SNFC Gold Awards by WP WORTLEY

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SNFC Gold awards are a coveted accolade to say the least, WP Wortley with some info on Solway winners.
Many thanks to Billy.

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Innes Brothers from Gilmerton raced a number of good pigeons over the years including a Red Hen named ‘Kingston Again’ that commenced her National career in 1971 when she was 63rd East Sect. 130th Open Avranches.   The following season she was 61st Sect. 106th Open Rennes and 34th Sect. 58th Open Avranches.   She went to the channel on two occasions again in 1973 when she was 17th Sect. 31st Open Rennes and 15th Sect. 22nd Open Avranches and won in excess of £1,670 over a three week period, which was a record at the time.    John and Hugh Innes had a visit from Alex Mitchell from Falkirk who was a member of the S.N.F.C. Management Committee and having handled the hen  he said “this pigeon should have some sort of award”.  At the next National Committee Meeting, following his visit he raised the matter with colleagues on the Committee and having planted the seed, Gold Awards were ‘born’.    These Awards were first presented in 1975 with the first two recipients being George Bain and Son from Danderhall and the one and only Davie Rose from Aberdeen.  I should add that as the Awards were not retrospective ‘Kingston Again’ did not actually receive one but when ten years old she bred Dark Chequer hen ‘Kingston Success’ that did indeed gain a Gold Award in 1985.
The following is brief recognition of winning birds and fanciers in the Solway area.  
Ralston Graham from Langholm received the first Gold Award in the Solway area in 1975, the winning pigeon a Blue Chequer hen named ‘Esk Valley Goldie’.   Ralston gained a second award in 2005 the pigeon on this occasion being year 2000 Blue Chequer Pied Hen ‘Esk Valley Jacky’.    She was 16th Section 34th Open S.N.F.C. Hastings as a yearling.   In 2003 she competed from Clermont and was 7th Section 139th Open.   In 2004 went to the Blue Riband event from Le Ferte Bernard and was right at the front to be 2nd Section 12th Open.   She was then sent to Falaise and was 3rd Section 10th Open.   At the close of the 2004 season she was judged to be Runner-up to the winner of the S.H.U. Dewar Trophy.   Having previously won the famous Gold Cup in 2002, Ralston came close to winning it for a second time in 2005 with the Pied Hen, which was 1st Section, 2nd Open Alencon.   Ralston then chose to double her back into Falaise and she responded by homing on the night to be 10th Section, 26th Open.   This super pigeon gained an S.N.F.C. Gold Award and for the second year in succession, she was also judged to be Runner up to the winner of the S.H.U. Dewar Trophy.   Sire contained the bloodlines of Ralston’s great friends, Jack Wylie and Dickie Harkness from Newcastleton whilst the Dam was a Herbot from Keith and Pat Lynn from Dumfries.   Ralston shared a close friendship with Jack Wylie and in tribute he named the Hen ‘Esk Valley Jacky’.
Jock Ellwood from Langholm entered his name in annals of Scottish pigeon racing in 1971 when he won the Rennes Classic with Cattrysse hen ‘Jenny’s Pride’.   In 1978 he was presented with a Gold Award for the achievements of his super White hen, which was bred by Jim Lucas from Whitletts in Ayrshire.    Jock had been promised a youngster from Jim and when it arrived he wasn’t too enamoured with the colour, which caused him race it hard and it proved to be a real topper gaining a Gold Award.  
Donald Scott and Son from Brydekirk won the Section from Rennes in 1960 and in 1967 were 1st Section 3rd Open Avranches.   Following the death of Donald Scott the loft title was changed to Mr. and Mrs. Ben Scott, who won three Gold Awards in 1978 and 1982 with Blue Pied hen ‘Sheila’, Red Cock ‘Sheila’s Boy’ and Mealy Cock ‘Scott’s Jubilee’.    Ben and Jean were in fact the first fanciers in Scotland to win three Gold Awards.    
