Help needed with this programme...High Beech 1948

[andout 650]

There is no date, except for 1948.....it looks genuine, the paper looks like 1948 but I can find no record whatsoever of this meeting.......Any help would be appreciated.

 

[chunky 6,087]

This is intriguing...

Nope, I can't find any trace of anything either! While it looks official, it is odd that an "official souvenir programme" (particularly of a Test Match) would be produced in that fashion. It is also odd that there is no date.

I know there were cheap "pirate" progs printed for big meetings, but seeing that we can't find any meeting is worrying. Of course, there was the five-test series against the Aussies in '48, but this wasn't included.

The other thing is that I have no idea who Ronnie Smith was. Not a name I'm familiar with at all. I figure he may have been a home-track rider, but even so, to have been anything close to Test standard would indicate that he was decent. I have checked a bunch of other tracks in the southeast, and can't find anything on him. Do you know him, andout?

[iris123 20,939]

Looking at the Aussie press of the time, I can find announcements or results of the Tests at Wimbledon(saying 1st test), then Belle Vue etc a piece about Duggan losing the London Riders title and winning the British Riders Championship in front of 90,000. But no mention of this

[steve roberts 9,242]

I'm guessing that if anywhere the place to look would be in a back copy of the "Vintage (later "Classic") Speedway Magazine" that was a publication by John Chaplin and Jim Lipscombe (?). I'll have a perusal thru' when I have a moment.

[norbold 7,101]

1 hour ago, steve roberts said:

I'm guessing that if anywhere the place to look would be in a back copy of the "Vintage (later "Classic") Speedway Magazine" that was a publication by John Chaplin and Jim Lipscombe (?). I'll have a perusal thru' when I have a moment.

Peter Lipscomb

[norbold 7,101]

It seems highly unlikely that there would be an "official" Test match at High Beech in 1948. It was just a training track at the time; I don't think there were any matches of any sort that year, let alone an Official Test match.

No idea who Ronnie Smith is either - he doesn't appear in Stenners' 1949 Who's Who in Speedway.

I am wondering if maybe this was a birthday or Christmas present to a little lad called Ronnie Smith made up by his parents? Or perhaps Ronnie Smith was one of the trainees and it was a bit of a joke.

Edited May 17, 2020 by norbold

[jrs 3,290]

I was thinking along the same lines, that some inventive youngster, probably Ronnie Smith, might have had his own invented game and even typed up a programme for it. I remember in the early 50's brother and I had an "Owzat" game, and we would have county games and test matches with full eleven man teams, and occasionally include ourselves in the teams. These matches were often abandoned though as my brother would often storm off when he was losing.   He's still a bad loser lol. There wasn't much else to do in those days with no TV or computers.

[iris123 20,939]

Yes, I was World champ a couple of times in my own speedway game/world 

[norbold 7,101]

15 minutes ago, iris123 said:

Yes, I was World champ a couple of times in my own speedway game/world 

I never quite made it in mine. I was one of the best riders but never as good as Roger Gooding or Chris Friendship, two classmates of mine!

[norbold 7,101]

35 minutes ago, jrs said:

I was thinking along the same lines, that some inventive youngster, probably Ronnie Smith, might have had his own invented game and even typed up a programme for it. I remember in the early 50's brother and I had an "Owzat" game, and we would have county games and test matches with full eleven man teams, and occasionally include ourselves in the teams. These matches were often abandoned though as my brother would often storm off when he was losing.   He's still a bad loser lol. There wasn't much else to do in those days with no TV or computers.

I used to play whole County Championship seasons with Owzat! I got to know the names of all the cricketers and which county they played for through that.

[iris123 20,939]

2 minutes ago, norbold said:

I never quite made it in mine. I was one of the best riders but never as good as Roger Gooding or Chris Friendship, two classmates of mine!

I sort of had an advantage, as there were two of me. One rode for Wimbledon and England and the other rode for Berwick and Scotland 

[racers and royals 8,717]

I noticed that the promoter/clerk of the course was a MR  L Smith- is that a known name from the period ?

[jrs 3,290]

3 minutes ago, racers and royals said:

I noticed that the promoter/clerk of the course was a MR  L Smith- is that a known name from the period ?

Probably Ronnie Smiths father

 

[racers and royals 8,717]

Just now, jrs said:

Probably Ronnie Smiths father

 

I was thinking that.

[jrs 3,290]

13 minutes ago, norbold said:

I used to play whole County Championship seasons with Owzat! I got to know the names of all the cricketers and which county they played for through that.

Same here whenever I could escape homework and chores, a simple little game that gave years of fun, and even winter tours to India, the mysterious lands of Oz and New Zealand.