Cradley Heathens

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

6 hours ago, brianbuck said:

Dudley Council have been claiming that the old Freightliner Depot site is "earmarked for other uses" for the last 20 years. The speedway club could have been using it for the whole of this time if Dudley MBC had shown just a modicum of enterprise. I'm told that this "other use" is for a station for the new Metro tram extension,  and by my reckoning, there is ample space on that site for a tram station, a speedway stadium and a large carpark. Dudley Council's performance has been pathetic.

I know the site well and it would be perfect for a speedway stadium. Yes, there would be ample space for a Metro station. It won't be a terminus - that will be in Brierley Hill so should only be a basic station like the rest of the tram stops - a couple of lines and a couple of platforms with cover and ticket machines. The BCLM doesn't have the best of reputations for co-operaton though. 

The site's at the junction of two major roads out of town, right by the zoo and Dudley Castle and only a short walk from he town centre and bus station. There is no railway station in the town centre.

Taking all of that into account there can only be one explanation why the Heathens aren't already racing there....

 

[Piccolo 47]

23 hours ago, greyhoundp said:

 

The perfect site for Cradley would  be around the area of the old freightliner depot in between Dudley Zoo and The Black Country Museum   https://www.google.com/maps/place/Black+Country+Living+Museum/@52.5189036,-2.0770964,238m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x80fb90ace73738fb!8m2!3d52.5200852!4d-2.0752618

However the leader of Dudley Council says the site is earmarked for other uses, and the Chairman of the Black Country Museum in his wisdom doesnt want to help, in my opinion they are very short sighted views which could boost visitor numbers at both of those sites by fans going to the Speedway making a day of it.. 

Nigel Pearson was told Mr Strudwick at the Zoo would object to this because of impact on the animals. The closest they came was Canal Street Brierley Hill, they even had an architect draw up plans for the site to present to the Merry Hill owners only to be told the new tram route planned for years was finally going to happen.

[Ruth Reddy 8]

Are the animals at Dudley Zoo more sensitive than the animals at Belle Vue were?

[Lefty 1,257]

36 minutes ago, Ruth Reddy said:

Are the animals at Dudley Zoo more sensitive than the animals at Belle Vue were?

There was speculation that Dudley Zoo was the first Zoo in Britain. Prior to that they were all called 'Zoological Gardens'. But Dudley doesn't understand 'logical', so dropped it!

Seriously though the freight depot would be a great site to use.

[brianbuck 928]

Well it doesn't need me to remind everyone that the speedway would have run 15 one minute races over a 2 hour period, whilst two Metro trams would pass the site every seven minutes from early morning until late at night, on seven days of the week 

Perhaps a polite letter to Andy Street the existing Mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority might generate a bit of action? Mr Street is a former Chairman of the John Lewis Group and is well known for his encouragement of enterprise. If it isn't treading on the toes of anyone connected with Cradley who may be doing something I/we aren't aware of, I'm willing to give this a try and see what the response is.

Edited November 28, 2019 by brianbuck

[greyhoundp 990]

1 hour ago, brianbuck said:

Well it doesn't need me to remind everyone that the speedway would have run 15 one minute races over a 2 hour period, whilst two Metro trams would pass the site every seven minutes from early morning until late at night, on seven days of the week 

Perhaps a polite letter to Andy Street the existing Mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority might generate a bit of action? Mr Street is a former Chairman of the John Lewis Group and is well known for his encouragement of enterprise. If it isn't treading on the toes of anyone connected with Cradley who may be doing something I/we aren't aware of, I'm willing to give this a try and see what the response is.

Brian I suggest you go ahead after all what have we got to lose ?, at this moment in time we have nothing, so there is nothing to lose, and thank you..

[greyhoundp 990]

Statement from Heathens Speedway Supporters Trust.

 

As you now know, Cradley Heathens will not be running next year. This is very disappointing for everyone but as a Trust Board we understand the reasoning behind the decision. We have been contacted and asked why the Trust haven’t stepped in so that Cradley can ride again next year. If only life was as simple as some people believe.

 

As we said in our last statement, we haven’t been sitting idle; we have in fact been busy collecting facts. That’s facts with evidence that we’ve seen with our own eyes and not just gossip or theories.

 

▶ Don’t Ladbrokes want the extra revenue?

Monmore Green can only be used logistically once a week for speedway. The truth is that Ladbrokes can make substantial staging payments by running dog racing in an almost empty stadium because of streaming it by satellite to different countries and the money they can make from betting. They don’t need the extra revenue from running speedway on an extra night. This is a fact as much as people don’t agree with it.

 

Depending on how the National League (or whatever format it will take in the future) runs and how many teams are in the league we would need enough race nights to complete the season. With Wolves meetings, cup competitions and play offs there wouldn’t potentially be enough dates at Monmore and we would therefore be in the position of either riding at Perry Barr (depending on how many dates they have available) or forfeiting any remaining meetings near the end of the season. You wouldn’t book a holiday for 21 days if you could only get accommodation for 14 days!

