Rayleigh Weir Stadium
Rayleigh Weir Stadium was a speedway, greyhound racing and stock car stadium in Weir between Rayleigh and Thundersley in England. It is not to be confused with the Rayleigh Greyhound Sports Stadium that existed in O’Tooles Meadow on Down Hall Road. Origins In 1947 the area chosen for a new stadium was a small village called Weir between the small market town of Rayleigh and the district of Thundersley which was largely rural. It would be situated just six miles from Southend on the south side of the Southend Arterial Road, this particular stretch of road is of historical importance to the motoring world as it was the first road to be built in Britain specifically for motor vehicles which opened on 25 March 1925. The new stadium could be accessed via Claydons Lane or Rat Lane. The 1947 application by Francis McGreavey to the Benfleet Union was originally refused but later granted on appeal. McGreavey had made his fortune from building Morrison and Anderson shelters. The dir ...
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Rayleigh, Essex
Rayleigh is a market town and civil parish in Essex, England; it is located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea, east of central London. It had a population of 32,150 at the census in 2011. Toponymy The name ''Rayleigh'' is Old English in origin deriving from ''rǣge'' ('female roe-deer or she-goat') and ''lēah'' ('clearing'). Therefore, the name means overall 'wood or clearing of the wild she-goats or roe-deer". History Prehistoric and Roman times There has been a scattering of stray finds around the town from Prehistoric and Roman times, including some Roman roof and hypocaust tiles found within the fabric of Rayleigh Church. This suggests that there was a Roman habitation site within the area. However, there is little evidence of any density of population here during this period. Saxon era One significant archaeological find was in the early 2000s at the western edge of Rayleigh, at the site of the former Park School in Rawreth Lane. An early Saxon cemetery site was d ...
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Tote Board
A tote board (or totalisator/totalizator) is a numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track (to display the odds or payoffs for each horse) or at a telethon (to display the total amount donated to the charitable organization sponsoring the event). The term "tote board" comes from the colloquialism for "totalizator" (or "totalisator"), the name for the automated system which runs parimutuel betting, calculating payoff odds, displaying them, and producing tickets based on incoming bets. Parimutuel systems had used totalisator boards since the 1860s and they were often housed in substantial buildings. However the manual systems often resulted in substantial delays in calculations of clients' payouts. The first all-mechanical totalisator was invented by George Julius. Julius was a consulting engineer, based in Sydney. His father, Churchill Julius, an Anglican Bishop, had campaigned, in the early years of the twentieth century, against the ini ...
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Defunct Speedway Venues In England
Defunct (no longer in use or active) may refer to: * ''Defunct'' (video game), 2014 * Zombie process or defunct process, in Unix-like operating systems See also * * :Former entities * End-of-life product * Obsolescence Obsolescence is the state of being which occurs when an object, service, or practice is no longer maintained or required even though it may still be in good working order. It usually happens when something that is more efficient or less risky r ...

Defunct Greyhound Racing Venues In The United Kingdom
Defunct (no longer in use or active) may refer to: * ''Defunct'' (video game), 2014 * Zombie process or defunct process, in Unix-like operating systems See also * * :Former entities * End-of-life product * Obsolescence Obsolescence is the state of being which occurs when an object, service, or practice is no longer maintained or required even though it may still be in good working order. It usually happens when something that is more efficient or less risky r ...

Defunct Sports Venues In Essex
Defunct (no longer in use or active) may refer to: * ''Defunct'' (video game), 2014 * Zombie process or defunct process, in Unix-like operating systems See also * * :Former entities * End-of-life product * Obsolescence Obsolescence is the state of being which occurs when an object, service, or practice is no longer maintained or required even though it may still be in good working order. It usually happens when something that is more efficient or less risky r ...

