Description:Balsall Heath Panthers was the original name of the present day Sandwell Cycle Speedway Club. The club was founded in 1948 and raced on a bomb site in Balsall Heath Road. A gentleman by the name of Charlie Humphrey, now living in Redditch, was the one who first started to construct the track and he was soon joined by all of the kids living in Balsall Heath Road. The first captain of the team was Ray Goode. Ray's late father Frederick Leonard Goode, who was a centre half with Everton in the 1920's, took over the running of the club and changed the name to Birmingham Lions because he felt that Balsall Heath Panthers was too parochial.
The club left Balsall Heath Road when the land was required for regeneration in 1962 and moved to a site just outside the City in Old Park Lane, Langley Green and changed the name to Oldbury Lions. The Old Park Lane track is now buried underneath Oldbury Fire Station and they then moved to their present site at Tividale Sportsground in 1969. When the Town of Oldbury merged with other Black Country Towns to form the new Borough of Sandwell, they dropped the Oldbury name and adopted the name of Sandwell.
(from Secretary - Brian Buck)