The Joe Murphy Column 30/8/18

[THE FIFER]

The Joe Murphy Column

 

Received a message from my good friend Rob Glover of Earl Shilton in Leicestershire who informed me that he won 2^nd section 8^th open and 7^th section 39^th open Midland National Bordeaux race this year. The 39^th open with a hen Ibred for him known as ‘The Murphy Hen’ this is her 3^rd time winning from this 531 mile race point and now qualifies for a Merit Award within the MNFC for being 3 times in the top 100 open from this their longest race point.Her previous wins are as follows; 2^nd MNFC Poitiers flying 432 miles from an entry of 948 birds; 61^st open MNFC Bordeaux from an entry of 1496 birds; 121^st open MNFC Bordeaux from an entry of 1727 birds; 53^rd MNFC Ancenis a distance of 360 miles from an entry of 3807 birds; 251^st open MNFC Bordeaux from an entry of 4268 birds. Rob also informs me that she is the ‘Best Hen’ he has ever had and is now going to puther to stock. Sire of the ‘Murphy Hen’ is a blue cock who is the father of Kevin’s ‘My Little Rachel’ winner 4^th open SNFC Alencon flying 573 miles she in turn is the dam of his 26^th open SNFC Falaise winner of 2017. The sire of the ‘Murphy Hen’ is also the sire of mybird raced in the Barcelona Challenge Loft by John McGee that was 9^th home from Narbonne and 15^th bird to the loft from Barcelona. I am getting him back at the end of the season as he has now won 7 prizes over the years for John and now is too old to race again in 2019 and will fit back in tomy family of birds who knows he might make a good stock pigeon. The blue cock is a direct son of Gilmour Brothers of Leven ‘Robbie’s Boy’ winner of 1^st open SNFC Falaise when he was mated to a sister of Jocky King’s famous ‘Mary’ was a 11 times national winner also Double Gold Award winner for Jock King of Kirkcaldy. A sister to our blue cockis the mother of Jocky Scott of Kennoway’s 1^st open SNFC Roye winner and she in turn is the dam of Jocky 7^th open SNFC winner. Dam of Murphy Hen is a direct daughter of the famous ‘Kingdom Spirit’ bred and raced by George & Brian Hunter of Dunfermline. She is the winner of a Double Gold Award with the SNFC being a 10 times winner from France. She is only the 2^nd pigeon in the history of the Scottish National Flying Club formed in 1894 to win a Double Gold Award: I have attached a photograph of ‘The Murphy Hen’ along with one of Rob& me taken at Blackpool for the column and once again congratulate Rob on his outstanding success.

 

Rob Glover and Joe Murphy

 

A First for Scotland

 

