What about Northampton?

[piston197]

2 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I’ve told this before but it is relevent about schools, back around 20 years ago when the sport had the speedway riders association we had monthly meetings where various issues/problems/ ideas were discussed, one of the ideas was to visit schools to promote the sport and we the SRA would send 2 or 3 riders to each one(whoever lived closest to the school) as there was a bit of money in the pot we would fund the travel expenses ourselves, so come the AGM me,Craig boyce and Shane Parker sat at the table with all the promoters and told them what we would like to do except we didn’t tell them how it would be paid for and all we got back was it costs too much money and not worth doing for the cost and in a nutshell went down like a lead balloon and quickly moved on too the next subject, over the years I’ve done various promotions for different teams, been to shopping centres, rugby matches, ice hockey matches and other days and even took my bikes to the scouts one night and to a car show and still do Telford off road show every year, I don’t know how much success any of them have but to me we need to be everywhere no matter how small the presence or significance is, a lot of tiny things put together make a big thing, you do nothing you get nothing 

You are dead right Dean, I, as a joint partner, run an event 3 times a year and have done for the last 37 years, the best form of publicity is visiting other similar events , having a trade stall with our event advertised  on a billboard, with a box full of advertising leaflets for the public to help themselves to, and also  handing a booking form leaflet to the other stallholders.

Last week I was at Ledbury Grasstrack autojumble, this week I will be at Malvern showground and Cheddar VMCC event on the 25th, flyers will be handed out, traders will be leafleted, some of the mud chucked at the wall will stick hopefully ?

You are advertising to your target audience of traders and motorcycle loving public, while going into schools is fine, a stall at a local autojumble, village fete, grass track, Motor cross event, vehicle show, etc. in an area close to a speedway venue costs very little, could be staffed by volunteers, a bike could be on display, and there is every chance you have an interested audience.

Whether a bit of celebrity endorsement works ? the jury is out on that one ?

Facebook

If I was anything to do with Oxford speedway, I would be courting that Numpty Henry Cole, while the bloke is marmite, he has a huge social media reach to his audience and is local to Oxford 

Edited yesterday at 12:16 PM by piston197

[Neila]

Harry has been all over the press / TV talking about his horse this week. Maybe in the next few weeks he could use the same contacts to promote speedway, the sport he has been made a figure head of 🤔

[Sir Sidney]

30 minutes ago, Neila said:

Harry has been all over the press / TV talking about his horse this week. Maybe in the next few weeks he could use the same contacts to promote speedway, the sport he has been made a figure head of 🤔

Where does this narative that he has been made a figure head of the sport come from?

 

The only stated aim as far as I can see is that he was going to provide his contact list to try to open doors

[SPEEDY69]

54 minutes ago, piston197 said:

You are dead right Dean, I, as a joint partner, run an event 3 times a year and have done for the last 37 years, the best form of publicity is visiting other similar events , having a trade stall with our event advertised  on a billboard, with a box full of advertising leaflets for the public to help themselves to, and also  handing a booking form leaflet to the other stallholders.

Last week I was at Ledbury Grasstrack autojumble, this week I will be at Malvern showground and Cheddar VMCC event on the 25th, flyers will be handed out, traders will be leafleted, some of the mud chucked at the wall will stick hopefully ?

You are advertising to your target audience of traders and motorcycle loving public, while going into schools is fine, a stall at a local autojumble, village fete, grass track, Motor cross event, vehicle show, etc. in an area close to a speedway venue costs very little, could be staffed by volunteers, a bike could be on display, and there is every chance you have an interested audience.

Whether a bit of celebrity endorsement works ? the jury is out on that one ?

Facebook

If I was anything to do with Oxford speedway, I would be courting that Numpty Henry Cole, while the bloke is marmite, he has a huge social media reach to his audience and is local to Oxford 

One of his shows, Shed and Buried, featured a Jawa speedway bike and Allen Millyard rode it around field saying how powerful it was.  That was good publicity I think but I didn't see any use of that made by any speedway clubs/organisations.

[ouch]

6 hours ago, M.D said:

It's working ok for Poole, they are going around schools at the moment.

We use to have a maths lesson plan based around scoring and averages that could be tailored to different age groups and abilities. I’ll have to dig it out. The mainstays of Belle Vues school visits have sadly passed away in the last couple of years. It was always well received with a few newbies coming along. Keeping them was/is the problem. 

[tom]

Mike I’ve sent you a PM. I agree with everything you’re saying.

