Horrid weather sees more events cancelled

But the weekend’s city race meetings are going ahead with organisers hoping for a break in the rotten weather.

Two days of national hunt racing at Pitchcroft will go ahead starting today with Ladies Day and continuing tomorrow with the Countryside Family Day.

The official going was “good-to-soft, and good in places” as your Worcester News went to press yesterday.

Jenny Cheshire, racecourse commercial manager, said: “The racing is on. There’s better weather forecast, and no problem with the track or the river.”

Yesterday, persistent rain had raised the water level on the River Teme at Newnham Bridge near Worcester prompting the Environment Agency to issue a flood alert to the area downstream. However, no flood reports were issued for the Severn, with river levels steady.

Any respite from the gusty winds and rain will be welcomed across Worcestershire as the weather has deteriorated from the peak of the scorching heat wave at the end of May.

On Sunday a Help For Heroes motorcylce ride out from the Prince of Wales pub in Malvern to the Armed Forces’ Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, was cancelled over safety fears, caused by heavy rain.

However, the charity’s local representative Roly Love and his wife Mandy rode out the following day as a gesture of good faith to those who had already pledged money towards the ride.

“We turned up on Sunday at the pub and the weather was absolutely dire, and after three-quarters-of-an-hour it wasn’t getting any better so we sacked it off for the day,” he said.

“There will be more fund-raisers from the pub,” he said.

Pub landlord Ian Randall said the ride “will happen but later in the summer and at somewhat shorter notice, so we have a better idea of the weather.

Meanwhile, the pub is hosting a quiz on Wednesday, June 13, starting at 8.30pm in aid of Help for Heroes.

As already reported, another victim of the weather was the hot-air balloon festival due to be held in Evesham this weekend.