In my quest of highlighting good SNFC Birds one outstanding pigeon islight chequer hen ‘Louella Lady Helen’ SU16L 12630 bred and raced by Walter Boswell of Hamilton. This hen won a SNFC Silver Award for 3 times a winner from over the English Channel in the space of 21 days covering a distance of 1488 miles. I have never heard of a pigeon doing this feat in such a short period of time. Many birds have done this over a 4 week cycle but I have never heard of one doing this before. ‘Louella Lady Helen’ won 3^rdsection E 10^th open SNFC Liege flying 533 miles on the 29^th of June, she then won 49^th section E (no open position) from Ypres on 14^th of July flying 445 miles. Then 6 days later on the 20^th July she won 2^nd section E 33^rd open Roye flying 508 miles. Her mother is a chequer hen named‘Louella Wee Jenna’ she also won a SNFC Silver Award in 2018 winning 3^rd section E 10^th open from Liege Gold Cup race flying 533 miles; she then won 49^th section E from Ypres flying 446 miles and then 5 day slater won 2^nd section E 33^rd open from Roye flying 508 miles. Walter’s 1^st SNFC Silver Award Winner was ‘Louella Jamie Boy’ who won 18^th section E 83^rd open Alencon 538 miles then 1^st section E 5^th open SNFC Clermont 521 miles he then won 9^th section E 48^th open Alencon to gain his award. The 3 pigeons are ALL related with the base being De Barcelona a winner from 7 national 2 at 500 mile races and 5 at 600 mile races.A son of De Barcelona was purchased from Louella Pigeon World and crossed into the bloodlines of ‘The Spin’ from Kuyper Brothers and was a gift to Walter from Michel Massarella. There are not many SNFC members who win 2 Silver Awards in one season however to be the first in the HISTORY of the club to win a Silver Award in 21 days is something very special and I phoned to congratulated Walter on these achievements. During our conversation Walter informed me that he had written a piece on how he had prepared his 3 pigeons to win these awards and I intend to add these to the column in the next few weeks. Continuing with myhighlighting Good SNFC Birds, I noticed on checking the results that Peter Keogh from Broxburn has now won a Meritorious Bronze Award for 5 times as ection winner from Inland Nationals; with his blue bar cock SU14CA1077. As a yearling the blue cock won 52^nd section D 415^th open from Portsmouth flying a distance of 367 miles he then went to Eastbourne a distance of 391 miles and won 3^rd section D 94^th open. Then as a 2 year old he won 28^th section D (no open prize) from Buckingham a distance of 291 miles then last year he won 1^st section D 14^thopen from Bedhampton flying 367 miles. This year to gain his Bronze award he won 14^th section D 233^rd open from Buckingham so congratulations to Peter on this achievement. Another outstanding pigeon belongs to Billy Bilsland of Ayton whose blue bar cock SU16L7320 has won 5 times in the SNFC in 2017 he won 17^th section B 65^th open Buckingham flying 270 miles; he then went to Bedhampton a distance of 348 miles and won 4^th section B 10^th open and then sent to Ypres and he won 25^th section B 52^nd open flying 403 miles.This year he was sent to Maidstone a distance of 339 miles and won 11^th section B 20^th open and was once again near the top when he won 1^st section B 3^rd open from Ypres flying 403 miles. He now requires one more section win from over the channel to gain his Silver Award and we wish him and Billy all the best for 2019. The blue cock was a gift to Billy from John and Jamie Carberry of Croy and his breeding is from the famous George, Willie& Paul Macaloney family.

 

Race Results

 

Angus Federation

 

Result of the Arniston race held on 18^th August with the 388 birds liberated at 13-35 into a south west wind. Topping the federation is W Dorward of Gourdon heis also 17^th open. D & D Hay of the same club are 2^nd with W MacKnight of Forfar in 3^rd 6^th to 9^th also 11^th and 18^th to 20^th open Artie S Whyte of Montrose is 4^th with Macaulay Ferguson & Curran of Forfar in5^th spot. Ypres SNFC winner Davie Glen is 10^th & 12^th with G Campbell of Montrose in 14^th open this year’s Roye national winner Ian Scott of Forfar in 13^th place.

 

East Section

 

W Dorward of Gourdon is 1^st & 7^th with D & D Hay of the same club in 2^nd 5^th & 6^th place. Artie S Whyte of Montrose is 3^rd & 9^th positions with G Campbell of Montrose is in 4^th & 8^th spots and club mate M Wallace makes up the top 10^th positions.

 

Club Winners are as follows; Forfar 255 birds winner W MacKnight;Arbroath 28 birds winner Charlie & Glen Cameron; Gourdon 57 birds winner WDorward; Montrose 48 birds winner A S Whyte.

 

Arbroath RPC

 

Only had 2 lofts sending 28 birds; taking the first2 places are Charlie & Glen Cameron with R Nowapad in 3^rd place.No details on the winners sorry.

