Fired by the excellent Pocket Sized History Of Defunct Speedway Tracks publication by Howard Jones. I made my way through Halifax picking up the A646 to Burnley. The road snakes its way through the quaintness of Sowerby Bridge- Mytholmoroyd- Hebden Bridge where the hillsides skirt the low lying fields-we were playing Football in a blizzard there back in early Spring! and onto Todmorden. The rather overcast skies giveway to shafts of sunlight on the hills and we are in Lancashire. Rather quiet for the day after Bank Holiday 29/05/2001,given the children are off from school. My own girls are with me and they are a little curious as to why Dad wants to visit this small Lancs town with the name of an historical Sea Admiral-NELSON.

Through Burnley we head out and can clearly see the M65 Motorway that sliced its way through a piece of Speedway History in the early 80's-Not that long ago actually if we put it in the context that Speedwayreturned to Odsal in 1986. We drive into Nelson reaching the town centre that seems fairly well kept. We are able to park the car on the precinct that is lined with various Banks, and shops-and we locate Carr Road leading down from the centre back to the M65. A sign advertises a Circus Event is in town at Carr Road on the site of Seedhill Stadium -once the home of those long forgotten Nelson Admirals.

Taking Carr Road back to the motorway the road dips down under a bridge where we caught site of the Circus tents and rides. Immediately opposite the site is a car park and this backs onto playingfields. Starring across the road at what was once a tidy-having seen the photos courtesy of PSHODST-Stadium its sad to see the site is derelict ( without the Circus ). Here 30 years ago on Summer Saturdays the Mike Parker promoted speedshow was the home track for the likes of Gary Peterson,Alan Knapkin,Dave Schofield,former Crewe Welshman Dai Evans, Jack Winstanley et al.

We walked amongst the Circus tents,wires and caravan homes and could see the Red brick perimeter wall that skirts two sides of the site. To the rear the wall looks over the Criket field and the new Athletics track is in the distance.

I was keen to seek out the wall that was the back of the old pits area,and still carry's to this day the name of NELSON and VISITORS together with Rider No's 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. Here behind the overgrown trees is a piece of Speedway History that as PSHODST rightly says few in the town of Nelson will know little about. I ask my daughter to take my photo next to the pit marked No 3-where three decades ago a young up and coming New Zealander Gary Peterson was just beginning to make the Speedway World take notice. Fate would take Gary away from this Lancs hamlet that afforded him his first regular rides in the UK and the rest is History as they say