The community spirit and work ethic from across Newmarket to combat the effects of the pandemic was highlighted at a top industry awards ceremony which took place last week.

Involvement from The Jockey Club and other racing organisations as part of wider collaboration across Newmarket was recognised at “Racecourses Together”, which celebrated how racecourses across the country helped their local communities during the pandemic.

Some of the projects highlighted included working with Tesco and Discover Newmarket to deliver over 150 orders of essential food and medicine, facilitating delivery of 4,500 hot meals for children who would usually receive free school meals and “Project Christmas” which saw 2,500 presents delivered to local children.

Organisations from within racing worked alongside others throughout the town including Churches Together, Newmarket Festival, Newmarket Town Council, The Newmarket Community Network and local volunteers.

Speaking after Newmarket received its “community hero” award Margo Walsh who is Operations and Community Projects Manager for Newmarket Racecourses said:

“Our mission during COVID was to work within the community. There was a lot of work done by staff from across racing organisations within the town and the Jockey Club played a role in that, but the real focus was on everyone right across Newmarket working together.

“Because the racing community in Newmarket is so big things can sometimes feel a bit cramped if you are not part of it, but one of the key reasons the work done by everyone had a meaningful impact was that it was embedded and collaborative within the wider community itself.

“It is great for the whole team of people involved both from within racing and across the town to be recognised in this way and this is very much an award for everyone.”