LES J. PARKINSON'S

NEWS-REPORTS-ARTICLES

Cooney’s Gang - M. Cooney & Son, Ken Harmes & Mark O'Grady

M. Cooney & Son

I was talking to Mike Cooney who enters the Europa Classic One Loft Race under the name of Cooney’s Gang Syndicate, Mike Cooney ‘senior’ and Mike Cooney (M.Cooney & Son). The story begins back in the late 1980s when Mike Cooney Senior decided to rent an allotment at the Edge Lane site in Clayton, Manchester. After just a few years of being on the allotment, it was decided that Mike Senior would build a small loft and race some young pigeons in the 1991 season (10ft x 8ft). At this point of time his Son (Mike Cooney) was 9 years of age and would join his Father at the Clayton Flying Club HQ and assist with the usual processes of club activities; marking the pigeons, clock setting and social activities with the members of the club. Results were nothing to write home about, although the enjoyment of watching the birds come home from the race days and flying around the lofts were the satisfaction and reason behind getting involved in the sport for Mike Senior.

During the winter months of 1991, a new loft was built and Mike Senior purchased pigeons in 1992, although they were never raced throughout the 1992, 1993 & 1994 season. Enjoyment was taken by just watching the birds fly around the allotments. During the course of these years Mike Senior and his wife Audrey were extremely busy and very successful in showing Dutch Rabbits on the National UK Scene.

Mike Cooney Snr and Jnr at the Europa Classic 2009 with their winner

In 1995, Mike Cooney Junior (now 13 years of age) had really taken the bug of pigeons and wanted to race and it was decided that the partnership of M.Cooney & Son was to be formed and would have a crack at getting involved in the sport from a competitive level. It was decided that the best way to start forward in the sport, would be to start again with a fresh batch of young birds in the 1995 season. Only 2 pigeons were kept from the old birds during the 1991 to 1994 years (A 1992 Mealy Cock and 1993 Blue Pied Cock). Mike Senior purchased various young pigeons from local fanciers initially as well as various auctions. A team of about 30 young birds were trained during the 1995 season, although were never raced. It was the intenton to race these birds as yearlings in the 1996 season. In 1996, the partnership of M.Cooney & Son had won their first ever-competitive pigeon race. It was with the Clayton Flying Club on the midweek race program and was from Kempsey. The winner (GB1995C47713) was a self bred yearling cock from our small team of stock pigeons and was of Louella Janssen bloodlines. This was our only win of the year but meant the world to us. Results in the Saturday club races were nothing to write home about, with the odd top 10 positions in the club.

During the course of autumn / winter of 1996 it was decided that Mike Senior would aim to purchase some better pigeons his son, providing the homework was completed in education as well as pigeon research. At least 50+ Pigeon Videos were purchased and viewed during the closed season as well as the numerous books. Mike Junior studied these every night of the week. A book by Dave Allen ‘The Widowhood Year’ was of inspiration and led to Mike Junior keeping a daily dairy of activity and observations within the lofts. The Video of racing Widowhood and Young Birds systems, by the Spence and Nicholls partnership was another inspiration towards the future of how to race pigeons. In 1997 Mike Senior and Junior attended the Blackpool show for the full weekend. It was fair to say that the Blackpool weekend was Mike Junior’s favourite holiday of the year and month’s in advance the days would be counted down; due to the enthusiasm he had of racing pigeons. This led to re-meeting up with a gentleman that was met the year before by the name of Ken Harmes. Pigeon related discussions took place until the early hours of the morning over the weekend over numerous pints of John Smiths!. Ken is the most interesting man the partnership had have ever met within the sport, talking of his experiences and his visits to Belgium to seek the best pigeons he could find. A good friend by the name of Mike Bonnage had introduced Ken Harmes to the partnership initially and instantly plans were made over the weekend at Blackpool to visit Belgium in March 2007 to find quality pigeons and learn more about the sport. After some basic research, we meet with a gentleman in Belgium at Lier Market by the name of Marc Docx and14 pigeons were purchased from Marc to bring back to Manchester for Mike Junior to race. There was a lot of Houben Bloodlines within the breeding of these pigeons from the pedigrees we received, as well as ‘The Autowinnar’ and the base Black pigeons, which were highly present within the W.Docx & Zoon breeding lofts.

