An epic away double-header is here, but the club needs our backing more than ever! 🏁💙💛

The excitement is building for a massive southern tour as the Edinburgh Monarchs head to Redcar on Friday (26 June) and Plymouth on Saturday (27 June). While we cannot wait to see skipper Paco Castagna and the boys hunt for crucial away points, there is a serious side to this weekend that every fan needs to know.

Due to the recent cancellation of the Monarchs Academy fixture at Armadale, the club has suffered weeks without any gate revenue. In speedway, no racing means no income, leaving the club feeling the financial squeeze during this quiet spell at home.

Joining and contributing to the Monarchs Fans Trust is the perfect mechanism for helping to financially support the club during these quiet times, and we would love to get some new members on board this July.

You can sign up for a minimum of £10 a month, and that contribution makes a massive difference to the future of Edinburgh Speedway. Think about it this way: £10 is just the price of two takeaway lattes and a slice of cake from your local coffee shop. By trading just one small treat a month and giving that to the Fans Trust instead, you directly help sustain our club when the stadium gates are shut.

Here is how we can rally together this weekend:

📢 How to Take Action

• Become a Member: Sign up this July for a minimum of £10 a month and provide the club with steady, reliable support.
• Travel and Trackside: If you are travelling south, look out for where the flag goes up, stand together, and let’s bring the noise for Paco and the boys! 🚩🔊
• Stream the Action: If you cannot make the journey, watch the livestreams and keep the speedway buzz alive.

Let’s turn that financial frustration into pure vocal energy on the terraces and vital backing off the track.

Monarchs Together! 🚜💨

Get your blue and gold ready for a massive double-header weekend on the road! 🏁💙💛

The Edinburgh Monarchs Fans Trust is calling on the Monarchs army to pack their colours and bring the noise for a huge southern tour this weekend. We are hitting Redcar on Friday 26 June and Plymouth on Saturday 27 June, and skipper Paco Castagna and the boys need your vocal backing to bring home the points!

Here is how we are taking over the away bends:

👕 Wear Your Colours

• The Look: Dig out your brightest blue and gold shirts, scarves, and jackets.
• The Goal: Flood the away stands with a massive, unmistakable sea of Monarchs pride.

🚩 Watch Where the Flag Goes Up!

• The Sign: Look out for the official Fans Trust flag going up in the stands at both tracks.
• The Meet: Head straight for the flag, rally together, and stand as one loud, proud unit.

🔊 Bring the Noise

• The Atmosphere: Pack your whistles, horns, banners, and loudest singing voices.
• The Impact: Away tours are tough, and your non-stop energy can carry the boys across the finish line.

Safe travels to everyone making the long journey down south. Let’s make Redcar and Plymouth feel exactly like a home meeting!

Monarchs Together! 🚜💨

Make sure you stop by the Monarchs Fans Trust memorabilia stall this Friday night and have a browse through our wide range of speedway items.

We have everything from DVDs, speedway programmes and photographs, to Edinburgh Monarchs memorabilia and collectables from clubs across the speedway world. Whether you are a long-time collector or just looking for something interesting, there is plenty to look through.

All items are available for sensible offers, with every penny of profit going directly back into the Monarchs Fans Trust to help support the club and its activities.

You’ll find the memorabilia table located beside the club shop and the Fans Trust gazebo, so please pop over and say hello. Your support is always appreciated.

Craig and April Beveridge

Our Speedway Story: How Two Innocent People
Accidentally Became Monarchs Super fans

It all started the day April turned to me with a perfectly serious face and asked:
“What is speedway?”
Now, most couples bond over romantic dinners or long walks…
We bonded over the smell of methanol and the sound of 500cc engines screaming round in
circles.
I told her how I used to go to Powderhall with my dad back in the day — you know, when mobile
phones had aerials and petrol didn’t cost the same as a small mortgage. I also knew the
Monarchs were racing at Armadale, so off we went one Friday night around 2012.
Big mistake. Huge.
We’ve barely missed a home meeting since.

The Glory Years (Where We Thought Winning
Leagues Was Normal)

To say we were spoiled early doors is an understatement.
Back to back league wins in 2014 and 2015, and that legendary 2014 playoff final against the
Somerset Rebels?
Peak happiness. No holiday, wedding or lottery win has topped it.
We were fully hooked. Obsessed. Addicted.
Friday nights were no longer Friday nights —
they were “SPEEDWAY NIGHT.”

Joining the Monarchs Fans Trust (AKA: The Point of
No Return)

Then the Monarchs Fans Trust put out a rallying call for new members.
We didn’t hesitate. We were in so fast we probably broke the sound barrier.
A year or two later another call came — this time for new committee members.
We said yes again (clearly we have a problem), and were welcomed with open arms.
We’re still proudly involved today, with April doing an amazing job as Treasurer, proving once and
for all that she can balance spreadsheets far better than she can sit still during a last heat decider.

