In March the board of the GBGB considered the recommendation of its Nominations Committee regarding the search for a Practitioner Director to represent owners. The Board accepted the recommendation that owners Bob Boswell and Paul Ephremsen should be put forward for a ballot for the position.

All owners (individuals, partnerships and syndicate heads) with at least one greyhound currently registered with GBGB will be invited to register separately to participate in the ballot which will be supervised by the GBGB’s auditors Barnes Roffe.

Details of the registration process will be released next week.

Following the ballot, the successful candidate will be eligible to attend the next scheduled Board meeting of the GBGB on 18th May 2017.

Vote! Vote! Vote! For Bobby!

An Insight to ROBERT (BOB) BOSWELL

(Chairman of Hove Greyhound Owners Association)

” I am delighted to have been selected by the GBGB as an Owner deemed suitable to possibly represent all Greyhound Owners on the board of the GBGB.
Many owners will know me by sight if not by name. For nearly twenty years I have represented owners through the chairmanship of both, firstly the Wimbledon
Greyhound Owners Association, and latterly the Brighton Greyhound Owners Association. I have a track record of representing all owners from the lowest grader to open class Greyhounds. I have vast experience of negotiations with promoters and track management and developed an excellent working relationship at both Wimbledon and Hove raising the profile of owners.

I am passionate about Greyhound Welfare and have worked very closely with Wimbledon Retired Greyhounds (Hersham Hounds) throughout my time at Wimbledon. I have collected at twenty Greyhound Derbys to raise many thousands of pounds for Wimbledon, not to mention standing on street corners in many Surrey towns shaking a bucket. I am also a Trustee of Brighton and Hove Retired Greyhounds. And I would like to lead on encouraging more owners to become involved in greyhound welfare and Retired Greyhounds and their life after the track.

I have three Retired Greyhounds at home, two of which are ex-racers of mine.

I do not envisage representing owners on the GBGB Board as being an “easy ride”. Gaining the full engagement and support of all owners will not be easy.
We live in a digital age and I would like to explore video conferencing and telephone meetings as a method of engaging with owners from areas outside of London. Again it will not be easy but I would like to set up a recognised organisation in every area or track to represent owners. I believe there is funding and a will to achieve this.

My first introduction to greyhound racing was as a Boxing Day tradition with my grandfather, I then used to go to Catford with my father and a further tradition was
established of drinking Bovril whilst watching the dogs in the open kennel before going out over the bridge to the traps. I continued to go to Catford throughout my teens and in my twenties and always enjoyed a night at the dogs. In my forties I got my first Retired Greyhound and it was through Harry that I first started to visit the kennels at Hersham and met Norah McEllistrim who bought my first dog, and the rest is history!

I have loved every moment with each and every one of the Greyhounds I have owned and thier unique characters. One of the best I owned was Pigalle Star who had a defeat of the great Jimmy Lollie on her CV.

The voting process has not yet been published, but if you wish to vote for me then please keep an eye on the GBGB website”

Bob Boswell