An Evening With John Louis

If you missed this event or would like to repeat the experience a DVD is now available - running time approx. 90 minutes (does not include the race meetings shown) - all proceeds to go to the Shale fund.
Available from track shop for £5 or by post for £6 (includes p&p) - send a cheque, payable to 'ISSC' to:
Shale Scheme dvd, Briarwood, School Lane, Ufford, Woodbridge IP13 6DX
Many thanks to Steve Waller and Ian Byers for filming & producing the dvd for us.

The 'Evening With John Louis' held at Kesgrave Social Club on Tuesday 23rd February was a huge success - over 160 people attended the event and £1392 was raised to add to the Shale Sponsorship fund - this will not be allocated against plots but will be used to help with the cost of the extra drainage that was required.

Our compere for the evening, Kevin Long, was on top form and kept the whole evening flowing from the start. There was a large selection of photos, trophies & race jackets on display highlighting the many achievements that John had during his riding career. Three dvds of meetings that John won individually or as part of the England team were shown and these brought back many memories for those present. Kevin & John reminisced about the meetings themselves and other events that happened during the 70s,

Here are some of the photos taken by Stephen Waller that will give you a flavour of what went on, more to follow soon...

If you attended the event and would like to send us your comments please use this email address: ss_home@hotmail.co.uk A selection will be added to the website as a record of the night.

Emails received from some of JL's absent friends can be found here:

Bryn Williams   Dave Pavitt   John Berry

A Tiger's view of the evening:
My thanks to Sue & her team: Chris Ellis, Peter Thorpe and the man in the white
jacket, Kevin Long, for making sure that the evening was so enjoyable. The
Kesgrave Social Club was an ideal venue, located as it is within earshot of the
stadium. It was nice to see so many familiar faces turn up to watch the 70s meetings, listen to the banter and they all appeared to have a good time. The local media was represented by Stephen Foster from BBC Radio Suffolk and Tony McDonald from BackTrack magazine travelled up from Essex - thanks to Foz & Tony for their support. We even had a group of people turn up dressed in 70s attire - one looked very familiar but I bet he won't be wearing that outfit in the pits!

I am still recovering from the effort required to get into my leathers which are 36 years old and like me, not as supple as when I was riding - thanks Simon! To all those that turned up I hope you enjoyed the evening as much as I did - dates for my nationwide tour will be released soon. And planning for the 2011 series is already underway - watch this space!

Hang loose, JL.

Sue said:

A huge thank you to everyone that helped me with organising and running the evening: Peter Thorpe, Chris Ellis, Kevin Long and JL.

Thanks also to:

• Chris & Pat for helping with the buffet and raffle. 
• Everyone who donated prizes for the raffle, including Enjay Designs and Warner Bros.
• Phil Hilton for bringing all the racejackets and photos.
• Simon Adams for providing the Tiger leathers.
• Stephen Waller for recording the evening.
• Tony McDonald for donating half the proceeds from his BackTrack sales to the Shale fund.
• Trinity Park for providing all the audio and visual equipment.

Kevin Long said:
When I was first approached to be the compere for "An Evening with John Louis" I was flattered and also excited at what was being planned. On the face of it a simple concept; showing some old speedway meetings from the 1970s combined with a bit of chat with JL. Throw in a "themed" buffet and you have the ingredients for a really successful evening. After a few planning meetings to ensure that all the elements had been covered and the running order / timings agreed the calendar soon ticked around to the evening itself. Ticket sales had gone well but no one anticipated that even more supporters would turn up, having heard that it really was going to be one of those "must be at" kind of evenings.
 
I know from experience, that to get the best out of John then he needs to feel relaxed and prepared, especially in terms of questions. In this regard the decision to use personal lapel microphones worked a treat as John was simply able to be himself, sit back, let the words flow and his true personality and humour shine through. Amazingly he did abide by the early "You are live, please do not swear" instructions! Maybe it was the threat of a swear box being introduced to help raise more funds…
 
The footage, which had been uncovered from the World Cup 1974, British Final 1975 and World Pairs 1976, was simply sublime. A real treat for any fan of speedway through the 70's and more importantly showing off what an incredible rider John Louis was. Couple this with a few well-chosen soundtracks from the era, including "I'm a Tiger" and everyone present was transported back in time. There were more than a few watery eyes at various points throughout the evening as the good emotions that people were feeling, were being shared by such passionate speedway supporters.
 
A highlight was when John donned one or his original sets of Tiger leathers, which have been immaculately cared for by devoted Witches fan Simon Adams, supported by an impressive array of iconic race-jackets supplied by the equally devoted Phil Hilton. As John and I chatted you got the sense that everyone in the audience was hanging on every word that Tiger had to say, recounting the details of the meetings that had been screened as well as other details of meetings of the decade when JL was one of the world's best.
 
For me, personally, it was an honour to host this event. To sit there with John "Tiger" Louis and share in his evening, which he had dedicated to his father Jack, and more poignantly his mother Vera. It was a true insight about the amount of time and dedication that Jack had put into preparing both man and machines that you got the sense that every time John Louis took to the track, then so did Jack Louis!
 
I'd like to thank my colleagues at Trinity Park, Graham Thurston, who agreed to loaning us all the audio/visual equipment needed to stage the event and then coming along to help set it up and ensure that there would be no glitches and the evening would run so smoothly.
 
To Sue Stevens, Chris Ellis and Peter Thorpe, thanks for ensuring that we dotted all the "I's" and crossed all the "T's". To these ladies and Pat for the marvellous seventies buffet. And to the man himself, "Tiger"; Mr Ipswich Speedway, a legend, a hero, a friend. . . Thank you
 
Kevin Long