Chalkdown Group Riding for the Disabled - Staplehurst, Kent

Last Thursday we bid a fond 'farewell' to Robert who is moving on the pastures new - he has been part of our Chalkdown Family for about 7 years and will be sadly missed, but we hope he will come back to visit us in the future (and maybe be able come out for an occasional hack too 🐴)

Knowing our fundraising efforts make a huge difference to local worthwhile charities really is the most rewarding result!

Thank you to all our members, and some non-members, who helped us raise a staggering £22,600 last year for various charities, including our event with raising money for , and our two main Charities of the Year, the Restoration of Marden Church Bells and .

We cannot wait to start fundraising for our chosen Charities for 2024 and Chalkdown Group Riding for the Disabled - Staplehurst, Kent

Great last day of term for Chalkdown with lots of tinsel, Christmas jumpers and silly hats … and not forgetting the delicious party food. Happy Christmas to all our volunteers and participants - thank you all for your help and support during 2023 and we look forward to seeing you all again in the new year

Happy Christmas Snowfields Academy 🎄😁

Another successful term for Chalkdown and Snowfields - and a fantastic group of students 🤩

❓ In 2 weeks time we are hosting a charity quiz night in aid of Chalkdown Group Riding for the Disabled - Staplehurst, Kent at Canterbury Cathedral Lodge. Learn more about our quiz night on our website here ➡️➡️ https://eu1.hubs.ly/H05zqnn0

Chalkdown Group RDA Fundraising Quiz: Join us at the Marden Village Club, Albion Road Marden TN12 9DT on Saturday 18th November at 7.00 pm. Tables of 6 - £10.00 per person to include a Plougman’s supper (vegan option available). Tickets are available at: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/chalkdownrda/1013952

Numbers will be limited, so please book early!

Please post photo's of hacking with the hashtag TODAY 🤗

The Agria Ride is back! 🐎

This year, we are excited to offer you the chance to help raise funds for three charities as one of just 50 riders to join us on a ride through the Chilterns at Cholsey Farm Riding. If you're unable to join then why not ride with friends locally and for each of you who shares a photo we will donate £5.

🗓️ Date: 24th September 2023

📍 Location: Cholsey Farm or your choice of venue

To join the ride at Cholsey Farm sign up on Horse Events here: https://www.horse-events.co.uk/horse-events/agria-ride240923/ or simply use to share a photo of you out hacking with your horse.

Today is the Agria ride 2023. Any photos of people riding that are posted with the hashtag
will help raise money for Agria's three nominated charities - one of which is RDA. Therefore, here is our photo 🙂

A well deserved OUTSTANDING ofsted result for Snowfields and we are very proud to be part of the journey for some of the students - have a look at photo number 11 😍. (If you follow the post back to the Snowfields Acadamy page, you can put a ‘like’ on our photo to show some support for the amazing work they do🙂)

What an amazing challenge 😎

⛰️ In October Tony & Keelie who are part of our IT team are taking on the National Three Peaks Challenge, where they will hopefully climb Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike & Snowdon within 24 hours in aid of Chalkdown Group Riding for the Disabled - Staplehurst, Kent. Visit their page to donate & learn more ➡️➡️ https://www.justgiving.com/page/keelieandtony3peaks?utm_term=WJWkwr95n&utm_content=168269000&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-1114834153

A huge thank you to the steam fair for supporting us again this year. 😍

The whole team at the RLR wish to say a massive Thank You to everyone who attended our Annual Charity Steam Fair last Saturday.

The day went very smoothly with 6 steam engines in operation across the day, 7 road engines and 5 portables in steam, along with wood sawing demonstrations, a slate train and to round the day off a 6-engine cavalcade and photo shoot.

We are very pleased to report the grand total of money raised for Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) was an amazing £3,500!

Many thanks to all the road and stationary engine owners for bringing their machines, along with the vintage car owners and all the extra support given on the day from ticket office volunteers to catering and car park management.

We look forward to doing it all again next year!

As always keep an eye on this page and our YouTube channel for the latest RLR news; https://www.youtube.com/richmondlightrailway

The RLR Team

Thank you, Pilateswise 😃

A successful day at our new 'Chalkdown Holiday Club'. Thank you to all the volunteers and participants that made this such a fun day. It's lovely for our participants to be able to join in with some of the tasks that are usually carried out 'behind the scenes'... And our beautiful ponies are all superstars 😍

Snowfields Academy Thank you for the lovely card Suffolk Class - it's been a pleasure working with you all over the last 2 terms, teaching you about our RDA horses. (And thank you from the horses for apples and carrots you've given them - they really appreciate it 🐴😋)

Whitehead Monckton Limited
A huge "Thank You" to the WM working party yesterday, who worked really hard to help tidy up the horses field - the results are fab, making the field a safer, bigger area for the horses to stretch their legs and enjoy the grass 😃

Thank you from all of us at Chalkdown 😊

🏆 Last week we brought some lovely rosettes for our charity of the year Chalkdown Group Riding for the Disabled - Staplehurst, Kent so they can award them to the children once they complete their term. Learn more about Chalkdown on their website here ➡️➡️ https://eu1.hubs.ly/H04f4jR0

Congratulations and thank you to Lotte and the Chelsea Tuesday Team for all their hard work - the grand total raised was £1710 🤩.

We couldn't do it without the generous help from our sponsors:
Lower Ladysden - Fresh produce from the heart of the Weald
Golden Hill Plants
Bumbles Plant Centre
Stanley's Of Marden
And not forgetting 'Freddie and Mum' for making the delicious cakes 😋

A very successful first term working with Snowfields. The children have been a joy to teach.

See you tomorrow!

Please come and say "hello"! We'll be at Marden Sports Club from 9am on Tuesday 23rd May 2023 🪴 Raising funds for our local Riding for the Disabled group, Chalkdown.

We’re sorry that Chalkdown couldn’t attend this year - it looks like we missed a fantastic day. Welll done to the South East Region for organising the event - your hard work was appreciated by all the groups who could take part. It’s lovely to see the photos of the amazing participants and horses 😍Hopefully we’ll be there next year 🤞🏇🏻

Please come and say "hello"! We'll be at Marden Sports Club from 9am on Tuesday 23rd May 2023 🪴 Raising funds for our local Riding for the Disabled group, Chalkdown.

We have now run 2 riding sessions with the Snowfields Academy students, and we are loving every minute of it. The students are a credit to their school - they are all trying their best, learning lots about horses/horse riding, and having fun at the same time. 🤩