Meadowbank

[keepturningleft]

https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/5853

Glorious footage.

 

[steve roberts]

What a great little film!

[customhouseregular]

I remember my only visit there in 1967. A great year following the Hammers on their trips.

[steve roberts]

I visited the stadium a few years back (after the speedway had long gone) and got to view the plaque dedicated to Peter Craven.

Edited August 20, 2020 by steve roberts

[jrs]

8 hours ago, keepturningleft said:

https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/5853

Glorious footage.

 

Superb, last time I was at Meadowbank was in 1965 I think. I thought it was a fabulous track, but was lost not long after for the Commonwealth games I believe. Wonder if King Jamie was in the crowd that day    

 

[iris123]

I did start a thread with this some months back. Didn't get much response though.....

 

[HenryW]

6 hours ago, steve roberts said:

I visited the stadium a few years back (after the speedway had long gone) and got to view the plaque dedicated to Peter Craven.

The stadium that you will have visited has now also been demolished, with a newer smaller one currently being constructed.

I don't believe the tribute to Craven is going into the new stadium, which is a shame. There was a suggestion a while back that it was going to the museum at paradise wildlife park.

I'm not sure whether that happened or not, though. 

[Chadster]

1s 6d to get in!

[keepturningleft]

3 hours ago, iris123 said:

I did start a thread with this some months back. Didn't get much response though.....

 

I obviously didn't spot your earlier post iris123.

Just thinking, in the 50's, 60's & 70's, most towns in the UK will have had their own amateur cine society's.

Most of the films they made would have been shot on 16mm, far superior in quality to vhs videotape which came along to replace cine in the 80's.

I wouldn't mind betting there is a goldmine of high quality amateur speedway footage languishing in many vaults.

[iris123]

Just now, keepturningleft said:

I obviously didn't spot your earlier post iris123.

Just thinking, in the 50's, 60's & 70's, most towns in the UK will have had their own amateur cine society's.

Most of the films they made would have been shot on 16mm, far superior in quality to vhs videotape which came along to replace cine in the 80's.

I wouldn't mind betting there is a goldmine of high quality amateur speedway footage languishing in many vaults.

Yes, I was reading a few months back about someone who worked in Hollywood and filmed lots of stuff, including speedway in the USA back in the 30s. The film or some of it was shown to a get together with Jack and Cordy Milne among others in the 60s, just a few weeks before Wilbur Lamoreaux died. Would be great to see, but so far I haven't seen anything surface on the net. Like you say there must have been lots of footage, just hope some still survives

[BOBBATH]

Thank you , thank you, and thank you for posting this film. I followed the link and watched it a couple of times. It had an impact on me way beyond speedway- I was 6 years old in 1952 (a year older than Norbold I might add.) and it was great to see the spectators-how they looked , what they wore etc. ( think most of those spectators will have passed away by now).Just as I remembered.Everyone looked happy enough although life in UK was not maybe that great in 1952 (at least in our material terms) I remember seeing coaches like the ones the Motherwell fans  descended from.. Great to see the huge attendances and some people with those wooden rattles  which have long since gone. I have done my best to try and figure out the riders- here's what I came up with. In the Motherwell team picture I think I recognise on the far left Gordon McGregor and next to him Bluey Scott (both of whom I saw ride in the sixties). On the Edinburgh photo I recognised Dick Campbell and Don Cuppleditch (the tall guy), I certainly recognised Jack Young -(what was he doing there?) maybe he was a guest riding in the long lost rider of the night second half races (what happened to them)?? Also were there some riders in Glasgow(Ashfield) Giants colours? Anybody know who the guys signing autographs were??

 Interesting to see the male spectators smoking and the ladies wearing head scarves, I remember all this.. I looked up the results for 1952 and see Edinburgh won both home matches against the Eagles 46-38 and 45-39., however much closer games at Motherwell 41-40 to the Eagles and a 42-42 draw.

Can anybody help with identifications- Stan Bradbury who did so much for speedway in Canada was riding that year for Motherwell but couldn't pick him out.

Were any forumlanders attending speedway in 1952 after all it is 68 years ago?? If so what sort of refreshments being served then- perhaps tea and meat pies or ham sarnies-do you think burgers and hotdogs were around or did they come later??

Were we happier then?-I don't know-we certainly never felt poor although I recall one xmas when my parents could not really afford presents- I got a hankie with a cowboy motif and a Dinky Car. Also and this is going way back-chicken was a luxury, very expensive, (before battery farming I guess) and we would get it once a year at xmas-this was the early fifties-turkey came later. Also great strides in health care have been made since then. Also then there was no central heating for people like me and chilblains occurred-never hear of them now!!

