London History Site

[norbold]

27 minutes ago, gustix said:

There was an application in 1947 for Crystal Palace to stage speedway at the football found rather than the original hosting site for the sport. It was rejected following protests by local residents to the borough council rather than the Speedway Control Board.

Am I correct in thinking that Frank Arnold, who had been team manager at West Ham in 1946 and 1947, was the interested possible promoter? Also, that because of this objection he turned his attention to promoting in Essex which resulted in the start of speedway at Rayleigh?

I don't know about Frank Arnold but Croydon Speedways Ltd applied to run speedway on its original site in 1948 and 1950. Both times the local Council turned down permission due to objections by local residents protesting about the noise.

[cityrebel]

Len Silver tried to run speedway at Charlton dog track in the mid 1960's. Very few photographs exist of the stadium. I know it was just off the Woolwich road, close to the Valley football ground.

[Guest]

Getting back to happenings at Walthamstow. In the post-war speedway period one of the reserve calibre riders was Allen Briggs. When the stock cars moved there years later he was a leading driver in one of the formulas.

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

Len Silver tried to run speedway at Charlton dog track in the mid 1960's. Very few photographs exist of the stadium. I know it was just off the Woolwich road, close to the Valley football ground.

So far as speedway is concerned there was never any attempt to stage speedway at The Valley.However in 1948 a track was laid there round the football pitch. It was used by an American midget car group who were in London on a month long visit. One of their meetings attracted a 50,000 attendance.

[iris123]

13 minutes ago, gustix said:

So far as speedway is concerned there was never any attempt to stage speedway at The Valley.However in 1948 a track was laid there round the football pitch. It was used by an American midget car group who were in London on a month long visit. One of their meetings attracted a 50,000 attendance.

In 1948 there was an application  host speedway at Charlton.Was that then at the Greyhound stadium?

[norbold]

An application to run speedway at Charlton Greyhound Stadium was made in 1938 and again in 1948. Both were turned down by the ACU. In 1965, Wally Mawdsley, Pete Lansdale and Len Silver made another attempt to enter a Charlton team in the newly formed British League again at the greyhound stadium. They signed up Denis Newton, but nothing came of it.

[iris123]

Frank Arnold was said to be behind an attempt to bring speedway to the Mitcham Stadium in 1947.I wonder was there ever an attempt at a couple of other South London stadia I.e Wandsworth and the short lived Battersea stadium? 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, norbold said:

An application to run speedway at Charlton Greyhound Stadium was made in 1938 and again in 1948. Both were turned down by the ACU. In 1965, Wally Mawdsley, Pete Lansdale and Len Silver made another attempt to enter a Charlton team in the newly formed British League again at the greyhound stadium. They signed up Denis Newton, but nothing came of it.

A possible reason for Charlton being turned down by the ACU could be that it was thought the venue was too close to New Cross? When I was a boy my father used to 'march me off with him' to Charlton football matches. We then lived in New Cross - there were excellent bus and tram connections to Charlton with the journey about 15 minutes. Understandable then - if there were any - that New Cross may have protested.

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, iris123 said:

Frank Arnold was said to be behind an attempt to bring speedway to the Mitcham Stadium in 1947.I wonder was there ever an attempt at a couple of other South London stadia I.e Wandsworth and the short lived Battersea stadium? 

I remember reading years ago - cannot recall when - efforts were being made to stage speedway somewhere in Wandsworth but for mypart never speculation in regard to Battersea Stadium. It was all a long time ago. I wasn't especially interested, so cannot specify the time period.

I vaguely remember the Mitcham application - failed because of an understandable objection by Wimbledon.

Edited February 11, 2019 by Guest

[chunky]

3 hours ago, cityrebel said:

Len Silver tried to run speedway at Charlton dog track in the mid 1960's. Very few photographs exist of the stadium. I know it was just off the Woolwich road, close to the Valley football ground.

Funny thing is that I'd never heard of the Charlton dog track until now! I did manage to find one aerial view of the stadium; it was where Makro is now.

It's crazy when you look at how many different sports stadia there were, and how close to each other they were...

Steve

Edited February 11, 2019 by chunky

[iris123]

Look at the ad with the view from a glass fronted stand and it was a decent stadium

https://runner500.wordpress.com/tag/charlton-greyhound-stadium/

[HertsRacer]

4 hours ago, cityrebel said:

Len Silver tried to run speedway at Charlton dog track in the mid 1960's. Very few photographs exist of the stadium. I know it was just off the Woolwich road, close to the Valley football ground.

