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Nativity 2017
Thanks you to everyone who made the Nativity such a success!
Phil Maclean from Wilton Shopping Centre took some lovely photographs which you can see here.
We hope you have a restful break and look forward to seeing you in the New Year
Building the the Stable
Thank you to Wilton Rotary who turned out on a very damp and chilly Monday to help us set up for the Nativity Service - see you on Wednesday!
Well done Charlie James
Charlie James winning the Fina Cup for 2017 which is awarded for adult rider achievement , to mark the end of her successful competitive career with Wilton RDA.
Getting ready in good time for next weeks Carol service?
Christmas Carol Concert, Salisbury Community Choir- Saturday 9th December at 7.30pm, Wilton Parish Church.
Christmas Tree Festival
5th - 10th December, St Thomas's Church, Salisbury
Why not visit this festival, where there are lots of Christmas Trees beautifully decorated for everyone to enjoy. 1/3 of the money raised at the event will be donated to us. Di Emsley has decorated a tree on behalf of WIlton RDA for this festival - thank you to her and to Di Swanton for providing the tree.
Carol Service
Our Carol Service will be held on Wednesday 13th December at 11am. There will be mulled wine, mince pies, raffle and a visit from Father Christmas! It is a very special event, so why not come along and get into the spirit of Christmas.
Wilton Shopping Centre Carol Singing
An interpid bunch of volunteers and friends met at Wilton Shopping centre on Thursday to sing some carols , meet Santa and see the tree lights being switched on. Including the donation from the Shopping Centre we raised just under £700, a fantastic effort and thank you to everyone who supported us. There are some pictures of the event here :https://philmaclean.pixieset.com/2017wiltonlightswitchon/
Regard Christmas Fair
We have all been invited to the Regard Christmas shopping event in Sixpenny Handley
'It would be great if you could join us, and support a plethora of local crafts people - a total of 15 stalls this year.
We will be entertained through the evening, with some live music and there will be mulled wine and mince pies a plenty.'
You can see the full invitation here :
Grand Opening of Clubroom
There was cause for great celebration on Wednesday , when the Earl & Countess of Pembroke came to officially open the new extended Clubroom and Tolley Treatment Room. Over 70 people came to the event and joined in the celebration and to see some riding demonstrations.
The Clubroom can now be used as a training and teaching area, as well as providing a comfortable rest area for riders, carers and volunteers. The Tolley Treatment Room will be used by the physiotherapists for assessments and as a quiet area.
Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this all happen and to the very many donations to enable this.
URGENT - AVIVA Community Grant Awards
We need as many people as possible, to vote for our grant application for audio-visual equipment for the new clubroom. Please go to https://www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk where you can register, to be entitled to vote. Search for 'Technology Boost for Disabled Riders' to see our application. The more votes we recieve, the better our chances of obtaining an award.
Please ask your friends, family and colleagues to also support us. Every vote takes us a little nearer to an award. Voting closes on 21st November 2017.
Thank you for your support.
Dressage Competition
At the dressage competition on 22nd October, Emilia Reed was 1st, Victoria Cheshire 2nd and Ben Wildigg 3rd. Well done everyone!
Here are some lovely recent quotes from our riders' parents:-
"We can not thank RDA enough for the time & energy they have put into x. The enjoyment on his face and the conversations it sparks, are a very small part of the benefits we have found."
"It is a fantastic thing to do and a real positive in our lives. We are humbled by the kindness & generousity of the volunteers. A huge thank you."
"We are very grateful for the opportunity to be able to benefit from such a wonderful theraputic activity"
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - Tuesday 17th October
Can anyone spare a couple of hours to help clear up the centre now that the building works are finishing? We need help on Tuesday between 10am - 12 noon. Wear old clothes!
OLD FILM - We have unearthed an old film made in 1991, featuring the centre just being built and Pat Burgess. It is well worth taking a look!
https://youtu.be/VCPBu-e7ESc
HALL & WOODHOUSE 2017 COMMUMITY CHEST AWARD
The Brewery, Hall & Woodhouse have just given us an award of £1,500 from their Community Chest Scheme. This year over 400 charities applied for awards from their scheme, which gave out a total of £51,000 to 27 different local charities spreadout from Exeter to Sussex. We will be using this money to help furnish the new clubroom and treatment area.
We would like to say a very big 'THANK YOU' to Hall & Woodhouse.
The new kitchen is now being fitted.
It won't be long before we are putting the kettle on in our new clubroom!
The new extention is coming along nicely......
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The frame went up in a day!
After a lot of hard work by Katie Boswell and the team to get all of this work on contract, the building work has started and the holes are even bigger now. The point of no return?
Check back for more updates!
Senior Coaches Medical Knowledge Training Day
Jenny Collings and her PT colleague Lynne Munro, ran a day course at RDA HQ in Warwick for Senior Instruactors.
It was a day devoted to the medical part of the exam for Senior Instructors. The feedback was very positive and everyone enjoyed the day.
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VOLUNTEERS' SUMMER PARTY AT WILTON HOUSE
Nearly 60 of our Volunteers came together on Friday evening for a drinks party in the grounds of Wilton House. It was a perfect summer's evening and a great chance for everyone to get together and for the Trustees to thank all the volunteers for all the incredible work they do at the centre. Thank you everyone for all you hard work.
