RobMcCaffery 2,752 Posted January 9, 2008 Sean!!! remember this one ...... what an excellent night that was huh!!! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'd heard it was like the 1960s - if you can remember you can't really have been there Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shazzybird 10 Posted January 9, 2008 Oh I was there Rob ..... I was there (ok so I was there in spirit after about 830pm though ) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Parsloes 1928 nearly 495 Posted January 10, 2008 ...Requiring at least six biros to get through the Champions Chase programme... And getting home to north-west Kent from that marathon meeting always caused me grief!! Remember one time ending up at bloody Kidbrooke Station (must've been the only vaguely familiar destination available from a long post-midnight London Bridge); and having to get my disgruntled Dad out of his bed to come and pick me up.. That was when it was good that it was October and there was no Speedway for months, so I could get back in the parents' good books.. Funny enuff, not much has changed 'cept it's a wife now I have to hope forgets over the winter about my Speedway 'misdemeanors'..!! Now, what was the name of the pub near the Stadium with, er, "glamour dancing" on after the meeting..?? Come to think of it, calling in there may have contributed to my late-night stranding in the midst of Kidbrooke’s inhospitable the Ferrier Estate.. was it The Falcon or something like that..?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Come on the Skipper 75 Posted January 10, 2008 Thommo's Testimonial meeting... taking a penalty on the centre Green at The Orient goalkeeper in a specially erected goal, and scoring... only to miss in the second round badly... blasting over the top The goalkeeper was Mervyn Day who was West Ham's keeper at the time. My sister won the penalty competition and still has the body colour hanging up in her wardrobe!! I used to stand on the steps at the end of the home straight, when Thommo was riding a guy standing in front of us used to shout "come on the skipper" and that's where my forum name comes from. Other things I can remember, Steve Lomas and Illa Terroma winning the Bonanza Pairs when it was peeing down with rain, Dave Kennett beating Ole Olsen the week after Ole won the world title, I think it was 1975 but not entirely sure. Walking down Waterden Road and Carpenters Road to get to Stratford to get the bus home, in the days before I could drive. Would normally get the coach back to Stratford but occasionally spent so much time getting autographs that I missed it. My wife had never been to speedway before meeeting me, her first meeting was the 1984 opener where Paul Whittaker signed a contract on the centre green, from thta point on he was her favourite. She thought it was frightening seeing the riders go round at the speed they do!!! We followed the Kestrels home and away until the end of 1985 when we bought our first house, hardly went once we moved to Kent and now we occasionally visit Lakeside but we normally go to Cardiff. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian L 2 Posted January 10, 2008 (edited) ...walking up to the entrance at my first meeting (Superama 76) and peering into the window of the Lesney Factory and one of the workers giving me a toy car ...bunking in over the back wall one week when someone had left an old pallet there then trying again next week to find a steward waiting on the other side ...supporters who used to wear home knitted hawks jumpers (how did they get the pattern for them?) and anoraks covered in sew-on patches and hats/scarfs with so many badges on that must have weighed a ton! ...going to Rye House on the double decker buses for the ILKOC matches ...Len's war cries (2,4,6,8 etc.) and having his trousers removed and getting covered in flour at the last meeting of the season ...Thommo's red Iwade leathers ...blowing all my pocket money at the 4th bend kiosk on photos, stickers, badges etc. and having to walk home afterwards cos I'd spent my bus fare as well! ...going to the pits after the meetings and collecting autographs and plastic visors ..."Speedway mail/Kestrel News", "speedway star" and "peanuts" sellers walking amongst the crowd ...Standing on the 4th bend near the white (usually broken) benches and cheering the team on each and every week ...1988 double winning season with a team of very young British riders & Thommo ...The bloke dressed up in the yellow bird suit that used to run around on the centregreen ...Going back to the 1995 GP to an unrecognisable stadium, getting soaked and leaving halfway through the meeting never to return Thommo's Testimonial meeting... taking a penalty on the centre Green at The Orient goalkeeper in a specially erected goal, and scoring... only to miss in the second round badly... blasting over the top The goalkeeper was Mervyn Day who was West Ham's keeper at the time. My sister won the penalty competition and still has the body colour hanging up in her wardrobe!! - I have some photographs of that day. Edited January 10, 2008 by Brian L Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BOBBATH 467 Posted January 10, 2008 Is the Lesney factory still there?