Jump to content

The Joe Murphy Column


Ian McKay
 Share

Recommended Posts

The Joe Murphy Column

 

Today Friday 7th July has a very special significance day in the history of my family as it was the day on which my dad passed away. He died in 1978 at the age of 53 and would have been 92 years old had he still been alive. He would also have been amazed at the changes within society today as well as the developments within the pigeon sport. Imagine trying to explain to him about the ETS system when he had to run with his rubber ring to the nearest clock – changes indeed. He would also be very proud of his grandson Kevin’s achievements with the pigeons (as am I) and hope he is sitting with us in spirit tomorrow for the Ypres race. Can you believe what has just happened as I sit here writing this column. Kevin has just contacted me to say one of his pigeon from the Buckingham race flown 3rd June has been reported 150 NORTH of Aberdeen on an Oil Rig. It is being brought back on a boat and a man from Aberdeen has contacted the SHU and informed him that it is Kevin’s bird. Kevin has contacted club mate Glen Cameron who works in Aberdeen if he could collect the bird for him after work today. Imagine it flying that distance past its loft as Kevin is measured 322 miles from Buckingham therefore this bird must have flown well over 500 miles and is lucky to be alive. He needs a bit of luck as last week I assisted him with training the birds for the SNFC Gold Cup race on the Monday and Tuesday mornings. Once the birds are released I text him to let him know the time and he looks out for their return home. The last trainer he text me to say they were all home except his main candidate for the Gold Cup race his good chequer hen ‘Rose’. This is the hen that topped Angus federation and won 1st club as well as being 9th Grampian Combine from Newark competing against 1189 birds. I phoned Kevin at night but she did not turn up. I asked him if all the other birds at the training had come together and he replied ‘Yes’ so I assumed that she must have hit a wire and been killed. To say we were ‘gutted’ would be an understatement but I have been long enough in racing pigeons to know that this is all part of the game. 5 days later Kevin phoned and asked both Margaret and I to go on the phone we thought something had happened to our grandchildren but he said ‘I went out to the loft and on entering the door looked at the ETS and noticed it had an entry on it. So on quicker examination noticed it was ‘Rose’ ring 792 but she was no place to be found then I noticed her in the corner of the feeding bin. She had been hawked and the back of her neck was torn right open and half of her wing had disappeared. The poor little thing was in a dreadful state. He took her into the house and stitched her up and placed in a nest box in the garage. She had a few drinks of water which was understandable as she could not have had any water all the time she had been out. Plus she would have lost a lot of blood by the size of the tear in the back of her neck. Kevin forwarded me photographs and how this little hen made it home is nothing short of a miracle, (see pictures) to be missing for 5 days and turn up in this state. Needless to say her season is over but we are all glad to have her back home as to her ever being raced again only time will tell if this happens.

 

Rose on return

post-849-14994342842438_thumb.jpg

 

Rose stitched up

post-849-14994343425003_thumb.jpg

 

Rose wing

post-849-1499434438819_thumb.jpg

 

Thank You

 

My thanks to the Scottish fancier who on seeing my appeal for a national year book assisted me by forwarding one as this allows me to highlight very good pigeons that have performed well in national racing. This gives me great pleasure as I love nothing more than give good pigeons some credit and I do this in my SNFC Good Birds feature, so THANK YOU very much to the fancier and the others who offered me a book. The sad thing about this situation is all I’m trying to do is give SNFC members and their birds some publicity. Why not show the WORLD that we too have some excellent birds and fanciers within our country. There is nothing for me to gain personally in doing this - my article goes out every week and I have been doing this for over 41 years but during this time I have covered many fanciers and their bird’s achievements and I continue to do so. Just to prove how popular this feature is I received an email from Vic Couper of Dennyloanhead who wrote ‘Hi Joe, I am pleased to inform you that my good chequer cock named ‘Victorious Victor’ as my late mother was called Victoria and I am called Victor he is rung SU14AV 749 and has now won his Bronze Meritorious Award in last week's SNFC Bedhampton race. He got the result he needed by being 56th section E and 449th open from an entry of 6065 birds. As you know this was a very hard race with lots of birds missing, the cock returned back full of energy and is actually looking better now than he has all year, but I am not going to put him over the water. He will be put by for next season. I believe that he is the first bird to win this Bronze Meritorious Award in section E and this makes me very proud of him. I would like to congratulate you and Kevin on having a very good bird in this same race, well done yours Vic’. ‘Victorious Victor’ (see picture) previous performances wins are as follows, in 2015 from the Portsmouth race he won 36th section E winning £229.90.flying 375 miles. Then he won 15th section E plus £119.90 from Eastbourne a distance of 402 miles. Then in 2016 he was my sole entry into the Buckingham race a distance of 300 miles and won 30th section E and £525.35 plus the nomination of a free entry to the Gran Canaria one loft race. He then went to Littlehampton race a distance of 385 miles and he won 38th section E. The local SNFC members have a £10 nomination on the inland national race and he has won them all plus £400 however in this race from Bedhampton George Harris won the nomination. Well done once again to Vic Couper and his good chequer cock ‘‘Victorious Victor’.

