Weymouth

[Guest compost]

Apologies for starting anyother thread but is anyone able to let me know the track records for Weymouth at the start and at the end of the 1963, 1964 & 1968 seasons please ?

Thanks

[BL65]

2 hours ago, compost said:

Apologies for starting anyother thread but is anyone able to let me know the track records for Weymouth at the start and at the end of the 1963, 1964 & 1968 seasons please ?

The track record at the beginning of the 1963 season was 72.4 by Jon Erskine on 27th July 1962.  This was still the record throughout 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1968.

[BOBBATH]

I always enjoy  Composts' questions and of course BL65's answers. In the Weymouth thread a name from the past I admired-Jon Erskine cropped up. One of the original Newport team- 1962 was before Newport opened , so I think Jon must have been riding for Long Eaton. Interestingly enough 1962 was the only time Jon appeared in  the PLRC Final.

[BL65]

34 minutes ago, BOBBATH said:

I always enjoy  Composts' questions and of course BL65's answers. In the Weymouth thread a name from the past I admired-Jon Erskine cropped up. One of the original Newport team- 1962 was before Newport opened , so I think Jon must have been riding for Long Eaton. Interestingly enough 1962 was the only time Jon appeared in  the PLRC Final.

Jon was with Neath in 1962 and joined Long Eaton the following year.  He averaged nearly 7 points per match with Neath, in his first season of league speedway.  His record time at Weymouth was remarkable in that it was 3.4 seconds faster than the average winning time for 14 of the 16 heats in the Best Pairs event, in which Jon scored 12 points from 4 rides.  The next best winning time was 74.0 and Jon recorded times of 76.0 and 76.8 in two of his winning rides.  This might suggest that the very quick time of 72.4 was dubious, except for the fact that he recorded it twice, in heats 12 and 14!

[BOBBATH]

Thanks again BL65- I'd forgotten re Neath-only raced for one year but finished runner up in the PL-lack of crowds apparently.

[Guest compost]

19 minutes ago, BOBBATH said:

Thanks again BL65- I'd forgotten re Neath-only raced for one year but finished runner up in the PL-lack of crowds apparently.

Hard to remember but wasn't it a bad summer for rain and postponments ? Also, wasn't Neath a predominantly Stock Car venue with a big Stock following ?  Don't think it still exists.

[BL65]

1 hour ago, compost said:

Hard to remember but wasn't it a bad summer for rain and postponments ? Also, wasn't Neath a predominantly Stock Car venue with a big Stock following ?  Don't think it still exists.

The opening meeting at Neath on 21st April was rained off, as were the meetings on 19^th May and 11^th August.  There was no track lighting and attendances were not very good, contributing to the decision by Trevor Redmond to stage a number of ‘home’ fixtures at St Austell, where he also staged some open meetings and ‘Gulls’ challenge fixtures.  When Neath didn’t open in 1963 Trevor moved the team to St Austell for the season.

The first match at Neath was on 28^th April, three meetings were staged at the track in May, five in June, only two in July (7^th and 28^th), three in August and the final one on 1^st September, with just 15 meetings there in all.  Three of Neath’s fixtures were staged at St Austell in July, one in August (with another rained off) and one in September, so a quarter of home meetings were staged away from Neath, mainly during the holiday season.

Neath Abbey Stadium was purpose-built for stock cars in 1954.  15 meetings were staged in 1955, but crowd levels fell and the track closed at the beginning of July that year for improvements to be carried out.  A re-opening was advertised for the end of that month, but that may not have taken place as some sources indicate that there was no return of stock cars after 1st July.  I believe that the Abbey Stadium site was redeveloped for light industrial use.  Trevor Redmond promoted stock cars at St Austell in the 1960s.

[Chadster]

I also read that there was a serious infectious didease outbreak in the Neath area that year and restrictions were imposed on crowds etc. Sounds awfully familiar.

[BL65]

18 hours ago, Chadster said:

I also read that there was a serious infectious didease outbreak in the Neath area that year and restrictions were imposed on crowds etc. Sounds awfully familiar.

There was an outbreak of smallpox in South Wales early in 1962, centred on Cardiff and the Rhondda. By mid-April it was reported that approximately 40,000 (out of 73,000) people in the Neath area had been vaccinated.  In the week before the scheduled first speedway meeting two Neath families had been quarantined at home, as they were related to infected people.  The Neath v Swansea rugby union match on 12th April was called off, but the Neath v Abertillery game went ahead on 14th April, after consultation with the Medical Officer of Health. There were still occasional reports of cases in South Wales around the end of the speedway season.  News archives state that 19 people died (6 in Llantrisant and Rhondda, 13 in Bridgend) and 900,000 in total were vaccinated in South Wales.  The outbreak started in January 1962 when Shuka Mia, a traveller from Pakistan, arrived in Cardiff and was diagnosed with the disease.

Edited July 8, 2021 by BL65

[BOBBATH]

BL 65 -you are amazing-I lived in Cardiff in 1962 and I recall lining up for my smallpox vaccination-how do you know all this-you must be a genius or a time traveller!!

[BL65]

9 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

BL 65 -you are amazing-I lived in Cardiff in 1962 and I recall lining up for my smallpox vaccination-how do you know all this-you must be a genius or a time traveller!!

I wish I knew WHO has borrowed my TARDIS.