Changes at the top follow end of rebuild project

MOVING ON: Bridget Belsham has resigned as Wanganui Greyhound Racing Club manager as has president Kevin Benson.PHOTO/ FILE

The Wanganui Greyhound Racing Club will hold a special general meeting on January 27 to discuss issues surrounding the resignation of president Kevin Benson and manager Bridget Belsham.

The meeting has been called to elect a new president, while Blesham's position has already been advertised and she will remain on deck until the job has been filled.

Both Belsham and Benson say nothing sinister was behind the dual resignations rather it was simply time to move on.

Neither were keen on commenting further publicly.

Benson has been president for the past eight years and had been on the racing club's board for 10, while Belsham had been manager for the past three and a half years.

She arrived six months before the beginning of the new $1 million grandstand rebuild, while Benson was a driving force, along with help from his board and other individuals, to lobby for the rebuild at Hatrick Raceway.

The rebuild has created spin-offs for Wanganui.

At the 2013 Wanganui Business Awards the greyhound racing club won the Hospitality and Tourism Excellence Award in recognition of what the team and its new facilities delivered.

Benson did say Belsham and her staff were the driving force behind that award.

He added that it was time for him to stand down as president and allow someone with more enthusiasm to take the reins.