Coventry Bees Speedway - Brandon Stadium

Just a thought, what about the ground around by 'Erikson', it's right next to motorway and no residents, maybe councils will block anyway because it's something the normal people want so they wont be interested!!!

I never really took an interest in speedway, my loss I suppose. I recall going to the Brandon Stadium to see Cavalcade of Speed when a motorcyclist was badly injured. Also went there to see the Harlem Globetrotters play the Texas Cowboys. Good theatre, I suppose, the outcome was very predicable. Norman

I've just joined as your site came up in a search. I spotted the name of my dad in some of the posts. He was Allen Walker and he was the announcer and DJ at Brandon stadium from the late 1940s to the 1960s. He died tragically young (aged 48) in 1969. He took my sister and I to Brandon a lot and we sat in the 'box' and listened to him play record requests until the magic moment when the lights went down and the racing started. His theme tune was Juke Box Saturday Night and as far as music was concerned he loved his big bands. I was named after Glenn Miller. I have a suspicion that he made up some of the requests, just so he could play his favourites. On Saturdays some times I'd go with him to Fennells in the Precinct to collect the pile of discs for that night, and then off to Brandon on the back of his Lambretta complete with personalised number plate ARW1! I still miss him and Coventry, so if anyone has any memories of him, do get in touch.

I have vague memories of speedway perhaps pre war. My father raced motorcycles but not speedway but he still liked to go to Brandon whenever he could. That ramble over now to the point, I am 90% certain that at the start of each evenings racing the tune When the Saints Come Marching In was played.

I remember those days very well. Allen Walker was part of that speedway experience and I would be interested to see a photo of him if Glen could post one here. There are some songs that still bring back memories of those nights at Brandon with Allen's music choices. In particular I associate "May Each Day", "Jailhouse Rock" and "Juke Box Saturday Night" with speedway at Brandon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsJ_bzYyrHw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj0Rz-uP4Mk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK72A_eV8Lg

I think I'm right in saying that Messrs Mountford and France "breathed on" Walker the Talker's Lambretta!

Great to hear from you Glen! I believe that your sister and mine (Janet Walker - no relation to you, I think!) went to primary school together (Ravensdale) and visited your house from time to time. We were all devastated when your dad died. As for Brandon, I remember that the evening started with Juke Box Saturday Night, with Allen cutting in at the "somebody else plays the record machine" line. The meeting proper started with the Entry of the Gladiators, when the track staff marched out. They marched out after the interval to the Royal Air Force March, if I remember right. And on the pre-season practice day, he would bring along a recording of George Shearing playing Passing Breeze, and it was played over and over again until he was happy with the loudspeaker system. Happy days!

Jogged my memory. Entry of the Gladiators

From Coventry v Swindon programme, Saturday 17 May 1969 "Allen Walker, to whom this week, in the company of very many saddened friends and relatives, we paid our Last Respects, was infinitely much more to us than 'Our Man at the Mike'. "Allen was so much more than a Voice. He was a colleague, real, friendly, universally likeable. Challengingly proud of Coventry Speedway and its associations, its record of successful presentation of racing as a spectator he first saw "Bees" in action in 1948, he endeavoured always to advance Coventry prestige; was a devout worker on the social side of our happy Family Sport. "All that is Brandon; his "Juke Box Saturday Night"; his cheerful postal links with its citizens through their record requests; his overall PA duties, this was Allen's first occupational love. His second was messing around with Boats. "If he had possessed a luxury yacht; were a millionaire, Walker the Talker couldn't have been happier on is once a year absences from Brandon than when on his trips to the Norfolk Broads with his small boat. "We shall all miss Allen terribly, and so will speedway generally, for he set and maintained a superb standard of unbiased sporting announcing achieved by few. "Many meetings he closed at Brandon with the final words "Good Night - and a Safe Journey Home". It's so very sad for us now to be saying instead "Goodbye Allen - and a Safe Journey to Rest"."

Just found possibly the best "Flight of the Bumblebee" since Harry James' version that we all loved so much! This guy is no Harry James, but he's definitely got something! See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGgUK2s-sqA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGgUK2s-sqA Do they still play Harry James at Brandon? They've all but buried the Bee under adverts!

No John they don't - I THINK it is this version

Carrying on this nostalgia for those Brandon nights, here is Harry James with his version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxS7llr8x_4 The music that the track staff marched out to has been bugging me. I knew it wasn't "When the saints...." and I didn't think it was "Entry of the Gladiators" either, which is the music usually associated with the circus. I've concluded it was this march, called "Imperial Echoes". Does anyone else recall this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nefzhgakAQM

Having just listened to 'Imperial Echoes' on Youtube it brought back all those memories of the track staff marching out at the start of the meeting. In the 1960's they all marched in step because most of them would have done National Service. It also brings back the memory of their matching yellow and black uniform complete with a beret - something else most would have worn in the army. There was also the little chap driving the bright yellow track grading tractor, and the old Ford pick-up truck which used to take the victorious team, usually the Bees, on their lap of honour at the end of the match. Does anyone remember Charles Ochiltree threatening to ban the Dave Clark Five record 'Glad All Over' because the fans were stamping their feet in time to the record and the old wooden grandstand used to bounce up and down. That would have been 1964 which was the first year I went to Brandon. The new grandstand (the current one) was first opened in time for the start of the British League in 1965 I think.

Hi, Not Local. I remember the track staff marching too, all in yellow and black except the bike pushers who had the colour of the bike they were responsible for pushing. They used to bring the bikes to the pits gate at the start of each race so that the riders would walk out to applause or derision depending on team. I recall that there used to be one track grader who was always out of time and step at the back of the parade causing much laughter as he tried to sort his feet out. Going to an away track and seeing none of this presentation really showed what a slick operation Brandon had. I'm sure the modern grandstand was opened later than you suggest. I started going in 1967 and the old one was certainly there then. We used to station ourselves in an area next to the pits lane so that we could chat to the riders and get their goggles afterwards. Most were more than happy to talk to us kids, including many away riders. All that went when the ancient wooden structure was pulled down. My memory is that the new stand would have been opened about 1969. Was it built by Banbury Buildings, Derrick Robins' company that built all the Highfield Road stands?

There's a photo of the track staff on the Coventry Speedway thread, provided by, and including, our good friend Johnnie Walker