News & Updates

Fairlight Hall RDA was awarded the Buchan Bobby award at the South East Regional Conference held at Hickstead on the 21st October. The award is given annually to the group that has made a significant impact or contribution to the SE Region over the past 12 months. Pictured L to R Lee heard, RDA UK COO, Trustee Kathryn Sutton, Chair Tina Freedman, Trustees Sue Climpson and Katy Train.

Prior to our AGM which was held on the 20th February our Volunteers took part in a team building Drumming Session, amazingly we managed to produce some great sounding music and much fun was had by all. 10 Volunteers also recently completed an Emergency First Aid at Work certification so we now have plenty of first aiders to cover all rides.

Very sadly we lost Henna during the Easter holidays, Henna was the reason our Group was formed 11 years ago and she was the stalwart of our team, she will be much missed by us all.

We have been very fortunate to have linked up with Hadlow Equine College who had 2 of their horses looking for a quieter life, Bengi joined us at the end of March and Tim in April. Bengi is already very popular with his riders and we are sure that Tim’s riders will feel the same way about him. Tim is currently undertaking his RDA Equine Assessment.

We have had a great start to our fundraising for the year with donations from the Travers Smith Foundation, The Magdalen and Lasher Charity, Senlac St Leonards Rotary, Fairlight Parish Council and South East Rural Charitable Trust who have once again sponsored Lucy for the year.

Our annual sponsored walk for our riders and their families will take place on the 26th April and our annual Show will be on the 11th July. We are hoping for a good turn out for both events.

We will be sponsoring a SEN Class at Bexhill Horse Show and having a stand. We will be at Fairfest in Fairlight on the 20th June and at Beckley Church Fete on the 31st August.

Tickets are now available for the Ironmasters Ride which will be on the 1st August this year. Ironmaster’s Pleasure Ride 2026

We continue to have new volunteers coming forward to join us and we welcome them all to our Group and the joy of working with our horses and riders.

Taking part

We are accepting applications to ride with us so if you are interested please get in touch via email, rda@fairlighthall.co.uk

Tea with a pony

We are excited to be able to offer Tea with a Pony sessions to those with dementia or other life long conditions. The sessions last about an hour and offer the chance to interact with the ponies, watch a lesson and have some tea and cake with us. Bonnie loves being fussed over as you can see from the picture!

If you would like to take part please contact us at rda@fairlighthall.co.uk

Diary

Sunday, 26th April