A riding school that has helped thousands of handicapped riders is asking people to help them to win a £3,000 grant.
The Bedford & District Handicapped Riders Association (BDHRA), based in Balls Lane, Willington, was founded more than 50 years ago and is financed entirely through donations. All its staff are volunteers.
BDHRA has made it through to a UK shortlist that could see it getting up to £3,000 from Lloyds Bank’s Community Fund – but it needs to show that the public is behind it.
The association provides vital outdoor exercise and enrichment opportunities for up to 100 disabled children and adults every week.
Trustee Nick Kier said: “We have now a 12 acre paddock opposite the riding centre that we had previously rented. We need funds to upgrade and maintain the property, as well as day to day running costs.”
In the 1950s Jean Bedford, today a trustee and driving force behind BDHRA, was seriously injured in a road accident leaving her in a wheelchair.
Local lady, Miriam Godber believed that if a child rode regularly the movement of the horse would help the legs grow stronger – and that proved to be the case for Jean and many others. She soon persuaded doctors to allow four patients to learn to ride, and BDHRA grew from there.
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