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Hull Speedway
(Hedon)
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| Hedon Stadium, Hedon nr Hull, East
Yorkshire. The Hull "Angels" ran at this, 459 yards track in 1948
and in 1949 when the track was shortened to 443 yards but in
recent times it has been silenced for good. |
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| John Mather has sent me some info regarding another Hull track
Hedon. (Little was known in late 1940s Yorkshire of the American
biker gang The Hells Angels
otherwise the speedway name Hulls Angels may not have been coined).
John Mather's efforts are shown below: - |
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Promoted by Hull Speedways
Limited at the Hedon Stadium, Hull on Staithes Road. The location,
about 5 miles east of the Hull city center and about 1 mile west
of Hedon,
had
previously been a racecourse, horses not bikes, an airfield and a
wartime depot. Construction on the track started in 1947 and the
Angels joined division 3 of the National League for the 1948
season. |
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| The Angels first appeared
in a challenge match at Stoke,
Hanley on
25 March 1948, an under strength team going down heavily 64-16. In
the coming days the arrivals of Mick Mitchell, George Craig, Dick
Shepherd Al Allison and Bob Baker made Hull much more competitive. |
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| John Skinner says: The programme from Hulls Angels first
ever
match, away to Stoke Hanley. The Angels suffered a very heavy defeat at the hands of the
Potters |
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Hedon stadium was
officially opened by the Mayor and
Mayoress of Hedon on 27 March
1948 in front of around 6,000
fans. The above
picture is, I believe, a
record of the event. |
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| For Hull (Hedon's) Opening
home match Stoke (Hanley)
provided the opposition in a challenge match and were again the
victors, this time by 50-32. Hanley's Les Jenkins won the first
race at the stadium in a time of 91.6 seconds but Hull's Alf
Webster ended the night as the track record holder with 87.2. Alf
also top scored for the Angels with a couple of wins in his 7
points. |
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Hull Angels
1948
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Alf Webster, Derek Glover, Mick Mitchell (on bike), George Craig,
Al Allison, Dick Shepherd, Norman Johnson, Johnny White |
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Hull Reports
1948 & 1949 |
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Supporters Club
Members Card |
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| Supporters club membership card 2/- (for younger people
2/- is 10p er? I think, my memory is a bit hazy) |
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Hull Badges |
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| 1948 and on the right a Hull Hedon badge
1948 remake 2001 |
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Hull Badges, 1948 on the
left, 1949 on the right. The 1948 programme advertised the badges
for sale at 2/-, they will fetch a bit more than that these days.
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| Hedon Article |
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| Courtesy of Graham Gleave |
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Hull
Programme
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Hull v
Stoke (Hanley)
again.
26 June 1948. National League Division 3
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| My thanks go to John Mather for sending all the images
on this page without which I wouldn't have a Hull Hedon page in
the website's A-Z. |
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Hull v Tamworth
6th August 1949 |
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| Courtesy of Graham Gleave |
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| Courtesy of Graham Gleave |
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| Photos From
1949 Hedon Programmes |
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| Alf Webster |
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| Courtesy of John Mather |
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| Derek Glover |
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| Courtesy of John Mather |
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| George Craig |
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| Mick Mitchell |
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| Courtesy of John Mather |
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| Norman Johnson |
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| Courtesy of John Mather |
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| Hull Angels
1949 |
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The End
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Crowds started to decline in the 1949 season
(writes John Mather)
and an appeal was made in the local paper for fans to support the
team. The promoters attempted to move the operation closer to the
city and the former home of Hull City Football club (now
demolished but very near the current KC stadium) looked like a
possibility. However, an agreement could not be reached with the
owners and the decision was made to close. The last home meeting
was a 54-29 victory over Liverpool on August 27th and after less
than 2 seasons the Angels had vanished into the cinders. Mick
Mitchell won the last national league race at Hedon and he also
won the final second half race that night. Yarmouth's Billy Bales
track record, set on May 14th, was never bettered.
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The last match at Hedon
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There was one more match, a sound beating
for the Angels at Halifax on August
31st and the license was transferred to Swindon. Four of the team
headed south to join the Robins: Mick Mitchell, George Craig,
Derek Glover and Alf Webster. Bob Baker returned
to parent track New Cross,
Norman Johnson and Jack Watts appeared for Ashfield.
