On the banks of the Lee
It has been a little while since my last article but nevertheless after a spell wandering it is refreshing to once again return to the banks of the Lee. With winter upon us 2022 will soon be in the past and what a year it has been on a lot of levels. We are once again at that time of year where discussions on many different subjects will be taking place in clubs and federations throughout the land.
As we discuss and reflect on the season gone by, annual General meeting's will take place and plans put together for next season. Hopefully all fanciers birds are having a good moult and with some luck they will see the benefits come springtime. I believe the moult is of paramount importance and can be a good indicator of a pigeons health. As I stated in my introduction It's been a little while since I put pen to paper. I always like to be honest with people and truth be told since a personal bereavement last year I unfortunately developed a case of brain freeze not an official term of course but I could only best describe it as trying to navigate through fog. It is what it is and such is life but we must continue. An old friend and young talented hurler the late Terence Chisholm (chissy) would always say to me "time waits for no man" and how right he was, it’s just a fact of life. The moral of the story I think without preaching to anybody is do what you have to do in life but also try and enjoy life as best you can because in the overall scheme of things we are really only a grain of sand in a moment of time. Let's enjoy our moment! I hope everyone enjoyed the 2022 racing season in what had been a tough season for a lot of fanciers. I personally found it no different to the year previous being a bit of a mixed bag, some being good steady races while others proving to be quite testing. Stories being told from the old days when a tough race would result in many birds appearing on your landing bird from dawn the following day seems to be almost a thing of the past. So many changes have happened over a few decades in the sport and they are undeniable. Regardless of changes we are all part of this great pigeon family and that doesn't change. We are all striving for the same thing and that is to enjoy our hobby as best as we possibly can. I also believe it’s imperative that we acknowledge, honour and remember those who have fallen before us.
The Late Mick o'Connell - Mr Morey, Brian o'Leary and the late Kevin Papazion
"The channel is the channel" is a well-known phrase used amongst us the pigeon fraternity and it is an expression most of us are certainly well aware of. The "certain uncertainty" of the channel (water) brings about an element of excitement and hope to some but what we see today especially in my county of Cork in the south of Ireland is even inland races are now becoming more uncertain but I believe the birdage in Cork is far too small and I put this case to the fanciers once again. To me it is validated when I see and study the majority of other counties that are racing here. We continually question race points but some of these race points are already being used by the bigger organisations throughout the land and not all may I say but most do alarmingly better.
Jason Lewis, another talented Cork fanicier and a great worker for the sport
The one common denominator here is birdage. These organisations have thousands of birds being liberated where as in our case at times it’s a mere few hundred and less as the season progresses and distance increases. For instance, the effect of a peregrine falcon strike on 10,000 plus birds at a liberation site is really not comparable in comparison to say an attack on roughly 200 birds. Of course, these are only my personal views but I believe that Increasing the birdage going out of cork on a weekly basis can be done and will increase our chances of better racing. As an old fancier said to me in recent times "Thurso is still in Thurso" and that hasn't changed but a lot of o-ther things have and the obvious one is the increase in the raptor population. Coincide this with small birdage liberations and it’s a bad start before you go anywhere. Today I left my cocks out of the loft for a bath and of course who arrives precisely on time, only Mr & Mrs Percy. At the end of day down one more and it’s always a trained bird ! Now I have more or less decided like many other fanciers to deny my birds their freedom until spring for fear of losing more and putting both the birds and myself through the torture of it. Going back to what I was saying previously I think in my opinion all avenues in regards to the lack of birdage situation in Cork should be explored at this point in time and I would appeal to those involved to communicate. Down here in Cork ("The real Capital of Ireland") we have over the years produced some of the finest fanciers that would hold their own anywhere in the pigeon world and I have no doubt about that. Today thankfully we still have some great fanciers in the red and white County of Cork and long may they last. From West Cork to Cork city and from Mallow/kanturk to Youghal the vast array of talent on display is second to none.
The Mallow Men, Jimmy Willis and the late Packie Gordon
The Youghal Pigeon Club
Moving on, the weather at the moment is dry but very cold with North easterly winds. Considering winter is now upon us we can probably expect anything from here in. With the racing season now well behind us, upon reflection, many prominent fanciers were once again placed on the result sheet throughout the season. I hope to provide a little more detail going forward but Fairhill fanciers the Wall brothers name comes quickly to the forefront with several good wins this year again and especially on the water.
