The Joe Murphy Column

[Ian McKay]

The Joe Murphy Column

 

Received an email with some photographs attached from David Liddle of Forfar who wrote; ‘Hi Joe as you know we are now well in to the new racing season but here are some details and photographs of the 2015 season joint trophy presentation for Angus and Dundee federations as well as the Grampian Combine. This was held on the 1st April in Letham (Angus) and there was a good turnout of members of both federations to support the trophy winners. The trophies were presented by Jock Scott and Stuart Fyfe from Fife Federation. The Angus winners were Ian Scott of Forfar who won the Old Bird Average, Combined Average, Three Longest Race Average, 1st Federation Clermont and the best 2 Bird Average from Clermont. Les McKay also of the Angus fed won the trophy for 1st federation from Portsmouth, Mike Leggett of Forfar won the Clermont yearling trophy and Eric Galloway of the same club won the shield for 1st federation from Wakefield YB. The trophy for the Lowest Winning velocity was won by Forfar partnership of Macaulay, Ferguson & Curran while Ypres national winner Davie Glen won the Young Bird Average and the Fancier of the Year trophy.

The Grampian Combine Winners were as follows; 1st Newark won by Davie Glen; 1st Leicester won by Ian Scott; 1st Lauder won by Bruce McKenzie; 1st Portsmouth won by John Duthie; 1st Eastbourne won by John Wiseman; 1st Clermont won by Bruce McKenzie; 1st Wakefield YB won by Billy McEwan. The trophy for Best Average in all Combine races was won by Ian Scott.

The Dundee winners were John Duthie who won Fancier of the Year, Old Bird Average, Combined Average and 1st Federation Portsmouth. John Wiseman was 1st Federation Eastbourne; Jack Alexander was 1st Federation Leicester; Billy McEwan was 1st Federation Wakefield Young Bird; Stewart Davie won the Young Bird Average and Joe Hunt won the best 2 bird average from Eastbourne. Following the presentation of trophies we had a successful Breeder / Buyer young bird sale which raised around £900 so we should have a decent amount to compete for in the combine young bird race from Wakefield. All the best for the nationals which will be upon us before you know it, good luck to you and Kevin kindest regards David Liddle’.

 

Bruce McKenzie and Stuart Fyfe

 

Davie Glen with Jocky Scott

 

Jock Scott with Gavin Ferguson

 

Stuart Fyfe and John Duthie

 

 

Results

 

Angus Federation

The members sent 781 birds to Tow Law liberated at 11-45am into a north east wind a hard steady race was the order for the day. Topping the federation and breaking the ‘strangle hold’ of the Forfar club is B Main of Inchcape club in Arbroath with a winning velocity of 1089. Forfar club take the next 19 federation positions with Bob Baldie in 2nd & 13th places. David J Liddle is 3rd 6th 7th 8th & 9th with Macaulay Ferguson & Curran in 4th 5th 11th 12th 15th 19th & 20th places followed by Ian Scott in 10th 16th 17th & 18th positions and finally Davie Glen is 14th federation.

East section winners are as follows: Inchcape B Main is 1st with J & J Leven of Montrose in 2nd place Chic and Anne Carrie of Inchcape being 3rd & 6th with Kevin J Murphy of Arbroath in 4th & 7th section positions. Carlie Cameron of the same club is 5th & 8th with G Campbell of Montrose 9th and D & D Hay of Gourdon club make up the top ten places.

Club Winners are as follows: Inchcape 115 birds B Main; Forfar 46 birds R Baldie; Gourdon 36 birds D & D Hay; Arbroath 122 birds Kevin J Murphy; Montrose 46 birds J & J Leven;

 

