newsletter - Barrow Farm

Barrow Farm News May 2014
Sport England Grant
We have been awarded a fabulous grant of £49,000.
from Sport England Inspired Facilities Fund to do essential repairs to our riding school roof and replace the
riding surface. No more leaky roof, no more tub to catch the
drips. All our riders, ponies and volunteers will benefit from a
new riding surface. Our trustees worked hard to put the application together, and our
treasurer Gill took on the job of compiling all necessary information and filling in the application form. And what a brilliant job she has done, a huge thank you to her for all the
hours of work.
Sport England Inspired Facilities Fund is part of Big Lottery Funding, equine sport has been
successful in maintaining its share of funding following the amazing success of the 2012
Equestrian teams. Many of our Para Olympians started their riding career with their local
RDA group and grants such as ours recognise the importance of quality RDA grassroot
facilities and coaching. As well as improving the riding environment for all riders a new
floor will allow us to develop the new RDA disciplines of Show Jumping and Endurance
and to continue work started with Dressage Anywhere , visiting coaching clinics and RDA
training for coaches of the future
In this issue
Carol service
Dressage anywhere
Emmas lesson with Lee
Fundraising news
Garden Update
Stable project Update
Donations
Oaklands results
New Stables built but money still needed
Our replacement stable block is now complete and its been quite a project! The old block had to be demolished, the old asbestos roof safely removed, then the ground work completed before finally four
brand new timber stables were built. We are also having a complete electrical and plumbing update.
We have raised half the money through grants and donations, thank you to those who have supported
the project, but still need another £10.000. As a result our reserves are now badly depleted so if anyone
has any fundraising ideas we would love to hear them. T
The stable project has been part of a wider refurbishment project and summer will see work on the
riding school roof and floor start. The school will be 33 years old by then, it was built in August 1981. The
Sport England grant is specifically for the riding school, we still desperately need running costs.
Trustees
Barrow Farm is run by a Trustee Committee and we would like to introduce them to you. Some of you
will know some of them already. They meet every six weeks and hold an AGM in July each year.
James Kearney. Chairman and parent representative
Dr Karen Lehner. Vice Chairman
Gill Philpott. Treasurer.
Jo Moss Rowe. Secretary and Safeguarding Officer
Emma Harris. Riders representative
John Adler. Our longest serving Trustee.
Linda Poole
Jonathan Wignall
Dr Isobel Gowers
from left, Jo Moss Rowe, Linda Poole, James
Kearny, Gill Philpott,
Isobel Gowers. Emma
Harris, Karen Lehner, John Adler.
UKCC success for Clare and Isobel
We are delighted to congratulate Clare and Isobel on achieving their United Kingdom Coaching Certificate, Level 2 in
R.D.A. specific coaching. It involved a four day course and
final assessment at Penniwells RDA centre. They were assessed coaching a group lesson and an individual rider. Well
done to both of them, they should be very proud of
themselves, we certainly are.
New garden behind school
On Wednesday 23rd April we welcomed a volunteer team from Valero Energy Limited who are a US Oil
Refinery Company. They came to continue the work they had started on our garden project last year.
They did a brilliant days work and we were delighted with the result. We look forward to welcoming
them, along with some of our other sponsors to the Grand Opening of the garden at our Open Day on
17th May. The garden will be officially opened by Katie Fisher, daughter of Valero’s President Europe.
Before.
Two long days volunteering from Valero, a day from Direct Line, fundraising talks to and money from
local Rotary Clubs, paid for hard landscaping, ramp, fencing. Endless work and enthusiasm from project
leader Karen .
Tables donated, topsoil donated, turf at discount or recycled, all = a fab new garden. Thanks to all.
Carol Service
Christmas seems a long time ago now but we would like to thank every one who came and made the
Carol Service so successful. It was lovely to again welcome The Bishop of Chelmsford. This year we
had been able to spend some money on new costumes and I hope you agree the riders all looked
super. The money came from a riders choice of how to spend their Jack Petchey Award money.
Thanks also to all who put tags on our tree, an idea of a new riders mother. The tags raised £147. The
