The SNFC Gold Cup was held from Alencon....heres WPW with the info on the Solway winners.
Alistair Little from Ecclefechan was 1st Section. Alistair entered the fancy as a schoolboy at Eaglesfield, competing in partnership with his father as A. and A. Little. He subsequently married and moved to Ecclefechan, entering the fancy under his own name. He is in fact the son in law of the late Jimmy Dalgliesh and be in no doubt, he and his good lady, Cindy are really good fanciers having raced a number of superb pigeons over the years. The Section winner from Alencon is a 2021 Blue Chequer hen that was latebred and whilst it was unraced as a youngster it, along with several other latebreds, had several meaningful training tosses over the ensuing winter months, indeed when they entered a race basket as yearlings they performed better than the earlier bred youngsters from the previous year. In 2023, when 2 y.o. she went to the coast and the following year went to Alencon; from which the first arrival to the loft was 7th Section 10th Open followed by the Chequer hen, which arrived at 9.20pm; it would have taken a position but was disqualified, due to a simple clerical error. In 2025 she went to Alencon again and was 97th Open. Disappointingly, when she arrived she was very badly cut and had to be stitched. Pleasingly she recovered and was ‘put-by’ for the following year. In 2026 she was paired mid-February, reared a single youngster and was then put on Roundabout. She entered the race basket at the third race and thereafter went through the programme to S.N.F.C. Kettering from which she was the third bird to the loft to be 20th Section 61st Open, after which she went to Brighton when she was on the wing for 11 hours. Having been re-paired, she went to Alencon covering 16 day eggs and homed with her first flight three quarters grown. Sire was obtained from Tumley Lofts having been bred from ‘Solway View Boy’ when paired to ‘Serenity’. ‘Solway View Boy’ was bred and raced by Craig Halbert being 1st Open S.N.F.C. Ancenis 2014. His Sire was the product of a half brother and sister pairing, with the common grand-parent being the breeder’s noted Morning Joy’, whilst the Dam was introduced from Tumley Lofts and contained similar bloodlines as the Sire of ‘Morning Joy’. ‘Serenity’ is a top stock hen, having bred a number of top performance pigeons. Her Sire was Dennis Ford’s ‘Champion Seren Eleven’, which was 1st Open National Bergerac, 2nd Section 2nd Open National Bergerac, 1st Section 3rd Open National Saintes and 6th Section 6th Open National Messac. Dam of the Section winner from Alencon was obtained from Willie Borthwock from Annan, it was bred direct from ‘White Nose Bud’ when paired to a daughter of David Jamieson’s Rosary Beads’. ‘White Nose Bud’ was 1st Open from the S.N.F.C. Gold Cup race from Liege in 2018, being bred from two pigeons that Willie obtained from friend David Jamieson. The Sire was bred from a pigeon obtained from Brian Denney when paired to David Jamieson’s No. 1 Stock hen that had bred no fewer than eighteen pigeons to score from the channel with the Scottish National. The hen, which David Jamieson described at the time as his No. 1 Stock Hen was bred from ‘Kardale Style’ when paired to Jimmy Keir’s ‘Cholet Hen’. Dale Newcombe’s ‘Kardale Style’ gained an S.N.F.C. Gold Award and to secure his award this super pigeon scored from Rennes, Sartilly, Liege and Reims. The ‘Cholet Hen’ was purchased at the late Jimmy Keir’s Bereavement Sale; she was a prolific winner and an equally good stock pigeon. Dam of ‘White Nose Bud’ was bred from a pair of pigeons that David purchased from Gebr Bruggemann. Rosary Beads’, meanwhile, was a fabulous pigeon that was 2nd Section 3rd Open, 2nd Section 4th Open and 1st Section 11th Open from Ancenis 598 miles and secured a highly prized S.N.F.C. Silver Award.