General

Why You Should Join Us?
If you’ve ever thought:
“I love speedway… but could I love it even more?”
The answer is YES — especially when you’re part of the Trust.
We’ve met so many brilliant people who’ve become genuine friends.
Not just fans. Not just committee members.
But family — the Speedway Family.

So come and join us…
We don’t bite, we just shout loudly, clap enthusiastically, and occasionally panic when matches
go to Heat 15.

Colin Cairney

Hi I’m Colin Cairney, a 63year-old retired Engineer and avid Edinburgh Monarchs fan.

2026 at Armadale will be my 50^th season following our beloved Monarchs, having first attended at Powderhall’s 4^th meeting versus Crayford on 6^th May 1977.  I was hooked from my first visit with Bert Harkins being my new sporting hero. I have always had a soft spot for the Scottish riders and therefore have enjoyed watching Brian Collins, George Hunter, Benny Rourke, Harry MacLean, Scott Lamb, Kenny McKinna, Kevin Little, James Grieves, Ross Brady and Derek Sneddon all battling for The Monarchs cause.

My favourite Monarchs meeting at Powderhall was the 1981 BLKO Cup match against first division Sheffield, who The Monarchs beat 49-47 with a last heat 5-1!!

I continued to follow The Monarchs under the Scottish Monarchs banner at Shawfield, but it was not a memorable time, but it certainly brings it home to you of the importance of having your team local to you.

This brings us up to date at our home tracks as The Monarchs enter their 30^th season at Armadale, and you will not be surprised that my favourite meeting at the ’dale is the 2014 PL play-off final where The Monarchs clinched the league title in the very last heat – who can forget those immortal words from Bill Purnell “and the race has been awarded” – followed by jubilant scenes.

I am a very keen Monarchs Memorabilia collector and love working on The Monarchs history in conjunction with Mike Hunter.

I am also one of the Track Staff volunteers and you will see me most weeks as 4^th Bend Flag Marshal and often shovelling shale onto Paco’s favourite inside passing line!!, although I can pop up anywhere from car park attendant to the turnstile operator when you come in.

I also have involvement with the Scottish Speedway Riders Association as treasurer and presenter/interviewer at our annual dinner with the Association President.

I was asked to join the Monarchs Fans Trust committee in December 2025 and had no hesitation in coming on board to hopefully add some fresh impetus to the great work the MFT have done to date and to do my bit in helping to secure The Monarchs future.

I would love to be able to chat to you on anything Edinburgh Speedway or Fans Trust related and you will find me most weeks at the MFT gazebo from 6.30 to 7.15.

Scott Somerville

My introduction to speedway and the Edinburgh Monarchs took place on the 1^st August 1986 Monarchs v Eastbourne Eagles.  My dad, John Somerville, used to attend Meadowbank in the 1960’s and he’d spotted that Powderhall was running speedway.

So, a family outing was on the cards, dad, Martin (my younger brother) and I.  We turned up a little tight for time and entered the Powderhall Stadium at the car park end and arrived just in time to see four riders’ barrel their way into the car park bend.  

What a sight!!  What on earth was this sport?  I did and do enjoy most sports but had never encountered this frenzy of machine and rider before.

I didn’t know at the time but later found out that the rider that impressed me most that evening was none other than Les Collins.  So, I’ve got to thank both my dad and Les, don’t worry I have thanked both on many an occasion, for the love of the sport and the Edinburgh Monarchs in particular.  

Whilst it took until 1988 for us to attend every week at Powderhall, we’d already broadened our speedway track visits to include, Shawfield, Berrington Lough and soon many many more followed.  With any excuse and location being used to take in as many meetings as we could not just confined to the Monarchs matches.  We’d regularly visit my uncle and aunty in St Ives (near Peterborough) each summer, only for dad, Martin and I to head out, each day, to whichever meeting was taking place in the vicinity.  Peterborough (trying to time it for the Fours Final each year), Kings Lynn, Ipswich, Mildenhall, Arena Essex, Swindon, Wolverhampton, Cradley, Long Eaton.. the list goes on.

We took in the 1990 World Final at Bradford, still one of my favourites of all time.  The crowd, the noise, the track and a chance to see a couple of my favourite riders at the time Per Jonsson, Shawn Moran and soon to be favourite Henka Gustafsson.  Henka around Kings Lynn was a sight to behold.

There are so many aspects of the sport that bring me joy, undoubted joy, the racing, for me although so incredibly dangerous is almost an art form, the way they slide the bikes and dice at such close quarters will always enthral me there is nothing else like it in sport, the fact that the riders will take time to chat to you, and the fans are very friendly.  I’ve created some of my best friendships in life along the way, thanks to the Edinburgh Monarchs.

