DK Rides Again

Did I say that it would? And could one of the reasons that people aren't interested be, because they see it as poor value for money? There's a few folk on this forum, including I believe a couple that are actively involved in the sport at a high level, that consider speedway to be a £10 sport, and I would agree with them. Reducing the admission fee by half won't double the attendance, but it would be worth finding out at what level dropping entry fees would start to have a positive effect in footfall, even if you offered something like two for one, which shouldn't have any negative effects at all.

Less than 6 quid in today's money; the argument for dropping admission prices gets ever stronger...............

For one thing, Bernie shouldn't be begrudged for making money from F1, far from killing it, he's the one responsible for taking it from a race series that was dead on it's arse and turning it into the global phenomenon that it is today; if you've even slightly looked forward to putting your feet up in front of the telly to watch the GP in the last 30 years, thank Bernie, he made that possible (and paved the way for many other kinds of motorsport that appear on your idiot lantern most weeks during the season). For another, don't be concerned about companies like Honda leaving the series; start worrying when Ferrari or McLaren make noises about bailing out, then F1 is really in trouble.

My calculator gives me five options, I only chose the average earnings as it's probably the one most people could easily relate to.

Yes, I realised later that 10 quid was nearer the mark. According to my little calculator, just short of £2300 against average earnings, out of gate money of about £72,000, a tidy sum!

Not that the club needed it. At those rates, with an average crowd of 10,000 paying the lowest entrance and not buying a programme, they would've been hauling in £750 a meeting and paying maybe 7 quid to their best rider.

I can't remember exactly, but I think the entrance fee was slightly less than 50p at Wimbledon in 1970 (it would've been pre-decimalisation, 7/6 comes to mind) and a programme was between 5 and 10p. Interestingly, using a conversion calculator, your 50p in 1971 (decimal) is worth a bit over £9 today (as compared to average income) so maybe speedway hasn't gone up as much as we think.

No apologies needed Jim, before I ever saw any pictures I found it difficult to work out where it was, there's so much conflicting information around, mostly from misplaced memories; I've had someone tell me recently, (from his personal recall) that the road race circuit was the home of the British GP for many years, both pre and post war, despite the fact it's a matter of recorded fact that Crystal Palace never held the British GP in it's history! Still, I suppose it was a long time ago now, I guess if you're old enough to have seen the CP speedway team in action, just waking up everyday is a bonus, nevermind being able to remember it in detail!!!

That's near enough Jim, it's actually been 'absorbed' into Downham now, but you still occasionally hear people refering to Southend village. I'm not sure what the form is with the pictures; I haven't asked permission, but they are watermarked with copyright details, if it's a problem with the mods, I'll disable the link. You can see them here They aren't specifically of the speedway track, more an overview of the site, but the track is pretty clear. Also, the date's a bit vague, definitely post war and 1950 is a 'best guess'.

But, despite your extensive knowledge, you don't know where Southend is............

I think you'll find there's plenty of area names still in use in East London (and every other part of London) but the main thing that effected my area was the arrival of the railway first, and then the Palace. Back in the mid 1800s, there were a lot of little villages that had grown up to take advantage of the industry created by the 'Great North Wood', but the area was still pretty sparsely populated; what joined them all together was the tourist industry that grew around the Palace. Just to use one example, in 1851 the population of Sydenham was 4500, ten years later (the Palace reopened in 1854) it was up to nearly 11000 and, by 1900, it was 40000; the same thing happened to all the other nearby villages such as Penge, Anerley and Norwood (which gained it's name as a contraction of the previously mentioned North Wood). I think we've gone OT far enough to mention another little aside connected with my adopted area of London; did you know that Southend-on-sea is so named to differentiate it from Southend in London? Ten points, a gold star and a 'tick VG' to anyone that can name what Southend is called now

Part of the problem with Crystal Palace, as a place, is that I'm not certain it even exists. As that, unusually accurate, Wiki quote says, the park is in Penge (and always has been, despite the fact that for many years the idea that it was in Sydenham was the popular currency) and, in fact, at the time that Joseph Paxton negotiated for use of the park for the relocation of the Palace, it was known as Penge Place, at Sydenham Hill. It would seem that referring to the area as 'Crystal Palace' started out as a popular colloquialism and just drifted into universal use; I haven't looked very hard, but I haven't seen any references that can tell me if or when it became official. If you live around here, it's always been a bit difficult to pin down, because the area straddles five boroughs and at least three postal areas, and it seems to be constantly moving; since coming here in 1973, we've had the postcode changed three times (and some postcode recognition software still doesn't accept our current one, which can cause havoc with things like credit searches and online shopping) and for the first few years, the whole house was in Lewisham, except the kitchen, which was in Lewisham! Anyway, the fact is that Crystal Palace speedway track, while it was operating, was firmly in Kent. As an aside, I've recently seen some aerial pictures of the park grounds taken in about 1950; I was under the impression that the track was pretty much destroyed by the anti-aircraft installations, but these pictures show, plain as day, what looks like an intact circuit, complete with concrete starting grid and grandstands. Seems a shame that it couldn't have been resurrected to take advantage of the post war boom.

