With Speedway celebrating it's 80th year, and West Ham 80th Anniversary of the opening of both the sport and the stadium at the end of July, I though it would be nice to go back 40 years and see what the Hammers were doing in the 40th year of Speedway racing.

When the 1968 season opened, the team had returned to celebrate 40 years of Speedway in Great Britain.

The programme cover from the last east London match of the 1968 season which is refered to in the item `40 years of Speedway`. Althought not truly Newham, Hackney stadium is not in Hackney, it is in E.15, Stratford, and the captain of Lea Bridge for the night was West Ham and Scotland's captain, Ken McKinlay.

When you have reached the top, the only way is down, but the Hammers did not quite see it that way.

In 1966 we reached the quarter final of the KO cup, losing to Halifax, who ended up as the 1966 Triple Crown Champions, winning the British League, the K/O Cup and the Northern Cup. It is still quite rare for a team to win the triple, and even more rare for a triple crown to be won two seasons in a row by two different teams, must be something to do with the Red, White and Blue race jackets!

In the early 1960’s Speedway Racing had reached a point were the sport was in decline, which had came to a head at the end of the 1963 season when both New Cross in London and Southampton closed down. The search was on to find at least one new team to add to the National League or it would possible cease to exist.

A Tower block is classed as any building of 8 or more floors.

Although all 26 tower blocks in the Canning Town / Custom House were built in the 1960`s, they are of different designs.

Ronan, and the other six blocks between Butchers Road and Freemasons Road, were over 200ft tall and of a slab design (Larsen-Nielsen Industrialized system).

In Cooperages, Craftsmen called Coopers made Barrels.

They have their own Guild in the City of London.

The two major cooperages in West Ham were Halls of Custom House at Mortlake road, and Ryan’s at Temple Mills in Stratford.

West Ham FA Cup 1964. 

Although not a football fan, like all of West Ham I got fired up over the 1964 FA Cup Final, remembering the last time West Ham got there was the `White Horse` Final in 1923.

Speedway 65, Custom House, the Home of the Happy Hammers!

FOREST GATE FACES EXHIBITION - 1960s

The football team of 1961-62. The teacher on the left of the picture is Mr Jones but who are the boys?

Photo: Carol Johnson

FOREST GATE FACES EXHIBITION - 1960s

Odessa school netball team of 1960-61. Do you recognise the teacher or any of the girls?

Photo: Carol Johnson