SUN STREET STADIUM

The first time I saw Sun Street Stadium would be in March 1952 when I had agreed to join "The Potters" on loan from West Ham while doing my National Service in the Royal Artillery at Rhyl (June 1951-June 1953). West Ham was a big track with a surface of silver sand from Cornwall and was some 440 yards to the lap. It was a very well cared for Stadium that held more than 80,000 people. Sun Street couldn't be more different. The track was much shorter and was more cigar shaped. The surface was brick dust from crushed bricks. The dressing rooms were in a corrugated shed inside the pit enclosure. At West Ham there were home and away dressing rooms situated under the main stand with a massive bath in each, plus showers. It came complete with an attendant to hand out the soap and towels. No such luxury at the Sun Street Stadium which had certainly seen much better days and was showing the lack of maintenance.

Having said that, what the facilities lacked for riders and public was made up for by the fans who were so loyal, supportive and encouraging. I found the fans so friendly. The Supporters Club was very active and ran social events which included dances at Stoke Town Hall, Cheadle near Alton Towers, Trentham Gardens and other venues. They also organised day trips to Alton Towers and Southport beach and pleasure gardens among other places. Of course there were always coaches to our away matches.

"The Potters" was a good team to race for, the fans appreciated our efforts and the riders had a great camaraderie, although there was much rivalry when it came to the second half of the meeting. It would be an individual event, usually four scratch races, and a final with more often than not a piece of silver ware for the winner.

The full time manager and promoter was an ex pre-war rider, Les Gregory a Londoner who lived at Trentham. He looked after the presentation, publicity, the team and everything to do with the running of a speedway track. His secretary was Rita Harbourne (she became Mrs Jones) - photo attached of her and me at a function for Stoke Speedway. The "Bosses where the buck stopped" were three gentlemen - and I mean real gentlemen. "Tiger" Stevenson himself a pre war rider of International repute and his two co - directors, Mr Miles and Mr Galloway - I never did learn their christain names as it was always "Mr". The three of them had a big tyre business in London named Kensington Tyre Services. It was "Tiger" who founded the training schools after the war which created the legends Ken Adams and Les Jenkins to name but two.

It was perhaps the best time for me and my racing career. I enjoyed travelling to Stoke and enjoyed the racing and the friendliness of the whole set up. I was able to score points at home and away which I guess also helped a lot. The team consisted in my time 1952-1953 mainly of myself, Ken adams, Les Jenkins, John Fitzpatrick, Ray Harris and Don Potter. Two good riders came from Bradford, Jackie Hughes and Ron Peace. I was sad to learn some years later that Ron had taken his own life as had George Smith and Benny King before him and since then Billy Sanders and Alan Cowland among so many more.

The middle of 1953 was fast approaching and I was due to be demobbed in June. It meant a return to my parent club West Ham unless a transfer could be arranged, there were discussions between the managements of Stoke and West Ham but an agreement could not be found. I returned to the payroll of the "Hammers" but not for long as they had a full compliment of riders so I was loaned to their sister track the Leicester "Hunters".

I was so very sad that a series of events during the 1953 season saw the closure of speedway racing at Sun Street.

It was in 1960 that the rebirth of speedway racing took place with the formation of the Provincial League by, in truth, ex riders and former promoters. The National League had continued to run with greatly reduced numbers throught the 1950s and a number of open licence tracks had also operated ie; Aldershot and Arlington.

Along with Mike Parker, I re-opened Sun Street in April 1960. The safety fence, track lighting and all the neccesary equipment, starting gate and disqualification lights etc: had long since gone. I made the track lighting arms from scrap boiler tube, with some welding and adapters fitted. It was not long before the 52 pieces were mounted on the existing lamp standards used for greyhound racing. A good friend who had an electrical business in Fenton did all the wiring and so it was all systems go for the Grand Opening on Good Friday. There was no professional football allowed in those days on Good Friday or Sunday ( Stoke had the City and Port Vale teams). Without any opposition we rang the bell with more than 10,000 people in the Stadium. I felt so very proud to have been able to bring speedway racing back to the Potteries and also to race as "rider coach" in that first season.

In those first few years there was so much fun and enjoyment involved in staging speedway racing at Sun Street. It was almost like one big family gathering on a Saturday evening. I have to admit that there was not much improvement in the dressing room accommodation or pit area !!!. The speedway office was adjacent to the pits in a corrugated iron sheet building. In there after the meeting we would have a few beers and sandwiches laid out for the riders and staff. There was a piano in the office and someone would always sit down and play and a great sing song would ensue. Time would fly past but we always knew when it was time for us to go as a neighbour in the street on the outside of the office would get a stick and rattle it along the ridges of the corrugated iron and shout "are you never going home". We would shout sorry and abandon our melodious voices until the following Saturday.

The Stadium had been built on a disused marl pit back in the early 1920s for the coming of Grehound Racing. The first Greyhound meeting took place in 1928 and the first speedway meeting in 1929.

I never actually found any drainage around the track for rainwater. My answer to a flood was to take a six foot long spike from the workshop and plunge it into the lowest part of the flood water so breaking the crust of the track surface. Within minutes there would be a hole almost big enough to drop in a wheelbarrow. Problem solved. The base of the track was house bricks and the racing surface brick dust. It seemed to work OK.

Once again it was a sad day when the Greyhound Directors decided they could no longer carry on with greyhound racing and the running of the Stadium. The site was sold for development after the speedway season had finished in 1963 and a wonderful part of Speedway history had gone forever.

Rita Harbourne Stoke Speedway Secretary Reg Fearman

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