Don't know about Wimbledon but, strictly speaking, Crystal Palace was in Kent. Crystal Palace park is in the Borough of Bromley, which became a London Borough in 1965, prior to that it was part of the Garden Of England.

Title says it all really, but.................. Prompted by reading the excellent 'Speedway In The South East' (Norman Jacobs/Tempus Publishing, is that OK Norbs ) I don't recall ever seeing any reference to speedway in Thanet. Speedway has popped up in some pretty obscure places over the years, but it seems odd to me that it would appear it never made it to one of Britain's most popular holiday and day/weekend trip destinations, particularly as Margate and Ramsgate were in their heydays at the same time as speedway. There is a dog track at Dumpton, between Broadstairs and Ramsgate, that I've driven past hundreds of times and often wondered if speedway was ever held there, or even thought about. So what does anyone know, if anything?

I agree that, from a purely historical viewpoint, it would be a shame if High Beech ended up being forgotten, but what other date has any significance that could be lent to the museum? Coming at it from the angle of nothing but a punter, it would be nice if I could enjoy the museum and the park for free and in warmer weather, but I think it's fair to say the owner has put more than enough into it for us not to expect him to give up a day's revenue in high season, just for speedway supporters. I think now might be a good time to let go of the past and start thinking ahead; there's never going to be any more racing at High Beech, it isn't up to the task of hosting a major event, and the date is the best excuse possible for attracting (much needed) visitors to the museum. Makes perfect sense to me.

It might be good if you made your forum easier to access. I don't want to register as a member until I know what kind of site I'm registering on; I may (or may not) be able to make a valuable or interesting contribution to your forum, but I don't know if I can, because I don't have the opportunity to find out if it's the kind of site I might like.

Well, I guess that answers my question, so thanks chaps. Now all that remains is for some enterprising individual to start talking to the good folk at Detling................

So where does Bryn hail from? I can't imagine there being a future track in Thanet, but I'm very surprised that there isn't one in or near Maidstone; the Kent County Showground could easily swallow up a purpose built track, it would be difficult to prove noise objections, there's a precedent set by the nearby grasstrack circuit (although I gather that this has now closed down) and there's no problem with vehicular access. Why hasn't anyone thought of it?

I think you would be struggling to get Lydd accepted as part of Thanet; when I worked for Thanet Local Radio, we thought we were pushing the boundaries by including Sandwich and Deal, and we ended up dropping them from our audience survey area, because the link was too tenuous. I'm guessing a bit, but I would think Lydd is covered by either Canterbury or Dover council, as it's somewhere between the two, nearer Dover really. EDIT: just looked at the link and it's covered by Shepway, which essentially means Dover.

It was written, but, for reasons beyond my control, it was never posted anywhere; it's now locked away on a hard drive that was contaminated by a virus, and I'm not going to re-write it all again, so that's my career as an historic speedway journalist scuppered!

Sorry Norbs, only just read this. No news so far from my 'tame' councillor, not sure if she's too busy or just not all that interested. You might be better off contacting them direct, but if I get anymore info in the meantime, I'll pass it on immediately, I would really like to see this event go ahead. As others have said, there aren't too many places to put a permanent tribute; there is a concrete wall that could be used for a plaque, but it's within easy reach of anyone 5' 10" or above, so I don't suppose it would last long. I like the idea of a dedicated bench, but again, it would probably need to be securely bolted down. What you might be able to do is campaign to get the name of the area changed. That bit of grass is officially known as "Bridge House Meadows", presumably to commemorate a building that once stood near the canal bridge that is North of the green; as there's already a street name that recognises the bridge, maybe the council would consider a well put together argument that it should be called "Farndon Field" or "Frying Pan Green" or any other appropriate name. Done the right way, I'm sure a good bit of local, if not National, publicity could be gained to get the snowball rolling; just a thought...............

I have no knowledge of this bloke, but a friend of mine has just asked me about him. So, what does anyone know?

You just beat me to it Steve, the miraculous Mirac!

What does it say, word for word, on the plaque? AKAIK, Eric Collins was an Australian rider that was signed up as a reserve for Wimbledon in 1935; he's not a name that immediately springs to mind as a leading light of the Aussie team for that year, so you might find it's only worth something to an Aussie collector of speedway memorabilia. MODS............would the OP stand a better chance of getting a more informative response if this was moved to the 'Years Gone By' section???

I must admit, I thought that Selhurst Park was looked at sometime earlier than then, but it never came to anything.