After the quiet start to the term, the pace has certainly picked up! With fund raising always on our minds, our Flower Demonstration on 15^th September was a huge success, and as always we would like to thank Oaksey House for the use of their wonderful facilities and everyone who helped and supported us on the day.

Continuing the fund raising theme, we are registered with the NatWest Community Force Project and the more votes we get; the more likely we are to receive up to £6,000 from NatWest. If we were lucky enough to receive some extra funding we would be able purchase a new horse, so:

PLEASE VOTE FOR

LAMBOURN RDA

in the Elderly and Disabled Category .

Voting commences on

Monday 26th September on

www.natwest.com/communityforce

Thank you.

We had an extremely busy but fun day on Wednesday 28^th September for ‘The World’s Biggest Riding Lesson’. In total 41 riders came to ride the set lesson, made up of our Tuesday and Wednesday Groups and the Group from Wantage. The beautiful unseasonal weather put a smile on everyone’s face and we all had a lot of fun!

SEPTEMBER

The autumn term started slowly on 6^th September with only a few of our riders which eased us all back very gently after the long summer break. This is just as well as we are expecting a lot of new riders from Castle School in Newbury this term, which means there is a considerable amount of logistical planning to be done to make sure everyone has the chance to ride.

We had another very successful Golf Day in August, arranged once again by Bob Dore and Jane Adamson and thanks to their fantastic efforts we raised a record sum for our funds. A very big thank you to them and to everyone who came to support the event.

On Saturday 27th August we held our very first ‘Open Day’ at Maddle Farm for everyone who had adopted one of the ponies for the year. It was a great opportunity for us all to meet each other and of course the ponies. Afterwards Hogan, Ranger, Haffy, Beamish and Drummer went down to the Old Cricket Field to give rides at the Lambourn Gala day. Thank you to everyone who came to help and support us in our fund raising efforts.

Once again the National Organisation of the RDA is running ‘The World’s Largest Riding Lesson’ and we will be taking part. It is due to take place on Wednesday 28^th September and the Wantage Group will be joining us for this event which will last all day! Again this involves a huge amount of planning to ensure everyone has the opportunity to ride. The horses and ponies also have to have time to rest! A full report will be in next month’s issue, together with details of the flower arranging demonstration held on 15^th September.

A huge amount of work goes on behind the scenes in order for the riding sessions to take place and this inevitably involves a massive amount of paperwork, risk assessments and health and safety evaluations! So even when we are not riding our volunteers are kept very busy.

We are very short of volunteers at the moment, particularly for our Wednesday afternoon sessions from 3pm to about 6pm. We would love to hear from anyone who might be interested in getting involved, either on a regular or occasional basis. No previous experience with horses is necessary.

AUGUST

We have reached the end of the summer term celebrating with a barbeque and prize giving. We are very sad to say goodbye to Laura, who leaves Castle School this year and we wish her well as she moves on.

Our local rider, Alex McKinney won her dressage class at the Regional Show at Fulmer, but narrowly missed out in qualifying for the National Final. Keep up the good work Alex and better luck next time.

Early on the 14th June, we set off with Haffy, Hogan, Beamish and Drummer to go to Wellington for the RDA Summer Show. The weather was lovely and all the riders competed in either Dressage or the Walk in the Woods, or both! After a busy morning the day ended with a picnic and prize giving. Many of our riders won their respective Classes and everyone came home with a beautiful rosette.

We would specially like to thank everyone who has been involved with fund raising throughout the year as without it, we would not be able to operate at all. We are so lucky to have so much local support including Pinewood School who donated £500; The Plough at Eastbury for the proceeds from The Duck Race - £830; K Gibbard for raising £400 from the golf day and The Injured Jockeys Fund for helping to organise the Ascot Preview Evening at Oaksey House, which raised £1,080.

Over the summer the fund raising continues with a Golf Day  on 22nd August at Donnington Grove Golf Course, Newbury.  Ring Bob Dore on 01488 648826 for details and entry form. Also do look out for us doing pony rides on the cricket field at the Lambourn Gala day on Saturday 27^th August from 4pm.

During the summer holidays the horses and ponies will be exercised regularly and some will be going on their holidays! We have found a new home for one of our horses, Stanley, but we are fortunate that he is staying at Maddle Farm and that we are still able to use him.