By Ken Battle
The kennels and training grounds occupied fourteen acres of land and were situated on the north side of the old Hanworth Road, Sunbury, on the site now occupied by Lok n’ Store, Jaguar Land Rover and Costco Whole-sale. The kennels were built in 1933 at a cost of £25,000 to accommodate about 250 valuable greyhounds which raced at the Wandsworth Stadium in London.
Responsibility for the care of these greyhounds was delegated to Miss Marion Hunter and a staff of 22 kennel-maids and trainers who lived in comfortable on-site accommodation beside the kennels. In 1934 the Park Royal and Charlton Stadiums also decided to use the Sunbury kennels and the establishment became responsible for 600 greyhounds and employed a kennel staff of about 80. By 1946 attendances at race tracks reached an all time high and a development company known as London Stadiums Ltd. brokered a deal to take over all three of these London greyhound stadiums.
A detail from a 1962 O.S. map shows the extent of the Sunbury kennels, with facilities which then included a veterinary surgery having X-ray, UV and Infrared equipment, together with isolation kennels for sickness.
As all three London greyhound stadiums were situated some distance from Sunbury, road transport had to be provided to carry a large number of greyhounds to and from race meetings every week. Purpose built trailers were utilised, each of which could carry up to 56 greyhounds in individual cages, set in two layers of 28 cages. Apart from all the hard work at the kennels, the girls regularly attend-ed as many as two afternoon and three evening meetings a week. A short British Pathé newsreel entitled ‘The Greyhound Girls (1934)’ can be viewed on You Tube.
During the working day, the girls wore rough flannel slacks and boots, but when parading the dogs before each race, they wore brown top-boots and breeches, white shirts, green ties and black velvet jockey caps. After the meetings the tired dogs had to be carefully ‘packed’ for the return journey to their Sun-bury kennels, then each one had to be washed, dried, rubbed and put to bed before the girls could think of their own comfort.
On 15th September 1944, the Sunbury kennels and staff quarters suffered slight damage when a V-2 rocket struck the adjacent MWB Hanworth Road water-works, although no casualties were reported.
The girls were forbidden to place bets on any of the races, but in 1958 seven were charged with drugging greyhounds and during a trial at the Old Bailey, City of London, six were sentenced to six months in prison and the seventh to one year.
Between 1966 and 1971, London Stadiums Ltd. sold all three of their stadiums for redevelopment as shopping malls, which led to the closure of the Sunbury kennels in 1971.
Ken Battle is a member of the Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society.