Published: Wednesday, 30th April, 2008 09:00
Much a Doo for pigeon daft Kieran
By Ally McGilvray
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Kieran Jamieson-McDermott is about to launch into his first season racing this weekend in North Yorkshire.
A BIRD fancier from Galashiels is causing a flap in the world of pigeon racing.
Eleven-year-old Kieran Jamieson-McDermott, of Magdala Terrace, is believed to be one of the youngest to try his hand at the sport in Scotland.
He is preparing to launch into his first season racing pigeons at a meet in North Yorkshire this weekend.
The Glendinning Primary School pupil, who started visiting pigeon shows when he was only six-years-old, overtakes his 51-year-old dad, Eggy, as the youngest member of the Galashiels and District Homing Club.
Speaking to the Border Telegraph while tending to his 60 pigeons at the loft in his back garden, Kieran said: “I’m a little bit nervous but really quite excited about my first race.
“I don’t know anyone else my age who likes pigeons but I started off helping my dad and I really liked them so I started breeding them myself.”
The primary seven pupil was born into pigeons after being conceived during the weekend of one of the country’s biggest pigeon shows in Blackpool in 1996.
Kieran added: “The best bit about keeping pigeons is setting them free and then seeing them flying home.”
The pigeon fanciers race their birds from as far away as France over the course of the season, which runs from April to September.
Kieran’s first race starts in Northallerton on Saturday. His dad, Eggy, said: “It will be difficult in his first year but it’s been noted that he has a special way of handling pigeons.
“Nobody knows the real secret as to how the pigeons find their way home but the trick is to motivate them so they will fly back faster.”
He added: “It is a dying game at the moment and the concerns are there aren’t enough younger people taking up the sport to replace the older generation.”
The pigeon clubs in Galashiels and Selkirk were forced to merge after membership dropped in recent years and they struggled to attract a new generation to the sport.
Joe Murphy, who runs national pigeon website Elimar Pigeon Services, said: “It is very rare to see someone as young Kieran coming into the sport nowadays as so many young people have too many other interests and we wish him all the best for the future.”
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