In 1960 My Wife Fancied Teaching Children

My Jane was always interested in learning  and education.   She enjoyed teaching our three children to read every evening while putting them to bed.   She often found that they had dozed off while listening to her.    On nearly every day  she has read one of the better newspapers and there were few days in which she has not solved a crossword puzzle  or weeks when she has not read a classic novel or a  book  on Health, Disease, Climate, Weather, Earthquake, Classical Literature,  History, Geography, Science, Agriculture, Botany,  Zoology,  Birds,  Insects or  a  Biogeography.

 In 1957 Jane enrolled on the three year course at Coventry   Teacher Training College.   After qualifying she taught classes of up to thirty nine infants  at three Warwickshire schools.   During nineteen years service  she never had a pupil  who failed to learn to read  and she was highly complimented by  superiors and parents.

       In celebration of the sixty sixth anniversary of our marriage  we have had a wonderful meal  from our eldest son Walter and his wife Nuala from Dublin  who is a consultant in radiology  and their three lovely girls Siobhan, Lucy and Hannah..    I also enjoyed an extra pint of Guinness and  thought I deserved it for the feat of  reaching my ninety third birthday.    I must admit however  that all credit for my survival is due to the special one who gave us two other rare good sons  Warwick and Simon.    We are proud to say that they also found  great wives - Fiona who gave us Eleanor and Rebecca  and  Lyn who gave us  Judith; Ruth and Neil.
Later  when I was falling asleep I felt sad when I recalled names of old friends  who were not so fortunate. They were called away earlier.

We were pleased to receive cards, letters and E-mails from a number of survivors here and in Ireland and a few from America and Australia.  I must mention one  friend who is as old as myself and equally poor.   Ever since we reached ninety he has sent me a score for my birthdays.  We share the good fortune of having a unique woman a year older than we are.
I am referring to a rare couple  I told you about  some months ago -- Les and Gwen Fowler of Luton.   You may remember the photo of  Les I showed you.   He was wearing the medals he was awarded  for his five years service under  Field Marshal Montgomery with the Eighth army in the Western desert.
Les first came to me with an injured greyhound in 1970.  He and Gwen continued to be regular clients  until I moved away from Rugby in 1992.    They always brought a present of some fruit or flowers grown in their
garden.  It was a pleasure to see their patients.   They had only four kennels and that enabled them to have the time to keep their runners in prime condition.   They were ever so kind to them  and preferred to race
them on independent tracks where they were not locked up to bark, fret or worry for hours.   They won races with several of my young dogs at Luton,  Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Northampton, Earls Barton,    Norwich and Rye House.  When I could no longer afford  to keep those winners  I sent them to trainers at  NGRC tracks who would have customers for them.
 I can remember the names of some  that I bred in 1978  from Jimsun  the Derby winner .  One called Wheatfield Dove - after winning at Earls Barton - went to Harringay where she was in the care of a good trainer called Ted Parker who had been a client of mine for some time.   I sent  W. Karen and W.Anna
to Mrs Janet Tite at Hackney because her Dad  Tom Stanley - the popular promoter at Rayleigh - was a friend of mine.   I sent W. Tench to trainer Maxen at Watford  which was then controlled by the G.R.A.
 I sent W. Pearl to Romford where she was in the care of  trainer George Carr another respected friend.    I can't remember the name of one I sent to another decent trainer there called Terry Duggan.   I also admired the managers  there at the time.
Some years later however there was collusion there - between a manager and two trainers.    This offence was almost unknown on independent tracks -- It would be too obvious.   But where there was a large attendance it was not uncommon.    In this case the promoters  Coral bookmakers were said to be anxious to have the Police called.    But to curtail the scandal   the NGRC decided that   withdrawal of the three licenses  would be sufficient. !
I recommended Les Fowler to a few decent owners who were not afraid to risk a big bet when they felt confident that their dog had been properly prepared.   When their dogs won Les got the presents that he deserved.   My Kildare friends Sean & Anne Coughlan were the most famous patrons Les ever had.   Their fame was due more to their racehorses than their good greyhounds.   The foal they bred from Bens Pearl and Indian Ridge in '92 became the world famous Ridgewood Pearl.   Her wins incliuded the Curragh Guineas,  the Coronation Cup, the Champion Stakes,  the Prix du Moulan and the Breeders Cup Mile at Belmont Park.
Here are names of some prolific winners trained by Les :-  Bunny Richard,   Shamimar,  Julie Susie,  Captain Clipper,  Count Mara  a black dog by Quiet Spring and Tudor Reflection &  Kyle Hill Jed  a brindled dog by Kerry Valley and White Whale.  I  particularly remember the last two  because they were outstanding runners and I put them to sleep when they were in their teens.    Les  - shedding tears - buried them in his garden and put a cross over their graves.