 

‘Victorious Victor’

post-849-14994338771965_thumb.jpg

 

Common Sense

 

I was overwhelmed to hear the news that the SNFC had postponed their race marking for Tuesday (today 27th June) for the main event of their year the Gold Cup race from Alencon. This was due to the poor weather forecast for the weekend with no chance of a race and now the race marking will take place this Friday 30th June for a proposed Monday liberation. This is a great decision as there is no use pigeon's being in the race basket for 6 days and then expected to fly 550 miles into Central Scotland. Let’s hope it is a good race and the officials are rewarded for their forward thinking. I hope this pleasing attitude continues as we race mark for the longest race from Ancenis in a few days. I hope they put fewer birds in the baskets as we have not had over 300 birds in the 4 years that we have competed from this race point. Yes we did go with the Midland National so were tied down to their rules regarding birds per basket. However as the SNFC is going on its own; depending on the amount of baskets in the transporter they can use 20 of these and put 15 birds per basket. This would allow ALL of the birds to eat, drink and rest prior to the liberation and if we get good returns I can guarantee there will be plenty of happy members within the club. Us included as we are going to send 2 birds to this race so hope to get them home and if our luck is in maybe even make the open national result, time will tell.

 

Results

 

Angus Federation

 

From the Ridsdale race flown on 24th June Kevin and his club mates never raced and only put in some birds as trainers; the convoy of 304 birds were liberated at 07-00am into a south west wind. Topping the federation are Macaulay Ferguson & Curran of Forfar with another 5 birds in taking 10th 11th 12th 14th & 15th open. Last week’s 3rd national winner Bob Baldie continues with his good from and wins 2nd 7th 8th & 19th federation with Davie Glen winning 4th 5th 6th & 9th places. David J Liddle is 3rd 13th 16th 17th & 18th federation with Ian Scott making the top spots being 20th.

East Section is won by G Campbell of Montrose with J & J Leven from the same club is in 2nd place. Chic & Ann Carrie of Inchcape takes the next 3 places winning 3rd 4th & 5th with B Craig of Gourdon in 6th spot. W Wallace & son of Montrose are in 7th place with Gourdon partnership of D & D Hay winning 8th & 10th places. Les McKay of Inchcape is 9th and makes up the top 10 places.

Club winners; Forfar 186 bird’s winner Macaulay Ferguson & Curran; Montrose 23 bird’s winner G Campbell; Gourdon 13 bird’s winner B Craig; Inchcape 59 bird’s winner C & C Carrie and Arbroath sending 23 birds on a training toss

 

Ayrshire Federation

News from Archie McIntyre with the report on the Bedhampton race he also attached 3 photographs to go with this report. One photo is of the federation winner Robert Donegan which is quite funny photo as when Robert was preparing to get his photo taken with his federation winner, one of his pigeons decided to get in on the act by landing on his head (brilliant photograph Joe M). For the federation 8th race of the season we have the federation members duplicating with SNFC race from Bedhampton. These 182 birds were liberated as part of 6,065 SNFC convoy at 06-00 into a North West wind. This race certainly for the Ayrshire members turned out a pretty poor race and when you hear some of the reports from other areas it looks like it has been the same type of race all over the country.

