NEWS FROM SCOTLAND. By Joe Murphy

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1 By Joe Murphy A short article this week as I have not been feeling 100% with the sickness bug (caught it from the grandchildren) and it has taken its toll on me and I have struggled for the past few days. 1950s five-times SNFC winner Received a phone call from John MacLauchlan of Fauldhouse who spoke to me about my Good SNFC Birds feature in my column. John informed me that his uncle George MacLauchlan flew the pigeons in Whitburn and had an exceptional blue hen that won 5 times from France and wondered if I would like to cover it in column. George was also the owner of a pub in the town of Whitburn and flew in partnership with Willie Morrison as Morrison and MacLauchlan and their blue hen was rung SURP52 W Now at that time the SNFC only had 2 races from Rennes and Nantes. As a 3 year old in 1955 the blue hen was sent to the Gold Cup race from Rennes with an entry of 6201 birds and she won 115th section 219th open winning 57 and recorded a velocity of 754 for the 543 miles. The following year she was entered into the Nantes race a distance of 605 miles this turned out to be a very hard race with John MacGillivray & son of Forth winning the national with a velocity of 690. George had to go and work in his pub and Alex Watson seen the blue hen coming home and he went and timed her in to win 3rd section 6th open from an entry of 837 birds she was flying 605 miles to her home loft and won 409 recording a velocity of 471. The following year she was again sent back to Nantes and this time she won 97th open from an entry of 1399 birds unfortunately she did not win a section prize but recorded a velocity of 630. In 1958 she again went to Nantes and MacGillivray & son of Forth win the national again and the blue hen was timed to win 35th section 116th open winning 22 and recorded a velocity of 962 from an entry of 1733 birds (Oh to have birdage like this nowadays from the longest national race!). John does not know what happened to her for the next 2 years as she did not have any diplomas however as an 8 year old in 1960 she was entered into the Rennes race and she won 28th section 91st open winning 85 from an entry of 4986 birds and recorded a velocity of 551. So you can see she was an exceptional pigeon and the SNFC have been blessed with having quality pigeons and fanciers within their history books. I thank John for his call and for supplying me with the above information.

2 Charity Sale Paul Morrison held a charity sale in aid of Southampton General Hospital as Paul s brother Stuart was in Intensive Care Unit until he passed on the 3rd of December. Paul wanted to thank the hospital for all their help and support and organised a sale of youngsters, however, after obtaining birds from some of the top lofts in Britain he then decided to collect them and save money on carriage. He left Edinburgh at 0400hrs and drove to York to Foxwood Lofts but could not stay long as he was running late; then he headed to Paul & Jane Newbold in Friskney near Boston. They invited Paul in and had a nice chat and cuppa. They even invited Paul to stay the night with them. However he turned this down as he headed to Norwich to Mick Salts loft arriving early in the morning and had a good chat with Mick before heading to just outside Norwich to the loft of Bob Fennich. He then went on to Windsor to the famous Southfield lofts of Mark Gilbert. Mark, though, was not in as he was away training the birds but his dad Geoff was in and showed Paul around the lofts. Paul then left to head to the West Country to the Peasedown St John loft of Geoff and Catherine Coopers. This time he handled the 2 international winners Farmer George and Wollongong (see photos). Then a quick cuppa and he headed north to Leicester to the loft of Dean Pallets; then off again this time to Manchester where he met up with Graham Walkers. By now it was getting late and after a quick look at Graham s birds he headed north to Bonny Scotland covering 1300 miles in the process. Paul has asked me to say a special thank you to Ronnie Creelie and his daughter from Edinburgh as they helped with setting the sale room. Also to ALL the donors and purchasers of the youngsters - without their help he could not have amassed the grand total of 2,350 pounds. Well done to Paul and all the others who helped out. Joe s Jokes A Scotsman and his constantly nagging wife are on holiday in the Holy Land when the wife dies suddenly. He goes to a local undertaker to make arrangements to have her remains flown home to Scotland. The undertaker tells him it will cost 5000 to fly her home but only 50 to bury her locally thus saving him a lot of money. Listen pal says the man, 2000 years ago they buried a guy here and he rose from the grave after 3 days, I'm not taking any chances, she's going home to Scotland. A brunette, a redhead and a blond all worked in the same office with the same female boss. Every day, they noticed their boss left work early. One day, the girls decided that when the boss left, they'd leave right behind her. After all, she never called in or came back to the office when she left early, so how was she to know? The next day, they all three left the office right after the boss left. The brunette was thrilled to be home early. She did a little gardening and went to bed early. The redhead was elated to be able to get in a quick workout at the health club before meeting her dinner date. The blonde was very happy to be home, but when she got to the bedroom she heard a muffled noise from inside. Slowly, quietly, she cracked open the door and was mortified to see her husband in bed with HER BOSS. Ever so gently, she

3 closed the door and crept out of her house. The next day at coffee break, the brunette and redhead decided they were leaving early again, and asked the blonde if she was coming with them. "NO WAY," she exclaimed, "I almost got caught yesterday!" Please continue to keep the news flowing; to Joe Murphy Mystical Rose Cottage 2 Flutorum Avenue Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY1 4BD or phone or to joejmurphy1@gmail.com REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE. Compiled by Joe Murphy April 2015 Geoff and Paul Mark Gilbert s racing loft.

4 Paul with Farmer George.

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