Arbroath RPS

News from Charlie Cameron who informs us that from the 3rd old bird race of the season from Tow Law flown on 7th May 5 members sent 122 birds liberated at 11-45 am into a north east wind. Taking 1st & 3rd club is Kevin J Murphy with the winning velocity 904 for the 128 miles. The winner is a 3 year old later bred red hen who has been raced out to Eastbourne last year. Her sire was known as ‘JS’ and was bred by Jock & Willie Strang and son Tyrone. He won 1st club (only bird on the day) 26th section C 130th open SNFC Eastbourne 419 miles; he also won 11th section 65th open SNFC Ypres 454 miles and then 15th section 36th open SNFC Clermont 539 miles ALL AS A YEARLING. He also won 23rd section 213th open Cheltenham a distance of 321 miles and was sent to Ypres then into Clermont and won 107th open. Unfortunately he was lost the following year going for his SNFC Silver Award. The dam of the Tow Law winner was stopped as she was paired to JS above however when he was lost she was then put back on the road and flew Maidstone and Clermont (twice). Last year 2015 she won 20th section C 120th open SNFC Gold Cup race from Alencon flying a distance of 573 miles. Kevin’s 2nd pigeon to win 3rd club is another roundabout hen as a youngster she won 1st club 3rd federation 3rd Grampian Combine from the last federation race, she was then sent to the SNFC young bird national and returned very badly injured and required 20 stiches. Since then she has flown Maidstone and won 95th section C 315th open SNFC 4472 birds competing. Last year she won 67th section C 210th open Billericay 3406 birds. She is bred from the top Elphinstone lofts of Richard & Jamie Combe and a Tom & Scott McEwen bloodlines. 2nd club is Charlie Cameron with a Jos Claes bred from a full brother of a Claes pigeon that won 1st & 2nd section C in the SNFC.

 

Ayrshire North Road Federation

News from Andy Kyle who writes we were at Thornton on 7th May for our 2rd race of 2016 season with 585 pigeons. However due to mist over the Firth of Forth we moved the convoy to Stirling and liberated at 11-30 into a fair East to South East wind. This proved to be a very fast race and overall returns were good.

Valley North Club winner and 1st Federation is owned and raced by John L Dumigan, his pigeon is a 2 year old chequer Hartog crossed Jock Reid cock. He has previously won 1st club and his winning velocity today was 1715 ypm.

Carrick Club winner for the 2nd week in a row also winning 8th federation owned and raced by the partnership of Jamieson and Cameron. Their winner is a yearling blue cock bloodlines being Jan Aarden crossed John Cannon (Club Secretary). This was only this pigeon’s 2nd race as he was not raced as a young bird and his winning velocity was 1648 ypm.

Cumnock Club winner and 20th federation is owned and raced by J Auld his winning pigeon is also a yearling chequer cock which was bred by Derek McCullen. This pigeon only had one young bird race and his winning velocity was 1615 ypm.

Mauchline Club winner for the 2nd week in a row and 33rd federation position is owned and raced by Kory Galloway. He timed a yearling blue white flight cock. His sire is a Van Reet crossed Busschaert and his dam is known as Matilda. Both sire and dam have produced winners for Kory on north and south routes. He was a steady racer as a young bird being pipped on many occasions by loft mates. He was sent flying widowhood and recorded a velocity of 1434 ypm.

Stranraer North Road winner bred and raced by Robertson & McCurdy this being a blue hen bred from a trial cross of Van Reet and Vandenabeele breeding. She is a yearling, never having raced as a young bird, so this was only her 2nd race. She was late last week and first this week, that’s pigeon racing! Her winning velocity was 1529 ypm. There are only 2 members racing in this pioneering club with the other 3 are expecting to start with young birds. These 5 members started this club because of the poor racing they were suffering on the south road. Birds Of Prey being a prevalent problem on that route, but rather than “pack it all inâ€, they decided to try the North Road. They are being conveyed by Ayrshire North Road Federation and racing 60 miles further than our shortest flier and 30 miles further than our longest fliers. We are happy that they are having fair returns and good racing.

East of Scotland Federation

News from new press officer John Baillie of Tranent who discloses the following report; the East of Scotland are convoyed by Pentland Hills Federation who put back basketting for 24 hours. With the birds being liberated on Sunday from Ripon at 11-40 into a light North East wind which changed to East on route and topping the Federation this week is Ronnie MacIntyre of Gladsmuir with a 2 year old cock. 2nd & 4th open positions were filled by yours truly John Baillie of Tranent. Down the hill to Prestonpans now for Tam Waddell who won 3rd, 5th & 10th positions. Back up to Tranent for Jim McNeil who won 6th position and Davie Gillan is in 7th place. Taking the 8th position is the father and son partnership of Tom & Scot McEwen of Elphinstone and the 9th open place is filled with Rab Waddell of Prestonpans. The federation would like to thank Ronnie and his grandson for loading the baskets for this race by using the fork lift and a JCB as it saved a lot of lifting and walking on scaffolding with the baskets.

