NEWS FROM SCOTLAND
Reports by Joe Murphy
May I wish all readers of my column a very Merry Christmas and I hope they enjoy this special time of the year with their families. We normally go to see our daughter and her family on Christmas morning after church as the children get so excited with Santa coming. Then we are going to Kevin’s for Christmas dinner. The following day Boxing Day we all meet up at our oldest son Mark’s house and exchange presents and have a whale of a time. Needless to say with 10 grandchildren and one great granddaughter to give presents to it is an expensive time of the year and when you count the cost of a stamp it is getting out of hand. So as a cost cutting exercise we decided to not send Christmas cards this year and placed an advert in the Christmas edition of the paper wishing all our many friends in the sport a happy festive season.
Lochgelly Homing Society
Margaret and I attended the Lochgelly Homing Society club presentation dinner and dance along with our friends Catherine and Mel Jarvis of Cardenden who are members of the Lochgelly club. We met the club secretary Gordon Nisbet who does not keep pigeons, however he took on the job as club secretary to help the club continue and he has done a very good job going by the remarks I received from the members who I had a chat to. While waiting on the start of proceedings I spoke to Jimmy Graham whose brother Andrew is a member of the club. Jimmy and I used to work together in the coal mines back in the early 1980s and it was good to catch up with each other and I gave him some sad news that one of our work colleagues had passed away about the same time as my brother. Jim Beverage opened the proceedings by welcoming everyone to the function and then handed over to Gordon who carried out the announcements. Firstly he asked the company to be upstanding for a minute’s silence in respect of one of their members, Willie Henderson who had recently passed away. Gordon then asked me to present the trophies to the winning fanciers who attended the function.
First out was Andrew Graham who unfortunately did not win a trophy but won a few prize cards with his birds. Then we had Dave Hunter who won the Wooden & Medal DISC for Ripon comeback race. Next was Jim Beverage who won the David Reid memorial trophy for 1st bird SNFC Alencon Gold Cup race. Jim was 10th section C 27th open national which was a very good performance. Then we came to George Morrison who won the Big Barnes 69 trophy for the Maidstone open race and the C Lawrie trophy for the 1st yearling from the same Maidstone race. Jock Thomson was next to come forward to receive the Lochgelly Homing Society Trophy for the Leicester 2 race and the Auld Brig trophy for Sedgefield 2. Willie Stark won the Tenant Caledonian trophy for winning Kelso old birds and the Ratcliffe Cup for Kelso young birds and Anslik Cup for 1st bird Alnwick young birds. Then we came to club president Jock Brockie who had a good year winning the Willie Millar trophy for 1st bird SNFC Ancenis were he won 3rd section C 7th open flying 615 miles; he also received Lochgelly Homing Society Trophy for the inland average. Craig Wright won the Fife Ethylene trophy for Sedgefield 1, the Lochgelly Homing Society young bird cup for Ripon and the Selby cup for 1st Wakefield open race. He also won the young bird averages and was Lochgelly Homing Society fancier of the year and the reception this young man received was outstanding with many of the older fanciers giving him a standing ovation. A special award was given to Jock Brockie for winning 1st section C in the SNFC Newbury race where he won 67th, 274th & 301st open. This was a great gesture by the Lochgelly Homing Society members and one Jock appreciated. Jock also did well in other national races winning 97th & 107th section C 317th & 326th open Maidstone, 39th section C 85th open Ypres and of course his win from Ancenis. Other trophy winners unfortunately not present were W & M Henderson (which was understandable) who won the Geddes Stark Beveridge trophy for 1st Aycliffe and they also won the Shield Fraser & son trophy for Leicester 1 open race. Ian Hopkins won the Leitch cup for Wakefield and Jim Doig won the Continental Cup for Clermont.
With the presentation over Gordon then presented Margaret with a lovely bouquet of flowers from the members of the club and she thanks them ALL very much. We then had a buffet supper and I spent time speaking to the members of the club and we discussed all aspects of the sport. I did find out that Craig Wright’s father was a member of the club but due to ill health could not look after his pigeons so asked Craig to help him out. Not knowing anything about the pigeons he started to help his dad but as he lives in Cardenden this became harder and harder to find the time travelling to attend to the birds morning and evening. So he moved the youngsters down to his own garden and you can see by the above results and trophies won he had an exceptional young bird season so the future looks bright for this young man and, believe me, the older members of the club are happy to see him winning. I think everyone in Lochgelly and the surrounding area handed in prizes for the raffle as there was a great amount of prizes and the club made over £200 from the sale of tickets. The remainder of the evening was spent in the company of Catherine and Mel along with Mary and Jim Farmer and a good night was had by all. We would like to thank the members and officials of the Lochgelly Homing Society for the invite to their presentation and wish them all the very best for the 2014 season. I have included photos taken at the presentation.
Andre Graham with Joe Murphy
Craig Wright, Fancier of the Year in Lochgelly club.
Jock Brockie
D Hunter
George Morrison
Jim Beveridge
Jock Thomson
Willie Stark
Joe’s Joke - A Scottish Love Story
An elderly man lay dying in his bed. While suffering the agonies of impending death, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favourite scones wafting up the stairs. He gathered his remaining strength, and lifted himself from the bed. Leaning on the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled downstairs. With laboured breath, he leaned against the door-frame, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death's agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven, for there, spread out upon the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favourite scones. Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of love from his devoted Scottish wife of sixty years, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man? Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself towards the table, landing on his knees in rumpled posture. His aged and withered hand trembled towards a scone at the edge of the table, when it was suddenly smacked by his wife with a wooden spoon. Bugger off she said, they're for the funeral.
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:
© Compiled by Joe Murphy
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