Bank Farm RDA Summer 2012
What a year and more to come! All of you who were with us on 7th February know
what a day it was. The only sunny day, still very cold, of the week, and the snow
covered any imperfect parts of Bank Farm RDA, of course there are not many!!
In September Patsy, Helen, Gerard, Kay L and myself are off to Kenya Rift Valley to
walk just under 100k to raise money for Bank Farm RDA. Our aim is £20,000 which is
what it costs to run the Group for a year. We are really doing well but we are just over
£5000 short. Know anyone who would like to support, every penny is going to the
Group. Let me know and I can give our Bank details, not mine, and I am sure we will
hit our target.
Thank you to Kay L and Helen (Monday helper) for the golf day at Chartridge Park
which made £1000, Kay L and Mhairi for running the dog show on Sunday another
£650.
Thank you to all the helpers and parents who contribute to these fund raising events
they are so necessary to keep the group going.
Sadly we are saying good bye to 2 of our riders, Stefan who is going to put more time
to his pottery, I will miss his lovely smiling face and also his great courage, and Evie
who will be moving up to a new school in Birmingham, I am so sorry to say goodbye to
these two great youngsters but they are moving forward and we all wish them luck.
Please remember to keep us in touch of what you are doing.
As always we will be saying goodbye to some of our helpers on a Saturday as they
move on to University or jobs, please keep in touch and come and see us.
Picnic time on 7th July, come around 12.30 but please let Ros know you are coming. It
is a fun session and sisters, brothers, Mums and Dads (depending on size and weight!!)
can all have a go.
It only leaves me to say thank you to Kay the editor and her budding reporters for
another great Newsletter.
Remember to tick the list.
Anne
Important information
Term dates
Saturdays : 16th September 2012
Mondays: 10th September 2012
Ros: 01494 758443
Anne: 01494 758550
Mhairi 01494 782870
www.bankfarmrda.com
Kay ; info@bankfarmrda.com
Monday riding sessions have not been as numerous
this term due to the two bank holidays in May/June
and of course the RAIN. We have had a new class of
younger children from Heritage House, sometimes
not looking too cheerful at the prospect of horse
riding but once on the ponies there are usually
smiles all round which we all love to see. James,
Holi, Jacob, Cole and Luke from Elmtree School are
about to finish their year with us. Their progress has
been amazing and on July 2nd will be taking their
tests - grade 1 Horse Care and Riding - we wish them
success. They have had rather an exciting year at
Bank Farm not only doing a very proficient
demonstration for Princess Anne but also all capable
of riding off the lead rein.
Anne and I have been grateful to have Mary as an
instructor and able to stand in for us during our
absence - not often we are both away on a Monday
but have been this term. We have a new helper,
Michelle who used to be a Saturday helper, pre barn
days, so used to our routine. Our regular helpers
have been doing sterling work as ever, many things
above the call of duty for which we are very grateful
- where would we be without you all. Thank you.
Mhairi
Facebook: Did you know there was a Facebook
page for Bank Farm RDA? If you would like to join
please ask and you will be invited
enya trek?
Dog show
The day started off rather grey and windy after a very
wet night so the ground conditions were rather
muddy to say the least, but we did have a bit of blue
sky occasionally to encourage us.
The dog show was well attended considering the
weather so thank you to all who came to support us
and thanks to Kay Lunnon who organised all the
doggy events and Mhairi who organised the food, and
to all those who helped. We raised £650
Thank you to all those who donated prizes and bottles
as well
The 5 volunteers are training hard for the
Kenyan trek, regularly meeting for hikes
around the Chiltern countryside. Three of
the madder ones, Anne, Kay L and Patsy, are
undertaking some rather gruelling circuit
training. Anne has nicknamed our trainer ‘The
Torturer’ and she is certainly living up to her
name.
In all 8 people are raising money for Bank
Farm and they all need your support. Please
help by either sponsoring or attending one of
their fundraising events. Thank you to those
that have already done so.
A couple of weeks ago two of the Kenyan
trekkers, Kay L and Helen, arranged a golf
afternoon on Sunday 17th June. 44 golfers
took part and enjoyed a fantastic round of
golf in rather nice weather, followed by a
tasty buffet. Anne won the Ladies longest
drive and the Torturer’s team won the
competition. Just over £1200 plus gift aid
was raised.