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shazzybird 10 Posted January 10, 2008 For some unknown reason we took a detour from Coventry to avoid traffic works and ended up going round to have a look at the Hackney area, unfortunately I was too busy looking out the window left (with tears in my eyes I might add!) over onto the Waterden Road site and totally missed the Lesney factory on the other side of the bridge. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BOBBATH 467 Posted January 10, 2008 I haven't been to that area of London since 1967 aagh!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sean 3 Posted January 10, 2008 Lesney's had a factory in Waterden Road, on the right as you went up from the marshes end(what is now the A12).. i remember as an older kid, around 83/84 going to Hackney as a visiting supporter with Milton keynes, and the factory was derelict, all the windows broken and smashed out... just a shell. There was also another factory over the marshes on top of the bridge next to the river Lea... up towards Hackney hospital from the track. That still stands but i don't know if its anything to do with Lesney's still. Brian L just rekindled a memory that i missed... PEANUTS !! little old fellow in a white coat with a paper bag rolled down at the top.. selling monkey nuts... and after a meeting if you walked up the terracing.. you would see little piles of monkey nut shells... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Parsloes 1928 nearly 495 Posted January 10, 2008 PEANUTS !! little old fellow in a white coat with a paper bag rolled down at the top.. selling monkey nuts... and after a meeting if you walked up the terracing.. you would see little piles of monkey nut shells... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The peanut sellers at London sporting events is one of the really missed icons from my youth & teens!! I used to see the same guys at White City on a Wednesday, Hackney on a Friday and then on the Clock End on a Saturday. And doubtless they had 'gigs' on the other days: though rarely if ever Sundays in those days.. The all-seater stadiums did for them at football; and, well, the Speedway tracks were just all done in, period... I notice no-one other than me is admitting ever going in the stripper pub after a meeting...!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sean 3 Posted January 10, 2008 Sean!!! remember this one ...... what an excellent night that was huh!!! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> vaguely !!! someone got me piffed and made me stay the night.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sean 3 Posted January 10, 2008 I notice no-one other than me is admitting ever going in the stripper pub after a meeting...!! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ahem.. at the age of between.... 7 and 12 .. not sure if i would have known where (or what for that matter) .. the stripper pubs were !! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iris123 20,993 Posted January 10, 2008 (edited) The all-seater stadiums did for them at football; <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I thought they disappeared at most football grounds long before the all seater stadiums came in Wouldn't have thought that had much to do with it given the way they seemed to do business.Always remember them at the front of the terraces throwing bags into the crowd and the people throwing the money back.My guess would be they found it harder to get their money thrown back at them or people went off monkey nuts .Nowadays with all seater stadiums it would be easier to walk around and sell stuff.Here in Hamburg we have people walking through the all seater stadium selling food and drink.Last time i was at the HSV stadium there were even people walking around selling Sushi! Edited January 10, 2008 by iris123 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shazzybird 10 Posted January 10, 2008 vaguely !!! someone got me piffed and made me stay the night.... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That bloody Chalky! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sean 3 Posted January 11, 2008 That bloody Chalky! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> he always was a bad influence on me ... making me miss school lessons to support him in far off places... letting me sit on a 500cc wessie with no brakes as a teenager... fuelling my love for the two wheeled machines making me run round dirt tracks going "brmmm brmmm" and getting filthy dirty so my mum tells me off ! bribing me to take that monster of a great dane dog for a walk round the pits.. making me scared of horses ever since!!!! getting me drunk at the reunion, Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
