FLYING INTO THE NORTH-WEST TONY MULLEN, · names such as Terence Carlin, Alec Boyle, Paddy Healy,...

44 British Homing World, June 1st, 2012

When I rang Tony Mullen to ask about doinga small piece on him, he was quite surprisedbut, when you’ve been in the sport as long asTony, and have managed to stay pretty near thetop for so long, I think he deserves a mention.And, not being too well recently, maybe it will lifthis spirits a wee bit as well. I was also verylucky on the day that I called to meet Tony’sbrother, Tommy, who Tony raced in partnershipwith when they first began racing pigeons. Itwas also lucky that I had the two of them thereat the same time as they kept each other rightwhen it came to the facts about the birds andprevented too many white lies creeping into theconversation! Tommy now lives in Athlone inthe Republic of Ireland and no longer keepspigeons, although he keeps a keen eye onTony’s and is still as interested, it seems, as heever was.Tony’s time in pigeons started way back in

the early ’60s. Back then he and Tommy joinedthe South Derry club, a club I must admit that Ihad never heard of. It seems that it was a clubcomprised of fanciers all from the local area,who had to run with their rubber rings to ahouse in Sloans Terrace was in the BishopStreet area of the town. In the house was theone-and-only clock that the club had, belongingto a fancier called McDaid. Some familiarnames all had the same journey to make,

names such as Terence Carlin, Alec Boyle,Paddy Healy, Pat Moore and others. Young andfit was the order of the day, as Tony had to runthe whole way from Creggan to get his birdsclocked. Training your birds back then couldalso be a hit and miss affair as Tony andTommy remember only too well. In those days,you took your birds to the local train station andsent them on their way to, perhaps, Strabane,for a toss, that is if the conductor rememberedto let them go! If not, God knows where theywould finish up and that could have beenanywhere from Portadown to Belfast.Tony and Tommy lived in Dunmore Gardens

in Creggan where, when the South Derry clubfolded, they joined the new Foyle Club. Theirfirst recollections were of their good blue hen, asuper hen and a fantastic racer. The hen wasfrom a Bobby Boardman Cock and a HughMcGowan hen and as far as they canremember she had some E. A. Robinson bloodin her as well. There were a number of goodbirds on the go at the same time owned by veryconsistent fliers at that time such as HughDuffy, Billy Ogilvie, Lloyd Bros and LowryOlphert. Their famous blue hen was a multiplewinner from Sutton, all the way to Penzance.She was especially good when it came to ahard race in north winds and finished 2ndSection, 2nd Open Okehampton, beaten onlyby a fancier in Charlemont. She was finally lostin France, a mistake, they admit, but no one istaking the blame for that one!At this time, in the early ’70s, Tommy

believes that the sport of pigeon racing in Derryowed a huge amount to the work of Pat Moore.Pat was an immense presence in the sport, aman of great vision and passion for the game.He always had time for young fanciers andwould encourage them to get involved in thesport. He was also the first man to organisebulk training in the town with the introduction ofthe Foyle’s own transporter. The first French winner the brothers had was

from a Noel McGrotty Harper hen that had

already flown France, and the cock was froman egg that they got from Bobby Smyth inBallymena. Although not fast, he was a reallyconsistent bird. In a smash Skibbereen, he was11 hours on the wing to finish 4th club. He wasthen lifted into Okehampton where, after 13hours on the wing, he finished 3rd Club. Nextstop was France where in a bad race he wasclocked the next morning to take his win. Tonyrecalls that he was working the next day and hisbrother was to come and watch for the bird at5am. The brother slept in and when Tony camehome the bird was lying sunning himself on thelanding board. Tony clocked his winner, whoalso finished well up in the Section result.One of Tommy’s favourites was the

Okehampton hen, who had won four or fiveraces previously, a top, top hen. Tommyremembers that she was a really big, ugly darkchequer, so ugly she was good looking. Thefather of the hen was a direct Harper, fromHarper’s famous ‘35024’ hen and the ‘5744’cock. The hen was from Paddy Kelly’s hen thatthat done France three times and was theninjured. On the day of the race, the birds wereheld to midday and the hen was clocked on arotten dark night at 8 o’clock to win and take16th Section. In those days we have toremember that the Section was a lot biggerthan it is today, and included Coleraine,

FLYING INTO THE NORTH-WEST

TONY MULLEN,A Lifetime In Pigeons

Tony's neat loft.Ace stock pair. The Bude hen paired now to the French Cock.

The French Cock himself. What a super pigeon heis.

Last year’s Bude cock. Big hopes for France thisyear.

British Homing World, June 1st, 2012 45

Dungannon, Castledawson, Coalisland andPortstewart. Another favourite was their veryconsistent French hen never out of the first sixoff Noel McGrotty’s French cock which had wona few races previously and was lifted fromHaverford West into a smash Rennes race.One of Tony’s favourites was a black pied

hen from a Harold Mills Kenyon cock. Tonywent with Terence Carlin to visit Harold, whereTerence was given two big black young birdsthat Tony really fancied himself. Tony knew thatTerence didn’t like big black pigeons, and heknew it wouldn’t be long until Terence was onthe phone to see if Tony wanted them. Sureenough, the call came and after some hummingand hahing, Tony agreed to take them. One of

these turned out to be the father of the blackpied that went on to win St Malo.More recently, Tony has had some super

pigeons, too many to write about. He had agood, hard-day cock that won Talbenny in anorth-west wind flying 11 hours; he was also 1stand 3rd from Penzance a couple of years backin a north westerly again, in eight hours. ThePenzance winner went to a smash Talbenny thefollowing year when he was Tony’s only birdfrom six entered. From Talbenny he then wentto France winning 1st Club, 4th Fed and 10thSection. The cock now resides in the stock loft.Today, as was always the case, Tony keeps

pigeons purely as a pastime and hobby and hegets as much enjoyment from them as he hasever had. He has scaled down things in recentyears and tries to concentrate more on qualitythan quantity. He prefers Channel racing withFrance, of course, a target every year if he canget there. He believes that breeding is asimportant as racing, if not more so. GoodChannel pigeons and French birds especiallyshould be put to stock. He believes that if youcan get a bird from France into Derry it shouldbe stocked and not put back to France as manydo. Tony keeps only about 20 old birds andbreeds between 25 and 30 young. This year hehas changed his feeding methods and feedsonly beans and peas in the morning with ageneral mixture in the evening. He also hopperfeeds and the birds have food at all times. Healso gives Hormoform every day with the birdsalways getting grit, minerals and fresh water.He also likes to use Gemthepax when feeding

his young birds. Tony is a true gentleman of thesport who, although he likes to get a winner, isjust as happy to see other fanciers doing well.Still as keen as ever and always striving toimprove, here’s to many more successful yearsin the game!

billyknox@btinternet.com

Tony with one of his French winners from the ’70s.

Tony and Tommy with two of their Channel hopefuls. Another view of the downsized loft.

Tony with The Bude Hen, now at stock.

Tommy with the super blue hen. 1st Club, 1st Fed,3rd Section Bude.

This one's for Penzance this year.