TRANENT

The Home of Tranent Juniors Football Club, Foresters Park, Lindores Drive, Tranent, East Lothian.

POSTCODE———————————-EH33 1HJ

LOCATED————————————The town of Tranent lies ten miles east of Edinburgh, with the football ground situated a quarter of a mile south east of Tranent town centre, just set back off the A199.

ORIGINAL SITE—————————–Farm grazing land.

DATE CONSTRUCTED——————–Around 1900 as a football ground.

DATE VENUE OPENED——————-Around 1900 for junior football.
Meaning other sports may have taken place prior to the arrival of Greyhound Racing.

FIRST MEETING—————————–July 7th 1936.
Greyhound Racing only.

LICENSED OR INDEPENDENT———-Independent
All venues covered would have to be licensed with the government, licensed suggested in this section would refer to tracks operating under NGRC Rules.

INSIDE OR OUTSIDE HARE TYPE——Ball Hare Type.
Please note that the Electric Hare suggested is only a guidance and would have been in operation for a certain amount of time at this venue. Although it is not necessarily guaranteed that it was operational all the time, as other types of lure may have been used and updated as time progressed.

DISTANCES———————————-270 and 450 yards.
Please note that most racing venues distances had become varied throughout the years, the ones given above were at once point set and offers only a guidance to the track size.

CIRCUMFERENCE—————————Don’t know.
Please note that alterations at most racing venues throughout its existence would see that the circumference of the track would vary, the one shown above offers only a guidance to the track size.

BIG RACE NAMES—————————Nothing known of.

STADIUM SHARED WITH——————Tranent Juniors Football Club.

LAST MEETING——————————-Early 1970’s.
Greyhound Racing only.

STADIUM CLOSURE DATE—————-Still there as a football round.
Meaning other sports may have taken place after Greyhound Racing had ceased.

STADIUM DEMOLITION——————-N/A

BUILT ON SITE——————————-N/A
In some cases, structure’s that originally covered the venue after the stadium had been demolished, may have been themselves demolished too, so the one described is more likely to be the one which now presently covers the site.

EVIDENCE LEFT TODAY——————-Nothing regarding greyhound racing.

FURTHER COMMENTS——————–None

Ten miles east of Edinburgh and just south of the main A1 trunk road lies the East Lothian town of Tranent. Tranent has little to offer when it comes to sport, but it does have a junior football club known as Tranent Juniors who play at Forester’s Park.

Yet it is Forester’s Park that brings me to write this paragraph, because it was once the home to Greyhound Racing. Forester’s Park developed around the turn of the twentieth century purposely to host amateur football, before it gradually became enclosed, with a small grandstand being erected on the west side of the pitch. The close proximity of the Wallyford greyhound track located three miles away, may have influenced the opening of Greyhound Racing at Tranent, with a track being laid around the perimeter of the football pitch in 1936.

Opening up as a flapping track its first meeting came on the 7th of July 1936, with an agreement between the greyhound promoters and the football club, that all gate money would be equally shared. But unfortunately, Tranent built up a reputation of becoming a dangerous track, as the tightness of the bends found that greyhounds would regularly overshoot the corner and collide with the perimeter brick wall, with some incidents becoming fatal. These incidents became unpopular with owners and trainers and found that many of them refused to run at the track, preferring the close by Wallyford track as a safer option.

These reactions from trainers found that the number of entrants were reduced, with two meetings per week becoming one, which eventually contributed to the track’s closure during the early 1970’s. Today, Forester’s Park continues to host junior football, its shape is now more rectangular and leaves no evidence of a greyhound track. The venue is found roughly a quarter of a mile southeast of Tranent town centre, just set back off the A199.

A programme, photograph or even memorabilia for this track is required for this page, if you can help please contact me.