Leading the way in to Ayrshire federation this week and putting up an outstanding performance given the type of race it turned out to be, is Robert Donegan of Newmilns. Rab as he is known to his friends takes the top 3 positions in Ayrshire with velocities of 1160.1, 1037.9, 999.6 and also takes 1st, 6th & 9th section F, 198th, 501st & 580th open SNFC 6,065 birds. , Robert’s winning pigeon is a 5 year old Marris crossed Jan Aarden cock raced natural. Over his racing career, Robert has described him as an average pigeon that just homed from most races. The week of the Bedhampton national, Robert sent his birds (including the 5 year old cock) training on the Tuesday with South Lanarkshire federation to Tranent approximately 55 miles to Robert. On his return, Robert noticed he had just thrown his first flight. In the week’s leading up to the Bedhampton race the 5 year old cock lost his mate and he started tagging with a yearling hen. His original mate, a 2 year old hen turned up and after a few scuffles with the yearling hen for the box, the two hens seemed to settle their differences and both hens laid in the bowl. Robert described it as a merry go-round as they all took turns sitting on the 4 eggs. After a few days of sitting on the 4 eggs, Robert removed 2 of the eggs and after doing so, he noticed the cock was not as keen to sit so Robert put the 2 eggs back in and he seemed more content to sit on the 4 eggs. So off he went to Bedhampton sitting 12 days on 4 eggs with two mates in the one nest box and this certainly worked out for Robert as he recorded his first ever 1st section F win well done Robert. His 2nd federation, 6th section F, 501st open is a 2 year old cock his sire being a Jos Soontjens from K Thompson of Moffat and is a brother to Kenny’s 2nd open winner. The Dam is a Staff Van Reet pigeon from the lofts of Roy Milligan of Doncaster. 3rd federation, 9th section F, 580th open is a 3 year old hen who is bred down from Robert’s own family of pigeons. Please see attached photograph of a very happy Robert Donegan holding his 1st Ayrshire federation and 1st section F winner.

In and around the Clubs starting with the North Section (95 birds)

Dalry - 1st T Smith 946; 2nd D Armstrong 762, 3rd John Shepherd 750

Ardeer - 1st J & J & C Nicol 865, 2nd & 3rd W Hughes 738 & 591

Kilwinning - 1st J & T Davidson 428

Central Section (47 birds)

Irvine - 1st & 2nd D McCullen 996 & 921; 3rd H Pollock 863

Crosshouse - 1st & 3rd W Julyan 786 & 538; 2nd A Wilson 736

Kilmarnock – 1st C & C & K McKerrow 739

Darvel - 1st, 2nd & 3rd R Donegan 1160, 1037 & 999

South Section (40 birds)

Mauchline - 1st E Stewart 498

Cumnock - No Birds Sent.

Dalmellington - 1st G Mitchell 945

Carrick – No Birds Sent.

Annbank – 1st G Morrison 677, 2nd K Harris 485

Whitletts – 1st, 2nd & 3rd Cree & Cuthbert 974, 820 & 722

Thanks once again Joe for all the publicity the federation has received during the old bird season.

 

Robert Donegan 1sr, 2nd & 3rd Fed Bedhampton

post-849-14994340758197_thumb.jpg

 

 

Robert Donegan 1st Fed Bedhampton

post-849-14994340924643_thumb.jpg

 

Robert Donegan 2nd Fed Bedhampton

post-849-14994341549775_thumb.jpg

 

Fife Federation

 

The federation had 63 members sending 965 birds with the SNFC for their Bedhampton race with the federation 1st & 16th open winner and 1st & 5th west section 2nd and 100th open SNFC from an entry of 6065 birds are Jock Hynd and son Ian of Cowdenbeath. Ian is the federation race controller and does a first class job however on this occasion we congratulate Ian and his dad on a wonderful achievement well done to you both. 1st & 5th centre section 2nd & 11th open federation and 4th & 62nd open SNFC is Mick McMurchie of Glenrothes. A Suttie of St Andrews is 1st east 3rd federation and 17th national the partnership of Turpie & McCord from Glenrothes club are 2nd & 3rd centre section 4th & 5th federation 21st & 27th open SNFC. With last year’s national winner from Roye Jocky Scott of Kennoway is 2nd & 3rd east section 6th & 8th federation and 28th & 40th open SNFC. C Wright of Lochgelly club is 2nd & 3rd west section 7th & 12th federation 32nd & 68th open then we have Brian Kinnear of Glenrothes club winning 4th centre section 9th open federation and 43rd open SNFC. Kennoway’s Brian Chalmers is 4th east section 10th federation and 44th open SNFC. Clark Clark & Page of Leven club are 5th east section 13th federation 73rd open SNFC with Jim Doig of Lochgelly club winning 4th west section 15th federation and 90th open SNFC.

