The Joe Murphy Column
The season is now getting well underway with the first SNFC race from Kettering will be held on the 1st June, with race marking on 30th May. So, I would anticipate the majority of birds will have their last club race this weekend prior to going to the national next week. I wish everyone competing all the very best; nothing beats national racing as you are competing against the BEST fanciers and birds. If you are lucky enough to make the result then you know you have a good pigeon. Nine times out of ten; these same birds will be set down for another national race in a few weeks’ time. Both Margaret and I miss going to Kevin’s for the national races.
Results
East of Scotland; news from Tom McEwan with the result of the Bubwith race flown on the 11th May with the convoy liberated at 06-00am into a light south east wind. Topping the federation and having a fantastic race is past SNFC Gold Cup winner George Veitch of East Saltoun who took the following positions;1st 2nd 3rd 4th 6th 8th & 10th open; which is truly outstanding. His federation winner is a 2-year-old blue bar hen. Brian Lavery of Prestonpans is 5th open with John Baillie is well to the fore in 7th open and Graham Wardhaugh is in 9th open place.
Prestonpans Homing Society; Taking the top award is Brian Lavery with a yearling blue cock; 2nd & 3rd club is John Baillie with his first in the club a 2-year-old blue chequer hen; followed by a 4-year-old chequer white flight cock; who won 18th open SNRPC Eastbourne last season. Tom finishes of by wishing Margaret and I all the best.
North of Scotland Federation; new from George Duthie regarding the Auchendinny old birds flown on May 11th with 55 members sending 1643 birds these were liberated in a light wind. Topping the open & east section were 25 members sent 888 birds. The Peterhead & District partnership of Maskame & Cordiner topping the section and open with a hen doing 1707 velocity. They are also 5th & 6th section and open. Fraserburgh & District A W Buchan wins 2nd 3rd & 8th section and open. Colin McRae of Fraserburgh & District club wins 4th & 9th positions. N Holt of Peterhead & District has 2 birds in 7th & 10th section and open places. The West Section had 30 members sending 755 birds; A Hay of Devern Valley club tops the west section and also wins 31st open place. A Mair (John) of Keith club is 2nd west section 32nd open. A Flett of Keith has 3 birds timed to win 3rd 5th & 6th section 33rd 35th & 36th open. G Wilson of Devern Valley club wins 4th west section 34th open. R Wilson of Keith club wins 7th west section 37th open. Clubmates Duncan & Thomson win 8th section 38th open. J Abel of the same club wins 10th section 40th open; with A Fulton of Devern Valley club winning 9th section 39th open.
Clubs First Bird
Peterhead & District Clubs winners are Maskame & Cordiner velocity 1707.981; Fraserburgh & District winner was A W Buchan velocity 1705.077; Inverurie club winner J S Robertson velocity 1649.897; Fraserburgh West End winner was R Higgins velocity 1640.129. Devern Valley winner A Hay velocity 1579.711. Keith winner was A Mair (John) velocity 1576.614. Elgin & District winner was J Jack velocity 1490.973. Well, Done to Maskame & Cordiner on topping the Federation. Also well done to A Hay on winning the west section.
Fife Federation of Homing Pigeons Societies:
News from George Todd with the result of the Harrogate race on the 11th May with the 1299 birds liberated at 07-30am with NO wind at the race point.
Birdage; Methilhaven 180 birds; St Andrews 110 birds; Lochgelly 218 birds; Dunfermline 234 birds; Crossgates 232 birds; Kennoway 254 birds; Novar & Leslie 71 birds.
Federation Top 10
1st is D Russell of Dunfermline velocity 1526; Crossgates D Barnes is 2nd with Jock Hynd & son winning 3rd 4th & 7th places. 5th place goes to Tam Laing of Kennoway with Methilhaven Clark & Son in 6th spot with J Hynd & son of Lochgelly club winning 7th open. Novar & Leslie club members Turpie & McCord are in 8th place. Willie Stark of Lochgelly is 9th with John Harcus of St Andrews winning 10th place.
East Section Top 10 are as follows; the winner is Tam Laing of Kennoway with Clark & son of Methilhaven club in 2nd place. Turpie & McCord of Novar & Leslie club won 3rd & 8th positions. St Andrews John Harcus wins 4th 5th & 9th positions; with Dave Armour of Methilhaven club wins 6th 7th & 10th positions.
West Section Top 10; has Davie Russell of Dunfermline club is in top spot with Dougie Barnes of Crossgates club in 2nd place. J Hynd & son John are 3rd 4th 5th & 7th with Willie Stark of the same club in 6th position. Andy Ritchie of Dunfermline club wins 8th & 9th open with Frank Mitchell of Dunfermline club in 10th spot.