 

Ayrshire Federation

 

News from Archie McIntyre who writes; ‘Hi Joe, I have attached the race report for Ayrshire fed 2^nd young bird race of the season from Kelso 1. As well as the report I have also attached a photo of Jim Shepherd who was 1^st federation. There will be no race report for his coming week Joe as we have just cancelled the Kelso 2 race for this weekend due to the weather forecast being poor over here in the west of Scotland. The top table have a meeting arranged for this Monday night to see where we go with the race programme now as we have already pushed the programme back one week. Thanking yourself once again Joe as you do a wonderful job in promoting the sport at federation level throughout Scotland. Ayrshire Federation’s 2^nd young bird race of the season was on the 11^th August from Kelso. Birdage for this race was down 867 on the previous weeks race from Arniston and although there was talk of quite a few losses in the south side of the federation, in my own club (Dalry HS which is in the north) we had a drop of 240 birds but most of that could be accounted for with 4 members for different reasons had not planned to go to Kelso. Jim O’Hare had the Kelso birds up and away at 08 -15 into light west wind into what seemed and looked like a perfect morning (from the video taken by our driver Kenny Young). This raceof between 74 miles up to 95 miles to the top end of the federation and unfortunately the race did not turn out as good as the liberation suggested. This could have gone, from what club secretaries have been feeding back, was returns were poor and in some cases 2/3^rd of teams were still adrift by nightfall.Quite a few members were reporting getting birds back that had been hawked and hearing that pigeons are being reported all over Scotland, NE and NW England suggest to me the birds may have been struck early on into the liberation. Leading the way in to the federation this week taking 1^st & 2^nd fed on 1194.6 and 1194.4 is Jim Shepherd of Dalry HS. Jim trains his birds with 2 other fellow club mates and close neighbours Robert Reid and Cousin John Shepherd. These lads take it in turn each morning (raining or not) to go the 25plus miles so it’s not surprising to see these 3 lads taking 9 of the top 10 positions in the federation this week. Jim’s winning pigeon is a blue bar cock whose sire is 2 year old bred down from D Sweeny crossed M Brown of Arrochar pigeons and he has just been a steady racer over the years for Jim. The dam being another 2 year old has a 5^th fed from Ypres in 2017 and 19^thc lub Buckingham in 2018 to her credit and she contains the breeding of A Murdoch crossed Ann Van Meerkerk crossed J Good blood. 2^nd fed forJ im was a red chequer cock his sire is a stock bird from Davie Stewart of Eaglesham with a Jim Hannah of Blantyre cross. Dam is a Phil Lynch of Larbert pigeon bred down off his ‘Wee Mary’ bloodlines. 3^rd fed this week and only point 3 of a decimal from making it 2 federation win’s on the trot is Robert Reid of Dalry HS on 1194.3. Robert was saying the pigeon he timed was one of several which dropped together and just happened to be the first totrap. His sire is a son of his oldstock cock ‘6195’ which was lost at Buckingham. His dam is SU16R1423 which hasn’t come to the front yet but has flown 2 Nationals this year. The bloodlines are those Robert has been racing for a few years now. North Section 787 birds, 1^st & 2^nd Jim Shepherd of Dalry HS 1194.6 &1194.4. 3^rd place goes to Robert Reid of Dalry HS on 1194.3. Central Section had 493 birds; with 1^st & 3^rd going to S Dean of Kilmarnock Invitation on 1137.8 & 1120.6. 2^nd are McKenna & Diamond of Irvine HS on 1133.0. South Section 471 birds: 1^st Dunlop & Aitken of Mauchline & District on 1181.4. 2^nd &3^rd is Kevin Harris of Annbank & District on 1174.2 and 1167.3. Other Club winners not mentioned above. J MacKenzie (Cumnock & District) 1151.4,Boyd Bros (Whitletts & District) 1151.2, G Mitchell (Dalmellington PC)817.8, W Miller (Ardeer HS) 1115.6, Cowan & Findlay (Darvel HS) 1115.2, J McNeil, (Kilwinning HS) 1084.2, A McCullen (Crosshouse HS) 955.5

 