 

Glenrothes & Leslie Pigeon Club

 

News from Rosie Armit who writes ‘Hi Joe we had 5 members sending 83 birds to the federation open race which was also a national race. Winning 1st club was to M McMurchie on a velocity of 1325.033, with a 4 year old red celibate hen bred from Bruce McKenzie of Dundee from Mick’s own Dundee Mealy cock lines which won 10 x 1st to 3 different locations and 10 separate liberations for Mick. Then went on to be a superstar breeder, g/sire of a number of National winners. Micks bird was 1st section, 2nd open federation, 3rd section C, 4th open SNFC. 2nd club are Turpie & McCord with a velocity of 1269.088, they timed a yearling blue hen sent sitting 10 day eggs. Her sire is a J Ellis A Muir (Andy’s Boy) cross Black & son of Drumore. Her dam was a gift bird from Dougie Barnes of Crossgates breeding Kipp & Son. Terry's bird wins 2nd section, 4th open federation, 6th section C, 21st open SNFC. They are also 3rd club on 1261.445, with a yearling blue cock paired to 2 hens. His sire a Mick Donnachie Rutter, dam bred by Black & son of Drumore this Black's hen is the grand dam of Terry's 1st bird. This bird won 3rd section, 5th open Federation, 10th section C, 27th open SNFC.

 

North of Scotland Federation

 

Held a race from Peterborough on 24th June with 53 members sending 520 birds these were liberated into a fresh west wind. The east section had 27 members sending 330 birds with Jim & Ann Donaldson of Peterhead & District club taking 1st & 2nd section and 1st & 2nd open flying 347 miles the winner was a 3 year old IHU rung pigeon with the runner up a yearling. 3rd open 1st west section are Fulton & Ritchie of Devern Valley with Fraserburgh West End member R Barclay having a good race winning 3rd 4th 6th & 7th east section and 4th 5th 9th & 10th open. R Higgins of the same club is 5th east section 6th open with R Wilson of Keith club in 2nd & 3rd west section 7th & 8th open positions. The west section had 26 members sending 190 birds; the 1st x 3 places I have covered above. Fulton & Ritchie are 4th west section 30th open with their 2nd bird while A J Reid of Keith is 5th west section 35th open. We now come back to R Wilson of Keith who wins 6th 7th 8th & 9th west section 33rd 34th 35th & 36th open. The 10th spot in the west section is won by A Wilson of Devern Valley who also wins 37th open.

Clubs First Bird

Peterhead & District winner are J & A Donaldson; Devern Valley winner Fulton & Ritchie; Fraserburgh West End winner R Barclay; Keith winner R Wilson; Fraserburgh & District winner A B Geddes; Inverurie winner J S Robertson. Elgin & District winner R Richards; Buckie & District winner I Coull;

Well done to Jim & Ann Donaldson on topping the federation and also well done to Fulton & Ritchie on winning the west section; yours George Duthie.

