TotallyHonestJohn

Honestly lads a love ya pragmatism... build build build refers to houses houses and more houses due to a national shortage (in the South East) (cough cough) apparently and councils will still get the ultimate say on new developments Sports and leisure are always a high priority because they employ people and generate a spend in the community however we are talking about motor sport... it will be difficult but not impossible... It will be down to Rob and his team to sell the idea and how it will benefit the region locally and nationally and more importantly the local community (getting the kids in and keeping them entertained is a big plus) and also how much oomph he can put into his business plan... and the other thing in the Speedways favour is that it is there now so there would need to be a massive number of complainants to muddy the water.... It's all if's but"s and the proverbial and's at the moment however it is the right time to start looking and engaging in the process because I feel the writing is on the wall for Brough... sadly... Regards THJ

Dave I can remember when that site was being mooted as the new St James Park replacement and I would also would suggest you are right in that the land will be classified as "Industrial Land" however to hold Speedway it will need a change of classification from a current B Classification (As it will be a classification from B1 through to B8 for its current purpose) to a "Sui generis" classification and this will need planning permission and it as at this stage where it will come unstuck I would suggest. Most classifications can swap over as long as certain criteria are met without going to planning as I have been involved with in the past when we built a leisure centre on an old industrial site but the D2 Planning Classification which states as follows D2. Assembly and leisure - Cinemas, music and concert halls, bingo and dance halls (but not night clubs), swimming baths, skating rinks, gymnasiums or area for indoor or outdoor sports and recreations (except for motor sports, or where firearms are used). You will note from the above the D2 Classification strictly rules out motor sports hence the need of a Sui generis classification and the requirement for full planning consent which in that location may struggle to go through. The whole planning process is an absolute minefield (unless you can get buy in from local councillors and the local MP's) and more so for motor sports... If you are struggling to sleep have a look at this it explains a great deal of it https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Use_class_designation_for_land_and_buildings That's why some brown field sites that haven't been fully classified yet can be easier to develop than a site already with a classification and again its all down to cash and also how many jobs you can create within the development area. If they were to say they were opening a hotel; a cafe; a pub and other venues with employment opportunities and create 10/20/30 full time jobs then this carries a great deal of weigh and the planning is looked upon more favourably. That is why a private site off plan so to speak would be a better call... I am with you on this one Ruff as the car park is always full(ish) there are many travelling fans and also with a new location it will surely show a bounce on new fans who are new fangled with something different to do near to where they live Regards THJ

So on the 1st of July 2020 the question was raised about a move to another track and it wasn't received very warmly to say the least; however it now seems that it is being embraced with various sites and options being proposed but the main thing being overlooked with all the proposals being put forward is as follows... All free land in the region is now being assessed for housing and that includes land formally thought of as not being suitable for housing; so land previously contaminated; land previously prone to flooding; land on difficult terrain that requires the likes of contiguous piling and land over mine workings and under high voltage lines.... Land and "any land" is now at a premium and the nearer you get to the city centre the more it will command value wise... Brough will be a housing estate within the next 20 years or less for sure... There is contaminated land on a city centre site (by the now empty O2 Arena) and it will cost £350k an acre in "Remediation Works" to sort the contamination issues out so what that means is Remedial Works for investigating, removing, remedying, cleaning up, abating, modifying or ameliorating the presence or effects of any and all "Hazardous Materials" and it will be very costly. This is all before any founds or footings go into the ground and a brick is laid... The costs are astronomical and the only site I can remember in the last 20 years that went on hold was in North Shields on a former hide and tanning site where animals were processed and we found dormant Anthrax spores on the site which at the time proved too costly an exercise to remove to make the site viable. However I was told recently that developers were back looking at the site as the returns on the development were starting to make this a viable site once again. We have been down this route before and discussed this to death just a couple of months back and honestly it will take an awful lot of good will from any of the regions local authorities to make anything happen and who other than a Speedway fan would have a noisy; smelly; dust creating speedway track anywhere near their homes because again we are not talking about one day a week here as Rob Grant wants to develop a training track and hire the place out utilising it to its maximum; so lets get real people its not going to happen around any built up area; on any type of land that could be used first and foremost for housing then secondly for job creation developments like a trading estate. So we are back looking at areas where noise; smell; dust creation traffic and crowds wont be an issue and with reasonable traffic links... and this leads us back to the likes of the outskirts of Cramlington; Blyth; Gloucester Sports Field near Seaton Sluice; Bedlington or on the way out of Newcastle on the A69 to the back end of Throckley which is the very outskirts of Newcastle or possibly on the Tyne Tunnel Approach Road at the back of the SUEZ recycling and recovery UK plant in Willington Quay which is in North Tyneside or how about at the other site ARC own in the area "High Gosforth Park" at the race track? they have land that used to be Rugby pitches that are no longer used and it was used for an open air concert just recently. After all the Reuben Brothers said they wanted to invest in Newcastle whilst trying to buy Newcastle United with "Wor Manda" and the "Saudi PIF" However the issues don't stop there as the bigger question should be who will finance the building of the new set up (note I did not say Stadium), I asked the question the last time as to what it cost to set up the likes of Redcar and Scunthorpe without getting any feedback however both are good Speedway set ups... I was told (and I don't know how true it is) that Rob Godfrey spent £150 grand back in the day to set up Scunny which was pretty basic when he first started out but he has successfully added and improved the venue over the last 15/20 years to where it is now. So where does this start up cash come from? and even if it is just £150k to get the ball rolling that's not peanuts by any stretch of the imagination. Finding 12/20 Acres of land is just the start of the problems.. Sorry if it seems I am "scooting on anyone's parade" but this is a big issue for the club; the fans the promotion and the region if they want to keep a Newcastle Speedway team... Regards THJ

