Speaker Meeting (Bob Mills)

Rtn. Bob Mills gave his talk on the origins and history of greyhound racing in the UK, given from the perspective of one who had joined the sport in its heyday in 1958, as a bookmakers clerk, working for the legendary John Teacher, one of many larger-than-life characters attracted to the sport.

Bob described the paradox that this quintessential working mans sport was actually brought to the UK in 1926 by the trio of Brigadier General Alfred C Critchley a Canadian-born flying veteran from the first world war and Major L Lyne Dixson, a noted coursing judge and Mr. Charles Munn, an American business man

The popularity of the dogs grew like wildfire from a paltry first-time attendance at Belle Vue, Manchester, the UK,s first dog-track to a peak of 50 million annual turnstile attendance at over 100 tracks in the years immediately prior and subsequent to the Second World War.. Its gentle decline since those days being shared with so many aspects of public entertainment. Bob shared with us his theory that for working men whose lives were circumscribed by the routine of life at work and home, predominately in an environment where opinions and decisions were made by others. The dogs was an evening of being able to matter to make decisions and prosper  or not  by them.

He gave an insight into the prime duties of the bookmakers clerk and a little cameo of the tic tac system of signalling. Both of these functions have changed dramatically in todays world being replaced by the advances in technology. Perhaps the efficiency has been enhanced but only to the detriment of the atmosphere inside the betting ring