NEWS FROM SCOTLAND
Reports by Joe Murphy
With my advert appearing in the paper last week I had quite a few phone calls but one in particular was very serious as it was a fancier called Roy Fielding Taylor who informed me that his wife had been taken into hospital with cancer and had sadly passed away. When Roy came home he found out that someone had been into his loft and stolen ALL of his pigeons so you could imagine how he felt. We spoke for a while and I said that he would be better to get some birds as this would give him an interest and something to do every day as he would have to go out and feed and water them if nothing else and I would look out for some pigeons to start him up again. Roy told me that he would be back in touch with me later in the week and today as I had not heard from him I phoned his house, only to have his brother answer the phone. He informed me that Roy had taken a heart attack and was in hospital and he feels that the stress of losing his wife and then finding all his pigeons gone has been too much, and I could not agree more. I have spoken to a couple of lads and if and when Roy gets home and if he wishes to start up again then we will try and help him out.
Scottish Homing Union Open Show
Will be held on Saturday 13 December 2014 at Lawrie & Symington Market in Lanark post code ML11 9AX. This is a good venue with plenty of parking and they have a good restaurant that is open all day and serves first-rate quality food, and you can also obtain snacks from the café and there is a separate bar if you wish to meet up with old friends and have a drink. Penning of birds is from 08.00am with the show opening at 10.00am and judging commences at 10.15. This can be viewed by fanciers from the bottom of the hall. Judges for 2014 include J Bosworth, J Jamieson, J McCord, C Rae, B Holland, G Peggie, J McCann, J Mechan & J Hood. All will be allocated their classes on the morning of the show with the exception of J McCann of Ayrshire, who has agreed to judge the Eye-sign classes, and Douglas Telfer, who will judge the Best in Show. Douglas’s choice of class winner went on to win BIS in 2013 and it is the show’s custom to invite that judge who picked the top pigeon to come back and select the Best in Show the following year. The Best in Show top prize is £100 (plus a framed photo donated by Jim Hannah & £20 silver coin donated by John Wheatcroft). Prize money per class is £25.00 with the winner getting £12, 2nd x £8 and 3rd x £5 and there will be 6 tickets per class. Best Young Bird & Best Old Bird in Racing classes 1-10 and £25.00 best Young Bird & Best Old Bird Showing classes 13 to 20 x £25.00. The main presentation will be held in the main hall at approximately 16.00 hours with the birds on show being uplifted at 17.00 hours. The show closes at 17-30 hours. There will also be a warm welcome to former Presidents of the SHU, Sam McFadzean, John Barlow and Jim McGhee as hosts for the Judges’ lunch. The British Fanciers Medical Research Team will also be in attendance taking blood samples from fanciers. There will be some sale birds kindly donated by the 2013 judges at the SHU show and these can be viewed in pens prior to the auction with yours truly Joe Murphy the auctioneer for the day. There will be a couple of stands selling birds from Carl Guenther and a small draft of excess stock birds from Joe Murphy.
For the 3rd year running the SHU Trophies will be presented at this annual show with the ‘Annie Bowes Trophy’ for the Fanciers Fancier of the Year and also the ‘Fancier of the Year’ trophy just 2 of the main awards. Fanciers can meet up and congratulate these top Scottish sportsmen and women and Eddie & Jim McGhee have kindly agreed to make these SHU presentations. Fanciers can obtain ETS rings and other requisites from the SHU stand and there will also be a Lucky Entry Programme purchased at the door on entry for £2 (children are free). This will give you the chance to win a ‘Hamper’ plus there is a Grand Raffle draw held by the SHU.
This SHU show is growing each year and recently have had one of the largest entries of birds at a one day show in the UK, and as a matter of interest ALL birds are penned in single tier pens (which allows you to have a clearer look at the pigeons). There will be trade stands from all over including Coxydene Farm Feeds (Pigeon feeds and products) Kevin Winters - Jim Hannah (Have your pigeons photographed at the show) Belgica de Weerd Brian Lees (Pigeon embroidered items) Swainstons (Pigeon feeds) Delivery Solutions Scotland (Pigeon Couriers) British Fanciers Medical Research (Free testing).
So why don’t you come along to Lanark for a pre-Christmas day out and catch up with old friends at the SHU show and see some of the country’s best pigeons and meet some of Scotland’s top fanciers. You might want to include an overnight stay to enjoy the town of Lanark and the surrounding Heritage attractions. For further information on these please contact Linda Brooks, via the SHU office 01698 768939 or check out the SHU website for photographs of the 2013 event. The Show Committee looks forward to welcoming you all on the day. Could all SHU club secretaries have their tickets stubs and unsold tickets returned to Linda prior to the above event as she had have them ready for the main draw. We all know the raffle is a mainstay for funding and the SHU rely on ALL club secretaries selling these tickets to their members or in some cases ‘buying them for their club’. Last year a couple of clubs won money that went back into their club funds so you never know your luck. Linda expressed that these club secretaries do a brilliant job all the year round for their clubs and the SHU really appreciated that they take the time to go that extra mile for the Union by selling the raffle tickets in the close season. Hope to see as many of you at the show as it is a good day out.
This week’s photographs
Continuing with the SHU theme, past President John Barlow of Glenmavis club has assisted me by supplying a couple of photographs of his pigeons. The first is the blue pied cock who won 1st open Lanarkshire Federation from Gretna 6.554 birds with a velocity of 1800. This was the Lanarkshire Federation centenary year and he won a Gold Medal and John named him ‘Centenary Express’. He scored in the federation the following 2 years but was unfortunately lost from a race from Leicester in 2006. As can be seen, he was a beautiful looking cock and John said he ‘handled like a dream’ and had a fantastic eye-sign. John’s second pigeon is also a blue pied,this time a hen named ‘Chainbridge Blue Moon’ and she too won 1st open Lanarkshire Federation, this time from Otterburn in 2014 from an entry of 5.636 birds. She was bred by David Reed of Chainbridge Lofts and is a Vandenabeele.
Obituary
Jimmy Telfer of Sighthill club in Edinburgh sadly passed away on 5th November after a short illness. Telly as he was affectionately known was a good member to the club and will be sadly missed, none more so than by his partner Pauline and son Kevin and family to whom we send our condolences at this sad time.
Joe’s Jokes
The telephone company needed to hire 4 more telephone pole installers and the choice came down to two from Poland and two Irishmen. So the boss met both teams and said "Here's what we'll do: each team will be installing poles out on the new road for a day and the team that installs the most poles gets the job." Both teams agreed and headed right out to the new road. At end of the shift, when the two Polish guys reported back, the boss asked them how many they had installed. They said it was tough going but they'd managed to put in 12 poles. Forty-five minutes later, Paddy and Mick came back in, totally exhausted. "Well, how many poles did you guys install?" asked the boss, Mick wiped his brow and sighed, "Paddy and me, we got 3 in.” The boss gasped, "Three? Those two Polish blokes put in 12!" "Yeah," said Mick, "But you should see how much they left sticking out of the ground.
and another one...
A mortician was working late one night and he examined the body of Mr Schwartz who was about to be cremated when he made a startling discovery. Schwartz had the largest private part he had ever seen! 'I'm sorry Mr Schwartz,' the mortician commented, 'I can't allow you to be cremated with such an impressive private part; it must be saved for posterity.' So, he removed it, stuffed it into his briefcase and took it home. 'I have something to show you and you won't believe it,' he said to his wife as he opened his briefcase. 'My God!' the wife exclaimed, Mr Schwartz is dead!'
Thought you should know that the book of "Understanding Women" is now out in paperback.
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 to my NEW EMAIL ADDRESS at; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE.
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