HIGGINSON & McMEEKIN
of Ballyclare

by Les J. Parkinson

On two occasions during the past 18 months we have had the pleasure of staying with Noel Higginson and his family at Ballyclare, visits that have led us to see some excellent fanciers from across the water. Anyone who knows Elizabeth and myself knows that from time to time we visit lofts anywhere the fancy takes us we are not a team that stays in our own backyard we have to go out into the world and find out what else is going on.

During some of those visits we become just that bit more than visitors to compile a loft report we become friends with the people that we are going to write about in the first place. We then go back again just for what is supposed to be a normal visit, that is if there is such a thing in the pigeon world. That was the case when we first visited the Higginson family at Ballyclare we have become friends re-visited these lofts not necessarily to up date a past report. These visits are for a few social days and obviously being a writer I have to see what has happened since our last visit and what new stock there are in the lofts. Noel also took us to visit other lofts and see some of the winners in Northern Ireland. The only problem for us in Ireland is that it always appears to be a bit colder for our visits. Regardless of that we were made most welcome and even met a few of the fanciers who we meet at the Blackpool show every year when we attended a quiz night.

Chequer Hen 1st Club, 1st Section, 7th Open Sartilly OB Derby Only bird on the day in the club

Noel has been racing for many years but the partnership of Higginson and McMeekin was formed at the beginning of 1998 and consists of Noel Higginson and Robert McMeekin, who have been lifelong friends and had a common interest with the racing pigeons. They were both brought up in a small village called Millvale, which is just outside Ballyclare in County Antrim. As pointed out they both had a common interest and kept pigeons as schoolboys and even in those days they were great friends not being parted very often. When he left school Robert worked as an apprentice joiner their brief spell apart was when Noel went into the Royal Navy and had a spell in England both working and playing football. Unknown to both of them and by sheer coincidence on the 13th August 1972 they started work for the same firm and to this day they still remain in the same employment. Their work took them to different parts of the country during which time Robert took a break from pigeons and included in his pastime fishing which is a very poplar hobby.

However there was no real change with Noel because he stuck to the sport that gave him so much pleasure being the challenge of racing pigeons. At this time Noel joined the Ballyclare and District HPS also Ballynure HPS where he raced pigeons from several of the local fanciers with the main strains being the Blondel, Havenith and Gits. Probably the main two fanciers from those early days who influenced Noel and his thinking about the sport to put him on a better track with the pigeons were James Logan and James 'Buster' Campbell, James Logan is now in his 80's and still winning to this to this day. On one occasion he went to Newry (40 miles) with these fanciers to train their young birds. Noel only had two and they had about 70 between them which was handy from the point of view that they would hopefully help Noels to get home and not dragged all over the sky.

"Millbridge Millenium"   1st Club, 1st North Section, 1st Open Irish National FC Millenium National

The pigeons were liberated at about 11 am and they set off for home but the journey took a twist and between Newry and home they made a social call in every public house. It was 10pm that night before Noel got home and even though he was so late he still went into the loft to see if his grand team of two youngsters had done a better job of getting home than he had. When he entered the loft he noticed that one had a note on its leg, the note read 'fed and watered in Grimsby' for many weeks Noel was telling everybody that he had a pigeon that flew to Grimsby and back on the same day. The friendship with Robert was rekindled a couple of years ago when he started to call in on Noel and see his birds racing to the lofts on a Saturday. This stirred the bug in Robert again and the present partnership was formed and in 1998 was their first full season together.

The present team consists of Talrton Janssens, Busschaerts, Van Den Bosche, Alan Darragh and Fabry's from J.Fox, Lancashire. A few Hartogs are the latest introduction from A G & M Kerr, Irvine. At this point Noel would like to thank his good friends Alan Darragh, David Mawhinney and Davy Campbell for all their help and advice over the years and are outstanding fanciers in their own right. I must admit that over the last couple of years I have had some good conversations with the Irish contingent at the Blackpool Show and have found some of them to be very knowledgeable, obviously they cannot all be brilliant. I am not sure whether it's the drink or the friendly atmosphere but there are always many stories to be told and not a Leprechaun in sight.

