barrybishop

yep that was fun.... I was in Thailand. I had to do it before for a fans forum we had and it worked pretty well, so when I realised I would have to travel, it was my duty to try to see if the same set up would work and it did actually really well. You are right I didnt really want to end there because I would /was thinking about all the other questions I could have answered had I stayed on the line. I love our sport, our club, and working with Martin, so if people believe in what we are doing, ask questions, offer ideas, give input... it makes absolute sense to participate in them. I am always very thankful for the invitation to be honest.

Yep I appreciate that, and you are right it does get harder. That's probably because of your 50 friends at speedway you are now the only one attending. This is the start point. On the island I recalled what it was like for me as a kid at speedway - I had different friends there, in the main, to my friends from School and Sea Cadets. So it is this that we have focused on with the island... fun, family, friendship, entertainment, community, value for money (kids always free for anything related to speedway).. speedway on the island is a show, of which the racing is the main event sure, but there are lots of little side events from mascots, to face painting, home made specials in the cafe, pits open.... even me getting a megaphone to drive the fans nuts but its a fun experience... and this is what, in my view, every track should be looking at. To be fair, we have seen a big increase in this across speedway over the last season or so. While I do appreciate it is hard to be positive... and I have been there beleive me... I am always positive about what we do on the Island because I totally believe it in, totally believe we can make it better (why we regularly have discussions on our show - for everyone to contribute). Finally it is pride... we are very proud of our club. To me you visit my home when you come to Smallbrook, and while there will be problems from time to time I am very happy to explain them if needed, I am always happy to have feedback contructive or positive, and I would be gutted, totally, if fans had a crap time with us. See you trackside and thanks for the feedback

I absolutely do make that curry for our specials... we have a team of us... I do the Curry, Jane does the sausage casserole and Chilli, and Sandra will be adding thick soups to our non summer time menu Really glad you like it - thank you.

Trust me, I only use the most fresh and free range produce for my home made curry... please comd and try it.

You are right HT things do seem to be getting better, things are improving, and people are noticing. This is a great step in the right direction for the sport and making speedway night something to be proud of. Regads your second point... I have been thinking about this long and hard and I would actually like to do it one day, if I was ever offered such a thing. To bring speedway forward, to take it to the next level, needs leadership, simplification, financial sustainability rules, but most of all positivity from every part of the sport - all of us.

quite possibly....

Actually I clean the air fence every week :):) and you know what i am like in the build up to the meeting.... I view it from your perspective in that I want it to be just right for when our fans and visiting fans eneter the stadium - from the moment you enter until you leave you are mine... and it is my duty to entertain you

it is true to say that I do take time to read the forum and there is good reason for this... I, on behalf of our clubs, learn from it. I sense feeling in the written word, and I look for information and idea that can make our product better - I ask myself almost daily "How can I improve our show?" or "What makes speedway night the best it can be and how can I encourage our fans, volunteers, sponsors and riders as proud of the club as Martin and I are?" Small questions with many, many answers. So reading regularly allows me to understand what makes us as fans tick, how can I make our club stand out. So, once again I thank everyone for their contribution on the forum and as I always say... positivity sells, belief inspires, entertainment equals entry value and constructive interaction is as important as a pat on the back. Thank you See you trackside.

Actually the Isle of Wight Wizards will race at the Isle of Wight for their home meetings. The squad will be made up of either Islanders or regular members of My First Skid - also located on the Isle of Wight

Yes absolutely correct... I put this forward and other suggestions to up the NL image and get us closer to our sponsors. On the Island we held really good live draws for our meetings, be that in the crowd, with a sponsor or even on the spikes of an ice bike. However, I always seek the advice of Andy Hague who knows his stuff for this type of thing... even if I have a wacky idea, he knows how to make that idea get presented in the best way. While at the time, we may think what we are doing is the best thing ever (and to us it is of courese), using the opinion of someone like Andy enables me to cover off the viewers, our sponsors and our leagues perspective - as in this is what Andy thinks about in everything he does for the club. He wants the Wightlink Warriors always to be seen at its very best within our budget... which is of course in line with Martin and my thinking.

Hi, The Wightlink Warriors have been nominated for another award. If you can vote for us I would really appreciate it and share it to other forums with like minded people. The awards can be found at redfunnel.co.uk/awards and the Wightlinkj Warriors are nominated in the best land based activity section. Thank you very much in advance Barry

2019 working party dates are announced. Jan 18th - 20th Feb 15 - 16th (17th off to celebration of speedway) Mar 15 - 17th. Be really great to see some of you there if you can to help with the continuous stadium improvement program to make the stadium the best it can be. Thank you

Very happy to read our 2018 programme has been voted joint most improved across all 3 leagues and while I feel what we do is right if there is anything you would like to be considered for inclusion for 2019 do let us know. Congratuations to our programme team, sponsors, contributors and everyone involved in its production. Thank you

At this time of festive cheer, I would to wish you all a very merry Christmas and thank you for your support of the Wightlink Warriors and Wizards. It means the world to Martin and I the feedback across the forum on the Warriors and Wizards. It is all very useful for us as we slowly develop our product further and within budget. So thank you, whether you are a season ticket holder, member of staff or someone who just looks in from a distance. Thanks. Have a great Christmas with those you love, and I look forward to seeing you, hearing from you or pondering your thoughts on here in the future. All the best Barry (and Martin)

accepted.......

a wager......?