Anyway wonderful memories generated by posting the link to this film-anybody care to share memories of that era?

[steve roberts]

5 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

Thank you , thank you, and thank you for posting this film. I followed the link and watched it a couple of times. It had an impact on me way beyond speedway- I was 6 years old in 1952 (a year older than Norbold I might add.) and it was great to see the spectators-how they looked , what they wore etc. ( think most of those spectators will have passed away by now).Just as I remembered.Everyone looked happy enough although life in UK was not maybe that great in 1952 (at least in our material terms) I remember seeing coaches like the ones the Motherwell fans  descended from.. Great to see the huge attendances and some people with those wooden rattles  which have long since gone. I have done my best to try and figure out the riders- here's what I came up with. In the Motherwell team picture I think I recognise on the far left Gordon McGregor and next to him Bluey Scott (both of whom I saw ride in the sixties). On the Edinburgh photo I recognised Dick Campbell and Don Cuppleditch (the tall guy), I certainly recognised Jack Young -(what was he doing there?) maybe he was a guest riding in the long lost rider of the night second half races (what happened to them)?? Also were there some riders in Glasgow(Ashfield) Giants colours? Anybody know who the guys signing autographs were??

 Interesting to see the male spectators smoking and the ladies wearing head scarves, I remember all this.. I looked up the results for 1952 and see Edinburgh won both home matches against the Eagles 46-38 and 45-39., however much closer games at Motherwell 41-40 to the Eagles and a 42-42 draw.

Can anybody help with identifications- Stan Bradbury who did so much for speedway in Canada was riding that year for Motherwell but couldn't pick him out.

Were any forumlanders attending speedway in 1952 after all it is 68 years ago?? If so what sort of refreshments being served then- perhaps tea and meat pies or ham sarnies-do you think burgers and hotdogs were around or did they come later??

Were we happier then?-I don't know-we certainly never felt poor although I recall one xmas when my parents could not really afford presents- I got a hankie with a cowboy motif and a Dinky Car. Also and this is going way back-chicken was a luxury, very expensive, (before battery farming I guess) and we would get it once a year at xmas-this was the early fifties-turkey came later. Also great strides in health care have been made since then. Also then there was no central heating for people like me and chilblains occurred-never hear of them now!!

Anyway wonderful memories generated by posting the link to this film-anybody care to share memories of that era?

I was born in 1960 therefore have no memories of the fifties but grew up hearing about mum and dad growing up during that time and I have to say it evoked many images in my mind. They appeared to be very happy and so much was going on in their lives what with music, fashion and of course meeting each other and eventually marrying. They both enjoyed their speedway and would talk of having to queue up at 6pm to get into Oxford to get a decent view...it was that packed. They would go up to London to watch the likes of Stan Kenton and overall appeared to have such a wonderfull time before we three came along and their lives were changed forever!

[jrs]

6 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

Thank you , thank you, and thank you for posting this film. I followed the link and watched it a couple of times. It had an impact on me way beyond speedway- I was 6 years old in 1952 (a year older than Norbold I might add.) and it was great to see the spectators-how they looked , what they wore etc. ( think most of those spectators will have passed away by now).Just as I remembered.Everyone looked happy enough although life in UK was not maybe that great in 1952 (at least in our material terms) I remember seeing coaches like the ones the Motherwell fans  descended from.. Great to see the huge attendances and some people with those wooden rattles  which have long since gone. I have done my best to try and figure out the riders- here's what I came up with. In the Motherwell team picture I think I recognise on the far left Gordon McGregor and next to him Bluey Scott (both of whom I saw ride in the sixties). On the Edinburgh photo I recognised Dick Campbell and Don Cuppleditch (the tall guy), I certainly recognised Jack Young -(what was he doing there?) maybe he was a guest riding in the long lost rider of the night second half races (what happened to them)?? Also were there some riders in Glasgow(Ashfield) Giants colours? Anybody know who the guys signing autographs were??

 Interesting to see the male spectators smoking and the ladies wearing head scarves, I remember all this.. I looked up the results for 1952 and see Edinburgh won both home matches against the Eagles 46-38 and 45-39., however much closer games at Motherwell 41-40 to the Eagles and a 42-42 draw.

Can anybody help with identifications- Stan Bradbury who did so much for speedway in Canada was riding that year for Motherwell but couldn't pick him out.

