8:18am Friday 8th August 2008
By Daniel Binns
CHARITIES across Redbridge have warned they could lose out on thousands of pounds of donations when the historic Walthamstow Stadium closes next week.
Dozens of good causes have long used the dog racing arena as a place to raise money and to hold promotional events, but many now face a dramatic drop in revenue if the scheduled closure does go ahead.
This week it emerged that Haven House Children's Hospice in Woodford Green have had to cancel a lucrative corporate fund raising event at the Stow, while charity workers in Wanstead have warned other major good causes could suffer.
Pearly Queen fundraiser Doreen Golding, from Wanstead, said: “I’m not a betting lady myself but it’s a wondeful place and is really good for raising money.”
“We’ve been collecting there for the St Jospeh’s Hospice in Hackney, the local hospice for people in Wanstead, for the last five years and places like that are going to lose out on thousands of pounds if we can’t collect there anymore.
“We usually try to get the racegoers on the way in when they have their wallets full, and on the way out if they’ve been successful, but if they look a bit dispondent you know then you’re not going to get much.
“It is a great shame for many charities.”
Jane Stuart, of Haven House, said: “We are dissapointed we had to cancel.
"It’s an ideal venue, it’s certainly nothing else like it around here and it’s a place we would probably have benefited from.”
At the weekend hundreds of people protested outside the stadium against its closure.
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