Craig Halbert from Eastriggs was 2nd Section. Craig was reared in a pigeon family with his father and brothers having kept pigeons before him and importantly he is the nephew of the highly respected John and Matt Jamieson from Annan. Following his marriage, he entered the pigeon fancy in Eastriggs, gaining his first S.N.F.C. Diploma in 2004 and two years down the road he won the South Section Average Trophy with the S.N.F.C. In 2007 he recorded his first Section win with the National with Blue Chequer hen, ‘Morning Joy’, which in time proved to be not only an able performer on the road but a prepotent producer with all subsequent winners in the shed containing her bloodlines. Her Sire was a Jan Aarden x Janssen that was purchased from Tumley Lofts. Her Dam was a Jan Aarden that was introduced from Louella. In 2014 Craig won the Ancenis National with 2 y.o. B.C W.F. cock ‘Solway View Boy’ and two years later was 1st and 2nd Open from Ancenis, with the two pigeons being a mated pair, the winner being Blue hen ‘Solway View Queen’. In 2018 the longest race was flown from Reims and again Craig was up with the leaders to be 1st Section 3rd Open National. Move forward to 2019 with the race again being flown from Reims. The convoy was released at 6.15am into a West wind and on a difficult day, Craig timed the only arrival on the day of liberation to win the National on 906ypm, the winning pigeon being 3 y.o. Grizzle cock ‘Super Harry’, which from the equivalent event the year previous was 1st Section 3rd Open National. In 2021 the members of the S.N.F.C. competed from Guernsey and he was once again at the front being 1st and 3rd Section, 2nd and 4th Open. Step forward to 2023 and he won another National on this occasion from Falaise his winner being Dark cock ‘Daley Express’ The pigeon that is probable 2nd Section from the recent National is a 2 y.o. Dark Chequer slightly Pied Cock. It was worked on the conventional system as a youngster and went to 90 miles and as a yearling went through the Fed. Programme to Wollaston on Roundabout. He was paired on 1st March this term, reared two youngsters and was then put on Roundabout. He entered the race basket at 115 miles, had every race to Wollaston and then went to a come=back race from Shap. He was thereafter exercised at home and given his hen the day before basketing for the Classic. He went to the race with his third flight just bursting from the quill. Sire was Grizzle cock ‘Super Harry’ that was 1st and 3rd Open S. N.F.C. Reims. Sire of ’Super Harry’ was a Dark Chequer cock, the Sire of which was bred from ‘Morning Joy’ when coupled to her half- brother. Dam of the Dark Chequer cock is a daughter of ‘Solway View Boy’ the 2014 Ancenis National winner. Dam of ‘Super Harry’ was Grizzle ‘3870’, the Sire of which was bred from a grand-son and grand-daughter of ‘Morning Joy’. Dam of ‘3870’ was ‘4860’, which was out of a daughter of a pair of Jan Aarden’s introduced from Louella. Sire of ‘4860’ was a Red Grizzle that was obtained from Crombie and Mechan from Annan the Dam of which was bred from ‘Shawhill Prince' that was 2nd Open S.N.F.C. Liege when paired to ‘the Keir hen’ that John Mechan had on loan for a short time from John Jamieson. Sire of the Red Grizzle was bred by David Jamieson from a pair of pigeons purchased at the Matt Jamieson Clearance Sale, these being a Red Cock that was 4th Open Alencon and a Blue hen that was 9th Section 24th Open Falaise and 13th Section 23rd Open Alencon. It was previously explained that Matt Jamieson was Craig’s uncle and it was indeed Craig who organised the Clearance Sale of Matt’s pigeons. Dam of the 2nd Section Alencon was a Batenburg Van de Merwe from the House of Aarden.
D. and D. Anderson from Annan were 3rd Section. This partnership comprises Dennis Anderson Senior and his grandson, Dennis Junior. Dennis Senior has gained a host of good positions over the years; he for example won the Sartilly National in 1993 and for the first time in the history of the S.N.F.C. had the only arrival into Scotland on the day of liberation. In more recent years he was 2nd Section 2nd Open from the Gold Cup race from Alencon in 2022 and in 2023 from the equivalent event was 3rd Section 9th Open. Move forward to 2024 and he won the Inland National from Maidstone with Blue Chequer cock ‘El Sid’. Whilst the team was flown in recent years in Dennis Senior’s name his grandson was there beside him and saw each of the modern winners arrive at the loft. He additionally raced an independent team of pigeons into his own loft and gained a number of good positions, indeed in 2025 he won the Section from with the National from Billericay and at the 2025 S.N.F.C. Prize Presentation received the South Section Average Trophy. At the gateway to the current season, Dennis and his grandson entered partnership competing under the loft title D, and D. Anderson. On the night of the recent National the partners had two pigeons arrive in quick succession, which hesitated on the trap, losing circa seven minutes. The first bird through the trap to be 3rd Section was a yearling Blue Chequer widowhood cock, bred from proven channel winning lines through the partners’ Jan Aarden and Tumley Lofts long distance families. He had several Club races on build up to the Classic gaining minor prizes. Due to the National candidates not having had enough time on the wing he went to the Inland National from Brighton (316 miles) two weeks before the Classic and was the tenth bird in the clock on the day. It should be explained that he was actually the second bird home on the night, beaten by his loft mate, which failed to go in. First pigeon to the loft, which was eventually 4th Section, was a yearling Blue Roundabout hen that was bred by Tumley Lofts, containing top channel winning lines including ‘Padfield’s Invincible’ and ‘Solway View Boy’. She also had several Club races, gaining minor positions and went to Brighton as a prep race for Alencon. Dennis said “both yearlings flew their hearts out to be home on a very difficult racing day after the Gold Cup convoy had been held over for two days due to the weather conditions”.
