The last ever meeting at Heathersfield will be staged on Sunday 24th October with a 2.00pm start. Heathersfield is closing because the land on which it is situated is to be sold and the lease agreement has been terminated.
The meeting will take the form of a four team tournament featuring riders who have appeared on the track over the years.
Those who have ridden at Heathersfield include James Grieves who won the first event staged at Heathersfield when he was 15. Stewart McDonald appeared there as a youngster and returned to the team as recently as 1995. Mick Powell was the first rider to take to the original Heathersfield track. Scott Lamb, a Linlithgow resident, was a regular at least behind the bar. Paul Gould also appeared in the first race at Heathersfield. Workington's Geoff Powell was the first Linlithgow captain.
The best crop of youngsters to come through from Linlithgow were the class of 1996. Barry Campbell, Blair Scott, Peter Scully, Grant MacDonald, Brian Turner, Stuart Coleman, and Neil Hewitt all appeared in the team that won the Conference Double.
Others to have come through the ranks include David McAllan who later switched to Berwick and Ross Brady who moved to Peterborough.
All riders who have appeared for Linlithgow have been invited to attend. Unfortunately Stewart McDonald, Barry Campbell and Brian Turner are injured and will not be able to ride.
The event will take the form of a four team tournament. The four teams will be the East of Scotland, the West of Scotland, the Borders, and the Midlands.
The provisional line-ups are as follows with some riders still to confirm:
The Easterners include James Grieves, Blair Scott, Derek Sneddon, David McAllan and James Denholm (reserve).
The Westerners include Mick Powell, Will Beveridge, Scott Courtney, Robert McNeil and Gary Flint (reserve).
The Borderers include Kevin Little, David Meldrum, Robert Grant, Jon Swales and Alan Hartley (reserve).
The Midlanders include Les Collins, Aiden Collins, Paul Gould and Steven Jones.
This may be an emotional farewell to Heathersfield but is also intended to act as a fundraiser to assist with relocation. Alan Robertson is confident that a new base will be found:
"I've already viewed two possible sites. One suffered from being too far from the main road. The other was ideal but as yet the ownerhas not fully committed to making the land available to us. I feel ready for the challenge of constructing another new circuit."
"My enthusiasm for the sport has been rekindled. If this had happened a year ago, I would have had a bonfire and walked away! My attitude has changed because of the help I've received from a number of people this year."
"We are hoping to attract our biggest crowd. We have special permission to run the meeting to help boost fund raising.
"The response has been great so far and it should be a memorable meeting."
Planning permission could present problems although there are signs that the local council may be supportive. It is rather too soon for any hard news.