| SOUTHEND GREYHOUND STADIUM This site is not an official website for the track shown here and is neither approved or endorsed by the stadium. I am indebted to Richard English for the scans of badges on this page. |
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The first greyhound track to open in the seaside town of Southend was built on the perimeter of the local football club in Kursaal. The track held its inaugural meeting on 27th July 1927 and the track remained open for 2 years before being moved in 1929. The ground on which the former track stood is now a housing estate. The main stadium was at Southend Stadium on the Grainger Road and situated at 0° 43' E 51° 32' N and first opened for racing on 15th April 1933. The racing manager in the early years of the 1930’s was T.F.Fenton-Livingstone, who was also a Stipendiary Steward along with E.E.Emptage (Judge) and L.W Cox (Timekeeper). Racing traditionally took place on Thursday and Saturday evenings, although this was extended to a Monday evening during the Summer. The principal, and most famous, race at the track was over 277 metres and was the Thames Silver Salver. Prior to 1953 it was held over 600 yards. It was first contested in 1933 when won by Just Oblige in 28.93 secs. The first occasion it was run as a sprint was in 1953 when Uskane Lad was victorious in 17.15 secs.
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I am grateful to Nick Skinner for providing the logo and early documentation from the track which offers an insight into track finances and training costs. He has also provided a number of programmes through the ages, the March 1935 one being provided in full. Visit his excellent website about Southend on southendtimeline.com The Grainger Road track finally closed its gates on Boxing Day 1985.
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Track Records, as of 1947, are shown below together with an indication of how fast the time is in comparison to other tracks, both for currently open and defunct tracks, in the UK. Ratings are between 0 and 100, where 100 is an extremely fast time and reflects the speed of the track, tightness of the circuit and quality of greyhound visiting the tracks. I am grateful to Tony Nash for providing the data. |
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| This section gives a comprehensive picture of
the badges produced by the track throughout the ages, but only provides the briefest of
glimpses of its history. For those wishing to undertake further research we can recommend
a visit to http://astore.amazon.co.uk/wwwgreyhoundd-21 where further reading can be undertaken. |
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If you have rare Southend badges and artefacts for sale then email johnslusar@fsmail.net |
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