Prestonpans Homing Society: winning the club this week is John Baillie with a 2 year old late bred dark chequer hen she was raced for George Cochrane of Straiton last year, it looked very similar to the hen that I lost trying to break paired to my dark chequer cock that has scored 3 times from the SNFC Alencon Gold Cup race. I asked George if he would loan me her to try and pair her to my dark cock who then went on to score his 3rd national open position. At the time George thought he was going to move house at short notice, so he told me to just take her and try and settle her. This hen has 4 SNFC 1st open National winners in her pedigree. Taking 2nd place is Tam Waddell with a yearling bred by Chris Vassey from the Up North Combine. 3rd position is filled by John Baillie with another yearling bred by Derek Parr of Lakeside Loft in Northern Ireland from his Karl Boeckx lines. This hen flew every young bird race including the SNFC young bird national last year.

Fife Federation

 

Dunfermline LRPC news from David Kennedy who writes ‘Hi Joe, we were at Sedgefield this week with 11 members sending 261 birds and taking 1st prize for the 3rd week in a row is Frank Mitchell. He timed a yearling roundabout hen bred by ex-club mate Wattie Sharp from his Frank Sheader bloodlines. This bird tops the west section and is 1st federation. We have had 3 races this year and Frank has topped the west section twice which is good flying in anybody’s language so ‘A big well done’ to Frank from all the club members. Taking 2nd spot is a new member to the club this year John Skelton who timed a 2 year old natural cock sitting 10 day eggs. This bird is home bred and is a De Baere crossed Johns own bloodlines. 3rd spot goes to John Robertson who timed a 2 year old roundabout hen, homebred and a mixture of Johns own bloodlines. This week’s nomination is won by Andy Ritchie and John Robertson scoops up the 2 bird prize.

Well Joe that is it for another week the nationals will soon be upon us yours David’.

Glenrothes & Leslie PC news from Rosie Armit who tells us the club sent 190 birds to Sedgefield and taking the top spot is Brian Kinnear with a velocity of 1505 with a blue white flight 2 year old cock flown on roundabout. His sire was bred by Ronnie Evans from a son of ‘Blue Flash’ while his dam is a last daughter of ‘Stitchy’. His nest mate won 1st section 2nd open Wakefield and 4th section C in the young bird national. 2nd are Turpie &McCord on 1477 with a 4 year old blue hen bred down from Dougie Hain’s from Ladybank Dordin family. This hen has been 337th open Ypres, 22nd section 90th open SNFC Clermont in 2014, and returned from Clermont 2015 hawked but still made the federation result. In 3rd place is Ian Chalmers on 1476 with a 2 year old blue chequer Van Lint cock. His parents were bought from Dean Pallet Number 1 of 2 cocks paired to one hen sitting eggs. (Good to see Ian on the result as I met him and his wife at Homebase a few weeks ago Joe M)

 

North of Scotland Federation

Buckie RPC news from Gavin Russell who informs us that 6 members sent 143 birds to Arniston on 7th of May but due to changing weather conditions the birds were brought back to Thornton. Where I believe Joe Murphy assisted our convoyer Davie with his duties prior to liberating the race birds. Winning 1st club 10th West section is yours truly Gavin Russell with a velocity of 972. I timed a yearling dark chequer cock flying natural he was purchased in a batch of 12 from my good friend

Gavin Ferguson of the Macaulay, Ferguson & Curran partnership from Forfar. His bloodlines are Van Loon crossed Busschaert. 2nd & 3rd club is Ian Coull with a velocity of 930 he timed a 2 year old blue pied cock flying roundabout he is a Paul Woolliss crossed Davy Burns of Kirkcaldy. Ian’s 2nd pigeon is a blue chequer cock flying roundabout his bloodlines are Vandenabeele. This was a very hard race with returns mixed at the time of the clocks however a lot of birds returned home the next day and overall 80/95% are home. (I have spoken to Gavin regarding the missing birds and believe me it was a very cold north east wind at the liberation site and many pigeons do not like flying into this type of wind Joe M)

 

Pentland Hill’s Federation

News from Andy Miller who informs us that the above organisations held their 4th race of the 2016 season from Ripon a distance of 130-142 miles for the federation members. Basketting was delayed for 24 hours due to a poor weather forecast for the Saturday. Once again this transpired as the correct decision by race controller Bobby Graham so well done Bobby. 15 clubs sent 3717 bird liberated at 11-40 am into a light north east wind. Winning 1st federation & New Lothian RPC is the form loft of Willie Pryde & Son John (Bubba). They timed their Herman Ceuster blue bar hen that was bred by Paul Morrison from Bo’ness. This hen is raced celibate and is now a winner of 5 x 1st prizes. 2nd is W Hume of Danderhall with I Bennett of Edinburgh West in 3rd spot. D Anderson of Danderhall is 4th with S Benson of Bonnyrigg in 5th place L Ramage of Edinburgh West is 6th with S Gilchrist of Edinburgh Premier in 7th & 8th positions. Steve Girdwood of Sighthill is 9th with E Willis of Castlebrae in 10th place.

