Well it might have taken a bit longer than we expected but here we sit at the 29th ^{. Annual General Meeting, with the wherewithal to proceed with the Additional Facilities Project. It is very fitting that as we enter our 20th. Year in operation, we do so at an exciting time in the life of this wonderful organisation.}

Of course we did not get to this position without spending a lot of time and energy on fundraising. Although the last two years have been dominated by fundraising everyone, Helper, Mentors, Instructors and Communicators have done a marvellous job keeping their eyes on the ball and keeping the running of the operation going and indeed expanding.

Helper numbers have continued to be buoyant, despite the odd shortages now and again at different sessions. We now have a truly eclectic body of people who help put in different ways, bringing a whole range of skills and experience to the operation.

Training Mentors continue to maintain high training standards, guiding the new hesitant Helper through Muirfield groups training schedule which leads of course to the National Green Card. Each of these six ladies approaches the task in a different way, tailoring the training given to the needs of their individual members. The Mentor group has met several times throughout the year and are currently carrying out a review of how Muirfield deliver training. The group should be especially grateful to those involved with the training of our Supported Volunteers, which can be challenging.

Working hand-in-hand with the Mentors are our Child Protection Officers, Rosemary & Wendy. They ensure that our CBRS checks are carried out correctly. Around 20 Helpers attended a Child Protection Course in ?? and ? attended an advanced course in ??? ROSEMARY

Our number of Instructors continues to grow also. On a Tuesday we have 2 RDAGI and 1 RDAI present, on a Wednesday 2 RDAGI and 2 Logbook Holders, On a Thursday we have 3 RDAGIs present, On a Friday we have 1 RDAGI and 1 RDAI present, on a Saturday we have 1 RDAGI and 2 Logbook Holders. These ladies are continually assessed by Regional Instructors and in September 2 of their body attended a 2 day UK Coaching Course and are currently working to gain this qualification. We thank then for their time and expertise and should remember that, during the sessions the buck stops with them, so respect please!

Instructors meet monthly to plan the sessions and also discuss equine issues,

Now of course these equines are crucial to work of the group. For this reason I will name them! There have been one or 2 who have joined the band of faithful briefly but not quite worked out for one reason or another. In March Toby was relocated to Seacliff and is doing really well with lots of riding out. Timmy was on trial and although really sweet to handle we lacked an appropriate sharer for him. He has gone back home. Therefore our current team is thus:

Sonic & Smartie, referred to as the wee greys – continuing to do sterling work in RDA but can be a sharing challenge. They are no push over in their life outside RDA!

Hjarrandi, has increased his RDA work and is enjoying it, although if crowded uses a swish of his tail to say "my space, your space"! He is a firm favourite with his little riders.

Now the Highlands – we have 3, Kishmul, McGregor & Rocky same breed but different challenges for the handlers! However each has its use!

Wherever Kishmul is Otis is not far behind! These two chaps continue to do the most RDA sessions although we regulartly review the amount of work each pony does.

Bibi is now the only "big one" owned by the Group. Since we have compressed the adult riders sessions she has been used a bit less.

Now the new chaps! In Oct? The team was joined by Bryony a pretty little mare and her companion Arlo. What a piece of luck this was. Both have worked out really well and took to RDA work like ducks to water!

Also at our disposal is Jess, owned by Mary Jarvie. Jess shares Bibis work and we have just been offered the use of a 17h mare called Sal.

It is very sad that poor old Billy is no longer with us. He was a faithful friend to so many over the years but sadly had to be put to sleep last month.

We thank Jenny Anderson, Lesely McGee and West Fenton Livery for their care of our wonderful ponies. The Sharing system continues to give the ponies fun and freedom outside their RDA work.

These chaps are dearly loved by their Riders and the bonds forged between a withdrawn little person and these hairy animals are one of the special things that happen on a daily basis at RDA!

A few weeks ago Shirley Duff phoned me from the Arena in an excited state.

