Harringay Speedway star Split Waterman

Comment by Laurence Marson on May 18, 2012 at 13:25

2,4,6,8 waiting at the starting Gate, Who ? The Haringay Racers !!!! 

Comment by John Spiers on September 8, 2017 at 6:04

When we lived at 24 Stanhope Gardens, the Harringay Arena was a few hundred yards away from us. It has been replaced by the Harringay Arena Retail Park. The great stadium had been built on what in the 19^th century had been an area devoted to making clay-pots and then bricks. When we were boys there the big draw was the speedway. The Harringay Tigers was one of three guises of the Harringay-based speedway team. Speedway racing ended at the stadium in 1954.

We always talked of ‘bunking in’, to see the racing, but I never knew anyone achieve this by climbing in over the wall. A big star for the Harringay Racers was ‘Split’ Waterman. He was a hero to us small boys. And so it was a big shock to me to be sent by the Brighton Evening Argus in the summer of 1967 to report on the preliminary magistrate’s case at Lewes which featured ‘Split’ Waterman and a blonde woman. They were charged with trying to smuggle stolen gold out of the country via Newhaven Ferries, with the metal moulded into the wing of a car. The pair were charged at Lewes and remanded. Then the charges were dropped, but the couple were re-arrested in London. Waterman and Miss Priston were said to be persons of previous good character. However, bail was opposed by the police at Bow Street magistrate’s court, as even if their passports were withdrawn the police believed they would and could abscond abroad. The charges were denied.

 

When his speedway career finished Waterman had gone into business in sheet metal working and plastic injection moulding, making plastic goods for companies such as Woolworth’s and Airfix. He was arrested at Newhaven while attempting to board a ferry to Dieppe, after gold with a value of £10,000 - the product of 26 stolen gold bars, which he had “received” - was found in the chassis of his fiancée Avril Priston's car. He was then aged 47 and living in Elm Road, New Malden, Surrey. Miss Priston, 38, a dressmaker, was living at Manor House Farm, Bourne End, Cranfield, Hertfordshire - a 150-acre farm owned by her parents. A subsequent raid at Priston's family home in Bedfordshire found illegal firearms. She had known Waterman for between 12 and 18 years. At his trial the judge said that Waterman had been a gun runner in Africa.

 

Waterman was convicted at the Old Bailey of attempting to smuggle the gold out of Britain, as well as the unlawful possession of firearms including two sub-machine guns, two rifles, and three pistols, and possession of dies for forging coins. He was very evidently a player in serous crime. He was sentenced to four years in prison. The gold was thought to have come from a bullion van robbery in Clerkenwell. Priston was convicted of conspiracy to smuggle gold and possession of two pistols and a pen gun, and was sentenced to six months in prison. Waterman married Avril in 1970 at Caxton Hall. As of 4 July 2011, they were living in Nerja on the Costa del Sol in Spain. Waterman was then 88 years of age. The couple may still be alive there, in 2015.

 

Waterman had been a super-star of speedway. He had twice finished second in the Speedway World Championship final. Waterman took up speedway while serving in the British Army in Italy and went on to become one of the top riders of the post-war era. He had begun his career with the Wembley Lions in 1947, winning the National League Championship, and again in 1949. In 1950 he was transferred to the Harringay Racers for a then world record transfer fee of £3,000 and he qualified for his first of five World finals, finishing seventh. He rode in thirty Test matches for England, and captained the team in the 1953 series against Australia.

Comment by Hugh on September 8, 2017 at 9:00

Thanks for the interesting history.

Comment by John Spiers on September 8, 2017 at 9:19

Many thanks Hugh for all you do with your superb site, which I much value. I am working on my memoirs. Can send you other things - including my time at Woodlands Park Primary School in Harringay in the late 1940s/early 50s, if helpful. Best wishes, John.

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