Event - Frankie to unveil St Leger memorial (Firbeck)

STAR jockey Frankie Dettori MBE will be galloping in to a sleepy Rotherham village just hours before his appearance at this year’s St Leger meeting on Saturday.


Dettori will unveil a plaque to mark the spot where the founder of the legendary annual race meeting — Major-Gen Anthony St Leger — once lived.

Frankie will unveil the blue plaque at Firbeck Village Hall at around 11am before competing in the event he has won five times at Doncaster Racecourse.

The plaque will mark the spot of the now-demolished Park Hill House where Major-Gen St Leger lived when the first St Leger race meeting was held in 1776 on a giant oval grass track between Firbeck and neighbouring Letwell.

Another plaque will be unveiled in honour of another famous former Firbeck resident, pioneer ecologist Hewett Cottrell Watson.

The plaque will be unveiled by Mr Ian Bonner, President of the Botanical Society of the British Isles.

From: http://www.rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk/news/92519/frankie-to-unveil-st-leger-memorial.aspx

Event - Exhibition opens at the Harley (Welbeck)

A NEW exhibition, charting the history of horse racing, has opened at the Harley Gallery at Welbeck.

Runners and Riders: The Rise of Modern Horse Racing features a host of objects and paintings which tell the story of how the Cavendish-Bentinck family at Welbeck helped change the face of horse racing as it became the modern sport we know today.

The 6th Duke of Portland won the 2000 Guineas race in 1888 with one of his most successful horses, Ayrshire.

In one season alone Ayrshire, along with his other horses Memoir, Donovan and Semolina, won more than £93,000 (£8m in today’s money).

Ayrshire’s hoof is on show in the exhibition, along with other curious objects and artefacts such as a wheel from the first ever horse box.

The horse box was invented by Welbeck’s own Lord George Bentinck after he realised that the horses would race better if they were transported to the race.

This helped his horse Elis to win the 1836 St Leger at Doncaster.

Exhibition curator Patricia Connor will be giving a talk at the gallery on 19th May at 2pm when you will be able to find out more about horseracing, skulduggery, victory, loss and philanthropy.

l Tickets for the talk are £10 (£8 for concessions) and booking is essential. For more details call (01909) 501 700 or visit www.harleygallery.co.uk. The gallery is free to enter.

From: http://www.chad.co.uk/lifestyle/exhibition-opens-at-the-harley-1-4527194

Event - The Romans are coming to Leger Week (Doncaster)

ST LEGER FESTIVAL WEEK will be about much more than racing this year as the town’s tourism chiefs take advantage of the influx of visitors to Doncaster to offer a range of entertainments for all the family.

Highlight of the week’s programme of events will be a Roman experience, when a historical re-enactment group in the role of Roman legionaries will pitch camp in the grounds of Doncaster Minster - site of the Roman fort of Danum around which the modern town was built.

The ‘gladiators’ will put on demonstrations of Roman battle techniques on Leger Saturday and children are invited to dress up in costume and have a go with the weapons themselves. There will also be displays by Arabian dancers.

‘This promises to be a great weekend of activities for all the family”, added Colin Joy, Doncaster Council’s Tourism Manager. “Visitors will be able to see the Roman Army march through town on both days, as well as displays of drill, Roman coin making, and learning how to write their name in Latin script.”

The Romans will be in town from 10am-4pm on Saturday and from 10am until 3pm on Sunday.

There are over 150 events taking place during the 10 day festival including Doncaster’s biggest free music event – Doncaster Live - heritage walks, art exhibitions, a Medieval Autumn Fayre, champagne brunches, Proms in the Park, wine tasting at the Minster and a beer festival. This year’s Festival is sponsored by Travel South Yorkshire.

Many local pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants are putting on special events during the Festival, including the Red Lion pub where the St Leger Stakes was founded in 1776. The full event listing can be found at www.visitdoncaster.com/stleger

From: http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/news/the_romans_are_coming_to_leger_week_1_3726519

Event - The Romans Are Coming (Doncaster)

Event - Friends, Romans, countrymen entertain punters at St Leger (Doncaster)

The St Leger Festival next month will be more than just horse racing - with a full programme of other events announced yesterday.

Attractions will include Roman soldiers marching through the town, Doncaster’s biggest free music event Doncaster Live, heritage walks, art exhibitions, a Mediaeval Autumn Fayre, champagne brunches, Proms in the Park, wine tasting at the Minster and a beer festival.

