Parsloes 1928 nearly

It is just such awfully sad news. Condolences go to Ray and all of Jean's other family, to her friends and to all involved at Mildenhall...

Trust me, having been with David on Sunday safely ensconced in our deluxe seats at Torun three hours before the meeting started, he WILL there in good time!!!!

Glad to hear that you're back in one piece! Though less good news to hear the 'r' word mentioned...: don't want any of the wet stuff for next weekend that's for sure.. Was concerned to hear more stories this morning of volcanic dust disrupting flights...: wondered if this was from Iceland again or was from an explosion in London, E1 when your missus heard about those free drinks you got off the Polish hotties...!!!

Don't you be sepending all your zloty now...: we need some for the following weekend!!!

It was the State Funeral I believe, David - that itself disrupted by the dust (no, there wasn't a Sunday meeting at Rye House - the volcanic stuff! ) Assume they'll be back to normal by our trip in early May... Let's hope so...

The "Natural Gas Cup"..? That sounds like a lot of hot air!!!

What a fantastic picture - and many thanx for your PM too. I shall of course be replying to you. Best wishes and fraternal greetings, Derek

One of my all-time favourite riders. And holder of the greatest set of appearance records ever surely... From making his debut (in the top division) with West Ham, Sagey was ever-present in Division One with the Hammers and then the Witches for four consecutive seasons: then, as you say, when he moved to Crayford he carried on the record through 1975 - 1978 completing an incredible 327 consecutive appearances in official fixtures before breaking his leg in July 1979. Even then, when he returned to the saddle mid-season in 1980, he never missed another match for Crayford; and was ever-present again for Arena Essex in ’84 and ’85 and then for Canterbury in his final season of ’86. So, in 16 seasons from 1971 to 1986 Alan was to be ever-present in 14 of them: an incredible record!

Could be wrong but I think I remember George Barclay telling me a year or so back that Sagey had just fitted a boiler for him, so assume he's working as a plumber/gas fitter..? Fairly sure he's still in the Kent area...

Hmm, I'm sure that as a devoted atheist our norbold must, in the deepest recesses of his brain, fear somehow meeting his maker at the pearly gates... It can't make it any better: the prospect of Johnnie Hoskins turning out to be his maker!! BTW, I have personal experience of the time norbold was indeed closest to death... You MUST remember that lift, norb..?!!

Well you COULD do.. But sadly not just East London but the WHOLE of greater London has produced hardly ANY riders for years and years now... I think the only three riders currently riding born in the London area (and even then in a couple of cases moved away before pursuing a Speedway career) are James Cockle, Karl Mason and Jon Stevens... Before them there was Ray Morton and reaching the end of his career was Moggo but really I can't recall any other at all recent Londoner riders... Very sad... PS no I'd not forgotten my old mate Cecil Forbes...!!

Hmm, but a SHOCKING error repeated by you again there norbold... Parsloes Park is most certainly NOT in Ilford..: it's in Dagenham... And, er, always has been...!!

Not for the first time my local rag, the Barking & Dagenham Post has re-visited the story of the old Ripple Road track to come up with this, for its really rather impressive local history series: http://www.bdpost.co.uk/content/barkingand...3A53%3A36%3A900 The esteemed Mr. Jacobs gets an honourable mention...: why that geez is almost as good as our norbold (! ) though perhaps without the 'local legend' status around these parts of Dr. Belton.. Far be it from me, whose stock in trade is the hyperbole ( ) , to say...but is it not perhaps somewhat over-stating it to claim, "the Dagenham track was the biggest hotbed of speedway talent in the UK before the war..". Discuss!!!

Hmm, that appears to be Van-Praag with a hypen! Back to the drawing board!!!

QUOTE (Robbie B @ Mar 3 2010, 04:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Jan Verner, feat in 1976 of riding in all five World Finals (Individual, Team, Pairs, Long Track and Ice). Does anybody know if any other rider has managed this achievement? With Ice in there I'd say it's odd on, not..!

What this one...? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027623/

My, oh my...: for all of us who just LOVED the grand old place check THIS out.. Bloody great to see the place in all its glory. Crazy chase scene though...: and why didn't the hero follow age old tradition in such chases and climb onto the roof!!?? Man in A Suitcase reminds me of that gaffe in the Wimbledon prog when the writer was trying to be clever and referred to the diminutive King brother, Jason as the 'Rider in the Suitcase', picking up on the character name he shared with the hero of that series.. Only to be corrected by the baying Pitbend Loonies telling him (okay, okay it was ME!! ) that of course Jason King was the character in Department S...

