Thursday, January 30, 2025
OXFORD SPEEDWAY
Oxford Speedway

Oxford supporter to take part in fund-raiser for Ben Fund

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LAURA Pollard, part of the backroom team at Oxford Speedway, will take part in a walk to raise funds for the Speedway Riders’ Benevolent Fund.

The main fund raiser for the registered charity is the Ben Fund Bonanza speedway meeting at Oxford on Sunday, March 23 (6pm) – with six riders already announced, including Oxford riders Sam Masters, Charles Wright and Erik Riss.

But generous supporters have their own ways of raising funds for the charity which raises money for both long-term and short-term injured speedway riders.

About a month after the Bonanza, the popular and successful Talk Speedway podcast staff will be taking on a daunting walk. On Sunday, April 27, they will embark on a 107-mile walk from Berwick’s Shielfield Park stadium to Redcar’s Ecco Arena, all in aid of the Speedway Riders’ Benevolent Fund. Neatly, they will use the title “Walk Speedway”.

The walk will take six days, starting the morning after Berwick’s match with Edinburgh before ending on May 2 ahead of Redcar’s match against Workington.

Recent Berwick rider Greg Blair, Scott Frame, Graham Muncie and Laura Pollard will be joined by guests such as Drew Kemp on the walk and hope to raise as much funds as possible for the Ben Fund. They will welcome anyone from the speedway fraternity joining for any part of the walk.

Laura Pollard works on the pit gate on speedway evenings, as well as helping behind the scenes for the club.

She said: “I wasn’t going to do anything mad to raise money again. But the Speedway Riders’ Benevolent Fund have helped so many of my friends during tough times, so it was only right to give something back.”

Scott Frame said: “I have previously done one of these walks for the Stroke Association so I am aware of just how difficult this challenge is going to be. But training started back in November when we first put the idea to Paul Ackroyd so we will be well prepared by the time the walk comes around.

“The Ben Fund does fantastic work for our sport. It really is a selfless organisation that holds such a fantastic standing in the speedway world. It’s honestly an honour to play a small part in helping raise funds. We have set a conservative target of £1000 for the walk but in all honesty the goal is to raise a lot more than that.”

You can donate to the aptly named ‘Walk Speedway’ now at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/walkspeedway and keep up to date on their progress on Talk Speedway’s social media pages on Facebook, X and Instagram.

Another fund raiser for the Ben Fund is set to take place at the Wheatley New Club, Wheatley, OX33 1NJ on Friday, March 7 at 7.30pm. It will a Race Evening / Social Night, where participants can choose a rider (similar to horse racing race evenings). The event is being organised by Neil Ramsden and further details will be shared in due course. The Ben fund mascot will be present at the event.

Meanwhile, more names for the Ben Fund Bonanza at Cowley are due to be announced next week.