigeons being duplicated out of the Upper Heyford National into the Federation was once more 1st Federation.   Following the Upper Heyford National, Sean and Linda were 1st Section 1st Open S.N.F.C. Yeovil.   Martin Adair is the son of the late Bobby Adair, who was
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unquestionably one of the very best fanciers in the North of England and Southern Scotland.   Racing a modest team of pigeons on the natural system, he and Martin won the noted Big Cup in the Derwent Valley Federation on ten occasions for the best average from all races through to the longest channel race.   The Sire of the Red Cock, which John Gilmour obtained from Martin, was 8th Fed Nantes.   He was bred direct from Bobby and Martin Adair’s noted Red Hen, which was the first Gold Award winner in Cumbria.   The Sire of the Red Cock that John Gilmour obtained from Martin was also the Sire of the Red Cock that Jimmy Dalgliesh from Ecclefechan obtained from Flimby, which bred the noted ‘Hoddom Dynamo’.    In 2019 the Scottish National Blue Riband event was flown from Burdinne, Belgium with the convoy being released at 5.30 am and John Gilmour featured at the front of the result again timing at 2.31pm to be 1st South Section 2nd Open National.   The winning pigeon was 3 y.o. Dark Chequer hen ‘Gilly’s Lass’, which deserves special mention.   It went to Charnock Richard as a youngster.   In 2017 as a yearling it was paired during the first week in January and reared two youngsters.   It was then put on Roundabout and went through the programme to the Inland National from Bedhampton and was 44th Section 223rd Open.   It then began toying on with another hen, identically bred.   John chose to leave them together; the Dark hen laid and went to Falaise covering twelve day eggs.   Pigeons were liberated at 6.15am into a light S.W. wind and the hen was timed with the leaders at 2.47pm to be 5th Section 6th Open National.  In 2018 the hen was once more paired in January, went to nest and was thereafter put on Roundabout.  It then went through the programme to the Inland National from Buckingham and was thereafter re-paired and went to the S.N.F.C. Blue Riband event from Liege sitting deep on eggs with the eggs hatching the day after the race.   Pigeons were liberated at 5.15am into a N.E. win and John timed the hen at 5.22pm to be 3rd Section 3rd Open National.   In 2019 it was paired in January and hatched a pair of youngsters, being split from its mate when feeding the youngsters with the cock finishing the youngsters off.   It was then put on Roundabout and went through the programme to the Inland National from Buckingham.   It was then re-paired with the intention of getting it on a wee youngster at basketing for the Gold Cup race from Burdinne.   It was a wee bit slow at laying, however and was actually sitting deep due to hatch.   John slipped her a chipping egg before despatch, however, to give her an edge and she duly responded gaining 1st Section 2nd Open National.   Sire is a Deweerdt from Andy Gregson whilst the Dam is a Grizzle Koopman from Ernie Goodyear with both parents being purchased at Blackpool Show.   She is obviously a truly exceptional pigeon to have gained a 2nd, 3rd and 6th Open National, with two of the performances being from Scotland’s Premier Race!