Cheltenham races

[Rosehips22]

Hi,

My name is Christina and I work for Gloucestershire Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (GRASAC).

I am currently working on a project to challenge and change what currently seems to be acceptable 'race week behaviour' with local organisations.

I am particularly interested in women's sense of safety within the city, rape and sexual assault, including verbal assault towards women. Examples I have come across so far are women changing their routes home during race week, travelling in pairs, or being victim blamed - ''what do you expect'' as a response when incidents are reported.

Would you mind sharing any experiences you have of this kind of behaviour? I will be taking women's experiences (anonymously) to the powers that be in order to change the current race week culture. If you prefer to email me directly my email address is [email protected]

Thank you :)

This is old and not about Cheltenham, but about 20+ years ago I was walking from Ascot race track to the station with loads of other people, broad daylight. A man exposed his cock to a woman just in front of me, the police saw it, took no action at all. Said it all.

My DD is at Gloucester Uni Cheltenham.

First year in halls was yards from the racecourse.

I was very surprised how vulnerable I felt catching the bus from the racecourse to the train station on a return journey last year.

Late afternoon, fair amount of good humour but the alcohol fumes were overpowering and huge potential for the situation to turn.

Not much has changed in 20 years of progress then, hmm, I think it's time it did. :)

Thank you for sharing.

I live in Gloucester but I give Cheltenham a very wide berth during race week, I’m less worried about sexual assault than just stupid drunken antics though.

Hi my in laws live in winchcombe near Cheltenham.

We have friends in Cheltenham too.

We got into a discussion about the effect that the races have on the city.

My friend (male) says he encourages his female employees to get taxis home at race time. He pays for the taxis. He says this is because Cheltenham is full of pissed up men who are out in large groups and are booked into hotels (so no accountability by being home by a certain time)

He has also told me that he knows prostitutes are trafficked into the area for said groups of men around race time. They stay in airbnbs and go back to their own cities afterwards.