NEWS FROM SCOTLAND

Reports by Joe Murphy

The Joe Murphy Column

This past week I have been helping my good friend Gareth Rankin of Larkhall with his Entire clearance sale advert for the BHW (see 23rd October issue) Gareth has some excellent sprint & middle distance families which include the Leo Herman-Ceusters also the Luc and Bart Geerinckx as well as the famous Scottish fanciers George, Willie and Paul Macaloney of Coatbridge. His long distance family are built round his dad’s famous Westbound line of pigeons who won from 60 to 673 miles in club, federation and the Scottish national where they excelled winning the west section 8 timed and the west region averages a record 6 times. They also competed against the best fanciers in the Lanarkshire Social Circle and won the prestigious Gold Cup a record 6 times.  Gareth has continued to raise the crossbar and has a very special pigeon in ‘Marcia’ a 5 times prize winner with the SNFC and she is also a Silver Award winner having won section prizes from over the channel. It is a pity that he is giving up the sport as this hen would have gone on to win a Gold Award of that I’m absolutely certain. The sale takes place this Sunday the 1st of November at Newmains RPC premises (90-94Manse Road Newmains, Lanarkshire, ML2 9BD) Viewing is from 11-30 sale starting at 13-00 I have added a couple of photographs of Gareth’s pigeons to show readers the quality of birds on offer. I wish Gareth all the very best for the future and my good wishes are extended to his disabled mother Marcia.

                                  David son of Rossi                                                    Gladiator Bonnie                                                              Rossi Lad

Rossi Lass

SHU Show

The above show will be held on Saturday 12th December 2015 and the secretary Linda Brooks informs me that arrangements are well underway. The venue is again in the Lawrie and Symington market in Lanark and the facilities are fantastic and it is proving a popular pigeon show. The officials hope to add an extra element for 2015 in the form of a talk on pigeon health and nutrition.  There will be the usual array of stands selling pigeon related products, medications and equipment and the British Fanciers Medical Research Team will again be on hand to take blood samples and give advice to anyone that suspects they may be having an allergic reaction to their pigeons. Linda would like to thank all the fantastic club secretaries who, every year, sell raffle tickets to their members in support of the show.  The raffle is one of our main sources of income and the success of the raffle is down to the efforts of these wonderful secretaries and also the generosity of the members and friends who buy the tickets.  Thank you ALL for your continued brilliant support and you can send back the raffle ticket stub’s along with payment from now so they can be entered in the draw.  The prizes are 1st £200, 2nd £100 3rd £50 and 7 prizes of £25 plus many other prizes. Regarding entering pigeons to the show these entry forms will be available soon and they will also be printed in the Fancy Press for fanciers to apply.  There are 20 classes, with show and race classes plus eyesign and we are lucky to attract entries from all over the country so there is plenty of opportunity to meet friends and fanciers from near and far to enjoy the day in good company.  The restaurant and bar and café are open all day for snacks and lunches with the usual varied menu and all at great prices. Linda is looking to meeting up with everyone on the day and anyone needing further information or wanting to be more involved is welcome and can ring the SHU Office on 01698 768939.

Midlothian Open Show

Received an email from Carrie Winters regarding the above pigeon show, ‘Hi Joe, hope you and the family are all keeping well. My Federation are holding an Open show on the 7th November in St Matthews Church Hall, Carnethie Street, Rosewell, Midlothian EH24 9AT the show will be run under SHU rules. The classes for the day are as follows; 1- Old cock flown 2014/15 2- Old hen  flown 2014/15 3- Likeliest OC handle 4 - Likeliest OH handle  5- OCTW  6- OHTW 7- Midlothian fed hens 8- flown young cocks 9- Flown young hens 10- Young cock handle 11- Young hen handle 12- YCTW 13- YHTW 14 Midlothian fed cocks 15- Old Cock show racer handle 16- Old Hen show racer handle 17- Young Cock show racer handle 18- Young Hen show racer handle. Classes 7 & 14 Birds MUST on the result (TOP 20) of any federation race in 2014/15 season and this is a handling class. The judges have still to be confirmed, and the prize money depends on the amount of entries. For more information contact Carrie Winter 56 Pentland Crescent, Rosewell, Midlothian EH24 9BJ Phone 0131 440 0571 the entries close on Friday 30th October 2015 and all entries are £1 per bird with NO duplications. Penning starts at 09-00 and judging will be at 11-00 prompt’.

Good SNFC Birds

This week I highlight quality pigeons from 3 different areas of the country one from the east, one from the central and the other from the far west of Scotland with the first SNFC winner A S Thomson & son Port Seaton with their chequer cock SU12 P 6400 who won 3 times in the national in 2015 his positions are as follows. In 2014 he won 45th section B 59th open Maidstone a distance of 359 miles he was then sent to Ypres and won 19th section B 29th open flying 428 miles. This year he won 18th section B 24th open Billericay a distance of 332 miles he was then sent to Portsmouth a distance of 363 miles and won 117th section B 197th open and his final race was Clermont and he won 34th section B 95th open flying 509 miles. He only requires one more section prize from the channel to achieve a silver award and we wish the partnership all the best in the future. Next we come to a household name within the Scottish sport D H Ogilvie of Stirling with blue pied cock SU11NW 723 this cock has won 5 times from inland races and will be nominated for a Meritorious Inland Bronze Award his performances are as follows. In 2013 he won 67th section D 416th open from Maidstone a distance of 386 miles, then in 2014 he won from Buckingham a distance of 308 miles being 10th section D 58th open he then went to Maidstone and won 4th section D 74th open. Then this year 2015 he won 16th section D 195th open from Billericay a distance of 360 miles and was then sent to Portsmouth and he won 43rd section D 386th open flying 383 miles. Well done to Norrie for the work put into the pigeon to achieve this award. Our third pigeon is to the loft of G Galbraith of Johnstone with his blue bar cock SU09R 266 who has won 5 times in the national with 4 of these being from over the channel. His performances are as follows in 2011 he won 4th section F from Eastbourne a distance of 403 miles. He has then won in the last 3 consecutive Gold Cup race from Alencon a distance of 547 miles. With his positions being 2013 he won 5th section F the following year he was 2nd section F 60th open and this year he again wins 2nd section F so should win a SNFC Silver Award at this year’s presentation well done Mr Galbraith.

Joe’s Joke

 A man and a woman were having a quiet, romantic dinner in a fine restaurant.  They were gazing lovingly at each other and holding hands. The waitress, taking another order at a table a few steps away, suddenly noticed the woman slowly sliding down her chair, under the table and under the table cloth, while the man stared straight ahead. The waitress watched as the woman slid all the way down her chair and totally out of sight under the table. The waitress, thinking this behaviour a bit risqué, and worried that it might offend the other diners, went over to the table and tactfully began by saying to the man, "Excuse me sir, but I think your wife just slid under the table." The man calmly looked up at her and said: "No, she didn't... she just walked in."

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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 or log onto www.elimarpigeons.com www.fancierchat.co.uk www.pigeon-chat.co.uk and www.pigeoncraic.com who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland.

© Compiled by Joe Murphy