Ensuring the future of Bitterley Races

We're gutted Bitterley Races is not happening on Saturday 6th April

Bitterley Races is an enormously important local event in South Shropshire, providing great entertainment to thousands of local people and generating important money into the rural economy around Ludlow. This decision to cancel due to the weather was very sad as many people’s livelihoods in the local economy will be affected.

In preparing for the point-to-point this year, a substantial amount of costs, £5k+, have been incurred. There is no longer insurance available for point-to-points to safeguard against cancellation due to the weather, undoubtedly in part due to the wetter winters and springs we now have due to climate change. So in the absence of insurance to ensure the Bitterley point-to-point is able to function in future years we need your help to help cover these costs. Suppliers to the point-to-point have already been incredibly kind and generous in minimising their costs, and sponsors are being equally kind offering to donate their sponsorship money. But we need your help too. Therefore the Bitterley Races Committee are asking that if you’d planned to attend the day (£20 each) and/or the after party (£10 each), to please consider donating the cost of the tickets. as if you were still going. This would be really appreciated and would go towards helping to offset nonrefundable costs already incurred, and help make sure that Bitterley Races is not lost in 2025 but is back better than ever! Our hope is that a large proportion of the people who regularly attend Bitterley Races will buy their tickets – if 100 people buy a £20 ticket and 100 ' buy' a £10 after-party ticket, this will enable us to cover a good proportion of the costs. Please consider helping if you can.

The Bitterley Races Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their ongoing support, whether that be through sponsorship, advertising, or plans to attend this year’s event, and with your support we will be able to look forward to a very successful race meeting in 2025.

Many thanks

Bitterley Races Committee