Colne: Terminally ill speedway racer treated to ride-by of 100 bikers

David Wildman, from Colne, who turned 78 on New Year’s Day, was diagnosed with cancer in 2022 and was given a terminal prognosis when his condition worsened.

He was a keen speedway rider when he was younger, competing at the now defunct Seedhill Stadium in Nelson and The Shay in Halifax.

David is a resident at Albert House care home in Colne (Image: Albert House)

David, a resident at Albert House residential home in Colne, told the staff that he would love to see the bikes one more time, and they duly obliged.

More than 100 bikers turned up outside the home to see David and, on Tuesday, he was visited by Mark Lemon, the manager of David’s favourite speedway team, Belle Vue Aces.

Dawn Murphy, manager at Albert House, said: “It started off as a joke that he was going to get me to sit on a bike outside so that he could sit there and wave, and I told him that wasn’t going to happen!

“He said ‘I’d just love to see some bikes and be able to wave at the riders’. I thought about it and contacted a friend who is a biker and they said they’ll do it a week on Sunday. I said no, I want it doing now.

David wearing a rider's helmet (Image: Albert House)

“We put in on the Colne Talk Facebook group and a couple of the bikers that we know locally shared it with other bikers. By 4 o’clock the turnout was unbelievable.

“A lot of the people he lost contact with have been contacting us and they asked today if somebody that he used to ride with years ago and Mark Lemon from the Aces could come up to see him. He was just blown away with it.”

Dawn added that David was extremely grateful to everyone that came out to send him wishes and to watch the ride-by.

Over 100 bikers turned out to see David (Image: Albert House)

She said: “There’s a picture of him with a white helmet on that belongs to one of the riders, who said would you like to wear my helmet. His face was like that all the way through.

“There were quite a few tears because it brought a lot of memories back. There were quite a few hankies that he went through.

“Yesterday I asked him what he thought of it and he said ‘I can’t believe everyone did that for little me.”

Despite his health, David was able to see Belle Vue win their first Speedway Premiership title in 29 years when they beat Sheffield Tigers in the final last October.