With the imminent onset of the new season, tracks up and down the length of the country will be inviting volunteers to come in and help make those vital last minute alterations and adjustments necessary for a successful start to the speedway year.
This year, of all years, these Saturday morning sessions at Swindon have been more important - we have lost so much time to bad weather that the list of tasks that needed addressing over the closed season is still heavily weighed in the "must do" column rather than the "completed satisfactorily" one.
The first Saturday "Working Party" at Blunsdon was on Saturday 20th February and the main item on the agenda was getting the old air fence out and putting the long run of air panels on turns 1 and 2 in place.
The panels had been taken in at the end of the season in November and stored in the pits. Although they had been pressure washed, sand blown in over the winter has covered them and the material is hard and brittle.
Thankfully we have a dumper truck on loan from our sponsor Andy Nurden and we use that to carry the 22 or so bags out together with the 3 pumps necessary to keep them inlflated and all of the grey plastic pipes that carry the air from one bag to the next.
The track is still very sticky but it is pleasing to report that our masive winter project of digging a trench around the outside of the track and dropping kickboards down into the shale has worked. Despite the ravages of the winter, there is no noticeable sand run off on the speedway track. In previous years we would have been removing dumper loads - this year there is hardly a shovel full.
But the shale is still very wet and it is hard to see the planned pre season practice sessions going ahead in early March unless there is a prolonged period of dry weather.
The panels are heavy and inflexible and it is vital at this stage that we get them connected up properly - it is unlikely that some of them will be moved until the end of the season.
We start in the middle of the bend, where a hole has been cut in the wire safety fence to allow the pipes from the air pump to pass through. The first two panels are layed down on the shale and two flexible hoses from a "flute" that attaches to the air pump are connected. A length of grey plastic pipe connects the other two holes on the air bags.
These two bags are then strapped together as tightly as possible and then clipped to the wire at the base of the safety fence. These clips will prevent the fence from riding up if a rider plunges in low into the panels.
And so we add bags at each end of the air fence until we have about 12 strapped up. Then we start the air pump and check to make sure that we have no major leakages in the panels. The air fence at Swindon works on an "air loss" principle - that means that it is designed so that air will leak out, replaced by new air from the pumps. What we have to ensure is that the air loss is significantly less than the maximum air pressure that the pumps can provide.
Fortunately the panels look OK and, as the final pieces are added and the three pumps fired up, the air fence stands up really well - far better than I could have hoped.
It is a testament to the team that have assembled that it all goes together so well. Everyone has given up a Saturday morning and have really "mucked in" together. In actual fact we manage to assemble and test all of bends 1 and 2 and still have time to lay out the panels on turn 3.
During the course of the season I will be featuring some of the Swindon track staff, replicated throughout the country by other teams of support staff. Fully aware that I didn't get all of them on film, let me introduce you to some of our Swindon team for 2010.
Dave Whiting is half of the original "DaVinci boys", so named because they always seemed to be painting, beit white lines or the pit walls. Dave works down on turns 1 and 2 during meetings and has such enthusiasm for the sport. Dave has the wonderful kack of always seeing the positive side of things - nothing seems to get him down.
Keith Johnson leads up the team that works turns 1 and 2. He is probably one of the most experienced track staff members at Swindon and provides an invaluable link between the pits and the track staff at the far end of the stadium. Like Dave, Keith is an optimist, which helps out when the going gets tough.
Shirley Jessen is a great Swindon fan who has helped keep us in tea and coffee throughout the year at Swindon while also making sure that the pits and the changing rooms are kept spotlessly clean.
Rex Woodruffe is in charge of the teak that manages the pit gate. Rex has taken to joining us for the day on Thursdays and is a long time fan of the sport and the Swindon team.
Bob Cook joined us at the start of last year. A lorry driver by trade, Bob is full of ideas about how we can improve our work. Endless enthusiasm and a real hard worker, he has been a real asset to the Blunsdon crew.
Steve Bradford has worked down on turns 1 and 2 for quite some time now. Being the youngest member of the turn 1/2 team, he is often called upon to run around, checking that the pumps have adequate fuel supplies.
Paul Gibbs is an artist, musician, engineer, mechanic - the list goes on and on. With our old friend Bob Crowther hanging up his overalls after just 47 years service to the Robins, I am so pleased that we have been able to inveigle Paul in to looking after the pumps and the jet washers.
John Nobbs is one of our tractor drivers. It is he who belts round during meetings with the small blade on the back of the tractor. Another fanatical speedway fan, John can always be relied upon to lighten the mood with his sense of fun and good humour.
Big Neil Luce is a giant of a man. He is another member of the turn 1 gang. As I struggle to pick up and carry just one of air pumps Neil makes it look so easy. Another of the team with a great sense of humour, he often takes on the work of two with such ease.
Derek Franklin is one of the security team at the speedway. It is he who checks passes at the pit gate and helps organise the parking of vans during meetings. Derek also helps out at Somerset and has worked closely with a number of riders including Steve Johnston.
