norbold

Excellent lunch at the King's Oak today to celebrate the 95th anniversary of speedway in this country. I found myself sitting between Bert Harkins and Jim McMillan with Len Silver on the same table. Len, who is 91, was in great form with plenty of stories and anecdotes. The after-dinner speaker, who gave an illustrated history of High Beech, was good too!

Cheers, Bob.

Indeed it is. But that's because it sold so many first hand copies that statistically some were bound to turn up in charity shops later. I can't say I have any complaints!

Mine. "Pie 'n' Mash & Prefabs. Still available on Amazon and at all good book shops.

Youngie was a real master at New Cross. Although past his best by 1960, he was able to beat anyone at New Cross, including the "Big Five" and frequently did. I'm not sure I agree about Craven. I have to say I was never that impressed with him during my first two years of speedway (1960 & 1961) at New Cross and never thought he was in the same class as Fundin, Briggs and Ronnie Moore (and Youngie!) Of course he was but never seemed to be at New Cross.

This was indeed Briggo's view. Bjorn Knutson, on the other hand, thought the quickest way round Custom House was the inside. To settle the matter they had a match race one evening with Bjorn off gate one and Briggo off gate three. Almost as soon as they started they swapped positions with Bjorn going round the outside of Briggo on the first two bends. The race was won by Bjorn, thus proving Briggo right!

My two home tracks, Steve.

I have just heard from my good friend, man in black, Terry Stone, who tells me the first annual get-together at High Beech was in 1992. So I am prepared now to correct the speaker in case he makes a mistake in his speech.

A question. This year will see the 95th anniversary of the first meeting at High Beech. A special lunch is being held by the WSRA on 19 February to celebrate this event, with, I understand, an excellent guest speaker. Because it is a special anniversary, this year's celebration is being held at the original home, King's Oak. Since 2009, the annual celebration has been held at Paradise Wildlife Park, site of the Speedway Museum. Prior to that it was held at the King's Oak and organised by John Chaplin and Peter Lipscomb under their "Vintage Speedway Magazine" banner. The question is, does anyone know when John and Peter first organised the annual event? In which year?

469 at the home fixture against Luton Town on Saturday 6th December 1930.

Done my bit, though we didn't get off to a good start! The presenter of the programme, Steve Scruton, rang me on Wednesday to ask me if I could take part in the programme. He said the only track he knew about was Rayleigh and asked me if I ever went there. I told him that I only went there once or twice. So, he started off the interview with me this morning by saying he understood I was a regular at Rayleigh and must have lots of memories of the place that I could talk about. Doh!!!

The tracks I have on my list to talk about are High Beech, Dagenham, West Ham, Rayleigh, Walthamstow, Lea Bridge and Arena Essex/Lakeside. Romford is a bit of a funny one because it was in Essex until 1965 but, there was no speedway there until 1969, by which time it was in London! Although there was a team called Romford before the War which operated from the Dagenham track. The researcher I spoke to, thought I also ought to mention Rye House as it is very close to Essex and a lot of Essexians (or whatever we are called) would have gone there.

Tomorrow morning (10 December), starting at 10 a.m., BBC Essex will be broadcasting a programme about lost Essex sports stadiums. As part of this, at about 10:30, I am being interviewed about the lost speedway tracks of Essex. It is a phone-in programme, so it would be good if any of you could phone in with memories of speedway in Essex.

Yes, but don't mention it too loudly as we will probably get a string of posts about Jimmy Gibb from someone.....

Better than me. I only managed runner-up at Pontin's, Isle of Wight in 1992!

Without giving too much away, I am older and still play competitive table tennis. My team captain is 84! Must be an old boys' game.

Absolutely well worth it. Both the Museum and the Wildlife Park are worth a visit on their own, let alone getting to see both.

He was just as good as always.

Yes, I had a chat with him at the West Ham reunion this year. Always good to talk to.

The Funeral Service for Gavin will take place at Breckland Crematorium (Norwich Rd, Norwich, NR9 4NR) on Wednesday 16th November 2022 at 12pm. Attendance welcome. Family flowers only however donations in memory of Gavin to benefit The Speedway Riders Benevolent Fund are most welcome. If you wish to donate, please do so through the Ivan Fisher Funeral Home website – Make a Donation.

Incidentally, I once wrote a short story about a group of superheroes called The Pengers. It was published in a magazine called Comics Unlimited. I can't remember now if Gustix or Speedyguy or even Jack Keen featured. There was a follow-up which sadly remains unpublished to this day.

Oh no, what will we do without him?

Not sure, but I think there was one rider from the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Any HISTORICAL information on speedway in the United Kingdom please.

I believe there was speedway in Poland back in the 1950s. I think some New Zealanders went out there to race.