The Godfather of Peterborough Panthers Speedway Club. Roy Bird MBE.

Roy Bird MBE oversaw the formation of the East of England Showground at Alwalton after the Showground moved from its previous Eastfield location, but he was best known as chief executive of the East of England Agricultural Society and secretary of the Shire Horse Society.

Mr Bird was the longest serving committee member of the Burghley Horse Trials, serving 50 years after an invitation from Lord Exeter, and was presented with a plate of Burghley House by Princess Anne. Roy knew most of the Royal Family, including the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Mother and Princess Anne and he was invited to Kensington Palace for the 100th birthday of Princess Alice, the Duchess of Gloucester. He was awarded the MBE in 1969 and was also Chairman of the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society.

We were recently contacted by Mr Rawlings and his wife, who knew Mr Bird very well. Mr Rawlings takes up the story. ‘My first dealings with Roy Bird came around the year 2000, when there was a breakdown of communications between the then promoters of the Panthers and the then CEO of the East of England Showground, Andrew Mercer. I rang Mr Bird (who was a friend of my sister, and knew of me through her) and explained the situation. He was shocked to say the least, but pointed me in the direction of a member of the Showground committee and things were sorted out amicably.’

‘He said at the time that Speedway and the East of England Showground had existed together for thirty odd years and he would like to think that the partnership would flourish for many, many more years. He went on to say that involvement with the Panthers and its first ever promoter Danny Dunton of Allied Promotions in the early 70s helped enormously with the cost of running the Showground and that had we not had this regular income for the long barren days when nothing else except Speedway was taking place, there was a real possibility that the Showground would not have survived. So Speedway will always be a big part of the Showground activities and that should not be forgotten by anybody, he finalised.’

‘In January 2015 the very first Panthers promoter Danny Dunton sadly passed away, and I was asked by Mr Bird if I would represent him (and the East of England Agricultural Society) at the funeral, as he was away and I was happy to oblige. In February 2015 my wife and I went to see him to give him a copy of the order of service for Danny Dunton’s funeral. We had a long chat with him and his wife and he said again how sorry he was that one of life’s gentlemen had passed away and reiterated again how Speedway had come to the financial rescue of the Showground in the early 1970s.’

Mr Rawlings concludes, ‘he was always interested in the Panthers and even joined the World Speedway Riders Association as a full member up until his death in 2018’

We thank Mr Rawlings for this remarkable story.