Wednesday 22nd April
Visit to Speedway Race in Oxford and interviews
We started the day with a wonderful interview with Mandy Archer, a lifelong speedway fan. Next, we piled into a people carrier and drove to Oxford to see a race and to conduct some interviews. We arrived early and began with three interviews. Steve Brine (fan and son of a professional rider), Chris Hunt (former rider), Bert Harkins (Former rider). These were great interviews to round off the interview part of the project. Next we watched as Oxford took on Plymouth. We went and chatted to riders in the pits then watched the races while two of our crew also filmed. Oxford won! Thanks very much to everyone at Oxford Speedway for hosting us and making us feel so welcome.

Tuesday 21st April
Interview Day
Interviews continued today with six more people coming along. These were Jim Hone (childhood speedy fan and stadium workers), Kin Thompson (lifelong speedway fan), Chris “mad dog” Pullen (Wimbledon speedway rider), Jon Stevens (Speedway fan, rider and now historian), Ray Dearman (lifelong fan), and Marc Jones (childhood speedway fan). Chris Pullen brought a couple of speedway bikes along as well as his van that takes him to senior races all over the country and to mainland Europe.

Monday 20th April
Interview Day
Today the volunteers broke into smaller teams and conducted six interviews in two spaces over the day. Interviewees were Seth Perkins (childhood fan and now referee), Ian Perkins (lifelong fan and former director of Wimbledon speedway), Graham Brody (family history of support going back to the very beginning and speedway referee), Richard Clark (childhood fan and journalist ion the Speedway Star) , Gary Sweet (Wimbledon rider) and Alan Hollamby (childhood fan). Thanks to everyone for coming along and sharing your stories, some going back to the very first Wimbledon Speedway race in 1928.

Friday 17th April
Training Day
In the morning we ran through the themes and questions again then did some practise interviews using the recorders and questions. In the afternoon the group recorded an interview with John Lynch, a speedway fan since the 1960s. This was to test out the questions and to get comfortable with recording ready for the interviews next week. John’s interview was wonderful!

Thursday 16th April
Training Day
Today we ran the training on using the audio recorders, looking at recording conditions and trouble shooting. Following this we look at oral interview techniques in depth, mindful listening, giving space to the interviewee, and what can go wrong. In the afternoon the team worked together to develop themes to explore through the interviews and then developed questions to ask.

Monday 13th April
Training Day: Wimbledon Speedway History Day
We kicked off the project today with introductions for our wonderful team of volunteers. Ex Wimbledon Speedway rider and historian Jon Stevens gave an informative talk about the history of speedway in general and at Wimbledon in particular. He also explained some of the rules of team riding. Next was a session on oral history, the practical and ethical issues surrounding it. In the afternoon we had a reminiscence session where two ex-Wimbledon riders and three fans with history going back to the 1960s came and chatted about their experiences at Wimbledon and answered questions from the volunteer team. It was a great first day!

Monday 23rd March
Research and Recruitment
We’ve been busy recruiting a team of volunteers from Merton and the surrounding area. We’ve also been researching people to interview and setting these up. We are looking for Wimbledon fans, riders and stadium workers covering the 1950s up to the present day.