NEWS FROM SCOTLAND

Reports by Joe Murphy

Anyone who is interest in joining my young bird exchange only has 10 days left as it closes on the 1st of April which is the Thursday before Easter; and I will make the draw over the Easter week end and notify each participant whom they have been drawn against. Entries have been coming in on a daily basis and up to now I have 35 fanciers joined up for 2010 which is great. Some of the people who were in it last year have told me they are joining but up to now I have not received their £25 entry fee and until I have this then I’m afraid they will not be in the draw. The great thing about the exchange is fanciers race the youngster from their own loft along with their own team and if it is good enough to wins some prizes along the way then these could be enough to win the trophy and prize money. The latter will depend on the amount of fanciers joining as I cannot work out the total prize money until I have the final figures on how many fanciers are taking part. Repeating myself once again if your interested then forward your cheque make out to Joe Murphy for £25; I will require your name; address and telephone number or email address. Another thing that has transpired since the introduction of the young bird exchange is fanciers who were paired up together last year have this year exchanged birds between each other as a friendship has blossomed since they met. For example last years winners Stewart Brothers and George Appleton; as well as Dave Baldie and Graham Mitchell have swapped youngster this year; there maybe more but I know this happened as these lads informed me when they sent in their entry money for 2010.

Forfar HS

Received an email from Dave Liddle of Forfar who also attached a photograph of the Forfar Club trophy winners which were presented by Bruce McKenzie (2nd left) Themain prizewinners were D & D J Liddle winning theyoung bird average; 3 longest inland race average; First 6 race average; best average 3 longest inland and 3 longest young bird races; young bird points; combined points; 1st Leicester; 1st Ripon young birds; 1st Wakefield young bird; Youngbird of the Year; 1st yearling Leicester; 2 bird old bird; young bird and combined averages. Other trophy winners were Eric Galloway winning the old bird average; combined average; long distance average; 1st Falaise. The partnership of Smith & Scott won the old bird point’s trophy; 1st Wakefield and 1st Leicester (Wakefield). Mike Leggett won 1st Eastbourne and R Baldie won the old bird of the year trophy thanks for adding this to your column Joe and put me down for your young bird exchange kindest regards, Dave Liddle’ whom I thank for his news and photograph.

Eric Galloway, Bruce MacKenzie, Mike Leggett and Dave Liddle

Montrose & District

Jim Edward phoned and asked if I would mention that his club are holding a breeder buyer sale on 4th April at 1pm in the Black Abbot Pub in Montrose; the race will take place from Wakefield and is open to Grampian Combine members; so if you fancy having a go contact Jim on 01561 361 511.

Pigeons in Combat

Received an email from my dear friend in America Al Croseri who wrote: ‘Dear Joe, I thought you may find the Kaiser's tribute of interest to your readers.This tribute includes the article, "Portrait of a Pigeon", by Wilson P Dizard that was published in the New York Times in 1946. This tribute to the Kaiser, the famous WWI captured German war pigeon;  Kaiser 1917 – 1949 his band number was 17-47-0-350 and he was a red chequer cock; bred and trained by the German imperial crown; he was captured by the yanks in 1918 during the Meuse Argonne offensive and was assigned to the US Army signal corps; fort Monmouth New Jersey and camp Crowder m.o handled by coronal Clifford Algy Poutre from 1936 to 1943 and believe it or not the Kaiser lived for 32 ½ years and during this time he was an especially outstanding breeding pigeon. An extract from ‘Potrait of a Pigeon’ by Wilson P Dizard was published in the New York Times on February 24, 1946; Technically, Kaiser could be called a traitor to the Imperial Crown of Germany. A soldier of fortune, he has served under two flags in two international wars. This may seem surprising when one considers that Kaiser is 29 years old and that his kind has always been regarded as a symbol of peace. But Kaiser carrier’s no olive branch in his bill-he's a Regular Army Flier, assigned to the United States Signal Corps, and the oldest pigeon known to history. Kaiser was hatched in Germany in February, 1917, and was trained as a military homing pigeon for the German Army. The famous bird was captured when the Yanks stormed an enemy front-line trench during the Meuse offensive in 1918. He was brought to this country and assigned to the Signal Corps Pigeon Centre, Fort Monmouth, N.J., until August, 1942, at which time he was transferred to Camp Crowder, Mo., the Army's pigeon-breeding centre. In terms of human ages, Kaiser is a cool 140 years old-the normal life span of a pigeon being from 5 to 8 years. Despite his advanced age, Kaiser has continued to father large groups of homing pigeons. He astounded his keepers and pigeon breeders all over the country last year by fathering seven youngsters. The breeders shook their heads and said that because of Kaiser's age his youngsters would be useless as military homing pigeons. They took it all back when one of them, Little Caesar, won a 320-mile race from Dallas to Camp Crowder in competition with some of the best birds in the Army. There is no logical explanation for the Kaiser's hardiness except for the fact that he lives under ideal conditions at the Crowder lofts. He and the latest of his many mates, Lady Belle, live alone in a white loft away from the other loft buildings. The only difference between their loft and those of the other pigeons is that Kaiser and Lady Belle have an electric heater-a small concession to Kaiser's old age. Although a "member" of the United States Army, Kaiser still wears a seamless aluminium identification band on his left leg, bearing the seal of the German Imperial Crown. This band was placed there by his German keepers when he was a week old, and it cannot be removed unless cut from the leg. To see Kaiser's photo, please visit "The Pigeoneers" section on the website; www.pigeonsincombat.com or log onto http://www.pigeonsincombat.com/thepigeoneerswebpage.html and scroll down.

