Musselburgh Services Raceday donates £2500 to charity

Musselburgh’s Support Our Services Raceday was an outstanding success with a 4200 crowd the largest to date to attend the traditional end of September family fixture.

Musselburgh Racecourse - Support our Services day. Picture: Ian Jacobs

Fine sunshine and an enlarged event which added Police Scotland and HM Coastguard to the well established presence of the Royal Regiment of Scotland proved a winning combination.

The raceday was originally the Royal Scots Raceday featuring service personnel with displays, assault courses and the pipes and drums of the The Royal Scots Association Pipe Band.

But opening up the event to other uniformed services added a new dimension to the occasion and the East Lothian track will build on this in successive years.

The event attracted 4200 guests. Pictures: Ian Jacobs

More than 700 services personnel were allowed free entrance to the raceday and the racecourse donated £2500 to three charities connected to the Army, police and coastguard, representing £1 for every adult paying through the gate.

Musselburgh Racecourse general manager, Bill Farnsworth, said: “We were delighted with the turnout and there was a great buzz about the place. The day was about recognising the contribution the uniformed services make in all of our communities and it gave an opportunity to each organisation to showcase what they do.

“We offered free entry to more than 700 services personnel and made a sizable charity donation based on the paying attendance through the gates. It was our highest ever attendance for this fixture and plans are already in hand to build on this success next year.”

Musselburgh next race meeting and the last of the summer Flat season is on Tuesday October 13 before the jump season starts on Thursday November 5.