King's Cup in the Sixmile Valley by Milne Mairs -
Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2020 5:30 pm
The Sixmile River rises in the County Antrim hills near the village of Ballynure and flows into Lough Neagh at the County town of Antrim, roughly 12 miles away. In days gone past it's water fed many mills and factories in various industries as it made it's way into the biggest fresh water Lough in Britain. The river flows under a bridge on the Main Street of my home town Ballyclare and many times as a boy on my way home from school I would gaze down into the clear water watching the little shoals of trout dart around the vivid green water weed that covered parts of the river bed. The bridge is right beside Ballyclare Methodist Church and many times when the waters were running high the Church Hall flooded causing untold damage to fixtures and fittings. I remember one Sunday coming out of Sunday School with my sister Sandra and stopping to look down at the trout and set my bible on the wall as we hung over to get a good look. A stray elbow sent the said bible off the wall into the water 20 feet below,and as it had a zipped cover that the water didn't penetrate it floated down stream with the current. We dashed across the road and fished it out with a bit of tree branch as it floated past much to my relief ,as I would have had some explaining to do when I got home
The Sixmile Valley Is home to a number of Pigeon Clubs with Ballyclare & District the biggest having at one time in the early 1960s maybe 70 to 80 members although today the membership like all other clubs has greatly reduced . Other clubs that raced into the area were Ballynure,Springvale, Doagh and Kingsmoss, with the Springvale and Ballynure clubs no longer competing. Given the many great fanciers who have raced in these clubs it surprises me that the King's Cup has never been won in the Sixmile Valley, although one or two have come very close to getting their name on the famous trophy. It's interesting to look through the results to see which fanciers have done best over the years since 1948 when the first King's Cup race was flown. I would say if you asked the current pigeon fanciers racing in the area who was the man to come closest to winning the race very few would come up with the right answer. Two Ballyclare lofts have finished 2nd the first of these back in 1955 when well known farmer Davy McNeilly finished runner up from Redon flying 520 miles. Davy lived on the Glen Road just off Ballyclare's Green Road and where the two roads meet sat the loft of Watts Brothers who finished 2nd in 1963 from Les Sables a distance of 600 miles. However the only other man from the area to finish 2nd was Dick Smyth of Ballylinney who came within 2 ypm of the winner in the 1971 Nantes National won by Sam Bell of Dundonald, this being the closest anyone from the area has come to winning the race.
Those to finish 3rd over the years were Blair, Agnew & Hunter from Redon in 1953, McAdam Bros of Doagh from Nantes 1969, J Irvine & Son 1974 from Nantes, H Irvine & Son 1978 from Rennes, Bob Hayes 1987 from Les Landes, the winner of this race was deleted from the records so Bob could be considered to have been 2nd, and finally Jim Logan in 2000 from Redon.
Those finishing 4th were Mackey Bros 1951, Bill Lawrie 1975, C & L Woodside 1990, Robin Duddy 1994 and J Kirk 2003. Taking 5th were Ossie Faulkner 1965, Victor Thompson 1984 ( Lerwick), D McNeilly 1989, Dougie Alexander 1993,Dougie may have been still a Glengormley member at that time but he raced into Ballyclare on the Doagh Road, J Kirk 1998.
Two lofts have been 3 times in the top ten, J Kirk 4th,5th,10th and C& L Woodside 4th,9th,9th. with the following twice in the top ten D McNeilly 2nd,5th, Watts Bros 2nd,9th, J Logan 3rd,8th, R Duddy 4th ,7th V Thompson 5th, 10th, Collins & Pursley 7th, 9th.
Many of those named are no longer with us ,but there are a lot of lofts in the area well capable of winning the King's Cup and I look forward to someone bringing it to the Sixmile Valley in the not too distant future. Milne Mairs.
The Sixmile Valley Is home to a number of Pigeon Clubs with Ballyclare & District the biggest having at one time in the early 1960s maybe 70 to 80 members although today the membership like all other clubs has greatly reduced . Other clubs that raced into the area were Ballynure,Springvale, Doagh and Kingsmoss, with the Springvale and Ballynure clubs no longer competing. Given the many great fanciers who have raced in these clubs it surprises me that the King's Cup has never been won in the Sixmile Valley, although one or two have come very close to getting their name on the famous trophy. It's interesting to look through the results to see which fanciers have done best over the years since 1948 when the first King's Cup race was flown. I would say if you asked the current pigeon fanciers racing in the area who was the man to come closest to winning the race very few would come up with the right answer. Two Ballyclare lofts have finished 2nd the first of these back in 1955 when well known farmer Davy McNeilly finished runner up from Redon flying 520 miles. Davy lived on the Glen Road just off Ballyclare's Green Road and where the two roads meet sat the loft of Watts Brothers who finished 2nd in 1963 from Les Sables a distance of 600 miles. However the only other man from the area to finish 2nd was Dick Smyth of Ballylinney who came within 2 ypm of the winner in the 1971 Nantes National won by Sam Bell of Dundonald, this being the closest anyone from the area has come to winning the race.
Those to finish 3rd over the years were Blair, Agnew & Hunter from Redon in 1953, McAdam Bros of Doagh from Nantes 1969, J Irvine & Son 1974 from Nantes, H Irvine & Son 1978 from Rennes, Bob Hayes 1987 from Les Landes, the winner of this race was deleted from the records so Bob could be considered to have been 2nd, and finally Jim Logan in 2000 from Redon.
Those finishing 4th were Mackey Bros 1951, Bill Lawrie 1975, C & L Woodside 1990, Robin Duddy 1994 and J Kirk 2003. Taking 5th were Ossie Faulkner 1965, Victor Thompson 1984 ( Lerwick), D McNeilly 1989, Dougie Alexander 1993,Dougie may have been still a Glengormley member at that time but he raced into Ballyclare on the Doagh Road, J Kirk 1998.
Two lofts have been 3 times in the top ten, J Kirk 4th,5th,10th and C& L Woodside 4th,9th,9th. with the following twice in the top ten D McNeilly 2nd,5th, Watts Bros 2nd,9th, J Logan 3rd,8th, R Duddy 4th ,7th V Thompson 5th, 10th, Collins & Pursley 7th, 9th.
Many of those named are no longer with us ,but there are a lot of lofts in the area well capable of winning the King's Cup and I look forward to someone bringing it to the Sixmile Valley in the not too distant future. Milne Mairs.