Tom Little of Creca Article

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When I was a wee lad this guy was , and still is, a legend.
Here's info from WP Wortley, written in his usual, detailed, way.

Tom Little
Tom Little was a really good fancier who resided in the village of Creca, which is located two miles North of Annan.   Tom kept pigeons from schoolboy years and when 12 years old joined the original Hoddom Club obtaining six rings only to ring his modest team of youngsters.   Tom joined the Forces in 1939 and was demobbed in 1946.   In his absence on War duty his father continued to keep pigeons in a modest way and when Tom returned home and settled back into home life, he built a new loft and studiously considered from whom he should obtain stock.   In an article that he wrote for one of the Stud Books he said “I looked through the pigeon journals for a few weeks and then my attention was drawn to the advertisement of Mr. Duncan Thomson from Muirend, Glasgow, who was giving up the sport owing to age.   The pigeons offered were advertised as Logans and from what I now know of this family they certainly looked the part, being Dark Chequers and rather below medium size.   I applied to Mr. Thomson for two pairs and in reply he asked me if I had been in the Forces during the War.   When I wrote to him to say I was in the Commandos he sent me two selected pairs at half the advertised price and also an extra one as a gift”.   Tom wrote to Duncan Thomson to enquire if he could obtain pedigrees for the new acquisitions and lo and behold a large box arrived loaded with prize tickets and a letter, which stated that his pedigree was the basket as could be seen from the prize tickets and when Tom had viewed them he had to return them to the sender.    That was good enough for Tom.   He had been friendly also pre-war with Tom Stodart from Linbridgeford, Waterbeck, Near Lockerbie who was the son of a farmer and had invested heavily in quality bloodlines.    Shortly after Tom returned home his friend was regrettably killed in a road accident and following the accident, Tom Stodart’s mother invited him to take several of the pigeons and these and the stock obtained from Duncan Thomson formed the basis of his family.   Tom never initially knew the breeding of the Stodart pigeons but after he penned an article for one of the Stud Books he received a letter from a fancier with several adverts that had been placed in the Fancy Press, which suggested that the Stodart pigeons were Logan based.   I have indeed just looked at an advert included in the Squills Annual in 1941, which confirms that they were basically Logan with a Galway cross.   Interestingly included in the advert is a photo of a Red Chequer cock named ‘Solway King’, which was a prolific winner and won the Fed. from Christchurch in 1940 with a velocity of 749ypm on a very difficult day. 
Post War Tom initially joined Gretna Club and actually won the first race he entered.   He then competed in the Federation Channel event from Guernsey in 1949 and won.  He told me that he was quietly optimistic that the team of pigeons that he and his father were assembling was showing such promise he believed they could compete at the highest level.   In 1951 from Rennes there were only five arrivals on the night, Jack McKay from Annan won the race with ‘Festival Triumph’ and John Kirkpatrick was 2nd with ‘Galabank King’.   Tom Little timed one of the five arrivals and was 5th.   Move forward to 1952 with John Kirkpatrick being 1st and 2nd Open from Nantes with ‘Galabank Prince’ and ‘Galabank Duke’.   On that occasion Tom was again hard on his heels being 3rd Section 7th Open.   In 1953 Tom was 10th and 12th Open from Nantes, this incidentally being the race from which John Kirkpatrick was 3rd Open with ‘Galabank Queen’.
Tom told me that having successfully re-entered the Fancy, he was aware that other fanciers were taking note and indeed one sunny Spring day he had a visit from John Kirkpatrick and George Jackson who had walked to Creca from Annan.   They looked at the pigeons but whilst they were at the loft didn’t make any specific comment.   Following their visit, however, Tom met John Kirkpatrick on the street who told him that he thought Tom had a marvellous team of hens to which Tom responded that he recognised that John Kirkpatrick had an equally good team of cocks.   John Kirkpatrick suggested that they do a swap and said he would like a small yearling, which he described as “that awfully wee hen” and by indication of his hands inferred that the pigeon was infinitesimal.   Tom thought to himself “the pigeon doesn’t look extra special to me but if Johnny wants it there must be something about it that I can’t see”.   He therefore declined the swap and his judgement proved to be correct as the pigeon ‘3813’ developed into be one of Tom’s best ever pigeons scoring three times from Rennes.   A friendship was nevertheless formed with John Kirkpatrick and as the months passed he received several birds from him including a direct son of ‘Galabank Supreme’ and the nest-mate of what became known as ‘Galabank Producer’.   When John Kirkpatrick died he was gifted two further birds by Mrs. Kirkpatrick.   The Kirkpatrick introductions didn’t just blend with the original Logan family, they ignited it.   He won the Federation on numerous occasions including the Solway Federation channel event, which he won several times.   He won the South of Scotland Channel Club channel race twice and won also the Channel Club Yearling Race and Young Bird Race.    In the days of intense competition when racing with the S.N.F.C., Tom gained the following Open positions.   He was 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th twice, 11th, and 12th from Rennes, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th 10th 11th and 12th from Nantes, 2nd, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Falaise and 1st Open Avranches.   He scored on numerous occasions from the Y.B. National with his best position being 3rd Open.