We are working on this with My First Skid but the truth is there isnt really many track for new riders to come to. We hold Schools on the Island, Plymouth and I hope Rye House hopefully this will help build up more Southern riders

Connor has every opportunity to do well this season, its his opportunity. He will either take it or he will not. When he rode for us on each occassion he did well including race wins, so this is his chance. However, the "long list" of poor IOW reserves is a little unjust in my view. It just so easy to talk things down but I can assure you being on the island is a nightmare when it comes to agreeing terms with "hot shot" reserves. This year we had 3 hot shot reserves who we were in discussion with who were "desperate" to ride for the club...... yet only 1 on these became a Warrior - Chad. The other two walked us down a long path and ultimately went the way of more money or easier travel (the travel is understandable for a student). As was the case for last year, I had already spoken to a top local school that would allow any "hot shot" to particpate at thier school on the Friday reducing the time the rider missed from two to one day from school. Finally, it isnt as simple as wave a magic wand and they shall appear either. On the island it is different - it takes more time to get to (we do it each week too) and we will NEVER pay more than we can afford - it is foolish to do so, unless you dont mind losing money. A club which survives to thrive is way more important than a club that tries to buy the league by inflating wages and affecting the long term viability of our league..... and to be honest with you, our speedway on the island is always about the bigger picture - the fun family experience with riders who want to be there, with riders who will be heroes to our fans and inspire the next generation of rider and fan. I am extremely proud of this years team, but make no bones about it I would have prefered to have our entire team back from last year... but the rules stop that. This is a good team who will do the club proud, everyone of them has the opportunity to improve their average and do well. Time will tell Thanks as always for your feedback.

Tomorrow Martin and I head off for the AGM in Rugby where I hope we will have a constructive and positive meeting about the NL and how we take it forward. I have been reading on Social Media and I do understand the concerns being voiced about what our league will look like - how many teams, points limit, number of riders per team, competitions and so on... but we will strive to do the best we can for the league and present our ideas for the benefit of all. We will update you as soon as we are permitted. All the best

Martin and I are off on our travels again this weekend where we shall be attending with our better halves, the World Speedway Riders Association's gala dinner and awards night. The Wightlink Warriors have been nominated for an award for the best community club. We lost out last year to Somerset in the same category, so hopefully we can go one better this year and win it, although we up against stiff competition with Berwich and Kent, who have done brilliantly this year for their communities. Then we are back to the Island on Thursday for My First Skid, followed by a weekend working party at the stadium (anyone can come along for both events) In between this, its more sponsorship thank you letters and organising our plans for next year. Thanks again for all your continued support whether local or afar, we really appreciate it. All the best Barry

I have posted on FB why this award is so important to us, and that being that we were in the same competition with every other sport, sports club, sporting individual on the Island and those who represent the Island and UK around the world. We were voted to win this above all those, voted for by the public, our community which to me shows that we are really becoming an important part of the Island

Hi, Thanks for the kind word and unfortunately you are correct in that we do not attend the BSPA AGM and we hold our own 2 weeks after at the NL AGM. It is for me way too late of course and I would prefer these AGM to happen mid season with a wash up meeting at the end of the year. We do strive to do our best for all, be that at the school, speedway, in the community, our parties - everything really. Unlike most I fear, I am really looking forward to 2019 to continue what we have begun and hopefully continue to grow and get further into our community. Many thanks Barry

Really proud to tell you all that Martin and I, on behalf of everyone who believed in us, volunteers, our fans, visiting fans, sponsors and riders, won the 2018 Isle of Wight Radio Local Hero Awards for Sporting Achiever. This is absolutely great to be honored up against every other sport, sports club, sports person who represents or is on the Isle of Wight and is voted for by the community. We are both, as should everyone associated with the club, very proud today. Thank you

We are all very proud to have been nominated for an Isle of Wight Radio Local Heroes award. Martin and I are invited to the awards dinner on Nov 8th so we will keep you all posted. This is a very nice surprise and totally out of the blue so, now we know about it, it will be just brilliant to win it although being nominated is equally as fabulous when you consider where the club was just 4 years ago. Thanks everyone for your support in 2018 and enjoy the off season

This is interesting and perhaps we are slightly different to other clubs but our demographic definitely is not over 60s, its kids to 50s mainly (or perhaps I am blinkered as I get older of age ) We do have senior fans for sure, but as to them being the majority our gate tickets tell us otherwise, as does the fan base, and while we are not talking thousands through the gate, well not yet of course, our fan base is definitely less than 50. This has been our objective since the start. To start from the ground up, attracting a new demographic while engaging and supporting those who have been for year. I cannot say that we have cracked it for sure, but in general I think we are working well with both groups of fans. Our parties are always full of families, which is really where I want it to be. Our season ticket sales goes across the spectrum of course but we do have youth pricing for season tickets and we have sold them. I walk our stadium every meeting and engage with the fans and not one traditional speedway fan has said they didn't like the new things we were putting in to attract fans... I feel that they actually enjoy the fun filled show we try to put on more than just 15 heats of quality racing... For us, making speedway an event is our target and to make each week better than the previous one is a business objective along with have a business that is sustainable and can fund itself. That's our view on it and it is a challenge to think of great ideas, have them copied and have to think of new ones to keep being innovative but thats the plan moving forward... continue to improve the stadium, continue to engage, continue to promote, continue to build a rider base, continue with the show and continue to innovate... all to the best we can and all within a budget. .......... see you trackside.