Almond Valley Federation

 

News from Lynne Stewart about the Otterburn raceflown on Friday 17^th August with the convoy of 899 birds liberated at 13-05 hours. Taking the 1^stx 10 in the federation are Freddie Jamieson & son of East Calder (well done Freddie Joe M) Jimmy M Young of the same club is 11^th to 16^th with S Fleming from Armadale taking the next 9 positions. All these birds were doing over 1400 ypm and if you had to catch them and take the rubbers off like in the old days it would have caused a lot of stress and panic. Good to see that you had a good race and well done to one and all Joe M

 

CentralFederation

 

Broxburn RPC news from Bernie Britton who writes ‘Hi Joe from the Ripon race flown on the 18th August the convoy were liberated at 12-15pm. Winning 1^st 2^nd & 3^rd club 1^st2^nd & 3^rd federation is Gordon Mackenzie his winneris a blue bar cock his sire was bred by Gordon’s good friend’s George Willie & Paul Macaloney while is dam is a Gabby. Gordon is also 2^nd bird is a Gabby cock from 2 of his race team. His 3^rd winner is a mealiecock his sire is a 12 year old son of ‘Benetton’ from M & D Evans; dam ishis best Gabby hen. Gordon was also 4^th 6^th 9^th14^th 16^th & 18^th federation great flying well done Gordon. Other club member’s to make the federation result are John McNeillis in 8^th place. Steven Gullane is 13^th with J (Hamish) Ferguson in 17^th open place. Joe can apologise to the Macaloney partnership for last week’s mistake as I put down an S instead of a P. One thing good about it Joe it goes to show they are reading my notes, and thank them for keeping me right. Also thank you to you Joe for adding us into your weekly column yours Bernie’.

 

East of Scotland Federation

 

News from John Baillie who writes ‘Hi Joe, please find the result from the East of Scotland Federation from Tow Law. The birds were liberated into west south west wind at 12-35 hours. Winning the federation for the 3^rd week running is Jim McNeil of Tranent. This young hen is bred from a pair from Taylor Brothers of Newbigging. Jim also takes the 2^nd& 10^th open positions. Mr & Mrs March of Prestonpans take the 3^rd position, with John Bird also from Prestonpans in 5^th& 8^th positions. Fowler & McIntyre of Ormiston are 4^th open position, with yours truly John Baillie of Tranent in 6^th position.Graham Wardhaugh of Dirleton is 7^th with Richard & Jamie Combe of Elphinstone in 9^th place.

Prestonpans HC: winning this week are Mr & Mrs March with a young cock his sire won 1^st open from Newark and was bred from GusSimpson of Lauder bloodlines. The winner dam is from Peter’s old Kilpatrickcock when paired to a hen from Foxwood Lofts. In 2^nd place is John Bird with a cock bred from a Premier Loft Herman Ceusters when paired with a Woodside Loft Vandenabeele. In 3^rd place is John Baillie with a VanLint from Dean Pallatt both parents have bred federation and SNFC prize winners for me. Well what can we say about this race. In all the years I've raced pigeons Joe I have never had returns like this race and the majority of fanciers are saying the same story. We can thank the guys in the North East for reporting the birds all ready and others handing them in to the NEHU stray centre. On Monday 43 birds were brought up by Freddy Robertson and he is going back down this coming Sunday for more birds at the NEHU stray centre. Well done big Fred. That's it Joe, not sure how long we can keep this racing lark up.Every year it's definitely getting worse yours John’.

