I first went to Romford dogs the day before I was born and it seemed that I went racing pretty much every day as I grew up. Your mind plays tricks on you but there must have been more hours in a day and days in a week then for us to regularly go to Walthamstow, Romford, Crayford, Rayleigh, Southend, Ipswich, White City, Harringey and Hackney along with every Ipswich game and my dancing lessons every day!!
As much as I loved racing, nothing compared to when my parents and I bought our first dogs in the early 90s. At the time I was really struggling with anxiety – most of the time I could barely leave the house – and Arnie and Zig gave me a reason to try. They ran at Hackney and Middlesborough, giving us so much fun and helping me to meet so many wonderful people within the sport.
They were the first two greyhounds we had home – absolute sweethearts who gave us even more pleasure as pets as they did on the track. I have never been without a dog on the track or at home since. I have had some wonderful dogs and my dream came true when I bought Spiridon Louis (Mike) as a pup. My current two boys, Frank and Roger both Westmeads, are the most pampered yet and I can’t imagine life without them – Roger is having a 12-year-old uncoordinated mad moment as we speak, trying to fling Cleo the Caterpillar across the room. I just adore him!!
Ella and Luna
So where do I fit into the current world of racing? I still have a couple of dogs running but sadly don’t go racing as often now that most of it happens when I am at work or too far away. That said, I went to Henlow a few days ago to see some of the lovely young Westmeads run and to introduce my friend’s 10 week old, Jack, to the joys of racing – you are never too young to get started!
Norman
For the last couple of years I have been working with John Coleman on his story in racing – he has some great tales to tell and it has been an absolute pleasure to work with him. As a maths teacher I do not consider myself a great writer but if I can get some of the shenanigans across as he has told them it should supply some entertainment. Whether it ever gets printed is open to debate but the process has been a privilege.
I am also working on an education pack related to racing. Horse racing has led the way on this and I was lucky enough to shadow a Racing2School day at Sandown last year. The idea is that school children come to a race track and do activities based around the animals and the sport.
I had agreement from Lord Hesketh to start at Towcester so I am hoping that I can still go ahead with Kevin Boothby’s help. I know from taking students at my school to football clubs etc to do numeracy and literacy activities, that a different environment can really engage and excite them and there is so much maths in weights, times, stats and the track itself. If we can get them interested in racing too, that would be an added bonus.
And why did I agree to be a GBGB Ambassador? This sport has given me so much and we cannot shy away from the fact that these are difficult times – with our tracks on land that is far more valuable for housing than racing and a small group of uninformed people who want to try to end the sport – so I am trying to give something back, to racing and to the breed. It’s surprising how easy it is to promote greyhounds as pets – they are such striking creatures that you are always stopped when out walking.
Roger
I can never resist an opportunity to chat about them and dispel the myths about them needing loads of exercise and chasing small furries. I always bring my own racers home but have also been able to home quite a few others locally by word of mouth. Recently homed has been Norman, with his cat friend Whisper, who often comes to visit me. A work colleague came back after the October break telling me she is now ready for a greyhound. She went to Westmead with her mother-in-law.
A week later they took Ella & Luna to their respective homes. Very lucky dogs!! I try to help both the Lincolnshire Greyhound Trust and Dunton Greyhound Trust whenever I can, spending as many days as possible with Liv & Beth Noble (incredible young women who give up so much of their time) doing town centre meet & greets or events to find homes. Finding homes from these has been relatively easy, getting people to call them “rehomed” rather than “rescued” has been a little more challenging.
What’s next? Recently a couple of the other ambassadors and I have been discussing a new rehoming idea which could mean that we can home some dogs directly from trainers’ kennels. I am also trying to extend the meet and greets that we currently do in town centres, to find homes, to horserace tracks. Hopefully, as ambassadors, we could also promote the sport to a captive audience and, who knows, one day we may get the Cheltenham straight race back!!
