Jim Crombie of Watchhill

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A few words from Billy on the passing of Jim Crombie.
Condolences to the family.

I was sad to learn of the passing of Jim Crombie.   In his early years Jim lived in the village of Watchhill, near Annan and had an interest in the pigeon hobby from when he attended school. At that time his two best friends were near neighbours, Will Ferguson and Jimmy Dalgliesh who had an interest in the pigeon hobby also and in later years also became very able fanciers.   In the early 1960’s the Crombie family moved into a new house in Annan and at the same time the Hind family similarly moved home becoming near neighbours,    George Hind also kept pigeons  and on moving residence the two friends, who were relatively young at the time,  erected their lofts adjacent to each other on a piece of waste ground close to their homes and within months entered partnership, purchasing a superb former RAF loft to house the pigeons.   They then went out of their way to acquire well proven bloodlines.   Each of the partners had previously owned direct Kirkpatrick pigeons and they augmented these lines with introductions from local fanciers Willie Graham, Jack Hadden and Tom Little.   Jim and George shared a close friendship with Tom Little and through this friendship they obtained examples of Tom’s Logan family.   They attended the T.A.Warrington Sale and made several acquisitions and to further develop the team they introduced birds from other successful fanciers including George Gorley, S.B.Cooper, Ayton Marshall, George Welton etc.   The partners total objective was to succeed in National competition and as the years passed a number of real quality pigeons emerged.   Consider, for example, Shawhill Express’ that flew the channel nine times, ‘Shawhill Endurance’ that won from the channel when on the wing for 15½ hours and ‘Shawhill Agnes’ that was 4th Open Avranches etc.   The two most impressive pigeons from that era, however, were ‘Shawhill Triumph’ and ‘Shawhill Faithful’.   Shawhill Triumph’ was a Red Cock that was 1st Solway Continental Club, 3rd Fed. Guernsey and then in 1965 was 1st Open S.N.F.C. Beauvais.  The parents of the National winner were obtained from Willie Graham, the Sire having been bred by 1958 Rennes National winners’ Thomson and Kean, whilst the Dam was bred by Jack Hadden, who was Secretary of the Solway Federation.    ‘Shawhill Faithful’ was a Blue hen that contained Kirkpatrick and Tom Little Logan bloodlines.   She flew the channel five times with her favourite race point being Rennes.   She scored from Rennes on four occasions with her best performance being in 1966 when she was 1st Section 2nd Open.  
 In time George married and moved to live in Ayrshire.   Jim continued to race under his own name and in 1978 was 1st Open S.N.F.C. Nantes with Dark hen ‘Shawhill Elizabeth’, when there were only two arrivals on the night and she was on the wing for 15 hours 40 minutes.   The following year this fine pigeon went back to Nantes and was 13th Open, after having been on the wing for 15 hours.   ‘Shawhill Elizabeth’ actually contained the lines of ‘Shawhill Triumph’ and ‘Shawhill Faithful’.   When Jim won the Nantes National he was not at the loft when the pigeon homed and it was John Mechan, his 14 year old nephew, who timed the winner.  In time John entered partnership with his uncle, competing as Crombie and Mechan and what a formidable partnership they proved to be with a number of superb pigeons emerging.   Consider, for example, Grizzle cock ‘Shawhill Prince’.    He went to Lille as a yearling and on a day that proved difficult for the South Section competitors was 7th Section.   In 2001, when 2 y.o., he was worked on Roundabout and was re-paired for the channel.   On this occasion he competed from the Gold Cup race from Liege and homed right at the front to be 1st Section 2nd Open National.   The following year he was again worked on Roundabout in inland competition and was subsequently re-paired for the channel.  Once more he competed from the Gold Cup event and on this occasion racing from Reims, he was again at the front to be 3rd Section 5th Open National.   On that occasion he was entered in the Joe Murphy Sporting Challenge, which he won.  Having once more featured prominently in the National result in 2002, the partners were contacted by a fancier from Germany who wanted to buy the Grizzle cock; indeed they asked Jim and John to name their price.   They chose, however, to keep the pigeon; in 2003 he was once more prepared for the Gold Cup race from Reims, and was 18th Section 75th Open.   He was thereafter retired to stock. 
 In 2003, they were 1st Open from the S.N.F.C. extreme distance race from Chenoise, on that occasion the Scottish pigeons were convoyed with the Up North Combine.   The total convoy was released at 6.00am and whilst some twenty pigeons were recorded into North East England on the day of liberation there were no arrivals into Scotland.   Jim and John’s winner was timed at 6.15am on the second day to record a velocity of 805ypm and head the result by 31ypm.   The Chenoise winner was Blue hen ‘Shawhill Lady’, that won the National when 3 y.o.   Sire was a Blue Dordin cross Cock that was 5th Open Nantes 1994.   Dam of the Chenoise winner was a Mealy hen that was bred from a pair of pigeons that were obtained from friend David Jamieson.   
