So many memories of the racing, the excitement, the friendships, the smiling faces…and the smell. The Stars were a part of so many lives.

Thank you to everyone who got in touch following our story to mark 60 years since the Firs speedway stadium shut its gates for the last time leaving people so sad and angry.

Norwich Stars were one of the best supported teams in the whole country but the owners decided to sell up. The end of an era.

So what was a perfect Saturday in Norwich of the 1950s and early 60s with the Canaries and Stars in fine form?

A trip to Carrow Road in the afternoon to watch the likes of  Terry Bly (he could score sky-high), Terry Allcock, Bobby Brennan, Sandy Kennon, Barry Butler, Bill Punton and so many more.

Followed by a fish and chip tea and then a trip up Cromer Road to the fabulous Firs to watch the speedway with many great riders including Ove Fundin, Billy Bales, Trevor Hedge, Olle Nygren, not forgetting Reg Trott  and Phil Clarke.

And, if you were on your bike, there were a few residents around the ground who would let you park up in their garden for a tanner or two.

In those days the relationship between the supporters and their sporting heroes, plus the people who worked at the stadiums, was much closer and those memories stay with us as we look back in time.

This is illustrated well thanks to a photograph sent by Barry Curson. His late uncle Frank Curson was Track Marshall at the Firs for a number of years until it closed in 1964.

(Image: Barry Curson)

He has shared two photographs of Frank and, according to Phil Clarke, the one of Ove marked the occasion when the Supporters Club made a collection to buy the pram for him following the birth of one of his children.

David Hastings told me how, after the war, his father, who was a great friend of manager Dick Wise, took him to meet the team.

“If I went with my parents we sat in the stand and in the interval we would go into the pits to meet the riders which was a real treat for a youngster like me. My favourites were Bert Spencer, Paddy Mills, Billy Bales and Ove Fundin.

“If I went with my school chums we would always stand at the fence on the fourth bend which meant we got covered in cinders as in the early days the track was black cinders,” said David.

(Image: Mike Smith Collection)

“Our love of speedway led us youngsters to start up cycle speedway and we built a track just off Earlham Road and called ourselves Earlham Arrows and were part of the Norwich League.

“What days indeed and I always feel it was so sad the Firs Stadium was closed,” he added.

Lesley Whiting also got in touch to tell me she used to go to the Firs with her grandfather Joseph “Joe” Thompson who was a steward greeting people  when they arrived.

“I loved the smell and the excitement. I was always looked after well while he was working. I think he was well known and respected by all,” she added.

I also heard from Jerry Freeman, whose dad John Charles Freeman, known of course as Jack, a popular rider at the Firs.

(Image: Supplied)

“I was there to watch my dad ride in 1964, among huge crowds on the terraces, I was 15 and dad must have been about 42.

“ They entered the arena in wheelchairs and with walking sticks. Dramatic disrobing of dressings gowns to reveal race leathers. Only a three lap race. That was enough. Great memories,” he said.

His dad died  in 1981, aged 59.

And Colleen Wickins told me how the story brought back many happy memories of Saturday evenings with her parents at the Firs. “It was a teal family night out stopping for fish and chips on the way home.

“Ove Fundin was our hero and we travelled to Wembley Stadium to cheer him on when he won his 5th and final world championship after a thrilling race off with fellow Swede Bengt Jansen,” she said.

(Image: Mike Kemp Collection)

“We lived at Attleborough and my parents were farmers, so once the stock were fed it was a mad drive to the Firs, often just arriving in time to see the riders come out on parade.

“We followed King’s Lynn for many years watching Terry Betts mature into a world class rider and then a young man called Michael Lee – travelling to Gothenburg to see him won the world championship.

“Such happy days – but the Firs holds a special place in my heart as indeed many local people I’m sure. I was 13 when the stadium closed and I remember crying all the way home,” said Colleen.

(Image: Mike Kemp Collection)