Denis Wall of the Wall Brothers
The brothers fly both the north road and the south road flying both from Scotland on one road and the south of England into France on the other. Ken Ó Doneghue and son have again continued there fantastic progress with their birds flying right through to Scotland this year also.
Ken o'Doneghue and son
Finbarr O Brien is also another very consistent fancier and always has been to his credit. Finbarr winning several old bird races this year and is no stranger to the winners podium.
The very consistent Finbarr O'Brien
Tony Healy is another terrific fancier and always knocking at the door.
Tony Healy and Liam o'Sullivan
Southside fanciers John Oldham, Jim Downey (son of the great late Billy Downey) and Donie Luxford won several races also this year in the Ballyphehane club and well done to them all. Other fantastic Cork fanciers just to mention a few on the southside of the city are the likes of the national winning loft of Wallace and Hammill. You have also the likes of Noel Hegarty & daughter, Michael Dennehy (o), Mick Long, Anthony Bulman, Mattie Moore, Curtain Bros and Paddy Chandley and many more. These are just a few to mention and are always in the shake up come race day. I can go on and on really with names but I just wanted to provide a flavour of the talent on offer.
Michael and Francis Dennehy
To the west of the city the likes of Richie Mullane had a terrific season again flying back into open countryside. Also, back along this neck of the woods are the likes of Danny O'Driscoll, Denis Lucey and Alan Riordan whom are all very capable fanciers on their day.
Denis "The Bull" Lucey
Over to the northside and we have a lot of equally capable fanciers too. Dermot Whitley is the first who comes to mind because outside of tending to his own pigeons he plays an important role on the fanciers behalf by training their pigeons throughout the season and I know this is appreciated by a lot of the fanciers. The northside of Cork city has to be fair contributed its fair share of talented fanciers over the years. In the current day we have a supply of super competitive fanciers in the likes of Tony Kavanagh, Keith Ryan, Ger Kiely, Wayne Carroll, long Families, Crean family, Lawrence Morey, Bill O' Hare, Denis Murphy, Josser Freyne, Hennessy family, the Kenny family, E & J Cummins, Mark and Willie Long, the Donovan family and previously mentioned Wall Bros.
Tony Healy and Bill o'Hare - Willie and Mark Long
The Kennys of Colmcille, John Jr and John Sr
As I say there are many more names to mention north, south, east and west but I just want to wet the appetite for starters. As mentioned previously, in Cork, we have been very lucky to produce some very fine fanciers and national winners also.
Denis Murphy and Liam o'Sullivan
First to spring to mind for me is northsiders Tom Cahill and Liam O'Sullivan. Both Tom and Liam are both double National winners into Cork with Tom's Miller gold cup amongst them. Both are terrific fanciers and I think as Cork fanciers we are all very proud of their achievements.
Paddy Hickey, Tom Cahill and Paddy Kelly enjoying the fine weather at the one loft race a few seasons ago
Wallace and Hammill on the southside another national winning loft in recent years and bouncing back again to the northside is the former flying partnership the Mulcahy bros from Churchfield also won a national from Talbenny and incredibly dedicated fanciers the brothers were leaving stone unturned they went about their pigeon pursuits and boy did they keep em well. Billy McCarthy from Knocknaheeny on the hill, another national winning loft winning a young bird national from Penzance with the infc several seasons ago. I am really after getting carried away now because there are many more fanciers I could mention and I will mention going forward but for now I will Park the bus where it is. Some of those mentioned in this article and some that I have yet to mention I will be looking at in more detail going forward. There will be no drought in Cork rest assured.
Moving on......
The Busteed Brothers from L to R, Sean, Paddy & Tony
About 12 months ago I was lucky to stumble across some lovely old typed documents that were written about several members of my own family many years back.
The old loft in Churchfield once upon a time
Included in these notes are my late uncles Seanie Busteed of Churchfield Cork who later flew in Stevenage, UK, and the late Paddy Busteed of Mt Nebo Avenue Gurranabraher and formerly partnership at their childhood home loft in Churchfield.
The late Paddy Busteed and his father James (Jimmy) Busteed - Seanie Busteed
Also, my own father Tony Busteed who would have been the youngest of the family also played his part in the family hobby. My grandfather James (Jimmy) was also very keen and his brother George who we all know as Georgie Busteed.