I hope all is very well with you and yours best regards Al Croseri’ whom I thank for his contribution.

Motorists at risk

I received this email and at first thought it was a joke but it is not and as most of us fanciers drive I thought it could be valuable information for all to know. This is not a joke and should be taken in a serious manner; one of my neighbours lost his licence because of this and has been unable to drive for at least 9 months. Please read on:

According to the DVLA, all drivers risk prosecution if you fail to spot the extremely small print on your photo card licence, which says it automatically expires after 10 years and has to be renewed - even though drivers are licensed to drive until the age of 70.
Motoring organisations blamed the government for the fiasco and said 'most' drivers believed their licences were for life. A mock-up driving licence from 1998 when the photo cards were launched shows the imminent expiry date as item '4b.' They said officials had failed to publicise sufficiently the fact that new-style licences - unlike the old paper ones - expire after a set period and have to be renewed.
To rub salt into wounds, drivers will have to pay £20 to renew their card - a charge which critics have condemned as a 'stealth tax' and which will earn the treasury an estimated £437 million over 25 years. Official DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired last summer, so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding. With another 300,000 photo card licences due to expire over the coming year, experts fear the number of invalid licences will soar, putting thousands more drivers in breach of the law and at risk of a fine.
At the heart of the confusion is the small print on the tiny credit-card-size photo licence, which is used in conjunction with the paper version.
4b: The small print on the back of the driving licence is easy to miss.
Just below the driver's name on the front of the photo card licence is a series of dates and details - each one numbered.
Number 4b features a date in tiny writing, but no explicit explanation as to what it means. The date's significance is only explained if the driver turns over the card and reads the key on the back which states that '4b' means 'licence valid to.'
Even more confusingly, an adjacent table on the rear of the card sets out how long the driver is registered to hold a licence - that is until his or her 70th birthday. A total of 25 million new-style licences have been issued but - motoring experts say - drivers were never sufficiently warned they would expire after 10 years.
The DVLA said that failure to update the photo card after 10 years fell into the same category as failing to inform them of a change of address. Check you licence expiry date today!This is no joke I have checked my own licence and it is correct mine expires 04-04-16 however this must have been renewed in 06 as it has the dates of the front of the card; it will only take you a couple of minutes to check and it is well worth doing so; thanks to the fancier who sent in this information for us to share with one another.

This Week’s Photographs

The first is of the Forfar lads highlighted above; the second is of Catherine Jarvis presenting Jock Scott of Kennoway with his trophy at the Glenrothes presentation as he won it in the club yearling race; the third picture was taken in the scribes room at Blackpool show and shows some of the Reeves family and friends talking and Mike Staddon who writes a good article in the pigeon press and is a top class fancier as well standing.

Catherine Jarvis and Jock Scott

Reeves family and Mike Staddon at Blackpool

Jokes

Scottish Wives; Three men married wives from different countries. The first man married a woman from China. He told her that she was to do their dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the third day, he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away. The second man married a woman from Italy. He gave his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. The first day he didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done and there was a huge dinner on the table. The third man married a girl from Scotland. He ordered her to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything but by the third day, some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye, and his arm was healed enough that he could fix himself a sandwich and load the dishwasher.

Meeting the Pope; on winning a competition at school to meet thePope; young Johnny was over the moon. Being of primary school age he set off forRome withhis dad and got tothe Vaticanearly for the meeting which wasto be a group session with lots of other lucky young children. Uponwalking up to the gates little Johnny's father noticed there was a sign stating that thePope would be seeing people at 11:00am andagain at 2pm. They decided to go at 11:00 am and to go and see a bitofRome after.Johnny decided he must wear his beloved newCelticshirt and whilst standing proudly in the queue he noticed a young ladnear the front wearing aRangers top! To his horror when thePope cameout to see the visitors he made straight for the lad in theRangers shirt by-passing the one or two children standing in front of him.Johnny was so distraught he immediately left the line and ran to hisdad in floods of tears, and told him what had happened! 'Don't worrysaid his dad, we'll go and buy aRangers top and we can come back at2:00 pm, Johnny was a little hesitant but really wanted to visit the Pope so off they went. Come 2:00 pm Johnny is standing waiting
outside theVatican when thePope appears, to his delight thePope without hesitation came straight over to Johnny bent down andwhispered in his ear'I thought I told you to bugger off'.

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 after 7pm week days or email me at  joejmurphy@blueyonder.co.uk  Or log onto www.elimarpigeons.com  www.pigeonglobe.co.uk www.Pigeonportal.com or www.racingpigeonsuk.com who wish my weekly contribution for my up to date portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland.

© Compiled by Joe Murphy