Mr Ore

Must stop feeding you the ammo to shoot me down with. . Damn predictive text, with a visit to Bishopstoke nr Eastleigh, 10 days ago not helping. I'll accept I've been outpedanted, but not reluctantly. .

Including my friend Dr John, a retired neurosurgeon from Edinburgh. . A very interesting job but hardly brain surgery.

Hey; I'm supposed to be from the land of the pedants, not you . Based on their website, I'll give you the address, showing as Bishopstoke, although, as per Microsoft map here, and in real life, the ground entrance is actually beyond Wandle Road . Of course The National Trust are no help either putting Watermeads address as Bishopstoke; #membership refund request in the post. And as for Jeff !!!!

Moved from Tooting to Mitcham, about 15 years ago. Now playing at Imperial fields next to the National Trust Nature Reserve (Watermeads) in London Road. Share with Tooting Bec FC of the Combined Counties League.

Side-tracking a bit the long gone Walthamstow Avenue ground was definitely my favourite of all time. A very sad loss. All very complicated so I apologise for any minor errors (hopefully none). The straight answer to your query is, "NO". Avenue are actually now part of Dagenham and Redbridge FC. Two other historic sides, Ilford and Leytonstone (I am sadly too young to have done their grounds) ultimately merged to form Leytonstone and Ilford FC after the former sold their ground, which I believe was literally next door to the tube station. When Ilford also sold their ground, the merged team moved in at WA in a ground share. My own opinion, based on watching a L/I game there was that they actually became the dominant force in the stadium and ultimately the 3 sides merged under the Redbridge Forest FC banner. Finally RF were integrated with Dagenham to become Dagenham and Redbridge FC who actually got as high as the third tier in the professional game, although now back in National League. The current Walthamstow team have links with another historic London team, Leyton, whose original ground is still standing, albeit in a desolate condition, a stone's throw from the Lea Bridge speedway track. They were originally called Pennant but added the Walthamstow tag (becoming Walthamstow Pennant) when Avenue went through their merger, effectively stopping the loss of the Walthamstow name from senior football. Leyton have gone through numerous incarnations/reformations, including a period as Leyton Wingate, when the latter lost their ground, but are now integrated within Wingate and Finchley FC at step 3 in the pyramid. Another offshoot of Wingate played under their generic name for a while in Barnet at a stadium currently owned by Hadley FC. Ultimately Leyton and WP merged becoming Leyton Pennant FC. However during a period of instability, much of it not football related, the then owner changed the club name to Waltham Forest and initially started playing at Wadham Lodge stadium, but to continue the above links. later entered a ground share with the reformed Ilford FC at their current Cricklefields stadium. From memory it was around 4 years ago they however returned to Wadham Lodge stadium and reclaimed the Walthamstow name to reflect their "homecoming" . Currently they share the ground with Clapton Community FC, a phenomenally successful group who have had 4 figure crowds playing on "park pitches" and who, to the chagrin of some, have bought the fun side back to the game and actually encourage putting donations into the local food bank in lieu of admission to their games. They have recently acquired the freehold of the old Clapton FC Old Spotted Dog ground and are already improving the pitch and ground for their return to another traditional old London venue. The original Clapton currently play behind closed doors at Terrence MacMillan stadium, which was considered as a possible venue for West Ham speedway when Custom House closed. Finally (Thank God) during the Waltham Forest "exile" from Wadham Lodge a breakaway team formed by some of the former management , called Wadham Lodge FC moved in ensuring continued use of the ground. When Walthamstow FC "returned" they changed their name to Leyton Athletic to reflect the original history of Waltham Forest FC. Following a year's sabbatical they were to return this season with a high profile manager and quality players but clearly "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" and a sweary departure days after he signed saw the manager resign and nothing further being heard of a return. .

