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Kempton in two World
Wars
For ten years, horse racing at Kempton Park gave way to the needs
of troops, military vehicles and prisoners of war.
In September 1915, during the First World
War, the racecourse was requisitioned by the War Office as a
transit depot for military vehicles. Fixtures were transferred
to Gatwick, Hurst Park and Sandown before racing could resume
in 1919.
At the beginning of the Second World War – September
1939 - Kempton was occupied again
The main line station situated within the
grounds of the racecourse made the site the ideal reception centre
for Italian and German prisoners of war. Search and interrogation
rooms were set up in the restaurant area and every available
space around the racecourse was used to accommodate them.
When the course was de-requisitioned in
1946 the full extent of the damaged caused to the track and surrounding
buildings during the war was realised. The final three
furlongs and the paddock required total reseeding and work on
the grandstand continued for another ten years, but the gates
of Kempton Park were open once again for the Easter meeting in
1947.
Since that time Kempton Park raced non-stop through a Grandstand
redevelopment in 1997, but closed the gates in May 2005 only to
re-emerge in eleven months later with a state of the art floodlit
all weather race track.
History is now ready to be re-written with Kempton leading the field
in floodlit all weather racing in Europe.
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