'It seems like longer than four years. I've missed it'

If you have been to the funeral, it would be remiss indeed not to turn up for the resurrection. Hereford, the racecourse that didn't die after all; roll away the stone, there's life in the old place yet.

Almost four years ago, 1,391 days to be exact, Hereford closed down. It was a dreary, grey day in December, the mood matching the elements. Now Hereford reopens on a sunny, breezy day in October, and again the mood matches the weather. There are not many little country racecourses where you find people gathered excitedly at the gates, crowded like a cloud around the entrance as the clock ticks down to opening time. In they come, a spring in each step, a song in each heart, God in his Herefordshire heaven again and all well.

"I was here on the last day," says Dean Raymond. "Now I can't quite believe I'm here again on the first day. It seems like longer than four years. I've missed it."