Museum
Preview Dinner at
Paradise
Wildlife Park
"The
Speedway Museum is GO!!! Our National Speedway Museum
is up and running and looking good and, although the building is quite
small, there is so much to see and admire that it will be a place to
visit time and time again. George & Linda Barclay and the team have
done a great job on everyone's behalf and it is great to see all the
hard work rewarded.
On 20th April, there was a Preview Dinner with an exclusive tour of the
Museum and the Wildlife Park and, with the Museum being situated within
former rider, Pete Sampson's magnificent Paradise Wildlife Park at
Broxbourne, not far from Rye House and Speedway's origins at High Beech
, there are lots to keep the average Speedway fan from Eight to Eighty
interested. From bikes and leathers (and kevlars), to programmes,
photos, posters and trophies, telling the history of Speedway Racing
from pre-war Dirt Track Douglas & Rudge machines, up to Jason
Crump's lay-downs. There are even photos of the youngsters who are
Speedway mascots, so everyone has a presence in this museum.
As you enter the museum, the journey begins with a small Cycle Speedway
display of bikes & photos and a Roll of Honour of
ex-"Skid-Kids" who went on to make the transition to full
motorcycle Speedway, and it is quite a long list. Nowadays, riders come
into Speedway from Grasstrack or directly from Peter Oakes' Under
15 racing but in earlier times, Cycle Speedway was the nearest thing
that we youngsters could do to emulate our Speedway
heroes.
There are flags and body colours from around the world, plus pre-war
Douglas & Rudge machines with audio-visual displays showing some
unique cine film from the early days at High Beech. (I wonder if Alf
Weedon was the photographer?) plus a small cinema showing Speedway
action (of course) and a
special display as a tribute to the late Peter Craven with
"Peter" hanging off of a Speedway JAP machine in true Craven
style.
 Former World
Champion, Michael Lee made a surprise presentation at the Preview Dinner
by donating his favourite trophy, the Golden Helmet which he won at the
Harsewinkel Longtrack in Germany, defeating the home Golden Boy,
Egon Muller on the finishing line. "I never thought I would let
anyone else have this trophy", said Michael, " but I have seen
what a good job has been made with this museum and would
like to add this to the trophy collection.".
At the dinner, "The Red Devil", Mike Broadbank, donated his
trade-mark red leathers to the museum even although he says that they
still fit him, (was he going to make a comeback?), so they will
join Michael Lee, Nigel "Little Boy Blue" Boocock, Leigh Adams
and many others who have donated leathers, bikes and Kevlars to the
Museum (look out for a set of moth-eaten tartan leathers on display!).
There is even a small "shed" workshop with
tools,sprockets, chains, etc and a rusty, trusty (?) old JAP.
The dinner raised more much-needed funds to help the running costs of
the Museum, with an auction which included unique signed body colours
(one of which was signed by all three New Zealand World Champions,
Ronnie Moore, Barry Briggs & Ivan Mauger) , Museum Race Jacket
signed by all riders at the Brighton Bonanza and a terrific framed
drawing by Steve Ridgeway of Peter Collins and Anders Michanek in
action. This was bought by Rye House promoter, Len Silver as it reminded
him of the match race at Wembley
betweeen these two greats when Len was manager of the England team in
The World Cup.
It's best I don't tell you too much more about the Museum, you just have
to go to see it for yourself and enjoy the history of Speedway.
Whilst you are there, take a tour around the Wildlife Park, it is a
great day out with
plenty for adults and children alike. Glasgow and Sheffield fans could
even join the "Adopt an Animal" scheme and have their very own
Tiger with their name on the Tiger enclosure, the Oxford Conference
League team could adopt a Lion and Weymouth could adopt almost anything
they like as there are PLENTY of Widcats at Paradise Wildlife Park!.
Unfortunately, no-one has a team called "The Meerkats".
There are plans for Speedway Supporters Clubs to be able to pre-book
group tickets and by mid-summer there should be even more additions to
the area. At the moment, the museum is quite small, but very, very
interesting and it is hoped that not everyone will turn up at once but
it is somewhere you will return to again and again to soak up the
atmosphere.
 So, thanks to
all the fans and tracks who have donated to the cause, (shame on the
three tracks who didn't), thanks to Peter Sampson and his staff and
thanks to George & Linda Barclay, Terry Stone and all who made this
museum possible. There will always be ongoing running costs for the
Museum, so if any WSRA members can donate even £5.00 from time to time,
then that would be a big help. Just contact George or Linda on
020-8592-3361 and feel proud that you have helped to maintain our
Speedway heritage. Hopefully non-Speedway visitors to the Park will drop
in and get the Speedway bug and visit their local track.
Two and a half years from the original idea to the completion and,
thanks to Mick & Glen the builders, it was constructed within the
original estimate,...as Linda Barclay said, "I'll bet the new
Wembley and The Dome
wish they could say the same!"
Bert
Harkins
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