I elaborate below on two of the performances.   In 1966 three channel races were flown; the first from Rennes, which was won by Jim and John Nash from Croy with Blue hen ‘Daphne’s Delight’.   The second race was flown from Nantes that was won by Jimmy Hamilton from Kennoway with Red Pied Hen ‘Nan’s Pride’.   The third race was flown from Avranches with a convoy of 2,937 birds being liberated at 5.45am into a light North East wind.   21 birds only made home on the day of liberation with Tom Little heading the result with Chequer Pied hen ‘Creca Pride’ that was timed at 7.32pm and headed the result by 36ypm with a velocity of 946ypm.  The following year the S.N.F.C. Blue Riband event was flown from Rennes with a convoy of 5,701 birds being liberated at 5.45am into a South West wind, which turned to S.E. en-route.   Robbie Hope from Eastriggs was 1st Open with a velocity of 1645ypm, followed by Tom Little on 1606ypm.   Tom’s 2nd Open Rennes was Mealy Hen ‘Angela’, which like the Avranches winner contained Kirkpatrick x Logan bloodlines. 
Tom’s father had really bad eye sight but notwithstanding his disability he assisted Tom at the loft.   When they were 2nd Open Falaise Tom was in the house and his father was working in the garden.   His father ‘heard’ a pigeon and went to the house to alert Tom and the remainder of the story is history.    
As the years moved forward other lines were brought into the loft including examples of Ewart Warwick’s family and a son of Rob and Elliot Borthwick’s great pigeon ‘Happy’.
Amongst the performance pigeons to emerge in the loft, was Dark Chequer hen ‘3440’, which was 5th, 7th, 12th and 42nd Open Nantes.   Such was the quality of the hen that he had it photographed with the photo being published in the Gazette.   The following year he sent a basketful of pigeons to Preston on the train to be tossed in preparation for the Nationals and the hen failed to return.   Tom always wondered if it had been removed from the basket in the train.
It should be noted also that Tom bred a number of top quality pigeons for other fanciers.   Consider, for example that he bred the Dam of Mr. and Mrs. Horsburgh’s ‘Fechan Lass’ that was 1st and 3rd Open S.N.F.C.  Rennes.  The Dam was a beautiful pigeon with a fabulous eye and won the Eye Sign Class in the Solway Federation Show on two occasions.   Hind and Crombie’s great hen ‘Shawhill Faithful’ was bred from a Kirkpatrick cock when coupled to a Tom Little Logan hen.   The Logan hen was only one day old when Jim Crombie and George Hind received it from Tom.   They brought it home from Creca in a handkerchief and reared it under a pair of their own pigeons.   She proved to be a very able performer and flew the channel four times, always on the day of liberation and gained 13th Solway Fed Dol and 112th Open S.N.F.C. Rennes.   At stock she left a number of winners including ‘Shawhill Faithful’, which flew the channel five times with her favourite race point being Rennes.   She scored from Rennes on four occasions with her best performance being achieved in 1966, when she was 1st Section 2nd Open.   In 1978 Jim Crombie was 1st Open Nantes with Dark Hen ‘Shawhill Elizabeth’ when there were only two arrivals on the night, with the National winner being on the wing from 15 Hours 40 Minutes.   The second pigeon on the night was indeed timed by Tom Little.   The following year ‘Shawhill Elizabeth’ went back to Nantes and was again timed on the night to be 9th Section 13th Open.   ‘Shawhill Elizabeth’, incidentally, was home bred and contained the lines of the same ‘Shawhill Faithful’, going back again to the Logan lines of Tom Little.   Tom also bred the Sire of Tony Hodges pigeon that was 1st and 2nd Palamos, the Dam of the bird that won the Y.B. National for Tom Laidlaw from Jedburgh and the Dam also of Rob and Elliot Borthwick’s Y.B. National winner.   When John Hodgson moved to live in Annan in 1976 he was gifted a Dark Chequer Cock by Tom Little, which won right out to Nantes and at stock left a number of winners.   I could go on and on and quote these as examples …. 
I should mention that when Brydekirk Club was formed in 1949, Tom was one of the founder members and remained a member until his passing in 1985.   It should be noted also that having previously moved the pigeons by Rail, the Solway Federation broke with tradition in 1966 and began transporting the birds by road, with the Solway and East Cumberland Federation pigeons being conveyed together in a single transporter.  The transporter was owned by local haulage contractor, Wm. Halliday & Sons, the arrangement having been negotiated and agreed between friends Tom Little and Tom Halliday, who was the proprietor of the haulage company.
We publish several photos with this article.  (a) Chequer Pied hen ‘Creca Pride’ that was 1st Open S.N.F.C. Avranches 1966; (b) Mealy Hen ‘Angela’ that was 2ND Open Rennes 1967; (c) Dark Chequer hen ‘811’, which was 5th Open Rennes 1951, 35th Open Rennes 1952, 122nd Open Rennes 1953, 17th Open Rennes 1954 and 64th Open Rennes 1955; (d) Blue Chequer hen ‘3813’ that was 1st Solway Fed. Christchurch as a yearling, 16th Section 27th Open Rennes 1954, 4th Section 25th Open Rennes 1955 and 3rd Section 53rd Open Rennes 1955; (e) The Blue Pied cock Kirkpatrick cock photographed won 5 – 1st in the Club, was 1st and 2nd Fed. Inland and 8th Fed. from Avranches.   From one channel crossing he failed to return and was reported in Altenburg, North Germany.   He escaped from the loft in Germany and homed single up, a straight line distance of 707 miles.   (f) We also include a group photo that includes John Kirkpatrick, George Jackson and Tom Little (right).   The photo was taken in Glasgow when the friends were attending an S.N.F.C. Meeting.   ( g) The final photo shows Tom Little at home. 
I trust that our readers have found this overview of interest as we have reflected on the ability and achievements of Tom Little from Creca.