To see some more photos from the evening, please go to the 'Gallery'.
Archive Videos from 1992
Some time ago Pam Cousins retrieved some VHS tapes from the balcony and Dave digitised them and has put them onto You Tube here.
As they feature the opening of the centre in 1992 they are very timely as we start the next major phase of our development of the Pembroke centre some 25 years later.
Well worth a look, and thank you to Pam and Dave!
Plant Sale
Rosie Genovese and Yan MacKay got everyone ready for Chelsea Week with their plant sale in aid of Wilton RDA. They worked very hard last week to put on a plant sale at the Pemboke Centre and also at The Cathedral Close on Sunday.
Here is a picture of them with Felicity and Ian. Well done everyone and thank you for all your hard work.
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Wilton Co-op Community Fund
Thank you to all the people who have shopped at the Co-op in Wilton and nominated us as the charity to benefit from their membership card scheme.They have raised a staggering £1,771 over the last 6 months, which will all go towards the refurbishment of the new clubroom. THANK YOU!
BADMINTON HORSE TRIALS
Pat and Jo walking the course at Badminton on Friday. They clearly had a wonderful time!
SKITTLES NIGHT
Ali Thorne of Windwhistle Farm, Bishopstone has done it for another year!.
Wilton RDA benefited once again from a beer and skittles evening at Bishopstone Village Hall organised by Ali. 16 teams including 2 featuring RDA volunteers had a great evening and £422 was raised for our group.
Thank you Ali.
South African Event
Date: Friday 31st March 2017,
Time: 18.00 - 21.00hrs
Venue: Harnham Memorial Hall, Watersmeet Road, Salisbury, SP2 8JH (plenty of parking)
Come and join us for a South African evening in aid of our local RDA Centre in Wilton and enjoy some South African food. We will also be remembering Patricia Dickinson, who was an active supporter of the RDA. Whilst living in South Africa, Patricia hand painted African scenes onto silk and then transferred them to plates. These stunning plates will be on display during the evening and we would like to raise as much as we can in her name, by asking for a minimum donation of £5 per plate. RDA merchandise will also be available to purchase.
This event is FREE to attend, but please let us know if you will be joining us, to enable us to cater for the correct number of people.
Thank you to everyone involved in this event - you managed to raise a staggering £400.
Congratulations to Ash!
Ash was awarded the Fina Award for the most improved rider. Here is Ash recieving the award from Jenny Collings. Ash went on to give a Powerpoint presentation to the Headway Group about her riding and the award.
NEW VIDEO
Please take a moment to look at the short film made which beautifully illustrates the story of one of our riders, Gabriela, showing what we are about and why we do it. You can find it by clicking on the "What we do" page. Go on, it is well worth seeing!
We would like to give a very big 'Thank You' to Dave Cousins for producing the film and to Gabriela and her Mother for agreeing to make it.
THURSDAY RIDERS' ACHIEVEMENTS
Many congratulations to the following riders who braved the pouring rain and howling wind to achieve the following certificates:-
Exeter House 10am Class: Grade 1 Riding awarded to: Nayan Gurung, Bronwyn Hewitt, Isaac Humphries, Ava Mills, Jack Ryan and Jack Tilbury. Grade 2 Riding awarded to: Kelsie West.
Exeter House 11am Class: Grade 2 Riding awarded to: Isabelle Scammell. Grade 1 Riding awarded to Jack Murphy, Leo Smith, Joshua Hansom.
Individual Riders:Grade 2 Riding awarded to: Zara Clark, Gabriela Hayden, Logan Hughes, Kyle Beecham, Daisy O'Neil Roe, Damon Brice, Callum McGowan. Grade 2 Horse Care awarded to:Daisy O'Neil Roe.
The Final award was to Ash Crowley for her progress throughout 2016.
Thank you also to Mick Clarke (the examiner), Pam for the certificates and rosettes and all the volunteers who ending up looking like drowned rats by the end of the day!
Conragtulations to Chris Rogers
Chris has been awarded the Volunteers Cup, in recognition of her outstanding service to Wilton RDA for the past 17 years. Unfortunately she was not able to attend the Nativity Service at the end of last year to recieve the award, so Alex Hill gave it to her this week. Chris has been a tireless Friday volunteer helping so many riders (and she often ropes her husband in to help as well).
We look forward to the next 17 years!
RDA Building Work Summer 2017
Following the success of the renovation work to The Pembroke Centre last summer, where we now have warm, smart offices, a lot more storage and the ponies are snug in their dry rugs, we are now busy planning more building work for this summer.
Early in December 2016 we received revised planning permission to build a single storey extension which will double the size of the club room. We are awaiting quotes from builders and plan to start building in early summer 2017.
Now that we have all the space in Johnathan’s House for storage we will also be converting the messy balcony into a meeting/function room with a terrace overlooking the outdoor school. This will be useful for our own needs as well as a source of income by renting it out to others. We are also planning on creating a treatment/quiet room with its own WC plus space for an elevator to the first floor meeting room. As we update the club room, we will be renewing the kitchen, creating a safe and warm waiting area, adding comfortable seating and tables, improving the heating and hot water system and installing lots of insulation so we can all enjoy a cosy club room on cold winter days.
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