THE organisers of Pershore Plum Festival have appealed for memorabilia of the plum-themed horse races that were once run on on the town’s old racecourse.

They are calling for items as they prepare for a Pershore Plum Festival family race day at Worcester racecourse on Friday, August 6.

The event – a week into the town’s celebration of its famous fruit – will include the Land o’ Plum Chase and the Pershore Plum Handicap, two of the biggest races that used to be held at Pershore.

“The Land o’ Plum Chase was the Pershore equivalent of the Cheltenham Gold Cup and worth a lot of money, said Angela Tidmarsh, chairman of the festival. “The Pershore Plum Handicap was another important race. At the Worcester event we plan to have a lot of plum-related extras, including an exhibition about the old Pershore races.

“We are trying to find out the last time the races were run and are looking for any items, newspaper cuttings or any other memorabilia featuring the Pershore races to include in the exhibition.

“We believe that Pershore Racecourse’s old winning post is still in existence somewhere in the district and would like to be able to track it down and borrow it for the festival.”

Purple will be the colour at the races, and will also be seen throughout Pershore for the month-long festival next August. Mrs Tidmarsh is even having a set of purple racing silks made for the Pershore Plum Princess to wear to the races.

Mrs Tidmarsh said she hoped that local racehorse trainers would be interested and get involved in the day by entering their horses into the races.

Dudleys Coaches will be running special trips to Worcester races, which will wind up with a football match in which jockeys from the north of England will take on their counterparts from the south.

For more information or to offer memorabilia, call Angela Tidmarsh on 01386 565373