Hold onto your hats, we have a winner!
Well folks, this week we made our RDA sessions egg-stra special and it’s an absolute pleasure to announce that our Treasurer and coach Sarah-Jane was our very worthy winner of the raffle. Rider Jayne, who won the raffle last Easter, picked out the winning ticket. On receiving the basket SJ declared “I never win anything” well SJ, let it be said you have now! Congratulations, we are so happy for your win, you totally deserve this treat. Huge thanks to volunteer Denise who organised the raffle and donated such an epic basket choc-full of Easter goodies. Thank you to everyone who entered the draw, you are the best. Another successful fundraiser for the LFRDA collective and everyone should be totally proud of themselves as together we raised an amazing 🌟£200!!🌟 From the look on the Easter Bunny’s face, AKA our horsey hero fabulous Flynn, he would agree it doesn’t get much sweeter than that.
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LFRDA chalks off another successful event
With Halloween and firework night over, the attention was turned into getting into some Christmas spirit on Saturday at the Henfield Charities Fair. A fantastic morning saw our volunteers being fab festive elves and raising a brilliant £302.50. The amount of visitors coming over to our stall was humbling, several returning again and again, it was a morning full of pleasant moments, festive fun and kind people.
Well, that’s a wrap for this year’s Charities fair and a successful one has come and gone in a flash! There are many thanks to give and LFRDA is very grateful to those that generously donated a prize, helped in the background, volunteered on the day and those who came to support us, if you helped in any way, consider yourself well and truly thanked. Finally, thank you to the organisers for once again putting on a great community event – we look forward to doing it all again next year and why wouldn’t we?! 🎅
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Community Spirit Shines out at Festival
Fete accompli…..we are delighted to announce we raised £925 at the Ashington Festival. This fantastic result was due to everyone who spent a lot of time pulling this event together – it’s a real purple team effort, no more, no less!! In addition it’s down to the great bottle donations we received. Fortunately, the blue sky swung our way and we had the perfect summer weather providing the backdrop for the festival and, during the morning, the recreation ground was transformed into a traditional summer festival. The organisers had promised the event to be a fun packed family day out and it certainly was, drawing in the crowds from far and wide. A heartfelt thank you to the wonderful volunteers who gave up their time to help set up, man the stall and clear up afterwards. A big round of applause to you all, we couldn’t have done it without you, your hard work is appreciated and you certainly brought many smiles to the generous people who bought tombola tickets and stopped for a chat. It was lovely to see familiar faces, meet some new ones (and their canine companions) and, quite overwhelming, the amount of people who came along and supported us, some returning several times. The volunteers didn’t stop all day and by the end of it the stall was looking rather bare without a bottle in sight! Once again, thank you to everyone who supported this event, whether you helped in the background, ticket sticking, donating bottles, transporting equipment, helping on the day, or buying tickets you all contributed to making it the huge success that it was. Finally, thank you to the brilliant organisers, who make this event possible. They bring a strong sense of community to Ashington and showcase how inspiring it is when communities come together for not only a fun day but also to support important causes such as ours. With fun, food, fairground, festivities, fireworks, fundraising and friends it all added up to a sensational summer festival and a memorable day for all ages.
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Winning at Brighton Races…
We are extremely grateful to Brighton Racecourse who invited us to fundraise at their Spring Racing fixture this week. Our team of brilliant collectors were thrilled to raise an amazing £266! The racegoers, staff and bookies were very generous with many stopping to chat to our volunteers and take an interest in the therapeutic benefits of our work in bringing people and horses together. Thank you so much to everyone who supported this event by either shaking the buckets or putting cash in them!!
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Success at South Downs…
Last Saturday we held a very successful bucket collection at South Downs Nurseries which is the largest centre run by Tates of Sussex Garden Centres. We’re thrilled to announce we raised £313.03 and thank you to our fantastic team of volunteers for holding our charity buckets and for representing LFRDA so brilliantly. To every single person who generously donated money to our cause we’d like to say a huge thank you. We met so many lovely people (and dogs!) who chatted with us and took an interest in our work. Grateful thanks to the South Downs management team and staff for welcoming us, especially Sarah for letting us have the pitch and making this fundraiser possible. We were blown away by the support we received from everyone and a heartfelt thank you from team LFRDA 💜
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We love a winner!
