SNFC Young Bird Huntingdon Section A

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Copied from Facebook 5th October 2025

 

SNFC Season was brought to a close with the YB race from Huntingdon. Here's the best from SectA provided by WP Wortley. 
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Ryan Campbell from Langholm is probable 1st South Section.   Ryan developed an interest in the pigeon hobby as a schoolboy at Canonbie and when nine years old became a member of Langholm Club in partnership with his grandfather, Bill Evans.   The years moved forward and through his work he resided at different locations but retained and interest in the hobby being for a time a member of Dumfries Flying Club and subsequently Lockerbie Club.   In recent years, Ryan has had to move residence once again to Langholm because of his work and is a member of the local Club.   His pigeons are housed in a loft 32’ x 8’ located adjacent to his home.    Birds trap through a Universal trap and are timed by ETS.   Old birds are managed on the Natural system with Young Birds being worked in the conventional method.   Birds are coupled following the Blackpool Show with the Section winner being a home bred first round youngster.   Previous to going to the National it competed with the Solway Fed. from Stainmore and Charnock Richard.   Race experience was limited due to Ryan’s work commitments but this was compensated for by intense basket training, including on build up to the National, his candidates being tossed every day from Longtown.   The Section winner is a Slatey Blue Chequer Cock the Sire of which was bred from a latebred cock obtained from John Smart when coupled to a hen obtained from S.N.F.C. President Michael Currie and his daughter, Julie.   The latebred cock from John Smart contains the lines of ‘Crosshill Ace’.   The Chequer hen obtained from Michael and Julie Currie went to Ryan’s loft as a flyaway and he was allowed to keep it.   It was bred from Michael and Julie’s noted stock cock ‘Charles Edward Stewart’ that has bred a number of winners including Andrew Suckle’s  S.N.F.C. Silver Award winner ‘Aulton Mick’.   Dam of the hen obtained from Michael and Julie was bred from the breeders Menne and daughters cock ‘Gerry’ that gained 3 x 1sts and was 16th Open S.N.F.C. Alencon.   Dam of the Section winner from Huntingdon was bred from two pigeons, which Ryan received from friend George Firth from Lockerbie who has a very impressive team of pigeons and is a former winner of the Young Bird National.   It was racing to the perch but looking at a hen for two days before basketing, going to the race on its 8th flight.   In conversation it was apparent that work commitments restrict Ryan’s personal commitment to the hobby and he asked me to thank his fellow Club members for their ongoing assistance, which enables him to race his pigeons.   He wished also to thank John Smart for the birds he has received from him, which have made a considerable impression on his loft.  

Stanley Boyd from Locharbriggs, Dumfries is probable 2nd Section.    Stanley has had a long time association with the pigeon hobby having gained a number of good positions from the Classics over the years, working with local bloodlines.   Noting what other fanciers were achieving with modern bloodlines, however he acquired examples of the Grondelaers family from Terry Lodge at ‘Top Lofts’ and when the ‘Top Lofts’ pigeons were sold, he made contact with Gerald Delaney at the O’Roory Hill Stud, to obtain further examples of the family and chose also to obtain examples of the Willy Jacobs family.   When Gerald Delaney met Willy Jacobs for the first time in 2001 he only raced his pigeons out to 80 miles.   Gerald extended their capability, however, getting them to win out of turn at 300+ miles with the family now being described as sprint/middle distance.   Working with these new introductions Stanley saw an immediate improvement in the performance of his pigeons.    In 2015, he won the S.N.F.C. Young Bird National from Buckingham with Blue hen ‘Annie B’.   Notwithstanding the fact that there was a modest entry at the race from the Region, this game hen pulled out of the convoy and came across country to head the result into Locharbriggs, in the West Section of the Solway Federation. Stanley’s Young Bird National winner was indeed bred by Gerald Delaney in the O’Roory Hill Stud and contained Willy Jacobs bloodlines.   In 2023 he was 2nd Section

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from the Y.B. National with a further Willy Jacobs Chequer cock that was bred in the O’Roory Hill Stud and in 2024 he was 3rd Section from the Y.B. National, on this occasion from Kettering with a Willy Jacobs Blue Chequer hen that was once again bred by Gerald Delaney.     His timer from the recent National is a Blue Chequer Willy Jacobs cock once more bred by Gerald Delaney.   It was worked on Darkness, having gone through a total body moult and on its second primary flight.   Stanley’s youngsters exercise well at the loft and were basket trained pre-season from High-Hesket.   The cock that performed from the National entered the race basket at Lowgill, then went twice to Stainmore, went to Charnock Richard and thereafter competed from Lymm.   It was flying to the perch but had been playing on with a young hen over the days prior to basketing.      

Dougie Ritchie from Gretna is probable 3rd Section.    Dougie has quietly assembled a team of quality pigeons in recent years and gained a number of good positions in his Club and with the National.   In in 2022 he gained 1st Federation with a yearling hen, the Sire of which contained the noted Vandenabeele bloodlines of Mick McMurchie from Glenrothes with the Dam being very well bred also having been purchased at the Clearance Sale of Willie Smart from Allanton.   When the Nationals came round in 2022 Dougie was up with the leaders from Brighton to be 6th Section 36th Open with a 2 y.o. Blue hen.   Move forward to 2023 and Dougie was along with the leaders from Upper Heyford to be 6th Section 7th Open, the winning pigeon on this occasion being a 2 y.o. Blue hen that was home bred from a pair of pigeons purchased from the very successful partnership of Armstrong, Shergold, Johnson and Moon from Plains Farm, Sunderland, who are four times winners of the UNC .   In 2020 Dougie obtained a batch of six youngsters from the Sunderland partnership, one of the batch being the pigeon that scored from Brighton in 2022 with another two of the batch received breeding the bird that was up from Upper Heyford.   In 2023 also he was 4th Section 6th Open from Brighton and in 2024 headed the Section result from the Y.B. National from Kettering.   The Section winner from Kettering a Chequer hen, which was a single bred youngster, reared in February and worked on Darkness.   It entered the race basket at Shap and went through the Solway Federation programme to the Fed. Open race from Lymm.   Sire was purchased at the North East Show from Stuart Wilcox, being a grandson of Champion ‘Little Gem’.   Dam is one of the batch of birds that was bred by Armstrong, Shergold, Johnson and Moon.   The pigeon that was 3rd Section from Huntingdon is a Blue hen and contains similar lines to the 2024 Section winner but next generation.   Parents were paired during the first week in February; it was worked on Darkness and prepared in a similar manner to the previous year’s Section winner and was flying to the perch.