St Austell

Defunct Speedway Tracks

St Austell Speedway

Cornish Stadium, Par Moor, St Austell, Cornwall. Speedway took place on this 360 yard circuit between 1949-1964

1962 saw the Neath Welsh Dragons promotion under Trevor Redmond close and the majority of the side moved with Trevor to St Austell

St Austell Badges

Bill Kitchen's Team v
Bill Gilbert's Team 1949

The 1949 St Austell team nickname was the "Pixies" hence the little pixie at top left hand corner of the above programme

1958 Cornish Stadium Programme

Courtesy of Graham Gleave

1950's Team

1963 St Austell Gulls

St Austell Gulls 1963. 1962 saw the Neath Welsh Dragons promotion under Trevor Redmond close and the majority of the side moved with Trevor to St Austell. Speedway briefly returned to the area at Trelawney which is also currently defunct.

St Austell Badge

1950

If you have any St Austell badges 1949 to 1964 please scan them and email the scans to me John

St Austell v Belle Vue
Year Unkown

Rob McCaffery says: The match against Belle Vue on 29^th September was in 1953

Trevor Redmond Leading Oxford's
Alf Hagon

Gull Trevor Redmond leading Oxford Cheetah Alf Hagon You probably remember Alf was a well-known frame builder. He was also a top grass track rider winning 11 National Grass Track Championships.

Glyn Chandler

Glyn was a member of the Welsh side, Neath Dragons which transferred to St. Austell in 1963. Glyn's wife Sally has been in touch from their Channel Island home and has sent me a number of photo's all including Glyn during his days as a "Gull". The following photos are from Glyn/Sally:

Courtesy of Glyn Chandler

1963: St Austell: Freddy Powell and right Glyn Chandler

Glyn's wife Sally Chandler says: When Neath closed in 1962, Trevor Redmond transferred most of his team to St Austell. Whilst there, Glyn was paired with Trevor most of the time and at home meetings they proved hard to beat. A team mate who also transferred from Neath at the same time was George Major. The round trip from Glyn’s home in Cirencester, Gloucestershire to St Austell was about two hundred and forty miles so to save on expenses George and Glyn would travel to meetings together. An away meeting in Scotland could mean up to a seven hundred mile round trip (no motorways in those days) and if there was a home meeting the next day they would just drive straight pass Cirencester, sleep in the van and then on to St Austell for the next day’s meeting; Also to save on travel costs, Trevor once decided the whole team would travel to a Glasgow meeting by train and as he had not reserved seats, the return trip was spent sleeping in the corridor!!

The pits and the rider’s facilities were about as basic they had been at Neath, but all this was part and parcel of riding in the provincial league in those days. Unlike today's riders who have meetings in Poland or Sweden the following day, the riders in those days had time to meet the supporters after the meeting for a chat and a Cornish pasty (supplied by Trevor!) and Glyn has remained friends with some of those supporters to this day.

Glyn Chandler On Bike &
Chris Blewett 1963

Courtesy of Glyn Chandler

1963: St Austell: Glyn Chandler on bike and Chris Blewett with what looks like a broken arm

1963 St Austell Pits With Glyn Chandler In The Foreground

Courtesy of Glyn Chandler

St Austell v Stoke 1963

Courtesy of Glyn Chandler

1963: St Austell v Stoke L-R Ron Sharp, Gull Mike Keen (breaking the tapes), Ken Adams and on the inside Glyn Chandler

Clive Hitch
Glyn Chandler &
Trevor Redmond

Courtesy of Glyn Chandler

1963: L-R Clive Hitch (white sleeves), Gull Glyn Chandler and Trevor Redmond

Steve Harland says: Hi John, I've done some detective work and had a look at an unmarked programme from the meeting. The Redmond/Chandler pairing rode three times together that Tuesday evening in July. They rode in Heats 1, 7 and 11. It cannot be Heat 1 as Clive Hitch was riding with white sleeves as seen in another photo (the unnamed rider at the back is Alan Butterfield), he often rode with a football top over his leathers. I personally think the Middlesbrough riders are Alan Butterfield off gate 2 and Eric Boocock off gate 4 from Heat 7. The remaining heat the Bears were Eric Boothroyd and Dave Younghusband and it doesn't look like them though its hard to see.

St Austell v Middlesbrough1963

Courtesy of Glyn Chandler

1963: St Austell v Middlesbrough? Gate 3 Trevor Redmond and Gate 1 Glyn Chandler. The opposition is thought to be Middlesbrough and Glyn does not remember whom the Middlesbrough riders are?

The Gulls In A 5-1 Position Over
Colin Pratt

Courtesy of Glyn Chandler

1963: L-R Trevor Redmond, Colin Pratt and Glyn Chandler

St Austell v Edinburgh 1963

Courtesy of Glyn Chandler

1963: St Austell v Edinburgh. Gate 4 is Trevor Redmond and Glyn Chandler Gate 2. We do not know whom the Monarchs riders are

Andy Reid says: Hi John St Austell v Edinburgh 9th July 1963. The Edinburgh riders in the last photo on your St Austell page are Doug Templeton (W) and Jimmy Tannock (Y&B). The race finished Redmond, Templeton, Chandler, Tannock. Thanks to a bad run of injuries, the Monarchs were forced to field a seriously weakened team and were well and truly hammered 58-19. Still wish I had been there. Kind regards Andy

St Austell's crowd looks health enough by todays 2011 standards but I suspect it wasn't enough to keep the club going in the 1960's

St Austell v
Cradley Heath

Twelve point maximums to Glyn Chandler and Ray Cresp best for the Heathens was Ivor Brown

Are you able to scan your St Austell photos, programmes and badges? If you can please email me John

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