Edinburgh Monarchs | Tales of One City

A recent addition to our Edinburgh Collected community archive is an online scrapbook of fabulous photos gathered together by the Living Memory Association from a collection from Dorothy Law and Christine Couper, two avid followers of the Edinburgh Monarchs speedway team in the 1960s.

A group of four women, three in yellow jackets stand in front of a large, ornate, metal gate holding a placard that reads, "Meadowbank Speedway Supporters Club". — Meadowbank Speedway and Monarchs Supporters on a trip to London, 1967, shared by Living Memory Association on www.edinburghcollected.org

Speedway was, and still is, a popular Friday evening family sport with clubs competing up and down the country. Our collection focuses on Edinburgh Monarchs which was founded in 1928 and operated from Marine Garden in Portobello for several years into the 1930s.

A man sits on a bike holding the handlebars and a trophy and is wearing a sign saying, "The Monarchs" over his t-shirt. — Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway heartthrob, Reidar Eide at Meadowbank, c1966, shared by Living Memory Association on www.edinburghcollected.org

After the Second World War, Marine Gardens was not available for use and the team moved venue to Old Meadowbank. The team raced there until the stadium was redeveloped for the Commonwealth Games in 1970. The team then moved to a new track at Cliftonhill, Coatbridge in North Lanarkshire and operated as the Coatbridge Monarchs for the later part of the 1960s.

A group of six motorbike riders are standing in a line behind another rider sitting on his bike. — Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway Motorcycling Team, c1965, shared by Living Memory Association on www.edinburghcollected.org

They returned to Edinburgh in 1977, racing at Powderhall Stadium until 1995. When Powderhall was sold to a housing company, the Monarchs were on the move again. In 1997 their home was Armadale Stadium, West Lothian, where they remain. And for anyone wanting to catch this sport, the Scottish speedway season has just restarted this month!