Save Weymouth Speedway

Heres a local news article. http://www.viewfrompublishing.co.uk/news_view/10057/5/1/weymouth-speedway-wessex-delivery-finally

After a seven week delay, coincidentally on the same day that a local free newspaper revealed future plans for a demonstration at the grand opening of the Morgan Sindall built Weymouth “Community Fire Station”, Wessex Delivery (a company in partnership with Morgan Sindall Group Plc) finally deigned to reply to Harold Doonan. The brief letter - signed Wessex Delivery LLP - notes that that the board of Wessex Delivery has “made its position clear regarding the use of the land” and that “we have no plans at the moment to lease out the Wessex track for motorsport activities”. Wessex Delivery blamed their tardy and unilluminating response on a need “to consult our partners before responding”. Harold Doonan who heads a consortium trying to revive the Wildcats was, nonetheless, grateful for their response, “I would like to thank Wessex Delivery for their correspondence and the fact that they have kindly offered to contact me should the decision alter in the future. However, whilst the track lays dormant, and in the continuing absence of future plans for it, there is always still a possibility of a return. I have a meeting scheduled for next week with several parties interested in maintaining the fight to keep the club alive where we shall discuss the where in our local community to stage our demonstration as well as where our quest will take us next.”

Local businessman Harold Doonan and his consortium still await a reply from landlords Morgan Sindall six weeks after contacting them to try and negotiate a lease on the Wessex Raceway and save the Weymouth Wildcats Speedway team from extinction. With revenues in excess of £1.5 billion,(figures from company website), Morgan Sindall remain tight lipped regarding any future plans of the stadium. Wessex Delivery Partnership LLP have stated that they have no plans to lease the track for motorsport activities in the foreseeable future but, sickeningly in the context of this sustained campaign of inaction, the raceway remains empty. Harold Doonan, who heads up the consortium trying to save the club from permanent extinction is frustrated by the lack of communication from Morgan Sindall. He’s calling on the local council to get behind the club in its hour of need. “It’s about time the local council stood up for the community who elected them. In 1900 the Sidney Hall was given to the parish of Holy Trinity by Sir John Groves in memory of his son, Sidney, who had died in 1895. Without any consultation to the local community, the building was knocked down and replaced with Asda supermarket. There are sixty years of sporting history on the site at the Wessex Stadium, and yet the likelihood of it being developed looks ever more probable. Weymouth is surrounded by the sea on three sides which makes it virtually impossible to find another location that will be suitable for a speedway track, and the fact that there is a perfectly suitable one already in existence beggars belief.” Builders merchant Doonan added, “We have lost an amenity which brought visitors to the town and provided a great source of family entertainment for the locals too. The new bypass may bring more visitors to the town but there’s not going to be much for sports fans to watch - particularly if the football club go the same way as the speedway! I feel it’s time for the powers that be to say that this land will remain as a sporting area in perpetuity and so eliminate the persistent threat of development which forever hangs over the stadium. “ On the subject of the possible relocation of the stadium, which may or may not include a speedway track as part of the land deal with Wessex Delivery Partnership Doonan noted, “What’s the point of moving the stadium from its current home and having to relocate it just so they can build houses on it? Why not build the houses on the land where the relocated stadium would go, surely that is common sense?” Anyone wishing to make their feelings known are being encouraged to write to their local ward councillor and also to the Conservative Member of Parliament who represents Weymouth: Mr Richard Drax MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 2PW. Further details regarding a possible peaceful demonstration by local people at the grand opening of the Weymouth “Community Fire Station” - recently built by Morgan Sindall to “serve the community” - will follow shortly.

Its not all doom and gloom, the article in the Echo put rather a negative spin on the situation. Whilst it looks unlikely the speedway will return to Radipole Lane any time soon, efforts are being made to look for an alternative site. Its not going to be easy but every effort will be made to find a new home for the Wildcats.

A letter is being sent to the Directors of Morgan Sindall (Wessex Delivery Partnership is a part of this multimillion pound company) who effectively own the land. I think we have really only been left with one option and thats to make a song and dance about the whole situation and get as much media coverage as possible, which we intend to do. Morgan Sindall are building a fire station, ironically just up the road from the stadium, and are part of the "Considerate Constructors Scheme" according to the signs on the fence outside of the Fire Station so we are hoping that they consider our little club too. If this fails to extract an answer from the company then we shall be calling on our fans again to show how much this club means to the town, but hopefully we wont have to. It's a bit David and Goliath but we aren't giving up without a fight!!

Taken from the Weymouth Echo http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/sport/speedway/8826812.Harold_s_SOS_for_Wildcats/#commentsList Harold's SOS for Wildcats 8:44am Wednesday 2nd February 2011 By Adam Summers » HAROLD Doonan is staging a ‘Save Our Speedway’ rally at his yard in Lynch Lane, Weymouth on Saturday (10.30am) in a last-ditch bid to keep the popular sport in the town. The builders’ merchant is part of a consortium interested in saving the Weymouth Wildcats but so far the group has been unable to nail down a lease for the Wessex Raceway at Radipole Lane with landlords Wessex Delivery Partnership still refusing to answer their calls. With the constitution of the National League having already been confirmed for the forthcoming campaign, Doonan has admitted time is running out for the club but he still harbours hopes of a last-minute revival. He told Echosport: “I am trying my damndest to try and help keep speedway in the town and although we are probably flogging a dead horse already, we will keep fighting to the bitter end. “That is why we have arranged an open meeting at my yard on Saturday where some guys from Poole will present a selection of vintage speedway bikes for fans to take a look at. “We are hoping it will attract around 100 people, which would then give a small indication of just how much interest there is out there to keep the Wildcats going. And who knows, it might just tip the balance with the landlords as well. “It may well be too late to get everything sorted to enter the league now but we have to at least try or Weymouth is going to lose a big amenity. “With the riders competing all over the country and fans organising their holidays around the sport, speedway does a lot in terms of attracting people to the town and I believe it is another thing the area cannot afford to just let go.” Doonan has even indicated that his consortium would be interested in relocating the Wildcats if a suitable location was found. He added: “There must be somewhere in the area where the council would allow us to do it but we cannot really start talking to people until the landowners of the Wessex Raceway give us a definitive answer, one way or the other. “I just wish they would pick up the phone and let us know where we stand. If they don’t want us there then just tell us, then we can start looking into other avenues.”