Rally Scalextric at Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton Scalextric Club had to move premises last year as the Strykers bowling alley on the A449 closed down and evicted them from the rooms they were renting. They then moved to Aldersley Stadium in a nicer part of the city and held a combined charity fund-raiser, official opening and rally event yesterday which I attended. The charity was Acorns Children's Hospices, the club's chosen charity and the tape-cutting/speech-marking duties were handled by Nicky Grist, co-driver to the late great Colin McRae MBE and someone whose voice has probably nagged you a lot if you've ever played any of the McRae computer games.

Somebody else's report with photos is here



With my social responsibility hat on for the moment (which I appreciate doesn't fit very well) it was good to see so many young kids at the event. The Wolverhampton club used to be outside of the residential areas and therefore had a membership mostly of adults who drove and could get there easily on a night, now that the clubroom is in the middle of a residential area and associated with Claregate Youth Club it seems a bit easier for kids to get to and probably more acceptable to parents. I think young lads (and to quote H.G. Wells' Little Wars, the more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books) can benefit from a hobby like racing Scalextric cars teaching kids good lessons about discipline, analytical problem solving, good sportsmanship and acceptable behaviour (which our beloved ZanNuLabour overlords and social engineers would call citizenship) and it keeps them off the streets. And everybody knows that geeky hobbies are the new cool.