I came across an old article from Picture Post about, what they called a "Poor Man's Race Meeting" held in Newport in August 1946. I can't show any of the pictures because they are still owned by Getty Images but following this link will lead you to a sample image on their website and to a further one.
I'd be interested to hear from anyone who knows about these horse races in Newport. Judging from some of the photos in the article, this one was very well attended and held in a meadow overlooking Traeth Mawr. I believe it may have taken place in Berry Hill Farm, so Nevern, stictly speaking!
It was a race meeting in a very basic form. As the Picture Post puts it "The field may be rough, the crowd rougher and perhaps the roughest of all are the riders." They rode in gum boots and sweaters, rather than silks, with cardboard numbers pinned to their backs. The starter fired his shotgun from his vantage point on the back of a lorry. Girl guides served tea and onlookers included prisoners of war. Frustratingly, no names are given in the article, nor much sense of local colour. There is only talk in general term about these "flaps" or poor man's races. Prize money could be as much as £100 and starters ranged from locals to "mysterious strangers". There were trotting races too over a one mile course. A bit of digging around online shows that flapping is still popular in Ireland and on the borders of Scotland. It's horse racing not run under Jockey Club Rules and there's a description of a meet here which gives some idea of the atmosphere. Does it still happen in Pembrokeshire at all?
I bet there are some good stories about these races. Was this, I wonder, a one off event in Newport or a regular feature?
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