Angus Federation of Racing Pigeon Societies
News from David Liddle who wrote ‘Hi Joe, the federation where at Darlington for our old bird race on the 11th May; with 24 members sending 579 birds these were liberated at 07.00 am with no wind at the release point. Attached are the Forfar RPC and Angus Federation results. The convoyer had an eventful journey to the race point when a tyre blew out on our trailer at 01-00 am on the A66. However, we managed to make the liberation point and we then had 3 pigeons 6 minutes clear of the rest of the convoy. Winning Forfar club and topping the Federation this week was Eric Galloway who also had the highest velocity from the convoy of Angus and Dundee Federations. Eric is only racing widowhood cocks this year and his winner is a 2-year-old carrying an old ring. The parents were gifted to Eric by his good friend the late Dave Stewart from Bannockburn. The sire was from a Tom McEwan and the dam from Paul Stobbs. Second club and federation is the ever-consistent Davie Glen with the same Busschaert cock that won 2nd federation from Blaydon last weekend. Ian Scott was 3rd club and fed with a 2-year-old widowhood cock. The sire is bred from a Gordon Cooper mealy cock which flew well for Ian and the dam was from Honeysuckle Jansens which Ian introduced several years ago.
Club Winners; Members; Name & Velocity
Forfar had 14 members sending 375 birds, winner Eric Galloway velocity 1647.84.
Arbroath had 6 members sending 136 birds, C & G Cameron velocity 1544.71
Gourdon had 2 members sending 40 bird’s winners are D & D Hay with a velocity of 1490.34
Montrose had 2 members sending 28 birds, winners are M Wallace & son velocity 1422.55
no entries.
Forfar RPC had 14 members sending 375 birds
Eric Galloway wins top spot with Dave Glen winning 2nd 10th & 11th positions. Ian Scott had a great race taking from 3rd to 8th position with Kenny Droog & son winning 9th place.
Arbroath Racing Pigeon Club; news from Charlie Cameron with the result of the 4th old bird race from Darlington which was flown 11th May with the convoy liberated at 07-00am with no wind at the race point. 6 members sent 136 birds; with Charlie & son Glen taking the first 3 places; their winner was doing 1544 velocity. Chic & Anne Carrie are 4th with Les McKay taking the next 2 places.
Kingdom RPA
News from Pete Penman who writes; Hi Joe. the Kingdom RPA were at Harrogate on Saturday 11th of May. Leading the way is Gary Hall of the Coaltown of Balgonie club with his exceptional 2-year-old chequer hen that won 1st open Federation from Ramsgate, then she won 2nd section 12th open SNFC Falaise as a yearling last year. In second place saw Leuchars Tom Berwick with a 2-year-old chequer hen whose parents were bred from birds obtained from Bob Colvin. Having only had 2 races as a youngster. She was 5th club & 11th Kingdom federation from Wooler last week. Third position goes to John Proctor of St Serfs with a yearling Fran Zwols. Next are Eric & Liz Young with a gift bird from Tom Berwick flying to the perch. Dave Whyte of St Serfs was 5th and E & L Young were 6th. Lou Mitchell and his nephew Darren Stonehouse took the red card at Rosyth. Cheers Joe yours Pete P.
Almond Valley's Federation
News from Lynne regarding the Catterick (1) old bird race flown on 11th May with the 1767 birds liberated at 07:00 hours. The winner a yearling was doing over 1616 ypm to the loft of Freddie Jamieson & son of East Calder. Armadale’s D McBeath and John Hadfield take the next 4 positions. D McBeath hen was doing a velocity of 1574 with John’s 3 birds all on 1572 velocities. John Bird of West Calder had a good race taking the next 7 positions; with all birds on the same minute and were split by decimals.
Club Winners;
Armadale 194 birds; D McBeath 1574.470, J Hadfield 1572.830, 1572.830, 1572.468
Balerno 141 birds; C Ross 1520.530, 1519.687, 1493.041, 1483.348
Bonnybridge 565 birds; S Russell 1559.153, V Couper 1553.811, Law & Brady 1519.812, G Harris 1489.058
Carnwath 145 birds; Thomson Bros & I Thomson 1453.689, McArdle & Thomson 1390.695, Thomson Bros & I Thomson 1385 429, McArdle & Thomson 1370.966
East Calder 185 birds; F Jamieson & Son 1616.413, 1493.086, 1481.027, 1481.027, 1568.346
Fauldhouse 271 birds; C Smillie 1473.563, Colligan & Hope 1454.643, 1445.344, T Gavin 1443.841
West Calder 266 birds; J Bird 1569.246, 1569.066, 1568.706.