Ken Harmes, Mark O'Grady, Derek Nicholls after the win in the 2009 europa Classic

The 1997 season was an exciting one, As the partnership had won their first Saturday Club Race in the Clayton Flying Club with one of the Belgium pigeons from Marc Docx and finished 11th Manchester and District Federation. Another one of the Belgium pigeons won 3 x 1sts as a young bird and finally in the Lancashire Combine Race from Weymouth, another one of the Belgium pigeons won 1st Club and 5th Manchester & District Federation & 5th Lancashire Combine. All 3 of the pigeons were Cocks, and would be raced on Widowhood the following year.

The 1998 season led to the partnership having some more good results including winning the Manchester & District Federation for the first time with a yearling Janssen cock in the old bird season, as well as winning the 500 Mile Club Race from Niort with the 1993 Blue Pied Cock (retained from all the original birds of Mike Cooney Senior). This bird had not been trained and raced until 1997, so it was quite an amazing feat for the partnership who though so highly of this bird named ‘Grandad’ due to being in a section of yearling cocks. We were so proud watching him make it home on a dull overcast evening on the allotment, making it on the day from 14 & Half Hours… one of the best moments of actively having pigeons, as we never really bothered too much with Channel Racing.

The 1999 season was a fantastic year for the partnership. Racing only 6 widowhood cocks, a total of 8 x 1st Club & 3 x 1st Federations was obtained with this small team of old bird’s in this season. A successful young bird season followed and total of 17 x 1st prizes were won as well as many Fed, Classic and Open race prizes for the partnership and they were highest prize-winners in the Clayton Flying Club.

Good results continued into 2000 for the partnership and a good friendship with Jamie Gleave was formed over the last couple of years of this era, who also raced in partnership with his father. Mike and Jamie were of similar age and again passionate of the sport. Both were fascinated in modern continental racing & breeding techniques as well as genetics & bloodlines. Both had access to the Internet to learn more and more about the sport. Eventually this lead to further visits to Holland / Belgium, including a trip to Steven Van Breemen and a deal was struck for four matched pairs of pigeons, all bred close to the tree from his outstanding National & Olympiad winning pigeons for our future within the sport to target bigger races. Mike Junior had now hit 18 years of age and a good career opportunity arose for him as a Trainee Manager for a National Engineering Maintenance Company. This led to the end of the road of being actively involved within the sport (and the same happened to Jamie at a similar time as he had a career path to follow). The end of racing pigeons was approaching for the partnership and this was heartbreaking for Mike Junior. It has always been a case that Mike Junior was mad and passionate about pigeons and was supported to the highest levels by Mike Senior. Although the end had come for the partnership of M.Cooney & Son, the friendship with Ken Harmes remained as strong as ever, and some of the favourite birds were issued to Ken to look after, as well as numerous other fanciers across the UK. Hope remained to re-start again, although career progression took place year on year which did not allow staying active within the sport.

For the next 4 years, Mike Junior made many visits to see his old friend Ken Harmes to see the pigeons and also have a pint down his local club and the discussions always took place to the early hours of the morning – every single word being of the pigeons. The Blackpool trips continued year on year, due to the social aspect and friends made within the sport. Although not racing, it was nice to still have a walk around the winter gardens, attend a few auctions and just keep some of the memories of racing the birds…. Blackpool always led to a burning desire to re-start at the end of the weekend, although it was still not possible.

In 2004 at Blackpool, we were interested in the concept of one loft racing. It was perfect in view of the situation. We agreed to send 3 birds to the Europa One Loft Race, all bred by Ken Harmes from some of the old bloodlines that M.Cooney & Son had raced and purchased over the years. We had 1 very good pigeon, which had gained some great positions in the hotspot races and won us some pool money (This was bred from a direct Jos Thone Cock purchased at Blackpool in 1999 when paired to our favourite Docx Hen of 1997). We had really high hopes, all being that we had 1 pigeon remaining entering the final race. Unfortunately it never made it home from the Final!

Ken Harmes and Paul Fauconnier

In 2005 we had another crack at the Europa One Loft Race, all be it with some pigeons bred from Ken Harmes and some Venturer options, although a poor result was obtained by us.

In 2006 we had another try at the Europa One Loft Race; again with some pigeons bred by another good fancier being the Late Derek Fenwick of North Wales and some Venturer options. Yet again we had another disappointing result in the final race.