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In 1981 David and Rosemary Osborne from Locharbriggs, Dumfries, gained a Gold Award with their super Pied hen, which had previously been 30th Sect. 256th Open Avranches, 13th Sect. 50th Open Nantes, 3rd Sect. 5th Open Nantes and 17th Sect. 126th Open Nantes.    To gain her fifth National position and secure the Gold Award the Pied hen was 1st Section 52nd Open from Sartilly.   On this occasion the birds were racing into a strong West wind, which pushed the convoy up the East of the Country and indeed all of the pigeons that beat her were flying into the East Section of the National.   Considering that David and Rosemary compete into the West Section of the Solway Fed., the achievement of the pigeon on the day was extra special.  In 1995 the partners won the Niort National with 5 y.o. Blue W.F. Hen ‘Doonhamer Lynne’.   The Scottish entry was liberated with a convoy from the North of England at 5.45am into a N.E. wind and David and Rosemary timed their winner at 10.03pm to record a velocity of 1119ypm from 622 miles.   She was the only arrival into Scotland on the day of liberation and headed the result by 140ypm.    
In 1981 also Norman and William McCulloch from Dalbeattie gained a Gold Award with their super hen ‘Galloway Lass’.   To gain the award the hen was 31st Section 115th Open Rennes 1978, 43rd Section Rennes 1979, 40th Section 247th Open Rennes and 18th Section Avranches (2) 1980  and 15th Section 68th Open Rennes 1981 when she was the first pigeon into the Solway area in the morning.   Dam was bred by fellow Club members, Mr. & Mrs. Tommy Muirhead and Son being a full sister of ‘Glenshalloch Queen' that was 1st Open S.N.F.C. Nantes 1974.   Sire was loaned to Norman and William by Jock Lister from Kirkcaldy.   In 1995 Norman and William McCulloch won the Scottish National Blue Riband event from Rennes with Van Hee hen ‘Urr View Star’.   Dalbeattie is situated in the extreme West of the Solway Federation area, deep in Galloway and with the Solway Firth to the South and the Cumbrian Hills beyond the birds habitually dog leg into the town from the East, which makes it extremely difficult to successfully race pigeon into town.   The problem is further compounded with peregrines all around them and on the Solway coast, which have increased in number in recent years.      
James Dalgliesh from Annan had a  tremendous record, which included being 1st Open Y.B. National 1973, with Blue hen ‘Annandale Princess’, 1st Open S.N.F.C. Falaise 1977, from an entry of 5,524 pigeons and 41st International competing against 26,500 pigeons and 1st Open S.N.F.C. Alencon 2012 with ‘Solway Star’.   There were few fanciers who had a better eye for a pigeon than James and on a number of occasions when he attended Sales he purchased pigeons for very modest sums and the new introductions went on to make a considerable impression.   Whilst attending a football match at Coldstream in Berwickshire, he visited the loft of Mr.Hope and took a fancy to a Red Kirkpatrick Squeaker that was running about on the floor.   This cock was subsequently named ‘The Postie’ as it proved to be a magical stock pigeon, always leaving the goods.    He was told that a Mr.Little from the village of Canonbie, Near Langholm was parting with his pigeons and decided to go and have a look at them.    He learned that they were Kirkpatrick Grizzles, purchased from Louella and decided to buy two cocks and a hen.   The hen was subsequently timed at 4.40 in the morning from Nantes in 1978 to be 4th Open.   Through the same line emerged an outstanding Grizzle cock ‘Annandale Gold’ that was awarded his first S.N.F.C. Gold Award in 1983.   He subsequently gained a second Gold Award in 1990 with Red hen ‘Annandale Red Rose’ that scored seven times with the National with her best positions being 13th Open Nantes and 16th Open Niort.   In 2004 he gained a third Gold Award with Blue Chequer hen ‘Dylis, named after his wife.    She was a superb pigeon and secured her Award from five different race points.   She was 6th Section 8th Open Messac 2000, 10th Section 107th Open Reims 2002, 6th Section 12th Open Chenoise 2003, 12th Section 106th
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Open Falaise 2004 and again in 2004 was 7th Section 36th Open Tours.   Her Sire was a Red Pied cock that was 23rd Open Sartilly 1999, bred from a Kirkpatrick hen introduced from Alistair Little from Ecclefechan when paired to a cock from the loft’s original Kirkpatrick family.   Dam was inbred to ‘The Postie’.  
