I know it plays on your mind every single day: Why, oh why, do the Cradley Heathens speedway team have a hammer as their emblem? Easy. Cradley is in the heart of the English Black Country and from the early days of the industrial revolution metalworking, especially casting and forging, and in particular chain and nail making, played a big part in the local economy.

In fact, just up the road at Netherton was Noah Hingley's foundry where, incidentally, they made the chains and anchors for the Titanic. This film shows the men at Hingley's smashing the daylights out of hot metal with slick, almost choreographed precision. And remember, every one of those links has been manhandled and hammered.

If you really can't hack the full eight minutes (though you'd be mad to miss it) skip to 7m 30s to see some synchronised rivet hammering. No really, it's... riveting. Ommer it, me babbies! MP

The first live speedway I ever saw was in about 1975 at Dudley Wood stadium, home to the Cradley Heathens from 1947 till 1995.

Cradley was a great team operating in the heart of England's Black Country, an area to the west and north of Birmingham so-named because of its long tradition in the relatively mucky industries of iron, steel and coal mining. The town itself is called Cradley Heath (not to be confused with nearby Cradley, the towns having a decided but 'amicable' rivalry) and was especially famous for chain and nail-making, much of which was carried out into the early 20th century by women in their own back yards. This history of forge-work in the area inspired the team's oft-used hammer logo and the war cry 'Ommer Um' (hammer them).

The Heathens were hugely successful and had ardent supporters who'd turn out to what was a pretty basic stadium to cheer on superstars such as Billy Hamill, Greg Hancock, Jan O Pedersen, Erik Gundersen, Anders Michanek and Californian glamour boy Bruce Penhall (see Sideburn #4). The list could go on...

However, at the end of the 1995 season the Heathens were forced to leave their home of almost 50 years thanks to the owners wanting to sell the land for housing. They struggled on for a year as an itinerant club, but it had to end. The good news is that this season the club has been revived under the name Dudley Heathens who entered the National League, where they're currently sitting in second place. It's great news, but the fight goes on to find a new home and in the meantime, 'home' fixtures are run alternately at Wolverhampton and Birmingham. Not ideal, but a start.

The club deserves all the support it can get and I'd love to see the Heathens racing again back where they belong. It's a team with a great history in an area of the country that truly loves its speedway. MP