St Leger food will feed Doncaster foodbank families

But hundreds of hard-up Doncaster families are certainly among the winners from this year’s St Leger festival after race organisers made the most of food they had bought in for crowds before the decision was made to end a planned four day pilot scheme early.

Around 2,500 spectators saw the first day of the festival, which was run as a Government-backed pilot scheme to look at bringing back spectators to racing. But Doncaster Council public health officials ordered the pilot to stop after that first day after a big increase in coronavirus cases was revealed in new infection rate figures.

Now the food which had been bought in to feed the fans on the three days which are now being run behind closed doors has been donated to Given Freely, Freely Given, a Doncaster food bank based in Balby.

A range of freshly prepared pies, afternoon teas, cheese and meat platters will now be enjoyed by vulnerable communities in Balby.

Reverend Alun Price, Vicar of Balby, Loversall and Wadworth, said: “What an amazing donation. These delicious meals will make a lot of people going through a tough time at the moment very happy. For some, this will be the first-time they’ve been able to enjoy afternoon tea – what a treat.”

Rachel Harwood, executive director at Doncaster Racecourse, said: “We’re very happy that people will still get to enjoy all the food that had been prepared for this week’s racing. We certainly didn’t want this to go to waste, so we are very grateful Given Freely, Freely Given has been able to help us distribute these provisions to those in need in the local community.”

It has been estimated that the decision to stop spectators from attending after the first day will cost Arena Racing around £250,000.

Managing Director of Arena Racing Company Racing Division, Mark Spincer, said on Wednesday: “We do, of course, fully understand and respect the decision.

“We would, of course, like to thank all of our customers for their support in the run up to this event as well as our staff who have done a monumental job in preparing the site.”