Return Of The Heathens

[Fingersfin]

Hi,

 

I have been following the rebirth of the Heathens with interest and have been blown away by the level of support that they have been able to generate, absolutely fantastic. However the ultimate aim is to return the Heathens to their local area and on that subject has the Heathens project registered within city hall, has their been any softening of their attitude or are they still as unsupportive as ever?

 

Does the local Dudley press cover you and if so has this added any pressure on the council?

 

It would be great if Dudley won the league!

I can see the headlines now 'Homeless Heathens reign supreme, local council shamed into action'

 

Fingers crossed!

[greyhoundp]

1st, The Council as usual offer lip service to The Heathens, the council leader a Mr Caunt patently pretends we dont exist, the Labour party supports us but does nothing, The Lib Dems are our strongest supporters, and are positive in there support, Councillor Dave Tyler actually sponsors a Heat at all our home meetings. My OWN take on this, and it is purely my own view; is there may have been a slight softening of attitudes, but its so slight that I cant see it.

 

The local press namely Express & Star give us 1st class coverage, Halesowen & Dudley news give us weekly coverage, and to a lesser extent The Evening Mail, and Sunday Mercury cover our meetings or give us a mention, I think its BBC Radio West Midlands who also feature us reguarly, after all, all of them would be foolish not to with our fantastic support.

[heathen79]

1st, The Council as usual offer lip service to The Heathens, the council leader a Mr Caunt patently pretends we dont exist, the Labour party supports us but does nothing, The Lib Dems are our strongest supporters, and are positive in there support, Councillor Dave Tyler actually sponsors a Heat at all our home meetings. My OWN take on this, and it is purely my own view; is there may have been a slight softening of attitudes, but its so slight that I cant see it.

 

The local press namely Express & Star give us 1st class coverage, Halesowen & Dudley news give us weekly coverage, and to a lesser extent The Evening Mail, and Sunday Mercury cover our meetings or give us a mention, I think its BBC Radio West Midlands who also feature us reguarly, after all, all of them would be foolish not to with our fantastic support.

 

As far as local press coverage goes, I echo all of the above. Fantastic coverage in the Express & Star, one of the biggest local evening papers in the country. And BBC Radio WM carries live updates from all meetings, sometimes even live commentary. Some local TV coverage at the start of the season, and possibly to come at the end too. Great stuff from those involved. Very professional job done by all concerned at Dudley Press Office too, as you would expect with the experience of Nigel Pearson & Andy Povey.

 

As for the Council, I think the presence of the Heathens on track, the support, coverage, results etc have all given another edge to discussions. At the end of the day, we either get back on our own track in the local area or we don't and the only true success is that black and white. A slight improvement or softening of attitude is neither here nor there. Still, the options continue to be explored and the ammunition is certainly greater given the success of 2010 on and off track.

[shad176]

http://www.speedwaygb.com/nltable10.html history in the making.. not bad for a team of old codgers, deadbeats and pipsqueaks

[Fourentee]

Fantastic coverage in the Express & Star, one of the biggest local evening papers in the country.

 

Oi! Less of the "one of"!

[WIE-JA]

the council leader a Mr Caunt patently pretends we dont exist

Is that Caunt with a silent A? Don't give up, even Leicester council saw the light.

[BigFatDave]

Is that Caunt with a silent A?

LMFAO!

[salty]

Is that Caunt with a silent A?

Having listened to the cobblers he has spouted about the Heathens over the years, I can confirm that it is indeed with a silent a.

He has been a councillor for centuries and has helped preside over making a Dudley a Town Centre without any shops and also the largest metropolitan area without a professional sports team.

[*JJ]

http://www.speedwaygb.com/nltable10.html history in the making.. not bad for a team of old codgers, deadbeats and pipsqueaks

Who said that? The oldest one is 22! And the rest were promising.

[21st century heathen]

I agree that the local coverage is very good with the Express & Star newspaper and Radio WM being at the forefront. BBC website has carried some stories about the Heathens this season, but frustratingly we do not have our own link on the Speedway homepage. At a glance all other clubs are there. Perhaps as a new club it was an oversight on its part or perhaps Nigel Pearson forgot to mention it to 'Auntie'!!

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/speedway/default.stm

 

I also agree that Dudley Council don't really seem to give a stuff about anything, but in particular sport. One or two make all the right noises - always have - but we never seem to see any positive action. I wouldn't resort to name-calling though. It won't do us any favours. I would smile and nod in all the right places, then find a nice quiet place on my own and swear a lot to relieve tension. The successful return of the Brummies, their full planning permission being approved and the return of the Lions next season could/should be helpful too. It proves new tracks can open in the highly populated Midlands' cities so why not in one of its towns?