In 2007 we missed the race completely, due to admitting we did not have the birds to compete in this style of one-loft races. We understood it was a unique pigeon of endurance and fine breeding (either continental bloodline or one loft performance bloodlines / breeding) which was winning these races. Mike still followed the race series daily through the Internet and this was a year of research for Mike as he studied what type of pigeons was coming well in these races.

In 2008 at Blackpool, we met with Ed Sittner and discussed one-loft races in some detail. We gave him all credit due on his achievement of breeding 2nd in the Europa Classic Race in 2007, as well as breeding the Ace Pigeon in the overall race series.. After a good discussion with Ed, a deal was struck on the Sunday Morning in Blackpool, for the purchase of 12 pigeons to be bred from Ed Sittner and sent on behalf of the Cooney’s Gang Syndicate (Mike Cooney, Mike Cooney Snr & Ken Harmes). At last we thought we had the pigeons, which were bred to perfection, mainly of Kees Bosua Bloodlines as well as some of Ed’s other continental goldmine of stock pigeons he had acquired over the years. It was a fact that Ed has been one of the most aggressive purchasers of winning continental bloodlines throughout Belgium and Holland and this gave us the confidence that if we bought from these bloodlines, this would give us the best opportunity possible to do well in a one loft race. Also Ed’s spectacular results in one-loft races across the world meant we were buying pigeons from an established loft, which had the results to back up our theory.

Jamie Gleave, Steven Van Breeman,  Ken Harmes, Mike Cooney

I made a visit to the Ed Sittner lofts in Belgium in August 2008 and I was totally overwhelmed by the quality I had seen and handled. These were a team of pigeons of the highest order in terms of appearance and bloodline. I also got the opportunity to watch a middle distance race and visit the local pigeon club. The result was another win for the Sittner lofts in Belgium! Following the race, my main interest was to see what condition the birds were in following the race (particularly the young birds). The condition of them was amazing and it was a stiff flight on a fairly hot day in Belgium. This led to some high hopes for our little feathered warriors going into the final race of the Europa Classic 2008. The Europa Race of 2008 was somewhat of a disappointment for our team again, the turn in weather following liberation led to a total endurance race. We hold the highest respects to fanciers who entered the race in 2008 and got them home. In particular the winners ‘Mr & Mrs Lewis’, who had a pigeon with so much heart to make it home early the next day to win the race. Our result for 2008 was 31st, 64th, 89th and 91st – The pigeons in 31st and 89th position were both bred by Ed Sittner. Also the pigeon in 31st place had won us £1200+ in pool money and was our fancied pigeon in the final race. Ed Sittner entered the same into the Europa Old Bird 500 Mile Race and finished 6th position in this event making it home on the day in good time – great pigeon!

Conversations with Ed Sittner took place over the winter months during 2008 and our desire to get a good performance in the Europa One Loft Race 2009 was our aim for the forthcoming year. Mike Cooney made another loft visit this time with Ken Harmes in January 2009 (This was the first time that Ken had been on a aeroplane in his life, all being 80 years young!). The birds now looked impeccable and fully through the moult. The birds looked great when I saw them in August 2008, although now they looked even better! This was the first time Ken saw the pigeons and he was amazed and dazzled by the quality. Ken has had pigeons for the majority of his lifetime, and he quoted to me that he had not seen a finer collection of pigeons on the continent. Agreement and a deal was made around the table in Merksplas, Belgium that I wanted 18 pigeons on behalf of the team for this year (12 for the Europa Classic Race and 6 for the South West One Loft Race). The Deal was struck and Ed agreed to breed me the best pigeons he could to compete in the both these one-loft races, as he had the full confidence of our syndicate. Blackpool was another great trip in 2009 and spirits were high for the forth-coming year! We met our usual friends and a few new ones and had a great time until the early hours of both mornings as usual. The birds were shipped over from Belgium to Cardiff and Plymouth to be entered into these one loft races and we had our highest hopes, providing we had good weather on the final day and no accidents of a bad trainer / hotspot race along the way. The Plymouth Race was an incredibly tough race series and I put this down to the location of Plymouth and surrounding territory. The Birds of Prey are most certainly at large and some stiff but good races were encountered. On final race day, a hard race was on the agenda with a 300 Mile race and up to 40mph headwind. 4 great birds broke clear of the field by some way to take the main prizes. Unfortunately, our main hope did not make it home until the next morning to finish in 14th position (nest mate to the Europa Classic 2009 Winner!).

