THE FESTIVAL 2017 MEDIA GUIDE

laying plans for the 12 months ahead.
Discussions take place continuously
but there are major staff briefings two
weeks before the start of the season
and two weeks before The Festival.
While some of the numbers are
staggering, so is the attention to detail
required to make it all work.
“To hit that 70,000 capacity, we have
to go big and every day there are
10,000 hospitality covers alone,” Sophia
Dale, Communications Manager for the
region, explains. “Some may want a
basic buffet but others are expecting
fine dining and, apart from the menu, if
it’s in a temporary structure we have to
go through such things as what colour
carpet to put down, what flowers
and napkins will match, what type of
furniture and crockery.
“As a racegoer, you just turn up and
enjoy your day – which is how it should
be – and you will have no idea what’s
gone on to make that happen.”
When the gates open at 10.30am
each day, there will already have been
people working at the racecourse for
six hours or more and, when night falls
and the public have made their way to
home and hostelry, things get
really busy.
“All you can hear is the beep of roadsweepers
and rubbish lorries reversing,”
Dale says. “Then the next lorries full of
stock, whether drink or food, start to
arrive.”
IN CHARGE OF THE FAMOUS
CHELTENHAM FENCES
Cheltenham Media Guide 2017
That includes the Guinness mobile bars,
tankers and associated cellars which
start to appear at 2am on the Sunday
before racing, this year coming straight
from the England v Scotland match at
Twickenham.
The Guinness Village is built around
them so that the food, beverages,
stage, toilets and other provisions
are all in place come 10.30am on
the Tuesday.
For some, those might be the only
figures that matter, along with the SP
of the winner of the opening race and
the denomination of notes picked up
afterwards, but please spare a thought
for the toilers who made it all happen.
NAME KEITH JONES
AGE 58
POSITION FENCE-BUILDER
FESTIVALS 33
BEST MOMENT SEEING SOME OF THE GREATEST JUMP HORSES IN ACTION.
DESERT ORCHID WINNING THE GOLD CUP IN 1989 WAS A TERRIFIC DAY
MOST CHALLENGING MOMENT WINDY WEDNESDAY IN 2008
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT MY JOB WORKING AT MY LOCAL RACECOURSE AND
HELPING TO KEEP IT THE BEST JUMP COURSE IN THE WORLD. MAKING
SURE THE FENCES ARE SPOT-ON AND FAIR AND THAT THE GROUND
IS PERFECT
The skills Keith Jones deploys in
ensuring the fences at Cheltenham are
perfect for every race, every meeting,
took a long time to acquire and there
is a quiet precision about him that
conveys how much his craftsman’s
skills mean to him and how he is
determined to pass them on.
“I started here in 1984 and I was here
10 years before I was allowed to cut
the birch for a fence, but I’ve taught
my right-hand man John Close what I
know and we work together,” he says.
That birch is brought in over the
summer; 5,000 bundles of it that
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