I have been unable to write anything for you during the last week  because my Jane has been in Castlehill hospital for an operation.   She has been very brave about it and is making a quick recovery.   We feel very grateful to the surgeon and all the doctors and nurses for their skill and care.

I  am delighted to be able to tell you that my Jane is making good progress thanks to the Beverley nurses who visit her daily.   She has been very brave in tolerating pain without complaining.   She has resumed her daily drives on her scooter with Charley on her knee to the library for lunch.   Next week I hope to write something of particular interest to greyhound fans.

 We feel fortunate to have lived so long  while so many lives are cut short  or end before reaching adulthood.  Yesterday's newspapers made me wish I had made better use of my time when I read of the funeral of the teenager who while suffering cancer for four years raised millions for charity.

      Those of you who are interested in greyhounds would have expected .me to say something about the .greyhound Derby which was staged at Wimbledon.   It certainly deserved a mention if only for the fact that the owners of the winner got a record prize of two hundred thousand pounds.    For this generous amount everyone in the sport felt indebted to William Hill Bookmakers.  To prove that there were no regrets about the award by this sporting company .. they have promised an extra fifty thousand to the winner of the next Derby.   The record prize must attract even more entries from Ireland.    It may also tempt owners of high class performers from European or American tracks. .

I would like to congratulate Bruno Berwick, Ron Mills and Rick Holloway on the performance of the brave winner Salad Dodger.   Commiserations seem due to the connections of the other five finalists who went so far.  I thought Mark Wallis deserved to be complimented on his runner Aero Nemesis giving the best performance on the card for the final after being eliminated from the semi-final.   The lasting memory of the event is likely to be with the innumerable disappointed supporters of the beaten favourite Mind The Net.
At the first turn as has happened to so many on this narrow track  he was crowded and baulked  and almost all who saw him or backed him were silenced.
When the White City in London was given away  everyone I knew to be interested in fair play for owners and greyhounds wanted the Derby to be staged at Sheffield.
I have spent  most of my life studying the causes of injuries and means of prevention.and treatment..   I suggested changes that would be beneficial.  My only major success was the replacement of turf by sand for surfaces.  That took ten years of  letters, articles and lectures on  injuries sustained on surfaces that were too hard, too soft or - gave no grip -- all at my own expense.  My first convert was not a promoter.  He was an owner of top class dogs who were in my hospital.   His name was Joe Haden.    He paid for my weekly adverts "Sand those Bends".   After five we had our first convert.   Leo Craven the Kings Heath promoter telephoned me and asked where he could get suitable sand.  His call made the main Headline in next day's Sporting Life.  A day later  I had a similar request from Bob Becket at Bletchley Independent.  After Bob had sanded his track  he adopted the name Milton Keynes and joined the NGRC.   My friend Tom Stanley was also swayed to sand Rayleigh after a holiday in Las Palmas where he had an evening at the "dogs".

.  In 1955, ten years after I became a Vet  I became concerned about the incidence of  Hock and Wrist  injuries on the turns that were far to sharp for safety.   Of every fifty hocks that I treated  it was rare for one to have been broken on a straight.    After I retired   I was able to make my long-planned three  six-week tours of regions in the Antipodes where I could see tracks with a safer radius.

    This outer drawing is of the usual horse racecourse. enclosing two of our typical greyhound tracks  with turns that are too sharp for top-class runners.    The circular track with a radius of seventy five metres  could provide up to  99% safety for all but our giant greyhounds.  
Every person who reads this sentence -- after comparing my circular track with the two of the usual shape -- must be concerned about the greyhounds who are baulked or bumped, suffer broken hocks or wrists, or  rupture  muscles or tendons.   The GBGB  are said to be keeping records of the numbers injured .    Over the last five years I have been wanting to know their statistics but I have been referred  to four other officials and learned nothing.     What surprises me is that some of these divertors have -- like myself -- taken an oath to put the welfare of our patients first.