I have noticed that in the 13 games I have been to since matches were allowed with imposed crowd restrictions, attendances have been noticeably up on comparable games last year. Although they have had a crowd limit of 300 imposed Walthamstow in the Essex League, for example, have had sell outs at all but one home game this season. Their average home gate last year was, I believe, 79.

Ditto. Another inept performance by Ks.

Simplifying but steps 3 downwards are continuing based on an arbitrary assessment of crowd limits, on the assumption that all grounds at a similar level must be the same size and that a "trial" fixture with a lower crowd number has first taken place to ensure covid distancing is feasible. The current limit is that crowds of 30%of capacity are allowed . Step 3 is the highest level with crowds, which are the premier divisions of Northern Premier, Southern (2 divs) and Isthmian The 30% limit means that all clubs at this level can have a maximum attendance of 600, although like speedway stadia ground sizes vary greatly. I won't complain as I have been taking in matches and have a season ticket for my local team whose first league match is on Saturday, but the criteria is barking. As an example Bury Town (step 4) played Brightlingsea Regent (step 3) on Tuesday in the FA Cup with a crowd limit of 400 at their 3,500 capacity stadium. Had the tie been reversed the limit would have been 600 in Regent's 1.000 capacity ground.

Footballing double on Sunday in Holland and Hackney. Holland was actually Holland on Sea near Clacton, while Hackney Wick currently play home games at Witham's ground 45 miles away from where The London Lions rode though.. Staggered kick off times made it feasible to take in both these FA Vase games but didn't allow for the sampling of local ales between . 7th and 8th matches seen this year since fans were allowed to return, Ticket also acquired for FA Cup, tie of the round at Horsham tonight. My season ticket arrived today for my home team who have their first home league match on Saturday. Somehow I doubt I'll get to use it very often this season though. Money to the club more important than personal profit though.

The fantastic real ales (all 12 of them) at the Boathouse in Wylam, make it a no brainer where it should be.

I recall he set up a "dating" company (brackets as I am unsure of the exact nature of the business and not because of any dubious links to it ) with his wife which used to advertise in SS. Sadly she passed away in 2014 but Wally was still living in Bedford around 2 years ago and hopefully still is although unable to verify .

I doubt this is what you mean but GWR have a closed to the public event on 30th August. No prize money paid out., but £40 entry for solos, £50 for chairs. Credit the club for a very well considered and presented Covid19 risk assessment which incudes for only riders and officials to be given entry. Sensibly they are asking for vans to be opened for inspection to ensure no unauthorised bodies get in. Frittenden have posted that (my interpretation) subject to the clowns in Downing Street getting their act together they could still stage a couple of events in September/October. I suppose they have the field and essential contacts in place (and riders looking for a race) to arrange at short notice but need the official go ahead. As an example of the battle they will face a pre season football friendly in south east London tonight was only allowed to go ahead on the basis that no spectators could watch despite it being held on an open field with standing around all 4 sides . In order to access the social club on the same ground you have to walk past one end of the pitch and it has an outside patio where you can see the game from, sitting with other people. Under current government instructions 150 were legally allowed to drink inside the clubhouse at the same time that none were allowed to stand outside to watch the match. In the words of the great Dizzee Racal, "Bonkers".

The current Cabinet?

Isn't the term Normal Conservative some sort of oxymoron, like military intelligence or British speedway fan ? TBH some of Matt Hancock's speeches are more laughable than any of the great Anthony Aloysius St.John Hancock's scripts .Apologising for calling Marcus Rashford, Daniel as he had got him confused with Daniel Radcliffe is obviously an easy error. Peas in a pod or what ?

