Snowy Beatie

Hackney Speedway Supporters Club Secretary Snowy Beattie died on Thursday 10th July 2007, he was 87.

Tribute from Hawkeye. Taken from the 1976 Hackney v Wimbledon programme

This is speedway’s most famous supporters club secretary, Snowy Beattie. Hackney Speedway has been fortunate to have a few key men working behind the scenes who carry on the good work year after year. Snowy comes into this category having been elected to serve under Ron Dyer on the original post-war committee in 1936, and remaining a loyal servant with an unbroken run up to the present time.
However, before we look at Snowy Beattie the speedway secretary, lets find out something on the personal side. He was born in Shoreditch, the son of an insurance broker and when I interviewed him I had memories of the time I asked him his age under similar circumstances in 1970, when he told me to “mind my own business!”
It was with little trepidation that I said
“How old are you?”
He paused for a moment and then said
“All right, let them know, I’m 55!” He certainly doesn’t look his age does he?
Snowy, who has a married brother, has lived in Shoreditch district all his life and currently has a bachelor flat. He went to school in Shoredich and upon leaving took a job in the engineering trade, making loose leaf metals, which is still his profession today.
He was chistened Arthur Richard Beattie and it was at that time he started work that the nickname of Snowy was bestowed upon him. It transpires that the young Mr Beattie had pure white hair and his boss re-christened him.
Snowy served in the Royal Air Force for three years from 1944 and his two permanent stations were in Derby and North Wales.
It was soon after starting work at the age of 15 in 1936, that some workmates talked him into accompanying them to Harringay Speedway. He was a regular at the Green Lanes until the outbreak of war and also held a staff post at Rye House, where he used to cycle to the meetings.
Snowy also attended the occasional meeting at Belle Vue during the war but it was his demob in 1947, which coincided with the re-opening of Harringay, that saw him begin to make his mark as a backroom boy in the world of speedway racing.
He approached the late George Kay-at that time the Harringay promoter- with a view to running a cycling section of the Harringay Speedway Supporters Club and permission was duly granted. He also started to work for the Harringay promoter and used to sell badges, rosettes, photographs, etc until the demise of his beloved Racers at the end of the 1954 season.
Snowy was a always a keen cyclist and if you want evidence of this, he points to the occasion in 1948 when he and another eleven of his colleagues cycled to Perry Barr, Birmingham to watch the Racers in action against the local Brummies. It is worth mentioning that one of the other cyclists was current Hackney committee man, Reg Stracey.
During the days of Harringay Speedway there where two separate clubs, one a social club, and the other majoring on travel. After the speedway closure the two clubs amalgamated with Snowy as the secretary and the club still runs today, meeting every Tuesday at Wood Green.
When Harringay closed, Snowy watched his speedway racing at West Ham in 1955 and then Wimbledon and Rye House. It was at the latter track, when doing a security job, that snowy relates an amusing story. It appears that he was so positioned to stop people bunking in via the River Leas and amongst those he regularly sent packing were a few names that might be familiar to you, Mike Broadbank, Dingle Brown and Colin Pratt!
Snowy’s links with Hackney started at a staff meeting prior to our 1963 season opening. He was elected to serve on the committee and for the initial season he sold our novelty lines from a tray, before we opened kiosks as we have today.
The original committee was disbanded during the winter of 1963/64 and wasn’t reformed until after the 1964 season when Len Silver took a hand in the proceedings, Snowy was elected secretary at a supporters meeting and has held the position ever since. Indeed Snowy is one of only a handful of people who have worked behind the scenes at The Wick continuously since 1963.
Such is the devotion to The Hawks that Snowy will travel anywhere to watch them. He never misses a Saturday away fixture and in 14 seasons has only missed a handful of mid week ones. Many riders who have worn the Hackney colours have been grateful to snowy for his assistance in the pits on their travels when their own mechanics have been unable to make the trips. He has travelled abroad to World Finals in Poland and Sweden and to other parts of the continent for international events. He is a great friend of Danny Leno and played no small part in clinching the Warner’s sponsorship deal on our Champions Chase Knock –Out and Superama classics.
He was instrumental in popularising the sale in the sale of ‘old programmes’ from which at Hackney go to the Riders Equipment Fund. However probably his best known brainwave was the launching of the London Speedway Honours Ball, involving Hackney, Wembley, West Ham and Wimbledon.
Apart from his secretary’s duties, Snowy’s has also acted as Chairman and Treasurer on occasions when these posts have fallen vacant. He spends every Sunday at Hackney during the close season assisting with track and stadium maintenance.
Snowy owns a small piece of land at Laindon, which he often been the venue of barbecues, organised for the Hackney riders and their friends. His ambition is to see a much stronger social side to Hackney Speedway and he feels that our dinner / dance in October could well be the platform for swift developments in this particular area.
There have been many riders at Hackney who Snowy has idolised including Colin Pratt, Bengt Jannson, Barry Thomas and Zenon Plech. How ever when I asked him who he thought was the ‘all time great’, I was not too surprised when he plumped for Vic Duggan.
Nobody has served Hackney Speedway better than Snowy Beattie. Such is the respect that he commands here, I think we’ll be seeing him around for a good few years yet!