History of the Wivelsfield Donkey Derby
Why all the fuss about donkeys?
This is the story of Jim Dinnage, who owned Dinnages garages in Haywards Heath and ran a herd of Guernsey cows at his Lone Barn Farm.
Shortly after the war, Jim, who was for ever considering the wants of others, decided that Wivelsfield Green must have a Playing Field. In 1947 a six-acre field unexpectedly came on the market, and being in the centre of the village was an ideal site.
The land was purchased from farmer Colin White for £2,000, on the understanding that repayment would be made as and when funds became available. Alas, the usual fetes and raffles could not raise enough money. Fate intervened when in 1951 Jim was drowning his sorrows over a ruined hay harvest in The Cock Inn (a tradition continued today by many local farmers!). Outside the window he saw a sorry-looking donkey pulling a cart, took pity on it and bought it for £5: taking it home to surprise his wife Susan. Jim then saved another 13 donkeys from slaughter (donkey meat was cheap and very popular after meat rationing ended) and persuaded friends to buy donkeys and founded a Donkey Club.
Jim immediately conscripted his friends and acquaintances to organise fetes and flower shows, Swede Bashers Balls and Mayoral Elections, Husbands Shows and Blood Pressure Championships as well as the Donkey Race, with the result that the money was raised in no time to buy the field, which has become Wivelsfield’s Green, on which the Donkey Races were held.
Wivelsfield’s Green is now held in trust in perpetuity for the benefit of the Village.
The Story of Wivelsfield’s Donkey Races
It was in the late summer of 1951 that Jim suggested a Donkey Race with the 14 saved donkeys booked to participate and that’s where it all began. So in October 1951 the first Donkey Point to Point was held on the Green. Donkey racing was always treated as a serious pursuit and members of the horse-racing world trained a number of runners. Mrs Phil Bowring & her husband Peter founded the Donkey Racing Club with rules based on those of the Jockey Club, to ensure that all racing donkeys would be well treated. From then on the jockeys were children, with a weight limit of nine stone for all riders and a maximum age of fourteen years for girls and twelve for boys. All jockeys had to wear hard hats, distinctive racing colours, and to ride without saddles or stirrups. No whips or spurs were allowed although there was nothing against a bunch of carrots being suspended a little ahead of the donkey’s mouth!
The first racing programme consisted of five races, with six donkeys entered in each race. Some donkeys were obviously much speedier than others; these were handicapped. It was a hilarious afternoon, mainly due to only about half of the donkeys arriving on the field. The Stewards decided that the donkeys’ names would have to be switched from race to race in order that the programme should proceed according to the entries already on the race card. Happily for the punters, they caught on to the fact that names were being switched before the bookmakers and in consequence it turned out to be a real ‘punters’ day.
The next year more donkeys were rescued and it was decided to run another Race Meeting on Whit Monday. Good publicity pulled in a crowd of over 20,000 and caused a 3-mile traffic jam in all directions. £1,050 was raised so, of course, there were more races the following year and these made enough money to pay off the loan on the Playing Field and to buy children’s swings and slides. By now Wivelsfield’s racing donkeys were so famous that they made headlines in the national press and stars of stage & screen attended the races each year. Show business people, such as Arthur Askey and Annette Mills, started buying donkeys. The Mummers Mokes race boasted mounts sponsored by Bruce Forsyth, Norman Wisdom, Tommy Cooper and Harry Secombe and meets ended with a sulk race between the Windmill Girls from the London Theatre and the popular TV Toppers. All proceeds went to charity including Chailey Heritage. Soon other towns & villages were copying Wivelsfield and Donkey Racing became wide spread both in this country and abroad.
Focus changed when in 1954 the Dinnages' son Peter fell ill with Hodgkin’s disease and died two years later aged only 13. Susan realised there were no holiday homes for sick and disabled people to give carers a break. The Donkey Club changed its focus and Mrs Dinnage was able to open the St. Peter’s holiday home in Lancing, named after her son. Work continued until sadly, in 1963, Jim died from a heart attack.
The job, however, was not quite complete; the games players had their pitches and the children had their swings and slide, but there was no pavilion or changing room, and no toilets. It was therefore the aim in 1964 to put the finishing touches to Jim’s efforts for the Village; to raise the money, which would enable them to build a Jim Dinnage Memorial Pavilion on his ‘Green’. The donkey races continued into the 1970’s, raising much money for local good causes.
The building in Lancing was given up in the late 60s, but the dream carried on. By 1972 the Donkey Club had raised £180,000 and Arthur Askey dug the first spit of turf, at its current site of Lone Barn Farm, to start building the St. Peter and St. James Holiday Home, named for the Dinnages, father and son. The home opened in 1975, but soon took on patients needing long-term care, and in 1977 became the registered hospice we know today. There are still donkeys living at the Hospice.
Want to know more? Then visit the Village Day display on the stage in the village hall, of photos & articles supplied by Sarah Osborne.
