norbold

Thanks Shoddy, that's very interesting. However, as I said before: Apart from making that 1960 instead of 1980. No Vic Duggan or Tom Farndon......

Yes, Steve Hone.

I can correct you on the spelling of Howe - it should be How - but not on whether he was captain or not. There certainly was a team called the Speedway Riders XI who played charity matches as iris says, but I can't remember who played for them or who the captain was.

I didn't know they'd actually held a meeting at Horsford. I know they had some trials there in the 60s organised by Maurice Littlechild and Jack Thompson. I would also like to hear about any meetings there. There was a meeting in December 1976 at Hevingham organised by Cyril Crane. Cyril and Violet Child built a banked 350 yard track capable of holding 15,000 spectators and organised a full-scale meeting to convince the planning authority to grant planning permission for the following year. It was a full-scale 20 heat individual meeting mainly for juniors. The winner was the 14 year old Andy Buck. David Crane also took part. The meeting was held without the sanction of the Control Board and some, John Berry of Ipswich in particular, thought the 'strongest possible action' should be taken against the organisers as his view was that an unlicensed meeting would give the sport a bad image and adversely affect others when applying for planning permission. In the end it didn't matter as planning permission was not granted anyway. I was talking to Cyril Crane a couple of years ago about his attempts to get speedway back in Norwich. He told me that since 1964 he had put in 28 planning applications and all had been turned down.

You could try contacting one of the Forum members, # Name Removed #. His father was Bert # Name Removed #, a former Saints rider.

Not Sullivan?

That's not the point. Until it is decided to enter separate teams from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the team represents the whole of Great Britain. It may be that it will only consist of English riders for the next 50 years, but that doesn't make it any less representative of Great Britain as a whole.

No, it's the Great Britain team It just happens that currently the best riders are English, but the team represents the whole of Great Britain.

Let's just say it cost more than £120.

Very good. Just the sort of photo I like. What camera have you got? Sorry. Only just seen this. It's a Sony digital DSC-P10

Good in his day though.

I'd better have a go at this as I see I only have 8 points on the official prediction league table, having forgotten to post my prediction for Cardiff, which, by the way, was going to be 1. Hancock 2. Adams 3. Richardson 4. Crump Anyway, Denmark: 1. Jason Crump 2. Greg Hancock 3. Nicki Pedersen 4. Tony Rickardsson

That must be mine. It's good isn't it Gem?

I agree as well. I was filling in a copy of the programme yesterday to give to a friend of mine who couldn't get to Cardiff and I was reliving the evening as I was filling in the results. It brought back to me just how impressive AJ had been and that he was very unlucky not to make the final.

I did get a picture of a little bit of the back of your head....

Not many, but like I said on another thread I did take more video... Cardiff 2004

Umm ---I asked you to stand up mate as I was dying for the loo and shook your hand and I said Hi Norbold Im Nevsy and you sort of nodded and sat back down again after Id passed. Just to prove it heres your pic - pic 2 grinning at me from just a few seats along....Honestly...some people http://community.webshots.com/scripts/edit...69506&ran=26393 Oh yes, I remember now you say that... :oops:

We're getting there...More news from Ross: "Bert Spencer was the Plymouth captain in 1931. Paddy Dean also rode for the club. Quite a number of other riders rode for Plymouth that season including :- Bert Jones, Maurie Bradshaw , Noel Johnson (all Australians), Spencer Stratton & Charlie Blacklock (Kiwis), George Preston, Peter Slade, Fred Hawken, Bill White and Bill Clibbett. There is no mention of Frank Varey appearing at the track that season, either with a visiting team or for second half racing. Quite a few First Division clubs did race at Plymouth that year including West Ham. Billy Lamont rode in a second half. Tom Farndon was brilliant at his appearance. As I don't have photos of most of the riders whom I mentioned appeared for Plymouth, the task of naming all those in the photo is almost impossible unless I turn up team photos. At least I now know where and when the photo was taken." NB to all doubters...Note the comment about Tom Farndon!

Well, I had a good time at Cardiff, though I was disappointed that Chris Louis didn't win.... Met lots of old friends and found some new Forum members. Though I must have missed out on Nevsy somewhere. Why did no-one introduce us? Same time next year, Fd? In the meantime here are a few photos of that momentous occasion: Cardiff 2004 The video is better though x-rated because of Full Throttle's shameless performance in going topless which was (un)fortunately caught on camera.

Saw Laurie and Pete at the Veteran Speedway Riders Association Dinner this year. There's a photo of Pete at the dinner on here If that doesn't work let me know!

Well, heat one looks a certainty for Greg Hancock after the Ipswich v. Oxford match on Thursday!

Very tempting Sir Lunchy, but I don't think I'll be out in Australia at the New Year....still, you never know.....

More news from Ross: "I have very limited knowledge of Plymouth Speedway. If the photo was taken in 1931, the club wasn't in the League that year to the best of my recollection and had just opened during the season. The copy of the photo I saw yesterday looked like a promotional exercise as it had a banner above the photo, "Plymouth Speedway" (rainbow-shaped), in large letters. If Plymouth wasn't in the League, the photo would probably have been taken at an open meeting. Also, if my memory is correct, both Paddy Dean and Frank Varey were on Belle Vue's books at the time. I saw a second photograph yesterday of a group of riders wearing the same design of race jackets (vertical halves, some with the light half on the right and some with it on the left) which looks as if it was taken at the same time as the photo on the track. In this photo the riders ( 7 in this instance) aren't wearing helmets. Paddy Dean is obvious and as for the one I think is Bert Spencer, the distinctive features (particularly the ears) seem to back my judgement."

Well that's told me off.

Just had the following e-mail from Ross: Hello Norman, I've had some success with the photo. It was taken at Plymouth Speedway. Paddy Dean is definitely the rider on the far left.I would say the year was 1931 which was (to the best of my knowledge) the only year other than 1928 that Dean raced in Britain. The photo in question turns out to have come from Paddy Dean's collection. I today saw another from Paddy's collection which shows the riders without their helmets on. Now comes the task of identifying the rest of them. Ross