In the Community
York Racecourse has been a member of the community since 1731. We are proud to recognise this and as a result Tony Lee, Operations Manager, a senior member of our management team and local resident, is our designated community officer. Tony can be contacted on tony.lee@yorkracecourse.co.uk or 01904 683938.
The role of York Racecourse in the local economy as indicated in an independent study conducted by the University of York, undertaken in 2008, which concluded that York Racecourse makes an annual contribution in terms of spend in the city of £44 million per annum and supports 1,350 full-time jobs. A total of 50 people are employed full-time at York Racecourse, who all live locally. In addition, there are several hundred individuals in our raceday staff, catering team and tote team – most of whom live locally and help make racedays a special occasion. Beyond this, we have a detailed and extensive community programme and we our proud of our role in being a responsible and helpful neighbour as set out below.
Education in the Community
We host various school, college and university tours around the site. Since 2006 over 3,000 students have been on such tours. Local schools, including Knavesmire School and Millthorpe School have visited, with parties also coming from further afield including North Wales. For specific enquiries regarding these please contact Tony Lee using the contact details below.
Many of these visits form part of a racing industry initiative called “Racing to School” The days are run by The British Horseracing Educational and Standards Trust (www.bhest.co.uk) and are a tailor made, structured experience for teachers and pupils which fit into the national curriculum. Last year over 560 pupils experienced these days at York Racecourse.
We work closely with local schools in other ways. For example, Knavesmire Primary School uses our D car park as a sports field out of the racing season and the Scouts use the Stable Yard as a parking space for their mini-bus.
Charities in the Community
Our Macmillan Charity Day, for the 2011 season this will be Saturday 11th June, has raised over £5 million over the years. This has benefited both Macmillan Cancer Support and many local cancer related charities, such as St. Leonard’s Hospice and York Against Cancer. This is the largest charity raceday in British racing.
Cancer Research’s Race for Life is an annual event on the Knavesmire, with our newly installed service road rescuing the event in 2008, which would have been abandoned otherwise due to weather conditions. The British Heart Foundation’s fun run is also held on the same service road.
York Racecourse arranges via the City of York Council for six licensed charity collections on the public highway outside the racecourse at race meetings during the year. There is a waiting list of several years for this so charities should contact jane.richardson@yorkracecourse.co.uk to find out further details. These raised over £21,000 in 2010.
York Racecourse also tries to assist local charities, schools and community organisations where it can with raffle prizes to assist in valuable fundraising activities. For a number of years York Racecourse has also sponsored the sporting hero category in the York Community Pride Awards.
Additionally, York Racecourse Hospitality continually work with local suppliers, sourcing freshly prepared produce and forging valued working relationships. The article in this section recognises these suppliers and the pride we take in working with them.
We also work closely with the local police, including pioneering the initiative, Get a Band Get a Beer, to ensure compliance with licensing laws. On a raceday, in partnership between the Racecourse, NYP’s Neighbourhood Policing team and the City of York Council we have created a designated walking route to the city centre with the provision of toilets, signage and bins to ensure residents and racegoers continue to respect and contribute to a safe and enjoyable environment for everyone.
There are many other ways in which York Racecourse is an active member of the community from providing a wireless base station for the police and City of York Council on the roof of our stands, hosting the National Blood Transfusion team free of charge, to providing a place for a local band to practise. Many public services also use York Racecourse as a training venue with our compliments, including fire service training, police dog unit training and the Close Protection Team.
As our Community Officer, Tony is pleased to provide further information on disability access, educational tours and answer any other similar queries you may have. Please use the contact details below.
York Racecourse has a regular dialogue with the City of York Council and local wards and appreciates the help and support it receives from the local community.
Email: tony.lee@yorkracecourse.co.uk
Telephone: 01904 683938
Write to:
Tony Lee
Community Officer
York Racecourse
The Racecourse
YORK
YO23 1EX
Comments received from:
Mrs C Weston, Headteacher of Knavesmire Primary School:
“Staff, children and parents have greatly appreciated your generosity. It has been lovely to see our Football Team winning matches and topping the league. Being able to have proper practises and play matches at home really does make all the difference. I know that parents are particularly appreciative and that at the recent Parents and Governors’ Meeting and last Full Governing Body Meeting, this was formally acknowledged.”
Mrs Judith Wilson, Community Fundraiser, St Leonard’s Hospice:
“Many thanks once again for the loan of the racecourse tables for our Birthday Party celebrations on Sunday 13th June. We had a wonderful day in spite of the showers and, after expenses, raised in excess of £6,000, which was a fantastic result.”
Mike Elsworth, Teacher, Tadcaster Grammar School:
“Thank you very much for Monday. Your presentation on Monday and info about the constraints and costs of putting on the music and types of customer per race day will help the students’ coursework. All the students have been before to the course and are very likely to go again this season.”
Brigadier (Retd) E J Torrens-Spence CBE LM, The Royal Dragoon Guards:
“Could I, on behalf of all the members of The Royal Dragoon Guards, both serving and retired, thank you and all the staff at York Racecourse for the fantastic support you gave to our Regimental Medal Parade yesterday.
It was a great advertisement for the Racecourse, not only as a great venue for this sort of event, but also for the cooperative, friendly and “can do” attitude of the staff. We are genuinely appreciative of the efforts – thank you again.”
Not just Food and Drink
Recognising our local suppliers and the pride we take in working with them.
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