Being a Charlton Athletic supporter, I remember the greyhound stadium very well. Was on the corner of Woolwich Road and Anchor and Hope Lane which is now a Makro's store. Never went inside, but from the outside it appeared a pretty large stadium. I do have a photo of it somewhere, will try and find it. I also remember getting excited that as well as a football team, I was going to have a speedway team to support as well. Sadly the owners changed their mind at the last minute, ans sold the stadium for redevelopment.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, chunky said:

Funny thing is that I'd never heard of the Charlton dog track until now! I did manage to find one aerial view of the stadium; it was where Makro is now.

It's crazy when you look at how many different sports stadia there were, and how close to each other they were...

Steve

Possibly there were so many sports stadia in 'the old days' because TV was not so dominant as it is nowadays? I remember a 1951 comment by Wimbledon's Canadian star Jimmy Gibb in regard to the demise at that time of speedway as a major motorcycle sport in the USA - he blamed much of it on the many attractions TV had to offer.  

[racers and royals]

Found photo here(bottom photo) http://community.betfair.com/greyhounds/go/thread/view/94094/31498343/photos-of-park-royal-white-city-and-charlton#flvWelcomeHeader

[HertsRacer]

11 minutes ago, gustix said:

Possibly there were so many sports stadia in 'the old days' because TV was not so dominant as it is nowadays? I remember a 1951 comment by Wimbledon's Canadian star Jimmy Gibb in regard to the demise at that time of speedway as a major motorcycle sport in the USA - he blamed much of it on the many attractions TV had to offer.  

It is generally thought that the decline in pubs, cinemas, theatres and sporting venues, can be blamed directly on the Queen. Her Coronation in 1953 led to thousands of people buying or renting television sets to watch the event, and meant that in future they no longer needed to leave their houses to find entertainment.

[Guest]

On a slight diversion away from the demise of speedway in London. In the years following the end of WW2 in 1945 cycle speedway became extremely popular. I read on a skid-kid forum that there had probably been in excess of 230 tracks/teams at one time. Now there is just one track which is situated near the old West Ham speedway. 

"The other" track/stadium sport stock car racing has also lost the five various tracks where it staged meetings since its UK start in 1954. The five all had speedway connections - Walthamstow, Harringay, West Ham, Wimbledon and New Cross.

Edited February 11, 2019 by Guest

[cityrebel]

39 minutes ago, HertsRacer said:

Being a Charlton Athletic supporter, I remember the greyhound stadium very well. Was on the corner of Woolwich Road and Anchor and Hope Lane which is now a Makro's store. Never went inside, but from the outside it appeared a pretty large stadium. I do have a photo of it somewhere, will try and find it. I also remember getting excited that as well as a football team, I was going to have a speedway team to support as well. Sadly the owners changed their mind at the last minute, ans sold the stadium for redevelopment.

Charlton used to be owned by London Stadiums Ltd, who also owned Park Royal and Wandsworth dog tracks. My mum worked in the racing office at Wandsworth. I think Charlton eventually ended up in the hands of the dreaded GRA, and like West Ham the writing was on the wall.

[cityrebel]

35 minutes ago, racers and royals said:

Found photo here(bottom photo) http://community.betfair.com/greyhounds/go/thread/view/94094/31498343/photos-of-park-royal-white-city-and-charlton#flvWelcomeHeader

Well done, it looks an excellent stadium. It would have been ideal for speedway.

[iris123]

Also add Brixton Stadium among others and it is hard to think of another city in the world that had so many sports stadiums with all the many proper football,rugby and cricket stadiums

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brixton_Greyhound_Stadium

Edited February 11, 2019 by iris123

[Guest]

21 hours ago, iris123 said:

Also add Brixton Stadium among others and it is hard to think of another city in the world that had so many sports stadiums with all the many proper football,rugby and cricket stadiums

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brixton_Greyhound_Stadium

In South London besides the professional football club grounds Crystal Palace, Charlton, Millwall, Wimbledon, and lesser clubs Tooting & Mitcham and Dulwich Hamlet, add New Cross Stadium, Wimbledon Stadium and Herne Hill Velodrome plus the ice rinks at Streatham and Brixton. And for cricket there is The Oval. How many sports venues have there been/are there London-wide over the years?

And speedways that I can recall are West Ham, Crystal Palace, Stamford Bridge, Lea Bridge, Harringay, High Beech, Hackney, Wembley, Wimbledon, New Cross, Walthamstow, White City, Crayford, Romford.

Edited February 12, 2019 by Guest
spelling error.