[YeOldPitGate]

1 hour ago, Neila said:

Harry has been all over the press / TV talking about his horse this week. Maybe in the next few weeks he could use the same contacts to promote speedway, the sport he has been made a figure head of 🤔

He's put in one hell of a shift since coming on board for speedway at the back end of last year for sure.

[piston197]

44 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

He's put in one hell of a shift since coming on board for speedway at the back end of last year for sure.

Quote from September 2025 , then nothing , would be interested to know what "hands off" would be like ?

The 78-year-old is determined to play a hands-on role in boosting speedway’s visibility and believes the sport is poised for a major resurgence.

[The Cheese]

After a disappointing finish in today's Gold Cup, maybe Harry's horse 'The Jukebox Man' could be Northampton's new number 1.

[Fromafar]

5 hours ago, piston197 said:

You are dead right Dean, I, as a joint partner, run an event 3 times a year and have done for the last 37 years, the best form of publicity is visiting other similar events , having a trade stall with our event advertised  on a billboard, with a box full of advertising leaflets for the public to help themselves to, and also  handing a booking form leaflet to the other stallholders.

Last week I was at Ledbury Grasstrack autojumble, this week I will be at Malvern showground and Cheddar VMCC event on the 25th, flyers will be handed out, traders will be leafleted, some of the mud chucked at the wall will stick hopefully ?

You are advertising to your target audience of traders and motorcycle loving public, while going into schools is fine, a stall at a local autojumble, village fete, grass track, Motor cross event, vehicle show, etc. in an area close to a speedway venue costs very little, could be staffed by volunteers, a bike could be on display, and there is every chance you have an interested audience.

Whether a bit of celebrity endorsement works ? the jury is out on that one ?

Facebook

If I was anything to do with Oxford speedway, I would be courting that Numpty Henry Cole, while the bloke is marmite, he has a huge social media reach to his audience and is local to Oxford 

While he is a Numpty in your eyes .He certainly promotes Motorcycle Sports more than anyone.

[piston197]

35 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

While he is a Numpty in your eyes .He certainly promotes Motorcycle Sports more than anyone.

Not arguing about all of that, he puts bikes ( and tin cans) on the telly not so sure he promotes any motorcycle sports much ?, mostly just promotes himself and his programmes/merchandise , fortunately most viewers are too dim to realise it is just another branch of "reality TV" and as I said, if I had anything to do with Oxford speedway, as his local club, I would try to get a tie-up with him promotion wise, his dedicated disciples, and there are a lot of them, might be tempted to give speedway a viewing ?

[Chadster]

11 hours ago, tom said:

Schools maybe would have a problem, many parents would *^%# themselves if they thought their kids were being encouraged to take up something as dangerous as speedway. God forbid anyone did, the first time they got injured the headteacher loses their job. However, in several cities the police have projects going on trying to counter youth offending involving motorbikes in urban areas. These are the only group o people who would become safer by being involved in speedway. They probably have the right personality type to enjoy it. Speedway is a way they carry on doing what they like, but legally, more safely, in a context with supportive positive role models, with a potential job at the end of it. And it’s drug-tested, so if they abuse substances they’ll have to stop.

 

This gets you a pipeline both for fans and riders, and improved relations with the council and potentially the neighbours if it reduces crime.

Good point about the police initiative. Are there any tracks that participate in these schemes? I guess it would have to be a track like Leicester or Scunthorpe where there's more or less continuous access. Running schemes like these ould be a good way of encouraging a positive view of the sport by local councils.

I don't think the visits to schools would be to encourage participation, except as spectators. Again, can the sport offer something to schools? I think Zach Cook was on one of the school visits at Poole. Could he talk to them about life in Australia as part of a Geography lesson, could someone from the club talk about the track and the sport as part of local history? A stats based sport should have some relevance to Maths lessons.

[gazzac]

On 3/12/2026 at 3:19 PM, Eagle77 said:

I was at the last couple of Wembley World Finals which had crowds of 80,000 plus... Ole Olsen & Bruce Penhall...

To think that the GP will now only get 14,000 shows just how far the sport has fallen...

If I had my way I'd bring back the one off World Final... along with the various qualifying rounds...

They were great occasions...

Meanwhile, Northampton Speedway... Speedways version of The Masons... continues under it's cloak of secrecy...

 

 

There for both as well ( Gordon Kennett should have won one if not for dirty Olsen) happy days and such events. Went on a coach with about 20 of us from the motorcycle club I was with for riding moto cross, different times unfortunately. 