Congratulations to rider Jayne who was the winner of the Easter Raffle after Chair, Louise, picked out the winning ticket. Thank you to volunteer Denise who masterminded the beautifully wrapped hamper crammed with Easter treats, also thanks to everyone who supported our raffle. By purchasing a ticket, not only did you have a chance to win, it helped us raise a fantastic £145!! 🤩 Jayne, you deserve a treat and may your basket be full, your chocolates be sweet and your blessings many 💜
Jayne riding the Easter Bunny Flynn being presented with her prize by coach Sarah-Jane
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Terrific Tack Sale
LFRDA is very lucky to have some wonderful fundraisers who work very hard throughout the year to raise much needed funds. They go out, come rain or shine, to raise awareness and funds for LFRDA and huge thanks to all involved throughout 2023 for their time, effort and for making a difference.
On Saturday our volunteers were out and about this time attending the Pyecombe tack sale. Usually they are setting up on a cold, dark, winter evening so it made a nice change to set up on a sunny Saturday morning. As we have come to expect, the team at Brendon were well organised and buyers were eagerly chomping at the bit to get a bargain! Thanks to everyone who visited our pitch, it was lovely to make new friends, raise much needed pounds and have some fun while doing it. Grateful thanks to the volunteers for enthusiastically raising a brilliant 🌟£113.00 🌟 Many thanks to our supporters who regularly donate their pre-loved tack, anything that cannot be used at RDA is sold to raise funds for the charity.
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Festive Fundraising
With the festive lights twinkling Christmas did seem to start at the Henfield Charities fair on Saturday and it was evident from the laughter in the hall that everyone was getting into the Christmas spirit!!
Some of our fab volunteers spent the day being fab festive fundraisers doing a brilliant job of making our tombola stall look beautiful and raising a wonderful £210.00 🌟 A warm thank you to them as well as to all who visited our stall and bought tickets, with some returning several times! It was great to get back in touch with old friends attending the fair and good to make new friendships as well. Once again, the generosity of the LFRDA community has been amazing, whether that be donating prizes or helping out in many different ways, the group is always very humbled by everyone’s support. Finally, thank you to the organisers for taking the time to put on such a well organised event, we look forward to next year! 🎄🎅
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Summer Festival Success
It must be fete! Drum roll please…..we raised a whopping £1005!!
One of the biggest events on the Ashington social calendar was back at the weekend when the annual Ashington Festival was held for its 25th year and, for us, a highlight on our fundraising calendar. The festival has something for everyone, attracting all ages and is the perfect opportunity to reconnect with old friends and neighbours all enjoying a great day out.
Fortunately, after a cloudy and breezy start to the day, the weather was on our side and the sunshine arrived just in time as the festival opened. With the purple bunting fluttering and some truly stonking prizes dazzling in the sunshine we were ready, and, with people milling around, a queue formed and the bottles started to fly off the stall. Thank you to the very generous people who bought tickets and chatted to us, it was lovely to see familiar faces and meet new ones (and dogs!) we hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did.
Huge thanks to everyone who helped before the day and on the day, we could not pull this event together without a lot of help and a lot of bottle donations! It really is a team effort and special thanks to our bighearted festival heroes who worked tirelessly running the stall and who brought many smiles to many faces.
Thank you also to the organisers and sponsors for doing a wonderful job in putting this community event together, this year will definitely be one to remember!
What a fabulous day, the sunshine eventually came through and, with its warmth and that of those who supported us, it made this a truly summer festival success, full of fun memories and laugher.
We can’t wait for next year!
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Brilliant Brighton Races
Our grateful thanks go out to Brighton Racecourse for inviting us to do a charity bucket collection at their Summer Afternoon Race Day and for being so welcoming.
Huge thanks to our wonderful team of volunteers who attended the racecourse with its beautiful views along the coast. During the afternoon the volunteers met some lovely fellow volunteers from the Epsom group. It’s always good when you get to meet volunteers around the track (sorry excuse the pun!) and have a friendly chat about RDA.
A brilliant £255 was collected from the racegoers and it was a pleasure to talk to so many of them about our work. We are always grateful for every penny raised and thank you for everyone’s generosity.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable fundraising event which was made even better by the amount we raised!
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Bucketful of Bucks…
Our collecting buckets were pulled out on Saturday for the Crawley and Horsham Point to Point, at Parham Racecourse.
Huge thanks to our super team of purple helpers who stood at the exit gates with their cheery smiles and, between them, collected an incredible £530!
Thank you to all the very generous ‘point to pointers’ who stopped and popped their cash into the buckets, it was a pleasure to meet so many supporters and a huge thank you to the organisers for giving us the opportunity to collect donations and raise our profile in the community.
Small change really does make a big difference to our charity and thanks to all who gave and all who collected 💜
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Thank you to terrific Tates!
Thank you to our big-hearted volunteers who cheerfully held a collecting bucket last Saturday at South Downs Nurseries in Hassocks, the largest centre run by Tates of Sussex Garden Centres.
We are delighted to say £245.60 was dropped into the buckets by the kind customers and we are very proud of the amazing amount they helped us raise!