I went to my first cricket match for about 6 years last summer, during the height of the hottest rain free spell for years and rain stopped play. . One of the things I'd noticed with the 3 / 4 day game is the apparently random clapping when, to the lay person, nothing special has happened. I watch quite a bit of non league soccer and am often amazed with some of the record keeping of every goal time, substitution time, start time, length of half, full time, number of cards, with subdivisions, corners, throw ins, offsides. etc,. etc. . I wish I was joking but I once saw a guy in full "When Harry Met Sally" mode and advise his friend that it was because it was the 300th corner from the left side he had seen that season. . Same with county cricket, I was advised that one potentially irrational clap was because it was the players highest score of the year, others for it being the highest partnership score between two players, plus the usual century, half century, for the player or team, and similar 100, 50 partnership scores. I suppose to the true fan you could have loads of data with you, so most runs actually mean something in your own personal records, to keep the interest going.. A bit like when I go to a Shakespeare play. I always have the script with me and ensure I have highlighted the bits which are supposed to have been in jokes at the time, so I can knowingly nod my head and lightly smirk behind my hand when they come up. .

I don't expect you to be an avid reader of my posts elsewhere but I regularly object to many of the irrational, ill-informed, intellectually suspect and often down right fictional comments aka lies, about the BSPA etc, on the forum. At the same time I have total respect for constructive posters, even if I disagree with their points of view. However it did seem an easy cop out at the time to blame all the ills of the sport here on not having a British World Champion (or one riding in the BL) . To me it was an excuse to just do nothing . We were in a bar in Wroclaw after Gary's victory and joined by the Valsarna team for a few drinks. Their manager told me how wonderful things would be for the whole sport with a British World Champion as the promoters would now really get the sport back to the top. I implied it was possibly a bad result, other than I was so pleased for Gary, as there had never been a plan and different excuses would now have to be found to continue to not do anything.

Can't remember the actual year or (possibly as it will age me) don't want to) but it was at the Duke of Buckingham in Kingston. Not an official match or anything, just put an initial up, chalk and play, A really lovely guy, as you know. Sorry to stay off topic but at a barbecue for residents where I lived at the time, after far too many beers and bottles of wine a neighbour "told" me I was playing in the final league match (last ever for a few years until the team reformed) for his pub team that evening. I could hardly stand up let alone see the board. I was drawn against a guy called Richie in the singles. Yes, it was Mr Gardner who just happened to be World Pairs Champion at the time. I've never been so happy to be beaten in 12 darts to save my own blushes. Another really lovely guy, appreciating that I obviously hadn't come prepared, and offering encouragement.

Many thanks. My only known link with you is that I once played your dad at darts.............................................. and got completely hammered. The start of my downfall. , although I subsequently have a football cup winners medal and 23 teams darts ones.

There was a statement from Len Silver at the time, saying that Billy Sanders should be awarded the title, because he rode in Britain, whilst Egon didn't. In the words of Dizzy Rascal; Bonkers. Egon turned up for an indoor meeting at Wembley and was booed by maybe a couple of hundred moronic Brits for no reason at all. Brilliantly he took to the mike and speaking in perfect English, politely questioned their irrational negativity, which of course none of them had the balls to reply to, before doing a couple of songs with his band to huge applause from the vast majority. . Rambling on ,at a time before making our own way to foreign meetings and saving a fortune, we were on an organised trip with around 4 coaches, stopping for breakfast in Bavaria in the exceedingly early hours. A group of Peterborough fans came over to the table I was sat at with my mate, to ask how we had been given a huge breakfast buffet , while they only had a couple of slices of ham, cheese, and bread each. I suggested that looking at the menu and speaking politely in German to the waiters may have had something to do with it, rather than them shouting, "Here, Adolf, what about a bit of service ?". Sadly such attitudes still remain. and in the political field in many cases. No doubt these who took the superior attitude then are the same ones who moan now the boot is on the other foot, having done a complete U turn themselves.to become the hard done by. . It wasn’t just speedway though where the British arrogance showed. I honestly believed Jimmy Hill’s analysis that German football was slow and boring with no passion, until I saw my first live Bundesliga game between Bayern and HSV, which was stunning and so superior to what our leagues churned out at the time . We then had the allegations of England losing because of cheating foreign teams. Again, having seen Dennis Bergkamp, amongst others, playing in Holland and his attitude to the game immediately ruined by his coaching over here which saw him spend most of his time on the floor. When cycling was very much a minority sport it was laughable that the likes of Phil Liggert revered riders as being English speaking as if it implied GB were doing well, didn’t he know that they were probably all English speaking ? Obviously, the top English (speaking) rider at the time; Lance Armstrong, was also the biggest drug taker. Makes you proud to be English (speaking) . I don’t think you could top show jumping for the ultimate quasi nationalism from the commentators, one of whom was also an announcer at many big events. When all GB riders had been eliminated the Australians, who had been declared as such earlier, were suddenly also representing the Commonwealth and the Germans/Dutch/Italians etc. Europe, to make it seem we were part of any victory. . The ultimate was a jump off between an American and Argentinian, well before the Malvinas conflict, in which the American was announced as, “Riding for the USA and Northern Hemisphere”. Had the Argentinian won what’s the betting he would have been representing the World to give us a share of the kudos?