 

▶ Why can’t we run at Perry Barr?

The income decreases by around 40% riding at Perry Barr because it’s harder to get to for most people. The sad fact is that fans just don’t turn up at Perry Barr. Also, we’re not guaranteed that there would be dates available there for us to race.

 

▶ Have you ever wondered how much it actually costs to run a speedway meeting?

Monmore Green has the highest rent in the league and that rent is the same whether it’s a Cradley meeting or Wolves.

Medics and referees don’t just turn up to meetings, they have to be paid. A payment has to go to the BSPA for every meeting plus insurance, riders wages, programme production, track preparation and the list goes on.

 

▶ Why aren’t the Trust stepping in so that we can ride next year?

The answer to this is twofold. Firstly, whilst the definition of a supporters trust is a democratic, not for profit organisation of supporters who is committed to strengthening the voice of supporters in the decision making process at a club and strengthening the links between the club and the community it serves it doesn’t say that we need to hand money over to achieve this. Secondly, when the Trust was set up the objectives were set then (and they are the same objectives we use now) and that is to, in the long term, find land so that the Heathens have a home of their own and short term objectives are to continue to raise funds, have good community links and keep members informed.

 

When HSST announced that we would be one of the sponsors for The Heathens in 2019 we came under criticism for spending the Trust money. None of the Trust money was used. The 200 Club was set up for this reason and this is the only money that has been used (as the accounts at the AGM will show). So why now would we spend the Trust money (where the majority came from the work done by HSSC) and have none left if land were to be found.

 

Two representative from the Board sat down with Chris Van Straaten and Nigel Pearson and had a very open conversation. We talked through the pros and cons of what was involved in running a team next year including all the hidden costs that no one thinks about. For example, did you know that it can cost anything from £250 - £1500 for a rained off meeting? If a meeting is rained off there are still certain outgoings that still have to be paid. At the end of day it didn’t come down to money, it came down to logistics. How many dates were available, how many meetings would we have, what would we do if we couldn’t ride all our meetings at Monmore and what riders would be available to make up a team for next year. Teams who have their own tracks can be way ahead of the game because they can dictate when they ride and how many times they can ride in a week. Sharing a track means that we have to wait and are constantly struggling to find riders to make up a reasonable team.

 

Contrary to what some people have said, there is nothing up for sale because there is nothing to sell! We can have the Cradley name whenever we want it - we don’t have to pay for it so there is nothing for the Trust to buy.

 

We will have the draw for the December 200 Club and then we will have a meeting with all 200 Club members sometime in Januay.

 

HSST Board

 

[noaksey 343]

There were proposals from a local football club a few years ago to sell their existing ground and build one on the freight liner depot. There was consideration given to having the speedway as tenants.

All came to nothing though

 

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/2012/05/17/dudley-heathens-stadium-plan-gathers-momentum/

[greyhoundp 990]

16 hours ago, noaksey said:

There were proposals from a local football club a few years ago to sell their existing ground and build one on the freight liner depot. There was consideration given to having the speedway as tenants.

All came to nothing though

 

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/2012/05/17/dudley-heathens-stadium-plan-gathers-momentum/

 

Those plans were scuppered by Dudley MBC due to the fact that the site was earmarked for other things, or in my opinion anything other than Speedway..

[Lefty 1,257]

1 hour ago, greyhoundp said:

 

Those plans were scuppered by Dudley MBC due to the fact that the site was earmarked for other things, or in my opinion anything other than Speedway..

Build it on the old 'Toys Am We' site at Oldbury, M5 J2 then? 

[noaksey 343]

3 hours ago, greyhoundp said:

 

Those plans were scuppered by Dudley MBC due to the fact that the site was earmarked for other things, or in my opinion anything other than Speedway..

I believe that the football club also ran in to some difficulties with the sale of their existing ground. 

[craigACE 91]

Noticed the first edition of Cradley Heathens programme has gone on sale today. Curtis Sport website along with the other current/former Clubs.

[Dickie Head 245]

Cradley fans please spread the word.

Barry Bishop’s Virtual Skid project next airs on Thursday 16 July and features the Heathens going wheel to wheel against the Coventry Bees from the 90’s.

Each Heat is sponsored (as are the team managers Garry Stead and Adam Roynon). The Speedway Riders Benevolent Fund will be the sponsorship recipients.

Additional donations are being taken. Don’t  forget the SRBF text line is now open for you to be able to donate £5 - its quick and easy and you will be supporting a great cause. 

Text SRBF to 70085 or SRBFNOINFO to 70085 if you do not want any marketing updates.

Here is the legal bit....

Text SRBF to 70085 to donate £5
Texts cost £5 plus one standard rate message and you’ll be opting in to hear more about our work and fundraising via telephone and  SMS. If you’d like to give £5 but do not wish to receive marketing communications, text SRBFNOINFO to 70085. 

If you haven’t tried Virtual Skid yet, search Speedway Portal and follow the links to one of the five meetings that have already been screened.