2020 News

The Lakeside Hammers raced at the Arena Essex Raceway until September 2018 when the Raceway complex closed after being sold for re-development. The club’s licence is currently on ice until the club finds a new home in the Thurrock district.

Speedway is a fantastic, family friendly sport and until 2018, ran in the borough for over 30 years. Thurrock remains the ideal location for a new facility and is a growing community that deserves the exciting, top class sport that speedway provides.

We have a great relationship with Thurrock Council but we still need to show local decision makers how much support the club enjoys and how determined we all are to see the Hammers race again.

Our petition is available online and we have a target of getting 5,000 signatures. Please click on the image to launch and sign the petition.

Along with signing our petition, fans and local Thurrock residents can also send a letter of support, via email or post, to Cllr. Mark Coxshall, the Head of Planning and Regeneration, or to any Councillor at Thurrock Council (see contact details below)

mcoxshall@thurrock.gov.uk

You can either write expressing your own views as to why the Hammers should return to Thurrock, or you can use our pre-drafted letter. Please click on the Download Now button below, and our newly drafted letter will launch in Word.

Thurrock Council’s Planning Committee deals with matters relating to town and country planning and development control, including the determination of planning applications.

We must be proactive and make the committee’s members aware of our campaign. In order to do this, you can submit a letter of support by email or post.

The names of key contacts are listed below (each link next to the Councillor will launch their biography, which contains their e-mail address) along with the main postal address.

Planning Committee Members :

Tom Kelly (Chair) Planning Committee

Mike Fletcher (Vice Chair) Planning Committee

Members:

• Councillor David Potter  
• Councillor Gerard Rice  
• Councillor Sue Sammons  
• Councillor Sue Shinnick  
• Councillor Qaisar Abbas (Substitute) 
• Councillor Abbie Akinbohun (Substitute) 
• Councillor Chris Baker (Substitute) 
• Councillor Daniel Chukwu (Substitute) 
• Councillor Garry Hague (Substitute) 
• Councillor Victoria Holloway (Substitute) 
• Councillor Susan Little (Substitute) 
• Stephen Taylor (Campaign to Protect Rural England) 

Support officer: Wendy Le, Democratic Services Officer. Email: Direct.Democracy@thurrock.gov.uk

Phone: 01375 652107

Email: Direct.Democracy@thurrock.gov.uk

Web site: http://www.thurrock.gov.uk

Other Key Personnel

Lyn Carpenter: Chief Executive: please write to Lyn at the Council

Andy Millard: Director of Place: please write to Andy at the Council

Postal Address:

Thurrock Council,
Civic Offices,
New Road,
Grays,
Essex
RM17 6SL

Democratic accountability is a very important part of our strategy. Please help us to return speedway to Thurrock.

Thank you for your support.

#WeAreThurrocksHammers

Image Credit: Tiffani Graveling Photography

The Thurrock Hammers would like to extend their thanks to all who attended last nights HammersTime event at The Thurrock Hotel.

The club directors provided an update on the current campaign to return the sport to Thurrock, focussing primarily on the planning application strategy, and news that the club aims to hold, at the very least, a number of National League standard Challenge matches in 2020, whilst also exploring additional options to maintain the clubs name on track.

The sold out event then saw former Hammers Andrew Silver, Ian Humphreys, Danny King, Ben Morley and Jason Edwards interviewed by the voice of the Raceway Andy Young.

Hammers Director Mark Sexton commented:

“We were absolutely thrilled to stage this event and delighted to see the room full of Hammers supporters.

It’s brilliant to know the club has such a loyal fanbase.  

Obviously the devastatingly sad news about Danny Ayres cast a very dark shadow over proceedings but in all other aspects the evening was a huge success.

The Thurrock Hammers would like to extend special thanks to Arena legends Andrew Silver and Ian Humphreys who entertained everyone with their tales of yesteryear and to modern day stars Danny King, Ben Morley and Jason Edwards who all spoke passionately and eloquently about their time in the sport so far and their plans for 2020. 

We would also like to thank The Thurrock Hotel for providing the Belmont Suite, Ian Jordan & the Eastbourne Eagles, ReRun productions, Sandra Gibbons & The Dirt Track show for their generous raffle prizes and to everyone in attendance for purchasing tickets.

Finally we would like to thank our compere Andy Young for hosting the event in such a superb and entertaining manner.

We hope everyone who came along enjoyed themselves and look forward to seeing Hammers fans trackside during the upcoming season.”

This post is in memory of Danny Ayres. One of the modern day entertainers in a sport we all love.

A selection of images below. Click on an image to enlarge.

The Thurrock Hammers are all set for tonight’s sold out #HammersTime event, which takes place in the Belmont Suite at The Thurrock Hotel. (Address can be found here)

The doors to the event open at 7pm, with all registered ticket holders’ names cross checked against the confirmed ticket list.  A free drink voucher will be provided at this point, to be redeemed at the bar during the evening. 

To access the Belmont suite, please enter the main Thurrock Hotel entrance, turn right and follow the corridor around and enter the suite through the first set of doors on the right.  There is ample parking in the grounds of the hotel.

The evening is scheduled to start at 7.30pm with the Thurrock Hammers Directors providing a brief update on the current campaign for the return of speedway to Thurrock. 

Following a short interval, the main event will then see the voice of the Raceway, Andy Young, chatting all things Hammers with our special Hammers legends Ben Morley, Jason Edwards, Danny King followed by Ian Humphreys and Andrew Silver. Each section will end with a Q&A session, so please have your questions ready!

All riders will be available to chat and take pictures with before the event starts, and during the two scheduled intervals during the evening.

Raffle tickets (£2 a strip or 3 strips for £5), with funds helping to maintain the campaign and pay for any related rider costs throughout the season, will also be available with a number of prizes including tickets to the Dirt Track show,  Four tickets to watch the Eastbourne Eagles, a Speedway Charm, a signed A3 pitboard of the five Hammers and the top prize of a signed Hammers Race bib all up for grabs.

We look forward to seeing you all tonight & hope that you enjoy the evening.

Mark, Russell & Ian.

Former Hammers Legend Stuart Robson holds his farewell meeting at Redcars Media Prima Arena on Saturday 21st March.

Robbo, who retired from professional racing last year after a long and illustrious career, is looking for any sponsorship for the meeting, should any Hammers fans be able to help.

Full details and contact information can be found on Robbos Farewell Meeting Facebook page here.

Main image credit: TGS Photo