Lisburn has long been regarded as one of the most pigeon populated towns in Northern Ireland for as long as I can remember. Locally within the town land surrounding this famous City which has historical and lasting links going back to the early 1700’s with regards the linen industry, pigeon fanciers can be traced as far back as the mid 1800’s in the threads of history. More recent times has seen the sport of pigeon racing reduced in membership to struggling numbers in some of Clubs within the borough and this is sadly the case in any City you care to examine.
With such decline in numbers more and more clubs are opting not to go down the road of an annual dinner and prize distribution, which personally saddens me, ultimately many clubs have a very legitimate reason in the lack of numbers/support for such an event, which leads perfectly on to the following excellent example of as I have quoted above “an evening of shared success”.
Friday 14th of November was the date for the combined prize distribution for a couple of the stronger Clubs namely the Lisburn & District HPS and the Largymore Inv HPS. The venue was the Lisburn & District Clubrooms which are situated as many fanciers will know down in Market Square area of the town, a location used for ring marking by the Irish National Flying Club for many years. I arrived around 7.30pm to find the Bar area of the Club on the upper floor filled to capacity with around 100 in attendance this a mixture of fanciers, family and friends from both Clubs. It was also excellent to see so many ladies in attendance and I think personally that it is one night of the year that pigeon fanciers should encourage their better halves along to show them some appreciation maybe not for all their work around the loft, but surely for their support and in most cases their suffering during the course of the racing year, with many plans within house holds disrupted due to holdovers one thing and another.
Brian Spence collects one of his many awards on behalf of the Top Prize Winning Partnership of Spence Bros during the prize distribution in Lisburn HPS.
The presentations were the first thing on the agenda with the host Club Lisburn & District first out of the stalls, Sammy Briggs and Willie English got the ball rolling calling on Dessie McClurkin of the Ligioniel HPS to come forward to present the awards. First to the table for a record time was Brian Spence of Spence Bros, it wasn’t so long ago that I compiled a substantial loft profile on Brian and Roy who at that time were celebrating 40 years of racing with the vast majority of those at the top of the game and this year is no exception for they also race with the Lagan Valley RPC which is affiliated to the Ulster Federation and they also finish top prize winners in that Club also. In the Lisburn & District they won the following awards :- The Alfie Turkington Cup for Highest Prize Winner; The J Corken Cup for winning the Combined O/Bird and Y/Bird Average; The Brendan Fox Cup for winning the O/B Knock-Out; The Combined Average Cup for the O/Bird Combined Average; The Corr Bros Memorial Cup for the Channel Average; The Lisburn Urban Council Cup awarded for the Best Average obtained from Talbenny 1 & 2; The Thomas Perry Cup for topping the Club from the Rosscarbery Y/B National; The Spence Bros Cup for topping the Club from St Malo were the loft also topped the Section finishing 10th Open a very good arrival indeed; The Petticrew Bros Cup for topping the Club from the 2nd race from Talbenny in South Wales; The Hanna Family Cup for winning the Nom in Talbenny (1), they just seem to be untouchable in the cross channel events. The Father and Son team also picked up award for topping the Club from Pilmore Beach, Talbenny (1) and Tullamore. Another exceptional year for an exceptional partnership that have been more than dominant over the last 40 years.
One of the up and coming stars of pigeon racing in the Lisburn area Mark Laffin.
Next to the table was the up and coming star Mark Laffin, what a year this man had, he picks up £324 in pools and prize money finishing runner-up to Spence Bros in the over-all table. Mark won the S F Kerry Cup for winning the Bude O/Bird Nom a day his arrival finished 12th Section D and 101st Open NIPA, he also lifted the Mr & Mrs McKibben Trophy for finishing 1st & 2nd Club, 1st & 2nd Section D finishing an impressive 6th & 7th Open NIPA with some 15,941 pigeons competing from the 5th Y/Bird race which this year happened to be Tullamore a race point which he also won from in the first Y/Bird race of 2008 finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd Club, 4th, 5th and 7th Section D finishing 8th, 9th and 12th Open NIPA, such was his dominance in Y/Bird racing especially that he lifted the M McMauley Cup for the Best Y/Bird Average, a fantastic achievement for a strong club like Lisburn & District. Excellent racing Mark.
