NEWS FROM SCOTLAND
Reports by Joe Murphy
We have had a busy time of it lately with babysitting and going up to Arbroath to help Kevin in his new house. He took a week off work to get some jobs done and believe me he worked very hard at his old trade as painter than he has done for years. We all mucked in to try and help and I’m glad to say that after a tough week’s work the house was ready to move in to and you would not believe the transformation. We are back up again this weekend 13th December to put up the loft. It is lying in sections in the back garden and we should get this done in a day. We have never been able to work on it this week as the weather has been horrendous with gales of 70/80 miles an hour and the rain never stopped. Many of you would have seen on the TV news that the waves from the sea were 50 foot high and that is hard to believe. When I was young I used to imagine having a house near the sea but nowadays I would not take one if you gave me it for nothing. You can see the damage that is done by the force of the sea and the British coastline is disappearing at an alarming rate no I will stay inland and enjoy the views of the coastline from afar.
Good Will Gesture
Regarding my offer of the gift of 6 pairs of yearlings bred from Willie Jacobs’ best lines, these went to Sam Graham of West Lothian who is joining the Armadale club after a 10 year absence in the sport. I gave Sam the phone number of Tom Varley of Kent who was looking after the birds until they found a new home. I hope by now that the courier has been and collected the birds and I cannot thank Tom enough for this kind gesture. This is what the ‘sportsmanship’ is all about - helping each other and it is quite appropriate at this Festive time of the year.
Isle of Wight Mosaics
Received an email from Guy Reed who wrote: ‘Hi Joe, nothing to do with pigeons but here are a couple of pictures for you to have a look at. They were taken recently and one is of my dad Jack, with some of the work exhibited in the town where I was born. Jack now aged 90, and 5 of his colleagues meet up every week, and over the years they have used up broken bits of glazed tiles and made these mosaics depicting aspects of the town of Ventor. You will see some of these mosaics in the picture with Jack. The second picture is of the train coming out of Ventor tunnel at the old railway station. This was one of the highlights of my life when I was growing up, as we used to get this train if we were going to the cinema in Shanklin. Unfortunately the station no longer exists (something to do with progress?), which is a shame. As a small boy I used to pay a penny to get on the platform and watch the trains come and go, although my mum says I was never small, ha ha. I would also carry folk’s luggage to the hotels and sometimes get a tip of "half a crown", 2 shillings 6 pence. The tunnel is still there, but alas no trains, however there is the Haven Street line that is a great tourist attraction today. Quieter times eh Joe but a lot more pigeon men in those days. Speak to you soon Guy’. This is something different and like all of us Guy enjoyed reminiscing of days when we did not have ‘a care in the world.’
Jack Reed
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SHU Birds of the Year 2014
Last week I highlighted the Ogilvie Trophy winner of Maskame and Mackie low and behold Stuart sent me a picture of their winner too late for the column but will add it to this week’s issue. Craig also forwarded a picture of 3 north section SNFC winner namely himself Stuart Maskame Jim Donaldson and Dave Pirie.
3 North Section SNFC winners: Stuart Maskame Jim Donaldson and Dave Pirie.
Now for some more news on good pigeons that won trophies within the Scottish Homing Union I will try and cover ALL of these birds as soon as possible. We start with the 2014 Young bird of the Year in Scotland winning the Mr & Mrs Murphy trophy for Performance Championis won by Stephen Allen of Gretna with blue cock 7039. He won the following:
Solway Federation Shap winning 16th club 249 birds flying 37 miles 570 yards doing a velocity of 1396.17
Solway Federation Ingleton winning 1st club 278 birds; 1st federation 2415 birds flying 62 miles 720 yards recording a velocity of 1322.84.
Solway Federation Lymm winning 1st club 113 birds, 3rd federation 1237 birds flying 115 miles 378 yards doing a velocity of 1181.57.
Solway Federation Stafford winning 1st club 42 birds, 1st federation 621 birds flying 155 miles 153 yards recording a velocity of 1255.63
SNFC Buckingham young bird national winning 2nd section 86 birds, 144th open 1552 birds flying 223 miles 1231 yards recording a velocity of 1145.0
A very worthy winner of this top award well done Stephen.
The Celtic Trophy presented by Taffy Bowen of Wales for performances up to 300 miles. This was won by George & Colin Rae of Aberdeen whose 3 year old blue bar hen won the following positions:
Aberdeen Federation Thornton winning 1st club 8th federation 803 birds flying 79 miles 1468 yards recording a velocity of 1502.49.
Aberdeen Federation Arniston winning 1st club 1st federation 680 birds flying 98 miles 588 yards recording a velocity of 1190.15.
Aberdeen Federation Otterburn winning 1st club 8th federation 781 birds flying 137 miles 543 yards with a velocity of 1860.13.
Aberdeen Federation Arniston winning 1st club 1st federation 241 birds flying 98 miles 588 yards with a velocity of 1179.07.
Aberdeen Federation Ripon winning 1st club 8th federation 486 birds flying 212 miles 129 yards recording a velocity of 1145.33.
SNFC Buckingham 1st club 1st section G 1st north section 77th open 2941 birds flying 361 miles 484 yards winning with a velocity of 1680.2
A very good pigeon indeed how many birds win 4 x 1st federations in one season, well done George & Colin. I will continue with the SHU trophy winners in my next column.
SNFC Good Birds
I start this week with the SNFC Gold Cup winner ‘Abbey Lass’ raced by Skachill & McCormack of Dumfries. This Chequer White Flight 3 year old hen also won a SNFC Silver Award at this year’s presentation. Her racing career is as follows: in 2012 she won 4th section A 6th open from the Ypres national, the following year she won 18th section A 129th open from Alencon and this year she won 1st section 1st open from an entry of 1427 birds entered by 421 members.
Our second pigeon is a blue chequer cock raced by Turpie & McCord of Pitlessie in Fife. This 4 year old has scored 4 times and now wins a SNFC Silver Award. His performances are as follows: in 2012 he won 51st section C 92nd open from Clermont, then the following year he won 130th open from the same race point but did not win a section prize. This year 2014 he won 22nd section C 135th open Alencon and was then doubled back into the Clermont race and won 36th section C winning him his Silver Award for 3 section prizes in the SNFC.
Our next pigeon is a 6 year old chequer hen raced by Morris Brothers of Johnstone in Renfrewshire. She has won 3 section F prizes to win her SNFC Silver Award, these being as follows: 2011 she won 5th section F from Clermont, then this year 2014 she won 3rd section F from Alencon and the same position 3rd section F from Clermont to win this coveted award.
Joe’s Joke
Subject: An Irishman and the Mercedes: On a golf tour in Ireland, Tiger Woods drives his Mercedes into a petrol station in a remote part of the Irish countryside. The pump attendant who knows absolutely nothing about golf, greets him in a typical Irish manner completely unaware of who the golfing pro is. "Top of the mornin' toyer, sir" says the attendant. Tiger nods a quick, 'hello' and bends forward to pick up the nozzle. As he does so, two tees fall out of his shirt pocket onto the ground. "What be those?" asks the attendant. "They're called tees," replies Tiger. "Well, what on this God's earth are dey for?" inquires the Irishman. "They're for resting my balls on when I'm driving," says Tiger. "Good god," says the Irishman, "Mercedes think of everything!"
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 to my NEW EMAIL ADDRESS at;
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