THE RACING PIGEON 19 APRIL 2024
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Adam Donaldson who had a number of friends in West Cumbria and on one occasion when Alex and Adam were visiting West Cumbria they took Scott with them. One of the loft’s which they visited that day was that of Johnny Mossop and Billy Moore at Distington. An immediate friendship was formed and as the years passed, Scott obtained quality bloodlines from his friends in West Cumbria. Scott Junior had taken an interest in his father’s pigeons from when he was a wee lad and by the time he was 12 years old he had matured into was a very proficient fancier and was an important part of the partnership with his father. The pigeons that they obtained from Mossop and Moore were superb with a number of top quality specimens having emerged, scoring at the highest level year after year. In 1991 they won the Niort National with their winner being a fabulous pigeon on the day. The convoy was liberated at 7.05am with the Irving part- nership timing their winner at 5.51pm to record a velocity of 1529ypm from 600+ miles and heading the result by 100ypm. At the subsequent SNFC presenta- tion, they received a number of the prestige trophies of the club including The Robert Telfer Trophy for the best average from all five National races. As the years passed they scored on an on-going basis from the Classics and were known across the country. In 1997 they won their second National from Sartilly. On this occasion the convoy was liberated at 6.30am into a NNW wind with the partners timing the winner at 9.15pm. It was the only arrival into Scotland on the day of liberation, recording a velocity of 873ypm, which was appreciably different from the velocity of their Niort winner. In time, Scott Junior acquired his own property in Annan and formed his own loft, choosing to remain a member of Brydekirk Club with the success story continuing unabated As the years
moved forward Scott made friends with several very able fanciers and as a result he obtained superb bloodlines, which made a considerable impression on his loft. One fancier with whom he formed a friendship was George Hilson from Bury who not only assisted him with stock but provided meaningful advice. He enjoyed an exceptional season in 2013 scoring promi- nently through the National programme with the high- light being winning the SNFC extreme distance event from Ancenis with the only arrival on the day. In 2017 he timed three birds in quick succession from Falaise to be 1st, 2nd & 3rd Open National recording veloci- ties of 1980, 1970 and 1969ypm. The Falaise National winner was named ‘Mo’s Pride’, taking its name from George Hilson’s late wife. Sire was received as a gift from the noted Wall, Lunt and Green partnership and bred a number of good pigeons. Dam of the National winner was strongly fancied from when it was a youngster and was ‘put by’ for stock. She was bred from a pair of pigeons from George Hilson. In recent years further members have joined the Club including Annan fanciers Roy Seaton and Johnny Kirkup and his grandson, Aaron and Dumfries fanciers David & Rosemary Osborne, Karl Guenther and his grandson Lewis and more recently, Rab Jardine. My focus on compiling this article, however, has been on the original members who made the club so special. I made previous reference to how the fanciers in the village supported each other with the friendship being such that when any one of them had a real good pigeon, their friends obtained one from it without one penny changing hands. It is difficult to explain and is best described by making reference to when James Dalgliesh parted with his pigeons. It should be under- stood that in 2012 he won the SNFC Gold Cup race
from Alencon and one week later timed another really good bird from the SNFC extreme distance event from Niort to be 2nd Section 3rd Open. In 2013 he was up with the leader again from the Gold Cup race from Alencon being 4th Section 45th Open and in 2015 he was once more right at the front, being 2nd Section 2nd Open from the Blue Riband race from the same race-point. One year later the Gold Cup race was flown from Reims and once again he was up with the leaders to be 2nd Section 10th Open. Following the Reims National in 2016 I went to his home to obtain details of the winning pigeon and it was apparent that he was not in the best of health as I was only given brief details. I then learned that his state of health was such that he was parting with his birds. Had this loft of pigeons been sold at Auction they would have realised a considerable sum of money but recollecting how all the fanciers in the village had gifted him pigeons when he entered the fancy as a boy, when he parted with his birds James chose to put them in a basket, take them to the Club Room at Brydekirk and tell his fellow members to take their pick. That to me describes true friendship. In my youth I used to meet up with fancier friends on a Saturday night in the Blue Bell Inn in Annan. These were magical nights with fanciers in attendance from Annan and Brydekirk. In our midst were such noted names as John and Matt Jamieson, Jim Soutar, George Hind and James Dalgliesh and I hung onto their every word. Come August and September, the Brydekirk contingent was easily recognised as they wore Corn Dolly’s on the lapels of their jackets, which had been made by Johnny Beattie, affectionately known as ‘Winter’. When questioned about the badges that they wore the Brydekirk lads would smile and say “We’re members of the Harvester’s Club”.
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