NEWS FROM SCOTLAND

The Joe Murphy Column

Kevin borrowed a ‘Thermal Gun’ to check out some dampness within his house and after using it he had an idea and wished to take a picture of his birds in the loft. He has forwarded these to me and it just shows how much body heat the birds keep in and how their feathers insulated them. You can see a great example of this in picture one with redness on the head of the bird sitting on the bin. You can also see this in the birds sitting on the perch and you can see more of the bird when they are relaxed in the aviary. Makes you wonder if doing this on individual birds prior to a distance race would give you an inclination that the bird was ‘spot on’ so to speak. We are both looking forward to the new season as the birds will now be racing to their new location and hopefully will not go back to the old loft. The yearlings are ‘sticking out’ and I personally am looking forward to seeing how our Daniel Aerens stand up to flying into Scotland. They seem to mature quicker than the other families within the loft but as we all know the basket is the real test and I will keep you informed of their progress.

SNFC Race Points

I have heard about the changes proposed for the SNFC race programme for the 2016 season, with the first inland race from Billericay (which was a success in 2015) then we have Littlehampton proposed against Portsmouth. Then we have Reims against Alencon and I personally agree with this change as it is on the same line and has a shorter English Channel crossing for the birds than Alencon. Reims is also on the same line as Ypres which the club race from just now and this race point has been an outstanding success since it was introduced in 2008. With winners from the section A (south), section B-(Edinburgh area) Section C-(Fife and Angus) and section G (north section: with the outstanding winner ‘Poppy’ away up in Peterhead in 2014. The proposal for the new race point of Roye also makes sense as it is also on the same line as Reims and as we all know the channel crossing makes all the difference to these long distance races. The SNFC have had 3 good races from Reims and the SNRPC have had excellent racing from this same race point for the past 10 years or so. This is one good thing about the other national they have a fixed race programme and stick to it and the SNFC need to so the same. Whatever happens I just hope there are no more changes on race points as every time we go to a new liberation site we end up having quite a few losses and the way things are going that is the last problems we need. I also see there is a proposal for fanciers to phone in their 1st bird within an hour of timing in, this seems to be causing quite a ‘ripple’ amongst members. With some wishing for a special number and not a premium number but this is picking bones in what the national are trying to implement. At present there is the BHW Lib Line arrival line which everyone uses but as we all know not everyone is phoning in their bird’s arrival. This stems back to the time of the ‘charlatan’ when he used this information to his own needs however if there is a ‘doubt’ about security then this need to be ironed out NOW. Another, displeasure is the majority of fanciers have the ETS system which is a great help to everyone. Especially if there is a crisis within the family for example; you have to take someone to hospital, or attend a funeral. Then there is the time when you may have to go into work and let us be honest some people work a Saturday morning. Then we have the problem if the national has a holdover in some of the longer races and this can go on to a Monday. Which can happen especially to fancier in the North section and these fanciers cannot afford to take time of work to wait and see if they GET a pigeon home. So there has to be a concession in events of races like this. I have always been an advocate for fanciers phoning in after they time a bird in but my reason being it would allow the national to put up a probable result on their web site. However the national would have to change their computer software to be in line with other national organisations. So that when fanciers report their birds these are put into the system in a simple forma i.e. the member’s name, town, time and velocity are put onto a result format that everyone can see. Fanciers should also be able to verify a pigeon ON LINE by putting down their membership number: their name: town: birds ring number and time of clocking. (In the BICC you are giving a unique verification code which you note on your clock/ verification slip as proof that you have verified your bird) This system would be at NO EXTRA COST to the fancier as it can be done on your PC, Tablet or mobile phone while you are standing at the loft. This would do away with someone sitting at the lib line phone taking all the information and then adding it onto the Lib Line update service when it would be the responsibility of the fancier to do this the computer would do the rest. I would also like to see the national introduce a film of the liberation (or the weather conditions if it is a holdover) on the national web site. This can easily done now as we have Face Time and you can make recordings on your mobile or tablet and these can then be sent to the national and pasted onto the website. This would save a lot of the ‘unrest’ that happened at Eastbourne last year when the lib line asked fanciers to phone back at such and such a time and then said an update will take place later in the morning. If they had shown a short video clip of the weather problems at the race point this would have saved a lot of inconveniences to fanciers who could have continued with their daily chores. These are just a few of my own personal ideas on progression within the SNFC whether it takes place is another issue but I can assure readers there are many other fanciers who have the same thoughts as myself on the above matters.

