Warwick racecourse is still in the red . Warwick racecourse is still in the red and is still showing a loss , said racecourse committee chairman Alderman Guy Nelson at the July meeting of Warwick town council . because of that , the committee had refused to increase prize money when asked to do so by the jockey club . Alderman Nelson was replying to two questions from members of the council , who asked why the committee had not carried out the jockey club &apos;s request . Councillor Fred Vittle said he thought that owners and trainers would stop running their horses at Warwick if the prize money was not increased . postponed . Councillor Fred Walters asked why the committee had refused the increase before it found out about other racecourses . is our prize money as high as theirs ? he asked . Alderman Nelson said the committee had only said that the increase should be postponed until a decision on betting levy contributions to racecourse executives had been received . we shall still get plenty of horses . the horses that come to Warwick do not come for the prize money , but for the public to bet on , he added . extensions at Chesford grange will cost &amp;pound;50,000 . better known to Birmingham , Coventry and Leamington connoisseurs for the excellence of its food and wines , but known by guests from all parts of the country , Chesford Grange Hotel will soon have an additional 21 luxurious modern bedrooms and a conference hall seating 200 delegates or 120 diners . the new bedrooms , each of which will have its own private bath or shower , are all on the first floor , over the new conference hall , which has its own entrance , bar , cloakrooms , and a laid dance-floor . the new hall , to be called the lilac room , can be used either separately or in conjunction with the main hall , and is a very valuable extension of the already comprehensive conference facilities . clean and modern . the new structure , which links the hotel to the ballroom , has a white rendered finish to the ground floor and timber facings to the first floor . the conference hall entrance is faced with green slate , and the architectural treatment of the new building is clean and modern , but still blends with the existing traditional architecture of the older buildings it links . the work , which includes complete modernisation of the entire drainage system , will cost about &amp;pound;50,000 and will be completed by Christmas of this year . main contractors are Turriff construction ( Warwick ) Ltd , the well-known Warwick and London builders . unemployment decrease . the number of unemployed has fallen during the past three months , said Miss N L Munton , manager of the Leamington and Warwick employment exchange , at a meeting of the Leamington and south Warwickshire local employment committee held under the chairmanship of Miss L I Bell , J.P . the percentage for the area covered by this committee ( Leamington , Warwick , Stratford and Southam ) is just under .5 compared with .8 for the midland region and 1.2 for the country as a whole . there are varied vacancies for both men and women , for the latter especially in shops , cafes , hotels and domestic work , as well as nursing and electrical work . council questions on Warwick &apos;s overdraft . if Warwick town council &apos;s bank overdraft stopped , would all the capital works undertaken by the council come to an end ? asked Councillor Fred Walters at the July meeting of the council . and , if that happened , would council house rents be affected ? Councillor Walters was speaking on a finance committee recommendation that the council should increase its overdraft to &amp;pound;250,000 . the proposal was approved . he said he had been surprised that the chairman of the committee had not made a statement to the council , and added that he did not think it necessary to have such a large overdraft for a town of Warwick &apos;s size . was it wise ? before the chairman of the finance committee had chance to reply , Councillor Fred Vittle asked if it was wise to increase the overdraft during the national economic crisis . Councillor E Lloyd-Averns finance committee chairman , said the overdraft was not a large one , as many towns smaller than Warwick had greater overdraft facilities . its main purpose is to act as a buffer , he said . in so far as council house rents are concerned , they are run on a completely different basis and can not possibly be affected . Warwick and scheme for joint crematorium . at a special meeting , Warwick general purposes committee instructed the crematorium sub-committee to oppose the proposals to build a crematorium near the junction of the Banbury and Heathcote roads . the sub-committee will press for the crematorium to be built on the original site - by Leamington &apos;s Brunswick Street cemetery . Warwick town council originally decided to build its own crematorium , but in April last year it abandoned the idea and entered into a joint scheme with Leamington town council and Warwick rural district council . after representatives of the councils had met it was decided to build the crematorium near Leamington cemetery . &amp;pound;10,000 extra . after representatives of the firm of architects which built the Medway crematorium at Chatham had inspected five possible sites , within Warwick and Leamington and Warwick rural district , they recommended the site on rising ground at the junction of the Banbury and Heathcote roads . the size of the site is 15 acres . the chairman of Warwick estates committee , Alderman H J Ansell , outlined the history of the proposed crematorium at the special meeting of the general purposes committee . he said his committee decided against the Heathcote Road site because of the extra cost - about &amp;pound;10,000 . piecemeal . Chairman of the new planning and development committee , Councillor H R C Walden , said it would be piecemeal development for the Heathcote area . he said that would be one of the few areas that Warwick could develop if the green belt inquiry proved successful and it was wrong to spoil it by building the crematorium . Councillor Leo Howlett said the eventual cost was likely to be about &amp;pound;125,000 , of which Warwick would have to pay one fifth . if we have got &amp;pound;25,000 to spend let &apos;s spend it on the living , he said . maiden speech . Councillor Donald Round made his first speech at a council meeting when he asked the chairman of the housing committee what was being done about the pavements and street lighting at Spinney Hill , Warwick . Councillor W L Tarver , the chairman of the housing committee , said that the pavements and street lighting should be installed within the next few months . a silver thank you . to mark his services to the league - and also his silver wedding - Mr Walter Leslie , secretary of Warwick Hospital league of friends , has been presented with a pair of silver candlesticks . the presentation took place in the hospital &apos;s new recreation hall - which Mr Leslie helped to get . Warwick mayor to campaign for by-pass . although proposed more than 25 years ago , it would be at least four years before anything was done about the Warwick by-pass , said the Mayor of Warwick ( Alderman James McGrouther ) at a special meeting of Warwick general purposes committee . he told the committee that he was going to write to the Minister of transport asking if he would receive a deputation from the council . to strengthen his case , said the Mayor , he would approach transport federations and commission films of local traffic congestion . he asked the press for support and said he would take all press cuttings he could find relating to the traffic conditions in the town . Councillor Fred Walters , leader of the socialist group , said the council had tried to do several small things in an effort to alleviate the traffic congestion . each time they have been refused by people who have never been to Warwick , he added . council &apos;s action on smokeless zones . Alderman says : we have got to be realists . in a frank speech to the delegates at the annual meeting of the Warwickshire clean air council at Leamington , Alderman E H Fryer told them the reasons why Leamington town council had postponed its smokeless zones programme . but he promised that Leamington would not hang back when there were sufficient supplies of smokeless fuels available . welcoming the delegates on behalf of the Mayor ( Councillor Miss Christine Ledger ) , who was attending the royal garden party at Buckingham Palace , Alderman Fryer said he had been against smoke control for Leamington right from the word go . must be realists . criticism was levelled at us for going back on what we had started to do , but we have got to be realists . if you are going to change the Englishman&apos;s &apos;s way of life you can not do it in a hurry , he said . it must be done very gradually indeed . in other words , one must make haste slowly . the zones that were revoked covered a large area in which a lot of old people lived . it was on their behalf , mainly , that the programme was revoked . temperamental . you yourselves said there were insufficient supplies of smokeless fuel and so coke must be used . coke is temperamental ; it can make a good fire , or it can be a most depressing sight . unless we can give people a similar fuel to coal , at a similar price , then we are up against the wall . these are the reasons why the smoke control zones in Leamington were rejected . when smokeless fuel is produced in abundance , and when it is a reasonable price , I can assure you that Leamington Spa will not hang back , added Alderman Fryer . doctor &apos;s letter . at the quarterly meeting of the council , held at Sutton Coldfield , the vice-chairman of the council , Councillor Robert Loosley , of Coventry , claimed that Councillor Dr H Gibbons Ward , of Leamington , had started the campaign against the smoke control zones in Leamington by writing to the local press . he asked the council to deplore the doctor &apos;s action . at the annual meeting , Dr Gibbons Ward said unfortunately he had not been at the Sutton Coldfield meeting and he wished to put two or three things right . my privilege . I did not start the campaign by writing to the local press . I do not think it is the wish of this council that any member shall not at any time disagree with decisions of the council . I should have thought that one would have been able to express an opinion without being rebuked . it is my privilege to differ from the council at any time , he added . later , Councillor Loosley said : I feel it is wrong for the people of this council to get up at another meeting and decry our efforts . it is the duty of a member of this council to support these decisions outside the council . if not , at least they can keep quiet . Radford Semele raises &amp;pound;1,000 . although formed only 18 months ago , Radford Semele playing field committee has raised &amp;pound;1,000 towards amenities for the village play field . after buying playground equipment , the committee still has a credit balance of &amp;pound;736 , it was reported at the July meeting . the committee agreed that it would push ahead as fast as possible with fund raising schemes to make the playing field one of the finest in Warwickshire . committee chairman Mr P Bramhall called for full village support in the venture . allotment land should be a playground , council told . land originally set aside for allotments on the Percy estate , Warwick , would be very suitable for a children &apos;s playground , said Councillor Mrs E A Brown at the July meeting of Warwick town council . land behind the garages of Mill Road and Pattens Road was originally allocated for allotments , but as the land has not yet been allocated to the allotments committee could it be used for a children &apos;s playground ? I know it would not help all the children , but it would help some , she said . Councillor W L Tarver , housing committee chairman , said the borough surveyor was looking into the playgrounds problem . if any question of urgency arose during the school holiday , then the surveyor and the mayor could get together to decide what was best , he added . new officer . a midland woman is to be commissioned as a church army officer at a ceremony in London next week . 