There are five top performances at the Civic Theatre, including Paul Harris with his one man play Frankie Titters On, looking at the life of comic treasure Frankie Howerd. The UK’s only touring burlesque spectacular presents An Evening of Burlesque: The Ultimate Tease, and there will be musical tributes to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons with Let’s Hang On and classic 1980s rock anthems with A Foreigners Journey.

Quirky comic Mark Steel is also appearing.

Many local pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants are putting on special events during the Festival, including The Red Lion pub where the St Leger Stakes was founded in 1776.

The full event listing can be found at www.visitdoncaster.com/stleger

For more information call Doncaster Tourist Information Centre on 01302 734 309.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/friends_romans_countrymen_entertain_punters_at_st_leger_1_3706148

Event - Visitors flock to step back in time (Doncaster)

More than 1,000 people whose imagination was sparked by the discovery of a rare Roman glass jug visited Doncaster’s latest town centre archaeological dig.

Seven archaeologists from ArcHeritage were on hand to conduct tours and to talk about the artefacts unearthed on the site of the new civil and cultural quarter.

Visitor Louella Chesterman of Bennetthorpe, said: “I found the event and tour extremely interesting and was impressed to hear that this site is now the largest Roman burial site in South Yorkshire. Listening to the archaeologists about how a dig takes place was fascinating.”

Ms Chesterman plans to visit Doncaster Museum in Chequer Road where the finds will go on display.

Jessica Worth, age 11, from Balby, said: “It was really interesting. The best bit for me was seeing the Roman glass bottle which was found here. I’m amazed it has survived all these years. I’ll definitely go and see it at the museum when it goes on display”.

As well as the rare Roman glass jug dating back to about AD150, several cremation urns and five oil lamps, which accompanied the burials, were discovered during the dig.

Four of the oil lamps discovered in a large cremation pit are in near perfect condition and carry the makers’ names ‘Fortis’ and ‘Strobili’, which indicates they were probably created in Modena in Northern Italy.

David Aspden, who is leading the ArcHeritage excavation, said the team has been delighted to find artefacts in such good condition: “When you are excavating a Roman cemetery you expect to uncover some significant finds, but to find two intact cremation urns, which can now be preserved and displayed, has been tremendous.”

Andy Lines of South Yorkshire Archaeology Service added: “This site is special and is going to make an important contribution to our understanding of Roman life and death in Doncaster 1,850 years ago.”

First World War practice trenches were also found on what was the Waterdale Central Car Park.

ArcHeritage worked with archaeological consultants Scott Wilson under the supervision of Doncaster Council’s development partner Muse Developments and advisors, South Yorkshire Archaeology Service.

To continue the celebration of Doncaster’s Roman history, Roman soldiers will be setting up camp in the grounds of the Minster on Saturday and Sunday, September 3 and 4. The soldiers will march through town and displays will be available. This Roman camp is part of the St Leger Festival Week which runs between 2-11 September.

Work on the next stage of Doncaster’s £300m CCQ scheme is due to start shortly. 

from: http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/community/nostalgia/visitors_flock_to_step_back_in_time_1_3631329

News - Historic St Leger paintings set to fetch £1,500 at finishing post

TWO 180-year-old colour prints of the St Leger at Doncaster could sell for a total of £1,500 at auction next week.

The 16 by 20 inch prints were produced in the early 1830s and are entitled ‘Doncaster Races - The Horses Starting For The Great St Leger Stakes’ and ‘Doncaster Races - The Horses Passing The Judges’ Stand’.

They are among around 200 equestrian and British sporting prints put up for sale by wealthy Chicago banker and financial consultant Norman R Bobins and which could sell for more than a quarter of a million pounds at the two hour sale.

Both are hand-finished aquatints, a method of etching on copper with the use of resin and nitric acid, and are copies of pictures by James Pollard, a London coaching and sporting artist who collaborated with the illustrious 19th century artist John Frederick Herring senior.

Herring started his painting career in Doncaster and went on to become the foremost equestrian artist of his day, producing paintings of 33 St Leger winners.

For one of his pictures, ‘The Doncaster Great St Leger 1839’, Herring painted the racehorses and jockeys while Pollard completed the intricate background of grandstand architecture and crowds.

The Doncaster pictures show top-hatted toffs standing on their horse-drawn coaches drawn up alongside the course for a better view of the race.

Both prints will be auctioned at Dreweatts at Donnington Priory, Berkshire, next Wednesday.

The St Leger was first run in Doncaster in 1776 and moved to its present day home of Town Moor from Cantley Common in 1779.

The race is named after Lt Col Anthony St Leger, an Irish gentleman soldier and governor of St Lucia.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/lifestyle/historic_st_leger_paintings_set_to_fetch_1_500_at_finishing_post_1_3280416