"Bertola's Farewell"

"They say that all good things must come to an end and that is what happened to me at the weekend as my year of being President of the World Speedway Riders' Association came to an end and I handed over the Chain of Office to the new President, Terry Stone.

Over 300 Speedway folk gathered at the Leicester Marriott Hotel for the 52nd Annual Dinner Dance and someone suggested that most of them came just to ensure that I gave up the WSRA Chain of Office!

We certainly lived up to our "WORLD" SRA name, as we had guests from all over the Speedway world. Furthest travelled were our Kiwi friends from Down Under, Joe Hicks and his Edinburgh-born wife, Helen and with us for the first time also on a visit from New Zealand, were former Wimbledon Don, Geoff Mardon and wife Val who is Ronnie Moore's sister.

Geoff was one of the top riders in the '50s and finished third in the 1953 World Final at Wembley behind winner, Freddie Williams and Split Waterman. Geoff and Freddie were at the same table for the dinner and were in deep discussion about that World Final so many years ago.

Another Kiwi, and World Champion, Barry Briggs travelled over from his home in sunny California whilst fellow Kiwi & World Champion, Ivan Mauger could not attend due to having an operation on an injured ankle. Ivan was well represented by his Geordie mechanic from his Newcastle days, Gordon Stubbs and his German mechanic/manager, Wilfred Drygala who came over from his home in Bremen whilst Darrell & Sue Mason flew over from Teneriffe and, as always, donated a holiday in the sun as one of the prizes in the raffle.

Representing Norway, were Odd Fossingen and Edgar Stangland although Edgar only came the short distance from his home in Ireland and Jawa, now JRM boss, Evzan Erban drove across from Prague in the Czech Republic to see his old friends and enjoy the hospitality of "The Scottish Suite" with pre-dinner drinks.

The Scots had descended en force and fortunately our Scottish poet, Ian "Mose" Hutcheson was not called upon to give us one of his unique poems so the now traditional pre-dinner drinks party was enjoyed by all.

Originally started some years ago, it began life with just a few friends being invited to a room for a pre-dinner drink, but has now become so popular that the corridors are jammed full of guests enjoying the Scottish Speciality of "Rusty Nails", a mixture of Whisky & Drambui and guaranteed to blow your socks off. Who says the Scots are mean!

Our poor Secretary, Vic White has quite a job to prize guests away from the Rusty Nails and into the restaurant in time for the 7pm dinner.

Our Hon. Chaplain, the "Revvin' Reverend" Michael Whawell, whose interesting life story was featured in last week's Speedway Star, read out the long list of members who have sadly passed away since our last Dinner, then said Grace and the 52nd Annual Dinner got underway.

It was good to see that so many of our wheelchair boys managed to attend, although Joe Owen who attends the Dinner every year, had to call off through illness.

Laurence Hare, Neil Hewitt, Terry Jackson, Gary Stead, Steve Weatherley, Graham Miles and former rider/promoter Danny Dunton, were all in attendance as referee, Paul Ackroyd explained his plans for the big Benevolent Fund meeting at Sheffield on Sunday 29th March.

The meeting is being staged to raise funds for all injured riders and also riders such as Belle Vue's Alan Wilkinson who has been wheelchair-bound for 18 years and is unable to travel to any of our WSRA Dinners. World Champions, Barry Briggs & Fred Williams have pledged their support and Paul is hoping to have many more celebrity Speedway guests in attendance, so put that date in your diary.

It was also good to see Mark Loram and Swindon's new signing, Simon Stead, attending the dinner and enjoying the atmosphere & hospitality. Mark is looking forward to working with Rob Lyon in the new-look England set-up, whilst Simon is looking forward to his new venture at Swindon and reckons that the change of scene will do him good......."I have realized that I have to make that extra step this year, and riding alongside Leigh Adams, who will be the top man in this year's league, will help me to make that improvement", he said.

At the other end of the age scale, former Wembley Lion, Jimmy Gooch, now eighty four years "young", attended the event for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Looking super-fit for his age, "Goochie" gave me the secret of his eternal youth......

"We have a 40 foot sailing boat which we built over the years and I sail it single handed and I often have to climb the 60 foot mast in all weathers, so that keeps me fit" said Jimmy whilst his wife of over 60 years of marriage, Evelyn added,... "and he cycles every day, so that keeps him fit too".

I tried that once. The doctor said that I should cycle ten miles per day. I did, and by the end of the week I was 70 miles away.

And so, after a hearty breakfast on Sunday morning, we all went our separate ways and another weekend of good food, good company and "Rusty Nails" ended and the new President took over.

The WSRA Chain of Office changed hands and we went from "The Haggis Age" to "The Stone Age", so let's wish Terry, 'All The Best' for the new season.

Bert Harkins

EX-President of the WSRA!"

Terry's Photos

Our New President Mr Terry Stone with his wife.

Danny Dunton and Barry Briggs

Jim McMillan, Doug Templeton & Jimmy Tannock

Mr & Mrs Barry Briggs

Douglas Millar, Dougie & Margaret Templeton, Ronnie Anderson & Aggie Bousie