I can't. It's my bread & butter after all...

It was certainly a slice of misfortune!

Well that's right: a midweek track that was a breeze to get to by public transport... Something I fear we'll never see the light of day again in the London and north Kent areas... In the last two seasons I'd by then moved to the Isle of Dogs. Still simple. Home by train from Crayford to Greenwich, walk through the foot tunnel to home!

Oh, I don't know...: sounds fair enuff to me!!! The march out music at Crayford was sometimes the fantastic 'Because They're Young' by Duane Eddy; but then there was a bespoke piece of music, based on a similar one used previously at Harringay, which went (in it's London Rd. incarnation...): "Two, Four, Six, Eight; Who do we appreciate? Oh, the Crayford Kestrels! Two, Four, Six, Eight; Waiting at the starting gate; Oh, the Crayford Kestrels!. Come on chaps, turn on the taps.." and now my exact memory of the lyrics fades...! Any Crayord or Harringaly folk out there able to fill in the words..? BTW, a great theme music never used - as far as I know - at a GB Speedway track was The Pastels' brilliant song, "Speedway Star". Find out all there is to know about this little known track in the current issue of The Speedway History Mag. This shameless plug would be nothing without this link: http://www.speedwaymags.co.uk/speedway-mag...y-magazine.html

That is true (obviously, as you are correctly quoting from the planning application) but I know in conversation with Roger that he's not that fixed on the Dons as the name for the side and I'd personally be surprised if he would go with that name. It's after all not the most inspiring of nicknames and doesn't really ring true... Kent Kestrels sounds a LOT better!!!

Hmm, by the time it got to late 2003 your mate Justin was incapable of making it off the starting line (eight times in a row in two matches he simply sat there as the tapes went up and wheeled his machine off the track... ) - so I don't think he was a serious contender for the Laurels!!! Heaven knows what Mr. Cearns would've made of young Master Elkins' antics!!

There were two Laurels meetings held in the Conference years.. The one Roger came along as guest of honour to was the first in 2003: won by speedyguy's favourite rider Wayne Barrett. The 'Master of Plough Lane' having surely his finest career moment that night, culminating in beating Buzz in a pulsating run-off for the title. I remember that Roger's invite came too late for me to get a mention of him attending in the prog. that night; but it was certainly that one he attended and so is refering to.. (The other Laurels was that emotional final ever meeting at Plough Lane in 2005 when Buzz finally did win the title...). Remembering back to 2003 and refreshing that memory by looking at the completed prog there were quite a few rerun heats that evening: though my abiding memory is of that fantastically exciting run-off... Roger is an honourable man and passionate about the Wimbledon of his childhood and its glorious past - understandable as his grand-father WAS Mr. Wimbledon Speedway and his Dad worked at the Stadium his whole life. If Roger felt what he did about that solitary evening he watched Conference level racing at Plough Lane then fair enough it's his opinion. His view is like many others who saw Wimbledon only as a top level track. I personally don't agree with him on this and I think it's a shame that again we see a negative spin being given to the Conference days at Wimbledon. Roger is also passionate about his plans for Central Park and I'm delighted he has lost none of his enthusiasm for that exciting project. THAT'S what we should really be discussing I believe; and I wish him all the best with the next stage of the Planning application. I was there at the Town Hall when permission WAS given. The way Roger describes events in that Star article is exactly how it went; and I'm confident that provided those facts are accepted he can win the day on appeal...

As you say so mean-spirited it almost defies belief... What on earth goes through the minds of people like this. Even taking for granted that the person who made this decision has no sense of the importance of local history or community, you might've thought his/her business acumen would tell them, "hmm, this plaque is bound to attract people to come and see it, some might decide to come into the store...". They could even have done a Speedway-related theme to their carpet sales! What's especially galling about this is the number of trading/industrial parks around the UK built on the sites of former stadiums which call themselves Stadium Park or the like. Adding insult to (considerable...) injury.. I hope all Speedway fans nationally boycott Allied's grotty, over-priced, poor quality and badly fitted carpets from now on...