The Joe Murphy Column

What a week this has turned out to be with the weather utterly atrocious with snow; frost and a bitter cold north east wind; we were put on Red Alert today Wednesday 28th February with everyone advised to stay indoors and not to drive. I closed the windows that allow the birds to go into the aviary as the snow was blowing into the loft and if there is one thing I can’t stand is a wet floor or dampness in the loft. When I went into the birds the drinkers were frozen solid and this was with them in the loft so that the birds could get a drink. As for cleaning out you would have been better with a hammer and chisel to lift the droppings and believe it or not some of my birds have laid their first egg. I thought that with it being so cold they may have been a few days later in laying but they must be in good order and now the new season begins.

Presentation

Received information from Andrew Eadie of the Cambusnethan & Morningside club annual award ceremony with guests for the evening Angus Orr of Brighton who along with his father had some cracking positions over the last few seasons SNFC best positions being 2nd section 6th open, 5th section 46th open from Alencon. 5th section 57th open, 12th section 125th open, 20th section 200th open, 25th section & 229th open; Second guest was Davie Jamieson of East Calder his positions at the distance are second to none, the best being 2nd & 3rd open Ancenis is 2013, 4th open Ancenis is 2014, 11th open Ancenis is 2016, 10th open Ancenis is 2016, 16th open Ancenis is 2017, 3rd open Eastbourne 2008 and 1st section 19th open Alencon.    Tom Richardson in Lanarkshire federation won the Beattie Trophy for the Best opposite sex Ypres; The Peter Scott memorial trophy for the 1st nominated bird from Ypres; The Robert Telfer & Son Trophy for the young bird average in the East section. The East section combined average winner; Tom also had 5 section E wins in the SNFC with some fantastic results; from Buckingham with 495 members sending 4,170 birds he won 4th section E 7th open; 7th section 17th open; 16th section 42nd open; From the Ypres race he won 3rd section 62nd open from an entry of 2.320 birds sent by 409 members; He also won 6 x 1st prizes in the club and he also won 38 tickets in the first 7 birds in the club (a good year well done Tam Joe M). Jackie & Kevin Miller won Lanarkshire federation 1st section and the icing on the cake was finishing 9th overall in the UK Golden Duif awards with average of 14 pigeons over the 5 races; (well done lads Joe M). The partnership of Eadie & Kelly in the Lanarkshire federation won the T Brown memorial trophy for best old bird inland average; they also had 5 section wins which included 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 15th, open and taking the 1st section positions 7 times. From the SNFC Buckingham race they won 6th section E 16th open, 14th section 36th open, 18th section 49th open from an entry of 4170 birds, From the Bedhampton race with 634 members sending 6065 birds they won 2nd section 13th open; they also had 6 x 1st prizes and won 32 tickets in the first 7 places in the club. Tony McGinn was another member who had a good season; winning 2nd section E 25th open from the Falaise SNFC race which turned out to be a disaster for the 802 birds entered and pools not bring won from 6 of the 7 sections entered in the race.  Willie Smart won in the Lanarkshire federation the T Robertson Trophy for winner of the young bird open race. Cambusnethan & Morningside fanciers achievements are as follows; Lanarkshire federation 1st section 1st open J K Gillon, Tam McSorley 1st section;  John McDougal 1st & 2nd section and 1st section open was I Fairley. The evening finished off with a talk asking the 2 guest questions on their management and strain. A good night was had by all and a special thank you to our guests Angus and Davie.

Davie and Andrew Eadie                                                                 Jackie amd Kevin Miller with Davie

Tam Richardson

Tony McGinn and Davie                                                                                        Wullie Sharp with Davie

Good SNFC Birds

This week I have found some birds that have won twice in 2107 in the national; needless to say there will be others but I can only do so many each week and this week I cover 5 birds, starting with SU15 230 blue bar hen raced by W Ayres of Duns. She won 36th section B 127th open from Buckingham flying a distance of 265 miles. She then went to Bedhampton a distance of 343 miles and won 120th section B 461st open. Moving now to West Lothian we come to the loft of Hope Brothers and Bryce of Stoneyburn their blue bar cock rung SU13W 1245 won 64th section D 536th open from Bedhampton flying 362 miles; he then went to Ypres a distance of 438 miles and he won 6th section D 54th open. Continuing in a westerly direction we come to D McCullen of Kilmaurs in Ayrshire whose mealy cock SU13A 7612 won from the two inland nationals in 2017 being 13th section F from Buckingham a distance of 289 miles he then went into the Bedhampton race a distance of 362 miles and he won 19th section F 587th open.  Coming back to the Kingdom of Fife we go to the loft of J Lumsden of Newport on Tay his chequer cock SU15F 84 won 50th section C 171st open from Bedhampton a distance of 393 miles he then went to Ypres a distance of 454 miles and he won 197th open however did not win a section prize as they were all gone.  We now go over the Firth of Forth to the loft of A S Thomson & son of Port Seton; their blue bar cock SU15P 7784 won 61st section B 137th open from Littlehampton in 2016 flying a distance of 370 miles. Then in 2017 he won 33rd section B 108th open from Bedhampton a distance of 363 miles. Congratulations to all the above birds and their owners and I wish them well with their birds in 2018.

This Week’s Photographs

The 2 pigeon pictures from Jim Hannah are of Annie Mac raced by J Hynd & son Ian of Cowdenbeath in Fife; the second bird is Burnside Queen raced by double Gold Cup winner John Duthie of Dundee. The other pictures are from Andrew Eadie taken at his club presentation except for the ‘Loft Visit’ to Tam Richardson.

Visitors looking for a loft report at Tam Richardson's

 Joe’s Joke

When I received this joke I never stopped laughing hope you ENJOY.

While riding my motorbike yesterday, I swerved to avoid hitting a deer, lost control and landed in a ditch, severely banging my head. Dazed and confused I crawled out of the ditch to the edge of the road when a shiny new convertible pulled up with a very beautiful woman who asked, "Are you okay?" As I looked up, I noticed she was wearing a low cut blouse with cleavage to die for...
"I'm okay I think," I replied as I pulled myself up to the side of the car to get a closer look. She said, “Get in and I’ll take you home so I can clean and bandage that nasty scrape on your head.” "That's nice of you," I answered, "but I don't think my wife will like me doing that!" "Oh, come now, I’m a nurse," she insisted. "I need to see if you have any more scrapes and then treat them properly." Well, she was really pretty and very persuasive. Being sort of shaken and weak, I agreed, but repeated, "I'm sure my wife won't like this." We arrived at her place which was just few miles away and, after a couple of cold beers and the bandaging, I thanked her and said, "I feel a lot better, but I know my wife is going to be really upset so I'd better go now." "Don't be silly!" she said with a smile, while unbuttoning her blouse exposing the most beautiful set of boobs I’ve ever seen. "Stay for a while. She won't know anything. By the way, where is she?" "Still in the ditch with my motorbike, I guess."

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 Email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE AND THE 1 AFTER MY NAME; OR log onto www.elimarpigeons.com www.fancierchat.co.uk www.pigeon-chat.co.uk and www.Pigeonbasics.com - Pigeon Racing the Basics! Who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland

© Compiled by Joe Murphy