Support the Spend A Penny For Wellgrove RDA campaign!
We are appealing for help in reaching our goal of £10,000 to enable more riders with disabilities to experience therapy through horse riding. We urgently need a disabled adapted/men’s and Ladies toilet facilities to enable us to give more opportunities to children and adults living with disabilities
About Wellgrove RDA
We are a Riding for the Disabled (RDA) group running from a long-established horse riding stables near Tunbridge Wells. We are currently taking on new riders, both adults and children, to ride in our weekday group lessons and we also welcome new volunteers.
RDA sessions are suitable for riders with physical, intellectual, and emotional difficulties, and bring with them a physical challenge and a mental stimulus. RDA sessions are enjoyable, help to improve muscle tone and balance, and give the rider a sense of achievement and independence.
Our sessions are run under the umbrella body of the Riding for the Disabled Association and on a charitable basis, using volunteers to keep costs to riders as low as possible, with the aim of encouraging greater participation in and enjoyment of horse riding.
If you think you or the individuals in your care could benefit from involvement in Riding for the Disabled, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01892 822087 or by email at [email protected]. You can find out more about the RDA at their website, http://www.rda.org.uk.
How to become a rider with us.
- Contact us by phone or e mail and we can send you a welcome pack. This will include lesson times, registration forms and a request for a doctor’s permission letter.
- Once we have received your registration and permission letter we will contact you with suitable times and any further information needed.
- Riding can start being enjoyed as soon as possible. All our horses and ponies are available to be viewed here.
How to become a volunteer with us
- Contact us by phone or email or pop in and we can send you a welcome pack. This will include an application form, a request for references, and a DBS form. These will let us know your best available times to help and your main interests and strengths that you can bring to the network. Please do not panic about these as we are happy to assist in filling them in – just give us a call back and we can arrange a meeting.
- We will then contact you and arrange a time for a visit and your first introduction and basic training session. We will issue you with a volunteer record card.
- Volunteering can start as soon as possible and we hope you will enjoy the time spent with the riders and horses and gain as much from them as we hope they will gain from you.
Lesson times and prices
All group sessions are priced at £12 for 30 minutes, and we hope, as time goes by and the group stabilises, that the price can drop further. There is an option for private sessions at £25 for 30 minutes if preferred.
Currently, classes will be offered mid week between 9am and 4pm, but again later this may be able to extend as the volunteer network increases.
Contacts
Chief Instructor and lesson organiser: Emma Whittaker BHSII, contactable on 01892 822 087 or 07887 777 191.