Billy Walker (boxer)
William Walker (born Stepney, London, 3 March 1939) is a British retired heavyweight boxer and actor. He turned professional in 1961 after 39 amateur bouts. His nickname was "Golden Boy". His professional record was 21 wins (16 by knockout), 8 losses and 2 draws. During 1967, he fought for both the British and European titles, losing to Henry Cooper (Great Britain) and Karl Mildenberger (West Germany) respectively. After he retired from the ring in 1969 he appeared in several British films and TV shows. His autobiography ''When the Gloves Came Off'' was published in 2007. Early life and family William Walker is the son of William James Walker, a brewery worker, drayman at Watney's brewery, and wife (Limehouse, April/June 1925) Ellen Louisa Page (Southwark, October/December 1903 – ?). He is the youngest of three brothers. During World War II, his father served in the Royal Air Force and the boys lived with their mother in Bedfordshire, and later in Ilford, Essex. He left sch ...
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Formula Two
Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name returned in 2017 when the former GP2 Series became known as the FIA Formula 2 Championship. History While Formula One has generally been regarded as the pinnacle of open-wheeled auto racing, the high-performance nature of the cars and the expense involved in the series has always meant a need for a path to reach this peak. For much of the history of Formula One, Formula Two has represented the penultimate step on the motorsport ladder. Pre-war Prior to the Second World War, there usually existed a division of racing for cars smaller and less powerful than Grand Prix racers. This category was usually called voiturette ("small car") racing and provided a means for amateur or less experienced drivers and smaller marques to prove themselves. ...
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Stock Car Racing
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It originated in the southern United States; the world's largest governing body is the American NASCAR. Its NASCAR Cup Series is the premier top-level series of professional stock car racing. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil and the United Kingdom also have forms of stock car racing. Top-level races typically range between in length. Top-level stock cars exceed at speedway tracks and on superspeedway tracks such as Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. Contemporary NASCAR-spec top-level cars produce maximum power outputs of 860–900 hp from their naturally aspirated V8 engines. In October 2007 American race car driver Russ Wicks set a speed record for stock cars in a 2007-season Dodge Charger built ...
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National Greyhound Racing Club
The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom. History The National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) was formed in 1928 and this body would be responsible for regulation, licensing and the rules of racing that came into force on 23 April 1928. It consisted of twelve stewards, one of them senior and most of them with military or police backgrounds. Any greyhound track licensed under NGRC rules would have to adhere to all rules set by them. The National Greyhound Racing Society was a branch of the NGRC responsible for the promotion of the industry. By 1946 the Club employed a 300 strong security service to ensure fair play on its associated tracks. In 1972 the National Greyhound Racing Club and National Greyhound Racing Society amalgamated to form one controlling body called the National Greyhound Racing Club Ltd. In 1987 its secretary Fred Underhill received an O.B.E in recognition of his service from 1962–1988. Disba ...
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Cycle Speedway
Cycle speedway is a form of bicycle racing on short oval dirt tracks, usually outdoors, occasionally indoors, typically 70–90 metres long. Like motorcycle speedway, riders use machines without brakes or multiple gears but, unlike motor speedway, the object is not to slide bikes round the turns. Origins The origins of cycle speedway are obscure. It existed by the 1920s but appears to have taken off in the wreckage of post-war cities in Britain. With tracks cleared through the rubble, on bikes not otherwise roadworthy, and under the influence of motorcycle speedway, cycle speedway grew haphazardly as a way for young people to enjoy themselves in cities. London, with most bomb sites, led in organising races, in 1945. There were more than 200 clubs in East London by 1950, with more than 20 in Walthamstow alone. The sport spread across the country. The Birmingham league had 22 teams in its first season. Coventry, Leicester, Wolverhampton and Cradley Heath followed. Intercity ...
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Thundersley
Thundersley is a town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Benfleet, in the Castle Point borough, in southeast Essex, England. It sits on a clay ridge shared with Basildon and Hadleigh, east of Charing Cross, London. In 1951 the parish had a population of 6482. Its main parish takes in Daws Heath to the east which is also part of the current ''Cedar Hall'' local government electoral ward. The two areas have Anglican churches. A third Anglican church is in the secular ward of ''St John's'', which is commonly conflated on maps with South Benfleet which it adjoins and it is separated from Thundersley by a narrow green buffer. Between the two wards is the main ward of ''St Peter's'', which loosely resembles the very longstanding church parish. One ward is partially in Thundersley, ''Boyce'' which includes Thundersley Green and various short streets next to the town itself. Toponymy Thundersley derives from the Old English ''Þunres lēah'' = "grove or meadow e ...
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Rayleigh Rockets
The Rayleigh Rockets were a Speedway team which operated from 1949 until their closure in 1973 from the Rayleigh Weir Stadium in Rayleigh, Essex . History The Rockets inaugural league season was in 1949 Speedway National League Division Three, where they finished in 12th place. After two more seasons in Division Three they joined the Southern League (which was a new name for the third division). The became champions of the league in 1952 and 1953. The Rockets closed in 1958 but re-opened again in 1960 and entered the Provincial League. The Provincial league was the second division of speedway at the time and Rayleigh won their third piece of silverware after winning the 1960 Provincial Speedway League. In 1964, they entered a regional Metropolitan League but this was the last league racing seen until 1968, when Len Silver took over as promoter. The Rockets rode at the stadium until 1973 when it was announced that the stadium had been sold to developers and the Rockets would ...
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