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The Monarchs Fans Trust is going global and opening up its membership to fans and supporters from overseas. We are conscious that there are people with Monarchs connections all over the World and we have therefore put in place arrangements to allow them to join the trust if they would like.

Joining from outside the UK is very easy. Just email us at Info@MonarchsFansTrust.co.uk and we will send you an email with the details to allow you to join the Trust.

I wonder where our most exotically located overseas member will come from? Australia? New Zealand? USA? Canada? South Africa? Spain? South America? Who knows!

Remember, it’s very easy, just email us at Info@MonarchsFansTrust.co.uk.

All the best

MFT Committee

One of the many classic speedway bikes stunningly restored at Cinder to Shale

What a totally awesome afternoon we spent at this museum with fellow trust members and other speedway enthusiasts. How nice it was to hook up on a social day to put faces to names. We were all walking about like kids in a sweetie shop, looking at speedway memorabilia from all over the world from 1928 to present day- mind-blowing! A special thank-you to Ian and Gordon for their hospitality. It definitely is “The World’s Finest Speedway Display.”

On behalf of the trust thank you for coming and we look forward to our next outing, if you have any suggestions then let us know by speaking to a committee member, emailing us at info@monarchsfanstrust.co.uk or using the CONTACT US page.

Members of the Monarchs fans Trust will be visiting the Cinder to Shale Speedway Museum, Edgefield Road, Loanhead, EH20 9TB. Everyone is welcome and we will be there from 12 noon and hope to see as many of you there as possible.

The museum has one of the best collections of speedway bikes and memorabilia in the world and comes thoroughly recommended.

Anyone who has been attending speedway at Armadale this season could not fail to notice that attendances have not been great. The club have confirmed to the Monarchs Fans Trust that most meetings have attracted a lower crowd than the equivalent match last season. This is very disappointing news especially after the sensational season the Monarchs had last year and the very promising start to this season, Edinburgh currently sit top of the Premier League table. The Monarchs Fans Trust see this as a challenge we need to address and during the month of June members were busy organising a Kids Go Free campaign for the summer.

Every primary school pupil in the West Lothian area (all 66 schools) has been sent a discount voucher giving them and two friends free entry to the speedway when accompanied by an adult paying a reduced admission of £12.

This has been done in association with the club and it would be great to see the stadium full of youngsters taking up this offer. The first opportunity is this Friday (10^th July) when the Edinburgh Monarchs entertain the Sheffield Tigers with tapes up at 7.30pm. This offer is open for all Monarchs matches during the school holidays and potentially includes the League Cup Semi-final on 14^th August against Ipswich (match is still to be confirmed). As well as the thrill of 15 heats of amazing speedway action there will also be the chance for the kids to meet our very own lion mascot Ed the Monarch and to get their photograph taken on a speedway bike. The Fans Trust committee member behind this idea John Scholan firmly believes “We need more supporters and the fans of tomorrow are the children of today! When they get the chance to see live speedway in action they will be hooked just as we are.”

The Monarchs Fans Trust was set up at the start of this year to ensure the survival of the Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway team, our first task was to attract as many supporters as possible to join the trust and this Friday will see us present our 3^rd cheque for £1,000 to the club. The Kids Go Free promotion is the first of many ventures the Trust plan to get involved in as we spread the word of the most successful professional sports team in the Lothians. The committee would like to thank the members of the Trust who gave up their own time to distribute leaflets to the various schools, this is just another great example of the fabulous community spirit at Edinburgh Speedway.

If you would like any more information on the Trust or this promotion then please use the CONTACT US page to get in touch.

The 500th Meeting at Armadale on Friday saw Edinburgh take top spot in the Premier League for the first time in 2015. The match was spoiled by the late arrival of a number of Plymouth riders which made it a very one sided affair with a final score of 64-28. This was as a result of a major accident on the M6, the start of the meeting was put back half an hour but even with that delay Morten Risager missed his first ride and Armadale legend Ryan Fisher missed two only arriving just before heat 9. The Monarchs can only beat what was put in front of them and that is exactly what they did as three riders hit a maximum score: guest Nick Morris, captain Craig Cook and a special paid 18 points from Erik Riss. Second guest Theo Pijper, Max Clegg and in particular Justin Sedgmen also scored well as only Jack Holder put up any real resistance for the Devils. At the end of the season all that will matter is the Monarchs took the 3 match points and went top and they hope to stay there. League table courtesy of the official Edinburgh Speedway webpage http://www.edinburghmonarchs.co/statistics/.

It was a big night at Armadale as the promotion invited a number of former riders to celebrate the 500th meeting, who would have predicted in 1997 that we would still be hear 18 years later. What an 18 years it has been, the KO Cup win back in that first year may have given a small indication into the success the Armadale era would bring the Monarchs. An amazing 11 major team honours have been won during this time culminating in the fantastic treble last season. It was great to see so many riders that have entertained us over the years.

