Arch Windmill

Last updated • 1 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Arch Windmill
Born(1915-06-05)5 June 1915
Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, England
Died5 March 2007(2007-03-05) (aged 91)
NationalityBritish (English)
Career history
1936–1939 Hackney Wick Wolves
1946–1949 Wimbledon Dons
1949–1951 Walthamstow Wolves
1952 Aldershot Shots

Albert Archibald Windmill (5 June 1915 – 5 March 2007) was a British motorcycle speedway rider who rode for Hackney Wick Wolves in the 1930s and Wimbledon Dons and Walthamstow Wolves after World War II. [1]

Career

Originally from Watford, Windmill began his racing career in grasstrack at Barnet in 1934. [2] His first experience of speedway was at Birmingham in 1936, signing shortly afterwards for Hackney Wick. [2] He stayed with the Wolves until the start of World War II in 1939, spending the war years in the Royal Air Force. [2]

After being demobbed he opened Windmill Garage in Hemel Hempstead, and returned to speedway with Wimbledon, [3] where he scored 11 points in his first match and spent the season at reserve, averaging 3.80. [2] [4] [5] He moved on to Walthamstow Wolves at the start of the 1949 season. [6] [5] When the Wolves closed down at the end of 1951 he moved on to Southern League club Aldershot for his final season, retiring at the end of 1952. [7]

Windmill represented England in the 1939 Test series against the Dominions. [7]

In his later years, Windmill became president of the Veteran Speedway Riders' Association. [7]

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References

  1. "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Storey, Basil (1947) "Arch the Point Stealer" in Speedway Favourites, Sport-in-Print, p. 27
  3. "Parker leads Wimbledon" . The People. 12 May 1946. Retrieved 11 October 2024 via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. Hart, A. S. (1946) Know Your Rider: Facts, Figures and Fotos – A Complete Record of the 1946 Season, R. Verney Baker, Salford, p. 16-17
  5. 1 2 Morgan, Tom (1949) Who's Who in Speedway 1949, Sport-in-Print, London, p. 75
  6. "Speedway Transfers" . Daily Herald. 28 April 1949. Retrieved 11 October 2024 via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. 1 2 3 Bamford, Robert (2003) Speedway: The Pre-War Years, Tempus, ISBN   0-7524-2749-0, p. 223