Chris Fenn

If anybody know's the whereabouts of: Des Lukehurst, Ian Clark, Dennis Day, Hugh Saunders, Brian Leonard. Please let us know as they have elluded us so far. Thanks

And as if this was not enough, I have just put the phone down of Finn Thomsen who has agreed to attend also.!! He also suggested having a ride at Rye during the following nights second half. I don't think he was joking either!

I am pleased to make one of the announcements most Hackney fans will be waiting for. Zenon Plech has agreed to attend the Hackney Reunion. More details soon.

No Kevin, but I will find out and post it here. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Apparently the museum idea has not yet been dropped mainly due to the efforts of George Barclay to keep it alive. The amount required is £53K and £24 K has been pledged by members of the VDTRA. Further details when known.

Provisional Dates: Paul and I are pleased to announce that the provisional day for the "Hackney Speedway Re Union at 8" is Friday 22nd July 2005 at 8 pm (subject to confirmation with Pete Sampson) followed just under 24 hours later on Saturday 23rd July at 7 pm by the 2005 Vic Harding Memorial Trophy at Rye House (subject to final confirmation with Len Silver) Further details to follow as soon as possible.

No Kevin, but I will find out and post it here.

Dear all, Sadly no date news as yet. However I am pleased to say that Pete Sampson at the Paradise park has agreed to let us install a permanent tribute to Vic Harding in the parks memorial garden, which already hosts a tribute to Bill Mathieson. Further details to follow. Sadly though Peter has told me that the proposed speedway museum appears not to be going ahead because of lack of funds. The VDTRA has only had pledges from its members to cover half the required money. As far as I know the fans have not been approached to see if there is any interest in making a donation. I will talk to Vic White at the dinner on the 5th and see what the exact situation is. Look forward to seeing anybody who is also attending the dinner.

Dear all, Although there has been no news to report recently, rest assured that work is progressing behind the scenes. On Saturday we visited ex Hackney star Pete Sampson's Paradise Park in Broxbourne which I am pleased to say is likely to be the venue for the reunion. Pete has done an amazing job at the park and if you have never visited it it is not far from Rye House and is excellent value for money particularly if you have kids. I can fully recommend making a day of it if you plan a visit to Rye House this year. There are good facilities at the park including a theatre which can be used to show old meeting videos, hotels which can be booked at corporate rate for those who want to make a night of it before going to Rye for the Vic Harding memorial the next day and shuttle buses from these hotels or from Broxbourne station. Also it is close to Rye for the next day and it is fitting to be held at a place associated with a former Hackney rider who I can tell you is very enthusiatic about the reunion and already has been very helpful. One of the next jobs is to get an "intention to attend" from the as many of the 150 ex Hackney riders we can. A huge task difficult because we do not yet have the date. However we already have agreement in principle from Archie Windmill, Dag Lovaas and Trevor Banks and we hope to have many more after this weeks round of phone calls. A final comment about the Paradise park. The Veteran Riders Association is in discussion with Peter Sampson about errecting a permenant speedway museum at the park but Peter told us that money was (as always with speedway) a problem. I do not recall seeing anything about the museum on the forum so with apologies if it is there somewhere, at least people now know about the idea.

I wrote to Jack Tidbury for the book but recieved no response. Someone told me Vic Duggan has become a recluse and refuses to discuss speedway.

Thanks Shaz, I keep a quiet eye.... !!

I spoke to Archie Windmill last night and quite rightly he became the first rider to offically confirm his attendance. Bryn, I have contact details for Bob Andrews and Roy Trigg but the challenge for you (or anyone else for that matter) is Garry Middleton. Whilst researching the book, the number of rumours (all so far unsubstantiated and therefore not repeatable publically) were huge. Finn Thomsen is another on our hit list who so far remains unfound. So any help will be appreciated by myself and Paul Happy Christmas to all