When Derrick Nordon from Langholm entered the fancy he obtained several youngsters from friend, Ralston Graham.  One of these proved to be the founding Dam of the loft and became known as ‘Becksburn Producer’.   She was bred from a son of Ralston’s noted Mealy Cock ‘Esk Valley Traveller’ that gained a number of positions including 1st Section 13th Open S.N.F.C. Nantes.   ‘Becksburn Producer’ was coupled to a grandson of ‘Solway King’ and this pairing produced Chequer hen ‘Becksburn Nica Nora’.   Derrick went to Carlisle and purchased Mealy cock ‘Becksburn Gilbo’ from Frank and Tommy Gilbertson.   Dam was bred from Frank and Tommy’s noted ‘Show Hen’, whilst the Sire contained the bloodlines of the partners’ noted ‘Quietman’.  ‘Becksburn Gilbo’ was coupled to ‘Becksburn Nica Nora’ and this pairing produced two S.N.F.C. Gold Award winners, ‘Becksburn Courage’ in 1983 and ‘Becksburn Cathella’ in 1989.  Amongst the positions gained by ‘Becksburn Courage’ were 7th Section 30th Open, 33rd Section 208th Open and 6th Section 18th Open all from Rennes.   In time, ‘Becksburn Courage’ was loaned to Bobby Carruthers at Bonnyrigg, where he was coupled to progeny of ‘Moneymaker’ and hens closely related to S.N.F.C. Gold Award winners, with the arrangement being that pigeons would come back to Langholm from the pairings.   Amongst the pigeons received were a pair of Red Chequers, the hen being bred down from Tom Anderson’s Gold Award winner ‘99’ whilst the cock was out of a grand-daughter of ‘Moneymaker’.   This pair of pigeons became known as the No. 4 Pair and left a host of winners.   The outcome was that the pigeons described contributed to founding a dynasty.    
Over a period of years Donaldson and Graham from Annan raced one of the most consistent teams of pigeons in Scotland.    Their successes included winning the Y.B. National in 1969 and heading the Section result with the National from Avranches in 1981 and Sartilly in 1985. The partnership comprised Adam Donaldson and Alex Graham, Alex being the son of Willie Graham who assisted John Kirkpatrick to manage his pigeons during his final illness.   Alex’s good lady, Margaret, took an active interest in the pigeons and also had an influential pigeon connection being the daughter of Alan McCulloch from Waterloo who was 2nd Open Rennes and was an accomplished breeder of a good pigeon.   As they developed their team, Adam and Alex used Willie Graham’s Kirkpatrick bloodlines through introductions from Jimmy Irving from Annan, pigeons received from friends in West Cumbria and stock received from Alan McCulloch with the Delbar lines of Alec King from Wishaw being particularly influential.   In 1984 the partners gained an S.N.F.C. Gold Award, the winning pigeon being a 1977 Blue Chequer hen, which actually scored with the National on eight occasions.   In 1980 she was 14th Section 244th Open Avranches.   She competed twice from the channel the following year and was 1st Section 17th Open Avranches and 15th Section Sartilly.   In 1982 she was 4th Section 46th Open Sartilly.   She competed twice from Inland National from the coast in 1983 (due to restrictions imposed by the PMV outbreak) being 90th Section 378th Open from Dorchester (1) and 43rd Section 82nd Open from Dorchester (3).   In 1984 she was 49th Section 169th Open Sartilly and 24th Section 48th Open Nantes.
John Hodgson is instantly recognised, having won 7 x 1st Open National with his team of ‘Starview Busschaerts’.   Pigeons such as ‘Starview Pegasus’ ‘Starview Leo’ and ‘Starview John James’ became household names in the fancy.   ‘Starview Pegasus’ particularly proved to be an exceptional breeder.  
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He won a National; he bred a National winner, bred a cock to win the Dewar Trophy and at stock in the Louella complex bred pigeons to win right through to Classic level.   It should be noted, however, that when John initially moved to live at Annan and formed his original team, prior to him acquiring the Busschaerts, he worked with stock from several different sources including a noted Dark Chequer Cock, which he received as a gift from the late Tom Little from Creca.   This pigeon won right out to Nantes and left a number of winners in subsequent generations.   He obtained pigeons from Ian Parsons who then resided at Kendal and also acquired Marc Roossen bloodlines from Louella.   One of the early pigeons to emerge in his loft at Annan was a fabulous Blue Cock named ‘Starview Hercules’ that gained an S.N.F.C. Gold Award in 1986.   To gain the Award the Blue Cock was five times in the first 90 in the Open from three different cross channel race points.  
