NEWS FROM SCOTLAND
Reports by Joe Murphy
Received some good news from John Tyerman saying that Lou McGee had her operation yesterday and the good news is she is as sound as a pound. She obviously is very tired and will have drug treatment to sort out her problem but great news to her family and many friends within the pigeon sport. Look after yourself Lou as you are one in a million.
Pedigrees Updated
I have been updating my pedigree system and checking out the breeding of my birds prior to pairing them up when this time comes. Over the years you notice that if you cross a bird into your family then you have every chance of breeding a top racer. However it is when you put the offspring from this cross back into your original family that it really strikes GOLD. This has been proven time and time again and the more I study my Deweerdt family of pedigrees the more intriguing it becomes. You can see how the family used their champion pigeons over a number of years to keep this wonderful strain to the fore. I was only talking to my good friends Guy Reed and Andy Gregson the other day about this as they both have had this family of pigeons longer than I. This year as I have some closely bred birds from both these fanciers I’m going to cross them in with some of my Scottish blood and see how their offspring go. Whereas others that have a cross in their pedigrees will be put back into the more inbred birds and hopefully this will also re-ignite the blood flow and breed us some quality pigeons. I’m lucky in the respect that my good friend Sheldon Leonard handpicked my Daniel Aerens pairs that I purchased and he has advised me on how to pair them up, which is great as he has more knowledge about this family than me.
Of course it all comes down to finding the right pair and I have to say that I spend hours and hours going through my pedigrees and the individual birds prior to mating them up. I used to put up show pens in the kitchen and then bring in 2 or 3 hens that I wanted to pair to a certain cock but was not sure until I had seen them together. You could put a hen in and the cock would go mad for her, then put in another hen and he would not show the same enthusiasm or if we are being honest, did not fancy the hen so she was out. Then I would write these pairs down and my thoughts down on paper and I would also check their eye photos and pedigrees again on the computer as well. This is not a job you rush and you cannot go into the loft one day and pair them all up and think everything is OK. This maybe fine for racers but it isn’t for stock pigeons. Well that’s how I feel anyway. I believe that racers are happier if they select their own mate as this bond develops throughout the year and when you get a tough race then this love of mate and home pulls them through. I’m not one for leaving things to ‘chance’. I like to go over every aspect of each pair before I make up my mind that they are right and the most important thing of all is that they are happy and if they are then I’m happy with my selection. But as we all know, all this work does not mean that you are guaranteed a ‘champion’ or good pigeons. Just look how many well-bred pigeons were lost this year in young bird training and racing. Two years ago when I first started building up this family of Deweerdts I bred 7 late-breds from my stock pairs and asked Kevin to train them throughout the winter (on good days obviously) and this he did. Then the following year (2013) these 7 birds were put into the race basket and raced out to Leicester 280 miles with 5 of the original birds left. These were then trained with the national pigeons and then left to have a good moult and next year 2014 will be raced to the south coast of England and then in 2015 they will be tested at the nationals. This year we stopped quite a few of this family after the first race. They continued to be trained and we will race them next year down to the 280 mile mark and follow the same system as the original 7. We do not intend to breed as many youngsters this year as Kevin’s new job is very time consuming and he does not have the time he once had. So it might mean that we only train the youngsters in 2014 with no racing. This has transpired as there is no guarantee Kevin will be home from work to put them away on a Friday night. We are not worried about not having young bird racing as Bernard Deweerdt, Guy and Andy have all said that ‘patience is the name of the game’ and they have all said that if we can get this family of birds to the 2 year old stage and older then you we will reap the rewards time will tell! One thing’s for certain is I’m getting older and now have more patience to carry this out whereas when I was younger I wanted to win EVERY race but you mellow with age and I hope become wiser.
While mentioning my mate Guy Reed, he has just moved house on the Isle of Wight and was fortunate to be able to put his birds in a late friend’s loft until he has his own loft up and ready for pairing up. However he did encounter a problem as a window was left open and a ‘stoat’ got in and killed 3 of his birds and it also took bites at other birds that unfortunately died a few days later. Guy took the birds out at night and kept them in his van but they are now in the loft and thankfully there have been no more attacks and the birds have settled down again. There is nothing worse than having things like this happen to you when you’re in the middle of moving house as your mind is all over the place. I don’t envy Guy and Carol this move as I remember when we moved into Thornton how stressful it was and I swore then that that this would be the last house move I will make. I even break into a cold sweat at the thought of moving house.
