The Holywood Trust and Kirkcudbright Rotary Club have successfully come together to put in place financial support for Kirkcudbright Academy and its five partner Primary Schools to enable their students to continue with their Riding for the Disabled lessons. The Holywood Trust has awarded Kirkcudbright Rotary Club £2000 to hire horses for local school pupils to attend Galloway RDA sessions. This fund will be administered by the Rotary Club leaving the schools to fund their own transport arrangements to and from the Barstobrick Riding Centre.
This support follows on to the substantial financial contribution made by Kirkcudbright Rotary Club some two years ago towards the cost of installing a much needed hoist at Barstobrick. Indeed the Club now also provides one volunteer helper each Wednesday morning to walk the horses during the riding lessons.
Speaking after the presentation of the cheque for £2000, Alex Kinnell, President of Kirkcudbright Rotary Club, said just how delighted he was that his Club would be able to continue to support the work of the Riding for the Disabled locally. He emphasised that in doing this “he fully appreciated the financial assistance that his Club receive from the Holywood Trust in order to allow us to carry on with our work in supporting this wonderful cause”.
Patricia Keith, Chairman of Galloway RDA and Sue Cooper, Treasurer, thanked Kirkcudbright Rotary Club for their continued support and the Holywood Trust for their generosity. “The funding will be a huge benefit to the children from schools within the Kirkcudbright area and will allow the children to continue riding lessons with Galloway RDA for the foreseeable future”.
Kirkcudbright Academy added “We are incredibly grateful to Kirkcudbright Rotary and to the Holywood Trust for their time and generous financial support. The skills, enjoyment, and confidence building that the Riding for the Disabled provides will follow our young people throughout their lives”.
David Stevens, Headteacher at Kirkcudbright Primary School said “thank you for your continued support with the Riding for the Disabled sessions. The pupils we send really enjoy the sessions and it is particularly nice to hear about them laughing and enjoying the experience. To be able to provide a wider curriculum is so important to some of our pupils who cannot always readily access the usual curriculum. It gives a life experience that we believe has huge benefits for the pupils who attend and one which we cannot provide in school”.
Leslie McDevitt, Head Teacher at Borgue Primary School said ‘the RDA is a fantastic resource for the pupils at Borgue primary. The Rotary supporting the cost of attending is marvellous. The benefits for our children include building confidence, building self esteem, improving social awareness and physical balance and movement.