Appreciate the explanation, As you well know there are a large minority on here who moan about nothing being done and do a full 180 when something is. At least they now know how to get to Blackburn Meadows. , .The thing with this , as a conference facility, is it doesn't just rely on race night hospitality, although provides an excellent opportunity for that. With the brilliant views of the track from it the stadium owners are continuing to embrace the Tigers brand and deserve credit for this, as do Damien, Peter and Julie for continuing the excellent relationships with them. Keep the faith and stay safe.

How we laughed. Maybe you could enlighten us with how you reach your erudite negativity towards this provision., or if you are too busy maybe ask another of your aliases to help. BTW if ever you come to Sheffield #doubtful, leave at the Meadowhall turnoff for the stadium, as it passes Blackburn Meadows sewerage treatment works, which no doubt you would find more aligned to your own life style choices. No need to worry about the smell either. If you let the sewage workers know you are coming in advance they will have plenty of time to put their gas masks on before you arrive.

Just seen the new executive boxes at Owlerton on Twitter. Fantastic facility. Hopefully they may get a few casks from Bradfield or similar on match nights, as the cherry on top. .

Didn't I read somewhere that a group of serial BSF doom and gloom merchants went for a drink together and spotted a sign saying "Happy Hour" so they all left ?.

Thanks, but no help in my own communications then. I was happy to await formal confirmation from my teams promotion until hearing this interesting snippet You do hear so many inaccurate comments about the BSPA on this forum though, that I needed to be sure of the facts, before committing to direct communications, so confirmation of this would really have helped.

Keeping the non-speedway theme running, but being from the area, before making my millions elsewhere, I was totally freaked out, as a child, to see photos of Ashopton viaduct being constructed in the Derwent Valley of Derbyshire, where both Ladybower of Dambusters' fame and Derwent reservoirs service Sheffield's many breweries now. It was 100s of feet above the village of the same name and which, along with Derwent, was submerged once the dam walls had also been constructed. and the waters blocked by them. Now when you go across this viaduct the water is almost to the top of the arches. As I said as a child knowing how high above what is now the base of the reservoir, so how deep the water was/is really gave me nightmares. Guess how happy I was needing to get from Lancashire (wash my mouth out) to God's own for a family bun fight on the day of the first gale this year (now forgotten owing to the pandemic) to find that Woodhead Pass was closed owing to the winds and floods, so I had to use the Snake, which crosses this viaduct? Even now, as a strapping 30 something, this childhood memory of knowing how much water is underneath as I traversed the viaduct, put me in panic mode, and I was visibly shaking. The only consolation is that there wasn't a clown to greet me at the other end. . I find that no longer living in my birth area I bond much more with it and have dozens of books about how it was before there was any speedway. Some great ones of these flooded villages. Again, school legend had it that during one warm spell Derwent Village surfaced but, as so many people were going into the church, it had to be demolished as it could literally have collapsed around them.