Post by Dave on Jul 10, 2008 16:02:13 GMT
Merse I have started this thread, as you had a greyhound.
While it seems you were at the horse track as a young man, mine time was at the dog tracks. I was the richest kid at school when I was 14 years old, my mates smoking Sovereign and I smoking Dunhill International, all thanks to the dogs.
My brother had a mate and together they always had at least three greyhounds, these were kept in Torquay at the rear of a house in Teignmouth Rd, across the road from what was then the Esso garage. On non race days the dogs were brought to Newton Abbot for me to walk back to Torquay, then fed them and I then had to catch the bus back to Newton.
Race days I had to parade the dogs, get them in the traps and any prize money was always mine, hence my wealth as a kid. We had an old bike with the front cut off and mounted on a board. The rear tyre had been removed and fishing line put around the wheel. At weekends we would find a field, tie a rag to the line and my brother would start walking away with the rag in hand and with a dog. When he gave the sign I had to turn the peddles by hand(bike was upside down on the board) to wind the line back in, for the dog to chase.
Thursday nights always at the halfway race track(opposite the Hare and Hounds hence its name) Charlie Bright was the track owner. The hare was non electric, had been told that one was once tried and dimmed over half of Kingskerswell. So the man had to pull a cable out from the pulley in the engine room and walk all around the track, putting it on too the pulleys that were around the track.
Exeter was another track we were always at, it was the same place the speedway took place and also Taunton was another track we could be found. My bother learned some hard lessons about gambling during the time we had the dogs, maybe the reason, I have never been a gambler.
While it seems you were at the horse track as a young man, mine time was at the dog tracks. I was the richest kid at school when I was 14 years old, my mates smoking Sovereign and I smoking Dunhill International, all thanks to the dogs.
My brother had a mate and together they always had at least three greyhounds, these were kept in Torquay at the rear of a house in Teignmouth Rd, across the road from what was then the Esso garage. On non race days the dogs were brought to Newton Abbot for me to walk back to Torquay, then fed them and I then had to catch the bus back to Newton.
Race days I had to parade the dogs, get them in the traps and any prize money was always mine, hence my wealth as a kid. We had an old bike with the front cut off and mounted on a board. The rear tyre had been removed and fishing line put around the wheel. At weekends we would find a field, tie a rag to the line and my brother would start walking away with the rag in hand and with a dog. When he gave the sign I had to turn the peddles by hand(bike was upside down on the board) to wind the line back in, for the dog to chase.
Thursday nights always at the halfway race track(opposite the Hare and Hounds hence its name) Charlie Bright was the track owner. The hare was non electric, had been told that one was once tried and dimmed over half of Kingskerswell. So the man had to pull a cable out from the pulley in the engine room and walk all around the track, putting it on too the pulleys that were around the track.
Exeter was another track we were always at, it was the same place the speedway took place and also Taunton was another track we could be found. My bother learned some hard lessons about gambling during the time we had the dogs, maybe the reason, I have never been a gambler.
I remember that "Fred Karno" hare at 'Kerswell with great affection. My father's mate, Fred Shepherd had a dog or two and I remember well walking out to the Half Way myself to see them run. Another old work colleague from Devon General days - Fred Diamond loved his dogs too and would walk miles with his mate Mike Maddix keeping those dogs fit. Fred was a leading light in setting up and maintaining the sport at the racecourse in later years when 'Kerswell closed and became a housing estate.