Knowle

Regarding Ron Johnson I think I may have seen his last ride in 1960 when he fell in front of the field in Edinburgh"s visit to Bristol. Also contrary to previous poster he made more than one appearence for Edinburgh that year but failed to score in any of them.

An early 1950s Bristol programme mentioned that they had received some further copies of "marching along together" from Fred Mockfords "closely guarded" stock.

Sadly Ken passed away a few years ago

Ernie Brecknell?

Have just noticed in local paper that a bike ex Colin Cook"s son is going to be auctioned next Sat 15th Sept along with numerous classic road bikes at Dunkerswell Devon. Further info can be obtained from www.mstauctioneers.co.uk Tel 01404891833 viewing tomorrow.

I remember him well. I believe he was related to the great Bill Kitchen and I am certain he passed away a few years ago but would like to be proved wrong.

Sorry to hear about Len. I too remember that he only made himself available for home matches on his comeback. Is his brother Stan still alive?

I have just noticed that a detailed Daily Telegraph obituary appears in the1949 World Finalists thread. Could someone cleverer than me transfer it to this thread where it deserves to be in its own right?

Jack Ormston has died at the age of 97. I presume him to be the sole survivor of the 1920s era. I understand that he won the Star Riders Championship in 1930 at Crystal Palace, represented England in the first ever test against Australia at Wimbledon n the same year and rode for Wembley Harringay and Birmingham, reached the 1936 world final and retired before the war. Did anyone meet or interview him in recent years?

Lloyd Goffe not alive,dont know about Cliff Watson.

Billy Hole of Bristol was a AA or RAC patrolman in the 1940s.

I thought that Cyril Roger had a car business in Wales at some time.

I remember him well as he did numerous second halves at Eastville and appeared in some Bristol team photographs. Possibly still living in the Bristol area.

Regarding Jack Biggs near miss in the world final I seem to remember a story going that some sort of deal was offered but declined regarding the fateful final race. Can anyone elucidate? ALso was not Jack killed in a track accident?

From memory I think Bob passed away a few years ago but I do not recall seeing anythiing about Cyril so believe he could be still alive and he being the eldest. I remember him being heartily booed at Bristol in the early 50s. Matches between New Cross and Bristol were often cut-throat affairs with each having a similar small track.

Is Jessica riding this year? Not seen her at Somerset.

Very sorry to hear about Archie. Met him at one uf those High Beech shows a few years ago and he was so friendly and chatty. I was asking him about the Swagman film which he appeared in and also his memories of racing at Bristol. He was most interesting to listen to. I remember him saying that during the filming of Swagman one of the stars Bonar Colleano had an unofficial go on one of the bykes and fell off and broke his wrist which delayed the shooting much to the director' annoyance! There is a good picture in one of the Stenners of Archie hugging the white line at Walthamstowe but still occupying a considerable part of the track (he was very tall!) He was also one of the rapidly disappearing band of survivors who raced before the war.

A man claiming to be called George Newton worked in some capacity at Bristol Eastville stadium in 1977/78 and is illustrated in a handbook of the time.

Using surnames only could be a throwback to the era such as the 1950s when professional sportsman were often referred to by their surname only.I even remember reading a pre-war Bristol programme where the promoter Mr Ronald Greene referred to one of his individual riders in such a manner e.g I had a word with Bloggs about his non-appearance at so and so track last week.

Walked into the County Ground last week. Nothing has changed as far as I could see except floodlights missing,speedway office boarded up, stairs to grandstand blocked,centre green overgrown.Track shop sign still in situ.All looked rather sad. The detached house between Bronco Slade Motors and the entrance gates used to have the words 'Stadium House' painted on a panel above the door but these have disappeared. Years ago you could gain entry into the basement of the totalisator on the wall of which was a some sort of wiring diagram dating back to the 1930s.Was the totalisator ever used in connection with speedway racing? I seem to remember that the one at Knowle stadium in Bristol in the 1940s gave helmet colour finishing order of the previous race.

Another great fence to hang over was at Eastville. On my first visit I could not believe how close you could get to the action having previously only been to tracks with greyhound tracks intervening. Happy days!

Interesting article.With speedway riders being seen as "glamourous" it is not surprising that imposters could crop up from time to time. When Bristol was operating at Eastville in 1977/78 I understand that one of the staff claimed to be George Newton and was illustrated as such in contemporary literature. Maybe he really was the genuine article or it was a case of "the names the same". I also met a man at Exeter once who said his name was John Surman and he claimed to have ridden second half at Perry Bar in the 1940s although my then extensive programme collection did not support this. I think I will start a separate thread on the Years Gone By Feature on imposters although it could be a dodgy issue!

Got a hunch its Fleetwood. Someone with an old Fleetwood programme could help as they often printed a detailed map showing stadium layout and surrouding streets togther with paybox entrances which appear to be shown in the photo.

According to Peter Morrish"s Excellent book the result of the Metropolitan League match that year was 41-31 to Ipswich.

Unbelievable! I bet you thought £ 411 was high Arnieg