In 1994 Albert Tedham from Langholm gained a Gold Award with ‘The Fiddler’, which was a 1987 Blue Chequer cock.   This super pigeon went to the channel in 1989 and was 46th Section 138th Open Sartilly.   When 3 y.o. he competed from Sartilly and was 18th Section 27th Open and the following season went back to Sartilly and was 4th Section 5th Open.   He was sent to Rennes in 1992 and was 41st Section 140th Open.   He went to two Sartilly Nationals in 1983 and on each occasion was up with the leaders to be 23rd Section 84th Open and 19th Section 102nd Open.   In 1994 he competed from the difficult Beauvais National and was 11th Section 162nd Open and was doubled back into Sartilly (2) when he was 27th Section 74th Open.   When 8 y.o. he raced from the Blue Riband event from Rennes and was 9th Section 12th Open and was doubled back into Sartilly (2) when he was right up with the leaders to be 4th Section 14th Open. Whilst each of the performances quoted was with the S.N.F.C., he further gained numerous Club and Federation positions.   Having gained a Gold Award in 1994, Albert worked towards gaining a Double Gold Award with this truly exceptional pigeon.   Whilst he had scored from the channel on ten occasions, two of the positions did not qualify as he didn’t collect Section prize money.   He did not receive Section prize money from Sartilly in 1989 and whilst he received prize money from Rennes in 1992 it was an added prize and consequently didn’t qualify towards a Gold Award.   In 1996 Albert kept the pigeon going in an endeavour to secure two further Section positions.   He competed from Sartilly (1), Rennes and Sartilly (2) and was timed just off the list on each occasion.   Albert was alarmed, however, as the pigeon returned from Sartilly (2) having been hit by a hawk.   With knowledge that at 10 y.o. the ring would have to be re-registered to enable the pigeon to continue to race, Albert decided to retire him from the road at the close of the 1996 season.  Sire was the first bird that Albert bred when he entered the fancy and indeed scored on two occasions from Rennes.   The Paternal grand sire and grand dam were amongst birds received from Owen Brothers from Southport, when Albert entered the fancy.   Albert’s brother was married to Jack Owen’s daughter and it was through this connection that he received stock from Southport.   Dam was home bred from a pair of pigeons received from Dennis Evans from Pudsey, who was a frequent visitor into our area in the company of the late John Ambler.   Maternal grand dam was a super pigeon with the most fantastic eye, which had won a local Classic race.   The pigeon was named ‘The Fiddler’ as Albert’s father, who was named ‘Albie’ Tedham, was a gifted Fiddler and played with many of the top Scottish Dance Bands.    
Alistair Henderson from Langholm gained a Gold Award in 2007 with ‘Miss Pringle’, which was a 1999 Chequer Pied hen.   In her early years she gained numerous Club positions and flew the channel in the year 2000, 2001, and 2002.   In 2003 she competed from Clermont and returned badly injured.   In 2004 she was raced on the Roundabout method and competing on the system was 25th
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Section 90th Open from the Inland National.   She was then re-paired and sent to the Gold Cup race from La Ferte Bernard and was up on the night to be 18th Section 60th Open.   She was thereafter doubled back into Falaise and was up with the leaders to be 5th Section 25th Open.    She was initially raced on the Roundabout method once more in 2005 and on the system was 3rd Section 30th Open from the Inland National from Newbury.   She was re-paired and sent to the Gold Cup race from Alencon and was once again at the front to be 6th Section 23rd Open.   She then went to Falaise covering five day eggs and was up with the leaders to be 5th Section 20th Open.   In 2006 she was sent to the Inland National from Newbury on Roundabout and was once more right at the front to be 6th Section 9th Open.   The plan had been to send her to the Gold Cup race from Alencon but over the days leading up to basketing, Alistair wasn’t confident she was right and chose instead to send her to Falaise, covering two four day old youngsters and she responded by being up with the leaders once more to be 8th Section 22nd Open.  
The following photographs complement this article.   ‘(a) ‘Esk Valley Goldie’,  (b) ‘Sheila’, (c) Ben and Jean Scott, (d) ‘Annandale Gold’, (e ) ‘Becksburn Courage, ( f) ‘The Fiddler’ and (g) Alistair Henderson.      

Billy Wortley