Whenever pigeon fanciers get together in this part of the world the topic of conversation inevitably gets round to long distance racing and sooner or later within the conversation the name of Peter Virtue crops up, such is the impact this man has made within the history of Scottish long distance racing.
The Man Himself
Peter Virtue is known the length and breadth of the country as an outstanding distance fancier, a fancier who is at the top of his sport and has been for many years, he is a man with a wealth of experience and knowledge, gained from the 56 years he has been involved in the sport of pigeon racing.
Peter is a real family man and is always full of admiration for the support and help he gets from his wife Jean who shares his enthusiasm for his hobby, he also has two grandsons who he actively encourages to get involved with the birds, Brodie the youngest at six years old now has his own little section built on to the end of the main racing loft and I have no doubt Peter will have him tutored in his methods before he is very much older.
Here we have a man who loves his pigeons and the sport of pigeon racing, anyone who is in his company soon realises how much he loves to talk pigeons he is one of these very fortunate fanciers who is blessed with an excellent memory and can recollect individual pigeons and events that happened way back to his early days in the sport and it’s this knowledge combined with Peters determined character and his excellent stock sense that has gone together to produce one of the finest families of racing pigeons in Britain if not Europe today.
How many of us involved in this truly wonderful sport will be able to have the satisfaction of knowing that no matter what that your name will live on in the record books, yes some of us will be remembered for the odd win here and there or a succession of good performances but to have the fulfilment of creating your own highly successful family goes way beyond the realms of the ordinary fancier.
A winner of no less than 4 National races and countless other excellent open and section positions over the years.
The first National win came in 1968 from S.N.F.C. Avranches some 502 miles to the Cockburnspath loft then in 1973 he won the Usher Vuax Beauvais 1st Scottish Section and
1st Open Avaranches 1968 1st Scottish Sect 25th International Beauvais
25th International again over the 500 mile mark, in 1994 the success story continued when he recorded his third National win this time again from Beauvais with the S.N.F.C. and last season saw Peter crown a tremendous winning spell with the Scottish National Racing Pigeon Club by winning the Arras National 444 miles on a very hard day, Peters winner recording a velocity of 991 ypm.
Anniversary Boy 1st Open Beauvais 1994.
The Blair & Brodie Cock 1st Open Arras 2008
It’s in the hard channel events where Peter’s birds seem to excel although his pigeons can win from the first race of the season through to the last no matter what the weather conditions.
The Early Years
Peter was born in the small Berwickshire village of Ayton in the south East of Scotland in 1938 he was educated in the village school and started working on the farm on leaving school at the age of 15. He left working on the land to start a job with British Rail in 1960 were he climbed to the responsible post of a Manager in British Rails Civil Engineering department a job which he did creditably and with great enthusiasm up to his retirement in 1994.
His first involvement with pigeons was at the tender age of eight, even as a small boy he marvelled at the magic of birds being able to home to their lofts from far away places. He kept a pair of pigeons for a while that he got from a local Ayton fancier Jimmy Gunn but it wasn’t until 1952 when the family moved to the village of Cockburnspath or Co’Path as it is known locally that the pigeon bug really set in.
The young Virtue was fascinated at the intensity of the sport within this small village and this was something he had set his heart on being part of, his mind was made up then that this was what he wanted to be involved in, so with his mothers blessing the first loft was founded and Peter was on his way, little did he know in these early years that he would achieve the heights and gain the esteem in which he is held all over within the pigeon sport today.
The Co’Path club in these days had a membership of fourteen, a phenomenal amount of lofts for a village of its size, the top distance men in the club at that time were Jim Crow, George Armitage, Darling & Gray and of course the Fairbairn’s all household names in the East of Scotland in fact Peters first ever pigeon to score from Rennes was a chec hen bred from a 10 year old hen he got on loan from old Jim Crow this was a magnificent hen and was from the legendary Dr Anderson of Armadale through R L Donaldson of Dunbar.
