SO far this year, we’ve had The Beast From The East, The Junior Beast From The East, more rain than Noah could cope with, a mini heatwave, then yet more downpours.

But if you want to know what’s coming next, don’t bother with the weather forecasters, just have a word with Stephen Berry.

Stephen is track manager at Redcar, one of the North-East’s racecourses, and his job revolves around the vagaries of the English weather.

“Between April and November, I’m obsessed with the weather,” he admits. “I watch every TV forecast and I’m always checking online. Even the wife asks me if it’s safe to put the washing out.”

Every year is challenging but 2018 has been exceptional. In March alone, 82mm of rain fell, compared to just 44 last year. Both of Redcar’s first two meetings had to be cancelled due to the water-logged course.

“This has been one of the worst starts to a season I can remember,” says Stephen, who turned 50 in March by watching the wet weather seeping into his beloved Redcar turf.

After those two false-starts, the season at Redcar finally gets underway this coming Thursday and Stephen can’t wait to see the first runners come under starter’s orders.

“It’s been so frustrating,” he says. “Just when you think the weather’s getting better, it’s been back to square one.”

Remarkably, this is Stephen’s 33rd season working at Redcar and the job’s in the blood. He was born and bred in Redcar and his dad John, who passed away last year, was track manager from 1984 to 2004. Stephen started working for him in 1985, learning the intricacies of track management and eventually taking over as the gaffer in 2007.

Stephen’s responsible for the day-to-day condition of the whole course: grass cutting, keeping daily temperature and rainfall records, irrigation and keeping in touch with trainers who call to enquire about the going. He has a team of five full-time staff, including his brother Phil, and three seasonal lads, not just looking after the track but the parade ring, winner’s enclosure, flower beds and a much-admired fish pond.

But by far the hardest part of the job is repairing the Redcar turf after hundreds of hooves have thundered over it. The morning after racing, the unsung heroes of the racing game are out there from the crack of dawn, filling in divots. It can take up to three days, depending on how soft the going has been. If they don’t do a professional job, the ground is left uneven and that’s unsafe for the horses competing at the next meeting.

Stephen accepts that his job is a labour of love, saying: “I thrive on the build-up to racing and then getting to race-day, knowing that everything possible has been done to get it right.”

Mind you, he’s not so keen on having to do the garden at home, having been so immersed in the turf at work. “It’s a bit of a busman’s holiday,” he says.

Highlights over his career include seeing Mark Johnston’s legendary stayer Double Trigger make a spectacular debut at Redcar in 1993, and Princess Anne riding her first winner as an amateur jockey at Redcar on Gulfland in 1986.

The memories haven’t faded but the nature of Stephen’s job means he’s always having to look forward, and it’s all systems go for Thursday’s belated first meeting.

“We can’t wait to get going,” he says. “You could say we’re chomping at the bit.”

A BIG thanks to the pupils of Croft Primary School for helping me with a special performance of my children’s book, Darly’s Magical History Ride, at Theatre Hullabaloo in Darlington last week.

The occasion was the annual general meeting of Darlington Building Society, where Darly – a magical little train – lives as a mascot for junior accounts.

In the story, Darly goes back in time through enchanted tunnels and meets characters from history, played by the children during school literacy workshops.

One of the historical encounters is with King Henry VIII who arrives on a horse with sound effects created with coconut shells.

Sadly, my clippity-clop coconut shells – kindly supplied by fruit and veg legend Robin Blair from Darlington’s covered market – have gone missing since last week’s performance.

My spies at Croft tell me they were last seen being used by the percussion section from the Age UK Ukulele Band who provided further entertainment after the book performance.

“I think they stole them,” said one pupil.

I’m waiting for an official confession to this mysterious case of clops and robbers...

The Northern Echo:

FINALLY, this is surely one of the most bizarre connections you’ll ever see made on a newspaper front page.

You can almost hear the cogs turning in news conference at The Sun: “What we gonna lead on – the historic Korean denuclearisation pact or Abba’s reunion. A-ha! We’ll combine the two.”

Unbelievably, The Northern Echo failed the make the connection.

The Northern Echo: