Rayleigh Weir Stadium
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Rayleigh Weir Stadium was a
speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...
, greyhound racing and stock car stadium in Weir between Rayleigh and
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 ...
in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. 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 Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...
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
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and
Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson ...
shelters. The director of public prosecutions then took McGreavey (the builder and owner of the stadium) to court in 1949 because it was claimed that the application to construct the two grandstands had been approved in principle but later refused. However, the grandstands had been erected in-between which led to the prosecution. McGreavey argued that all material used was from government departments and the local authority had supported the application so he would appeal against the £2,000 fine issued. The appeal saw the fine reduced to £1,000.


Speedway

Speedway began on 17 July 1948 with open meetings before the
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, ...
team were set up in 1949 and finished in 1973. The owners wanted to maximize the use of the venue and over the years it also hosted harness horse racing, open air wrestling,
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 speedwa ...
, midget cars and firework displays.


Greyhound racing


Opening

The stadium opened to greyhound racing in March 1948 and just five months later a new
totalisator 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 chari ...
was brought into the track. The track had a 450-yard circumference circuit with distances of 275, 510, 725 and 960 yards. The stadium suffered during 1949 due to entertainment tax; general manager Frank Whelan publicly slammed the authorities over the tax. Losses of £5,000 on the speedway and £6,600 on greyhound racing led to a closure for a considerable part of 1950. McGreavey with his business partner Fred Rundle filed for bankruptcy leaving the stadium without any direction. Two West Ham directors Mr & Mrs Atkinson reacted by taking up the lease afterwards.


1950s and 1960s

Racing settled into a Tuesday and Saturday night schedule in the 1950s and two buffet bars were available for the general public. During the 1960s the circuit was all-sand and the Saturday night meeting was replaced by Friday evenings with race distances of 290, 510, 740 and 960 yards. In 1965 the track became a
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 ...
(NGRC) licensed venue and in 1969 the track was listed as the only NGRC approved all-sand surface.
Totalisator 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 chari ...
turnover peaked in 1969 at £302,316. The promoter was a Thomas Stanley who also covered the roles of general and racing manager. The resident kennels were situated at the track on the south side of the stadium which backed onto woods. The trainers attached to the track included Janet Tite, F Rayner, L Byrnes, John Edwards and Alec Taylor.


Track records


Stock Car Racing

Stock car racing was first staged at the stadium in August promoted by the man who bought the sport to the UK, Digger Pugh, until 1958. After that Bernie Tunney and Spedeworth had brief tenures too. Spedeworth ran for just five consecutive Saturday nights in 1962 starting on 4 August before winding up their use of the stadium on 1 September. The track was originally scheduled to re-open for stock cars in spring 1967 but the closure of the ‘nearby’ (30 miles away) Custom House stadium at West Ham changed things. Rayleigh re-opened Saturday 6 August 1966 to fill the gap left by West Ham. Unfortunately the track had not had much attention owing to the rush to move fixtures and the racing surface cut up rather badly on the rain-soaked opening meeting. The 1968 F2 Stock Car World Championship took place at the stadium on Saturday, 31 August. Christchurch racer Tom Pitcher won the 25 lap race from the outside of the front row with pole man Ian Durham in second from Cornishman John Marquand who had started fourth. The event had true international status with French racing pioneer Guy Curval coming home in 14th place ahead of his countryman Marcel Truffeaux. South African Paul Roussow and Dutchmen Henk Straver and Peiter Norlander were also programmed as starters in the 29 car field. As was a tradition at major races at the time the trophies were presented by a celebrity – in this case the successful professional boxer (and later actor) Billy Walker who had been British Amateur Champion. In 1972, after a five-year absence, the promoter, Chick Woodroffe brought F1 Stock Cars back to Rayleigh. Three F1 meetings were staged with final wins going to Dave Chisholm (2) and Dick Sworder. Woodroffe also ran his own classes including Banger racing and Mini Rods.


Closure

The promoter and stadium owner Thomas Stanley became unwell before negotiating the sale of the stadium during 1972. Stanley admitted that the offer for the 12-acre site was too good to refuse. The last stock car and speedway meetings took place at the end of 1973.Grid Magazine issue 7, 1974 On 8 March 1974 the last greyhound race meeting took place with the stadium being demolished and making way for a large trade and industrial park and more recently a retail park. The only trace of the venue is the road name, Stadium Way.


References

{{Motorcycle speedway tracks Defunct sports venues in Essex Rayleigh, Essex Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct speedway venues in England 1948 establishments in England 1974 disestablishments in England