IVOR ATKINSON, one of the members of the very first Swindon team that took to the track in 1949, is to be inducted into the Legends' Lounge prior to the home match versus Wolverhampton on Thursday 4 September.
Born on 13 March 1926 in Bewdley, Worcestershire, Ivor should have made it big in speedway. He always showed great ability, but in the event he never made a league appearance for Swindon.
He is deserving of a place in the Legends' Lounge, however, as he is the last link of the Robins team, which took to the deep cinder track against Oxford at Blunsdon on that fine evening of 23 July 1949.
Proudly wearing his red and white race-jacket, complete with brown robin, Ivor was a member of Swindon’s first-ever side, of which five have sadly passed on. Another has proved impossible to trace, while the other refuses to divulge anything about himself and wishes to remain anonymous.
Happily, Ivor is still here with us and although he doesn’t enjoy the best of health, whenever there is a reunion of past riders, you may be sure he will make every effort to attend.
Going back to 1949, he was one of many keen youngsters who applied to promoter Reg Witcomb for trials, and there can be no doubt he was a most promising rider.
Ivor was completely fearless and really impressed the Swindon boss, so much so that in his notes for the opening programme he wrote: "A young lad you should make a special note of watching is Ivor Atkinson. I predict a brilliant future in speedway for him."
Ivor wore the No. 6 bib in the big opening meeting and was partnered by local boy Bob Jones. The pair were first out in heat three against the Oxford duo of Jim Wright and Alf Elliott, which was a tad ironic as Wright had been one of Ivor’s tutors when he first began riding at Cradley Heath. Ivor made a reasonable gate, but the two Cheetahs swept past to record a 5-1 and give their side a lead they were not to relinquish.
The next outing for the Jones/Atkinson partnership occurred in heat six and Ivor rode a brilliant race to split the opposing pair of Bert Croucher and Alf Viccary. Heat nine was the next one featuring Ivor, but he could do no more than finish third behind the strong Oxford combination of Dennis Gray and Ernie Rawlins.
His final programmed ride took place in the last heat of the match, but it was one to forget for the man from Bewdley. He made a brilliant effort and was racing at full-throttle until hitting the safety fence with a wallop. Thankfully, he wasn’t seriously hurt and walked away from the incident under his own steam.
Again promoter Witcomb was pleased with his efforts and stated in his programme notes that, "Ivor had the heart of a lion and was making a terrific effort when he hit the fence."
That comment was made in the match-day magazine for a challenge match versus Poole on 30 July, when Ivor was named at No. 4 to partner Robins skipper Reg Lambourne.
Having lost 45-39 to Oxford the week before, Swindon were looking for an improved performance, but they were handed a right pasting and went down by 58 points to 25. Ivor rode as well as any of the unfortunate Robins, scoring a paid 3 points and also suffering an engine failure.
The third meeting at Blunsdon was a Best Pairs contest, which paired Ivor with rookie Mick Collett. The duo appeared in the first heat, which saw Ivor claim a good second place behind Des Tamblyn, but they were to be his only points of the meeting as he later took a hefty fall and fractured a thumb.
Despite the pain, he rode on and only missed his fourth ride, even appearing in the second-half, too! He was forced to sit out the next couple of meetings though, prior to returning for some second-half outings on 27 August.
The week leading up to the meeting had seen the track surface altered from cinders to red shale and Ivor simply didn’t look the same rider on the re-laid circuit.
When Swindon were asked to take over the fixtures of Hull and signed four riders from the defunct East Yorkshire club, it meant they had more than the maximum permitted twelve riders under contract and Ivor was one of those subsequently released.
After that, he seemed to fade away from the sport and it was a great pity as he had shown so much promise. He is remembered as one of the eight riders who started everything at the Abbey and all Robins supporters, old or young, remain grateful for that.
It is worth recalling what happened at the 50th Anniversary meeting in 1999, when Ivor was telling folk about how much he owed Jim Wright for his start in the sport. "I’ve no doubt poor old Jim has long since passed on", said Ivor sadly, but just imagine the look of amazement and joy when master and pupil were actually reunited later in the evening!
