Dear RDA UK volunteers and staff,

I hope you’re all enjoying this beautiful Spring weather still. We’ve got a lot to tell you about this week.

 

RDA Strategy launch 28 March

Ahead of the launch of the new RDA strategy to groups and the general public on Monday 28th, RDA UK volunteers will have an advanced viewing of all the resources on Friday, via a link we will share with you. This will contain copies of the document, film, press release and social media toolkit. We will be contacting Regional Chairs and Publicity Officers separately on Thursday.

 

Launch of Human/Equine Interaction Register (HEIR)

The number of Human-Equine Interaction programmes available in the UK has increased significantly over the past decade and the scope, size and professional backgrounds of these services vary greatly. In response, the HEIR has opened to the UK as a voluntary register to bring together everyone involved in the field of human equine interaction, promoting high quality service provision and greater awareness of this field of work.

There is no action for individual RDA groups, as RDA UK will be registering on behalf of the whole federation. Being part of the register will help to promote RDA in a collaborative manner, and is a good way of communicating what we do to those looking for support.

More information about HEIR can be found here:https://hetifederation.org/heir-info/

 

RDA Silent Auction – Last Chance to Bid!

These are the last few days you can put your bids in for our Silent Auction before it ends midday on the 25th March.

There are some fantastic lots to bid on, such as a ticket package for two at Badminton Horse Trials, a Child’s Farm hamper and family day tickets for Polo in the Park, a foodie escape to Valencia and a professional equine shoot with award-winning photographer Louise Clarke.

To view and bid on the lots, follow this link here:https://www.rdacharityauction.org.uk/ Please share this with friends and family.

 

Vacancy: National Vaulting Lead

Could you be the next RDA Vaulting Lead? The Vaulting Lead plays a vital role in providing direction and development of RDA Vaulting activities and supporting the promotion of RDA Vaulting.  As Lead, you will have the opportunity to contribute to the development of RDA UK as a national organisation, through your membership of the Operations Planning Committee, which reports directly to the RDA Board of Trustees. A role description and how to apply can be found here: https://www.myrda.org.uk/volunteering-opportunity-national-vaulting-lead/

Huge thanks to former Vaulting Lead Sam Davison for all he has done in supporting vaulting over the past few years.

 

Support of Vaulting in RDA

If you are interested in supporting and growing RDA vaulting but do not wish to apply for the National Lead role, we are also looking for people with similar skills who could be on a couple of working groups looking at developing vaulting and vaulting qualifications/proficiency tests. Please let Helen Kallow (hkallow@rda.org.uk) know if you would be interested in taking part in these.

 

Volunteers wanted for Badminton Horse Trials!

RDA is happy to announce that we have been selected as Badminton Horse Trials Charity of The Year for 2022. This is an exciting opportunity to raise awareness of the amazing work that RDA does across the whole of the UK. We are looking for volunteers for the duration of the event to help on out RDA stands and help with bucket collections. If you are interested in helping us promote the RDA at Badminton, please sign up using this link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/S3GZFKH

The deadline to complete the survey is Monday 28th March.

 

Weekly Webinars

This week: CANCELLED - Green Card & Health and Safety (Thursday 17th March 7pm)

Unfortunately, due to one of the speakers still being unwell with COVID, this week’s webinar will not be running. There is a possibility we will be able to run it in April, but we will let you know if that will go ahead.

As ever, if you’ve missed any of our weekly webinars, you can catch up on previous ones here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrI8v8J0WoEXNCu25ktkm0Q

Next week: Social Media and Engagement (Thursday 31st March 7pm).

Join the Fundraising Team on the Thursday nightWebinar for a discussion on social media. Joined by representatives from Harry Hall’s social media team, the webinar will focus on how they make use of social media to engage new audiences and keep them engaged.

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vNA39EgvRsKOziH-Ifcyyw

 

British Equestrian survey for groups that own or lease their stables.

In partnership with other member bodies, including RDA, British Equestrian want to build a picture of the industry to help safeguard our centres. This survey is relevant to RDA groups which own or lease their stables, and asks about operational challenges and capacity issues. The results of this research will be useful for RDA and other British Equestrian members, and we are encouraging all relevant RDA groups to take part.

Plus, for completing the survey they can enter a free prize draw for a chance to be one of five winners who will receive two pallets of Dodson & Horrell Classic Fibre nuts absolutely free - worth just over £1200! 

Survey closes 27th March.  Please encourage groups who own or lease their stables to take part. Link to survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2XRSHLS

 

 

British Equestrians for Ukraine – Week One Update

British Equestrian, BETA, and World Horse Welfare, with support from member bodies, have set up British Equestrians for Ukraine. The group will help to facilitate a supply chain to meet the immediate demand for goods such as haylage, feed and bedding, as well as raise money to fund aid directly where it’s needed most.

Just over a week after its launch, they have reported a successful start thanks to an overwhelming response from the equine community to help those displaced by the Russian invasion. The public fund set up via World Horse Welfare is currently running at over £100,000 in donations while the co-ordinated efforts of the British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA) have collected feed and bedding worth around £90,000 - about nine lorry loads - which is on route to Poland.

If you’d like to find out more or donate, follow the link:https://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/support-us/appeals/british-equestrians-for-ukraine-fund

 

Reminder about Facebook Groups and Pages

We would like to remind you that we have several pages and groups on Facebook dedicated to certain areas in RDA, as well as a main RDA group, that you can join and like. Please can you remind groups about these as we post useful information to them. 

The groups are: Riding for the Disabled Association (RDAUK) , RDA Showjumping, RDA Coaches and RDA Young & New Coaches (both only for RDA coaches), RDA Large Centres (only for those in the designated larger centres), RDA Equine, RDA Vaulting Coaches, RDA Vaulting, RDA Carriage Driving, RDA Trustees, RDA All Stars (only for participants), RDA National Championships & Competitions, and RDA Tea With a Pony. , 

 

Best wishes,

 

Brigitta Falcini

Communications Coordinator

Riding for the Disabled Association