[gazzac]

12 minutes ago, gazzac said:

Agree more of a special event than today's season long gp's.

 

Edited yesterday at 06:49 PM by gazzac

[piston197]

6 minutes ago, gazzac said:

There for both as well ( Gordon Kennett should have won one if not for dirty Olsen) happy days and such events. Went on a coach with about 20 of us from the motorcycle club I was with for riding moto cross, different times unfortunately. 

I was at Wembley in 1975, as a 19 year old, first speedway meet I ever attended, a friend of mine worked at a local rubber factory and a lady who worked with him was a Newport supporter and Phil Crump fan, she had organised a bus to Wembley and myself and 4 mates went, we got searched by the police in Trafalgar square after they hauled us down from climbing on the lions !  They spotted the leather jackets and got us to turn our pockets out, first time I ever heard the term "IC2 males" my friend Nicky had 2 screwdrivers, a penknife and a couple of spanners, the copper asked why he had these, he replied "I have a Triumph" the copper understood and let us on our way, great times , Phil Crump finished 6th 

[AFCB Wildcat]

On 3/13/2026 at 6:35 AM, M.D said:

It's working ok for Poole, they are going around schools at the moment.

Fair play if they can work it, but I wonder what pretext is used to justify these visits. Are these visits during normal school time or as part of an after school activity?

As I said, I can understand a football team because that might encourage kids to play football, which is a school activity. I understand visits to schools by prominent people that might encourage pupils to study a certain subject in order to emulate their accomplishments, but in what capacity does speedway enhance their education? 

My point was though, that you can't mandate visits to schools, when it is dependant on whether the head teacher wants to endorse Speedway.

 

 

 

[IainB]

16 minutes ago, AFCB Wildcat said:

I understand visits to schools by prominent people that might encourage pupils to study a certain subject in order to emulate their accomplishments, but in what capacity does speedway enhance their education? 

Business Studies... how not to run a business 😂

[Tim G]

55 minutes ago, AFCB Wildcat said:

Fair play if they can work it, but I wonder what pretext is used to justify these visits. Are these visits during normal school time or as part of an after school activity?

As I said, I can understand a football team because that might encourage kids to play football, which is a school activity. I understand visits to schools by prominent people that might encourage pupils to study a certain subject in order to emulate their accomplishments, but in what capacity does speedway enhance their education? 

My point was though, that you can't mandate visits to schools, when it is dependant on whether the head teacher wants to endorse Speedway.

 

 

 

Where I work one of the employees takes out one of the trucks to primary schools occasionally and comes back with all different art that the kids have done of the truck and then puts them up in the office on a board.

It’s all to do with engagement rather than learning and is a good look for the company even though these kids would never had heard of us. But I’m sure when they see one of our trucks now they recognise it.

Telling a young child about what a speedway bike can do and letting them sit on it will be an enjoyable experience for most and give free family tickets out to try and get them along.

[mikebv]

22 hours ago, tom said:

Mike I’ve sent you a PM. I agree with everything you’re saying.

Cheers Tom, replied...

 

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, Tim G said:

Where I work one of the employees takes out one of the trucks to primary schools occasionally and comes back with all different art that the kids have done of the truck and then puts them up in the office on a board.

It’s all to do with engagement rather than learning and is a good look for the company even though these kids would never had heard of us. But I’m sure when they see one of our trucks now they recognise it.

Telling a young child about what a speedway bike can do and letting them sit on it will be an enjoyable experience for most and give free family tickets out to try and get them along.

I've mentioned about my local football team Stockport County.  

They went into non league and even dropped a league in that ..

They were in the cart, non league, and two of the biggest football teams in the  country on their doorstep, meaning local young fans would be more inclined to follow either of those teams..

So, they put together a Community Team.. 

And have said since that this team was the most important one put together..

School visits to the ground were organised and structured, both during match day and not..

And free tickets for kids and for their parents and  guardians were distributed...

However, they followed this up by more free tickets for the kids,  and with heavily reduced admission for parents and guardians, plus discounted vouchers for merchandise..

Many kids therefore became regulars and, as they got used to going, wore the team colours, and mithered their parents and guardians to keep returning...

Every club should have a "Community Team" whose role it is to get the brand out into the local area, be a force for good, and attract people to the club (especially U11 kids)...

Hardly one player was known at County in their non league days, but the Community Team were known by a great many...