Chequer w/f Cock 1st Club, 14th Section, 34th Open Rosscarbery YB Derby 860 members sent 5,311 birds Also winner of the breeder/buyer in the same race

Mistakes are something that many fanciers are not sure whether or not to comment on but what we do find is that the majority of the top winners do recognise that mistakes have been made. In the early years Noel would say that his biggest mistake regular changes to his systems when the birds were not performing well. He is no different from many other fanciers because one of the biggest mistakes of all was sending to races in the hope that they would come home and deep down inside knowing they were not right. The old saying is very true and should be all pigeon men's motto 'Patience is a virtue'.

The very first loft Noel had was two of the old tea chests which we do not see much of nowadays joined together which was followed by a three storey water tank which was in the back garden. This may appear strange but this was made up of the first two storeys being a brick construction with a large water tank on top. However like most fanciers we move on and the present day lofts consists of one at 36' x 8' divided into 4 sections, one section for stock with an aviary attached. Two sections for the widowhood cocks and hens one section for the natural racers. The moving with the times there is one section for measuring 18' x 6' which is used for the darkness youngsters. Additional lofts consist of an 8' x 6' loft for Widowhood cocks, and then there's a 24' x 8' dual Widowhood loft consisting of three sections with the remaining loft being a small stock loft. Every consideration is put into these lofts with the most important feature being that they are dry and well ventilated; something from Noel's point of view is because their lofts face North they find it hard to get early season form into the pigeons. The cold winds do make hard work for the first weeks of any season however once those winds have changed the pigeons soon get into excellent racing condition.

The trapping system for all the Widowhood pigeons is by way of open doors but the youngsters are a different proposition because they are trapped through the sputnik traps the actual structure of all the lofts is wood with two of these lofts having the modern day pantile apex roofs. I was rather surprised that the partnership pair their birds early and put them on the darkness system because when I used to pair the birds early over twenty years ago. I found that they were perfect for racing and were just naturally moulting which did not appear to take anything extra out of them. However everyone has their own methods and reasons for doing it and no doubt more successful than me at the darkness system and it's pitfalls. However the stock birds are paired up on Boxing Day with the early youngsters going onto the darkness system which is the way that they get their best out of their youngsters and if it works stick to it.

Red Cock 1st Club, 7th Section, 32nd Open Sennen Cove Yearling National 1087 members sent 3970 birds

The main widowhood team are paired the week after the Blackpool show and natural birds in the middle of March which enables the partnership to get the best out of the complete team for all races. The yearlings are paired on a different basis because they are left to pick their own mates which makes love matches and hopefully gives them that bit more incentive to race home. They are allowed to rear a nest pair of youngsters and when the are 22 days old, one is taken away with the Hen and the cock is left to rear the other one for a further 3 to 4 days giving them a further bond with their box. They are repaired so that they will be going to the first race, sitting 8/10 days. During this period the training starts with the birds getting as many tosses as possible before the first race. The first race flown is 133 miles so the birds get at least three tosses from 40 miles. Usually when racing has started the birds are not trained but flown around the house however as any winning fancier will tell you things might change along the way if they are not performing, as they should do.

While on the subject of preparation for racing it is this time that one of the biggest problems arises and one that many fanciers are facing at the present moment that is the Hawks, which are taking pigeons on a regular basis. If a fancier does not have these predators hovering around the loft at some time or another they are lucky. When you are watching your birds exercise and one is taken out of the air it is not pleasing, ask Elizabeth Hawks are a big problem at this time of year and birds are never left out on their own. There has been a lot written on the subject and many people have gone out of their way to make the voice of the fanciers heard and will no doubt have to be heard a lot more before anything is done about the problem. Getting back to the racing side for the partnership, the accepted normal Widowhood system is used with the pigeons broken down in the early part of the week and built up to the day of basketing. This build up is helped along with additional maize being added to the mixture which is the very good mix of Versela Laga Super Widowhood. The amount given to the birds is obviously changed according to the distance flown with the pigeons being fed � oz in the morning and � oz in the evening for the races up to 320mls. But when it comes to the channel events the amount is increased to 1� oz's, feeding has to be right because if it is not you are not going to be consistently amongst the winners. The only additions to the water are multi vitamins on Tuesday and Thursday plus electrolytes when they return from the races.