The day before the Europa One Loft Race of 2009 had arrived, and we were all so nervous and excited at the same time. I made the visit to Flint, to get my old friend Ken Harmes and we had a nice evening in Manchester at the family home. All be it that I must have only had 2 hours sleep maximum, due to talking of our favourite subject – Pigeons. 4am and everybody was up, meeting at 5.30am for the bus trip down to Cardiff. A few of my friends who joined me for the trip are keen followers of the horse racing industry and can understand the concept and similarities associated with pigeons. Other friends were coming down for a great time and a beer or two! On route, we had the laptop open with Internet access and realised the birds were up… the nerves and excitement, especially for Mike and Ken were building right up throughout the journey. The weather on route was very good for the majority of the journey, with a little light rain and overcast skies approaching south Wales. Hope was a good race would be on the cards, and make it testing for the birds with the head wind along the way. Upon arrival at Cardiff, the nerves were building and we were hopeful for a good result. After just over 7 hours we heard the whistle blowing and a small batch of around 15 birds aiming straight for the finish. When the result was announced and put up on the big screen for the team to view, our dream was achieved in winning the Europa Classic One Loft Race 2009! At last we did it and Mike so pleased especially for his Father, due to his support throughout his life and his mentoring received from Ken Harmes over the years.

Ken Harmes

Ken Harmes was born in 1929 and at 10 years of age, Ken’s Uncles (Fred & Ernie Dutton) built a loft to race pigeons in the Flint Castle Homing Society. Ken would be the labourer for his uncles (cleaning the lofts, assistance in taking the birds to the club for marking, clock duties etc), this continued until 1947. Ken joined the army from 1947 to 1949 (Under National Service Duties) and after leaving the army, it was time for Ken to commence racing pigeons on his own. Ken built a loft in his Grandmother’s Garden (as Ken’s Mother would not allow the birds in her back garden). Quite useful for Ken his grandmother was situated next door. Ken raced from 1950 to 1955 from this location and in the year of 1955 Ken then got married to ‘Joan Loftus’.

Ken Harmes and Mick Cooney at Lier market in 1997 after they had just collected 14 young birds from Marc Docx

The couple purchased a small cottage in late 1955 and a loft was re-established in the garden to continue racing. Ken flew in partnership with Brian Collins from 1955 with good success – this partnership flew pigeons together for some 40 years! Another house was purchased in 1961 and pigeons and loft was relocated to be flown until 1972 from this location. In 1972 Ken then moved to his current house and has always flown pigeons from this location with some good success over the years. Ken and his racing partner Brian Collins has won many races and prizes over the years. They won the 1st Pebble Mill at One (BBC Studios Open Race) in 1974 from Birmingham. This race was open for anyone in the UK to enter was a unique achievement. On quite a few occasions Ken and Brian won the averages of Flint Castle H.S which had 50+ Members and has always has been a 12 bird limit club – good competitive racing with over 50 lofts being located within a mile square. Ken started up with birds from T.A Warrington (based out of Prestbury, Cheshire) in 1949. Ken struck a deal to pay in instalments of £5 a week for these initial pigeons purchased and would be the foundation birds of the lofts initially. In the early 1970’s some Fauconnier pigeons were introduced that were purchased at auction in Birmingham (Direct Fauconnier Pigeons). These were fantastic pigeons ever since being introduced and brought the Harmes and Collins Partnership a lot of success over the years. In the early 80’s, Ken then went over to Belgium to meet Paul Fauconnier (with the help of Bill Cowell - ‘Bilco’). Ken purchased some pigeons direct from Paul Fauconnier during this initial visit and subsequently he made many further visits to gain more pigeons direct. Ken was well known to paint the town red on some of his nights out in Belgium with Paul Fauconnier was as he was a fantastic host on all of his visits. Other loft visits in the 80’s in Belgium included visiting Willie Clerebaut & Henri Van Neste. Ken made a visit to Robert Venus in the late 1980’s. He was impressed with the promoted results of birds purchased from this famous stud. Some birds were acquired direct from Robert Venus and again these birds won as soon as they were introduced. Ken would visit Robert Venus on a yearly basis and always purchased some further birds to bring back to North Wales. Ken is most proud of his 2 children ‘Jayne’ & ‘Tina’ and his 5 grandchildren (some hope to have a future within the sport). Unfortunately Ken lost his best friend in life in 1995 and Joan will always be remembered by Ken especially for her support of Ken’s interest of racing pigeons. In summary, Ken is a true gentleman of the sport, with 70 years of experience. He is inspirational and highly thought of by many fanciers across the UK. He is over the moon with the Europa Classic 2009 Win and being part of the syndicate! Quite rightly, the syndicate decided the winners Jacket is the property of Ken Harmes and has proudly been wore on a few nights out in Flint, North Wales since.