 

Fife Federation

 

 

News from Geordie Todd with the Berwick 2 young bird race flown on 18^th August the members sent 943 birds these were liberated at 12-40 into a west to south west wind. The East section had Kennoway sending 197 birds; Leven 55 birds; Methilhaven 72 birds, St Andrews 99 birds and Tayport 14 birds. The east section took the first 10 places in the open. D Baldie takes 9 of the 10 places with near neighbour John Harcus in 7^th place. Centre section has Glenrothes & Leslie clubsending 75 birds and Novar sending 99 birds. Sean Diamond of Kennoway club took 9 of the 10 positions with Turpie & McCord of Glenrothes in 3^rd place. The West section had Crossgates sending 92 birds; Perth sent 75 birds,Lochgelly 32 and Dunfermline 133 birds. Perth club took the top 10 places; S Donaldson took the first 4 places with G Anderson in 5^th spot he is followed by McCord & Turpie with Allister McCudden taking the last 4places.

 

 

Glenrothes & Leslie RPC

 

News from Rosie Armit who writes ‘Hi Joe, we had 8 members sending 157 birds to Alnwick the winning bird was to Mick McMurchie on a velocity of 1085 this was a blue cock bred from direct Rudy Van Reeth birds from his ‘Pitbull’ line. Mick was also 2^nd on 1081 a chequer cock bred from direct Frans Sablon crossed Marcel Aelbrecht birds. 3^rd was DeanBridges on a velocity of 1074 with a red hen, her dam has won 17^th section 43^rd open Ypres and 3^rd section 18^th open Billericay and her sire from the same Billericay race was 1^st section 15^th open. Kindest regards to you and Margaret regards Rosie’.

 

Pentland Hills Federation

 

 

News from AndyMiller who writes ‘Hi Joe, hope you and the boss are both well.

 

The New LothianR.P.C & Pentland Hills Fed had their 3^rd young bird race of the season from Tow Law, a distance of 88 to 100 miles for the members. Winning both organisations with a 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd is my old mate Davie Brown and loft laddie Peter who fly their birds in Woodburn club. Their winner was flown on the darkness and was bred by Colin Asher formerly from Bonnyrigg, now residing and racing in Ramsgate in Kent. Bloodlines of the pigeon are the ‘Blue Leo’ lines of Stefan Lambrecht well done to all involved in the winner. I can honestly say Joe this was the worst race for returns I can remember in 40 years of keeping pigeons, with thousands, no hundreds, missing from a full transporter which holds over 5500 birds! This season is now finished for most fanciers within the organisations; yours Andy’.

 

Result of the Tow Law young bird race flown on Saturday 18^th August with the convoy of 3668 birds entered by 13 clubs liberated at 12-35 hours into a west wind.Taking the first 3 in the federation are Brown & Black of Woodburn with 3 birds doing over 1284 ypm. F Robertson of Danderhall is 4^th & 9^th with A Young of the same club in 5^th & 7^th federation these birds are split by Helen Aitken & sons of the same Danderhall club in6^th place. Club mate D Brown is 8^th with J Robertson of New Lothian in 10^th spot. The federation Breeder Buyer; will pay out 2 prizes each of £443.00 on the Ripon race flown on Friday 24^th August.

 

 

Club Winners asfollows;

 

Woodburn 209 birds; 1^st 2^nd & 3^rd Brown & Black

 

Danderhall 1201 birds; 1^st FRobertson 2^nd Young 3^rd Aitken

 

Edinburgh Premier 268 birds; 1^st 2^nd& 3^rd Gilchrist

 

Sighthill 297 birds; 1^st & 2^ndGirdwood 3^rd Miller

 

Easthouses 150 birds; 1^st G Thomas2^nd Reilly 3^rd Lang

 

Castlebrae 163 birds; 1^st 2^nd& 3^rd Willis

 

Arniston 337 birds; 1st W Pryde & son 2^nd& 3^rd J Pryde

 

Edinburgh West 153 birds; 1^st & 2^nd C Bennett 3^rd Lamb

 

Bonnyrigg 227 birds; 1^st Russell,2^nd Neill, 3^rd Stark

 

Rosewell 120 birds; 1^st & 2^nd G Tytler 3^rd Cunningham

 

Pebbles 23 birds;

 

New Lothian 94 birds; 1^st 2^nd& 3^rd Brown & Black

 

