those were the days, something to smile about.

[Aces51 2,778]

4 hours ago, Sidney the robin said:

It used to hurt but we all used to laugh about it, sometimes when it was dusty we would go home looking like Michael Jackson great days though.

It shows how times have changed. When the NSS opened fans sitting in the section of the grandstand closest to the first bend complained about being hit by shale. Notices had to be put up warning of the danger. 

[g13webb 4,254]

On ‎1‎/‎31‎/‎2019 at 9:56 AM, customhouseregular said:

Not speedway related...

Saturday morning pictures as a boy...1 1/2d. each way on bus, 6d. to get in and 3d. for a bag of chips on the way home. a great morning for 1/-.

You must be a bit older than me then. I remember as a  13 yr. old on a Saturday night, catching the bus to the town,  then going to the picture house and buying a bag of sweets,   Ice cream in the interval,   before going to Ruston's fish shop for supper,  usually  then having to run to catch the last bus home .....     and still had change out of the 10 shillings  pocket money......  

Wonderful times…...  

 

[Bald Bloke 3,281]

3 hours ago, g13webb said:

You must be a bit older than me then. I remember as a  13 yr. old on a Saturday night, catching the bus to the town,  then going to the picture house and buying a bag of sweets,   Ice cream in the interval,   before going to Ruston's fish shop for supper,  usually  then having to run to catch the last bus home .....     and still had change out of the 10 shillings  pocket money......  

Wonderful times…...  

 

 My best days at Lynn were when you could stand next to the fence, some days I would go early just to get next to the boards. I started in 72 at the age of 8.... 7 mile round walk with my Dad. We did it for years, getting chips on the way home from the chippy off of Saddlebow road.

Big crowds back then. Later I think there was a single metal bar preventing you from getting to the boards, That we used to walk over,then a wooden one, then a big wire one.

Edited February 20, 2019 by Bald Bloke

[g13webb 4,254]

Back in '65 I had just started my working life as a trainee engineer at the Sugar factory.   One dinner time, I cold hear this noise of bikes racing nearby.   We followed the train lines to investigate the appealing sound.     At the back of the old  greyhound site, we squeezed through a small opening  in the derelict tin fence to witness 2 small men dressed in black leathers racing around a black cinder track.   The smell was so amazing,  it was so intoxicating,   it rekindled my love for speedway that had been lost since the 'Firs had closed some years back...

One of those men was Cyril Crane,   time disappeared as we talked of his idea to bring the sport alive in Kings Lynn.   He gave me an open invitation to the site whenever I wanted to come.  (Very nice man)   This was the start of  love affair with the Stars that had lasted over 50 years...

By the time I got back to work it was gone 3.         I got a right ole   boll.…ing       but they put it down to youth and ignorance of time.

Fortunately,  I got away with a warning... 

[waytogo28 2,054]

On 2/21/2019 at 7:39 AM, g13webb said:

Back in '65 I had just started my working life as a trainee engineer at the Sugar factory.   One dinner time, I cold hear this noise of bikes racing nearby.   We followed the train lines to investigate the appealing sound.     At the back of the old  greyhound site, we squeezed through a small opening  in the derelict tin fence to witness 2 small men dressed in black leathers racing around a black cinder track.   The smell was so amazing,  it was so intoxicating,   it rekindled my love for speedway that had been lost since the 'Firs had closed some years back...

One of those men was Cyril Crane,   time disappeared as we talked of his idea to bring the sport alive in Kings Lynn.   He gave me an open invitation to the site whenever I wanted to come.  (Very nice man)   This was the start of  love affair with the Stars that had lasted over 50 years...

By the time I got back to work it was gone 3.         I got a right ole   boll.…ing       but they put it down to youth and ignorance of time.

Fortunately,  I got away with a warning... 

Those certainly were the days when speedway was still on the up! I was still crying in Norwich with the loss of my beloved Stars and then only 50 miles away ( along the old A47 ) there was hope! My trusty Triumph Tiger Cub carried me over to the first Saddlebow Road meetings. With the Dereham chip shop so handy at the bottom of the hill for a supper bum break. No Ove Fundin though ( but Terry Betts turned out to be a new Golden Boy )!