The Monarchs are sitting well in all three competitions again this year but it is the battle off the track that the Monarchs Fans Trust are concerned about, our main purpose is to ensure that we are here in (at least) 500 more meetings and our members will do their best to try to make sure that happens. The original plan was to present the 3rd cheque from the Trust to the promotion on Friday, this was not possible with everything that was going on so was put back 2 weeks. It will now be done during the Sheffield Tigers meeting on Friday 10th July. Committee members were still very busy on Friday as we set up a display of old and new bikes and various other speedway memorabilia, many supporters young and old were able to take advantage and get their photo taken on one of these machines. Thank you to everyone who made this possible especially Ryan Morris for his help on the night.

It was also Lord Rocket’s (Geoff Craythorne) 65th birthday last week and he celebrated in style with a lap on one of his vintage speedway bikes. Geoff has been a good help to the committee of the Trust during our first year and we wish him a Happy Birthday.

Monarchs 2015 Captain Craig Cook, photo courtesy of Jack Cupido

The Monarchs Fans Trust would like to congratulate Edinburgh team captain Craig Cook on qualifying for the British Grand Prix after finishing second in the British Final at Wolverhampton on Monday night. Craig was fantastic winning 4 out of his 5 heats and the semi-final before leading the final for 2 laps. Unfortunately Jason Garrity fell and the final had to be rerun; current World Championship leader Tai Woffinden took full advantage of his second chance to claim the national title. Craig easily fended off Danny King to earn the runner up spot for the second year in a row, with more luck on his side it would have been No1.

The consolation for Cookie is the number 16 wild card race jacket in the biggest speedway meeting of the year where our captain will put himself up against the best in the world. The British Grand Prix takes place on Saturday 4th July at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff where as usual there will be a good number of Edinburgh fans there to cheer him on. After this result more will be booking travel for a quality weekend where the Monarchs will also head to Somerset to defend their pairs title.

Craig is a club legend already and has endorsed the Monarchs Fans Trust having said in the past “The Trust just shows the kind of supporters we have and the great support they give us.” Good Luck to Craig at Cardiff!

Jim Smith encouraging the future of Edinburgh Speedway

The Fans Trust was busy on Friday night as we marked the occasion of our second presentation to the club. At the gazebo we had a speedway bike available that was put to good use as the kids (and some adults) got their photo taken on board. It was great to see the smile on the faces of the youngsters as they are the future of the club and we hope to announce an initiative to attract more new young supporters soon. This will be our first initiative to attract more fans as the future of Edinburgh Speedway depends on our support. Crowds this season at Armadale Stadium have been slightly disappointing and we must do as much as we can to get people through the door.

Later in the meeting we had a group of members hand over the cheque to director Brian Gray as our contributions are making a difference to the club now. The £1,000 donation made will be put to good use immediately helping with the fixed costs of the club. It was another successful night for the Monarchs on track as we took care of the Sheffield Tigers in the first round in the defence of the KO Cup.

Presentation Party on 22nd May – photo courtesy of Ron McNeil

Today we have launched our Blue and Gold member WALL. Our members can have their name or message on our virtual wall showing the support for the Trust. If you are a member and would like your name added then reply to the email or use the form below.

We are delighted to welcome Greer Finnie onto the committee of the Monarchs Fans Trust, the Trust is always looking for fresh ideas and different perspectives and we are sure that Greer will add to our group. She attended our monthly meeting earlier this week as we continue to develop ways to get our message out to as many people as possible. It has been an amazing 2 months and we are delighted so many people have signed up but we hope we can find a way to encourage more to join. As Greer says “Speedway is my Friday night out and I’d be lost without it”.

Our presentation party – photo courtesy of Ron McNeil

On Friday a number of members of the Monarchs Fans Trust made the first presentation of a cheque to the club, this was for £1,000. Brian Gray and Ed the Monarch (a fully signed up Trust member) accepted this on behalf of the club and thanked us for our efforts. This money is earmarked to pay for the ambulance on Friday nights and other medical costs, the Trust are delighted to be able to start making a difference now and thank our members for enabling this to happen. This will be the first of the regular payments the Trust will be making throughout the season as the fund is used to stabilise the finances of the Monarchs. The aim of the Trust is to secure the long term future of the club, there is a long hard task ahead but is one we have started on very well.

Whilst on the centre green Trust members were treated to two fantastic heats of speedway, firstly Craig Cook had to work really hard to get the better of Nick Morris to join Justin Sedgmen for a big 5-1 and then Sam Masters brought the house down with a last gasp burst to win heat 7 and prevent a Glasgow 8-1.

All part of a thoroughly great night of speedway and a great example of the fantastic job Edinburgh Speedway do in difficult conditions.

The Trust hopes to ensure that we have nights like this for a long time to come, if you would like to be part of this then please visit our JOIN US page and sign up today.