At the opening sports meeting on Easter Monday 1878 there was pole leaping, wrestling and running races. A Montgolfier balloon ascended at dusk and put on a fireworks display. There was dancing in the evening to Blair & Co.'s brass band, admission cost sixpence. There was a one mile bicycle handicap race on the first day, which attracted a ‘great deal of attention.' The five competitors ran in two heats and the final was won by J Kell of Darlington for a prize of one pound ten shillings. The bicycle race was repeated on the following day, with the same competitors.
On Whit Monday 1878, the Excelsior Gala Company^^ held their annual sports over Monday and Tuesday and 3,000 people attended. There was a bicycle race of ‘about a mile, open to all comers' and four heats for the event were held on Monday. The final took place on Tuesday and W Waller of Guisbrough was the winner for a first prize of £5. The other sports at the gala were foot racing, pole leaping and wrestling. Music was provided by the Malleable Ironworks brass band.
On 27th and 29th July 1878 there was a ‘Monstre Gala' which included an ‘All England bicycle handicap race for £10. The Bale troupe** of bicycle riders ‘on their iron horses' gave an exciting performance.
On Monday evening 28th July 1879 there was a ten miles challenge race for £5, between George Waller, the ‘Champion rider of the World' and R Pattison the ex-Champion of the North. Pattison had a one minute start and Waller pulled back half a lap when his saddle slipped and he was forced to dismount. Waller lost two laps, which he never regained and Pattison won in 38min 3sec. The attendance ‘was not large.'
The Stockton BC held a series of monthly bicycle handicap races during the summer of 1880, to race for a medal, donated by the Club Captain HC Smith. At the final meeting on 24th August, the one mile handicap race was won for the third time by WR Hunton and fastest time was 3 min 49 sec.
Stockton Amateur Bicycle Club held their first annual sports on 11th August 1883, entries for their club races and open events was very healthy, but the attendance was low, which the Stockton Herald considered was due to the meeting being held on a Saturday, which was not popular with cyclists. The Stockton ABC club races were held again in 1884, but this was probably the last bicycle racing that was held at the ground.
Belle Vue continued to hold sports meetings and on Easter Monday 1885 there was wrestling, and pedestrian races. At an event on 15th November 1889, a ballon piloted by Mr Dorie rose into the skies and he descending by parachute into a garden at Seaton Carew.
The proprietor of Belle Vue, WH Kirkup, died in January 1900. Sports and other meetings continued infrequently, in 1903 and 1904 there were foot races.
By the 1930s, whippet racing was held at Belle Vue and the ground was known locally as Portrack Park. In 1946, an independent or flapper++ greyhound racing track was installed and greyhound racing was held there from 1st June. Greyhound owners used to parade their dogs in Stockton town, so that punter could assess their condition. To commemorate greyhound racing, a sculpture of three greyhound was installed on the High Street in Stockton. The greyhound track closed in the early 1970s and the site was developed for housing, around the area now known as Belle Vue Crescent.
^^ The Excelsior Gala Company was set up by a group of Stockton licensed victuallers. The Company owned the home ground of Stockton cricket club on Oxbridge Lane, where they put on galas in the 1870s, which attracted over 4,000 spectators. WH Kirkup was the very active secretary of the company.
** The original Bales Troupe was managed by Frank Bale, the troupe also included his brothers William and Arthur, with Mdlle Francis and young Otto. The company toured Britain from the 1860s, with juggling and trick bicycle riding, they introduced a tame pigeon called Sultan and a couple of Monkey Velocipedists into their act. The wider Bale family were entertainers and for over forty years, members of the family performed as the Royal Zanettos, a juggling act dressed in Japanese's costume, who toured the USA and Europe in the 1890s. Family members also performed as the Yokohama Troupe, the Sisters Korosko Bale and the Bognor Clown.
++ A flapper track required local authority permission, gambling and alcohol licences in order to operate, but they were outside the jurisdiction of the National Greyhound Racing Club.