RobMcCaffery

The tragedy of Belle Vue is that Mancunians now travel in their hordes to Blackpool's Pleasure Beach when they used to have it all right on their doorstep. Early start at the speedway, early finish then set them loose in the fairground, and what bliss it was too, even in the declining years of the seventies as I saw it. Rob McCaffery.

Actually it is very warm in summer - and freezing cold in winter. Rob McCaffery

Hi Jamie, I wish I could help with those two but although we covered Belle Vue from time to time I have no copies and I can't remember us eveer going to the Shay. Hopefully others could help. On a more general note I've fsaced fresh technical problems - new VCR/DVD combo won't track-into old VHS tapes. The KM Video trail has also gone cold - I've established that Paul sold his business to his kids and retired to Spain. I'm still trying to track down the next generation but they certainly don't trade under the old name. It's all very frustrating. Rob McCaffery.

Comment deleted - life's too short to try to sort a mess like this out. Rob McCaffery

Please calm down and let me explain. It would have had as much logic as Rayleigh Rockets becoming Rye House Rockets in 1974, or Crayford Kestrels becoming Hackney Kestrels, or Weymouth Wildcats becoming Poole Wildcats, etc. etc. - it would have been the transfer of a team, not some ridiculous attempt to offend. As I stated it was only a suspicion of a possibility not a developed plan. I posted just to show that Yarmouth hasn't been ignored over the years. Rob McCaffery.

Just staying on the subject of Yarmouth for a moment, back in the early nineties when Rye House was struggling for survival I did get the feeling that Great Yarmouth Rockets was a possible alternative. Obviously I can't speak for Ron Russell (well not since 1993) but he of course has strong connections with Norfolk. Rob McCaffery.

Didn't they demand a track inspection after four heats? Rob McCaffery.

I can definitely do you Scunthorpe, Phil. I've finally sorted out my VHS-DVD dubbing so I am expecting to finally get down to some serious copying next week. You're top of the list. Rob McCaffery

Yes the Cearns family were heavily involved with West Ham F.C. I seem to remember that they had a large business near Hackney stadium too. Rob McCaffery.

We covered Belle Vue back then when the Bamforths would let us in. If the archive survives there'll be some Hyde Road footage in there. Rob McCaffery.

Paul was originally based at Woodford Green in Essex but moved to Hoddesdon about the time I lost contact. Rob McCaffery

Sounds like Bruce Penhall's role in CHiPS - no, not Alf Tupper Rob McCaffery.

Hey did I say those were negative characteristics? I have been known to dabble in vehicles with far more than two wheels myself. I was at a vintage vehicle rally the day after Cardiff and found myself talking to a chap at the back of a bus who turned out to be a well-known former promoter who insisted I don't tell anyone - about being at the rally rather than talking to me - at least I think so .. Mind you, he'd seen a prominent ref in a transport bookshop in Cardiff. No names to protect the far from innocent... Rob McCaffery

Okay, they seem to have toned down his character based on occasional viewings of the soap but he still appears to be an odd-ball, a loser only just on the edge of society, likely to have odd habits and interests. I'll leave the rest of you to fill-in the punchline.... Rob McCaffery.

Yes it was John Stapleton. Sadly I just missed out on Custom House for similar reasons :-( Rob McCaffery.

Sorry, I only saw your point about it running from 1951 to 1963 - missed your line about the brief later revivals. Yes I did miss Reg Lambourne - bit of a handicap being born in 1957. Rob McCaffery

That site appears to refer to the the U.S. version. Norbold's missed the point that it was revived by ITV years later and I suspect the reported sighting of Ray Wilson may have been during the ITV revival. Rob McCaffery

Somehow I managed to get Birmingham v Cradley from Perry Barr complete with an interview with a young Simon Wigg. I've also got a Boston maeeting somewhere. Right now I can't transfer to DVD but as soon as I can sort out my VCR dubbing I can sort out the 'library' for want of a better word. I think I may have a Scunthorpe v Middlesbrough match from Ashby Ville as well. I lost contact with Paul Bonner many years ago now but I suspect that there could be a useful niche market for him here if the masters still survive. At least copies are out there. Maybe some kind of speedway video archive could be put together sometime, after all there must be a huge mountain of VHS still with customers by now. Rob McCaffery.

Charming! Rob McCaffery.

I was also at Waterden Road that night. It didn't help that he was given quite a bit of pre-meeting hype and I seem to remember was given the number 3 race jacket. I didn't know the back-story at the the time so it's no surprise given his lack of experience and preparation for the meeting that he was so embarrassingly out of contention. Perhaps if he hadn't been so badly dropped in the deep end the story might have had a happier conclusion. Rob McCaffery.

It's not their job to do better than professional British speedway riders. Are we only allowed to have an opinion on something if we can do the job better ourselves? Rob McCaffery.

The hand was frozen to it once - but that was after four hours in -25c covering ice racing in Leningrad. Couldn't wear a glove and write up a programme. Another memorable moment was covering indoor rallycross in Holland (I kid you not) when nobody noticed a door had been opened at the end of the hall and suddenly we were confronted with an empty hall and brake lights flashing in the car park section of the track. That would have made a good indoor speedway track - an agricultural hall in Leeuwaarden. There were other commentators though, notably Edwin Overland, Dave Welch, Bob Radford, Mike Hunter and my immediate predecessor, Gareth Rogers together with a guy called Ian French. Rob McCaffery

1981 was the year before I got involved so I'm surprised to see Barrow and Ellesmere Port listed since we certainly didn't go to places that far away (bar Belle Vue) in my time. I suspect that KM might have had a deal with a local guy to market their work on their behalf. I can certainly vouch for the volume of meetings covered after then though - it was most nights of the week. Bear in mind we also covered football, ice hockey and basketball at that time so either end of the speedway season was downright hectic. I am still recovering from two seasons of being the Crystal Palace FC club video commentator :-( but the ice hockey (Streatham, Richmond, Lee Valley, Nottingham and Durham) was good fun. Once the ScreenSport work started we also had the small matter of weekly stock car coverage to contend with too. Rob McCaffery

I base my comment on having seen the outside pass become such a rarity. One of the reasons that I fell in love with speedway was seeing riders bravely moving off-line, heading out into the dirt with wide-open throttle and racing. Over the years I saw the real racers in the sport frustrated by finding that when they tried this move they were let down by the track as they simply fell further behind. Now far too often I see racing confined to one tight line, often on the notorious "blue groove" and far too often the only hope of seeing a pass is if a rider slips off this line and leaves a gap on the inside. Much has changed for the better over the years, notably live TV coverage but the outside pass is tragically such a rarity these days. I feel the sport let down those who were prepared to race rather than simply have a "skid" and it is all the poorer for this. Rob McCaffery.

I must admit that I've always thought speedway videos to be highly-priced although in recent years the price seems to be a lot more sensible. Back in 81-3 when I was just doing KM's videos I didn't even have a video recorder myself so I very rarely got to see anything. With Tony McDonald showing there's quite a market for nostalgic books and magazines I suspect there would be quite a demand for vintage video and it would settle quite a few debates over whether the sport and particularly racing has declined since those days. I think anyone who's read my postings elsewhere on the forum will know where I stand on that, but then I do have the advantage of evidence in my video library which may be small but gives a pretty good sample. Rob McCaffery.