Southwell Racecourse reopens following flooding caused by Storm Babet

Southwell Racecourse returned to its full working capacity on Friday — ten months after it was forced to close because of extensive flooding.

The Advertiser went along to see how the racecourse has recovered from the devastating flood.

Storm Babet battered Britain with heavy rain over the weekend of October 20 and 21 last year, and when the nearby River Greet overflowed and breached the racecourse’s flood defences, areas of the racecourse were underwater by as much as three feet.

The stable yards were the first to flood on the 20th when water levels peaked, so the horses on site had to be moved to local livery yards in the pouring rain, and then when they also flooded, they were relocated to one of Arena Racing Company’s sister sites in Wolverhampton.

Mark Clayton, Southwell Racecourse’s executive director, was on holiday in Norfolk at the time, and when he arrived at the site the next day, wearing waders, he said he had no idea what to expect and how bad the damage would be — especially as the racecourse was set to host a wedding reception that weekend.

He said: “We had no idea what we were coming into. We were delighted that the artificial surface hadn’t washed away, but what was on my mind was the wedding reception.”

Thankfully, Mark and the team managed to rescue the wedding cake and presents and took them to Kelham Hall, to where the reception had been hastily moved, and they could turn their attentions to the racecourse.

“It was a case of making the site safe,” he said, “But we couldn’t do anything until the water levels went down, which took four days.”

Then the clean-up operation began, with a team coming from the US to clean the debris off the track using an industrial hoover, which was ready for use again after ten days, and a make-shift weighing room was created in a marquee.

Incredibly, racing returned to Southwell on November 24, just a month after its flooding — however the track was only able to open its first-floor facilities to owners and trainers, stable staff, and a number of annual members while the damage to the racecourse was fixed.

“It was quite an achievement to be racing again after only five weeks,” Mark said.

“Originally, we focused on what we needed to for the resumption of racing, which was the track, the stable yard and a temporary weighing room, and we have managed to hold 47 meetings since November 24.”

Maggie Hallam is the bar supervisor, and has been working at the racecourse for 15 years.

In her time, she has seen two floods at Southwell and she couldn’t make it in on the weekend of the flooding due to being stranded in her village of Woodborough, but she said she saw that the flood water reached the top of the computer desks in the downstairs office area.

“It was a real labour of love to get everything clean and dry again,” she said.

“The water was contaminated so we had to get rid of all the fridges, everything in the dry food stores, the linen cupboards — everything had to go.

“When we were able to re-open, we could only serve things like soup and sandwiches as all the food court facilities were all wipes out, but we did the best we could.”

Finally, the course was ready to open to the public.

A hundred people were given access for the sell-out £100,000 BETUK Winter Derby on Saturday February 24 — the course’s first Group race — alongside racehorse owners, annual members, and racing staff.

All the downstairs facilities, including the food court, members bar area, betting booths, staff and owners areas and bar areas had a multi-million pound upgrade and the team at Southwell also had to work in portable cabins during the cold winter months while offices were refurbished.

“The support from ARC has been wonderful but it was quite an experience I would rather not relive!” Mark said,

“Over the summer, we have a good number of people and having the facilities ready for them was so important.

“We are so thankful to the team for overcoming the challenges they faced leading into our busiest period, it’s been quite a journey for everyone.”

Now, following a huge effort from the team, the racecourse’s gates are now once again open to the public with no restrictions on numbers for racing.

“It took longer than we’d hoped, but we needed to get it right,” Mark added, “It’s been a fantastic effort from the team here at Southwell to get the racecourse back to full working order.

“Now with the refurbish-ment complete, we are thrilled to be welcoming full crowds back to the track.

“I would like to thank all the staff for their hard work and support during this tricky time. I would also like to thank Southwell race-goers for their patience and we look forward to providing you with the best customer experience possible in the coming weeks.”

The contracting teams who worked so hard to make the racecourse fully operational again have been invited to spend the day at Southwell as a thank you.

Mark said: “I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved and we want the contractors enjoy a day on us so they can show their families what they have been doing and to show off their hard work and see the fruits of their labour — we hope they are as proud of what they have done as we are.”

Coming up in the Southwell Racecourse calendar is the Advertiser Ladies Day on August 18, followed by a family fun race day on Bank Holiday Monday.

The full list of events coming up at the Southwell Racecourse can be found at https://www.southwell-race course.co.uk/whats-on

Although Southwell Golf Course has remained open for a good deal of this period, the clubhouse has been closed for flood damage.

These works will be completed next week, with the clubhouse opening tomorrow.