Kay Lunnon
Young Equestrian Leaders Award – YELA
is a new and exciting project run on behalf
of Sport England and the BEF. It is aimed
at encouraging young people [13 – 25] to
volunteer across equestrian disciplines.
There are 3 awards, bronze, silver and
gold, the bronze award requires 20 hours
of volunteering, silver 40 hours and gold
60 hours and looks very good on your CV
especially for university points!
We currently have 9 of our young
volunteers signed up for the bronze award
and have one volunteer that has completed
the bronze award. Congratulations go to
Emily Havard.
Please remember to fill in your log books
and get them signed off. Please ask or Kay
for details if you would like to take part.
Tesco Vouchers:
Thank you for all who helped us collect
almost 3,000 vouchers, l wonder if we
can beat this total next year?
The vouchers will be spent on items that
we can use in lessons
Being a Volunteer for Riding for the Disabled
Sometimes in Amersham library I see a notice by the
main desk for Thursday Club advertising a monthly
talk. More often than not I don't remember to go,
but what caught my eye was that a talk for Riding
for the Disabled, which I'd been reading about in
the paper recently so I signed up. Well, it was about
horses, it was free, the weather was cold and I had
some time to spare. Oh and it seemed I’d get a free
cup of tea too!
Kay was delivering the talk, and spoke with great
enthusiasm on her subject. She told stories of how
well the children responded to horses, and showed
photographs of Bank Farm. I’d always wondered
about how the RDA operate and found the talk
really interesting. We even were handed round
some of the toys that are used in the exercises.
Perhaps, I thought, this is something that I could
actually do - after all I'd been thinking about doing
some volunteering work so I left my details to Kay.
In February, walking into the yard at Bank Farm for
the first time I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but
I soon realised I wasn't the only new person starting
there that day which was a relief. I was introduced
to other volunteers, briefed on safety, and handed
over to Patsy who would be showing me what to do.
As the rides had just started back after the winter
break, the first ride was going to take place on the
road. I was there to check that the rider was OK on
the horse and encourage them with their riding, and
just talk to them. Some children would talk and
some could not communicate so easily, so it was a
case of watch and learn.
Encouragingly for me our first rider that day on
Peggy was very chatty. I remember walking
alongside enjoying the sunshine and admiring the
snowdrops and thinking – Yes, - this is going well when half way down the road she announced that
she was very hungry and were we there yet? Oh
dear!
No two weeks are the same – there is always
something new to learn, everyone is so friendly. We
laugh a lot. I’m getting to know the horses better
and remember people’s names. Most importantly I
have to remind myself that even though it is only a
couple of hours for me – it means that because
enough volunteers are there, a disabled child gets to
ride a horse and have fun. Their parents get a
chance to chat with others and everyone involved
benefits. So some six months after that talk in
Amersham library I now see for myself what Anne
and her team at Bank Farm actually do, and that’s
what makes it worthwhile.
Denise Keable
Chenies Diamond Jubilee Day: Bank Farm, together
with 3 other charities, was sponsored by the Chenies
Diamond Jubilee Day on Monday 4 June. Anne, Kay
Cullen and Patsy set up their stall at 9.00 am and by
the end of the afternoon had managed to collect
£240.00! Chenies Baptist Church has given us a further
£276.00 from profits they made on the day by selling
teas, etc. Bank Farm was also sponsored at the
cricket lunch, and we are hopeful that when all the
invoices for the event have been sorted out further
monies will be coming our way. It was a fun day,
helped by the odd glass of wine, and an opportunity to
raise the profile of our group. The Chenies & Latimer
Produce Show in September is also sponsoring us, so I
think we can safely say that Bank Farm is now well
known in the village of Chenies!
Patsy Kay-Smith
Paralympic Games
While we are having our summer holidays we hope you
are able to enjoy the Olympic and Paralympic Games,
perhaps you have tickets for some of the events. One
event not to miss in the Para’s will be the dressage as
one of our past riders could well be competing. Her name
is Erin Orford and her mount will be Nirvana Morroko.
Some of you might have met her when HRH Princess
Anne came to visit us back in February. As this newsletter
is being written she has made the short list for selection
We are very proud of Erin and wish her every success in
being selected and all our Paralympic riders. 7 of the 9
riders in Team GBR Para-Equestrian Dressage started out
with RDA. If you would like to read more about Erin visit:
www.erinorford.co.uk