[Matt]

Can you please give us some support in our efforts to save Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium from closure (800 jobs at risk) and read some of the below out on your radio programmes?

Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium is due to close on Saturday 16 August 2008. It has been sold for housing development to three companies, led by London & Quadrant. An offer to rescue Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium has been made by a syndicate led by Richard Codd. The SAVE OUR STOW campaign has been building momentum over the last couple of months to supplement this bid; we have the support of Local MP Neil Gerrard and the All Party Parliamentary Greyhound Group (APPGG). The APGG is a body made up of members of the House of Commons and House of Lords. We also have the support of local housing associations. We are holding an organised protest march, which goes from Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium to Walthamstow town hall. This march starts at 12 noon Saturday 16 August 2008, starting from Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium (By the Crooked Billet roundabout adjacent to the North Circular. Thousands of Greyhound fans and local residents are expected to turn up and take part in the march. We are also being joined by Teddy Sherringham, and the groups Blur, who used Walthamstow for their Parklife album cover and Madness, whose singer Suggs has owned greyhounds at Walthamstow, including the greyhound named Nutty Boy.

Here’s a few of the pertinent points :-


1. There is a serious offer to buy the Greyhound track back off London and Quadrant who are the new owners- a social housing company -so the track doesn't have to close
2. We want them to sit round a table and negotiate with the consortium to see if a deal can be done.
3. The march is in support of talks - L&Q say they care about our community so we want them to prove it and help us save dog racing at Walthamstow. We're expecting thousands of people to join us!
4. Walthamstow without its Greyhound track is like Trafalgar Square without Nelson's column, Leicester Square without its cinemas or Paris without an Eiffel tower! There are also 800 jobs at stake so if a deal can be done they'll be saved too.

Thanks in anticipation of your assistance & keep up the good work at your most excellent station!

Yours Sincerely