RCA Showcase – Special Merit Groundsman Award – November 2015
We are thrilled to have been notified that Carl and his team have been given a Special Merit award by sponsors Watt Fences and Pitchcare.com at this years RCA Showcase awards.
The award which is given at the discretion of the sponsors is in recognition of the exceptional circumstances and wy the team at Ripon have pulled together in light of Head Groundsman Carl Tonks recent illness. The award which will not be officially presented until our 2016 raceday credits the hard work and team spirit that Carl has encouraged throughout his staff.
Well done lads!
RCA Showcase Award Finalist – #RiponAlice – November 2015 
Our #RiponAlice entry has been nominated in the Racing Together Community & Corporate Social Responsibility category at the 2015 RCA Showcase Awards, celebrating excellence and innovation on Britain’s racecourses which takes place at Ascot Racecourse on Thursday 12 November.
Family racedays are a big part of Ripon’s racing calendar and due to the vagaries of the construction of the 2015 fixture list, their traditional two-day fixture of the Bank Holiday was split; resulting in a new stand-alone fixture on Tuesday 18th August.
Ripon capitalised on this by introducing a new family day in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the much loved classic story, ‘Alice in Wonderland – a story very close to Ripon’s heart. Author Lewis Carroll spent many of his teenage years in Ripon whilst his father worked as a Canon at Ripon Cathedral. The city shares many close links with the story such as the mystical gypsum holes that Ripon is so well known for and carvings of white rabbits and hares in the cathedral to name a few. Historians believe these links were influential to Carroll when writing the creative and mystical story.
Working with local community groups, libraries and schools the racecourse set up local community group called #RiponAlice and started a campaign to involve local resources and help bring the community together to celebrate the anniversary and help educate locals and children of the connections. The day was the primary event in the cities celebrations and played a fantastic role in educating the young racegoers, even teaming up with a local theatre production group. One lucky racegoer even saw their design on the front of the racecard in their ‘design the racecard’ competition and the day was a fantastic example of working with the community in educating the next generation of racegoers at Ripon.
Erin Boswell, Marketing Executive said:
“We are thrilled to have been shortlisted for the award which holds such great recognition within the Horse Racing industry. Being able to involve the local community in celebrating the anniversary and share the proud heritage was something we are really proud of. It’s certainly set the foundations for some great community working relationships for the future”
Click here to see our entry and view all finalists entries
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