It was a fun day and we met some lovely people, and equally lovely dogs, many stopping to have a chat and take an interest in the work that we do.
LFRDA would like to say a huge thank you to the staff at South Downs for making us feel so welcome, especially Sarah for making this fundraiser possible and to the wonderfully generous customers who put money into our buckets.
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Fabulous Fontwell
It was odds on for a great day this week when Long Furlong attended Fontwell Racecourse.
Thank you to the wonderful volunteers who took the time to hold a bucket and thanks to everyone who popped cash into them. The incredibly generous racegoers and bookmakers donated an incredible £375!
Not only did we get to raise a fantastic amount we got to meet some lovely people too. A very helpful commentary giving us shout outs, as well as the glorious winter sunshine, made for a successful day at the races.
A massive thank you to Fontwell for giving us the opportunity to do the collection and thank you to all the amazing staff for welcoming us.
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Hip, hip hooray for a winner!
The 2022 Christmas prize draw raffle was won by rider Julie. At our Christmas fun session Richard, Chestnuts owner, kindly picked out the winning ticket.
We raised the sweet total of £140, a big thank you to the volunteers who donated the chocolate, to volunteer Julie for putting the hamper together and to all those who bought tickets.
Congratulations Julie you’re a very worthy winner and we hope you enjoy the hamper over Christmas!
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Long Furlong at the Races 31 October 2022
LFRDA were delighted to be asked back to Plumpton Races, again this year, to host a charity bucket collection. Grateful thanks to all the staff at Plumpton Racecourse for making us feel so welcome.
The group haven’t done a face-to-face collection for a while and we certainly had one of our most successful. We raised an amazing, drum roll please…… £601.59!!
The weather was not on our side, and it turned into an incredibly wet autumn afternoon, however the rain didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits! Thank you to all the generous racegoers and bookmakers who stopped and popped a pound or two into our buckets.
Collections such as this would not be possible without our team of brilliant volunteers. The success of the day is all thanks to their hard work, great enthusiasm, energy and the ability to wear a bright smile whatever the weather!
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Pyecombe Tack Sale 28 October 2022
The group had a very successful and fun evening at a very busy tack sale at Brendon, Pyecombe. A really well organised event had buyers eagerly chomping at the bit to get through the gates into the sale when the doors opened. There were plenty of bargains to be had on our stall and grateful thanks to the fantastic volunteers for enthusiastically selling a large quantity of tack and being absolutely brilliant in raising the sum of £215.80. It was nice to meet news friend sharing their equine stories with us and supporting our stall.
The group is very fortunate to have regular supporters that donate clothing and tack throughout the year. Anything that cannot be used at RDA is sold to raise much needed funds for the charity. Thank you for your continued support 💜
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Ashington Festival 2022
LFRDA raises £845!!
We had a brilliant day at the Ashington Festival on Saturday and a massive thank you to everyone who played a part in making our stall a roaring success. It’s wonderful to get back to our face-to-face fundraising and celebrating the work that we do at LFRDA.
The weather could not have been better, warm, sunny with a bit of cloud at times, which was perfect for enticing many visitors to the fete. The recreation ground was buzzing with events going on in the arena and stalls selling a wide variety of different things.
Our stall was very busy throughout the afternoon, who could resist buying a ticket from our cheerful purple pals. One of the nice things about these events is the amount of people (and dogs!) you get to meet, also lovely to see some of our riders support us along with new and familiar faces.
We sold all our tickets for our bottle tombola with some very happy customers winning their favourite tipple, in addition to 40 beautifully decorated, and sweet filled, jolly jam jars. Horsham football club kindly donated 4 tickets to one of their matches along with a signed football which made a perfect prize for local lad Harry, who correctly picked the name of the footballer out from a list of 50 names to be our worthy winner.
A heartfelt thank you to all the volunteers, and their partners, who helped on the stall throughout the day. Planning an event like this takes weeks of organising along with a lot of donations! Thank you to everyone for your help, beforehand, putting this event all together and to the festival organisers that allow charities to have a pitch without payment.
It was certainly a feel good, uplifting summer fete, with huge support for this village community event evident, long may it last!
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April 2022 Fundraiser – Cash for clothes….
The arena gallery was a bit more colourful with a rail of lovely preloved clothing.
A big thank you to everyone that came to the session with clothing to sell, with all proceeds being kindly donated to the group. Quite a few items of ‘purple RDA kit’ were donated, it’s always good to extend the lifecycle of our clothing, and hopefully the buyer gets to love it as much as we did! 🙂
Thank you so much to our volunteers and riders who grabbed a bargain, raising a wonderful total of £68!
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