Douglas Show
Frankie Murray from Dundee phoned to confirm that I was going to attend the above show as Kevin and I are two of the judges at the show; the other two are Sean Diamond from Kennoway and John Smith who is the sponsor of the Best in Show (£50) and Best Opposite Sec (£30). There are trophies for the Best in Show and Most Points winner. These are donated by Bruce Mackenzie of Dundee. Frankie told me that the show is a sell out with every pen already booked and there are 50 birds in each class. There is also a sale of birds on behalf of club funds and they have donations from some of the best fanciers in Scotland so this should be worth attending to obtain a quality pigeon or youngster for next year. The show is being held in the Black Watch Clubrooms in Arthurstone Terrace, Dundee and for more information you can contact Frankie on 01382.
This week’s photographs
The pigeon is Chadwick’s Girl bred by Mike Chadwick and raced in the Scotland One Loft race from Leicester with the SNFC. This pied hen won 7th One Loft Race and was also 21st section B 22nd open SNFC from an entry of 1,889 birds. The second picture is of a group of fanciers at the same venue the One Loft final race. These are from left to right, Martin Hilley, Billy Traynor, Billy Holland, John Lannigan and Barry Cryer. The final picture was take a few minutes ago as I looked out of the window; we had one of the best sunsets this year with the whole sky lighten up with the lowering sunset. This costs nothing but is PRICELESS.
Martin Hilley, Billy Traynor, Billy Holland, John Lannigan and Barry Cryer.
Joe’s Joke
This should be my weekly quote as it is how I feel about this feature:
Give me a sense of humour, Lord,
Give me the grace to see a joke,
To get some humour out of life,
And pass it on to other folk
...
After his exam the doctor said to the elderly man: "You appear to be in good health. Do you have any medical concerns you would like to ask me about?"
"In fact, I do," said the old man. "After I have sex I am usually cold and chilly, and then, after I have sex with the wife the second time, I am usually hot and sweaty." After examining his elderly wife, the doctor said: "Everything appears to be fine. Do you have any medical concerns that you would like to discuss with me?" The lady replied that she had no questions or concerns. The doctor then said to her: "Your husband had an unusual concern. He claims that he is usually cold and chilly after having sex with you the first time, and then hot and sweaty after the second time. Do you know why?" "Oh that crazy old man," she replied. "That's because the first time is usually in January and the second time is in August."
Obituaries
Alex Mitchell (MBE) of Falkirk. I was very saddened to hear of the death of Alex who was a larger than life character, a great worker for the sport and an outstanding ambassador for Scotland. I first met Alex away back in the early 1970s when he held ‘quiz’ nights in Falkirk and he had no problem getting the top fanciers as his guests such was he held in high respect. I remember going to one and the panel consisted of the late Noel De Schumacher and his son from Belgium, as well as the top distance men from Scotland. He held many positions within the sport at all levels i.e. club, federation, national and SHU level and he was always very enthusiastic about the sport especially long distance racing from France into Scotland. Lately as the years caught up on him he took a back seat in the sport and let others to take up the mantel. One thing for sure is fanciers who remember Alex have nothing but the highest respect for him. To his wife Nan and family we send our heartfelt condolences at the passing of one of Scotland’s All Time Greats.
John Norris of Norban Products. It was with great sadness that I was informed that John had passed away; he was 2 years younger than myself so that in itself was a great shock. Kevin and I tried his products over the years with great success and we would meet up with him at Blackpool Show. The thing that sticks out most in my mind about John was his honesty. He would tell you about his products and the best way they could help your pigeons but he never forced himself on you, he allowed you to make up your own mind. He was always willing to share his knowledge with you and was always prepared to help fanciers out and was a genuine man. He was a great lad and helped everyone (including us) with sound advice on how to improve your performances and he will be sadly missed. None more so than his wife Barbara, children and John’s parents to whom we send our deepest condolences at their sad loss. You are all in our thoughts and prayers at this time.
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