Jack Magee was on hand to pick up the awards for the L Mage & Son partnership from Dessie McClurkin of Ligoniel HPS.
Next we had the partnership of L Magee & Son, these boys need no introductions, there name is renowned around the country linked especially to their award winning family of Busschaerts, that have left their mark were ever they go, must at this stage send my best wishes to father Len who is in and out of hospital brave and often and wasn’t able to attend the prize evening. Young Jack was in attendance and made his way to the table to collect the following awards, The Marquis of Downshire Cup for winning the Nom from Talbenny (2), he also lifted the Lisburn & District Cup for topping the Club from Roscrea in the O/Birds finishing 8th Section D and 56th Open with 23,557 birds competing, his final award was the Neeson Cup for topping the Club in the INFC Skibbereen Y/Bird National were the loft finished 19th Open. The father and son team also picked up £241 in pools and prize money.
Next in the prize list finishing 4th over-all and unfortunately not at the prize distribution was the INFC Secretary Trevor Topping who collected a couple of awards namely the Ironside Perpetual Trophy for topping the Club from the Rosscabery O/B National and also the Guinnesss Y/Bird Cup for winning the 2nd Y/Bird race from Tullamore.
Sammy Briggs always makes a point year in year out of making the prize table this year was no exception.
Sammy Briggs was next up finishing 5th over-all I can’t recall any year that Sam hasn’t made an impact at some stage during the racing seasons, this year he picked awards up including The Roy McBride Memorial Shield for topping the Club from Pilmore Beach in the O/Birds also he lifted the Mrs R Topping & Family Cup for winning the Inland Average and also collected an award for topping the Club from tullamore also in the O/Birds.
The partnership of McKibben & Magee had an exceptional year flying the Y/Bird team picking up a total of four Red Cards.
McKibben & Magee were next to the table with yet another very credible Y/Bird season, the partnership topped the club from Roscrea, Pilmore Beach and Fermoy winning the Reihill McKeown Ltd Cup, Corr Bros Trophy and the Largymore Cup respectively for all of the above wins.
The highly respected Geordie McMullan rarely fails to visit the prize table any year and lifts awards this year for his efforts from Tullamore and Clonmel both in the O/Birds.
Geordie McMullan can race a pigeon and is highly thought of around the Club, he once again took his share of the lime light this year again finishing 1st Club in the first O/Bird race of the season from Tullmaore and also picked up the Frazer Bros Cup for winning the O/Bird Clonmel Race.
Linda McAllister was on hand to pick up the award for the S McAllister & sons partnership who finished 1st Club, 39th Open INFC Sennen Cove Y/B National during the year.
Linda McAllister was on hand to pick up the Yearling National Cup on the evening for a very credible pigeon that won the Club finishing 39th Open and winning £299 for the S McAllister & Sons partnerships. Willie English received a huge round of applause for all his work in the Club when asked to come to the front to receive his award for topping the club from Sennen Cove in the O/Birds lifting the Alexander Cup for his efforts.
The ever consistent Billy Joss collects the Challenge Cup from Dessie McClurkin having won the Nominated NIPA Sennen Cove.
William Joss completed the prize distribution by lifting the Challenge Cup for winning the Sennen Cove nominated in the o/bird Programme. The list of prize and pool money won is as follows :- 1st Spence Bros £523, 2nd M Laffin £324, 3rd L Magee & Son £ 241, 4th R Topping & Son £109, 5th S G Briggs £150, 6th H F Browne £56, 7th E McKibben & A Magee £142, 8th G McMullan £131, 9th S McAllister & Sons £66, 10th A Galloway £39, 11th M O’Reilly & Son £36, 12th R Flanagan £55, 13th S M Gibson £17, 14th W English £54, 15th H Mackin £19, 16th J Waring & Son £11, 17th G Benson £55, 18th D Ferguson £26, 19th J McKernan & Son £8, 20th W Joss £50, 21st C Coates £5, 22nd M Portis £5, 23rd J & M Magee £5, 24th S English £4 and 25th W Dougherty £2.
Lawerence & Nathan Milliken of the Milliken & McCartney team lift the Top Prize Winner Award this now the third time for the partnership in recent years.