Mark O'Grady

Mark O’Grady was born in 1962 and joined the Navy to serve from 1979 to 1987 as a marine engineer. After leaving the Navy we started off as a mechanical & electrical engineer for various companies and has worked his way upwards within his career in this industry to his current position of Managing Director of MITIE Engineering Maintenance (North) Ltd. Mark started up the company in 2003 and he personally invested quite significantly into this company as well as receiving the support from the MITIE Group. This company now turns over above 20 Million pounds + per annum and holds some prestige contracts with some major clients such as ‘Sellafield Ltd’ based in Cumbria, Nissan in Sunderland, Vauxhall Motors in Ellesmere Port, NHS Merseycare Trust – including Ashworth Hospital and surrounding properties as well as numerous other major clients in the North of England. In the late part of 2004, Mark was growing a business and needed some management support. He head hunted ‘Mike Cooney’ and he instantly agreed to come on board to work direct for Mark as his Commercial Manager for the business. Mark has had a very good relationship with Mike over the years and knew about his hobby involving racing pigeons.

Over the last few years Mark and Mike have been to numerous horse racing meetings across the UK. The favourite course being Cheltenham and in particular the festival week. Both are keen on the jumps racing and over the last couple of years they have met some good people within the horse racing industry and have even invested into some syndicate share options in the sport. Mike first got together a mini syndicate with some of his workmates in 2006 buying some Venturer pigeons in the Europa Classic Race of this year. Unfortunately the result was poor, although Mark kept faith in Mike with his passion of the pigeon sport and would have another crack in the future. Mike explained to Mark he had bought some good pigeons to enter the 2009 Europa Classic Race and with Mark being a good friend of Mike Cooney Senior and knowing Ken Harmes from social events of the recent years, he came on board to be the 4th and final member of the Cooney’s Gang Syndicate. It was planned in advance for Mark to be attendance of the Europa Classic Main Race Day, although he was somewhat engaged on this day! It was his engagement weekend to his partner Angela Woodward, and they both had gone away for the weekend to celebrate. After the phone call from Mike to let him know the gang had won the race, in true Mark O’Grady style, he cut his engagement weekend short to make the journey from Manchester to Cardiff to participate in the celebrations of the prize presentation evening at the Copthorne Hotel! A very brave man! Final Word of Thanks.

Mike Cooney when he was racing with his widowhood cocks in 1998.

To finish we would sincerely like to thanks all of those who have helped us along the way in making the dream come true. Firstly special thanks go to a Mr Ian Perkins who acted as a loft manager throughout the racing years of the M.Cooney & Son partnership. Ian is still a close connection to Mike Cooney Senior and his commitment of long service and hard work is so appreciated during these years. Then we would like to thank Mr Ed Sittner and his connections for breeding us a fine team of pigeons from his Belgium Lofts – from the 12 birds which entered the last race for the Cooneys Gang Syndicate bred by Ed Sittner, 7 of these birds finished in the top 100 prizes, including winning the race with ‘Little Miss Kannibaal’ who also finished 2nd Ace pigeon of the race series.

All 12 birds made it home from the final race! Amazing result and many thanks to Ed and his team! A special thanks to organiser of the Europa Classic 2009 – Mr Derek Nicholls and his team who have done a fantastic job with the pigeons! Mike Cooney attended the hotspot 4 & 5 races and saw for himself what outstanding condition the birds were in! Thank you Derek, Russell and Team. Lastly we would like to thank all our friends and family who have wished us well throughout the journey and their respective congratulations in winning this prestigious race.

Les J.Parkinson. Elimar, 11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 ONJ. Tel/Fax; 01606 836036. Mobile 07871 701585 Elimar.pigeons@sky.com web-site www.elimarpigeons.comChris photos