[g13webb 4,254]

I've always looked back on speedway with such affection.  It seems to be an enjoyment that was always there.   In my late teens a gang of us would  first go to the meeting before hitting the drinks and dance floor,  we use to plan our holiday around fixtures away,  we even interrupted our honeymoon not to miss a meeting.  When our 2 kiddies came along they joined in and went to most meetings,  it just seemed the natural thing to do.  

Time moved on and your circumstances change,  your children get married and the grand children arrive.   They in turn are doctored into our beliefs in the hope they will continue our love for the sport.   Its a wonderful experience seeing the complete family of 3 generations at places Cardiff and other big meetings.  but it is unfortunate that the younger element don't appear to have the same enthusiasm  as us old ones do.   

Please to report our son  accompanies his ole man regularly, and both can be seen  at most of the Stars meetings,    Our grandson picks and chooses his meetings, but it gets harder to persuade the others to attend....     It appears the best days of the sport have long gone.  The spectacle of seeing 4 men racing bike with no brakes  is still the same but the environment has completely changed.   Where once the terraces were packed enjoying a full nights entertainment, now there are just a few die-hard fans watching processional races  that are over in no time at all..

I look back with envy of those wonderful times and am so pleased I was privileged to have been there...….

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

1 hour ago, g13webb said:

I've always looked back on speedway with such affection.  It seems to be an enjoyment that was always there.   In my late teens a gang of us would  first go to the meeting before hitting the drinks and dance floor,  we use to plan our holiday around fixtures away,  we even interrupted our honeymoon not to miss a meeting.  When our 2 kiddies came along they joined in and went to most meetings,  it just seemed the natural thing to do.  

Time moved on and your circumstances change,  your children get married and the grand children arrive.   They in turn are doctored into our beliefs in the hope they will continue our love for the sport.   Its a wonderful experience seeing the complete family of 3 generations at places Cardiff and other big meetings.  but it is unfortunate that the younger element don't appear to have the same enthusiasm  as us old ones do.   

Please to report our son  accompanies his ole man regularly, and both can be seen  at most of the Stars meetings,    Our grandson picks and chooses his meetings, but it gets harder to persuade the others to attend....     It appears the best days of the sport have long gone.  The spectacle of seeing 4 men racing bike with no brakes  is still the same but the environment has completely changed.   Where once the terraces were packed enjoying a full nights entertainment, now there are just a few die-hard fans watching processional races  that are over in no time at all..

I look back with envy of those wonderful times and am so pleased I was privileged to have been there...….

Terrific post and i can identify with everything you have said my youth was took up with speedway and i would not change a thing..The nicest thing as you said was taking your kids my wife used to drop  me and the two boys off and they went from the age of seven until about 14 now they dont go but they still keep up with the sport.I hope the sport in the UK can hang in there but i have my doubts the sport can truely get back to prospering again fingers crossed it does.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Sidney the robin

[Trees 2,814]

On 3/13/2019 at 7:45 AM, g13webb said:

I've always looked back on speedway with such affection.  It seems to be an enjoyment that was always there.   In my late teens a gang of us would  first go to the meeting before hitting the drinks and dance floor,  we use to plan our holiday around fixtures away,  we even interrupted our honeymoon not to miss a meeting.  When our 2 kiddies came along they joined in and went to most meetings,  it just seemed the natural thing to do.  

Time moved on and your circumstances change,  your children get married and the grand children arrive.   They in turn are doctored into our beliefs in the hope they will continue our love for the sport.   Its a wonderful experience seeing the complete family of 3 generations at places Cardiff and other big meetings.  but it is unfortunate that the younger element don't appear to have the same enthusiasm  as us old ones do.   

Please to report our son  accompanies his ole man regularly, and both can be seen  at most of the Stars meetings,    Our grandson picks and chooses his meetings, but it gets harder to persuade the others to attend....     It appears the best days of the sport have long gone.  The spectacle of seeing 4 men racing bike with no brakes  is still the same but the environment has completely changed.   Where once the terraces were packed enjoying a full nights entertainment, now there are just a few die-hard fans watching processional races  that are over in no time at all..