Traprain 360 birds; 1^st & 3^rdMark 2^nd Newcombe & Black

 

Others 66 birds;

 

New Lothian RPC

 

Had 61 lofts sending 2098 birds these were liberated at 12-35 hours into a south west wind.Taking the first 3 places are Brown & Black of Woodburn with their winnerwinning £140 for its efforts. 4^th & 9^th places are won by F Robertson of Danderhall club who take the remaining places with AYoung in 5^th & 7^th positions; Helen Aitken & sonsare 6^th followed by D Brown in 8^th place and J Robertson wins 10^th place just ahead of S Gilchrist of Edinburgh Premier who takes the next 2 place.

 

 

North of Scotland Federation

 

 

News from George Duthie who tells us that 49 members sent 929 birds to Brechin 3 the convoy were liberated into a freshwest wind with the East section had 23 members sending 480 birds. They take the first 20 positions in the section and open with the first 3 in the open going to C & M Williams of Peterhead & District with club mate Stuart Maskametaking the next 3 places as does Jim & Ann Donaldson with Gordon Willox taking the next 3 places and George Taylor again from Peterhead takes the next3 to win up to 15^th section and open. J (Ian) Gibb of Fraserburgh & District takes the next 3 place with his club mate Colin McRae in 19^th place and A W Buchan takes the next 2 places.

 

The West section had 26 members sending 449 birds with DevernValley members taking the top 10 places. G Wilson is 1^st & 5^thsection 33^rd & 37^th federation open. P Gray is 2^ndsection 34^th open; A Wilson is 3^rd section 35^thopen with Fulton & Ritchie in 4^th & 10^th section36^th & 42^nd open. D Smith is 6^th section38^th open J Abel takes the next 3 places of 7^th 8^th& 9^th section 39^th 40^th & 41^stopen.

 

Club First Birds; Peterhead & District winner C &M Williams; Fraserburgh & District winner J (Ian) Gibb; Fraserburgh WestEnd winner R Barclay; Inverurie winner A& A Milne; Devern Valley winner G Wilson; Keith winner R Wilson; Buckie& District winner R Bain; Elgin & District winner G Young.

 

Well done to C & M Williams ontopping the federation and to G Wilson on topping the west section.

 

 

Joe’s Joke

 

 

There is an over weight guy who is watching TV. A commercial comes on for a guaranteed weight loss of 10 pounds in a week. So the guy, thinking what the hell, signs up for it. Next morning an incredibly beautiful woman is standing at his door in nothing but a pair of running shoes and a sign about her neck that reads, "If you can catch me, you can have me." As soon as he sees her, she takes off running. He tries to catch her,but is unable. This continues for a week, at the end of which, the man has lost 10 pounds. After this he tries the next weight loss plan, 15 pounds in a week.The next morning an even more beautiful woman is standing at the door, in similar conditions. The same happens with her as the first woman, except he almost catches her. This continues for a week, at the end of which he, as suspected, weighs 15 pounds less. Excited about this success, he decides to dot he master programme. Before he signs up, he is required to sign a waiver andis warned about the intensity of this plan. Still he signs up. The next morning,waiting at the door, is a hulking 300 pound muscle man with nothing but a pair of running shoes, an erection, and a sign around his neck that says, "If Icatch you, you're mine!" The man was supposed to lose 25 pounds in the week; he lost 34.

 

I know we are adults so I hopet his one is ok it is funny and should go down well.

 

Please continue to keep the news flowing;to Joe Murphy Mystical Rose Cottage 2 Flutorum Avenue Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY14BD or phone 01592 770331 or Email to joejmurphy1@gmail.com REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLEor log onto www.elimarpigeons.com www.fancierchat.co.uk www.pigeon-chat.co.ukand www.Pigeonbasics.com - Pigeon Racing theBasics! Whowish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland

 

© Compiled by Joe Murphy

[THE FIFER]