ISN’T Chepstow a great place to live? There is so much going on in our small town, and if you’re a Chepstow resident you’re spoiled for choice in the next couple of weeks with several meetings at the racecourse and a full schedule of events at the castle courtesy of Castell Roc. In addition there’s the popular Caerwent Show on Saturday 18th and the 5th annual Severn Bridge Half Marathon will be run on Sunday 26th August.

In addition to our scheduled race meetings we’ve just picked up an additional race meeting from Bath Racecourse, where the track is currently too dry to race on, so there are no less than 5 race meetings at Chepstow Racecourse before the end of the school summer holidays.

The highlight is the big family funday on Bank Holiday Monday 27th. As usual we’ve got lots of entertainment on the stage, including Andy Day from CBeebies, plus characters from popular programme PAW Patrol, Dino Man, fairground rides, football skills, a magician, go-karts, cricket skills, a Taylor Swift tribute and more.

Family tickets are available and picnics are welcome so it’s a great value day out.

On Thursday 16th it’s Gin and Jazz racenight. Alongside the evening racing there is a gin cocktail demonstration and music from the jazz band the Hipcats.

During the dry spell there have been some small fields across the country but now, with a bit of ‘juice’ in the ground, we’ve got lots of entries so it should be a good card.

On Saturday we stage the evening meeting originally scheduled for Bath Racecourse, and we’ve got music from the popular Irish band Murphys Marbles.

We also race on Thursday 23 August and Monday 3rd September afternoons.

At Castell Roc the entertainment kicks off with Monsters of Rock on Thursday 16th August, and acts over the next fortnight include Leo Sayer, the Fastlove George Michael tribute, The Shires and Dr Hook. It closes on Sunday 2nd September with a free community celebration at the castle including a children’s parade, a dog show and family entertainment which is a fantastic idea.

Last weekend saw the inaugural Severn Bridge parkrun take place over the bridge. Parkrun is a fantastic free weekly sporting event which has got literally millions of people running across the world since the first event took place in 2004. It’s great that we now have one in Chepstow. It will take place every Saturday of the year and runners meet in the underpass by Basepoint and run a 5km out and back route over the bridge footpath. See the website parkrun.org.uk for details of how to register.

The Severn Bridge Half Marathon and 10k take place on Sunday 26th August. It’s a real spectacle when the carriageway is closed and thousands of runners head out for a loop around Littleton Upon Severn, Kington and Elberton, returning on the Severn Bridge footpath.

Gates open at Chepstow Racecourse for Gin and Jazz Racenight on Thursday at 3.05pm, first race at 5.05pm.