comments were a joy to read. Thanks for all the lovely presents, we enjoyed the sweets and biscuits
and the horses and ponies loved the carrots.
Next years carol service will be on Dec 13th and we hope to see
you there.
Dressage Anywhere. Friday afternoon riders Becks and Emily and Monday rider William Swire qualified for Dressage Anywhere Championship
Here are the girls with their ponies and score sheets. Dressage Anywhere is an online competition and
they were able to compete by having the test videoed and sent off to be
judged. They now go forward to compete in the Championship competition held during April and May. Congratulations to them and their coach Clare
and to William and Kath his coach.
Dressage Anywhere is a wonderful opportunity for riders to get a taste of
competition. Please ask your ride coach
if you would like to have a go yourself or
would like your son or daughter to.
My lesson with Lee Pearson
by Emma Harris
On the 2nd March I went to Oaklands College to a dressage clinic with
Lee Pearson. When Anne and the girls arrived with Lula, Clare rode her
to calm her down as she was really excited to be somewhere different.
After Lula calmed down a bit I got on her. Once I was on we went into
the ménage to get settled, Lula was looking around but was very good.
I got settled and picked up my reins then it was time go in. I couldn’t
believe I was about to have a lesson with Lee Pearson! When we went in
Lee Pearson gave Lula and I time to settle. Once we were settled I rode
my dressage test. Afterwards Lee helped me with
the parts I needed to improve. We worked on
getting into the corners, 10m loops, free walk, getting Lula
to walk on and turning down the centre line. Every time I
didn’t get on the centre line Lee told me to do it again. We
worked really hard on the walk, so much so when I got off
Lula my leg hurt. Although Lee worked me hard, he made
me laugh, he didn’t make it too serious. At the end of the
lesson, I got to wear Lee’s gold medal from London round
my neck!!
On April 16th we hosted a
coaching clinic with Simon Laurens, silver medallist in Beijing.
Five of our riders had lessons
and all really enjoyed working
with Simon. Here are Becks and
Lucy during their lessons.
Dog show 4th May
Another very successful dog show raised over £750. 75 dogs and their owners took part. Thanks to long
time supporter June Wells for sponsoring the trophies and Trophy Dog Food for supplying prizes. Photos of the day can be found on our Facebook page. Many thanks to our judges and to ring steward
Carol and to all who came and entered their dogs.
Thanks also to Sue and Graham for manning the kitchen, they were certainly kept busy. Our next dog
show is on Sept 21st, for info please contact - Jo mobile number 07763343766.
Saturday rider Carrie
and her sister competing in the dog and
owner lookalike class.
Regular visitors will have noticed a new feature here at Barrow Farm. The Barrow Farm Corner Shop.
Thanks to Viv Humphreys who has instigated and designed it.
Next time you are here come and have a browse, there are lots
of books, various items featuring the ponies and horses, cards,
seeds, pens and other odds and ends. Donations for the shop
welcome. And while you are here have a cup of tea or coffee and
perhaps buy a snack. All money raised to help feed the ponies.
To quote “every little helps” We need the pennies as well as the
pounds.
RDA Grade tests achieved by riders
Grade 1 riding and horse care
Elodie Syndercombe
Jemma Stuart
Carly Jarrold
Abbey Byrne
Congratulations to them all
Grade 2 riding and horse care
Jessica Sullivan
Grade 3 horse care
Gabriel Ellis
Freddie Poulter
A Wonderful cheque from St Edmund’s Prep School in Ware
Our Chairman, James, has a friend whose daughter attends St Edmund’s Prep school in Ware. Last term
they decided to support Barrow Farm as one of their charities and they raised an amazing £905 for us!!
They spent a week making, selling and eating cakes and paying for the fun! Someone donated a large jar
of sweets and they paid to guess how many sweets were in the jar. Overall I think they had fun with various activities all of which produced money for US!
James and I went to their assembly on Friday 14th February to receive the cheque. I was able to show
them some photos of our wonderful ponies and some of our riders and try to give them a little understanding of what Barrow Farm is all about and to thank them for their generosity.
A BIG THANK YOU TO ST EDMUNDS SCHOOL!!
In 40 mins our 9 Barrow Farm Splashers swam 540 lengths between them and raised almost
£500, topped up to £750 by the Rotary Club.
A big thank you to the team