Scottish Central Federation
News from Bernie Britton with the Thirsk result which had 996 birds liberated at 07-00am with No Wind at the race point. Well, done to Mel Nobble on taking the top spot awaiting information. Gordon MacKenzie wins 2nd & 10th positions; his 1st pigeon is a Herman with his 2nd bird a Gaby, both bred by his good friend Stuart Knowles of Widnes. C Heeps is 3rd with A Borthwick in 4th & 9th spot. Peter Keogh wins 5th & 7th positions with Martin Brown winning 6th & 8th positions.
Broxburn; Hamish Ferguson winner was bred by P and W Collins of Coatbridge. The bird was flown out to federation open as a natural young bird and was 1st to the loft in 2 races’ (He never had clock set).
Sid Steven and Davie Gullane bird was a chequer hen a Lambrecht gifted and bred by John McNeill flown on roundabout, she was 3rd section D 129th open SNFC Huntingdon last year; she has been a steady racer for us.
Winchburgh Club sent 263 birds with Henry Borthwick taking his 2nd x club win of the season with a Dougie Barnes bred pigeon. Henry is also 4th club 9th federation with a home bred bird which is a previous double federation winner. Peter Keogh takes 2nd & 3rd club, 5th & 7th federation; the 2nd club is bred from a Page Bros cock paired with a Van de Wouter hen which won 71st open in the Algarve Golden race final. The 3rd club is a full sister to Peter's 9th open AGR final which is Frans Zwols x Jan Aarden. Many thanks once again Bernie.
Pentlandhills Federation
New from Andy Miller who wrote; The 5th race of the 2024 was from Bubwith on 11th May, with a distance of 163-176 miles for the 64 lofts who entered 1280 birds. The convoy was liberated at 07:00 in a south east wind & winning 1st federation is the inform loft of Freddie & Willie Robertson who fly in Danderhall club. They timed their yearling widowhood Heremans/Ceusters cock on 1631 velocity. Bred from stock obtained from Derek Nicholls at Premier Stud. Returns were slow at clock checking with all the experts giving their views on what happened, (solar flares, clashing, flown over etc) As the day wore on there was only a few missing, with some better than others; regards Andy. 2nd federation was K Wright of Danderhall club with J Lamb of Edinburgh Premier in 3rd place. The partnership of Lindsay & Mackie of Danderhall are forth with an all pooler. P & J Hutton of Edinburgh Premier are 5th with Ian Summers of Sighthill in 6th spot. G Cameron of Easthouses is 7th with D Crookston of Danderhall in 8th place followed by K Dick of Edinburgh Premier in 9th place. S & S Tierney of Danderhall club make up the top 10 position.
F&W Robertson Fed Winner
This week’s Photos
Received 3 photographs from Charlie Dalgleish to go with the column. These birds were bred and raced by the famous Scottish fancier Robert Stoddart of Falkirk. The blue hen ‘Little Lady’ won 1st Nevers flying a distance of 692 miles. The dark chequer cock was known as ‘Old Squills’ rung RP25DT2755 -he was a grandson of ‘Olympic’ a champion stock bird. This picture was taken when ‘Old Squills’ was 12 years old. The third picture is of ‘Leading Lady’ a blue chequer hen rung SURP27C2555. She won 6th prize in Scottish Central Combine Granville race of 1929, with a velocity of 861 for the 505 miles. She also won 3rd open in the SNFC Rennes race of 1930 from a convoy of 4451 birds. She was flying a distance of 554 miles recording a velocity of 843 and was the property of R Stoddart 79 West Carron Falkirk. I have written about this fabulous fancier in the past, and have added the article below to refresh fanciers’ memories about this great man.
