It's better to try and fail...than fail to try!!

Remember the all singing version of the blog, available via this link, including the latest from the track and a fascinating glimpse of South African speedway at Walkerville.

Saturday morning. Our second Saturday session of the year and just 63 days from the start of the new season. Punch, Gerald, Ernie Poole, Keith Johnson and I met up for an 8 o'clock start.
Keith used to to be responsible for the greyhound track at Swindon some time ago and is an experienced speedway track man.

The greyhound track is soaking wet. The incessant rain of the past few weeks has taken its toll and great streams of water are making their way down the home straight.

Although some drains were put in the only way that water seems to be able to escape is for greyhound staff to cut holes in the boards that surround the greyhound track and allow the sand clogged water to escape onto the speedway track, with disastrous consequences.

Our first task was to cut a gully from the latest hole in the boards through to the drain we put in across turn 1.

In the narrow space between the greyhound track and the speedway fence lay all manner of wires and cables, some live, some not so.

We dig carefully.

The effort is well worth it because the water runs down the gully and into the drain and from thence to the main drain on the centre green.

Having cleared the excess sand and shale away from the bottom of the fence on turns 1 and 2 last week we turn our attention to the enormous build up of sand on the main straight. Gerald wants it all cleared. His thinking is that the water from the dog track has to escape somewhere and at present all of it rushes through holes in the wall of sand. He wants the excess water to run off along the entire stretch of the straight, thus preventing the rivulets forming.

And so Punch, Ernie, Keith and I set to digging whilst Gerald fetches the tractor and trailer. We dig carefully and then throw the sand over the fence into the trailer - we cannot use it and it can't be allowed to stay on the track surface.

It's back breaking work but the sun comes out and we make surprisingly fast progress.
Two trailer loads later and the bottom of the kickboards can be seen and the whole area looks much neater. The water flows evenly into our drain. Job well done.

We turn our collective attention to turns three and four. Most of the build up of material against the fence on turn 3 is sand. This must be dug out and then collected in the JCB for dumping elsewhere.

Turn 4 is full of shale - this is dug out and distributed on the track.

We dig down until we are about two inches below the bottom of the wire fence. This is so that we will be able to hook the air fence up easily to the bottom of the wire when it is returned from its winter servicing.

Suddenly the whole place looks so much better - it's an amazing transformation in a short period of time.

Last week we were battling against gales and driving rain, not to mention the results of the archaeological digging. At that point I felt really depressed - how on earth would we get the place ready in just 7 weeks.

Yet now, the track looks good.

We still give Punch plenty of leeway as he tries to manoeuvre the JCB. We shouldn't laugh - a JCB with a full bucket of shale and no power steering is no joke - but his expression as he tries to wrestle the machine through the narrow pit gates is one to savour. Gerald has been using the grader and the harrow to spread and dry the wet shale and turn three, above, looks sensational.
We tyre pack the material down with the tractors. Unless it is tightly packed any rain will get into the surface and turn it back into mush. As it is now, if this were March we could run a meeting on the track!

In the dark recesses of the home changing room things are a stirring. Brian "No Problem" Cox is showing off his artistic side, applying a fresh coat of white paint to the walls.

In coming weeks we'll look at the changing rooms and the referees box at Swindon and all of the other places that are usually hidden from the public eye.

By 12.45 we are pretty much finished. It's been another excellent Saturday morning's work. Given that the weather seems to store itself up for Thursdays (it has been wretched every Thursday this year) we agree to meet again next Saturday.

In the meantime Punch is keen to give me a lesson in trench digging on Thursday. Is it my imagination or is my back about to go into spasm simply at the thought of it. Time for a stiff whiskey and a warm bath!

Oh, and the philosophy? That's to be found on the wall in the Home Team dressing room. It pretty much sums up our philosophy. God knows, there have been times over the winter when we've all felt like giving up and going home ... but we don't!

And we're not going to fail either! Bring on the season - we'll be ready!