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Does anyone know if the dog track in Birtley behind Drum Industrial Estate is still open? Only passed it once years ago. Always thought it was in a good place, think the railway was behind it and not many houses around, but there probably is now. Just curious. 

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42 minutes ago, Biffa said:

Does anyone know if the dog track in Birtley behind Drum Industrial Estate is still open? Only passed it once years ago. Always thought it was in a good place, think the railway was behind it and not many houses around, but there probably is now. Just curious. 

I presume you mean Pelaw Grange, in which case, there are enough houses surrounding it to stop speedway being raced there IMO.

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Honestly

I remember a few years back George English saying he had no loyalty to Brough Park and would move venues in the "change of a heartbeat" if the promotion at the time could get a suitable place to go to; but for whatever the reasons it never happened...

It just shows the difficulty of finding a new venue should something untoward happen to the place we call home currently...

Don't envy Rob Grants task in the slightest; he is coming up with good ideas to promote the sport in the area and wants to run junior sides and give the opportunity for practice which could all be stymied by a virus of all things...

Also if what Lady s 2 states is correct and there is a potential for a move back to the old Monday night racing then brilliant bring it on if Sundays become difficult to run on; I would certainly be happy to support that, although I am not sure about everyone else's opinion on Mondays as I believe the earlier Sunday time was to benefit the adults who brought kids to the speedway and the later Monday times impinge on that especially being a school day... Although the good thing is it does mean there are other options...

Regards
THJ

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1 hour ago, TotallyHonestJohn said:

Honestly

I remember a few years back George English saying he had no loyalty to Brough Park and would move venues in the "change of a heartbeat" if the promotion at the time could get a suitable place to go to; but for whatever the reasons it never happened...

It just shows the difficulty of finding a new venue should something untoward happen to the place we call home currently...

Don't envy Rob Grants task in the slightest; he is coming up with good ideas to promote the sport in the area and wants to run junior sides and give the opportunity for practice which could all be stymied by a virus of all things...

Also if what Lady s 2 states is correct and there is a potential for a move back to the old Monday night racing then brilliant bring it on if Sundays become difficult to run on; I would certainly be happy to support that, although I am not sure about everyone else's opinion on Mondays as I believe the earlier Sunday time was to benefit the adults who brought kids to the speedway and the later Monday times impinge on that especially being a school day... Although the good thing is it does mean there are other options...

Regards
THJ

The only negative that I can think of for switching back to a Monday is it would mean a 7.30pm start (except on Bank Holidays possibly) and would mean no Double Headers which could kibosh the Gems (depending on the total number of fixtures needed for both teams of course)

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3 hours ago, StevePark said:

I presume you mean Pelaw Grange, in which case, there are enough houses surrounding it to stop speedway being raced there IMO.

Plus we looked at it in 1996 and the owners don't want speedway there. The new houses had been built on what would have been the 4th bend, but the biggest problem was the railway bridge. The road going past the stadium increases in height to pass over the railway, and people would not need to pay to get in as the view from the elevated road was as good as you can get. Identical to the problem that would have been if we had opened up Ashington. 

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2 hours ago, TotallyHonestJohn said:

Honestly

I remember a few years back George English saying he had no loyalty to Brough Park and would move venues in the "change of a heartbeat" if the promotion at the time could get a suitable place to go to; but for whatever the reasons it never happened...

It just shows the difficulty of finding a new venue should something untoward happen to the place we call home currently...

Don't envy Rob Grants task in the slightest; he is coming up with good ideas to promote the sport in the area and wants to run junior sides and give the opportunity for practice which could all be stymied by a virus of all things...

Also if what Lady s 2 states is correct and there is a potential for a move back to the old Monday night racing then brilliant bring it on if Sundays become difficult to run on; I would certainly be happy to support that, although I am not sure about everyone else's opinion on Mondays as I believe the earlier Sunday time was to benefit the adults who brought kids to the speedway and the later Monday times impinge on that especially being a school day... Although the good thing is it does mean there are other options...