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Hull (Hedon) last ever meeting, away to Halifax
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The following was published in the Hull Daily Mail on Wednesday
August 31 1949. |
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Will Hull Speedway End This Week? |
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Unless Hull City Football Club directors have a change of heart,
Hull will have no speedway team. At a meeting last night the
directors finally turned down Hull Speedways application for the
use of City’s old football ground on Anlaby Road as a speedway
track. |
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As the present stadium at Hedon is running with a weekly loss of
more than £200 there is no alternative but for the speedway to
close its gate. |
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Capt. F. V. Archer and his co-directors are
still trying to get the use of the ground but unless the
Hull City board change their mind before the weekend, the league
match with Leicester at Hedon stadium will be the last of speedway
meeting in Hull. |
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| ******* |
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The following was published in the Hull Daily Mail on Wednesday
August 31 1949. |
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Will Hull Speedway End This Week?
Unless Hull City Football Club directors have a change of heart,
Hull will have no speedway team. At a meeting last night the
directors finally turned down Hull Speedways application for the
use of City’s old football ground on Anlaby Road as a speedway
track.
As the present stadium at Hedon is running with a weekly loss of
more than £200 there is no alternative but for the speedway to
close its gates.
Capt. F. V. Archer and his co-directors are
still trying to get the use of the ground but unless the
Hull City board change their mind before the weekend, the league
match with Leicester at Hedon stadium will be the last of speedway
meeting in Hull.
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| ******* |
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The Hull City Board did not change their mind, the match against
Leicester never did take place and
the Angels were no more. |
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One programme oddity, the good people of Rayleigh obviously didn't
want to see Hull go, as the programme for October 8th shows.
Swindon were just a bracketed after thought even though the Angels
had folded more than a month before!
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| Memories |
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| Darren
Hemsworth says: Good afternoon, just
browsing your site. I used to race schoolboy motocross in
the early 80's and used to to race at a venue at Saltend (Hedon),
which was in a bowl formation , adjacent to a chemical works. A
few years later I was advised it used to be a speedway track..?
Just wondering if you have any info on that .? |
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| John says: You must have somehow missed this page, Darren.
Hedon Stadium will be your Saltend track. here's a photo
showing a power station cooling chimney and what looks like a
chemical works |
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Courtesy of J Spoor |
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| Darren's Schoolboy Motorcross Photos |
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| Not Darren on the bike, but you can clearly see the chemical works in the
back of both of the above photos. |
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| Darren
Hemsworth |
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| This is Darren, he says: This is me in 1983 , and you can
see the chemical works in the background |
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| Alex Slingsby |
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Dear Mr Skinner, I am writing in regard of your Hull (Hedon)
Speedway webpage. I recently discovered an old photograph that was
taken at Hedon, East Yorkshire, of one of Jordan’s salesmen riding
a motorcycle. This was found within my late Grandfather’s
possessions, as during the late 1950s and early 1960s he operated
the Hedon Aerodrome, flying to and from the airfield on a number
of occasions in his ‘Tiger Moth’ aeroplane. It is likely the young
man in the photograph was a motorcycle enthusiast who got a job at
Jordan’s and spent their spare time at the Hedon Speedway in the
1950s. Similarly I have
also attached a couple more photographs, however sadly I do not
know anything about them other than they were taken at Hedon
during the 1950s. I would have no problem with you uploading these
onto your website. If you do this however, please credit me. Kind
Regards, Alex Slingsby
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| Alex's Photos |
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| John says: I cannot corroborate
that these bikers are anywhere near the old speedway circuit at
Hedon Stadium, Hedon nr Hull although Alex says they were |
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| Courtesy of Graham Gleave |
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| If you can scan any pictures, programmes or badges send
me an email John |
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| The contents of the site are © and should not be
reproduced elsewhere for financial gain. The contributors to this site
gave the pictures and information on that understanding. If anyone has
any issue or objections to any items on the site please
e-mail
and I will amend or remove the item. Where possible credit
has been given to the owner of each item. |
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