The Stoddart Strain of Scotland
This brief article is not only about a strain of racing pigeons it is also about the extraordinary courage of a working-class Scottish lad, namely Robert 'Rabbie' Stoddart, who formed the strain and in doing so overcame a crippling skin disease which bound him to his bedroom wrapped in bandages from head to foot. Yes, Rabbie Stoddart formed his strain and raced his pigeons based upon his instructions from his bed in a darkened room because he was not allowed to enter into daylight arising from an incurable skin disease. Our story begins in West Carron in Scotland at the beginning of the 20th Century were Rabbie Stoddart, one of a family of seven brothers and one sister, entered the sport of pigeon racing. Initially he kept his birds in an old coal shed and in West Carron one had to have permission to keep pigeons and this was often refused but perhaps because of the would-be fancier’s disability the authorities granted permission. Eventually permission was given to build a loft in the corner of a neighbour’s garden and this was to be the environmental base from which members of the Stoddart family brought birds to Rabies bedside so that he could make managerial decisions about his stock and other matters which we take for granted. However; a loving family ensured that its pigeon fancier would receive as much support and encouragement as possible. Even the neighbours played their part for, aside from one providing loft space, on racing days if a local soccer match was in progress, nearby, once pigeons arrived all the play stopped and silence reigned until the birds were clocked. I wonder if the late Walt Disney could have imagined such a script. At the base of the Stoddart strain was a blue chequer Stanhope cock which came via a Mr Tom Scott of Camelon. Stoddart had in his mind what he considered to be the type of bird that he desired for breeding and racing and the Scott cock was of this type. Then upon handling a pied hen bred by a Mr Radcliffe of Stalybridge known as '307' (of Gits C bloodlines) Stoddart knew that he had the base pair. He was proven to be right for the pair in turn bred 'Alfonso' an important pigeon of the Stoddart’s. During 1925 more blood was added to the loft, one being a blue Logan cock of the Stanton Bros of Plumstead and two hens from S. Vine of Rosyth. One of the hens when paired with the Stanton cock bred '1704' who became a very consistent racer.'1704' when paired to a daughter of 'Alfonso' bred one of the lofts best racers 'Dauntless'. At about 1929 Rabbie Stoddart knew that things had gone well for his channel ambitions but he was still determined to improve his stock and he purchased some noted birds of the Osman strain amongst others including the blood of J B Clarke of Bothwell- the latter blood giving birth to the base of another great Scottish strain the '1210' strain of Mason. Emanating from the latter purchases there were good offspring, in particular a blue hen 'Little Lady' who was to become a pivotal factor in the evolution of the family. The latter hen when mated to one of the direct Osman birds 'Old Squills' produced two outstanding stock birds and an excellent racer 'Leading Lady' who won a race from Nevers, France (almost 700 miles) held in conjunction with the English based Up North Combine in 1929, by 50 yards per minute. In 1930 'Leading Lady' was also 3rd Open Rennes S.N.F.C. In due course Rabbie Stoddard won 3rd, 4th, 16th and 19th Open in the Scottish Nationals as well as 2nd, 3rd, 6th,16th and 23rd in long distance races held under the auspices of the Scottish Midland Combine. Yes, 1st was elusive but what other pigeon racer could achieve what Rabbie Stoddard achieved under such terrifying disability? Surely, he was one of the greatest. It should be noted that the great English fancier, Vic Robinson, had obtained directly some of the Stoddard strain and the latter bloodlines are in the pedigree of some of Robinsons best birds including the great 'Mademoiselle' who was 1st and 2nd Open from Pau in the National Flying Club. Thus, in a way Rabbie Stoddard achieved his 1st National four years after his death at the age of 49 in 1951. Many other national positions in the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and perhaps elsewhere were obtained by the bloodlines of the Stoddard’s. The fancy in Scotland must surely be proud of them. I will now continue with the pigeons that are making the headlines in the present day Scottish National Flying Club.
27-day Space Weather Outlook Table Issued:
May 13th 2024.
UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest
Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index
2024 May 13 220 40 7
2024 May 14 215 18 5
2024 May 15 200 12 4
2024 May 16 190 5 2
2024 May 17 180 5 2
2024 May 18 170 5 2
2024 May 19 170 5 2
2024 May 20 160 5 2
2024 May 21 165 5 2
2024 May 22 165 5 2
2024 May 23 160 8 3
2024 May 24 160 12 4
2024 May 25 160 8 3
2024 May 26 160 5 2
2024 May 27 165 12 4
2024 May 28 175 8 3
2024 May 29 195 5 2
2024 May 30 205 5 2
2024 May 31 205 8 3
2024 Jun 01 215 12 4
2024 Jun 02 220 12 4
2024 Jun 03 225 8 3
2024 Jun 04 220 5 2
2024 Jun 05 220 5 2
2024 Jun 06 225 5 2
2024 Jun 07 225 5 2
2024 Jun 08 225 5 2
Obituary
I was sorry to see in the BHW the passing of Jean Hollinger from Ireland. My old friend George Rankin was very good friends of Jean and her husband John and while on a trip to Ireland we visited them at their home.
You could not wish to meet a more welcoming couple; they could not do enough for us. In fact, they invited Margaret and I to their club (or federation) dinner and dance to present the trophies, and they allowed us to spend the weekend with them in their family home. We would like to send our condolences to John, son Curt and daughter Jan on their loss. Jean may no longer with us but she will never be forgotten; rest in peace.
Joe & Margaret Murphy.
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
© Compiled by Joe Murphy
