Newbury Racecourse Pledges free Tickets for Troops
Britain’s racecourses donate 40,000 free tickets for our country’s soldiers, sailors and airmen and women to visit the races in 2011
Newbury Racecourse is today announcing its continued support of the charity, Tickets For Troops for the second year running, offering 950 tickets to 19 of its fixtures across its 2011 racing calendar. Every racecourse in Britain has joined forces to make an incredible donation of over 40,000 free tickets to the races in 2011, so that members of HM Forces from across the country will be able to enjoy a top day out, as a gesture to recognise their continued service for our country. Over 5,000 members of Tickets For Troops took up the offer of a visit to the races in 2010, and Britain’s racecourses hope to see even more visiting in future months. Over 1,100 fixtures from all around the country have been included in the offer and, as children under 16 go free to every British racecourse and almost every fixture, this offer will allow many of our servicemen and women to have a well-deserved family day out for free.
Tickets For Troops is a charity that supports the work of serving military personnel and veterans by offering them free tickets to events around the country. Britain’s racecourses have made a range of offers, some offering unlimited tickets for troops at every fixture and some including tickets to their major racing festivals.
Top Jockey Richard Johnson, who is a Patron of Tickets For Troops alongside other names such as Freddie Flintoff, Steven Gerrard and Dame Kelly Holmes, said:
“British racing has been a supporter of Tickets For Troops since the charity was initiated and I’m delighted to see the level of support that is continuing into 2011. It’s an incredible charity that aims to go some way to recognising the inspirational job that our country’s forces do every day of their lives, and hopefully our being a part of it goes some way to saying thank you.”
Lord Marland, Chairman of Tickets For Troops said:
“Tickets For Troops are delighted to once again receive such generous support from the British Horseracing Authority. We would like to thank all the racecourses who have wanted to demonstrate their support and show their appreciation for the dedication and commitment of the marvellous men and women of our Armed Forces."
Stephen Higgins, Joint Managing Director of Newbury Racecourse added:
We are delighted to be supporting Tickets for Troops again for 2011 in recognition of the incredible work of the Armed Forces. In addition, last October 2,000 military personnel, RBL members and residents of Wootton Bassett were welcomed for free to Newbury’s John Smith’s Armed Forces Raceday. Due to its popularity we will be repeating this event again on Saturday 22 October, as well as mark the launch of the Berkshire Poppy Appeal and we hope to that even more military personnel will take up the free ticket offer to this popular raceday”.
In addition to horseracing, thousands of tickets have been made available for the 2012 Olympics, top Premier League football matches, rugby games, cricket matches, boxing, athletics meetings, big music acts, tennis tournaments, snooker halls and West End theatres.
For information on applicable fixtures and how Armed Forces personnel book tickets visit www.ticketsfortroops.org.uk or newbury-racecourse.co.uk