Yes, however poor the Brummies were in the late 70s - and they were - we always finished above Leicester in the league! As for Swindon: I remeber a match in which their two top riders (Jan Anderson and Martin Ashby?) took RR and TS in just about every heat, and scored about 30 between them; and the Brummies still won!
As for the summer: we have been bleating about the heat for the last two days. In 1976 it was like that for three months ... I used to go out to work with a gallon of orange juice, drank the lot and never peed a drop. Sweated it all out!