A LETTER from Droitwich reader Alan Barton regarding parking at Worcester Racecourse sent us digging through the files for all things Pitchcroft to run as this week’s Nostalgia feature.
Well, not all things. No one needs reminding of the flooding pictures that once were a rarity but which have become depressingly familiar in recent times.
And there wasn’t much point in carrying pictures of fireworks – it’s dark and you can’t see faces.
Here instead, then is a brief look back at pictures that illustrated stories from the racecourse from the 1960s onwards.
A packed grandstand in February 1995
A mud-spattered but still smiling jockey David Finnegan in November 1995
A summer evening in June 1995 and Victoria Brown is aboard Teddy the donkey
November 1982 saw Jack Irving visit the course as a race day guest. His dad, also Jack, was an on-course bookie, and here Jack shows his licence
February 1992 and the city’s planning chief was bemoaning the blot on the landscape that was the hundreds of cars parking daily on Pitchcroft
June 1975 and while parts of the country had no water, the sprinklers were on at Pitchcroft, the Severn as the supply
From January 1972 comes this picture very much of its time
The mile run for charity at the racecourse in March 1996 was no bother for these happy youngsters
March 1996 and Emma Greenfield and Sarah Fagg have just completed a mile run for charity
A lesser seen general view of the racecourse in January 1986
A pink Cadillac drew a lot of attention at the annual USA Automobile Show in May 2001
Racecourse manager Jack Bennett mans the pumps in December 1984
Whose idea was this again? Jack Bennett, left, and course clerk Hugo Bevan aboard two ships of the desert in May 1988
July 1993 and Jack Forder was dwarfed by the Big Foot truck which rolled into the city for the International Thrill Show
A jumbo-sized crane being used to swing girders into place during construction of the grandstand in June 1974
Felicity and James Coll, with binoculars, studying the action from afar in August 1994
Studying the form guides in August 1994
Racecourse staff pictured in April 1991, from left, Mick Coulter, Geoff Preece, Andrew Bourton, Paul Bellamy and Steve Green
State-of-the-art first aid in October 1977. Ann Nethcoat and Iris Fooks, of No 24 detachment British Red Cross
An aerial views of the grandstand construction in August 1974. And no, it’s not a bridge, it’s a crease in the image
Getting the hump... February 1993 and the pay-and-display machines were perched atop earth mounds
The famous gates at the junction of Castle Street, Croft Road and Severn Terrace
Plastic rails laid out ready for erection in March 1996. Vandalism fears had delayed the course putting them up
...offering 5-2 here
...and a long shot – 33-1. Pictures from January 1973
TIC-TAC TIME: Top of the head, for odds of 9-4...
Reaching the w inning post in front of a large crowd during the 1960s
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