Honestly I agree wholeheartedly with Steve Park... Dalbers is one of life's good guys... honourable... genuine and consistent and it's great that the new promotion have recognised his efforts for the Diamonds... Yes others have done good work over the years however even when he was dumped on by one or two others he consistently stood up to be counted he consistently backed the team and his absence although self imposed was due to him not being treat with much respect by a couple of previous promoters who still had the audacity to hold their hands out for his cash as a fellow promoter... and he never once complained or ducked his obligations or responsibilities... Great guy... oh hang on he does have one skeleton in his cupboard.... He's a closet Makem... I know... I've outed him now and it's embarrassing (very embarrassing) but we can surely allow him this one guilty pleasure after all he has done for the Diamonds.. Well done Andy... keep it up and well done to the current promotion for recognising the support provided over the years... well deserved credit... Regards THJ

Only thing I can say Ruff is more drink and less ice cream... oh and a cod liver oil capsule a day to help with the lung function... Vitamin D... it ain't a cure but it's supposed to help... Night night... an don't worry there will be a vaccine by this time next year... the new normal will be back to being the old normal... and with a bit of luck some speedway to boot... Thats me fed an watered time for some serious suppin now... Regards THJ

I could do wid one... I was told you get them off undercooked pork or beef where the eggs are laid in the animal skin and form cysts... Tapeworm infection is caused by ingesting food or water contaminated with tapeworm eggs or larvae. If you ingest certain tapeworm eggs, they can migrate outside your intestines and form larval cysts in body tissues and organs... got this last bit off that interference net... Oh an I watched a programme where a bloke swallowed some to loose weight an he had bits of them crawling out of his hoop at night an round the bed... Good old Channel Four... Regards THJ

Or how big your Tape Worm is... Regards THJ

Am sure The Toxic Takeaway used to be the Hong Kong Chineese Carry Out on Deleval Road in Forest Hall... never been for years but it wasnt bad back in the day... and I still don't know how it become to be called the toxic takeaway... if its the same spot... Regards THJ

Aye just one bacon banjo with mushrooms but back in the day when I was training five days a week and playing on a Saturday I used to double up on the savaloy dips on a weekday lunchtime... couldn't eat or drink enough back then... 14.10 and was under weight and nothing I done put the weight on... A small waffierr mint sir.... certainly wouldn't push me over the edge not then and not now... but if a could get down to somewhere near my fighting weight again would be nice... infact somewhere near the 16 stone mark but with various injuries and niggles I don't have the wherewithal the commitment or the will power to put in the graft required to get somewhere back into shape... Plus I like drinking eating to much and the socialising that goes with it to give a flying fig these days... you can't live forever and I'm happy with my lot... And on that note I'm now off out for several pints and a nose bag... Go on fatty... get in... yeah... Regards THJ

Jesus the sarnie police on patrol... ya can't even get a bacon banjo with a cuppa these days without getting rumbled... av got to keep the figure up somehow... after all "man can not live on beer alone" I know as I've tried Regards THJ

I was trying to be concise Dave... for a change... but you know the craic... the thing had been on the slide from MP coming in... I'll leave it there... if ya ken what a mean... Regards THJ

Honestly I was told that the old one was broken as it happens and the costs to repair it were prohibitive to say the least and as such it was cheaper to start from scratch; so not a fix or overhaul but a new one... and I fully agree with your comment... however cost may well have (probably) come into the equation when looking at the replacement... Regards THJ

Am gonna regret this.. especially if it's not "great minds think alike"... Go on tell me... Who says what about people thinking at the same time? Regards THJ

