Some News about Kimm’s Charity Fund-Raising: Denzil The Horse!

The Happiness Centre has raised the money to buy Denzil. Well done Kimm!!! Here’s some news from the group who now has Denzil: Our group. Otley and District Riding for the Disabled (RDA) was formed 25 years ago at Acrecliffe Equestrian Centre, Otley, by Anne Everall, Anita Yeadon and Jean Lupton who is our current treasurer.  The group flourished there but situations change and the busy professional yard had less time available for our growing group which has since branched out and rides at 4 venues, each fulfilling a different need.  We are also fortunate to have Cragg House Farm, home of Caring for Life, at Cookridge as part of our group providing Carriage Driving one day a week.
On Sunday afternoons we have a group for children who at the moment range from 4 to 15 years.  We ride at Hopewell Equestrian Centre, Carlton Lane, Guiseley where we have three ponies at livery and are able to use a friendly horse and a Shetland pony as well. In 2 years this group has grown from 4 riders and now has 19 on its books.  Our riders have a range of physical or learning difficulties but we focus on what they can do! (and what delightful youngsters they are)

Obviously we could not function without our volunteers who are mainly teenagers.  We give them basic training for health and safety, working with horses and the areas where our riders need support etc.  They are the most amazing and dedicated young people and we hope their time with us changes their attitude towards disability for life and that when they have time they will come back to RDA.

Our other treasures are our ponies who seem to understand every word we say and who work so steadily helping our riders have fun, learning about ponies, learning to ride and to overcome their own personal challenges.  We have been very fortunate to have been given a Fell pony and also another pony, Denzil, who comes from Ireland.  After we had owned Denzil for several months and one of our teenagers had put in a lot of work to familiarize him with our activities we were contacted by someone who said Denzil had only been lent to the person who gave him to us and that he really belonged to him.  Time passed; we thought this was a problem between these two people and we continued to look after and use Denzil.  We spent a lot of money finding the right saddle to fit Denzil and used him happily for over a year  Recently the person who claimed ownership came back to us saying he wanted Denzil back.  Fortunately he agreed to sell him to us for £400 and we were able to keep him however great the financial setback was for us.  As we al  l oved Denzil we did not want to part with him but this feeling was also strengthened by the fact that Denzil was himself disabled as one of his legs had been damaged when he was a foal.  This does not affect his movement but we feel protective to him and feel that he is well placed with his present situation.  The work suits him and the owners of Hopewell look after ponies with great care which we appreciate.

We have had wonderful bonuses from volunteers who have undertaken fund raising for us on their own initiative.  A young man who lived in a pub decided to make a collection in a bottle for us.  He turned up one day with £50 he had collected in a night!  Another volunteer decided to hold a coffee morning in the school holidays and presented us with a cheque for over £350 quite out of the blue.  Amongst our supporters we have a retired policeman who grows fruit, turns it into wonderful jams which he sells for our benefit.  I am always amazed at the surprises people give us….like yours for instance!!!  You may wonder why we need money all the time as we do charge our riders £10 per session.  We never earn enough on a Sunday to pay our way at Hopewell even though theyare very generous towards us.  We subsidize the cost of every lesson for all our riders, there are between 30 and 40 per week at £5 per time so that does mount up and we are constantly fund raising in many ways which also serves as PR fpr us.  For example last year we had a fund raising meal at Bella Napoli in Cross Hills which raised £1,000 and was enormous fun!  We had stands at Bolton Abbey Mince Pie Bazaar, Askwith Show, Broughton Game Fair, Collecting boxes at various places, collecting day at Booths and Stephen Smith’s Garden Centre and so on…enough to defitely prevent the grass from growong under our feet.  We sell Christmas cards and calendars and approach Charitable donors.  All in all RDA has taught me so much!!

We can’t thank you enough for your interest in what we do and your active generosity to us.  I so look forward to meeting you Bev and thank you so much for coming to see us on Sunday.

With best wishes to all at the Happiness Centre,

Judy

Advertisement