Winner of 3rd Open Kings Cup 1973 & the Car Nom
Tommy Walker is one of those fanciers who have come into racing pigeons late in life although as he says himself, “I have had a great love for pigeons all my life”. Throughout the years he paid many a visit to the lofts of his friends, Ernest Dodds and Jimmy Jess. But it wasn’t until 1971 that he finally decided it was time he had his own birds. A Beautiful loft 24ft x 5ft was built in the back garden and the first birds in the loft were four from Jimmy Jess, one of which was a Black Pied Cock a winner of 15th Section and £34 from Dinard in 1973. Some birds from Ernest Dodds were also added and finally, through a friend, he met Tom Kirkwood of Kirkwood Bros, Ballylesson and purchased 6 squeakers. He’ll not forget this last purchase for a long time. The six birds included a Mealy Hen and a light Blue Cheq Cock.
The Car winner from the Nantes Kings Cup race for Tommy Walker of Dromore. Bred by Kirkwood Bros of Ballylesson and raced by Tommy Walker.
The Mealy broke Tommy’s novice status at Haverford this year sent feeding a big Y/Bird on her own, and the Blue Cheq Cock is his winner of 3rd Open Nantes and a new Ford Escort car plus a handsome £631.
However yet again this is a case of very nearly missing out altogether. Tommy is a bread roundsman and to enable him to have enough time with the birds he gets up at 3.30am each morning to get to Downpatrick and have the van loaded then he calls past home and attends to the birds before moving out on his rounds. He thinks nothing of getting up at 3.3am or 4am and heading for the Border. In fact, he has been known to have been sitting at the Border waiting for daylight so that he could liberate. With a lot of early morning rising and a late night on the first day of the race with no birds on the day, Tommy was up at 4am on the second day. He waited around until near 7am then decided to call it a day and head for bed. As luck would have it he could not sleep so he got up again to find the Blue Cheq Cock sitting on the trap. He doesn’t know how long the bird was sitting but says it definitely was not more than 20 minutes. You couldn’t be fairer than that.
Tommy Walker of Dromore finished 3rd Open in the Kings Cup race and wins the New Ford Escort Car.
He had 3 inland races, Haverford and Penzance where he was also timed prior to Nantes. He had lost his hen and the Mealy hen mentioned earlier had lost her cock so they took up together after the Penzance race. The Mealy Hen had laid 2 eggs and the Cheq Cock was still feeding a Y/Bird from the previous mating. Between the Y/Bird and the eggs he was as keen as mustard and the reason why his proud owners’ only entry in the race and also the reason why he was pooled all the way to £5 plus the Car.
Tommy Walker has done what many fanciers try a life time and fail to do and that is to well from France. In his first two attempts at France, Dinard (the week previous to Nantes) he sent 2 and had 2 home winning £34 and from Nantes a magnificent 3rd plus £631. What else can I say about this fancier who is a perfectionist? His garden is perfection, his loft is perfection, his birds have to be perfection or I’m sure they wouldn’t be there. He had done well with his pigeons in only 2 years, and I’m sure he’ll maintain his early progress.
