BOBBATH

They were runners up to Poole in the PL that season-among others the riders I recall for them were Roy Taylor,George Major, Jon Erskine, .The Abbey Stadium is no longer there I think its been built over-like so many others.They moved to St.Austell for 1963 I reckon-this is all from memory so I stand to be corrected-I think there was also a rider called Howdy Cornell plus Fred Powell-Trev Redmond also rode I think as well as being promoter.

Good to hear-I remember seeing him in the British Final at West Ham in 1965 when he qualified for the World Final-and then later at the WF itself-at least I think that was the year

Bostonfive,yes I do have some info mate-if Tigertom reads this -he will probably know more. Last year(2006) at Paris speedway I had the privilege af attending the Canadian Championship Final -won by Kyle Legault with a maximum and he also broke the track record about three times.It was a wonderful evening made even better by a special presentation to the much loved Stan Bradbury on the occasion of his 80th birthday,Stan has been here since the late fifties.I got talking to Stan at the meeting and in fact asked him about Alan Kidd.Alan lives in Cambridge, Ontario and Stan has his phone number somewhere.If I see Stan at Paris next summer I will certainly ask him-but with this info you might be able to track him down yourself thru internet phone inquiries. Other speedway riders living in Canada include Tony Armstrong(Stan's son-in- law), Mike Tams I think is still alive in Toronto, but Bob Fisher and Dave Dodd I think have both passed away. If you go to the website Canadian Speedway Racing Association-bet they can help you further-and they are a real friendly and helpful bunch(includes a lot of ex Brits).

Thank God the site is back up-I thought it was gone forever-I kept trying to sign on and was really sweating it.I would really miss this site as I greatly enjoy other folks reminiscences who share the same interest in old time(50's-60's) speedway, particularly the postings on the riders of that time..It was like I lost all my forumland friends.Anyway now it is back up have been trying to catch up on all posts.So saw Ken Vale mentioned by Odd Fossengen-not the real one I presume or am I wrong-.I recall Ken extremely well-for Newport in the mid sixties-66?? and also Long Eaton.Ken seemed old even then-anybody else have any memories of him-how old is Ken now.I think he started in about 61/62 and went on till about 68/69?? Re Crouch's excellent post on Brian Hanham etc(which I thought led to a great thread by the way).-the riders at that time seemed such regular guys-sounds like it is different today.Guess its the same in all sports tho' e.g. Tom Finney who had a regular job as a plumber.Even here in Canada,years ago the ice hockey stars were guys who had to get jobs in the summer to survive.Not like that today in ice hockey,speedway or football.Incidentally do any forumland people remember when the Speedway Star used to have a regular feature on Ice Hockey-think they took over from a defunct ice hockey mag.Even earlier in about 1957 they had a section on films and records too, I guess because the interest in speedway was declining and their circulation ditto. Anyway glad we are all back on line.

Hi Shazzy-is Reg in good health I hope-how old would he be now

V.sorry to hear about Brian Hanham.R.I.P. By note to Brian Hamilton-I am honoured that you include me with norbold and starghost-but surely am not as old as those guys!!!Also Crouch are you any relation to Bert # Name Removed #.As you say the old Southampton team is getting less and less-although Dick Bradley is still with us I think.

Well that's a name from the past-I did recall him as one of the guys that Oxford used at the start of the BL.Typically -not always- the old NL teams kept some stars and then had a long tail of novices.This certainly applied to Oxford who had been NL champs in 64.I recall guys like John Hook, John Leader,Wayne Barry, John Hensley and went to the British Speedway Handbook for season 1965, and there with the rest was John Belcher.It shows one meeting 4 rides and 5 pts whcih doesn't seem too bad.Don't see anything else on him tho.

Agree with both those names

Could it be something to do with people responding from different time zones-????I think I noticed the same thing opening the site here in Canada

Thanx Frigbo-wished he'd carried on for the rest of the season so the rest of the old PL tracks could have seen him.In fact it seems the only old Prov Lge. track he rode on was Poole

Yes he was a nice guy-see he'd be 61 now-hard to believe-anyone know his post speedway career?

Hi Frigbo-do u know who Alf rode against and his scores in those 5 meetings-he'd retired before he got to Somerton Park-would have loved to have seen him-he was one of the old NL guys I never saw ride.

These threads on people like Bungay,Major etc I really enjoy-so what happened to Brian-I recall him as a West Ham second string in 65 along with Simmo-altho'Brian perhaps never got to the top -a valued contributor to our sport nevertheless.

Brian Hamilton-nice story-what a great bloke George's dad must have been -its a little act of kindness like that that can live on in folks memory and nice to be remembered that way.

That's right mate-I'd forgotten that-I think he rode in about 3 or 4 BL matches.

Norbold-how old do you reckon Alf is-I think he retired in 64 -before the Pl-NL merger right??

Sure-but don't know the answer re Alf Hagon-recall he wore glasses-bet Martin hagon his son could be contacted by someone tho.

Not boring at all Roddy-I'm always interested in what happened to these guys

I recall George from CH in PL days, also later Doncaster Dragons and earlier Neath-still with us I hope???

Wonderful post Hunters-enjoyed reading it-I well recall the Eddie Glennon accident-1968 I think-he was team manager of Newport at the time(I think)

Sorry I raised it-I have the same feelings about Somerton Park!!(also covered with housing-though bits of old stadium still visible)

Yeh that was a great fish and chip shop wasn't it.Vic White still lives in Long Eaton.

Starghost -as the Norwich contributor what is on the site of the old Firs stadium now??

To Ian:But surely the first appearance of the Russians at Meadowbank was in 65 when Edinburgh were in the BL-they would not have been allowed to ride there in 64 as Edinburgh and other PL tracks were blacked.

I recall Bluey from when he was at Glasgow and Middlesbro'-how is he doing??