Norton Canes Stadium was a former greyhound racing track situated in

Norton Canes Norton Canes is an industrial village, civil parish and ward of Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England. It is situated out of the centre of Cannock. At the 2001 census it had a population of 6,394, and an area of of which 86% is gre ...

, near

Cannock Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolv ...

in Staffordshire.

Origins

Charles Southall built the track in 1974 and chose a site east of the village of Norton Canes on the west side of the Brownhills Road. The track was dwarfed by the large Chasewater reservoir on its eastern side.

Opening

Racing began under the N.G.R.C permit scheme in 1975 and races were run over the distances of 265m, 440m, 617m, 792m and 969m. Facilities included a licensed club house and there was a car park for 400 vehicles, kennels for 75 greyhounds and a glass fronted covered stand.

History

The management introduced two competitions called the Norton Canes Derby and the Champion Bitch Stakes. Stephen Rea took over the lease in 1980 at a time when a rival track the Chasewater Raceway opened. In 1984 Rea sold the lease to John Preece a businessman with an engineering firm in

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...

. The track enjoyed a popular spell with Preece as a promoter, the attendances went up and it attracted one of the sports leading trainers

Geoff De Mulder Geoffrey De Mulder (1930 – 11 December 2009) was an English greyhound trainer. He was a two times Greyhound Trainer of the Year, champion trainer of Great Britain and was regarded as the leading trainer during the 1970s and 1980s. Early life ...

. DeMulder trained Fearless Ace when he won the

Pall Mall Stakes The Pall Mall Stakes was a prestigious greyhound racing competition held at Oxford Stadium until it closed in 2012. It was run at Harringay Stadium from 1935 until 1987, before moving to Oxford Stadium in 1988. The race never received the stat ...

in 1988 and in 1992 Glideaway Silver won the

Scottish Greyhound Derby The Scottish Greyhound Derby was an original classic greyhound competition held at Shawfield Stadium. Held at Carntyne Stadium from 1928 to 1968, after the closure of Carntyne the race appeared at Shawfield from 1970 until 1985. In 1988 the Gre ...

; The white and fawn dog was trained by Michael Compton.

English Greyhound Derby The English Greyhound Derby is the most prestigious race on the British greyhound racing calendar, with a history stretching back to 1927. It was first held at White City Stadium, but moved to Wimbledon Stadium in 1985, and then Towcester Gre ...

final appearances followed for Cooladine Style in 1989 and Fair Hill Boy and Galtymore Lad in 1990. Other trainers included Norman Johnson, Sylvia Houlker, Melvin Baker, Russ Kinsey, Maurice Buckland and George Lightfoot and Harry Dodds trained Appleby Lisa who became the

Gold Collar The Gold Collar is a greyhound racing competition held annually. It was inaugurated in 1933 at Catford Stadium. Following the closure of Catford in 2003 the competition switched to Belle Vue Stadium but only lasted until 2009 when it was discont ...

champion in 1991. Derek Pugh brought the Irish sales to Norton Canes for a short spell in the early nineties after selling Cradley Heath Stadium.

Closure

Norton Canes came to an abrupt end on 31 July 1995 when Preece pulled out as promoter after struggling to keep the track profitable. The track then suffered a serious fire in March 1996 effectively ending any chance of sport returning to the site.

Derelict

As of 2012 the site was still derelict awaiting planning permission for a housing development.

Norton Canes Derby

Track records

References

{{English greyhound tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct sports venues in Staffordshire