Dear RDA UK volunteers and staff,

I’m looking forward to seeing many of you at the Championships this week. As you may know, yesterday we announced we would be suspending Sunday’s competitions due to predicted extreme temperatures and an amber weather warning. This is very sad news for those competing on Sunday and I’d like to extend my sympathies to them. If you or anyone else have any queries or concerns following the announcement, please emailinfo@rda.org.uk and we will deal with it as soon as we can. More information on Sunday’s suspension can be found here: https://www.myrda.org.uk/runningyourgroup/national-championships/

Please note: the National Office will be closed during the Championships (Fri 15 – Mon 18 July). 

 

Horses 4 Health grant for Tea With a Pony

Thanks to the support of Horse World and their fundraising activity Horses 4 Health, we are able to offer RDA Groups the opportunity to apply for a grant of up to £250 to either start offering or continue to develop their Tea with a Pony sessions. This is a great opportunity for Groups, particularly those that may need some help getting started with Tea With a Pony sessions, so please spread the word to your Groups about this grant.

In order to apply, applicants must fill out the grant application form, found at the bottom of the page here: https://www.myrda.org.uk/runningyourgroup/tea-with-a-pony/Application forms should be returned via email to Lucy Wake at lwake@rda.org.uk by Wednesday 27th July. If Groups are unsuccessful in this round, they can reapply in September when the second round of the grant will be open.

 

Congratulations to Erme Valley RDA – Winners of the SEIB RDA Centre of the Year Award

We’d like to extend our congratulations to Erme Valley RDA, who won the award for RDA Centre of the Year in the SEIB Yard of the Year Awards 2022. Congratulations also to Penniwells RDA for being Highly Commended in the same category.

Coaches needed for Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st of The Game Fair 

RDA will be attending The Game Fair (29-31 July) at Ragley Hall, Alcester, and we are taking Charley, our mechanical horse. We need some coaches on the Saturday and Sunday to help run rides on Charley at the event. If you would like to volunteer for this, please email Georgia Tolley atgtolley@rda.org.uk.

 

Reminder: Weekly Newsletter Survey

At the onset of lockdown, we started sending weekly, operational emails on Wednesdays to RDA UK volunteers and staff, to keep you up to date with important or time-critical information. Now, two years on, we want to make sure that this weekly email is still useful in helping you with your role as an RDA UK volunteer or staff member. We have created this survey and would greatly appreciate if you could fill it out. It should only take around 5 minutes. Your responses will help us plan the future of our communication to groups and regions.

Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/6J57C9H

 

New ‘Contact Us’ page on MyRDA website

We now have a Contact Us page on the MyRDA website, which has replaced the ‘Meet the Team’ page. We hope this will better help you find the right person at the National Office for your needs. 

View the page here: https://www.myrda.org.uk/runningyourgroup/contact-us/

 

UK Coaching Awards 2022 – Nominations Open

UK Coaching Awards 2022 are now open for nominations for UK Coaching. It would be great to see some our amazing RDA coaches recognised in these awards. If you would like to nominate someone, please head to their website here to see the categories and criteria and nominations: https://www.ukcoaching.org/events/our-awards/criteria

Nominations close on the 12th September.

 

Best wishes,

 

Brigitta Falcini

Communications Coordinator

Riding for the Disabled Association