Largymore Inv were next up to give out the awards with Lawernce Milliken calling upon Nigel Hanna of Ligoniel to present the Club awards and first to the table to collect was the man of the moment the partnership of Milliken & McCartney, now having been a member of Largymore up until recently I would never have thought that this is only the 3rd time that this partnership have lifted the top honours, for between them and Sammy Hanna these were the boys you were looking for each week when returning to the club after a race, so very well done on your hat-trick of success’s the partnership which have their lofts positioned at the top of the Hill Hall estate in Lisburn topped the Club from Pilmore Beach and Talbenny (2) in the O/Birds before winning the Club from Fermoy and the Rosscarbery Y/Bird National in the Y/Birds on top of this they won the O/Bird Channel Average, the O/Bird combined Average, the Best Average the Last Two Y/Bird Races and the much sought after Y/Bird Average.
Finishing runner-up this year was E & B Luke who I should know well for their lofts are placed next to my own in Lisburn Eddie has raced exceptionally well over the last couple of seasons and should he get his team of O/Birds firing in 2009 he could very well push for the Top Prize Winner crown, Eddie & Brian topped the Club three times from Tullamore in the Y/Birds and also added a Red Card from Pilmore Beach to their collection in 2008. The partnership also won the Best Y/Bird Average for the first 4 races.
Sammy Hanna is the man to beat most weeks and finishes 3rd in the race for top prize winner in 2008 seen collecting one of his awards from son Nigel Hanna.
The invincible Sammy Hanna was next up to receive his awards from his son Nigel of Ligoniel, Sammy scored a number of good success’s during 2008 topping the Club from the first O/Bird race from Mullingar, also taking the Red Card from 2nd Pilmore Beach before winning the Club from the Rosscarbery O/B Inland National, in the Y/Birds he was as ever very consistent topping the club from the 2nd Tullamore event, as well as all the above mentioned he won the O/Bird Inland Average, finishing runner-up in the Y/Bird Average, O/Bird Combined Average and the O/Bird Channel Average.
Finishing 4th over-all in the prize list was the C & D Smyth & Son team who when they send have to be feared they proved that time and time again in 2008 topping the club from Roscrea finishing 6th Section D and 52nd Open with some 23,557 Birds competing the partnership also topped the club from Tullamore in the O/Birds and also again from Roscrea in the Y/Birds in this particular race the loft finished a very credible 1st and 2nd Section D and in the over-all result 4th and 5th Open NIPA with 26,500+ pigeons competing.
One of the longest established partnerships within the club is that of Walker Bros and boy then can race a channel pigeon, Kenny seen here picking up the Bros award for topping the Club from Sennen Cove.
The highly successful Gary Smyth who recently joined the Largymore Inv HPS and already is flying very consistently, seen here picking up his award for 1st club Talbenny in the O/Birds.
Further top club winners during the year included Walker Bros who always make their presence felt during the cross channel events, Denis Irvine who topped the Club from Clonmel in the O/Birds finishing 11th Section D and 81st Open NIPA with 26,149 birds competing. One of the more recent members to the Club is the very highly regarded Gary Smyth who has always been and continues to be a prominent member of the Lagan Valley RPC Gary in 2008 finished 1st Club from Talbenny (1) in the O/Birds and raced a steady team of pigeons all year in both the O/Bird and Y/bird seasons.
Following the presentations it was time for the dining which was exceptional to say the least, a Hot and cold finger buffet that had more than enough for the large number of people present, the night will go down as a complete success and I believe it will set the tone for many more years to follow and I would like to close by wishing the members of both clubs a very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year wishing them continued success in 2009.
Adie McCormick
Ireland’s Own Pigeon Auctions
http://www.pigeonnetwork.com
Mervyn Gibson has looked after the Lisburn Centre for the NIPA for as long as I can remember up until recently, and is now starting to enjoy his pigeons a bit more.
Willie English was at the helm at the Centre this year and is highly thought of for his general running of the Lisburn Club.
Jim McKernan seen here collecting his award from Dessie McClurkin of the Ligoniel & District HPS.
Sammy English is yet another member who works hard at the Lisburn NIPA Marking centre during the National races seen here picking up his awards for 2008.
Local feed merchant Robert Kirkwood is highly thought of around the Lisburn area and received huge applause when going up to receive his prizes.
Adie Hughes of the Largymore Inv collects his awards from Nigel Hanna of the Ligoniel & District HPS.