In 2006 Jim and John were once more 2nd Open from the Gold Cup race, which on this occasion was flown from Alencon.   Their winning pigeon on that occasion a 4 y.o. Grizzle hen that had scored previously from the 2004 Gold Cup Classic from Le Ferte Bernard, being 11th Section 45th Open.   The Sire was a full brother of ‘Shawhill Prince’ whilst the Dam was a direct daughter of the same ‘Shawhill Prince’.
In 2011 the partners were 1st Section 3rd Open  from The Gold Cup race from Messac, the winning pigeon a 2 y.o. Dark Chequer hen.   Her Dam was bred by Kevin Lawson and was a Van de Weyer x Van Loon, closely related to the breeder’s Gold medal winners; indeed her Dam was a full sister to 3 x Gold medal winners.  Sire was bred by Stewart Brothers from Stirling.   One week after the Gold Cup race, members of the S.N.F.C. competed from their extreme distance event, which on this occasion was flown from Tours, with the Scottish pigeons being conveyed by the Midland National.   The convoy was liberated at 5.50am into an East North East Wind.   Around 7.00pm a pigeon arrived from no-where and hit the roof but hesitated on the trap.   It eventually trapped and was timed at 7.04pm to win the National on 1225ypm from 553 miles, 27ypm ahead of the bird that was 2nd Open.   The National winner was a 4 y.o. Blue hen,  Sire is a Dark Cock and the Dam is a Blue hen, both of which were bred by John’s close friend, David Jamieson who formerly resided at Annan and then returned to Central Scotland.  The Tours National winner was named ‘Shawhill Grace Olivia’.
The pigeons mentioned are but examples of the birds raced.   Importantly the only birds that left the loft were gifts to friends or pigeons donated to Club or Charity Sales.   Arguably the best pigeon to have been gifted to a friend was a Blue hen that was given to Billy Smith from Dumfries and went on to win the Niort National in 2012.   Dam was a Blue Chequer hen that was obtained from Mark Bulled from Harlow, who won the 2012 N.F.C. Blue Riband event from Tarbes, the Chequer hen being similarly bred to the Tarbes winner, Sire was a Dark Cock that was bred from Blue Hen ‘Shawhill Lady’, when she was paired to her own grandfather.
Jim possessed the ability to identify best pigeons, he was occasionally asked to judge at prestige Shows and on almost every occasion that he judged, the pigeon that he put up to win its Class would go on to win Best in Show.   During the years also he visited some of the best lofts in the country and on viewing the pigeons Jim would invariably select the best birds in the loft.   
He also loved the social side of the sport.  In the 1960’S he travelled to Ecclefechan to attend the annual Open Show.    As it was, the majority of people attending the show weren’t in the Hall with the pigeons but were in the nearby Hotel being entertained by the local Showband.    With Jim being a household name and ‘good fun’, he was immediately recognised when he went through the door with the MC ’ announcing  … “Introducing the famous Jim Crombie from Annan etc  etc”.   Everyone in the room cheered and applauded.   Needless to say he absolutely loved the adulation.   
The years moved forward and regrettably, Jim had a Stroke, which severely prejudiced his mobility to the extent that he could no longer look after the pigeons.   John Mechan manages a busy engineering company, which requires him to work long hours and attend meetings across the country and whilst he continued to work the pigeons he was finding it difficult.   In 2017, therefore he and Jim parted with the race team and subsequently parted with the stock birds.   They competed for the last time in 2017 and were once again along with the leaders from the Gold Cup race from Alencon, being 3rd Section 6th Open.   
With the passage of time Jim’s mobility further deteriorated and he agreed to be admitted to the local Care Home where  Care was on hand 24/7, he had company and was ever so well looked after and fed.   In the Home also was a nominated worker who organised Activities with something different taking place each and every day with Singers and Musicians coming into the Home to entertain the residents.   On one occasion in recent months when the music was playing, the entertainer passed the microphone to Jim to sing and he performed so well a video of him singing was viewed on Facebook by in excess of fifteen thousand people with almost one thousand comments.   Good as the home was, however, he used to say “if I could only get home and get a loft at the back door with half a dozen pigeons”.   The months and years passed but he always retained an interest in our hobby and liked nothing better than to talk ‘pigeons’.  
In recent weeks his health further deteriorated and he was admitted to Dumfries Infirmary where he regrettably passed away.
Photos appended show Jim with George Hind and Jim with his nephew John Mechan.   The third photo shows Jim at Annan Homing Club Centenary Dance holding a letter of congratulations received from The Queen. 
Quiet and unassuming he was respected and admired by all who knew him and will be sadly missed by his friends in the pigeon fancy and by his friends and neighbours in the wider community . On behalf of all members of the local fancy I extend condolences to the family at this sad time.