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 hosting local events, volunteering throughout the year, championing our Armed Forces and supporting charities.
We actively support the British Horseracing Education and Racing to School charity, which helps introduce horseracing to schools through tailored activity days and educational support packs.
We are also committed to actively engaging with vulnerable and disadvantaged groups of people hosting events such as Autism in Racing and supporting unpaid carers.
Charities
Chelmsford City Racecourse is proud to support a variety of local, national and racing charities throughout the year.
Family Fun Days have been instrumental in enabling the racecourse to support these charities over the years, raising an impressive total of £34,000.
In 2019 the racecourse held the first of these hugely popular racedays in support of Help For Heroes raising £10,422.71. Building on this success, similar events were held in 2021 for Havens Hospices raising £11,739.02, and in 2022 returning with another Family Fun Day saw our donation of £11,653 go to EHAAT (Essex & Herts Air Ambulance).
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, Farleigh Hospice, Macmillan Cancer Care, Kids Inspire, Cancer Research, Blesma, The Presidents Sporting Club, POP Essex, Havens Hospices and the Injured Jockeys Fund, among others.
Award Winning Racedays
On Armistices Day in 2023 we held our first fantastic Remembrance Raceday to honour our Armed Forces for their service and sacrifice, partnering with the Royal British Legion. All past and present serviceman were invited as our guests bringing family and friends along for a memorable day of military entertainment and racing.
We were honoured to have Cllr Linda Mascot in attendance playing a key part in a moving wreath laying ceremony, with local RBL Standard Bearers, Bugler and Essex Yeomanry Band. From all day bucket collections and a donation from the racecourse just over £4000 was raised for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.
This hugely popular raceday returned in 2024, once again to remember those who sacrificed their lives for us, with another generous donation going to the Royal British Legion.
In further support of our Armed Forces, we have also welcomed local charity Blesma who support limbless veterans to the racecourse, helping them raise a huge £8447 since 2023 for their great cause, dedicated to helping serving and ex-service men and women who have suffered life changing injuries and limb loss. The racecourse has also collected and donated hampers to vulnerable veterans for their Hamper Christmas Cheer appeal.
The racecourse is honoured to have been finalists in the Racing Together Community category at the RCA Showcase awards showcasing the best in British horseracing, receiving a ‘Highly Commended’ award for Remembrance Raceday 2023. This popular Remembrance Raceday will return in 2025 on Thursday 6th November.
Community and Volunteering
Chelmsford City Racecourse works with the British Horseracing Authority Racing which seeks to give something back to the communities in which it operates around the country. Racing’s contribution to the day has been co-ordinated by Racing Together, the community engagement strategy for sport, and of which the racecourse is proud to be huge advocates of.
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 of their time each year for charitable activity.
The racecourse has been regularly involved in Give and Gain Day and Racing Together’s Community Day, where thousands of people from the racing community take part in volunteering in their local community. The racecourse has been proud to support these initiatives and has volunteered out in the community on several occasions since it opened in 2015.
Since 2022 we have been proud to mark community day by also supporting the Eden Project Carers week, an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, highlighting the challenges unpaid carers face in our communities.
Offering complimentary tickets this annual event enables unpaid carers who are our unsung heroes who face tough daily challenges, to spend some well-deserved respite away from their dependants to enjoy an evening of racing. We also welcome carer organisations along to offer valuable advice and support on the day to those who need it.
Community Days
For our community day in 2023 we worked with a local charity Abberton Rural Training (ART) who deliver a programme of practical skills to residents of Essex and surrounding areas, supporting disadvantaged groups of people, with an additional focus on the Armed Forces and veterans, equipping them with skills to open up more employment opportunities. A team of volunteers spent the day at a newly acquired site, clearing rubble, weeding, mowing and unearthing an overgrown hidden path.
Another memorable team volunteering day in 2024 was spent at The Wilderness Foundation, a local organisation that offers education and therapy programmes to help children, teens and adults reconnect to society through outdoor adventures using nature-based therapy and learning. Their programmes help vulnerable people with challenging lives and mental health issues build resilience, and independence using nature and wilderness experiences.
At their 400-acre local site a team from the racecourse helped transform a clearing in the woods transferring and laying bark for people to enjoy therapy sessions in a calm and outdoor environment close to nature. Also weeding a seating area within a raised bed garden trail.
Schools and Education
Our vision at Chelmsford City Racecourse is to bring more children to enjoy horseracing, introducing them to the sport as our next generation of racegoers. We achieve this through dedicated family racedays, community event days, inviting groups of young people for behind-the-scenes tours with activities, and supporting a number of local schools with their fundraising activities through donations of complimentary tickets as raffle and auction prizes throughout the year.
Another initiative is through Racing to School, a charity that 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 educational 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 school children benefit from access to this programme at Chelmsford City Racecourse every year.
Racing to School and Chelmsford City Racecourse welcomed children from our local school Great Leighs Primary for our first 2022 Racing to school day. Continuing the initiative in 2023 we also welcomed Terling Primary school, with 2024 hosting local SEN school Columbus offering a group of children with special needs the opportunity to visit as part of our diverse and inclusive initiative.
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!
In 2022 we were proud to host our first Autism in Racing day here at the racecourse providing complimentary tickets enabling autistic children to experience a day at the races in an autism friendly environment, whilst raising awareness of the needs of families affected. 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.
Families with autistic children enjoyed activities including a state of the art sensory room and private activity area with games and inflatables.
This was even bigger in 2023 and 2024, inviting more families and working in partnership with POP Essex; a local charity that supports the needs of SEND families in Essex. We opened up an additional space and POP Essex brought some play equipment along for the day with specialist staff to provide an even more enhanced experience for the children.
This day was two fold in delivering a special event and raising awareness for autistic children, while also supporting a local charity.
Autism in Racing racedays are placed firmly in the racecourse’s community annual events calendar and are two-fold in delivering a special event, raising awareness for autistic children, while also supporting a local charity.
Autism in Racing at Chelmsford City Racecourse was recognised at the 2023 RCA Showcase Awards promoting the best of British horseracing as finalists in the Diversity and Inclusion category.
