shazzybird Posted February 23, 2008 Report Share Posted February 23, 2008 Well in that case Shazzy, all I can say is that you are a better man (or in your case woman!) than I am Gunga Din! Can you honestly remember it word for word though? Or just Chris saying words to the effect that "I've tried but that's it!" ???? What I remember is standing on the first bend with Mark Loram and Chris Louis as my Dad was speaking on the mic explaining the situation and saying they would be doing their damnest to get speedway back at Kingsmead the following season but it was looking very doubtful, those are the words that will haunt me "very doubtful" and then going on to mention about certain sites in the area like Sturry Road by the Mothers Pride Bakeries unfortunately they thought it would do better as a park and ride! Then a letter being written to the Speedway Star by myself for the readers letters page, which had to be ok'd by a solictior first in case of defamation of character towards anyone from Canterbury Speedway Management. It as usual from me was a mega long letter and the only words I can remember from that letter are about us being "sold down the river" perhaps someone has a copy from that Speedway Star and can refresh my memory would of been between the months of October and possibly January as the letter was read out at the Dinner and Dance of that season. If Chris Galvin had been told he had to apply to the council for permission then I have no doubt in my mind he would of done, he loved speedway!!!! Unfortunately he was not told he had to, so what happened permission was not sought and Canterbury Speedway were no longer but ..................... Canterbury Greyhounds continued to run hmmmmmm no suprises there then, no disrespect to anyone that follows Greyhound racing but when Canterbury Greyhounds closed all I saw was justice they basically kicked us and Canterbury FC out of the stadium and then fell at the final hurdle themselves Derek and I very very rarely see eye to eye must be the Crayford/Canterbury love/hate relationship but if he says he can remember the words then who are we to doubt him. God I've waited years to vent that anger!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehone Posted February 23, 2008 Report Share Posted February 23, 2008 Please share then Shazzy, because as I remember it we had no idea that we'd seen our last meeting at Kingsmead when we left the track on that dark October night back in 1987. thats how i remember it .. i thought 1988 would happen at Canterbury until things came out in the press later on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsloes 1928 nearly Posted February 23, 2008 Report Share Posted February 23, 2008 Derek and I very very rarely see eye to eye must be the Crayford/Canterbury love/hate relationship but if he says he can remember the words then who are we to doubt him. God I've waited years to vent that anger!!!!!! It's not that I remember exactly what was said (by Mr. Russell at the final Crayford meeting of the 1983 season..), it's what he DIDN'T say. And what he didn't say was that he knew for certain that this was the last ever Speedway meeting at London Rd. I just don't understand why this info. wasn't shared with us... And despite Bryn assuring us the info. was safe in the hands of him & the supporters club, I'm afraid that doesn't make me feel any better (like you don't about Canterbury, shazzy..) about it..!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsloes 1928 nearly Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 Hopefully I won't get accused of hi-jacking the thread by including the following link..: many interesting (I think/hope...) pix of the Olympics site in all its current dereliction and including many views I'm sure former attendees of Hackney Stadium will recognise... http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/london2012/ I wonder if there's any interest on here at all for a campaign to get a replacement Speedway stadium out of the post-2012 'sustainable' package for what they now call the Lower Lea Valley..?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cityrebel Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 Hopefully I won't get accused of hi-jacking the thread by including the following link..: many interesting (I think/hope...) pix of the Olympics site in all its current dereliction and including many views I'm sure former attendees of Hackney Stadium will recognise... http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/london2012/ I wonder if there's any interest on here at all for a campaign to get a replacement Speedway stadium out of the post-2012 'sustainable' package for what they now call the Lower Lea Valley..?? i wonder what would have happened to the rebuilt london stadium had it still been in use today. would it have run as a speedway/dog track or been swallowed up by the olympic building works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fireblade Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 thats how i remember it .. i thought 