An active role

Community Engagement

Our Commitment

Chelmsford City Racecourse takes an enormous amount of pride in being able to take an active role within both the racing and local community continuing to build links by staging local events and volunteering throughout the year.

We actively support the British Horseracing Education and Racing to School which helps introduce racing to schools through tailored activity days and educational support packs.

Donations to more than 200 local charities each year

£12,000 raised through Family Fun Day in 2021

Annual volunteer work on 'Give and Gain Day'

Increased investments in sustainability

Charities

Chelmsford City Racecourse is proud to support a variety of local, national and racing charities throughout the year.

Family Fun Days have played a massive role in the racecourse’s ability to support charities over the years. In 2019 the racecourse held two of these popular racedays for Help for Heroes and Havens Hospices with £11,239.88 and £10,422.71 being raised respectively. The racecourse returned with another Family Fun Day in 2021 and would go on to raise nearly £12,000 for Havens Hospices.

More than 200 local charities, community groups and businesses benefit each year either through monetary contributions or through complimentary tickets for use as raffle and auction prizes.

Beneficiaries have included the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, Tickets for Troops, the Women’s Institute, Sanctus Homeless Shelter, Macmillan Cancer Care, The J’s Hospice, Havens Hospices and the Injured Jockeys Fund, among others.

"Huge thanks to all of the team at Chelmsford City Racecourse for their amazing support for Havens Hospices. Second year working with Joanne and team on the annual Family Fun day raising funds for our charity. Fabulous event, well organised and executed, it was great to see so many smiling faces enjoying a great day whilst raising a fantastic amount for Havens Hospices. We are so grateful to CCR for their continued support."
Judy Grocott, Havens Hospices

Racing Together

Chelmsford City Racecourse works with the British Horseracing Authority-led Racing Together initiative, which seeks to give something back to the communities in which it operates around the country.

In doing so British racing invests £6.6 million a year in community engagement activities, while members of its 22,000 strong workforce donate 6,000 hours of their time each year for charitable activity.

The racecourse has been involved in Give and Gain Day, the global day of employee volunteering organised by Business in the Community (BITC). Thousands of people from hundreds of companies take part in the volunteering day and is Britain’s only nationally organised day of volunteering.

Racing’s contribution to the day has been co-ordinated by Racing Together, the community engagement strategy for the sport. The racecourse has been proud to support Give and Gain Day and has volunteered on several occasions since it opened in 2015.

To mark 2022 Racing Together Community Day we were proud to support the Eden Project Carers week, an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, highlighting the challenges unpaid carers face in our communities.

Joined by a local organisation Carers First, we provided complimentary tickets and welcomed local unpaid carers to enjoy an evening of racing without their dependants.

"It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to put something back into our community. We understand the importance of community engagement and are huge supporters of the Racing Together initiative."
Fraser Garrity, Racecourse Manager

“Thanks so much for helping make caring more visible, valued and supported this carers week, we had some good conversations with racegoers, and members of staff who are working carers.”
Veronica and Karen, Carers First

Schools and Education

Chelmsford City Racecourse welcomes children to the races, especially at dedicated family racedays, and supports a number of local schools with their fundraising activities throughout the year with donations of complimentary tickets as raffle and auction prizes throughout the year.

Racing to School is a charity which supports young people’s learning and development with the aim of encouraging an interest in horseracing both as a leisure activity and as a future career path.

“Racing to School” is an education programme, providing out of the classroom learning opportunities at racecourses, studs and training yards across the country, for over 10,000 young people every year. Many local schoolchildren benefit from access to this programme at Chelmsford City Racecourse every year.

Through the many courses provided by the British Racing School based in Newmarket, we have also been delighted to provide their delegates with a raceday experience to enhance their understanding of the sport.

Racing to School and Chelmsford City Racecourse welcomed children from our local school Great Leigh’s Primary for our first 2022 Racing to School day. We are already planning and look forward to our next day to give another school the opportunity to get involved.

Since opening, the racecourse has also welcomed many local groups such as Brownies and Scouts who have thoroughly enjoyed their visits. These have included seeing behind the scenes areas, being taken down to the start and even meeting some famous jockeys!

“We are so grateful to all the team at Chelmsford City for allowing the charity to invite a local school to have such a privileged day of learning. The racecourse is keen to strengthen its links with its community and we look forward to inviting more schools to take part in the programme.”
Ollie McPhail, Programme Manager Racing to School

We were proud to host our first Autism in Racing day here at the racecourse enabling autistic children to experience a day at the races in an autism friendly environment.

Part funded by the Racing Foundation, the Sir Peter O’Sullevan Trust and the HWPA following their pilot year in 2021, we delivered a fantastic day in collaboration with Immersive Interactive.

Children enjoyed a state of the art sensory room and private activity area with games and inflatables, also being provided with goody bags which included ear defenders for their comfort.

“A big thank you to Jo Flaherty and the Chelmsford City Racecourse team for going above and beyond to host a first Autism in Racing day at the racecourse - one of the biggest days so far. The sensory room and bouncy castle area were enjoyed by so many local families on a beautiful sunny day. Many families I spoke to had never attended a race meeting before and were captivated by the horses walking past in the parade ring.”
Lucy Gurney, Community & Engagement Manager Racing Together

"We attended the Autism in racing event they held here and it was brilliant. The people behind putting this together did an absolutely brilliant job! They put soft play in the marquee they set up for us so the individuals with autism had their own space and it was right next to where the horses parade and walk along to get to the track. My two girls absolutely loved seeing the horses and playing with the soft play.And the sensory room was great, the girls playing the games they had in there and enjoying the different colours.All of the staff were brilliant especially the two ladies behind the bar in there. They were so bubbly and friendly and really took an interest in the children and communicated to them and continuously made the effort with us all. They helped me so much as they saw me struggling with my two and that went along way for me and really made my day.
Jade Melissa Tredget, Visitor