Reeling in the years with the late Noel Harrington, father the late Frankie Harrington and Georgie Busteed
All of the family played their part with the pigeons and were involved in some way or another.
A moment in time...
Georgie was and is the last man to race out of the Churchfield Lofts up until very recently. I can recall being told of stories where going back to the 60s and 70s when the long channel races from Scotland would be on and if the race went into the 2nd day there would be a line of fanciers and dockers stopping off before going to work out at the side wall of the House at 6am in the morning drinking tea waiting to see if any birds would come. To be fair to them they had their share of success, but I won't go into all that at this point as I stated I just want to share the notes/typed documents with you the readers and if they can be of benefit or interest to any fancier then so be it. In order to preserve these notes I went and had them copied and laminated in order to safeguard them going into the future.
Original typed article on Sean Busteed from 1965
To be honest I always had a strict rule myself of not writing about my own but I have decided with a lot of thought to temporarily break that trail of thought to allow these documents to be read by the fanciers of today. Although they are relatively short pieces in general they are well dated in time. For me, some of the simplicity and common sense was immediately striking. Considering it is in a different time zone although only 50 to 60 years ago the difference from today is evident all over and in many ways. Out of respect to them I will now re - word the documents exactly as in their original state word for word. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I have.
Seán Busteed - Cork (1965)
Sean Busteed
"Old bird racing 1965 was strided with success for Seán Busteed of Cork. At twenty, the youngest member of the Sunnyside Pigeon club. He clocked first, second, third from Portalington, the initial race point of the season, and a smash.
Second the following week from Dublin. He was first and second Dundalk, a hard race, although the Busteed loft had nineteen of its twenty entries home within an hour of race time, this against a head wind and storm cloud.
Larne, first again, then in accordance with loft practice, yearlings were stopped and selection made for the federation channel races.
The first of these, Girvan, was a hard fly for Cork fanciers, fed honours going elsewhere in Munster, but a Busteed bird was first club, second Cork section, being beaten through overfly by a south city bird, a point of much disquiet among northside fanciers as tired birds homing from the distance usually follow the coastal country and enter the city from the east, the North West birds then having to battle their way to the suburban heights while the south city birds continue home along the lower elevation, and ironically, the struggling birds having to concede over fly.
First club Hamilton again went to the Busteed loft, the winner being a red cheq hen which flew Thurso last year.
Thurso - first club, first section, same hen, clocking in on the day. She is now the pride of the loft although competition is keen.
There is, for instance, the race cock, so called through his prize winning record from races under three hundred miles. Both birds are loft bred.
Last year Seán was fifth fed Girvan, eight fed Bellshill, and sixth fed Thurso, flying the distance on the day. With the exception of selected birds, youngsters are raced all the way, Seán believing that birds are bred to race, and losses eliminating all but the best, those left are the result of a natural form of culling. This year his kit picked up contaminated grain when fielding, resulting in sickness and death but sufficient form was recovered towards the end of the season that the Busteed youngsters took second and third club Coleraine.
The loft is based on local birds with the occasional carefully chosen cross, the most recent being a young bird from Whittaker bros, Methil in Fife. This cock is now two year old and its progency are doing sufficiently well for the import to remain as a stud cock.
Birds are hand fed, getting mixture through the off season and beans only when racing. The final decision is primarily Seáns but advice and assistance is wholeheartedly given through uncle George and father Jimmy(James) - a combination hard to beat as evidenced by race results."
Paddy Busteed another brother who was a little younger than Seán was fiercely keen on the racing also and was a huge help and benefit to Seán and as time went on they became a partnership of their own. In later years Paddy's knowledge of pigeons was exceptional and extensive. Paddy in my obviously biased opinion was a force to be reckoned with and would hold his own at any level in his own right. Paddy was of great nature and was always there to help and advise in any way and I can testify to that as he was of great help to me as well as my own father Tony who was much younger but also very keen on the pigeons as well as his beloved small birds.
Paddy Busteed
Hope our readers enjoyed that little extract. In my next article I will include some notes on George Busteed that were previously recorded also from days gone by. Before I sign off, since I wrote my last article Cork city had unfortunately lost one of its very finest with the passing of Thomas Murphy on September 14th. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him. Sleep well my friend.
The late Thomas Murphy, Georgie Busteed and Tony Mahony
Alan Busteed
Merry Christmans and a happy new year to all present and in spirit