That's what she said Regards THJ

Just watched Robert Lambert win the Speedway European Championship and qualify for next year's GP Series... Brilliant and good luck to Robert for next year... Regards THJ

So... I see col69 has started the berwick bandits 2021 thread... whose gonna be brave enough to start the Newcastle Diamonds 2021 thread.... Whoever picks up the mantel... here you go... Newcastle Diamonds 2020/21 1. Claus Vissing 8.43 2. Matthew Wethers 6.92 3. Nick Skorja 5.00 4. Ondrej Smetana 5.00 5. Max Clegg 4.92* 6. Connor Mountain 4.61* 7. James Wright 4.00 Team Total: 38.88 Remaining: 2.12 Regards THJ

PM away buddy... I know what the right thing is to do... I have followed all the rules and guidelines from day one... and I have still felt personal loss to Covid... Regards THJ

A know ya flippant comment is a reasonable attempt at humour but if the clown who chose to use the nom de plume Mickey Mouse is in the pub and catches Covid off someone else in there then heads off for the next two weeks spreading it exponentially around his patch then we are in a local lock down situation aren't we... But if he does the right thing and leaves his real name and phone number he can be told to self isolate for a week get tested and do the right thing... to be fair Ruff this thing isn't a joke it's killing people ffs... Regards THJ

Yep a know where ya coming from and that was the basis of me response... if the manual lists aren't managed you might as well use them for bog paper... but to manage these systems takes time effort and potentially money... Many won't put the effort in on the process and others won't want to pay for it... there was a sign in list into the Black and Gold that many walked past so if someone had Covid in there and there is a break out of virus only half to two thirds of the people in there would be able to be traced... This isn't in isolation either as I have been known to frequent a few drinking establishments and it is the same in a great many of them... although I was led to believe that these measures would only be in place for 3 weeks and if it worked they would be lifted... But if people don't work to accommodate these measures they may be tightened... and that's the last thing I would suggest that everyone wants... I was in a spot last week where there were 3 Mickey Mouse's a Donald Duck and Winston Churchill... that's how serious that was being taken... Regards THJ

Looks like it until we get a vaccine... what Fromafar states above is spot on and I'm in the same boat cash has always been king... however the pubs I have been in where you sign in are next to useless unless it is managed... It's a real test to commitment and could be very costly but we are now in a society where we push to save/make money and if that means cutting corners it will happen... no one wants to pay extra on a service/pint whatever for safety measures... Plus it ain't gonna get better anytime soon... Regards THJ

Think that was the reason of the trailing of the new ticketing system... it may be that the only way this can be done effectively is through an online process that has details of the purchaser which to my mind will be another hurdle to jump... Regards THJ

As a sad inditcment to Speedway there use to be four of them until the back end of last season now they are three and one of them ain't to good now either... Regards THJ

True and I have no idea... but it might be more than you think... you could be pleasantly surprised... I have a couple of pals in Wolverhampton would crawl all the way up the motorway on their hands and knees just to see some speedway action... Berwick are central to Edinburgh Glasgow and Newcastle and I even trailed across from Cumbria just to watch a practice session... so unless you try you would never know... Regards THJ

Dunno about meaningless... seen many an entertaining Tyne/Tweed or Tweed//Tees Trophy season opener and although these can be classed as meaningless pre-season warm up matches the guys still have to race to get paid... Also seen many a good individual meeting at Berwick and the last U21 meeting held there was really entertaining but at the end of the day you pay your money or not on what you wish to spend it on... The last 4's I seen up there was unfortunately in 1979 and had Tom Owen Rod Hunter Graeme Stapleton and Neil Coddinton in for Newcastle with Roger Wright Steve McDermott Graham Jones and Nigel Close representing Berwick... Berwick won the regional 4's that year... The latest government release advised mid October before stadia can open up so even if the season was extended to November what league could you run in 6/7 weeks... if 12 teams run 4 leagues of three a semi final and final... along the lines of the old season opening competition the premier trophy that a great deal of people didn't like.. As Neila states above there is an awful lot of risks to consider however the Berwick promotion must receive some credit for exploring all the options in how viable it would or could prove to be in running meetings in any remaining time available... The other thing is how many fans might be dragged in from other regions if Berwick were say only one of two three or four clubs to get a Covid Cup type challenge match run... there are fans in other areas desperate to see some speedway... My honest opinion is we are flogging a dead horse but it's good to talk... Regards THJ

Honestly I very much doubt you will see league speedway this season... reciprocal challenge matches; possibly 4's and individuals but I think any type of league format will be very difficult... You are correct when you state there could be fines for not completing fixtures; so another reason not to run in a league in the very short time left to complete a structured season... On BSPA subsidy support there will be no chance as they don't have the funds to subsidise themselves let alone clubs... Regards THJ