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Yeovil Cricket Club, West Hendford, Yeovil, Somerset

The Somerset town of Yeovil can be linked to three further temporary Greyhound racing venues. With the sport having already taken place in the town at two other tracks, firstly at The Huish then Barwick Fields, yet this chapter describes a third in the district of West Hendford.

It was the inevitable closure of Barwick Fields in 1932, that triggered the one at a cricket ground in the district of West Hendford, a venue situated roughly one mile southwest of Yeovil town centre. The venue was the home to Yeovil Cricket Club, and between 1935 and 1939 would stage a handful of Somerset County Cricket Club matches, although rugby union also played a part during the absence of cricket during those darker nights.

West Hendford’s first meeting took place during January 1932, the Winter period chosen due to the temporary absence of the cricket team, as the track was laid around the boundaries of a cricket pitch.

Distances were contested over 475 yards, but further information remains unavailable, yet it is clear that the venture ceased later that year. Although it may have been a temporary track, a new kennel block had been built on the opposite side of West Hendford Road, possibly to house the track owned participants.

As for today, the venue is no longer there, as the cricket pitch has been overwhelmed by an extension of the local Helicopter company, and even the kennels shown on the old photo is now pinpointed by a newly constructed Lidl store.

An aerial photograph shows the venue upper left , yet a small rectangular block below it, is thought to be the kennels.
This press cutting is dated March 1932.