Since 2022, Wetherby Racecourse has hosted course walks to provide the local community the opportunity to see the racecourse up close, get outdoors and connect with fellow ramblers. This year, the racecourse teamed up with the Yorkshire Brain Tumour Charity (YBTC) to create the Flat Cap Course Walk. The event invited supporters of the charity to join the regular course walkers and receive a behind-the-scenes tour of the venue with the Clerk of the Course and Head Groundsman.

“We were delighted to partner with YBTC for our Flat Cap Course Walk” explains Michelle Campbell, General Manager at Wetherby Racecourse. “We had over 30 people take part in the event, including a couple from Chester who had seen it advertised in our last racecard and travelled back to Wetherby especially to take part! By teaming up with YBTC, participants had the opportunity to learn more about the charity’s work and to discuss their own experiences, whether personal or indirect, of brain tumours.

“After walking the course, we invited everyone to have a look at our weighing room where they could learn about the processes that happen behind-the-scenes on a raceday. Events like this are a really important way of opening up our sport to our local community and I would encourage other racecourses to make connections with local community groups and charities if they haven’t already done so.”

The walk is an advancement of Wetherby’s Wear a Hat Raceday, a popular, recurring charity raceday that has taken place for more than a decade. Discussing the day, Campbell said: “Wear a Hat Day is a national campaign for the charity Brain Tumour Research, and is run in March as part of Brain Tumour Awareness Month. Some years ago, we worked with a group of local milliners that were completing a course at the Leeds College of Art and Design, and they asked us if they could raffle off some hats at one of our racedays to raise money for the YBTC. The raffle proved popular, and we wanted to continue to support the charity, so we developed the Wear a Hat Raceday to help promote the wider national campaign.

“On the raceday we raise awareness for the campaign with the wear a hat theme and through race titles. We also fundraise through bucket collections and a raffle, all staffed by volunteers from YBTC. We also have a quieter area for people that want to have a chat to the volunteers about the work they do and the support they can offer.

“We were thrilled to host both the walk, and the raceday for YBTC and thanks to the generosity of walkers, racegoers and match funding provided by Leeds Building Society, a total of £6,836.47 was raised.”

Community engagement has become an integral part of racecourse management in recent years, and results from the recent British Racing Social Impact Survey reflected this, showing significant growth in the community and charitable work being done by racecourses across Britain.

Wetherby’s community engagement extends beyond their support of YBTC with Wetherby in Support of the Elderly (WiSE) another grateful beneficiary. The charity invites ‘WiSE Friends’ to the racecourse twice a year and also host a gardening day where green-fingered locals can volunteer at the racecourse.

On the partnership, Debbie Todd, Activities Coordinator at WiSE said: “Being able to bring our WiSE friends along to the racecourse is very important. Many people have never been to the races despite living in Wetherby all their lives, and these events give them the opportunity to see the sport, understand it a little more and also enjoy the fabulous hospitality from the team at Wetherby.

“We also enjoyed the gardening day, the WiSE friends saw it as helping the racecourse and giving a little back. At WiSE one our main aims is to prevent social isolation in the elderly and events like this always help.”

You can find out more about Wetherby Racecourse here, more about Yorkshire’s Brain Tumour Chairty here, and more about Wetherby in Support of the Elderly here.