A big flap as racing returns to Richmond after a century

It won’t be thoroughbreds but pigeons that will compete this time, with around 20,000 homing birds expected to be released as part of a year-long festival in the oldest town in the world to bear the name.

At least 118 Richmonds have sprung up through the centuries in almost every corner of the world, each taking its name from the settlement on the eastern fringe of the Yorkshire Dales where a Norman castle was established in 1071.

The confirmation last week of a £33,500 grant from the district council secured the festival, which will begin officially on March 27 with historic market stalls spanning the centuries erected in the town square.

It will also see the opening of a new community woodland area and link-ups – either live or over the internet – with civic leaders of some of the other Richmonds.

The pigeon racing will mark a return to competitive sport on the former racecourse, whose history can be traced to the 16th century. It was abandoned in 1891 when it lost favour to nearby Catterick, but remains the site of the world’s oldest surviving stone grandstand, designed by the architect John Carr, who also built the stands at Doncaster and York.

Marcia McLuckie, chair of the Original Richmond Tourism and Business Association, said: “You don’t often see horses training up there these days but the site of the old course is fantastic. You can see Saltburn on a clear day and sometimes even York Minster, I’ve been told.”

The pigeons will be released from their traps in traditional wagons parked on the site of the racecourse, which is now criss-crossed by public footpaths. With much of the anniversary agenda still fluid, the date has yet to be announced.

“We are having to make contingencies for every single event,” Ms McLuckie said.

Other planned events include a series of concerts, the premiere of a specially composed piece of music, a Victorian cricket match, a time capsule and an exhibition of communications through the centuries.

Souvenir merchandise will go on sale in January as a curtain raiser to the series of events.