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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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? 

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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.

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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 by Guest

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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 by chunky
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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.

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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.  

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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.

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