Blue w/f Cock 2 x 1sts club plus 16th Section 48th Open Penzance Classic 686 sent 3012 birds Sire of winners

That is what the partnership used to do but for the year 2000 they decided not to break the pigeons down and the longer race results improved and this is the system that they will be staying on. Hens are always shown to the cocks before basketing. There is not just one system used at these lofts because there are always different situations arising during the season and they like to be ready for every eventuality. With that in mind the cocks and hens on the dual Widowhood are kept in their own sections and to stop the hens pairing up they are kept in a section with the V perches while the cocks are in the section with the box perches. The two sections are split by their main section, which they race to, and are where the nest boxes are; they are allowed into this section 15 minutes prior to basketing. Both cocks and hens go to the race and on return are allowed to stay together for 2 hours. Noel pointed out that they had found it did not matter whether the cock or hen found it's mate in the box when it returned as they were always happy to enter the loft knowing that their mate would soon be with them. Cock's and hens are treated the same with regard to feeding and are flown out one hour in the morning and the same in the evening.

The dual Widowhood system means that if the fancier wants to have a pair sitting for a certain race they can be left in the middle section and it does not interfere with the rest of the pigeons. When you study the system that these fanciers use you can see that they have taken everything into account. For the 1999 season 15 pairs will be on the dual Widowhood while 21 pairs will be classed as proper widowhood cocks and raced on the on ordinary Widowhood and there will be just 5 pairs on the natural system. Around 100 young birds will be bred, 50 of these will be put on the Darkness system. The other 50 will be well trained and only have 2 races of 160 miles. The Darkness youngsters will only have light from 9am to 5pm up until the 9th June. After this they will be trained every day (weather permitting) up to 50 miles. A week before the first race they are separated and on basketing day will be allowed together for 2 hours. For the longer races at the end of the season they will be allowed to stay together and pair up. These youngsters are fed the same as the Widowhood cocks. With regard to the Darkness youngsters racing as yearlings, it has been found that it has no adverse affect on them.

One example of this relates to a young cock in 1996 that was 8th Open Penzance Young Bird National 320 miles (only 9 birds on the day), this cock as a yearling went on to win 2 x 1st. Good pigeons are good pigeons, no matter what system is used. To make sure that the birds are healthy at all times they are treated for coccidiosis, worms and canker prior to breeding and racing, Bosmolen and Chevita products are used for this. Not all fanciers are going to win and the partnership believe that the reason some fanciers are not successful is that they overfeed, overcrowd and do not put enough effort into the management of their pigeons. Noel has been a regular visitor to the North East of England and had tremendous admiration for these fanciers, as most of the lofts are on allotments, which means they have to travel some distance to care for their birds. These are the fanciers who put so much into racing their pigeons and to prove the point the competition is at its best in the North East. As well as the North East Noel has been a guest of Scotland's own on several occasion's and has made many friends (too numerous to mention) and met some of the best fanciers in the British Isles.

One person he admires for his knowledge of pigeons, his administration skills and the work he does for the sport is Alf Rothwell of Whitley Bay, Alf and his wife Irene have become good friends with people like Noel & his family through the visits to different parts of the world. A fancier that the partnership would like to mention is Ron Williamson of Bondhill, whose racing results over the last 8 years have been outstanding. They believe his record is better than any fancier in Europe he is a dedicated fancier and deserves all the recognition he gets. Considering that they are such a successful partnership I was surprised to hear that they do not study the wing or throat theory and as far as the eyes are concerned they are seriously looked at when pairing up is under way for signs of health and fitness. Two eyes of the same colour are never put together and a good rich broken iris is preferred when selecting pigeons for breeding with medium well-balanced birds being what they aim for but do not mind if the hens are on the small side.

