SSAFA Chepstow Race Day

27 November 2019

27 November 2019

The fifth annual SSAFA Race Day at Chepstow Racecourse took place last week on Wednesday 20 November.

The event is organised by Julian Nettlefold, owner of BATTLESPACE Publications and close supporter of SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity. The Race Day was open to members of the general public and SSAFA hosted a small hospitality area at the racecourse. The hospitality area was attended by corporate organisations who sponsored races on the day as well as a number of other corporate supporters and guests.

Race sponsors included: Viasat UK Ltd., Spectra Group (UK) Ltd., Fujitsu, Jankel Group, TVS Supply Chain Solutions (TVS) and BATTLESPACE Publications. In addition, other attendees were from Allan Webb Ltd, Briggs Equipment Ltd, Exensor Technology and a table hosted by Alan Burge and his guests.

Fundraising elements on the day featured a raffle and a live auction lead by Steve O’Leary OBE. The fantastic prizes were generously donated by companies attending the event and ranged from high end jewellery to a driving day out. The Gwent Branch supported on the day by braving the cold temperatures to bucket collect among the general spectators of the day. In addition to the four volunteers, the Royal Welsh provided two soldiers in uniform to assist with the bucket collection.

We would like to thank all of our attendees and volunteers for their support!

 

The SSAFA Race Day at Chepstow is now a key part of the defence industry’s annual calendar. The format of the Race Day expanded this year with the exciting addition of a briefing ‘From Force Development to Capability Development within Joint Forces Command,’ from Brigadier Robin Anderton-Brown Head of Capability Special Projects, Joint Forces Command during a business breakfast before racing. Our guests gave a resounding thumbs up to this addition to their day. After the brief each sponsor of our six races gave a talk about their company and its activities.

Steve O’Leary OBE was magnificent in his handling of the Raffle and Auction. I am delighted to be able to announce that, thanks to the kind donations from our sponsors and attendees, that we raised £27,612.18, a huge amount and we thank our guests for their generosity. This gives a cumulative total of over £92,000 since the event began in 2014 with the first Angela Nettlefold memorial race.

- Julian Nettlefold, Owner, BATTLESPACE Publications.

SSAFA is proud to have been part of the Chepstow Race Day for the past five years. It is a fantastic event which has been growing year on year. We are absolutely thrilled with the fundraising total this year. We are so grateful to all of the companies involved with the day and in particular to Julian and BATTLESPACE Publications who worked so hard to put the day together. Last year, SSAFA helped more than 82,000 people and it is thanks to events like this that SSAFA is able to continue providing this lifelong support to the Armed Forces community.

- James Grant, Head of Corporate Fundraising and Events, SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity

Viasat is committed to continuing help support veterans, members of the UK armed forces and their families. It’s an honour to participate in the annual SSAFA Race Day event at Chepstow and we would like to thank SSAFA and all of the great organizations that are involved in making this event a success year after year.

- Steve Beeching, Managing Director, Viasat UK Ltd. & Platinum Sponsor of the Race Day

We hope you can join us next year at the sixth SSAFA Chepstow Race Day, taking place on November 20^th 2020.