The Late Billy Parkes of Killyleagh
If you are a keen follower of pigeon racing in Northern Ireland then you must have heard the name Billy Parkes. If you haven’t noticed his name in the past then by the time you read the following article you’ll wonder how in Hell you missed it.
I had often heard or noticed in the NIPA results the consistency of this fancier but never met the man or saw his birds until I attended a reduction sale he was having during the winter of 1972. When I saw the thirty birds he was parting with I said to myself “If the man can afford to part with bird of this quality, then its time I was on my way to pay him a visit”. So, in the company of Eric Carlisle I made my way to Killyleagh. Billy took us to the lofts which were a couple of 16 foot lofts joined together, one in front of the other, and one additional small loft of 8ft x 4ft and 5ft high. What impressed me most of all was that they were obviously built to keep out the rain. Billy maintains that they must be kept in damp free conditions.
Billy Parkes and wife Jean holding a daughter of Eric Carlisle’s famous “Dinard Queen”
Once inside the lofts he started to hand me winner after winner and it was immediately obvious that this was a family of birds with magnificent feather and eyes that are out of this world. They are also magnificent workers on the road and almost unbeatable in the show pen. I asked Billy how he came to cultivate such a magnificent family of birds. His love for pigeons goes back to 1932 when he and his brother George purchased a pair of birds for 6d from Tommy Jordan. When they started to race as Parkes Brothers these birds did well for them up to Penzance and they even clocked them from Landernau. However, pigeons had to take a rest for a while when Billy joined the RAF in 1942 and came out in 1947 after having served in the Far East, including stints in Singapore and Hong Kong. He worked for a time in England before returning home in 1952 to start racing again with Brother George.
“Black Cock” winner of 38th Open INFC Penzance Y/Bird National
To the original birds George had introduced some Greer Galway pigeons. But one of the best birds they had was a Red Cock (Turner Gits) which entered the loft as a stray; it belonged to Jim Gibson of Crossgar and he permitted them to keep it. It turned out to be a great racer and producer. Its children for George have taken 13th and 22nd Open Les Sables and 6th and 16th Open Nantes these are but a few of their better positions in Open competition.
Billy married in 1957 and 2 years later started to cultivate his own family. In the 1959.60 season he went to a reduction sale of birds from the famous Downey & Dowds loft. Here he purchased a Black Fabry Hen. In 1960 he purchased 4 birds from Stan Bloomfield all Fabrys and later he visited the Downey & Dowds loft were he was presented with a pair of eggs and two squeakers out of the nest which he took home in a hanker chief. The eggs were from a brother of “Champ”, twice a Winner of 1st Open NIPA and the squeakers were from “The Swank” which was a son of the “Champ” and a Red Pied Bloomfield Hen. To breed the squeakers the “Swank” was mated to a Black Hen, a daughter of the Black Fabry Hen Billy purchased at the Downy & Dowds sale.
On the left, “Eye-Sign” a direct daughter of the Fabry Cock and Dam of 3 x 1st NIPA Open Winners. On the right, “Blue Cheq Hen” winner of 30th Open INFC Kings Cup 1972 both pigeons bred and raced by Billy Parkes.
So it will be seen that Billy was concentrating on the Fabry blood and his faith in them was justified. He mated one of the Bloomfield birds, a Blue Cock, to a Blue Cheq Hen bred from one of the eggs from “The Champ”. This pair proved to be prolific breeders with winners in every nest. This mating produced 5 x 1st NIPA Open winners plus numerous other first prize winners in Club, Section and Open NIPA results. They also produced a magnificent looking Blue Hen a winner many times like her Sire in the Eye-Sign classes but Sire and Daughter have completely different coloured eyes. The Blue cock has one of the most magnificent yellow eyes I have ever seen and the hen the converted Violet. She in turn is Dam of birds to win 3 x 1st NIPA Open also a Blue Cock which again has bred an Open winner and on it goes.
“The Fabry Cock” Sire of 5 x 1st NIPA Open Winners and Sire of the loft.
As you will see the Fabrys certainly carried the winning genes and they were really doing the stuff but most of their winning was up Ireland so Billy was advised by Billy Magee to cross the birds. In 1965 he went to the sale of the late Billy Lock and purchased a Red Cock, a direct son of that magnificent hen “Elizabeth”, 5 x times France and a great producer. This Red Cock was mated to the “Eye-Sign” hen to produce 3 x Open NIPA winners, however, more significant is the fact that the birds started to do well on the Channel. The cross certainly did the trick but to cross a son of “Elizabeth” with his birds was just not any cross. The Lock Blood is responsible for more French winners into Ireland over the last number of years than any other strain.
