JM8/3/10

NEWS FROM SCOTLAND

Reports by Joe Murphy

My young bird exchange has now received about 30 fanciers joining for 2010; with the closing date the 1st April soon approaching; if you wish to join this year then forward your cheque for £25 made out to Joe Murphy; I also require your name address and telephone number and email address if you have one. Once I have all the names in I will make the draw and notify each participant on who they received in the draw; I will also highlight this in my column. One letter was from Ryan Hay who wrote ‘Hi Joe; I would love to again take part in your young bird exchange this year. I was extremely happy last year being drawn against Joe Allan of Easthouses who sent me up two cracking young birds and we went on to win 3rd place which was something. The £50 was a bonus but the taking part and the 2 pigeons I received from Joe and the friendship we have developed since then has been great; we often have a good blether now and again. I really admire the amount of work you put into the sport in Scotland; I try and write an article one a month and struggle so cannot imagine trying to write as much as you do with a weekly column; however keep up the good work and I look forward to the draw to see whom I have in 2010 all the best for now Joe yours Ryan’. This was a nice letter in the respect it highlighted what I started the young bird exchange for; to introduce fanciers to each other in the hope that a friendship would develop and going by Ryan’s letter and the phone calls from fanciers it has worked. Last years winners Stewart Brothers and George Appleton have swapped some youngster this year such is their friendship. Remember the closing date for joining the exchange is 1st April so don’t miss out.

Glenrothes & Leslie presentation

Received the following email from Maxie, the president of the above club; he writes ‘Hi Joe; I would like to start by saying the presentation dance and racenight was a tremendous nightnot only for entertainment but also for club funds and I would just like to thank Catherine and Mel Jarvis for coming along to present the trophies especially Catherine whom I know has beenreally bad with Shingles so a big special thank you to both; also to Margaret and Joe Murphy for joining them and the club members; a big thanks to all the sponsors and 90 people who turned up to support the club which raised £900 pounds,(including 2 pigeons donated by Mick McMurchie which raised £150for club funds)This will be decided at the next meeting by the members what will be done with the money. So on behalf of Glenrothes & Leslie members I would like to thank everybody for turning up and help to make this a great night with special praise for the non fanciers who brought raffle prizes.

The trophy winners for the 2009 season are as follows; Old Birds; Brian Kinnear won the following trophies; Mathieson Trophy for 1st Ripon; The J Currie memorial cup 1st Ypres; Tours trophy 1st Andrezel; Lancaster trophy 1st Wakefield; the Continental Cup for runner up; the Walmer Cup for young birds; the Runner Up trophy for runner up to Fancier of the year and the lowest winning velocity trophy. Stewart Redpath who has now given up the pigeons won the following; the Henderson Cup for 1st Wakefield; the Blacklaw trophy for 1st Leicester and the highest winning velocity trophy. Ian McMurchie won the following trophies; Barclay Trophy for 1st Newbury; T.S. Smith Rosebowl for 1st Eastbourne; the A Spittal trophy for 2nd Falaise; Yearling cup for 1st yearling Leicester; the Sam Green Memorial trophy for best average from the 3 longest inland races; Bob Wilson won the following trophy Itasco trophy for winning the yearling classic; Alistair McCudden who is another fanciers who has given up the sport won the Yearling Derby trophy. Terry Turpie & John McCord won the following trophies; Scottish Brewers shield for old bird average; The Steadman trophy for runner up in the young bird season however they did win the Crawford trophy of the Combine Averages. The Sartilly trophy for 1st bird in Falaise; the Bookmaker trophy for 2nd bird Ypres; the Nairn cup for 2nd bird Eastbourne; and the Prinlaws Trophy for the fancier of the year award. The Maxwell; Bethune and Lowe partnership won the following; the Dutch-Master Trophy for 1st Witton Castle; M.L. Inspection Trophy for 1st Ripon; the Leslie Cup for 1st bird Leicester young birds; The Smith Anderson for the 2nd bird Leicester young birds; the T Donaldson trophy for 1st bird young bird National; the Howe Cup for the best average from the 3 longest young bird race points and finally the young bird Derby winner.’

My thanks to Maxi for his report and I once again would like to say we had a good night at the club presentation with lots of laughter and good banter. I’m happy the non fanciers enjoyed the night out; it was amazing how many of them asked questions about the pigeons. All in all a good night publicising the sport to the local community; when you take into consideration that they had a young school children 3 piece band playing; they had a collection from everyone in the hall and raised £150 split between the 3 children which was not a bad night’s work. The race night part was a scream with the horses (pulled like on a fishing line idea) some of the owners arms were sore after the race and the horses were a lot faster than Mel (ha ha). It was a good night with everyone working together; the ladies in the kitchen who prepared ‘stovies’ and oatcakes; people who brought their own drink and nibbles; last but not least Jimmy Maxwell who worked so hard to make this night such a success; he is a credit to the sport and both his partners and his good mate Jimmy Bell are a credit to the sport; well done lads and I hope you all have a good 2010; I will be watching out for their names in Maxie’s weekly report during the racing season. I will include photographs taken at the night out to go with his article.

Bob Wilson receives his trophy from Catherine Jarvis

Catherine Jarvis presents Ian McMurchie with his trophy

Catherine Jarvis presents the Fancier of the Year trophy to Terry Turpie

Catherine with the Maxwell, Bethune and Lowe partnership

Joke

After having dug to a depth of 10 feet last year, Irish scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than a 100 years old.

Not to be outdone by the Irish, in the weeks that followed, an English archaeologist dug to a depth of 20 feet and shortly after a story published in the Sassenach Morning Herald read; ‘English archaeologists, finding traces of 130 year old copper wire, have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communication network 30 years earlier than the Irish’.

One week later, the Banffshire Courier in Buckie Scotland reported the following:; ‘After digging as deep as 30 feet in his pasture near Clad in Aberdeenshire Jock Broon, a self taught archaeologist, reported that he found absolutely bugger all; Jock has therefore concluded that 130 years ago, Scotland had already gone wireless. It just makes you proud to be a Scot!!!

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.