In the 1999 season the partnership won 10 x 1sts 8 x 2nds 8 x 3rds with no duplication and the highlights of the year 1st club 16th Sec 89th Open Dinard Old Bird Derby 454mls. In the Y.B Penzance National 320mls the partnership entered three pigeons and won the following positions, 2nd North Sec 2nd Open, 32nd North Sec 32nd Open winning �2,000 and the De Scheemaecker Trophy for the best 2 Bird average. In all the partnership won a total of 28 trophies in the 1999 season. To date in the 2000 season the results are bringing the partnership into the top bracket of pigeon racing into Northern Ireland. These are the OB performances to date in 2000, 8 x 1sts 6 x 2nds 5 x 3rds. The highlights being 1st club 4th Sec. 71st Open Mallow 211mls, and in this race they also won 25th 26th 42nd Sec with 5,757 birds competing and 22,889 in the Open. In the Talbenny (1) 1st club 18th Sec 32nd Open. Talbenny (2) 3rd club 16th Sec 126th Open. Yearling National Sennon Cove 320mls 1st club 35th Sec 46th Open. Bude Millennium race 267mls 1st 2nd club 7th 15th Sec 11th 45th Open when 896 members entered 5,328 birds. Penzance Classic 320mls 3rd club 35th Sec when 679 members sent 3385 birds. Sartilly OB Derby 1st 2nd club 1st 12th Sec 7th 66th Open 456mls with a winning vel of 1074ypm against 618 members ending 1,511 birds. the Old Bird season finished with the partnership winning 1st club 1st North Sec 1st Open Penzance !rish National FC Millennium Nat with "Millbridge Millennium" recording a vel of 935ypm winning �1,000. Two other pigeons were timed but at the time of writing the full result has not been published.

Blue Cock   1st Club, 1st Section, 4th Open Penzance Classic   291 sent 2014 birds   G-Son of "Golden Ball"

The partnership would like to thank all those who phoned to congratulate them on their National win and to those who sent cards. They would also like to thank the following for helping them achieve the above results. Alan Darragh, Alf Rothwell, Louella Pigeon World and A.G & M.Kerr. The partnerships aim is to build up a team of pigeons to fly consistently from France and like most Irish fanciers would love to win the King's Cup. 1998 saw the partnership join the Glengormley Club to race young birds and won the YB average. They would like to thank all the members of this club for the way they have welcomed them and for their friendship. One week prior to the Sartilly race "Millbridge Lady" (see photo)went to Tramore 189mls and then had plenty of tosses. She was sent to the race on chipping eggs in this only her second race from across the channel and was clocked in the Talbenny smash of 1999 winning 3rd club. "Millbridge Lass" (see photo) had three races before going to Sartilly and again was sent on chipping eggs. "Millbridge Millennium" (see photo) was flown on the widowhood in the early part of the season for four races then paired up for the channel events. In the second Talbenny he was 3rd club 16th section and in the Penzance Classic finished 3rd club 35th section. After this he had no training at all and was sent to the National feeding a 6/7 day old yb and was just starting to notice his hen again.

In all the time that Noel has had pigeons he has never failed to see the pigeons home from a race. A couple of years ago he had three pigeons competing in the OB friendship National, a distance of 450mls there was only a few birds home on the day. Noel's wife Katie was away for the weekend and Noel decided he would cook himself some burgers and then retired to bed early because he wanted to be up at 4.30am next morning. He was only in bed about an hour when he woke up and was violently sick, the problem was caused because he had not allowed the burgers to de-frost properly and had eaten them half cooked. He eventually got to sleep and when he woke up it was 7.30am. Immediately he got up and went to the kitchen, looked out to the lofts and there were his three entries waiting to get into the loft. He then phoned Alan Darragh and enquired as to how many birds there were clocked; these three pigeons still ended up 54th 55th 56th Open. Noel was really disappointed at not being there when the pigeons arrived with his only consolation being that not many fanciers could say that they had clocked three pigeons from a hard 450mls in one minute. That put him off his burgers and who can blame him.

At present Noel is the President of Kingsmoss having previously done a spell as secretary to the club. He is also secretary of a double over club and also Chairman of another club which incorporates members from all over Northern Ireland. Noel also appears on the bigger organisations where is vast knowledge in all areas comes in very handy. Advice to new starters would be to go to two good racing fanciers and buy 6 latebreds from each. Try and pick two strains of pigeons that would compliment each other and make these the base of your team. Most importantly, have patience and keep to system that suits the fancier any new starter can be misled at the sales because when a fancier decides to have an entire clearance all must go and that means all so you must be careful at sales. Behind every good pigeon man there are good women because without their co-operation many fanciers would not be able to achieve their ambition. With that in mind Noel would like to say that this partnership has given them more options and because of Roberts's contribution the above results were achieved.

Special thanks to wife Katie and Ann for their continued support to the partnership and to all the members of Kingmoss for all their support and help over the years.