I look back with envy of those wonderful times and am so pleased I was privileged to have been there...….

Full nights entertainment?  Now who is wearing 'rose coloured glasses'? I guess you are referring to 13 heat meetings and sponsored second halves on Saturday nights? Or are you referring to you and your group of fellow fans sharing youthful, enthusiastic banter about the teams and riders and general life at the time? 

Edited March 16, 2019 by Trees

[topsoil 2,498]

I've never been able to understand this theory that everything was better in the old days. You can look back to a lot of results in the 70s and 80s and see absolute hammerings. Imagine how those type of results would be treated on this forum nowadays.

The "second halves", I can remember a lot of the time riders didn't fancy it and either went through the motions, or were replaced by local juniors because of bike problems. I bet the forum members would love that these days.

The good old days when riders were part timers, travelling about with the one bike on the back of a car. What if that bike got damaged in a crash or blew an engine? You either had to borrow another bike or withdrew from the meeting. You can imagine that going down well these days.

You look back at the race time back then, I will use my own club Berwick as an example. Race times in the 70s and 80s are roughly the same as a Northern Junior League race now. Can you imagine many fans nowadays putting up with that as a night's entertainment.

Yes it would be great if we could get back to a time where we had the top riders in the world competing in our leagues, but unless we can find some rich benefactors or miraculously find some big sponsorship or TV money, we have to accept this isn't going to happen.

Let's face it, we were all a lot more easily pleased in the past. There were fewer alternatives, we were less coddled in those days. Now we want instant gratification and we want it all the time.

For my opinion, speedway is better now than it ever has been, throughout the sport. More riders are becoming "professional", the standard of riders have gone up as a whole, right across the sport. But all I see on the forum is doom and gloom. I find I spend very little time looking at the forum these days, the general mood starts to bring me down. 

[waytogo28 2,054]

On 3/13/2019 at 7:45 AM, g13webb said:

I've always looked back on speedway with such affection.  It seems to be an enjoyment that was always there.   In my late teens a gang of us would  first go to the meeting before hitting the drinks and dance floor,  we use to plan our holiday around fixtures away,  we even interrupted our honeymoon not to miss a meeting.  When our 2 kiddies came along they joined in and went to most meetings,  it just seemed the natural thing to do.  

Time moved on and your circumstances change,  your children get married and the grand children arrive.   They in turn are doctored into our beliefs in the hope they will continue our love for the sport.   Its a wonderful experience seeing the complete family of 3 generations at places Cardiff and other big meetings.  but it is unfortunate that the younger element don't appear to have the same enthusiasm  as us old ones do.   

Please to report our son  accompanies his ole man regularly, and both can be seen  at most of the Stars meetings,    Our grandson picks and chooses his meetings, but it gets harder to persuade the others to attend....     It appears the best days of the sport have long gone.  The spectacle of seeing 4 men racing bike with no brakes  is still the same but the environment has completely changed.   Where once the terraces were packed enjoying a full nights entertainment, now there are just a few die-hard fans watching processional races  that are over in no time at all..

I look back with envy of those wonderful times and am so pleased I was privileged to have been there...….

Come on Mr Webb. You know that dinosaurs are not allowed to have such foolish nostalgic musings about the long ago past. Everything is better, faster, brighter, more thrilling and of course more professional  ( oops I nearly typed processional there - foolish old fingers! ). It's simply terrific nowadays and that is why there are still so many devotees watching on ( especially at Saddlebow Road  - sorry the AFA ). Don't forget those nasty smelling old 4th bend toilets - none of that now you know! Odd how they still love to take take the money from us old people, even though we think it was so much better back then or definitely so much more enjoyable ( it certainly was! )

[Trees 2,814]

4 hours ago, waytogo28 said:

