Pontefract’s A W Pemberton Handicap was run just once, in 1982.
I searched for the derivation of this fruitlessly in 2022. One A W Pemberton was a Senior Research Fellow at the College of Aeronautics who wrote learned articles and a book called Plant Layout and Materials Handling (Macmillan, 1974). That’s “plant” is in factory buildings and machinery. However, another A W Pemberton was a Plant (as in botany and agriculture) Health Consultant who won a European & Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation gold medal in 2003 for his work at the Central Science Laboratory at York. I also came acrorss Richard Pemberton, a member of Pontefract’s groundstaff for 30 years before retiring in 2019. Could his father have been the A W Pemberton of the 1982 race?
A fresh search in 2025 turned up the answer within a few minutes. I can do no better than quote from the 7 April 1982 Huddersfield Daily Examiner. “Pontefract start their new season next Wednesday with new sponsorship — the £3,000-added A W Pemberton Handicap. Pembertons, the Featherstone-based landscape contractors and plant-hire company are currently completing the work of providing Pontefract with a round course which will come into use at the beginning of the 1983 season. Mr Arthur Pemberton, chairman of the family firm, is also a racehorse owner.”