norbold

Actually one of my books was one of the prizes (Speedway in the South East), but as first out of the hat, I got to choose out of the vast array of prizes on offer...

I had a great day at the WSRA annual Norwich lunch today. Met up with some old friends, including Ove Fundin, Bert Harkins, Trevor Hedge, Tony Hurren (Hawkeye) and Terry Ripo (former Hackney and Mildenhall announcer). Other illustrious names at the lunch included Cyril Crane, Richard Greer, James Easter, Billy Bales, Ray Bales, Rob Hollingworth, Dingle Brown, Gavin Hedge, Dave Gagen, Graham Miles, Ollie Allen, Dave Allen and the great, the one and only, Buzz Burrows. Good food, good company and, best of all, I won first prize in the raffle!

So which one are you leaving out?

He averaged 7.15. To be quite honest, I wasn't very impressed with him....shows you what I know!

Quite right, BOBBATH, they never rode for the same team. I saw Eric ride every week for two years at New Cross. Also saw Ian a few times. Sadly never got to see Fred ride, though I did meet him a few times after he'd retired at various events.

I'd forgotten them.

Which team did they all ride for?

The obvious answer would be the Collins Brothers and Belle Vue.

If what someone said is "twoddle", then what you said must have been twaddle too, because he was agreeing with you!

No doubt, GB's win will be all over the BBC Sports News later and will feature heavily in their Sports Personality of the Year programme……

Er….no….

I think you couldn't have chosen a worse moment to say that!

No. The other team win 5-4.

What??? It doesn't matter what the head to head is, a race win in the final will win it. That's why it's the final.

Great night for Dad's Army. But also a great night for speedway.

Great time for the helmet cam…….

Why haven't Nigel or Kelvin mentioned that Palm Toft has broken fingers?

Scotty & Bomber for our SoN team this week?

Not a rugby league fan then?

I remember you. You were the one throwing darts at my programme board weren't you?

My trusty programme tells me he won four races and had one third.

Yes, I was there as well! You could have just asked me to move instead of hitting me over the head with your umbrella though, BOBBATH!

I was indeed there, Split. It was the only time I ever saw Southampton. I still have the programme (of course!)

Yes, very sad news. Colin gave so much to speedway not just as a rider, manager and promoter but also, after he retired, through the World Speedway Riders' Association, of which he was president in 2011. I used to see him every week at Hackney of course and then met him several times at various WSRA functions. But perhaps our strangest meeting was when I just happened to bump into him at Liverpool Street Underground Station and we travelled as far as Tottenham Court Road together. This was the first time I actually met him and he must have wondered who this strange person was who suddenly accosted him to talk about Hackney speedway!

So, a Poland v. Russia final - forerunner of the SoN? Sadly not, of course.