R L Donaldson had a fabulous loft of pigeons with many fine specimens of the old Sion and Bricoux family’s direct from Dr Anderson, Peter recalls the story of how old Jim Crow came to have this pigeon. Apparently old Crow used to supply Donaldson with grain off the farm during the war and post war years when grain was very scarce and hard to get, the arrangement was that in return Jim would get his pick of the loft, on this occasion a lovely checker hen caught his eye and when he picked her out Donaldson said that this was one he had just bought from the Doctor, old Crow offered to pick another but true to his word Donaldson insisted that if this was the one he fancied that this was the one he would get as this was their bargain. This hen turned out to be a super breeder for the Crows.
The first pigeons he had came from the local fanciers mentioned earlier Darling & Gray, George Armitage and Crow Brothers. In 1956 Peter purchased his first Pigeon Racing Gazette and in this edition was an article by Reg Barker of Essex after reading this he was so impressed by Barkers pigeons and their performances that he set his mind on raising the money to buy some of these birds, as it would happen in the 1957 January edition of the Gazette there was a full page advert placed in it by Barker offering birds for sale. By this time Peter had scraped up enough money to be in the position to contact Mr Barker with the view of ordering some youngsters. We should keep in mind that money was very tight in these days as wages were low so it took quite a considerable effort on his part to raise the necessary capital for this purchase. Fortunately Reg Barker must have taken the young Peters efforts to heart as not only did he sell him three youngsters off his third round he also sent him 6 eggs off his race team as a present, the eggs were included in the cardboard box along with the youngsters and sent by train, incredibly four of the eggs hatched. Later that year Peter also sent for two late breds from Barker one of which turned out to be an outstanding dark hen these Barker pigeons were to become the foundation of the Virtue family.
The Main Racing Loft
One of the racing cocks sections Hens section
The Lofts & Methods
The lofts are situated in the rear garden of Peter’s bungalow in Callander Place and consist of the main racing loft, which measures 35ft in length by 10ft wide there is also a separate 12 x 12 stock loft housing around six or seven pairs of stock pigeons.
Peter usually houses around 20 pairs, which since 2004 have been raced celibate; prior to this the pigeons were raced on the natural system with great success. One of the deciding factors in changing to racing them celibate was the number of losses to hawks, until then Peters birds enjoyed an open loft but enough was enough, too many quality birds were being taken by the predators.
So the decision to race celibate was made and through stringent observation and experimentation, tweaking things here and there as necessary he has perfected this method of flying to suit his own family of birds and how they have responded one only has to look at the results since 2004 to substantiate this fact.
The first thing that hits you when you enter the Virtue lofts is how peaceful and serene the birds are; they appear to respond to their master immediately as soon as they see him oblivious of who else is present.
The pigeons are paired around the third week in February and are allowed to rear the first round of youngsters, once down on the second round of eggs they are separated when the first pair laid have been sitting eight days irrespective of the fact that there might still be the odd one or two youngsters in the nest these are left with the cock birds to complete rearing this generally co insides with the first race to which they are sent paired up.
Prior to the season commencing they are given two training tosses of 10 and 18 miles; they are not trained again through the season only exercised and raced, it is not uncommon for Peters birds to fly for over 2 hours when out exercising.
Peter does not treat his pigeons but always has a well stocked medicine cabinet just in case there is a problem which if arises is dealt with specifically at the time, he strongly believes in building up a natural immunity within his birds, evidence of this is abundantly clear when you view the inmates the vitality and vigour is virtually bursting out of them.
I am often asked “What does he give them, what does he put in the drinkers” sorry folks there are no magic potions the Virtue pigeons are supremely healthy and fit, that is the difference, combined of course with the fact they have been cultivated carefully over the years and managed by an expert fancier.
Cultivation of the Family
As previously mentioned Peters early pigeons were from the Reg Barker family, which in turn were created by the master himself using a combination of the following four famous old English strains: AG Spare F H Jarvis, J W Bruton and Tom Clarke.
Peter visited Barker’s lofts in 1964 and was hugely impressed with his loft and pigeons, what a vitally important part they have played in the formation of his own family.
The biggest influence in the creation of the Virtue Family has no doubt been the original Dark Chec Barker late bred hen (Ref 1), she herself was responsible for 7 direct pigeons to win at the channel including Peter’s first National winner from Avranches, this wonderful hen is the foundation of the loft.
