Last year we were approached by a gentleman whose friend had recently died and who had a collection of vintage speedway machines and memorabilia and he asked if we knew where these might be displayed as his widow did not wish to sell them. At one of our committee meetings when discussing this, Terry Stone said that Dingle Brown had told him that he had been considering starting a museum and that it might be a possibility at The Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne, Herts, which is owned by former rider Pete Sampson. After a couple of meetings with Pete Sampson it was agreed to go ahead with the proposal and we subsequently sent pledge requests to all members and a considerable number of businesses and people connected with speedway. The response initially was reasonable but not what we had hoped for. By the early part of this year we felt that perhaps we should put it on the back burner for a while but around the time that we decided to do this a lot more interest was forthcoming. People and clubs were offering donations and it was decided to continue with our plans. One of our new committee members, GEORGE BARCLAY offered to give his full commitment to the job of trying to raise the necessary money needed and to date has done a marvelous job and is receiving money from all quarters. An update report from George is included here and if anyone would like to make a donation to the fund it will be most welcome and everyone who contributes will be acknowledged within the museum should it go ahead. If for any reason it does not happen then all monies will be returned to source but we are very optimistic that this will not be the case. George Barclay |