Farewell to Monmore: Poet pens emotional ode about passing of speedway in the Black Country
Now speedway in Wolverhampton is officially history.
The sporting glory which graced the city for nearly a century is now a memory for the heartbroken fans who will never Monmore Green Stadium alive with the sounds and smells of speedway again.
To mark the historic moment, the Express & Star asked the Black Country's very own Snarka the Poet to pen an ode about the passing of speedway in these parts as Monday nights at Monmore Green are no more.
Farewell to Monmore
The lights no longer shine
I look into the night sky, the lights no longer shine
No longer smells of two stroke, mingling with the grime
No milling of the masses, no hot dog van in sight
Just the sound of silence, dancing in the night
The local pubs stand empty, no pre race pint awaits
No queuing down the street or waiting at the gates
The car park spaces stand alone; there is no park and pay
No music on the tannoy, no one to hear it play
The trams are running empty, no one to pay a fare
They vanish in the night, no need for stopping there
No sound of roaring engines, no one who really cares
Programme sellers long since gone, no one to buy his wares
No badge man on the corner, the scarf man he’s gone to
On a cold and wintery night, what are we all to do?
Many generations, have gone to Monmore Green
Those of us who love speedway, just a man and his machine
I grew up with the sound, of speedway ringing in my ears
Now it is no longer, my eyes are filled with tears
No one gives a dam, it is so very wrong
Now it is all over, the fat lady’s sang her song
Snarka the Poet, aka Mark Whitehouse, is from Stone Cross. His current book of poems, called The Albion - Poetry in Motion, is a collection of 32 poems about a lifetime of following his beloved West Bromwich Albion.
The 62-year-old has also written poems about the First World War after discovering his great granddad died in the Great War. Last year Snarka organised a trip of 17 descendants of William Robert Parker's to his grave in Arras, France.
Snarka is also a founder of the Stone Cross St George's Day parade and every year organises the Royal British Legion local poppy appeal around West Bromwich ahead of Armistice Day in November.
The Express & Star is making a donation to the poppy appeal in return for Farewell to Monmore.
