Longford (inc. The Red Hills)

Hold on, Not Local. The CycleSpeedway website indeed makes no reference to the Longford Dominoes, for all that they could name teams from Longford in 1950. However, the site offers no teams for the area after 1950 until the Lions came aboard in 1964. 1950 would have been a little early for me to be out and about till dark of an evening. In 1950 I was seven. The time of which I wrote would have been 1954 or 1955. Having stated `as memory serves` in my earlier posting, a phrase that gives me any amount of wiggle room, I perhaps might simply leave the question at that, but methinks the answer lies elsewhere. Perhaps what I saw, what others saw, on those Friday evenings, were the spirits of those earlier Longford Demons and Hounds, battling it out with the like of the Radford Wraiths, the Foleshill Phantoms, the Styvechale Spectres, or the Earlsdon Knights of the Living Dead. History is written by the victors, so perhaps in 1954 and 1955 Longford had perfect records, winning all the matches, so its down to me to record those times. I will close now because I am beginning to irritate myself. Imagine what I am doing to Morgana! P.S. The Earlsdon Knights of the Living Dead is a great construct. Must use it again.

Cycle Speedway was a very popular sport in Coventry from the 1940's right into the 1980's when it gradually declined down to just the one track at Hearsall Common which happily is still running. As Morgana says the track at the Red Hills is still in use today having seen 60 years of Longford youth having a bit of harmless and not too dangerous fun. Earlsdon Knights of the Living Dead is a wonderful name - did they race at the track in Spencer Park which in the 60's was the home of Earlsdon Hammers?

Likely stopped in the late 70s early 80s when the UK became greedy like the USA with insurance , shame our country has nt got their own brains they have to copy. Places who allowed the sports like bangor racing farmers etc were told they had to start having insurance, like our hospitals have become.

Hi Morgana - I agree with your comments about insurance etc. Another reason why cycle speedway (and banger racing) became less popular was the growing sophistication of all of the equipment needed. Even as far back as the 1960's you could not do well at cycle speedway unless you invested in the right tyres, the right rims, the right gears, the right handlebars - it just goes on. The result was that the kid with the bike made from scrounged bits and pieces became alienated from the sport which had grown strong on thousands of kids on thousands of homemade bikes. I think you now need more than just insurance to run a cycle speedway team. You will also need crash helmets and protective equipment, a properly fenced track, and somewhere for everyone to have a shower and get changed. Banger racing started with old MOT failure cars with the glass bashed in and the doors chained shut but that too has developed into a sophisticated sport with cars and equipment costing a lot of money.

Yes your so right, then they wonder why young ones do drugs, etc. Which the only ones who benefit are the insurance.

In a different world, in a better world, it might be down to us to tell the youngsters to take more chances, throw a risk their own way once in a while, but it isn't now for us to do so. I get mad reading about a mother being charged for neglecting her child, allowing that child to visit unaccompanied the local park's playground (which park may well be within 25 feet of the kid's own front door). I have to tell you, Morgana and Not local, that while I do not disagree in principle with what you say about our world of insurance concerns and our willingness to launch into litigation at the drop of a hat, do not neglect the over-protectiveness of contemporary parents.

Midland Red, thank you for the info on E Christie, first I knew about his illness. Chatter, not sure of the spelling, but think one off the boys played cricket for the County, would be around 1940 time, maybe you could verify that for me. Thanks Kaga.

Hi I have not long moved into Longford after renovating a house beside Longford park (AGE OF HOUSE 1897). believe it was part of the farm at one point. sadly original documents for the house have been lost. Someone mentioned that Longford was a place where ribbon was made, I wondered if its possible that my house was used for this, someone else told me that a lady who used to make hats used to live here. As a crafter has anyone any information on this or could they point me in the right direction.

Hi Benthall-Kid, I note with interest your tag name "Benthall-Kid" and the fact you went to Longford Park school. Did you actually live in Benthall Road Foleshill ? My interest is that although some sixteen years older than you, I too went to Longford Park/Windmill road school. I lived in the next street to Benthall road . Parkstone road and had friends who lived in Benthall Road, I left Coventry in 1972 but am still in contact with many old school mates but there is one we have all lost contact with who used to live in number 3 Benthall Road. His name is John Oakley, you probably don't know him but you may have heard of him. He has an older brother named Bill who lives in or near Coventry. The last we heard of John was he was living near Bournemouth. Any comment from you would be interesting Regards, John Wright

Greg hi, there were still a few houses in AG Road that had the old iron hand wash pump over the kitchen sink when I was a boy. Most houses had a garden with the 'loo' a coal shed, and a wash house, our wash house was as big as our living room, it also had a sink with a pump, a very large mangle with a wooden dolly that was bigger than me, in the corner there was a copper bubbling away, a copper stick that you rolled the clothes around to lift them out into the tub, there was a ladle, Sunlight soap, soap crystals and a blue dolly. We kids took it in turn to turn the handle of the mangle or feed the sheets through, and keep the fire under the copper going. Our house must have had history, there were six hooks in the ceiling about a foot apart in two rows of three, yet it had never been altered for it to have been a butchers. It was also one of a pair, I once asked my father why gran's back door was round the side and not like ours, he said that when his grandad built it he didn't want the women to spend to much time, talking over the garden wall.

Our house in Old Church Road was very similar to yours, wash house, the whole lot. Copper boiler in the corner, a huge, green cast iron mangle with wooden rollers thick as telegraph poles. Blocks of green soap for collars and cuffs, Reckitts blue bags and soap flakes in the copper. Hanging out the washing in the garden and when the line broke the language was as blue as the Reckitts bags.

Norman Q, Yes, and when you called on your mates, you would have to help them get them in of the clothes line fold them up put them in the basket, 'my' some of them old ladies knickers were bigger than my football shorts.

I like all boys had a cattie, not very good with it I suppose. My uncle Ashley was the village poacher at the village of Higham on the Hill in Leicestershire and he used a catapult as his only weapon. He used large ball bearings instead of pebbles as ammunition. I spent as much time with him as I was allowed and it was my ambition to be a poacher like him. I saw him bowl over rabbits at 20 yards. Night time with a full moon we would walk the hedgerows with the full moon shining through the bare branches looking for the guinea fowl. Pheasant were easy, peas with a hair from a horses tail threaded through them would be scattered and the pheasant wouldn't move once they had eaten the peas and had the hair protruding from the beak.

I am not aware of any ribbon manufacture in Longford. There was a large house in the area you describe that belonged to the Wootton family who were hat makers.

I read a while ago where Salem now stands that used to be a ribbon factory.