1988 would happen at Canterbury until things came out in the press later on. To be honest, if this had been pushed and heard by the elected members of the council it may have carried on. Council officers do not have the power to refuse on their own. I have done some research on this one and am still baffled how easy Canterbury were allowed to die. Used to enjoy it there. anyone seen the ZZ Top boys lately Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shazzybird Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 If Chris Galvin has been told he had to apply to the council when he originally took over the club I hae no doubt in my mind as do others that speedway would of continued but the council and neighbours wanted speedway out and thats what they got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevH Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 If Chris Galvin has been told he had to apply to the council when he originally took over the club I hae no doubt in my mind as do others that speedway would of continued but the council and neighbours wanted speedway out and thats what they got. The neighbours had been trying for years, the council, like most councils didn't have a clue, but neither can really be held responsible for the death of Canterbury Speedway. That honour goes to one man, and one man only!!! And I'm sure we both know who it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsloes 1928 nearly Posted March 7, 2008 Report Share Posted March 7, 2008 I wonder if there's any interest on here at all for a campaign to get a replacement Speedway stadium out of the post-2012 'sustainable' package for what they now call the Lower Lea Valley..?? The neighbours had been trying for years, the council, like most councils didn't have a clue, but neither can really be held responsible for the death of Canterbury Speedway. Hmm, to paraphrase you, KevH., can I take it from the haste in which the subject is changed from a possible future for Speedway in London E15 (or 9 or 3..!!) to events back at Canterbury - that, your interest in the former "didn't come from the heart?"..??!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shazzybird Posted March 7, 2008 Report Share Posted March 7, 2008 The neighbours had been trying for years, the council, like most councils didn't have a clue, but neither can really be held responsible for the death of Canterbury Speedway. That honour goes to one man, and one man only!!! And I'm sure we both know who it is. Oh yes but look at the trouble we got into last time when we mentioned it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psymon Posted March 8, 2008 Report Share Posted March 8, 2008 my most vivid memory of the wick was attending the coldest meeting ever staged in this country!, the golden jubilee in 1978. i was still feeling cold two weeks later!. Totally with you on that. Also seeing leg trailing myself for the first time (when the old bikes worked in the freezing conditions that is). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shazzybird Posted March 8, 2008 Report Share Posted March 8, 2008 Uncle Ted still has his Body colour he wore from that meeting signed by all the riders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevH Posted March 9, 2008 Report Share Posted March 9, 2008 Hmm, to paraphrase you, KevH., can I take it from the haste in which the subject is changed from a possible future for Speedway in London E15 (or 9 or 3..!!) to events back at Canterbury - that, your interest in the former "didn't come from the heart?"..??!!! You can take it any way you want to Parsloes. Oh yes but look at the trouble we got into last time when we mentioned it Yeah, remember it well. Uncle Ted still has his Body colour he wore from that meeting signed by all the riders. But does he still fit into it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shazzybird Posted March 9, 2008 Report Share Posted March 9, 2008 But does he still fit into it? errrrrrrrrr nope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryn Posted March 10, 2008 Report Share Posted March 10, 2008 It's not that I remember exactly what was said (by Mr. Russell at the final Crayford meeting of the 1983 season..), it's what he DIDN'T say. And what he didn't say was that he knew for certain that this was the last ever Speedway meeting at London Rd. I just don't understand why this info. wasn't shared with us... Perhaps Parsnips old fruit, Terry didn't say anything at that final meeting of 1983 because nothing was set in stone at that point both in terms of the future of Crayford Stadium, and thus racing there, and indeed the intentions of the then Hackney promotion in terms of 1984? However I take it you heard what he, and I together with the CSSC Committee had to say at the meeting of Crayford supporters held on December 15th 1983? Note: Don't believe for a moment that I could have researched that info I've just given you about the meeting held for Crayford fans - but I "know a man who can" - and DID! