It was with great pleasure and excitement that HRH The Princess Royal visited the Equestrian Centre at Fort Widley last month.
Her return visit was to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Indoor Riding School which she originally opened, and to celebrate Peter Ashley Activity Centres Trust’s commitment and support for Riding for the Disabled (RDA) provision.
It was a very proud day for all involved. A wonderful chance for PAACT to celebrate alongside their community and showcase how their RDA provision is intertwined with the Riding School.
HRH spent over an hour at the Centre, seeing for herself how the Charity provides such opportunities in this unique Victorian Fort.
PAACTs RDA sessions run every day, ranging from walk outs, group lessons, stable management sessions, and is going from strength to strength. Thanks to the support of a fundraising campaign last year, they will be able to provide carriage driving as an additional provision.
In the November they started a relationship with a local day service (Creative Advances) which enables a group of volunteers to attend the Equestrian Centre daily to assist in the care of the horses and various other animals on site. HRH got to meet the group on the yard.
The Princess Royal saw first-hand how the Equestrian Centre links into the community by a riding display from a team of mixed ability riders.
All were rewarded by receiving a specially commissioned rosette from HRH.
The staff, parents and supporters also had the opportunity to meet HRH and there was clearly plenty to chat about!
The day presented another opportunity for the Charity to recognise the longstanding work and commitment of Bob Cooper. Bob was there alongside Peter Ashley at the start and has been pivotal in making the Charity what is now.
HRH presented Bob with the Honorary Castellan award for his 26 years’ service as a Trustee, including 7 years as Chair.
Darren Bridgman, CEO of the Peter Ashley Activity Centres Trust, said “We were thrilled to welcome HRH The Princess Royal to the Fort Widley Equestrian Centre, part of the Peter Ashley Activity Centre family on Wednesday 26th January 2022. Both our RDA provision and wider Equestrian opportunities are extremely well attended by members of our local community and being able to celebrate this along site commemorating the 25th anniversary of our indoor riding school is very special to us at the Charity.”
