Welcome to Term 4 everyone.
The weather in Term 3 was mostly terrible! A huge thank you to Pia, Sandra and all the volunteers who bravely turned up in all weather to continue our Monday rides in Term 3.
Four of the rallies were cancelled due to the unpredictable weather but six went ahead in the mud and the rain. It was particularly challenging getting horses in from the paddocks and tacking them up with volunteers almost knee deep in mud. At least the arena provided a fairly dry haven to ride. All the children thought it was fun to see our volunteers paddling around in muck.
Riding Dates
We started riding on Monday 11th October and the last day will be Tuesday 14th December.
Volunteer Christmas BBQ
The annual Christmas BBQ for volunteers will be after the last Tuesday rally on 14th December. Please bring a plate and liaise with Cherie about what to bring ie dessert or salad. We provide the meat and something to drink.
Volunteer Coach Awards
– Waitakere Region
Pia Saxton, our Head Coach, won the SPARC Volunteer Coach Awards for the Waitakere Region 2010 on 20th October. There were 118 nominations in total at the start of the process. Pia firstly won her category which was for General Coach and was up against two very worthy coaches in the Student and Lifetime category, and finally won overall.
Pia will attend a SPARC Coaching Development weekend with the other sixteen regional winners next year. Watties will also be delivering 160 of their products to her front door!
Pia, Annette, Erika, Dave, Jack, Glynnis, Norma and Trish attended the breakfast ceremony. We were so excited when Pia won the General Category. We were truly thrilled when she won the final award.
Well done from us all, Pia. You are a fabulous coach who puts in so much time, effort and care into the role. Our children and group are very lucky to have you. It is wonderful for you to have this public recognition too.
Rider Profile
Raven Gray is nine years old and has been riding with us for about a year. Raven attends Swanson Primary School and lives with his mum Estelle and his great friend Dalmatian dog Toto.
Raven is very sociable at school and particularly loves art and drawing dragons. He is not so keen on drama and dance! He is doing well in all his subjects.
Outside of school Raven also enjoys swimming and has been doing Kung Fu for three years. He loves coming to riding and mum Estelle says “ Riding has been great for Raven. He has gained so much confidence since he has started and all the stiffness in his leg, due to a rare skin condition, has gone.”
Covered Arena Project
In July we were very disappointed to hear that our application for funding for a feasibility study from the NZ Lottery Grant Board had been declined. The reason they gave was that there were limited funds with many organisations seeking money. They also stated that the facility would not be used sufficiently by the wider community. This was particularly disappointing as we had gone to great lengths to try and demonstrate that many other groups could use our covered arena and would be welcome to do so.
Rest assured the committee is carefully considering further options to progress the covered arena project and we will keep you posted.
NZ Lottery Funded Training
National Office secured funding from the National Lottery Grant Board to provide Leader and Side Walker training to all groups throughout NZ. This is great news. Effective training is so important to help ensure that we offer a safe and effective service. The training for our region took place in September at Ambury Park with Erika, Gaylene, Trish and Glynis attending. Thank you ladies for taking the time to attend the training and developing your skills for our group.
Green Bay Women’s Institute – Keyboard Kapers Concert
We were delighted to hear that two wonderful ladies from the Green Bay Women’s Institute wanted to help us raise money for our covered arena project. Valerie Cuneen and Mary-Helen Jonkers put on a concert series every year in Mary-Helen’s home to raise money for a chosen charity.
This year Henderson RDA was the nominated charity. The concert series ran for about ten nights with matinee performances as well and raised $2460. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the concerts were sold out almost immediately. Only Norma and Shirley F managed to get tickets to what was a very enjoyable and inspirational night of music, singing and jokes. A huge thank you to Mary Helen and Valerie and the Green Bay Women’s Institute.
Trading Table
Everyone please continue to support our trading table. Funds raised so far have been over $120. We would appreciate any spare produce from the garden, books or DVDs, small plants etc.
Contact Details
Norma Hayward – Editor: richnorm@slingshot.co.nz or 813 3030
General Enquiries: richnorm@slingshot.co.nz or 813 3030
www.hendersonrda.org.nz