Dave, below left, is my son. A Swindon fan since he attended his first ever meeting, at the age of just 6 weeks, he helps me out whenever he can get to the track, school work etc allowing. A member of "Team Holta GB", he has given up many weekend and holiday days to assist at the track. This year we hope he will actually get to meet the "great man" at the Millennium Stadium.
Below right is Ron. Chef de Cuisine at "Number 96 - The Bistro", Ron keeps us in fits with his steady and unrelenting stream of jokes. He clearly enjoys his cooking and we all benefit from food ranging from simple bacon rolls right through to Morrocan delicacies!
Young David Nobbs has been coming up with his dad, John, for the three Saturday working parties that we've held this year. His kind of enthusiasm gives us all hope for the long term sustainable future of the sport.
And then there's Big Aal - Alan Tarrant. The other half of the "DaVinci boys", Al is a star in every way. Those who have followed the blog over the years will know that Alan has been very ill, diagnosed with MS a couple of years ago. However bad he feels, and there are times when we all wince at his efforts to assist, he always puts on a smile and has a joke. We all owe Alan so much - his infectious sense of humour and sheer bravery are an example to us all.
Below left is young Jamie Wiltshire. Jamie works the pit gate from track side during the season. It's a job that requires you to have eyes in the back of your head but Jamie carries it off without any fuss at all. He is always one of the last to leave at the end of a meeting, often staying to help out beyond 11 o'clock at night.
Below right is Richie Leniac, who assists the legendary Steve Gobey as track electrician. I hope Richie enjoys himslef as part of the support team at Swindon - he certainly spends enough time up at the Abbey Stadium.
Further down is Stephen Nobbs, another relatively new recruit to the team at the Abbey. Steve works alongside Jamie but is positioned on the pits side of the pits gate. It's good to know that there is such an efficient team, under thre leadership of Rex Woodruffe, to manage the gate - it leaves me free to concentrate on other matters.
Of course, there are others, but somehow they managed to avoid having the indignity of having their photographs taken. Ernie Poole, a rabid Manchester United fan (but we'll forgive him for that) is always present for the Saturday morning sessions. Ernie is another of our most experienced track staff. Others, who will be featured in future blogs, and who gave up one or more Saturday mornings to come along and help, included: Roy Hicks, Arron Marlow, Robert Nobbs, Mike Hunt, Stan Potter, Derek Hayward, Edwin Hutchison and Trevor Pegler.
We ended our first Saturday session by sweeping out the pits and generally tidying up. A brilliant three hour session had put us back on track for the start of the 2010 season.
With the help of a roller we made good the surface of the car park while a small team worked with Paul Gibbs to give the air pumps a pre season service.
There's always time for humour with Neil Luce around, and despite some unpleasant rain on the middle Saturday, I think everyone had an enjoyable time while working hard. In fact, so much fun was had that at the end of the session they were clamouring for a third Saturday the following week.
Not everything was perfect though. As we were attaching the air fence to the wire that we had run around the kick boards we found that one section had mysteriously been cut. We are talking about a steel cable here and the crimping at each end showed that it had been deliberately been cut. How and why is beyond me. A quick repair and soon turns 3 and 4 were looking good.
The final pieces at the end of each stretch of air fence are the "cheeses", shaped like a cheese. The four that we have at Swindon have been in continual use since the air fence arrived 6 years ago and are not in the best of condition - the velcro that is used to attach the rubber kickboards is shot to pieces - but there's always a real sense of achievement when the final "cheese" is put in place and the air fence inflates properly.
Out on the terraces above turn 3 work continues on the significantly improved tractor park while we make a serious attempt on the world record for the most number of people examining an internal combustion engine without significant progress. The Ford pickup is eventually coaxed into life.
But the track is still very wet indeed. The recent frosts and thaws have meant that the surface is now "gooey" and it will take at least four or 5 days of frost free, sunny weather to bring the track into a condition where the big blade can be used.
And so to the final Saturday session, the one "by popular demand".
The final set of kickboards are prepared by Big Al (Alan Tarrant) while a group led by Neil Luce and Punch attempt to remove an old piece of iron work concreted into the ground near to the pit gate.
Much of the morning is spent coaxing the new diesel powered pressure washer into life. When it goes it really goes - vast pressure - but it doesn't go for long enough and once the water pressure is lost we are at a loss as to how to get it back. Paul Gibbs and Dave Whiting spend most of their morning pondering on the machine.
The tractor bay is now ready for use - covered with a layer of sand and thoroughly rolled. This will provide us with a massive benefit during a meeting - all the tractors and water tankers can be parked there and there is sufficient room to be able to turn a tractor round away from the track. The simple fact that we will not have to drive any vehicles through the pit area during a meeting will be brilliant.
And so the three pre season Saturday sessions come to a close. It's press and practice and then a "Behind Closed Doors" session next before the season kicks off with the Bob Kilby Memorial meeting. As the "biker boyz", Paul and Dave, fire their monster machines into life it's time to pay tribute to all who gave up precious time to help us get back on schedule after the worst winter I can remember since working at the track. We would have go those first meetings on whatever happened, but now there are no major issues to be addressed and the Swindon riders can be assured of good conditions as they prepare for the 2010 season.
