Swaffham Raceway

File:Disused Swaffham Raceway greyhound track, 2016.jpg

Swaffham became a new track on the National Greyhound Racing Club permit scheme in 1987. The 416 circumference circuit was constructed just south of the Dereham Road on the east side of Broom Covert. The track location was remote and relied on the catchment area of the market town of Swaffham to the west and some clientele from the further afield Kings Lynn and Norwich. It ran parallel to the closed Great Eastern Railway Lynn & Dereham line which ran through an area that separated the track from NRM horticulture laboratories.{{cite web|url=https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/578060/309586/12/100954|title=OS Plan 1979|publisher=old-maps.co.uk}}

Maurice and Anne Kirby opened the track to the public on 16 November 1987,{{cite news|title=Closures and openings over the past 10 years, July 1993, page 18|year=1993|newspaper=Greyhound Star}} with Maurice Kirby acting as the Racing Manager on the race nights of Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Distances were 270, 480, 686 & 896 metres behind an 'Outside Sumner' hare. There was a large car park, 72 kennels and ten on course bookmakers but limited facilities in terms of structures with just one main stand.{{cite book|last=Barnes|first=Julia|title=Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File|year=1988|publisher=Ringpress Books|isbn=0-948955-15-5}}

Because of a lack of greyhound racing in the area, Swaffham attracted significant trainers such as Kevin Cobbold, John McGee and Ken Peckham.

In 1989 Tom Smith was brought into the track as the new General and Racing Manager and by 1992 he had acquired the lease.{{cite news|title=Monthly Greyhound Star (Remember When 1992) February edition|newspaper=Greyhound Star}} Together with his son Gavin they were always looking to improve the mechanical workings of greyhound racing from hare systems to drainage and they produced a new hare that would change the industry. They came up with a hare that was modelled on the older outside 'McKee-Scott' but it had modifications that allowed the hare driver to use a simple turn switch and then an even simpler hare rail at ground level with the wire running on pulleys underneath. Within a ten-year period the popular 'Outside Sumner' and older 'Outside McKee' had all but disappeared within the industry. The hare was known as the 'Swaffham' and this allowed the Smiths to set up a very successful greyhound parts company.{{cite book|last=Fry|first=Paul|title=The Official NGRC Greyhound Racing Yearbook|year=1995|publisher=Ringpress Books|isbn=186054-010-4}}

A dispute over security of tenure led to the cessation of greyhound racing at Swaffham on 14 July 2000.{{cite news|title=Lease blow blamed by boss Smith|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Lease+blow+blamed+by+boss+Smith.-a063686700|access-date=10 August 2016|work=The Racing Post|date=26 July 2000}} Kirby planned to reintroduce greyhounds in 2007 after spending £60,000 on a new greyhound track but Kirby died in 2012.{{cite web|url=http://greyhoundstar.co.uk/swaffham-update/|title=Swaffham Update|date=23 January 2018 |publisher=Greyhound Star}}

Stock cars still take place today. In 2018 former Rye House Stadium promoter Eddie Lesley announced his plans to revamp the site; one of his companies owns the site outright and there are plans for a schooling track.

{{reflist}}

{{English greyhound tracks}}

• [http://www.swaffhamraceway.com/ Official website]
• {{commonscat-inline|Swaffham Raceway}}

Category:Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom

Category:Sports venues in Norfolk

Category:1975 establishments in England

Category:Stock car racing venues