CHEPSTOW RACECOURSE AND REUBEN FOUNDATION TO SUPPORT FOOD BANKS
Chepstow Racecourse, the Reuben Foundation and Monmouthshire County Council can today announce a new scheme to support the county’s food banks with a wide range of store cupboard and bathroom essentials. This will benefit local people who currently face real hardship throughout the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
Vital supplies, including tea, coffee, UHT milk, pasta, noodles, sauce, canned fruit, soap, shower gel and toilet rolls, will be distributed to food banks with the generous help of Chepstow Racecourse and financial support from the Reuben Foundation.
Chepstow Racecourse is part of Arena Racing Company (“ARC”), Britain’s largest group of horse and greyhound racing venues. Executive Director Phil Bell said,
“We are well aware of the impact that the current health crisis and lockdown has had on many people in the local area. “Whilst racing at Chepstow and the other ARC venues has been suspended, we have been pleased to work with the council and our suppliers, with the significant financial support of the Reuben Foundation, to source these emergency supplies which we hope will benefit a large number of people across our community.
A spokesman for the Reuben Foundation said, “The Reuben Foundation is pleased to support the local community at this time of crisis. This continues our involvement in a number of charitable projects where we have been providing support to families and individuals who are impacted by the pandemic and also in purchasing protective equipment and food for front-line NHS staff and others. We very much hope that these supplies will go some way to helping those who are finding things difficult at the moment and to whom we would like to wish all the very best.”
Councillor Sara Jones, Monmouthshire County Council’s cabinet member for Social Justice and Community Development said, “I’m delighted that Chepstow Racecourse and the Reuben Foundation are working in partnership with the council to provide supplies for Monmouthshire’s foodbanks and we continue to encourage the donations tfor those in need.
For some in the county the coronavirus pandemic has had a detrimental effect on access to food, but the generous gestures by the community, racecourse and the Reuben Foundation will go a long way to mitigate hardship.”.
Ends
For more information, please contact
Sam Cone
PR & Communications Manager
Arena Racing Company
Office: 020 7802 5120
Mobile: 07920 404 296
Email: scone@arenaracingcompany.co.uk
Web: www.arenaracingcompany.co.uk
3rd Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP
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About ARC:
Arena Racing Company (“ARC”) is the largest racecourse operator in the UK. In 2020 ARC Group racecourses will host 572 fixtures with 1.2 million people attending racing at one of ARC’s racecourses each year.
ARC is made up of the following sixteen racecourses: Bath, Brighton, Chepstow, Doncaster, Ffos Las, Fontwell Park, Great Yarmouth, Hereford, Lingfield Park, Newcastle, Royal Windsor, Sedgefield, Southwell, Uttoxeter, Wolverhampton and Worcester.
ARC runs four of the six all-weather racecourses in the UK offering three different types of surface for horses to run on: Polytrack at Lingfield Park, fibresand at Southwell Racecourse and tapeta at Newcastle and Wolverhampton Racecourses – the only tapeta racing surfaces in Europe.
In 2013 ARC pioneered the All-Weather Championships which see horses compete throughout the winter for the chance of qualifying for a £1 million Finals Day on Good Friday at Lingfield Park. This initiative is helping raise the profile and prestige of all-weather racing in Great Britain.
ARC hosts racing at all levels of the sport from Class 7 through to Group 1s. Doncaster Racecourse is home to the world’s oldest Classic, the William Hill St Leger, run each year in September as part of the four-day William Hill St Leger Festival as well as the final Group 1 of the year in Britain, the Vertem Futurity Trophy. Feature jumps races include the Grade 1 Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle Racecourse, the Coral Welsh Grand National at Chepstow Racecourse and Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter Racecourse.
As well as racing, ARC also operates a hotel at Wolverhampton Racecourse, a hotel, spa resort and golf course at Lingfield Park and The Border Minstrel public house at Newcastle Racecourse in the grounds of Gosforth Park. The Hilton Garden Inn Doncaster Racecourse opened in September 2018.
ARC is a significant shareholder in the horseracing TV channel Sky Sports Racing which is broadcast on the Sky platform to c.14 million homes.
ARC plays a pivotal role in British Racing. It is a shareholder in British Champions Series and Racecourse Data Company; a signatory to a British Horseracing Authority’s and Horsemen’s Group Prize Money Agreement; and on the boards of the Racecourse Association (“RCA”), Great British Racing (“GBR”) and British Champion Series (“BCS”).
In 2015 ARC set up The Racing Partnership. This limited company represents the media rights of the 16 ARC owned-racecourses and the five independent racecourses Fakenham, Hexham, Newton Abbot, Plumpton and Ripon.
In addition to racecourses ARC owns Newcastle, Nottingham, Sunderland, Perry Barr and Belle Vue Greyhound Stadia and looks after the media interests of the Greyhound Media Group (“GMG”).
ARC employs 750 permanent staff and engages with 5,500 casual staff for racing and events across its racecourses. Further information about ARC can be found at www.arenaracingcompany.co.uk.