The following is the result of the 1973 Kings Cup race flown from Nantes with 982 members sending 2,100 birds competing for a total of £6,968. 1st A McDowell, Newtownards Vel 837 £958; 2nd Smyth Bros, Ballymena Vel 814 £347; 3rd T Walker, Dromore Vel 797 £631; 4th Gilmour & Beattie, Newtownards Vel 777 £304; 5th J & D Coburn, Lisburn Vel 774 £173; 6th S Swann, Ballymena Vel 772 £168; 7th Houston Bros, Lurgan Vel 755 £10; 8th R McNeill, Kircubbin Vel 746 £397; 9th J Feeney & Son, Lawrencetown Vel 746 £136; 10th J Kirk, Ballynure Vel £735 £199; 11th E Marshall, Killyleagh Vel 728 £118; 12th J & J Hunter Ballinderry Vel 728 £10; 13th Reynolds and Creighton, Lurgan Vel 726 £123; 14th J Irvine & Son, Ballyclare Vel 725 £73; 15th Kirkwood Bros, Lisburn Vel 723 £123; 16th S Calvert, Portadown Vel 723 £123; 17th R Harkness, Glenavy Vel 721 £45; 18th A B Bell, Randalstown Vel 716 £98; 19th A Gregg & Son, Dromore Vel 714 £98; 20th D McMillan, Ligoniel Vel 707 £55; 21st Briscoe & McGuines, Drogheda Vel 706 £96; 22nd G Matchett, Lisburn Vel 703 £71; 23rd Reid Bros, Cullybackey Vel 700 £8; 24th R McIlroy & Son Carrick Vel 696 £96; 25th S Calvert, Portadown Vel 694 £96; 26th R Law, Ballymena Vel 692 £71; 27th A McDowell & Son, Newtownards Vel 690 £96; 28th R McCullum & Son, Ballymena Vel 687 £96; 29th A Hall, Omagh Vel 685 £71; 30th Hagen Bros, Downpatrick Vel 685 £220; 31st R Topping, Hillsborough Vel 682 £36; 32nd G Casement, Belfast Vel 682 £71; 33rd W Clarke, Ballyclare Vel 681 £43; 34th Lemon & Moody, Dundonald Vel 676 £96; 35th J T Jamison, Largymore Vel 676 £79; 36th H Hutchinson, Belfast Vel 675 £23; 37th R Willis & Co, Portadown Vel 672 £93; 38th S Calvert, Portadown Vel 672 £31; 39th J Wilson, Ballyclare Vel 672 £6; 40th R Dunlop, Belfast Vel 669 £6; 41st J Bradley, Castledawson Vel 669 £31; 42nd J McCloud, Newtownards Vel 668 £6; 43rd McCartney Bros, Moira Vel 667 £6; 44th Palmer & McKay, Greyabbey Vel 666 £6; 45th A Gregg & Son, Dromore Vel 664 £6; 46th Savage Bros, Castlewellan Vel 663 £6; 47th T Marshall & Son, Crossmacreeny Vel 658 £6; 48th R H Turkington, Lambeg Vel 653 £31; 49th Magill & McCrea, Ballyclare Vel 652 £31; 50th R Dunlop, Belfast Vel 650 £6; 51st Courley Bros, Cookstown Vel 650 £30; 52nd T Quilty & Sons Armagh Vel 650 £5; 53rd Thompson Bros Glenarm Vel 646 £5; 54th Kennedy & Swail, Moira Vel 645 £30; 55th Coyle Bros, Gilford Vel 644 £5; 56th W Warnock, Sydenham Vel 642 £5; 57th M Brown, Dromore Vel 641 £5; 58th Moulds Bros, Dunmurry Vel 636 £5; 59th A Mairs, Ballyclare Vel 635 £30; 60th J Fisher, Dundonald Vel 634 £5; 61st H Caughey & Son, Greyabbey Vel 634 £5; 62nd H McCloy, Cullybackey Vel 626 £5; 63rd G Dempsey, Carnlough Vel 623 £30; 64th E Spence & Son, Belfast Vel 619 £30; 65th J Cathcart, Ballymena Vel 619 £5; 66th H Irvine & Son, Ballyclare Vel 617 £30; 67th J F McAllistar, Ballymena Vel 616 £5; 68th W Erwin, Ballymena Vel 612 £5; 69th T Brannigan, Dundalk Vel 609 £5; 70th S Calvert, Portadown Vel 607 £5; 71st J Adamson, Gilford Vel 607 £3; 72nd McKeown Bros, Derriaghy Vel 606 £3; 73rd Jennings & Rea, Ballynahinch Vel 603 £3; 74th R McCallum & Son, Ballymena Vel 602 £3; 75th A McCartney, Crumlin Vel 601 £3; 76th Delaney & McGovern, Dublin Vel 599 £3; 77th O Smith & Sons, Dromore Vel 594 £3; 78th M McIntrye & Son, Dundonald Vel 593 £3; 79th Moore Bros, Kircubbin Vel 592 £3; 80th G Bryans, Lisburn Vel 586 £3; 81st H Hayes, Portstewart Vel 584 £3; 82nd S Carmichael, Ballyclare Vel 583 £3; 83rd T Dodds, Ballyclare Vel 581 £3; 84th J Leitch & Son, Templepatrick Vel 578 £3; 85th G Casement, Belfast Vel 576 £3; 86th F Adams, Belfast Vel 576 £3; 87th Watson & Gilmour, Magherefelt Vel 566 £3; 88th R Addis & Son, Lisburn Vel 561 £3; 89th W & J Smith, Ballymena Vel 559 £3; 90th Kennedy & Wells, Lurgan Vel 553 £3; 91st J Cromie & Son, Killyleagh Vel 550 £3; 92nd Hollinger Bros, Newtownards Vel 550 £3; 93rd R Watson & Son, Killyleagh Vel 550 £3; 94th H Stockman, Ballynahinch Vel 547 £3; 95th J B Glendenning, Templepatrick Vel 541 £3; 96th McClurkin Bros, Ligoniel Vel 530 £3; 97th J Leneghan, Newcastle Vel 529 £3; 98th S Gowdy & Son, Lisburn Vel 521 £3; 99th S Bunting, Duncairn Vel 518 £3 and 100th S Calvert, Portadown Vel 518 £3.