Karen Lehner - Committee member and a volunteer

Carole Monk – A rider and her daughter s – Eleanor and Rhiana

From Basildon sporting village ,

Louise Watkins, Elaine Saunders, Lisa Hartman, and Teresa Flannigan

…and… Linda Poole – Team Captain and organiser for Barrow Farm.
Plus our sincere thanks to all our sponsors; spectators, supporters and to
The Rotary Club of Basildon Concord for their continuing support.
Barrow Farm builds partnership with
Anglia Ruskin University at their
National Student Volunteering Week
Linda Poole, a volunteer and trustee attended this event at Lord Ashcroft
Building, Bishop Hall Lane, Chelmsford, CM1 1SQ. for the whole day with our
display and Emma Harris, a rider and trustee was there for the afternoon.
We were pleased to be one of a small selection of the charities at a day to promote volunteering opportunities for
the students.
“The charities were the ones who have been most proactive and forthcoming with volunteering roles, new to us
and whom we would like to work more closely with or those whose opportunities have been of most interest to
their students.
Although it was a much quieter week than they had anticipated, in terms of student visitors, they were very
pleased with the outcomes of the week.”
It was a very good ‘networking’ day for us and for the afternoon we had an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation.
They have had a rise in the number of students registering
as volunteers and hope that they will be sending some budding volunteers in our direction.
We have been invited to present briefly at future relevant
lectures, to promote our roles to a target audience.
New improved clothing for us.
We now have a range of clothing with a super
new embroidered logo available for sale,
modelled by some of our Saturday team.
If you would like to order anything please
speak to a member of staff.
We have sweatshirts, polo shirts, jackets and
body warmers in a range of colours.
Volunteers help with fundraising
We are very grateful for the various ways volunteers are
raising funds. Hopefully this may give others some ideas.
24 Hour Three Peak Challenge
Thursday volunteer Elaine is doing a sponsored Three Peak challenge.
She is aiming to climb all Three peaks in 24 hours. The photo shows
her on a previous walking challenge.
Ursuline money
Our thanks to Clare Ward another Thursday volunteer. Her son
attends the Ursuline Preparatory School, in Brentwood and she put
us forward as a beneficiary from their fundraising.
It was great news when Linda Poole, a volunteer and trustee, went
to say a big thank you and collect the school’s cheque on 3rd March
2014. She was amazed and thrilled to receive a huge cheque of
£2097.27p all raised in one term - mainly from their Xmas bazaar.
In total the school raised a fabulous sum of just under £7000 all
Clare shows Fergus how much money the school raised
given to local charities. We are using the money to help pay for
the horses feed.
Andy Barret husband of Louise Tuesday volunteer coach and Hippo therapist put us forward to his company and we have received £500. Thank you to him and
Friday afternoon volunteer Kari is an employee of Bank of America Merril Lynch. After completing 50
hours of volunteering the bank pays £250 grant to the charity as part of its community volunteer
programme.
A big thank you to all our volunteers. We could not manage without you all.
Volunteer Stephen joins our
coaching team
Congratulations to Stephen Potts who has successfully
been assessed as a RDA carriage driving coach. Thanks
to RDA Driving assessors Sarah Clunie and Anne Coney
and of course to pony Lula.
RDA Regional competition on Sunday 11th May
We had a lovely if rather cold day at the competition. Our riders and ponies all looked super and
performed well. Thanks to all hardworking helper and to Joan and Jo for cakes and snacks.. Yummy!
Results. Countryside Challenge
2nd and qualified for championships Emma Suttle and Tawny
5th Emma Wild and Tawny
6th Georgia Kearney and Lula
Dressage grade 1a
Ist Claire Humphey and Fergus
2nd Emma Harris and Lula
Dressage grade 1-5
3rd Rebecca Rynor and Fergus
Dressage freestyle
1st Claire Humphrey and Fergus
2nd Lucy Hogan and Fergus
3rd Emma Harris and Lula
Dressage partial vision test.
2nd and qualified for champs. Lucy Hogan and Fergus
Introduction to dressage
1st and highest scoring junior, Emma Suttle and Tawny.
Jack Petchy Award winners
Our latest nominations for Jack Petchy Award and the reasons for their
nomination. Well done to them all
Nathan Carr
Nathan always tries very hard whilst riding and he loves being around the horses. Nathan’s confidence
has improved hugely and he is now happy riding the larger horses and is doing some work off lead. Nathan has got much better at listening to instructions and responding to them.
Alicia Chaney
Alicia is really enjoying her riding now. She used to find it hard to sit still and central in the saddle but in
recent months has shown consistent improvement. She is more accepting of occasionally having to stand
still during the ride and has learnt how to use some of the activity props. Alicia especially enjoys riding
outside down the bridle path.
Connor Hill
Connor has become much calmer and happier at riding in recent months. He used to find the session a
challenge, wearing a hat and meeting us all took some getting used to. Now Connor has learnt to say 1 2
3 walk on, to his pony. He enjoys riding to music and has shown understanding of stopping when music
stops and going when music starts.
Adam McGovern
Adam has made a huge step forward with his riding in recent months. He has learnt to turn his horse left
and right and practices this by doing different steering exercises. He has just started doing a line of four
bending cones off the lead rein.
All our riders voted and it was very close. The winners were Connor and Nathan
Clare presents Nathan with his Award Certificate after
his ride. His fellow riders all clapped his achievement.
Anne presents Connor with his award certificate during his ride and also visited his school to
do a presentation at end of term assembly.
Thanks to children from Highwood school who have raised £80 for us by making and
selling gifts. Very enterprising of them, the money is going towards pony feed.
Another £80 was raised at Roxwell s Friday morning social café and Mary and Anne spent
an enjoyable morning there eating home made cake and chatting. Thanks to Roxwell.
Forthcoming Events
May 17th
Grand Garden Opening Day.
9.30am—4pm
Come and see our new garden area where everyone who visits Barrow Farm can enjoy
the sitting in the sun watching the wildlife.
A chance to see riders showing their skills. Home made cakes, teas and coffees, soft
drinks on sale.
June 7th
Barn dance
July 12th
Coffee and Cake Day organised by staff of Chelmsford Sainsbury’s petrol station.
September 11th
Golf day
September 21st
Dog show
Barrow Farm is now on Facebook and Twitter, visit our pages to keep up with
the daily news of horses, ponies, riders, volunteers and staff.
In addition to the dog agility clubs that
use the school we now have a new
booking from an Archery Club. If you
would like any information about the
Dog Agility or the Archery please contact us and we will be happy to put you
in touch.
If you shop at The Co Op or Quadrant stores
did you know you could help us raise money
by having a Community card. Points are
gained when you shop and converted into
cash for us. The cards have been re issued
recently and if you need a new one please
ask a member of staff

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