South Bucks Riding for the Disabled Covid-19 Fund

Aim

To help fund day to day care of our horses and ponies during the Covid-19 shutdown as we have lost our income source, but still have costs

Urgent Appeal Update re Covid-19

Coronavirus is having a serious impact on our centre's income as we are unable to run any classes or lessons, or hire out the arena during this period. But of course we still have almost all of our normal running costs to continue to take good care of our horses and ponies. We still have to buy food, hay and bedding, and all the other expenses that go with looking after our animals. In addition, at this time of year we would normally be planning a range of fund raising activities including attending fetes and sponsored events, all of which have been cancelled for at least the next two months giving us very little chance of raising our normal funds. We therefore need to put our kitchen project on hold and focus all our efforts on the day to day care that is urgently required. We would be hugely grateful if you would consider donating towards these costs at this time. 

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far. 

Take care and please stay home and continue to follow the rules for social distancing.

 Wolfie and Forrester enjoying a bit of down time in the early morning sunshine

Hopefully when things get back to normal we can pick up the kitchen project described below...

A bit about our project - new kitchen facilities

We are South Buckinghamshire Riding for the Disabled Group, based in Fulmer.  We provide riding and horse-based activities for children and adults with a physical disability or learning difficulties. A new venture that we are planning is that we want to expand what we offer to enable local dementia care home residents to visit and enjoy our horses, ponies and facilities. To do this we need to update our limited kitchen facilities for our current disabled riders (children and adults) and to allow us to provide simple refreshments for visitors from local dementia care homes in a comfortable, safe environment.

Harley working with veterans and enjoying time together

We have a very dated kitchen area at the end of our classroom, currently there is no hot water and the dishwasher has broken! The storage cupboards are old, the doors don’t fit and the surface is damaged and worn out. We need to replace the units, sink and cupboards, get the hot water working and install a basic new dishwasher. 

This will give a bright new focus to the classroom and provide a safe area where we can offer hot drinks to our riders and their parents all year round, plus offer simple catering facilities to people hiring our venue. It is also used for volunteer and staff training, often with external trainers. 

June meeting Forester - take a look at our video to see more...

It will also enable us to share the therapeutic benefit of being around and interacting with our wonderful horses and ponies to an additional section of our local community via invitations to local care homes for their dementia residents to visit. We know there is a demand for this as we’ve been asked by a local home and would love to be able to accommodate these visitors with a simple tea and cake and a “meet the ponies” afternoon.

Billy and Bryony - read Bryony's blog to see how RDA and Billy have helped her

The specific project that we are hoping to fund via your generous donations is to re-vamp the kitchen area next to our indoor school. During the week school groups have their pack lunches in here, at the weekend parents will wait and watch their children ride and would love to be able to make a hot drink, especially during the winter months. We also want to invite local elderly dementia residents to visit and to be able to offer them refreshments. We need to provide a safe, hygienic kitchen area to meet these needs. We are a charity and rely heavily on donations to run the services that we offer. There are huge benefits to people with disabilities to be able to ride, including physical, emotional and behavioural benefits, which last beyond the time that they spend actually in the saddle.

A quote from one of our parents, 'South Bucks RDA has been fantastic for my son Daniel.  He has improved his core muscle tone and focus and thoroughly enjoys his time horse riding, especially when they go around the woods.  It has helped his confidence and made him very popular with his horse stories at school.   The care and support given is amazing.  What a wonderful place.’ 

RDA riders enjoying a walk in the woods with our wonderful volunteers

A Bit About Us 

We are part of the national Riding for the Disabled Association – please take a look at our video to see what the RDA can do for disabled children and adults via a network of regional groups. 

Riding is widely recognised as an excellent form of therapy – building self-confidence, improving concentration and, at the same time, providing recreation, education and sport. We are based just outside the village of Fulmer on the edge of Slough, and provide the opportunity for disabled children and adults to ride via individual or group lessons and in conjunction with local schools for children with special educational needs. 

We have a very small number of employees who run the yard, take excellent care of the horses and in addition rely on a larger number of dedicated volunteers that come in and get the horses ready for lessons, and help the rider get the most out of their time with us as leaders or side-helpers as you can see in the video.  

Volunteers are also involved in maintaining the estate and facilities to provide a safe environment for the visitors and the horses; as well as actively fundraising all year round. All our volunteers are DBS checked, have safeguarding training and many also are first aid trained. 

The opportunity to volunteer with the group is hugely rewarding, very varied, keeps you fit and gets you outdoors – if this sounds like something you’d enjoy please do get in touch with us as we’d be very happy to tell you more about it!

Rio and Jamie sharing a moment

Over the years several of our riders have learnt to ride to a high standard including Paralympic gold medallists Sophie Christiansen and Natasha Baker.

FAQs 

How many participants do you currently cater for each week? During term time we will have around 90 riders each week, dropping to around 60 during school holidays.

What funding do you currently receive? We receive no government or Lottery funding, nor central funding from the National RDA.  Instead we rely on donations and fundraising. We hold a range of fundraising activities such as Quiz evenings, BBQ, Tombolas at local fetes and encourage members and friends to join in the local council charity lottery to benefit SBRDA.

How many horses and ponies have you got? Currently 12. Some are owned by RDA and some are loaned to us.

How many volunteers do you have? We currently have a list of around 40 regular volunteers. Some are qualified as RDA coaches and teach the lessons, everyone has been trained to lead the horses and to assist the riders, as well as getting the ponies ready. Others take on roles of estate and facilities management and maintenance. Everyone is hugely valued, whatever their skills are we can find a role for them!

If you have a question please take a look at our South Bucks RDA website and get in touch via the website or via this page – we’d be delighted to hear from you.

This project successfully funded on 22nd April 2020