Were any forumlanders attending speedway in 1952 after all it is 68 years ago?? If so what sort of refreshments being served then- perhaps tea and meat pies or ham sarnies-do you think burgers and hotdogs were around or did they come later??

Were we happier then?-I don't know-we certainly never felt poor although I recall one xmas when my parents could not really afford presents- I got a hankie with a cowboy motif and a Dinky Car. Also and this is going way back-chicken was a luxury, very expensive, (before battery farming I guess) and we would get it once a year at xmas-this was the early fifties-turkey came later. Also great strides in health care have been made since then. Also then there was no central heating for people like me and chilblains occurred-never hear of them now!!

Anyway wonderful memories generated by posting the link to this film-anybody care to share memories of that era?

You're right Bobbath that short film evokes many memories, I'm a couple of years older but my first memory of speedway was being taken to Brandon in 55 as a treat for passing a scholarship exam and because a lad who rode for the Bees worked with my old man, and I met a few of the riders before and after the match. I haven't got a clue as to who the match was against, but it was an introduction to a mad world of bikes, noise and intoxicating fumes,  and then endeavouring to save enough pocket money to get to Brandon as often as possible. One thing I've never forgotten on match nights is dashing to Pool Meadow to catch one of a steady stream of buses that seemed to leave every few minutes and when we left Brandon they would all be lined up in the car park to get us home.

I think that definitely Gemini will be the current forumlander who actually started going to speedway the earliest in the forties I believe over seventy years ago. I suppose as kids then we never realised how skint our families were, we never had a car in the family then. My dads transport was a pushbike to get to work, which eventually became a James 98 succeeded by a Lambretta. Our first TV was 1953 for the Cup Final. That was a real day to remember.

But the clothing really brought back how hard up we were and how my older brothers clothes were saved for me after he grew out of them and then they were reincarnated for me, plus socks that had been darned so much there was hardly any of the original sock left. But we got by and never knew anything better and accepted what we got. Where I grew up we were surrounded by bombsites until way into the sixties. Many days for breakfast when I was a kid it was a plate of hot melted dripping and big chunks of bread to soak up the fat and tomato ketchup or HP to add some flavour. It was cheap and filling and kept me going till I got back from school when delicious dripping on toast would plonked hot and fresh in front of me, it's a snack I have tried many times to replicate but never managed to get it right, its got to be matured dripping for flavour. Every kitchen in our family always seemed to have a bowl of dripping at the ready.

Like these days where we have become educated again to queue for everything outside shops and the doctors and the chemists, you took what you got and never grumbled because we knew nothing better. My dad was a racing fan and occasionally we'd go to the races if he'd had a good win, and on my first visit to Glorious Goodwood in I think 56 I came to realise how real the class structure was in horse racing and in this country when my old man explained to me that we could only go in the cheapest enclosure well away from the best viewing area because the toffs were in the stands.

Time I got some breakfast and stopped rambling, now it's fruit and cereals, not bread and fat.  Mind as the Chancellor wants to reduce our pensions maybe we'll have to go back to fatted bred for breakfast.

 

[Fromafar]

On 8/20/2020 at 4:34 PM, HenryW said:

The stadium that you will have visited has now also been demolished, with a newer smaller one currently being constructed.

I don't believe the tribute to Craven is going into the new stadium, which is a shame. There was a suggestion a while back that it was going to the museum at paradise wildlife park.

I'm not sure whether that happened or not, though. 

Sure it happened.Think the Plaque and photo were returned to Brenda and is now in the museum at Paradise Wildlife Park.

[JOS50]

On 8/20/2020 at 4:21 PM, iris123 said:

I did start a thread with this some months back. Didn't get much response though.....

 

I gave it a like, good to watch again, filmed in 1951 surely?

[cityrebel]

I went to Meadowbank v Stranraer football in 1985, as part of a Speedway tour.

[chunky]

29 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

I went to Meadowbank v Stranraer football in 1985, as part of a Speedway tour.

You thought, "thistle be fun"? 

[steve roberts]

1 hour ago, chunky said:

You thought, "thistle be fun"? 

That was awful Chunky!

[chunky]

29 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

That was awful Chunky!

I try...

[steve roberts]

On 8/20/2020 at 4:34 PM, HenryW said:

The stadium that you will have visited has now also been demolished, with a newer smaller one currently being constructed.

I don't believe the tribute to Craven is going into the new stadium, which is a shame. There was a suggestion a while back that it was going to the museum at paradise wildlife park.

I'm not sure whether that happened or not, though. 

I seem to recall that there was also a plaque dedicated to Alan Wells who used to train there prior to winning his 100m Gold Medal in 1980?