Described as one of the most locality all round fanciers within their area by many, this father and son partnership of J ward & son strive to achieve success year in and year out. In 2014 they done this once again with outstanding results within the Ulster fed and Grovesnor pigeon club, below is just some of their results that stood out for me...
1st , 2nd , 3rd , 4th fed Navan 4085 birds
1st , 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th fed Fermoy 2187 birds
1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 16th, 18th fed Kildare 1751 birds
3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 19th fed Fermoy 2152 birds
5th fed Thurles 3257 birds
17th, 19th, 20th fed Mallow 1803 birds
19th, 20th fed Thurles 3618 birds
6th fed Thurles 3478 birds
7th fed Fermoy 3147 birds
7th fed Talbenny 1238 birds
13th Derby , 17th fed Skibbereen 2850 birds
16th fed Kildare 2844 birds
On arriving to the Ward household on a fresh but breezy Sunday morning I was greeted by Joseph (the father) at the front door with open arms and a welcoming smile, good morning Ross coffee or tea?? was the first question I had to answer as I walked up their lovely driveway while noticing not one thing was out of place and not one bit of dirt was there around the house. I thought to myself as I tip toed into the house taking my shoes off at the front door, is there a maid that lives here or is Joe (junior) a full time cleaner by trade?? If the regimental cleaning standards of the house was anything to go by I could not wait to see how the lofts and birds was cared and looked after.
As I continued through the house I was shown into the sun room only to notice Joe (junior) relaxing and overlooking the security of the pigeons. Morning Joe as he stood up to greet me, "you look nervous" was my reply, he said I'm just keeping a close eye on the champions as they have their Sunday bath and went on to tell me how much of a problem they have with hawks due to living on what can only be described as a mountain s edge. On looking out of the sun room the birds seemed happy but yet always on the edge with everything they seen moving in the sky which for me was a true indication of just how much the birds were tortured by the birds of prey. While sipping on my morning coffee and deep in conversation with both Joseph (senior) and junior I was impressed to hear that senior Joe has been involved in racing pigeons since the age of 8 years old where he raced in a partnership as Ward brothers, in 1982 when junior Joseph was born they changed their racing name to J Ward & son and ever since day one this partnership's name could always been seen around the top of the Ulster Feds result sheet week in and week out.
Racing to a small back garden set up their racing loft is 23ft x 6ft with 3 different sections, with just a small stock loft which measures 10ft x 4ft, talking to them about systems they mentioned racing the widowhood system for the old birds both hens and cocks, their young birds are raced on the natural system with both young and old birds being raced on Versa-Laga & Gem corn supplied by Robert Kirkwood Lisburn. I brought up the topic of medication for their birds to which they told me they treat all their birds 3 weeks prior to pairing up and treat when necessary during racing. On pairing up in December every year their main family of stock pigeons are from George Slaven of Glenview Lofts Scotland they are Gaby Vandenabeeles, as soon as they introduced this bloodline in they have won from their 1st race with scoring results such as multiple 1st Feds with George's birds and scored a lot of fed cards right out to Penzance. These pigeons I was told are super pigeons and done fantastic right up till today for this partnership, they also have some of joseph's old Busschaert family of pigeons which have done them proud over the years not just for themselves but other fanciers as well. They have brought in some outstanding bloodlines as well such as some direct M&D Evans Gaby Vandenabeeles which are scoring for them since their 1st nest, Heremans Ceusters from Wayne Doonan of Cock crow stud Dromore was also brought in and they have won the 5 bird derby with Wayne's birds and a lot more performances coming from these super pigeons. Up to date this partnership have won over 30 x 1st Ulster Federation wins, so its results like these that make this partnership to be something special and i can see why their own club members fear them on a weekly basis.
I just want to say a big thank you to the Ward household for their hospitality and a lovely day of handling many outstanding pigeons along with meeting two of the nicest gentlemen within this sport. Keep up the good work and I wish you all the best with the 2015 season, no doubt I will see the name of J Ward & son appear many more times within the Ulster Fed result sheets.
They would like to give a special mention to their late friend Eric McLaughlin , Eric is always in their thoughts. "Flying start with Ross Kelly"