Good SNFC Birds

As I have covered all the pigeons who won awards at the national presentation in 2015 I intend to try and cover as many good pigeons that have already won in national races and in some instances only require one more diploma to obtain a Silver Award. I start with Scotland’s Bird of the Year 2015 raced by Billy Bilsland of Ayton this chequer cock Welltower Roman rung SU12L 11434 was sent to the SNFC Gold Cup race from Alencon and won 3rd section B 12th open from an entry of 1416 birds. He was then sent back to the last old bird national from Clermont a distance of 487 miles and he won 32nd section B 87th open from an entry of 1547 birds. He has previously won 63rd section B 152nd open Maidstone in 2013 flying 339 miles. He was then entered of the SNFC Gold Cup race from Alencon in 2014 and won 130th open. He now requires one more section prize from over the English Channel to obtain his Silver Award and we wish Billy and Roman all the best in 2016. As a matter of interest Welltower Roman was bred by Billy’s good friend Billy Holland of Kirkintilloch and was named after Billy Bilsland’s grandson. Sire of the Dewar Trophy winner is a full brother to Farmer George winner of 1st International Bordeaux (Agen) 10.622 birds and fastest from 22.029 birds flying 826 kilometres for Catherine and Geoff Cooper of St Just. The dam of Welltower Roman is a direct daughter of Roger Barcelona winner of 1st national 11.802 birds, 2nd Intentional 22.887birds when he was mated to a daughter of Pedro and Beauty 85 for M & D Desbuquois. So fanciers will see he is a very well-bred pigeon and our congratulations go to both Billy’s on their pigeon winning such a prestigious award.

Our next pigeon is a chequer cock SU13P 60 raced by ‘Super Ally’ AW Robertson of Edinburgh. This cock won 17th section B 27th open from Ypres flying 429 miles in 2014 he was then sent to Clermont in 2015 and won 15th section B 45th open flying 509 miles. This Janssen cock is earmarked for the National Gold Cup race from Alencon in 2016 and we wish Ally all the best and hope he obtains the section prize to obtain his Silver Award.

Staying in the East section we come to the ever consistent Richard and Jamie Combe of Elphinstone who have a chequer pied hen SU13E 651 who has won twice in land and twice from over the channel. Her performances are as follows: in 2014 she was entered for Maidstone and won 93rd section B 130th open flying 357 miles she was then sent to Ypres and won 26th section B 38th open flying 426 miles. Then in 2015 she won 197th open from Billericay but no section prize flying 330 miles and then sent to the Gold Cup race point from Alencon she won 34th section B 106th open flying 533 miles, so like the above birds requires one more section diploma to achieve her goal and we wish the partners all the best.

Obituary

 Received a phone call from Douglas Bald informing me of the passing of 2 Almond Valley members they are as follows;

Charlie Bell of Bo’ness; who flew in partnership with his good friend Alex Dunsmore as Dunsmore & Bell joining in Almond Valley Federation. Charlie’s late wife Nettie asked Alex to take Charlie into the partnership before she passed. Charlie was an ex miner and was part of the organisation team who purchased the Bo’ness transporter that is still part of the club today.

We send our heartfelt condolences to Alex at this sad time.

Peter Keenan of Blackburn: who was a quiet modest man and highly respected by all who knew him. Father Robertson who conducted the service spoke very highly of Peter and to his wife Moira and family we send our commiserations at their sad loss.

Joe’s Joke

Paddy phones an ambulance because his mate's been hit by a car. Paddy: 'Get an ambulance here quick, he's bleeding from his nose and Ears and I think both his legs are broken.'

Operator: 'What is your location sir?'
Paddy: 'Outside number 28 Eucalyptus Street.'
Operator: 'How do you spell that sir?'
Silence.... (Heavy breathing) and after a minute;
Operator: 'Are you there sir?

More heavy breathing and another minute later;
Operator: 'Sir, can you hear me?'
This goes on for another few minutes until....
Operator: 'Sir, please answer me. Can you still hear me?'
Paddy: 'Yes, sorry bout dat... I couldn't spell eucalyptus, so I just
dragged him round to number 3 Oak Street.'

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A married man was having an affair with his secretary. One day they went to her place and made love all afternoon. Exhausted, they fell asleep and woke up at 8pm. The man hurriedly dressed and told his lover to take his shoes outside and rub them in the grass and dirt, he put on his shoes and drove home. 'Where have you been?'  His wife demanded.  'I can't lie to you,' he replied, 'I'm having an affair with my secretary and we had sex all afternoon.'  She looked down at his shoes and said:  'You lying bugger! You’ve been playing golf!'

Please continue to keep the news flowing; to

Joe Murphy Mystical Rose Cottage

 2 Flutorum Avenue Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY14BD

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© Compiled by Joe Murphy