| The
Donaldson's of Scotland
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Jim
Donaldson of Peterhead in Scotland came
into the sport via obtaining some pigeons
for his young son but in due course the
young man became a seafarer and Donaldson
senior was left to take care of the pigeons
obtained from various sources.Thus was
born one of the greatest distance fanciers
of Scotland, indeed of Europe, for he
has a record second to none when it comes
to tough races into the north of the island
of Britain.Covering marathon distances
such as Niort 775 miles after Sartilly
605 miles, Rheims 620 miles, Rennes 650
and Nantes 709 miles.In fact this family
of outstanding racers have won over 100
Diplomas as members of the Scottish National
Flying Club as well as being the winners
of the North Section of the SNFC 16 times.Fantastic
racing and managerial ability by any standard!
The
foundation of the Donaldson loft are pigeons
from another Scottish fancier David Scott
of
Brechin which contained the bloodlines
of the Welsh wizards i.e. the Atwell Bros.Also
the blood of
Norman Dall of Ladybank and a grizzle
hen of Mr Geddes of Greengaris.The initial
foundation of the Donaldson's after the
original liquorice allsorts when first
catching the pigeon racing bug.Eventually
other bloodlines such as that of Lancashire
Rose and Blue Anglia came via Sid Beard
of Hemel Hempstead.The latter input was
of immence importance for from them (and
Scott) came the famous foundation stud
cock bird Circus Boy.Incidentally at time
of writing (October 2005) the great Circus
Boy is still alive aged approximately
23 years.
An
interesting point about the great producer
Circus Boy was that when he was broken
to another site and sent to a 120 miles
race he failed to return for sometime.During
this period his offsprings began to score
well at the races entered. Jim Donaldson
was on high heaven when a fancier in England
reported the pigeon although upon his
return he only looked a spark of his original
self.Circus Boy pulled through however
under the expert care of his master and
lived to produce some of the best pigeons
that the sport has ever experienced.
I
should state that although Jim Donaldson
lost a partner to the seafaring life today
his wife Ann is his partner in the sport.A
partner who in recent years has shared
with him the joy of 1st,4th,6th,7th,7th
Open in the SNFC.May they have many more
years of our sporting life!
by: Liam O Comain
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