NEWS FROM SCOTLAND

Reports by Joe Murphy

The weather this past week has been dreadful with snow, wind, rain and frost and it is not any pleasure to go out to the loft on a daily basis. In fact for the first time in my life, I have had to wear gloves while cleaning out the birds, as my hands were so cold. The drinkers were frozen over and had to be taken into the house to be washed out and refilled and, to tell you the truth, I never filled them up as they would be frozen again that night. However, even as cold as it has been, my birds have sat in the aviary all day and some even stay in there overnight, which is beyond me, as there are perches for them inside the loft, but they are happy to stay in the aviary. So during the day, I took photos of the birds’ eyes and have added a few pictures to go with this article as I’m short of photographs.

We did not go up to Kevin’s the past weekend as it was too cold and there was no way I was going to be working outside in this type of weather. As it turned out, Kevin came down with a very bad bout of cold and has been in bed most of the week. By the same token, I am quite happy to be staying at home this weekend and not going to Blackpool, as the weather forecast does not look too good.   

Golden Yellow sire of 4th Open 573 miles

One of my new Deweerdt stock cocks

Pearl Eye who has bred a 1st federation winner

French Events

The events of the past week in France have been horrendous and the loss of innocent life for everyone involved in Charlie Hebdo and the Kocher supermarket has shaken the whole world. It is such a shock to everyone especially to the loved ones left behind and to think that their husband, wife, dad or mum should leave to go to work or the supermarket and never return - this is so sad.

Pigeon Sport

Many people within the sport need to take a step back and look at the problems within our sport and realise that they are nothing compared to the above. We keep pigeons as a hobby, to get enjoyment from racing them and we should never lose touch with this fact. Our sport is not about the politics or control aspects that go on in each area where fanciers are barred from racing because they win too much and changes are made to radius etc to keep these people out. If someone is caught cheating then, yes, they should be banned, but otherwise let us enjoy our sport and realise that it is not a life-and-death situation compared to the above.    

SNFC 2015

New committee and officials voted on at the SNFC annual general meeting are as follows: President is J McCord, Sen Vice President, W Smith, Junior Vice President, T Davidson. The management committee members are: A McKee, M Lawson,  J Smith, J Baillie, R White, G Firth, E McLintock, W Davidson, H Wallace, T Haggarty, S Donaldson, A Garven, C Walker, D Elliot, and B Kinnear. The annual subscription fees for 2015 have increased to £35.00 per loft and the inland only fees have also increased to £15.00 per race. The race programme for 2015 is Billericay: Portsmouth: Alencon (Gold Cup), Ypres, Ancenis, Clermont and Buckingham for the Young Bird National. My thanks to Mary Pryde, club secretary, for the above information.

Good SNFC Birds

This week I finish off the pigeons that have won Silver Awards in the National during the 2014 season and start with the SHU ‘Fanciers of the Year’ Richard and Jamie Combe of Elphinstone, East Lothian. Their blue chequer hen SU07E 84 won 3rd section B 6th open Niort in 2012, then won 4th section B 14th open Ancenis in 2013 and finally in 2014 she won 32nd section B 96th open Alencon to win her SNFC Silver Award.

The second pigeon belongs to Angus Simpson of Lauder Scottish Borders with blue chequer hen SU10SB 1407, winner of 17th section B 71st open Clermont in 2012. Then she won 2nd section B 9th open Ancenis in 2013 and was sent back to the same race point in 2014, where she won 5th section B 29th open Ancenis when only 47 pigeons made it home from this race. So she did well to win her SNFC Silver Award. 

Last, but not least, is the wonderful hen of George & Brian Hunter, Dunfermline, whose blue hen SU07F 7021 Kingdom Spirit won a Double SNFC Silver Award in 2014 to add to her Gold Award already achieved and she has also been the SHU bird of the year in 2010 when she won the Dewar Trophy and was runner up for this prestigious award in 2011. Her SNFC wins are as follows: 2010 she won 7th section C 26th open Reims; same year she won 2nd section C 30th open Clermont. In 2011 she won 2nd section C 31st open Messac and again doubled back into the Clermont race in which she won 31st section C 69th open. In 2012 she competed from the Gold Cup race of Alencon and won 4th section C 36th open and in 2013 she won 8th section C 22nd open Alencon and 41st section C 90th open Clermont. Then in 2014 she won 18th section C 120th open Alencon. Clermont is 524 miles, Reims 567 miles, Messac 573 miles and Alencon 547 miles and she has competed against birdages of 1102 up to 1741 in these 8 races. A truly wonderful pigeon and raced by a dedicated father-and-son partnership who appreciate the quality of this fine pigeon. I will continue with other good pigeons that have won in the Scottish National, but felt that the Gold and Silver Award winners deserved to be covered first. Once again, I ask is you have a photograph of your pigeon that has done well over the years, then forward me a copy and I can use it in the column.

Joe’s Joke

Just when I thought my wedding day could not get any better my mother-in-law died, after choking on some food at the reception. It was the icing on the cake.

I thought my wife’s hearing was getting worse and I decided to test it. I stood behind her in the kitchen and whispered ‘What’s for dinner?’ Sure enough she didn’t answer so I asked again a little louder. Again there was no reply so I asked again, this time speaking in my normal volume. She turned round and said ‘For the third time, sausages’. 

This is something to think about when negative people are doing their best to rain on your parade. So remember this story the next time someone who knows nothing and cares less tries to make your life miserable. 

A woman was at her hairdresser's getting her hair styled for a trip to Rome with her husband... She mentioned the trip to the hairdresser, who responded:  "Rome? Why would anyone want to go there? It's crowded and dirty. You're crazy to go to Rome. So, how are you getting there?"  "We're taking Qantas," was the reply. "We got a great rate!"  "Qantas?" exclaimed the hairdresser. "That's a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they're always late. So, where are you staying in Rome?"  "We'll be at this exclusive little place over on Rome’s Tiber River called Teste." "Don't go any further. I know that place. Everybody thinks it's going to be something special and exclusive, but it's really a dump."  "We're going to go to see the Vatican and maybe get to see the Pope." 
"That's rich," laughed the hairdresser. You and a million other people trying to see him, he will look the size of an ant. But, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it..." A month later, the woman again came in for a hairdo. The hairdresser asked her about her trip to Rome. "It was wonderful," explained the woman, "not only were we on time in one of Qantas’ brand new planes, but it was overbooked, and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a handsome 28-year-old steward who waited on me hand and foot. And the hotel was great! They'd just finished a £5 million remodelling job, and now it's a jewel, the finest hotel in the city. They too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us their owner's suite at no extra charge!" "Well," muttered the hairdresser, "that's all well and good, but I bet you didn't get to see the Pope."  "Actually, we were quite lucky, because as we toured the Vatican, a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder, and explained that the Pope likes to meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet me. Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand! I knelt down and he spoke a few words to me"  "Oh, really! What'd he say?"   He said: "Who the Hell did your hair?"

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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE.

---