There will be two full-time jobs lost and 24 casual positions gone in Bathurst.

The Bathurst Greyhound Club races 52 meetings a year and almost $1 million is paid out in prizemoney each year, 80 per cent of which remains in the Bathurst area.

Many Bathurst businesses will lose big time.

The Bathurst Greyhound Club has never been involved in any controversy in the 80 years of business.

There are 45 greyhound trainers and hundreds of owners. 

All this will be gone as at July 1, 2017.

People’s livelihood will be taken away, but the main issue will be mental health.

Why wasn’t our local member Paul Toole prepared to look out for his own electorate?

The treatment of Member for Cootamundra Katrina Hodgkinson and Member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis by Deputy Premier Troy Grant was appalling. At least they had the decency to support their electorate.

Mr Toole voted with his cronies Mike Baird and Troy Grant to close the industry, putting thousands of people out of work.

The welfare of greyhounds is paramount. All trainers treat their dogs very well. They are fed the best. They have air-conditioned kennels and rugs for warmth in winter.

Mr Baird should walk around Elizabeth Street, Sydney. There are people sleeping on mattresses on the footpath.

Greyhounds are vet-checked regularly and if there is something wrong with them, they are put down humanely.

Every trainer/owner/breeder I know treats their dog like family.

To the people of NSW who do not approve of greyhound racing, that is your choice. But the people of this industry did not deserve to be treated like this. We did not bring this on.

People say that this is a lazy man’s sport. Many elderly people train dogs, which gives them a purpose in life and gets them out of bed. What are they going to do now?

We contribute to the economy. We pay our taxes. We donate to charities. This is not a cruel sport as you have been led to believe.

The industry was entitled to be put on three years probation and if it did not comply, then so be it. The industry has been in reform for 18 months and was willing to comply with everything that was requested.

If the people of NSW think their future is safe, they had better think again.

This government can and will do whatever it wants. If you are in the way, the government will throw you under a bus.

IN 1941, my parents and eldest brother lived in the small village of Sproxton, Leicestershire, England. Nearby was the wartime RAF airfield of Saltby Heath.

On December 9, 1941, an aircraft took off from Saltby Heath, at approximately 8pm, on a short flight to RAF Cottesmore.

Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft, a twin-engined Handley Page Hampden bomber, crashed into a farmyard in the village of Sproxton, killing the two men onboard.

One of the men was Kenneth Frederick Thornton, aged 25, a sergeant in the RAAF, service number 402623. My research shows that he was the son of Arthur Charles and Edith Pearl Thornton, and husband of Norma Genevieve Thornton of Bathurst, NSW, Australia.

The other member of the aircrew was Pilot Officer Osborne Kirkton Fisher, RAAF, aged 28, from Leederville in Western Australia.

Both men were interred at the village of Cottesmore in Rutland, England.

If anyone in your area is interested in these findings, I would be delighted if they contacted me. My 83-year-old cousin still lives in Sproxton and witnessed the crash and I would pass on to him any responses.