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btfan Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 I also have fond memories of Waterden Road in the eighties. 1) The drive through the Blackwall Tunnel, I remember a strange smell as you approached the Tunnel from the south, my dad always said it was a brewery, not sure if that is true. Mind you, he would know 2) Having our car broken into twice, once in the carpark, and once out on the road!! Seemed to spend a lot of time at the Police Station!! 3) Turning right and then left at a big pub after the Blackwall Tunnel on the way to the stadium, can't remember the name? 4) Thommo always missing the start, swooping around the boards, and nobody was better at making their way from the back!! 5) Andy Galvin, a stylish performer, a great NL rider. 6) Somebody mentioned a girl called Mel, using a bicycle pump airhorn. Think I remember her, did she stand on the back straight with her family, around 1984, had shortish hair. I fancied her from afar, but never spoke to her. 7) Remember the closure in 1991? Wasn't there some sort of robbery of the takings?? 8) My Dad buying the monkey nuts for me during the meeting!! 9) Sitting on the bar which surrounded the greyhound track to watch the racing. 10) The "Sean Willmott Tra la la la la chant from the second bend in the early eighties. 11) Overall great racing, at a slightly delapidated stadium, but one with history. BT Fan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCORPIO Posted June 30, 2008 Report Share Posted June 30, 2008 (edited) Make it a Date, Friday at Eight The strains of The Magnificent Seven bursting out on the PA system The cracked glass in the Grandstand The wooden fold down seats Hackney speedway.....It all started for me as a young baby when my dear old Mum (CH) and Dad took me in my pram to Waterden Road in 1979 and I apologise to all the people that got annoyed by a baby bawling his head orf as that was me, Well, Mum and Dad kept telling me I bawled me 'ead orf every time the tapes went up. Mum has told me many a time of that horrible night when a young Hackney legend lost his life, the late great Vic Harding. Moving swiftly on to my formative years, the Eighties. I don't remember much the first couple of years but I have recollections from around 1982/1983. The journey from our North London home was the same near enough every week, 123 Turnpike Lane to either Blackhorse Road or Walthamstow "Bell" then a 58A or 158 if Blackhorse Road or 69, 97 or 97A if the "Bell" to Leyton Town Hall then the walk down Ruckholt Road past the School on the corner, now a car sales place and has been for a while now, going over the railway where I used to look for locos in Temple Mills yards then over the River Lea before turning left down Waterden Road. Sometimes we used to get "Heathys" Hackney Special from Leyton. Me and my brothers would eagerly await with Mum (CH) and Dad, listening out for the footsteps of Iris and the undoing of bolts to open the door to the Season ticket holders, running up and getting my Kestrel News, racing up the stairs to "Our" seats and spread ourselves out to await the arrival of our friends then I would get some money and go to the track shop and buy the latest photo and run back to Mummy & Daddy (earlier years) walk back to Mum & Dad in later years. Watch some of the best racing including my namesake and favourite Barry Thomas sweeping round the last bend or coming last with everyone still cheering him on. At the end, it would be pack up the bags and get down to Leyton Town Hall and get whatever come up first, 58A, 158, 69, 97 or 97A and depending on what it was either the "Bell" or Blackhorse Road and then sometimes running to the 123 stop when we saw it waiting at the traffic lights. Sometimes we would go across the marshes and catch the 236 to Finsbury Park and get a 29 from there. I can't quite remember but I think it were 1989 and that's when Mum got the car and drove over to The Wick. Moved to High Wycombe in 1990 and the same Friday ritual continued, finish school, mad dash home and get ready for the drive up the M40 and A40 and across London to Waterden Road. Some of my memories also include "Big Arfur" and his loud booming voice "Buy ya weekly Speeeedwayy Mail" Snoopys under the grandstand hosting the Kiddies Christmas parties and riders dressing up as Santa Racing down to the pits get some autographs. The sad night in which a young man, Paul Muchene wearing the Hackney colours sadly lost his life in Hospital after crashing on the 4th bend which sent him down the home straight. Then that other sad night, the day when Hackney died. My beloved Hawks/Kestrels/Hawks were gone. No more Friday nights down the Wick shouting for my team wearing my Hackney scarf and clutching my Hackney programme board waiting for the winning time of yet another victorious rider wearing the red,white,yellow & blue of the Kestrels or Hawks. Roll forward 4 years to 1995............ London Stadium Hackney on a wet September evening to watch the inaugral British GP and the crowning of the 1995 World Champion. Could this really be happening, a world championship meeting being held at "my" stadium. Then came the announcement that 1996 a team would ride at Hackney and I thought "WOW" my Hackney Hawks are back but nope, sadly they were to be called the London Lions but support them I must and I was there for every official fixture in 1996 travelling up by train from High Wycombe and making a mad dash across London by Tube to Liverpool Street and cramming onto a 26 bus to Hackney Wick then a mad dash down the back of the factories. I was lucky enough via my Dad to get a job working as a track raker, Could this really be happening, Im working on the track at somewhere, where I stood/sat on the terraces as a wee nipper. It was certainly a different view from "down there" watching the riders whizz by quicker than what it seem's on the other side. As I said, I was on those terraces from the first meeting in 1995 the GP, then every match in 1996 up to and including the Belle Vue match when I was accepted as a track raker, starting work the following week on the 4th bend. It could only happen at Hackney, bright sunny evening and the match between London Lions and Scottish Monarchs got abandoned due to a power cut in the local area which also affected the nearby London Underground Central Line. The LAST ever speedway team racing that I can remember (date I can't) was against the team I was to support later in life, the Oxford Cheetahs. The meeting was abandoned after Heat 12 or 13 as the track had become unrideable after a fair bit of rain. Roll forward 9 Years to 2005 and the wonderful re union at Paradise Park. The magic was back if only for one night and not at Hackney Stadium and the The Magnificent Seven blasting out, the atmosphere, the lump in my throat and all the memories of days past come back. My last memory of Waterden Road was a couple of years back when I was on a drive with my mate and we stopped off there and to see what I saw, I was almost in tears. The place where it all started for me was now gone, reduced to piles of rubble. Edited July 2, 2008 by SCORPIO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCORPIO Posted June 30, 2008 Report Share Posted June 30, 2008 Mum would've been in here element on here, all the old Hackney memories and adding her own. It is down to Hackney that Mum & Dad met. Mum was a follower of the those Yellow Stars from South London, The mighty Dons of Wimbledon until Garry Middleton, her first speedway love moved across the river to East London to join the Hawks. Mum followed too, taking her support of Garry to Waterden Road and became a follower of the Hawks. Dad decided to go down Waterden Road, I don't think he was an avid follower of the Hawks until he met my Mum. It was on a coach trip to Coventry with the Hawks that my Dad asked Mum's brother if he could sit next to her which he duly did and that was that, they went on to date and eventually got Married in 1974. I arrived on the scene in November 1978 and my brothers put their appearance in in 1981. And as they say.....The rest is history Other memories I have are when we used to go by bus, we would get off before the Leyton Town Hall and Dad would go into the chippy and get some chips before we would walk down past Leyton Orient's ground and proceed towards Ruckholt Road & Waterden Road. Stars of Tomorrow meetings, the second half action with the Earlybird hawks and If my memory serves me correctly, the Broadway Centurions. 1988 was the best of all seasons sweeping all before us to clinch the NL title along with the KOC in an all London Final with Wimbledon and the London Cup. Travelling across to Plough Lane and hearing the EastEnders theme tune on the parade for Hackney. My Mum giving riders like Jeremy Doncaster, Lance King for various reasons. Our mates who sat in front of us, Sheila & Fred and their sons Jason & Soren. Playing speedway riders with my brothers using a drinks can as pur steel shoe and "riding" round in circles. Mum & Dad buying me and my brothers Hackney race jackets which we duly wore. Awwwwwwww, Happy Days.................. If there is ever another re-union, put me down for 5 tickets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsloes 1928 nearly Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Can I just say that Scorpio's last two postings have been among the best and certainly the most evocative I've ever read on this Forum.. This sums it up doesn't it: Speedway tracks were where we went with our families; where we met friends and even future spouses. Those responsible for closing down tracks (and YES, I am talking about you Messrs GRA at Wimbledon ) should hang their heads in shame.. But am I alone in believing that we will have soon-ish a fantastic opportunity to bring Speedway back to London E15..?! Surely the overkill on sports stadia about to spring up in and around Waterden Rd. c/o the 2012 Olympics can leave us with one we can claim for our own..?? Now THAT would be some reunion!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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