Successful Platinum Gala event

NEWS Sunday 26th August 2018, 12:38pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Last night some of our former heroes along with the current team and many supporters turned out to remember some of the steps along the way which have gone into making the Monarchs what they are.

Scott Wilson was our host and he spoke with various characters ranging over the full 70 years of the club. Supporter Jack Crozier was a spectator at the very first meeting, the trio of Harry Darling, Jock Scott and Jimmy Turner talked about the heady days of the fifties, Ian Hart told us about promoting two special meetings in 1959-60, we had Brian Collins from the sixties and seventies, Scott Lamb, Kevin Little and Johnny Jorgensen from the eighties and nineties and then Frede Schott spoke about the famous occasion of our first League Title in 2003 in his second spell with the club.

All of this was accompanied by video footage (including some sent by Brett Saunders), congratulatory messages from Bert Harkins, Ryan Fisher and Kennt McKinna, then finally we had the current team arrayed in perfect combination on the stage talking about how they see the remainder of the season. Of course they had been looking forward to going to Glasgow today, now rained off.

Everyone present received a copy of our 70 Years photo booklet (copies will be available at Armadale from Friday) and we had both a raffle and a 'Legends' draw won by Agnes Mason, herself a bit of a legend.

It certainly seemed that everyone enjoyed themselves watching a well co-ordinated evening, though by the end we had heard of the accident at Workington which has left our former rider Dan Bewley injured. We wish Dan a speedy recovery.

THE RIDERS IN THE SHOT: (Rear) Frede Schott, Scott Lamb, Johnny Jorgensen, Benny Rourke, Kevin Little, Jonathan Swales, Ian Hart, Eric Broadbelt, Sean Stoddart, David McAllan, William Lawson. (Front) Mitchell Davey, Victor Palovaara, Niven Munro, Neil Hewitt, Erik Riss, Ricky Wells, Richie Worrall, Josh Pickering, Joel Andersson. (ALSO PRESENT BUT NOT IN PHOTO) Brian Collins, Harry Darling, Jimmy Turner, Jock Scott, Gordon Mitchell.