"Shirley, calm down! What’s wrong?" the reason for her excitement?......she had just prepared the file for our 200th Rider!

Now at present we have 96 riding spaces per week so the challenge of sharing out these places between 200 Riders is great. In January Annilee Broughton kindly made up a blocking system on the computer which we are slowly learning to use with varying success!

In September it was agreed that as the Waiting List has far more children that adults we needed to condense our adult sessions. Therefore adults ride on a Thursday morning now. This may of course change in the future but for the last year we have had school children on Tuesdays for 5 lessons and 1 Therapy session. On a Wednesday we have older teens and young adults,

On Fridays it is children and on Saturday it is both!

Some of our Riders come for 1 term such as our therapy ride pupils, others have 1 term on 1 off or 2 terms on and one off – very complicated! But through the Key Worker system we manage to keep personal relationships with Riders and Helpers. How awful would it be if these individuals came and went without us managing to make these connections?

Our Riders as always are the stars of the show. In June last year Contryside Challenge, Drum dressage Tracey to Hartbury? Several of our Riders have graduated to main stream riding schools. Others have become Supported Volunteers.

This year we were lucky to enlist the help of 2 retired special needs teaches, Val Wilson and Jan Lesson. These ladies have guided pupils from Dunbar Primary School through our pilot ASDAN scheme. Although we just ran short of time to submit their portfolios they are ready to go next time. Please do have a look and see what they have achieved.

Physiotherapist Heather Assheton, after years of persuading her employers about the benefits of riding as a therapy, finally was approved, after presenting a pilot scheme, to be funded to carry out her therapy class on a Tuesday afternoon, soon we hope to be rolled out. The Riders and the volunteers indeed involved in the pilot scheme felt huge benefits.

The way that Heather was able to show the helpers the improvements really inspired them. Heather has now started a new class with DCD/ I have to thank all members of this team for their enthusiasm in taking up the new challenges involved in this.

The last year has been all about challenges. None more so than those faced by our Session Communicators who have kept up with the frantic pace of fundraising events. Please cast your eye back over the last year shown in our Fundraising display. Some events were a lot of work and didn’t make as much as we expected. Others were easy to run and raised lots! However this has given us a huge bank of experience to draw on for the future.

Our funds would not be so healthy were it not for each of our 6 sessions taking up the baton and being more proactive in the running of events. I think the members of each session have grown personally through this experience and we hope to continue to raise funds for running costs by involving each session in events.

Now here we sit basking in our success. You see what a team can achieve. A team that believes in itself can work wonders. This team sadly lost two of its members during the last year.

Fiona Mosson died suddenly in January aged 36?. She was involved with Muirfield for many years and even after she moved to Wales she joined her local group. Fiona was loved by everyone, because she was fun and because she always made you feel that you could do. She was one of the most positive people I have had the pleasure to know.

Wynn McGuiness died after an illness in March. She also was much loved and well-known with the group and around West Fenton. She and I shared a deep affection for Kishmul over the years. Wynn brought talent to the organisation and will be best remembered as"lady who lost her horse" in our musical ride "Blazing Saddles" and as the "grand mother" in our Carousel performance which was put on for The Princess Royal.

Both these ladies were larger than life characters and would have been thrilled to bits with our success and we owe it to them to make this group the best it can be but to never forget the importance of being positive and having FUN!

Now as we enter our 20th year of operation, we have completed the first part of the task! We have finally raised the funds to build the long dreamt of additional facilities,

My heartfelt thanks for your support and trust. Believe in the dream we can together make a huge difference to the lives of people with disability through riding therapy. We will soon have the facilities to do this more easily.

This project is about 3 groups of people Of course primarily our Riders, of course their Families and Carers. But it is also about our volunteers. No organisation should ask so much of their helpers without giving them the proper facilities to carry out the job required.

Please I ask you all to pat yourselves on the back, and say to yourselves "I MAKE A DIFFERENCE"

Share the dream.