 

But I still say that the success of the team on rented shale this season and the numbers that have turned out every week is a nice big stick to beat them with. It can only give positive media coverage for the Heathens and negative coverage for the Council. With the relative low costs in the NL and the relative high turn out I bet Dudley 'Heathens' are one of the most financially success clubs in British Speedway this season.

[salty]

I also agree that Dudley Council don't really seem to give a stuff about anything, but in particular sport. One or two make all the right noises - always have - but we never seem to see any positive action. I wouldn't resort to name-calling though. It won't do us any favours. I would smile and nod in all the right places, then find a nice quiet place on my own and swear a lot to relieve tension. The successful return of the Brummies, their full planning permission being approved and the return of the Lions next season could/should be helpful too. It proves new tracks can open in the highly populated Midlands' cities so why not in one of its towns?

 

But I still say that the success of the team on rented shale this season and the numbers that have turned out every week is a nice big stick to beat them with. It can only give positive media coverage for the Heathens and negative coverage for the Council. With the relative low costs in the NL and the relative high turn out I bet Dudley 'Heathens' are one of the most financially success clubs in British Speedway this season.

Generally agree with you about name calling but Mr Caunt is too easy a target. The guy has been a councillor for 40 years so hopefully he may be near the end of his tenure. Whilst most councillors have been verbally positive about the Heathens over the years (whilst not actually doing much-if anything) Mr Caunt stands out as the one who has been particularly negative.

 

Dudley used to have a County standard Cricket ground as well as a good non-league Football ground for Dudley Town, not to mention the mecca that was Dudley Wood. It's now got nothing. The Town Centre has to be one of the most depressing in the country as the Council allowed the Richardsons to make hay at Merry Hill, without a thought for the wasteland that would be left behind.

 

I would love to see the Heathens return to the borough, but to be honest I can't see it without a major shift of will in the Council chambers.

[britmet]

 

I would love to see the Heathens return to the borough, but to be honest I can't see it without a major shift of will in the Council chambers.

 

 

But it won't help if Dudley councillors hear people in the know say on local radio that if we get our own stadium the name will probably be changed back to Cradley Heathens.

[shad176]

Who said that? The oldest one is 22! And the rest were promising.

jon armstrong..d.o.b 1 8 1974

[Fourentee]

jon armstrong..d.o.b 1 8 1974

 

Barrie Evans dob 16/4/84

[21st century heathen]

Generally agree with you about name calling but Mr Caunt is too easy a target.

 

 

Oh I agree, his stance combined with his name makes for a convenient target.

 

jon armstrong..d.o.b 1 8 1974

 

 

Barrie Evans dob 16/4/84

 

 

Neither of whom were in the original line-up.

 

 

[greyhoundp]

I generally moderate my TRUE feelings for the Council at Dudley, at the moment it is Cons controlled, but even when it was Labour at the time of the demise of Dudley Wood we received little or no support from MOST of the Councillors, If I were to GIVE MY true feelings for those at the Council and there wholehearted LACK of support for The Heathens or the return of,then i am afraid i would be banned from this site.

[Fourentee]

Neither of whom were in the original line-up.

 

Think you may have missed the point ever so slightly. Armstrong was being quoted as a refutation of someone's "the oldest one is 22" post; my response was to indicate that a younger rider currently holds the slot. But, of course, you're right to say that neither was in the original team. And going on from that, what news of Ben Taylor?

[greyhoundp]

And going on from that, what news of Ben Taylor?

 

Hmmm, yes for an injury that was supposed to keep him out for a month,its been a completely lost season, i would hope as Lee wont be riding NL in 2011, maybe Ben could be our No 1 next year, or would that be to much to expect now he has missed the whole season due to this unfortunate injury.

[21st century heathen]

Think you may have missed the point ever so slightly. Armstrong was being quoted as a refutation of someone's "the oldest one is 22" post; my response was to indicate that a younger rider currently holds the slot. But, of course, you're right to say that neither was in the original team. And going on from that, what news of Ben Taylor?

 

Clearly the post in question referred to the original team, minus McKinna.

 

 

 

Hmmm, yes for an injury that was supposed to keep him out for a month,its been a completely lost season, i would hope as Lee wont be riding NL in 2011, maybe Ben could be our No 1 next year, or would that be to much to expect now he has missed the whole season due to this unfortunate injury.

 

 

I would dearly love to see Taylor ride for us in 2011, as I've posted on the Cradley forum. News on his injury went very quiet after it became apparent it would be long term. I hope he's still interested in riding speedway because this time last season he was looking very promising, and I thought he had a 9-point average in him for this season.