Another very important introduction was a 7-year-old Dark Chec cock (Ref 2) who came from the local loft of Jim Crow he had flown Rennes 3 times and sired 3 National prizewinners before Peter purchased him at 7 years old this pigeon contained the Dr Anderson bloodlines.
Once established in the Virtue lofts he went on to breed another 7 channel prizewinners and was the sire of the Avranches National winner when paired to the fore mentioned Ref 1 Foundation hen.
It truly makes unbelievable reading when you look at the list of winners descended from these two pigeons and to crown it all these descendants have not only won at the distance but also bred a multitude of winners, this is where the skill of the expert breeder takes over as we all know how easy it is to loose a good line if not handled carefully.
I will endeavour to highlight some further examples of the outstanding breeders and racers that have graced the Virtue loft.
A nephew of the 1968 Avranches winner a Pencil Blue cock bred 8 National prize-winners including 1st Open Beauvais 1973.
A Blue Bar hen bred from a full brother to the Dark Ref 1 scored 3 times at the channel and bred 7 birds to score in the Nationals and was very closely related to the pencil blue above.
The 1968 Avranches winner a lovely dark hen out 1 & 2 certainly left her mark within the family her bloodlines are still winning for Peter at this present time his 2008 Arras national winner is a G/G/Grandson of her this pigeon features prominently in the creation of the strain.
A direct daughter of the Avranches winner another Dark hen herself bred 8 pigeons to score in the Nationals including 7th 8th and 10th Open positions.
An outstanding Dark Chec Pied a Grand Daughter of the Avranches hen flew Rennes 5 times scoring three times her best position 3rd Open she went on to breed 5 pigeons to win in the Nationals, the list goes on and on ,I hope I have emphasised the breeding qualities of this wonderful family of long distance racing pigeons.
Continuing on the Dr Anderson theme a cock was introduced from Davy Angus of Symington and he in turn was the g/Sire of his 1st Bauvais National winner. Later a son of Bobby Caruthers Money Maker was introduced he was to sire one of the best pigeons Peter has ever owned, a mealy hen an outstanding racer winning 8th Open Redditch Y.B. National, 3rd, 26th and 277th Open Rennes and also 114th Open Sartilly she also turned out to become a super breeder. In the present day stock loft the number 1 stock hen a blue bar bred out of a Grandson of Peter Thorpe has bred eight direct National prizewinners.
Recent years has seen Jan Aarden pigeons find their way to the Cockburnspath lofts Peter has spared no expense in finding the best of the Aarden’s to bring in and these have been a revelation as a cross and have blended with the Virtue’s superbly and are now producing many big winners.
A grandson of Invincible Spirit a beautiful Dark cock has to date bred 8 National prize winners including Peters 1st Sect 3rd Open Reims 2008 when paired to a grand daughter of “Vlekje” many of Peters present day winners carry her blood.
Another grand daughter of Vlekje in the stock loft is a Chec Pied hen who is the dam of 4 National prize winners including 3rd Open Reims 2007 and 12th Open Arras 2008, pure quality is the only way to describe these pigeons.
Of all the great pigeons he has owned One of Peters favourites was the exceptional racing machine “Peter Thorpe” 3rd Open Rennes twice, 108th Open Rennes and 9th Open Sartilly he also had 11 firsts in the club, this highlights the great versatility of these birds, although he never sired a national prize winner himself his offspring were exceptional breeders and certainly left their mark within the family the 2008 Arras National winner is a Great Grandson of him. Peter Thorpe was tragically killed by a hawk when training, one wonders just what this wonderful pigeon would have achieved had he continued his racing career
Peter Thorpe 2 x 3rd Open Rennes. 108th Open Rennes, 9th Open Sartilly
Peter Virtue has enjoyed some wonderful results over the years and has had the great pleasure of owning some fabulous racing pigeons in his long illustrious association with the sport. What does the future hold for this man who has won four Nationals and countless top positions in long distance racing, one thing for sure is the fact that he will not be sitting back resting on his laurels, the desire to win, the desire to be even more successful is still burning within.
One thing we can be certain of is that there will be many more top performances to come from the lofts at Callander Place,
A fifth National maybe I certainly wouldn’t bet against it.
Text Duncan Knox