Regards
THJ

Difficulty with Mondays also is, at the moment, we put the sheets down on the doggie track on the Sunday, due to the sheeters working on the Monday. Very late night for them also on a Monday plus a late night for the air fence people. In making decisions, nothing can happen unless an army of new track staff can be found to work these hours. Plenty of talkers, but when it comes down to it nobody wants to red flag, be a sheeter, add to the air fence crew who can't always be at Brough every week due to BYC Sunday meetings for juniors like Archie and Danny. I pointed out these obvious requirements to 'Mr' Phillips when he first started, but as expected he did nothing about it, hence we have very few track staff. Getting staff could well be harder to do than change nights or find another stadium.  :o

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1 hour ago, Tsunami said:

Difficulty with Mondays also is, at the moment, we put the sheets down on the doggie track on the Sunday, due to the sheeters working on the Monday. Very late night for them also on a Monday plus a late night for the air fence people. In making decisions, nothing can happen unless an army of new track staff can be found to work these hours. Plenty of talkers, but when it comes down to it nobody wants to red flag, be a sheeter, add to the air fence crew who can't always be at Brough every week due to BYC Sunday meetings for juniors like Archie and Danny. I pointed out these obvious requirements to 'Mr' Phillips when he first started, but as expected he did nothing about it, hence we have very few track staff. Getting staff could well be harder to do than change nights or find another stadium.  :o

Adding to all that Dave, I was under the impression of having fairground rides and market stalls,,, would that still work on a shortened Monday evening?

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Hopefully Newcastle can survive and continue - I don't think a full track share is a valid option, but what should be seriously considered regardless of changes at Newcastle is Newcastle & Redcar sharing a junior team in hosting the meetings - seems totally logical to me and has so many advantages given what both promotions and venues can offer

 

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1 hour ago, ruffdiamond said:

Adding to all that Dave, I was under the impression of having fairground rides and market stalls,,, would that still work on a shortened Monday evening?

I doubt it. Probably not worth the effort to set them up, only for the kids being shepherded in before the meeting starts. I like the idea for Sundays, but not feasible for Mondays.

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1 hour ago, northyorksbear said:

Hopefully Newcastle can survive and continue - I don't think a full track share is a valid option, but what should be seriously considered regardless of changes at Newcastle is Newcastle & Redcar sharing a junior team in hosting the meetings - seems totally logical to me and has so many advantages given what both promotions and venues can offer

 

It was always planned to have a joint NT team sharing the meetings between both tracks and trying to use all local riders.  

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Seems like a strange move to go PL but, in view of what THJ said about the dogs intentions, Rob may be trying to at least give us some speedway, given it will end up as a filler for this year and just to get to the end of the season. If he doesn't, and THJ is right, Rob could not run speedway, so it could be a good thing to keep things going. OK, no amusements and all the bells and whistles that Rob was going to introduce,  and no possibility of the junior teams,  but we would have speedway for a short season and it might be fun to see the standard of the PL. Could be good.

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8 hours ago, StevePark said:

The only negative that I can think of for switching back to a Monday is it would mean a 7.30pm start (except on Bank Holidays possibly) and would mean no Double Headers which could kibosh the Gems (depending on the total number of fixtures needed for both teams of course)

Also track staff etc as a lot of them hold down full time jobs & wouldn't be able to commit to working as ( volunteers ). Every Monday as they do on a Sunday 

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I’ll be there either Sunday or Monday. Now that my dad has passed away I would even volunteer to be track staff.

With regards to track location how about the open cast mine to the west of Cramlington? Being below ground level would mean no visual, and much reduced noise, issues. Being mined by Banks but due to end next year I think. The land I’d owned by Viscount Ridley(Blagdon Hall) if I remember correctly 

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4 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

I’ll be there either Sunday or Monday. Now that my dad has passed away I would even volunteer to be track staff.

With regards to track location how about the open cast mine to the west of Cramlington? Being below ground level would mean no visual, and much reduced noise, issues. Being mined by Banks but due to end next year I think. The land I’d owned by Viscount Ridley(Blagdon Hall) if I remember correctly 

The site will already have plans in place regarding restoration which will have been passed & agreed by the local authority, probs ponds with plenty of biodiversity. 

On a separate note, if they are planning on running the dogs on a Sunday, would Rob not be better to just scrap this year (like Glasgow), save his cash and just return in 2021. I know everyone wants to see speedway this year but the sensible option might be not to have any and just come back next year with some money in the coffers. 

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1 hour ago, diamond@heart said:

On a separate note, if they are planning on running the dogs on a Sunday, would Rob not be better to just scrap this year (like Glasgow), save his cash and just return in 2021. I know everyone wants to see speedway this year but the sensible option might be not to have any and just come back next year with some money in the coffers. 

If they do run dogs on a Sunday,  will the problem still be there next season?

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43 minutes ago, ruffdiamond said:

If they do run dogs on a Sunday,  will the problem still be there next season?

Assume this would just be a temporary thing till the world returns to normality. 

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