“The Red Cheq Hen” winner of 9th Section and 44th Open NIPA Dinard flying 430 miles bred and raced by Billy Parkes.
The mating of the son of “Elizabeth” and the “Eye-Sign” Hen certainly was a winner. One Mealy Cock from the pair won the Open and was also 2nd. Losing this Cock was one of Billy’s disappointments as he was not only an excellent racer but was producing good birds as well. A daughter from this cock won 9th Section and 44th Open Dinard in 1972. However the best French bird at the moment is undoubtedly a Red Hen from the Red son of “Elizabeth” and the Blue Hen. She has won in three years, 4th Section and 38th Open Dinard 1970; 11th Section and 44th Open Dinard and the following week was clocked from Nantes on the second day 965 miles in two weeks and in 1972 finished 8th Section and 37th Open Dinard. Another example of the cross with the Fabry’s being beneficial, was when Alfie Rollins was judging at a show in Killyleagh and took a great liking to the Blue cock. He had the loan of him in 1969 and mated him to a McCartney Bros Blue Cheq hen, winner of 2nd Open Nantes in 1966. Billy got three Y/Birds from this mating one a Big Cheq Hen which I forecast was bound to be a good one, well a daughter from her was 30th Open Nantes, 532 miles in 1972 so all looks well for the future.
“Red Hen” winner in 1970 of 4th Section & 38th Open Dinard. 1971 winner of 11th Section & 44th Open Dinard and in 1972 winner of 8th Section & 38th Open Dinard. Bred and raced by Billy Parkes of Killyleagh.
I have given a record of the birds Billy has raced since 1960 starting with the Fabrys then introducing the Red Cock, son of “Elizabeth”, in 1965 moving on to 1969 when he had the three Y/Birds from his Blue cock crossed with McCartneys 2nd Open Nantes Hen. All of these birds produced winners as did a lovely Blue Cheq Hen a daughter of Eric Carlisle’s famous “Dinard Queen”. Eric gave Billy a gift of two eggs from the “Queen” the first year she was in the money from Dinard. A Y/Bird from these eggs bred Billy a Red hen to win 26th Open INFC Y/Bird National in 1971 and this was no easy race. You can see that this man Parkes is no way an ordinary fancier for he seems to win with everything he introduces. But, I should make it abundantly clear that he is by no means a continual out-crosser, quite the contrary, he is a great believer in in-breeding and pays great attention to feather and Eye-Sign. You will go a long way before you come across a family of birds with better eyes and magnificent rich feather than the Parkes birds have.
Billy believes that there is much more skill in winning the short races than winning at France although a great many fanciers would disagree. In the early 1960’s when he was concentrating more on Club racing he used to take his birds up the road every night for a 20 mile toss, but now-a-days he only gives them one or two tosses per week. During the racing season the birds have the open loft all day but in the winter they only get out once a week, on a Sunday, to have a bath. He sees no point in letting birds out in miserable wet cold days to sit about the roof. The birds are fed by hand all year round on a good sound mixture. I asked if he ever tried bean feeding. “Oh yes”, came the reply, “But never again”. His explanation was that in 13 years racing he had been top prize winner 11 times in the strong Killyleagh Club and the one year when he moved home he finished 3rd highest prize winner and the year that he didn’t figure amongst the leaders you guessed it was the year he tried feeding beans. I asked him how he had fed the beans and he told me he had fed them by hand. My humble opinion is that is where he made his mistake as he should have hopper fed or fed an ounce per day plus “Boost” or added vitamins. However, Billy’s not grumbling he puts it all down to experience.
I don’t intend to bore the reader with a long list of achievements of the Parkes birds but a few things that I feel do need a mention.
Billy has won the NIPA Open ten times in 13 years of racing, now that is no mean achievement because there are approximately 20,000 pigeons competing weekly. He had won his Section 12 times (Section birdage is about 5,000 per week). He also has taken 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the Open and 1st, 2nd and 3rd Open and that is not only incredible but unbelievable. In 1963 he took 1st and 4th Section and 1st and 9th Open Skibbereen with a pair of nest mates plus winning £625 which was then a record amount of money to be won in a race.
However, in the last three years he has really excelled in the longer races. 1970 – 4th Section & 38th Open NIPA Dinard 431 miles and 38th Open INFC Nantes flying 531 miles. 1971 – 26th Open INFC Penzance Y/Bird National flying 297 miles, 11th Section & 44th Open NIPA Dinard also in 1971 Billy clocked 3 arrivals from Nantes. 1972 – 38th Open INFC Penzance Y/Bird National, 8th & 9th Section, 37th and 44th Open INPA Dinard and 30th Open INFC Nantes.
What an ‘Ace’ pigeon fancier!