Following the Monarchs has also opened up some unusual opportunities.  Which leads me to Jimmy MacDonald and Peter Elliott who, whilst I was standing next to the old wooden shed one evening in Powderhall, invited me along on a European speedway trip extravaganza in 1995.  Why not I thought.  Many a meeting was taken in along the way but the Golden Helmet in Pardubice being the biggest of the lot.  Pardubice has become one of my all-time favourite tracks and by an odd quirk of fate my local track for five years when I lived nearby.  That trip also introduced me to one or two legendary Monarchs fans Norman Ross, Jean Black and John Horne (although I already stood next to John during meetings) and of course Peter and Jimmy.  

The Monarchs just get into your blood; the Club has flirted with survival from time to time.  When reviewing the list of tracks, we visited during our summer holidays it’s sadly notable that not many of them still operate.  So, when after that truly incredible 2014 season the Monarchs were considering closing the doors, we just couldn’t let that happen.  

The Club has given me so much, so it was a simple choice do nothing and let the Club die or do my bit and help it survive.

Thankfully many many other folks shared that same view, perhaps for the same reasons as I, the racing, the favourite rider, friendships and the Monarchs Fans Trust was formed. 

If you can, come and join the Trust and help us keep the Club alive for generations to come. So, they too can; experience the thrill of the racing, the excitement of chatting to their hero and meet their best pal along the way.  

I love this Club.

Dear Fellow Monarchs Fans,
As we edge closer to the tapes for the 2026 season, the atmosphere around the club is
incredibly positive. The Monarchs promotion has done a fantastic job of assembling a side
that feels both competitive and balanced.

The 2026 Line-up: Experience and Ambition
We are delighted to see the return of established, professional riders who know exactly what
it takes to score points in the Championship. With the likes of Justin Sedgmen and Paco
Castagna leading from the front, we have a solid foundation of experience.
Furthermore, the promotion has stayed true to the Edinburgh tradition of nurturing talent.
We have some fantastic younger prospects making their way in the sport—riders like Mitch
Cluff and Jordy Loftus are sure to excite the Armadale faithful. We are also particularly
pleased to see the addition of the promising talent of Dan Thompson, who we are sure will
be a massive asset to the side this year.
It is also heartening to see that the Club has done a great job in attracting some additional,
much-needed sponsorship during the close season. This extra support is vital for the health
of the club and sets us up for a strong year ahead.

The Ben Fund: Supporting our own
One of the most important dates in the early season calendar is the Ben Fund Meeting,
taking place this year at Glasgow on Saturday, 28th March 6pm. This event does incredible
work supporting injured riders, and we are proud that the Monarchs will be well represented.
We are delighted to announce that the Committee has secured a rider sponsorship
package for Dan Thompson for this event. Dan is a fantastic talent, and we just wanted to
do our bit to help him settle in and get his season off to a flyer.
The idea of securing this package came from one of our own Committee members. The aim
is to get the Monarchs Fans Trust name out there a bit more and hopefully encourage a few
new faces from the wider speedway community to join up and support what we do.
Important Note on Funding: The Trust Committee is strictly bound by our constitution,
which dictates that member funds are used solely for the long-term stability and benefit of
the Edinburgh Monarchs.

Therefore, we want to make it clear that this sponsorship for Dan
has been funded entirely by the Committee members from their own pockets. No Trust
funds or membership subscriptions have been used for this sponsorship.

Your Chance to Attend as a VIP!
As part of this personal sponsorship, the Committee has received two tickets for the
meeting at Glasgow, and we would like to offer these to our members!
This isn’t just standard entry; the sponsorship package includes:

• Access to VIP seating for the best view of the action.
• A chance to meet Dan Thompson in person during the event.
  If you would like the chance to use one (or both) of these tickets to cheer on Dan and the
  rest of the field, please get in touch with us:
• CONTACT US
• Include: Your name and whether you are looking for one or two tickets.
  Please ensure your email reaches us by midnight on Sunday, 22nd March. We will draw
  names from the interested members on Monday morning to ensure a fair process and to
  give the winner plenty of time to make arrangements.
  We look forward to seeing many of you at the track very soon.
  Best regards,
  The Monarchs Fans Trust Committee

This is just a quick reminder that the Fans Trust AGM is tomorrow, Wednesday, 26th November, 7.30pm, at Staggs Bar, Musselburgh. All are welcome. This meeting will also be available online using MS Teams. Details of how to join the meeting have been sent to all members by email. If you have not received an email then please Contact Us. Edinburgh Speedway promotion have also confirmed they will attend and update supporters on plans for 2026.

Long time supporter and sponsor of the Monarchs, Staggs Bar, will host the Trust AGM in the function room.  Please grab a drink from the bar and then head through to the function room at the rear of the building.  Address is 81 North High Street, Musselburgh, EH21 6JE.  From central Edinburgh take bus numbers 26,44, 106, 113 or 124 to the Brunton Theatre stop.  The pub is 100m from the bus stop on the left-hand side of the theatre.  There is also a large free car park on site.