Thrills 'n' spills in the middle of Epping Forest

12:32pm Friday 25th July 2008

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Thousands of visitors a year travel to High Beech to enjoy a quiet drink at the Kings Oak pub or to take a relaxing walk in the woods. Their predecessors in the 1920s came for a very different reason. SAM ADAMS reports.

THE 1920s was roaring in every sense for this picturesque spot in the middle of Epping Forest, when the gentle sounds of nature were replaced by a deafening cacophony of motorbike engines and cheering crowds.

More than 3,000 spectators crammed into the Kings Oak Speedway, on Sunday, February 19, 1928, to witness the first ever dirt track race to be held in the UK.

The sport which originated in Australia was similar to speedway but more dangerous because of the slippery muddy track used – and the absence of any crash barriers to protect onlookers.

Organisers completely underestimated the popularity of the High Beech event with the huge crowd having to be crammed into the middle and along the sides of the track.

Spectators unable to squeeze into the make-shift arena climbed nearby trees to try and get a view of the races.

Two star Australian riders dominated the event, with one, Billy Galloway, demonstrating the sport’s inherent dangers when he smashed headfirst into the track after losing control of his motorbike.

The crash was caught on camera and made the front page of the next day’s Daily Mirror – which was featuring the launch of the new sport in Britain.

The historic High Beech meeting was the brainchild of Lionel Wills, secretary of the Ilford and District Motor Cycling Club, who had first identified the disused running track behind the Kings Oak pub as a potential venue for the sport.

The site was hastily extended and relaid for motorcycle racing, with several trees felled to make space for spectators.

Within weeks of the first dirt track race the arena had been converted for speedway and crowds of more than 20,000 regularly attended race days on the weekend.

Hundreds of young men applied to ride in the events – which promised big cash prizes and instant national fame for the winners.

Roger Frogley, a 19-year-old farmer’s son from Hoddeston, became Britain’s top speedway star after competing in his first ever race at High Beech, in Easter 1928.

The circuit remained popular into the 1930s when it was superceded by custom built speedway arenas such as Crystal Palace and Wembley.

This, together with the growth of televised sport and other forms of motor racing, sounded the death knell for speedway at High Beech.

With crowds dwindling the site was eventually abandoned and had fallen into disrepair by the late 1960s with trees and shrubs gradually reclaiming the track and the wooden grandstand.

In 1970 the circuit was flattened to make way for the Epping Forest Nature Conservation Centre – the first purpose built facility of its type in the UK.

Though High Beech’s racing days are long gone, remnants of its past live on in the series of small tea kiosks dotted around the area, which are still used as meeting places by groups of bikers on the weekends.