Staff at Huntingdon race course have donated food to a Huntingdon homeless shelter after the horse racing was cancelled.

The Hunts Post: Racecourse Staff: Liam Johnson, General Manager, Matthew Morton, Catering Manager and Sophie Burkin, member with the donationRacecourse Staff: Liam Johnson, General Manager, Matthew Morton, Catering Manager and Sophie Burkin, member with the donation (Image: Archant)

Huntingdon racecourse was forced to cancel the event due to an outbreak of equine influenza across the country.

The British Horseracing Authority made the decision to cancel racing at all British racecourses today (Thursday), leaving Huntingdon racecourse with vast amount of food that was to be used for catering for ‘Mansionbet go racing raceday’ event.

Staff at the racecourse decided to donate the food to a Coneygear Court, a homeless shelter in Huntingdon, as they didn’t want to see it go to waste.

Liam Johnson, general manager at Huntingdon Race Course said: “All of this food that we were going to use will just have been thrown away as we aren’t allowed to store any of it. So we really wanted to help people that really needed it locally. It’s great to be able to help people that really need it.”

Conyegear Court is a homeless charity that helps individuals and families in the area that are homeless.

Situated on Coneygear Road, the shelter provides fully furnished rooms for people who are struggling, with them sometimes housing up to 50 people at a time.

Mary Claveria, senior care support officer said: “Some of these people are waiting to be housed in the area. A lot of them are families with children. Donations like these are really helpful to residents who aren’t able to afford to eat, and allows them to save money for when they are housed.”

The racecourse announced today that they would be cancelling the racomh ypdau and that all tickets will be automatically refunded.

For more information on Huntingdon Race Course visit: www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/huntingdon.