 

Lanarkshire Federation

 

Cambusnethan & Morningside club news from Andrew Eadie who writes ‘Hi Joe hope all is well and you are getting over the bad returns from the national Bedhampton race. That is us up to 8 bird’s home from our entry of 15 and one reported today in Port Talbot in Wales. Anyway upwards and onwards as this Doo Game is hard to swallow don’t you agree? Yes indeed Andrew we need to have thick skin and a heart of stone Joe M. From race 10 we were at our comeback race from Appleby on the 24th of June and the convoy of approximately 2350 birds were liberated at 09-00 hours into a West to South West wind with almost 100% returns. Our club had 17 members sending 300 birds and taking pole position this week is J & K Gillon with a yearling blue Belgium rung hen raced on Josie’s foreign system. 2nd club is Alex Blyth with another yearling. With 3rd 6th & 7th places going to Eadie and Kelly with their Vandenabeele’s the partnership also wins the Last 3 Longest Inland Trophy. (Well done Joe M) 4th is J K Millar with another yearling and again down from their Jack Be Nimble Strain and 5th is A & J Cook. That is it for another week the federation results are not yet to hand, and let us hope the Gold Cup pigeons get a fair crack at the whip. Enjoy the Doos Joe and let us all look forward to the next few weeks as maybe one of us could win a national.(that would be good Joe M) yours Andy Eadie.

 

Eastern Ontario Combine

 

Thought readers may like to know how fanciers throughout the world get on with their pigeons. I’m friendly with Brad Foster from Port Hop who is the chairman of the Canadian Racing Pigeon Magazine that I forward articles to once in a while. Prior to this race Brad wrote ‘We are getting more rain here it has been raining since last night and thunder and lighting. It is our national race from Kashee Ontario all I can tell you is it is over 500 miles and it is a new race station. The weather looks good for Saturday but Sunday is heavy rain I have only sent three cocks and I’m hoping to get a day bird however the winds are not in my favour. 317 members sent 2626 birds to Kashee these were released at 05-30 on Saturday 24th June with the winner the partnership of D & L Ramcharan of Liftlock who timed in a yearling at 15-23 for a velocity of 1345 flying 798 kilometres (496 miles) the partnership were also 6th 9th & 18th open. Brad was 16th & 20th open flying 837 kilometres (519 miles) his 16th combine is a red chequer yearling cock who has been a very steady pigeon for him all year. He doesn’t know his breeding as he was a gift last year from his friend Dr Hoss Yassein. Brad’s 2nd bird in 20th combine was very wet on his arrival from the race he is a blue chequer cock his sire is from a cock of Janssen lineage and was a gift from his friend Shawn Whetstone and the dam is Jan Aarden and was also a gift from my good friend Larry Wakelin. Brad’s 3rd entry a blue bar cock must have tried to go around the weather as there was heavy rain in some areas with a west to North West wind. The bird was reported in Cape Town New York around 300 miles in the opposite direction. Well done to Brad having 2 on the result from his entry of 3 which he now knows is alive and well.

 

Joe’s Joke

Bringing back some memories? Of a few weeks ago seemed to have gone down well with readers; so here are a few more trips down memory lane ENJOY.

 

Checking out at the supermarket, the young cashier suggested to the much older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because Plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologised and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days." The young cashier responded, "That's our problem today - your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the 'green thing' in its day.

 

Back then, we returned milk bottles, lemonade bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilised and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

 

Grocery shops bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we re-used for numerous things, most memorable besides household bags for rubbish, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school), was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalise our books on the brown

paper bags.

But too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

 

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have a lift in every supermarket, shop and office building. We walked to the local shop and didn't climb into a 300 horsepower machine every time we had to go half a mile.

But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

 

Back then, we washed the baby's Terry Towel nappies because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 3 kilowatts – wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids had hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

 

Back then, we had one radio or TV in the house - not a TV in every room and the TV had a small screen the size of a big handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Scotland In the kitchen. We blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We pushed the mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

 

We drank from a tap or fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

 

Back then, people took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their Mums into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's £50,000 ‘People Carrier’ which cost the same as a whole house did before the "green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances and we didn't need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest Pub! But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

 

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart upstart young person...We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to ‘P’ us off...especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartarse who can't work out the change without the cash register telling them how much it is!

 

Here ended the bloody lesson

 

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 Pigeon Racing the Basics who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland.

 

© Compiled by Joe Murphy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

  • Advert: Morray Firth One Loft Classic
  • Advert: M.A.C. Lofts Pigeon Products
  • Advert: RV Woodcraft
  • Advert: B.Leefe & Sons
  • Advert: Apex Garden Buildings
  • Advert: Racing Pigeon Supplies
  • Advert: Solway Feeders


×
×
  • Create New...