Club Winners are as follows;

 

Easthouses 505 birds; 1st 2nd & 3rd W Pryde & Son

Danderhall 494 birds; 1st Hume (senior) 2nd & 3rd Anderson

Edinburgh West 200 birds; 1st I Bennett 2nd Ramage 3rd Lamb

Bonnyrigg 224 birds; 1st Benson 2nd Russell 3rd Smith

Edinburgh Premier 322 birds; 1st 2nd & 3rd Gilchrist

Sighthill 165 birds; 1st 2nd & 3rd Girdwood

Castlebrae 151 birds; 1st Willis 2nd L Mitchell 3rd A Mitchell

Gilmerton 166 birds; 1st Robertson 2nd Bennett 3rd McCue

Arniston 58 birds; 1st Mercer 2nd & 3rd Ray

Loanhead 217 birds; 1st Simpson 2nd Murray 3rd Lawrie

Woodburn 242 birds; 1st & 2nd Allen 3rd Brown & Black

Rosewell 71 birds; 1st Currie 2nd & 3rd Blake

New Lothian 102 birds;

Traprain 636 birds; 1st Newcombe 2nd Whitson 3rd Thomson

Others 55 birds

 

New Lothian RPC from the Ripon race flown on Sunday 8th May 70 members sent 2060 birds liberated at 11-40 into a north east wind the winners are Willie Pryde & Son John who win £125 for their efforts. Second is W Hume of Danderhall with Ian Bennett of Edinburgh West winning 3rd spot, his club mate D Anderson is 4th with A Benson of Bonnyrigg in 5th place. S Gilchrist of Edinburgh Premier in 6th & 7th positions with Steve Girdwood of Sighthill is 8th position. E Willis of Castlebrae is 9th with L Mitchell of Castlebrae in 10th place.

 

Good SNFC Birds

 

This week’s 3 birds are from successful partnerships within the Scottish National starting with the Dundee partnership of Ness & Kempton with their blue chequer hen SU11DF 1972. In 2012 she won 7th section C 19th open Maidstone a distance of 393 miles, and then in 2014 she again scored from Maidstone being 3rd section C 16th open. Last year she was 45th section C 130th open from Billericay a distance of 365 miles. We now come to Section B Edinburgh and the Lothians and our first loft is the partnership of Sammels & Lunn of Edinburgh with their chequer cock SU12P 2411 This pigeon won 471st open from Maidstone a distance of 360 miles in 2013. Last year 2015 he scored twice with the first from Billericay a distance of 333 miles he won 13th section B 18th open he was then sent to Portsmouth a distance of 362 miles and won 8th section B 8th open. Staying in the Capital we now come to the consistent loft of Willie Kinnear & sons of Edinburgh with chequer pied cock SU11P2668 in 2012 he won 91st section B 173rd open from Maidstone flying 359 miles. Then last year he was entered into the first national from Billericay and won 78th section B 150th open flying 332 miles he was then sent to the longest old bird race from Ancenis a distance of 596 miles and he won 5th section B 21st open. So you will see 3 very good pigeons and we wish these partnerships all the best with their pigeons in the 2016 season.

 

Joe’s Joke

 

I’m assuming a lot of you are like me and fed up to the back teeth of all the election stuff going on at the moment so hear is a lighted hearted slant on it.

Hillary Clinton goes to her doctor for a check-up, only to find out that she's pregnant. She’s absolutely furious... Here she is in the middle of her election campaign and now this has happened to her! She calls home, gets Bill on the phone and immediately starts screaming: "You sod" How could you have let this happen? With all that's going on right now, you go and get me pregnant! How could you? I can't believe this! I've just found out I'm five weeks pregnant and it's all your fault! Well, what have you got to say?"

There is nothing but dead silence on the phone.

She screams again, "DID YOU HEAR ME?" Finally, she hears Bill's very; very quiet voice, in a barely audible whisper: "WHO'S CALLING?"

 

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 and www.pigeon-chat.co.uk also www.pigeonbasics.com who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland.

 

© Compiled by Joe Murphy