Come on Mr Webb. You know that dinosaurs are not allowed to have such foolish nostalgic musings about the long ago past. Everything is better, faster, brighter, more thrilling and of course more professional  ( oops I nearly typed processional there - foolish old fingers! ). It's simply terrific nowadays and that is why there are still so many devotees watching on ( especially at Saddlebow Road  - sorry the AFA ). Don't forget those nasty smelling old 4th bend toilets - none of that now you know! Odd how they still love to take take the money from us old people, even though we think it was so much better back then or definitely so much more enjoyable ( it certainly was! )

Because you were younger imo ......... you enjoyed life more, you were up for a good night out, you enjoyed music more etc etc etc

[tellboy 3,658]

11 hours ago, topsoil said:

I've never been able to understand this theory that everything was better in the old days. You can look back to a lot of results in the 70s and 80s and see absolute hammerings. Imagine how those type of results would be treated on this forum nowadays.

The "second halves", I can remember a lot of the time riders didn't fancy it and either went through the motions, or were replaced by local juniors because of bike problems. I bet the forum members would love that these days.

The good old days when riders were part timers, travelling about with the one bike on the back of a car. What if that bike got damaged in a crash or blew an engine? You either had to borrow another bike or withdrew from the meeting. You can imagine that going down well these days.

You look back at the race time back then, I will use my own club Berwick as an example. Race times in the 70s and 80s are roughly the same as a Northern Junior League race now. Can you imagine many fans nowadays putting up with that as a night's entertainment.

Yes it would be great if we could get back to a time where we had the top riders in the world competing in our leagues, but unless we can find some rich benefactors or miraculously find some big sponsorship or TV money, we have to accept this isn't going to happen.

Let's face it, we were all a lot more easily pleased in the past. There were fewer alternatives, we were less coddled in those days. Now we want instant gratification and we want it all the time.

For my opinion, speedway is better now than it ever has been, throughout the sport. More riders are becoming "professional", the standard of riders have gone up as a whole, right across the sport. But all I see on the forum is doom and gloom. I find I spend very little time looking at the forum these days, the general mood starts to bring me down. 

Great post,pretty much spot on imo.

 

3 hours ago, Trees said:

Because you were younger imo ......... you enjoyed life more, you were up for a good night out, you enjoyed music more etc etc etc

Only discussed similar at work the other day,not about speedway but going out in general.It did certainly seem better when going out when we were younger but in truth it is no different now just that we are a bit older and grumpier.What we use to do then seemed so much fun but to do it now i wouldn't dream of it.

I have said on the forum before that speedway isn't much different at all these days,just that we have got older.You only have to take a look back at some of the old footage.Watched one the other day with D.Lanning commentating(rip).1984 world team cup,his line after one good race was who says speedway is all about the first turn.So obviously this phrase was still doing the rounds over 30 years ago.But going by a few on here it was wonderful back then.

[Bagpuss 10,762]

The crowd levels have a lot to do with it too....if you watch an average meeting as one of a few hundred spectators you wouldn’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as being among five thousand fans watching it for example. Speedway back in the day seemed so much better due to the bigger crowds, better atmosphere and sense of occasion even though the racing itself was very similar. 

[tellboy 3,658]

17 minutes ago, Bagpuss said:

The crowd levels have a lot to do with it too....if you watch an average meeting as one of a few hundred spectators you wouldn’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as being among five thousand fans watching it for example. Speedway back in the day seemed so much better due to the bigger crowds, better atmosphere and sense of occasion even though the racing itself was very similar. 

Pretty much like Cardiff to me.Look back at the racing and it is pretty mediocre.But as you say the occasion and bigger crowd makes it seems better than what it is really.

[waytogo28 2,054]

14 hours ago, Trees said:

Because you were younger imo ......... you enjoyed life more, you were up for a good night out, you enjoyed music more etc etc etc

I wonder how many of the under 40's go away with such glowing memories of a "good night out, great racing and satisfaction" in recent seasons? Hmm. If it is still just as good as we imagined ( if we did imagine it ) why aren't the crowds at speedway across the UK on the up? Or at least around the 2 - 3,000 level 0f 10 - 15 years ago. Hmmm.