Dear RDA UK volunteers and staff,

Special thanks to Regional Participant Reps this week, who have been working with me and RDA UK Trustee Emma Wells as part of a longer-term project to improve participant engagement across the organisation. Your feedback has been invaluable – thank you.

Our Chair, Rachel Medill, is continuing her ‘Tour of Britain’, most recently with a visit to East Region. My sources (thank you Lindsay Nicholson!) report how impressed she is by our regional teams, saying: “I am blown away by the expertise and commitment of RDA’s County Chairs and Coaches,” as well as describing her own attempts at learning carriage driving as:  “a lot more difficult than it looks!”

 

‘500 Challenge’ for Virtual National Championships

To help support our first ever RDA Virtual National Championships (25 - 26 September), we have launched a new fundraising initiative: ‘The 500 Challenge’ – celebrating our groups and AM centres across the UK. 

Running throughout the rest of this month and September, supporters of The 500 Challenge can join in either through donations or becoming fundraisers and taking part in an event or activity of their choice involving the number 500 (or multiples).

Your support by sharing this with anyone you think might like to take part, or liking and sharing our social media posts over the next few weeks, is greatly appreciated.

Some ideas of how to get involved:

Cycle 500 miles throughout September

500 Skips a day for 30 days

Donate £5, £50 or £500

Raise £500 by shaving your head

50,000 steps in a week, 100 steps for each RDA Group

Running the equivalent of 5 Marathons

Bake a 500 themed Cake

For more information, to donate or to set up your fundraising page for The 500 Challenge, follow the link below. https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/The500Challenge

 

Reminder: Come Back Stronger – 24th August, 6pm

Join us for a ‘Creative conversation’ where we discuss the challenges and opportunities around coming back stronger from Covid.  Whether you have big plans for your group or just want to share ideas and learn from others about how to become more resilient, we want you to join us. We would love groups to feel even more confident in providing opportunities for participants to get back to what they love. Come ready to listen, talk, and share with others from across the RDA family. Suitable for Trustees and those with responsibility in a group e.g. Group organiser or Lead coach.

Register here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIocOmoqzwjH9b1t12e8JQcqwZNDf7gLIyy

 

Horse Care and Knowledge Virtual Championships

In the absence of our usual Horse Care and Knowledge at the Championships, this year we have taken it online. Suitable for participants of all ages, and with a certificate for successful completion, this is a great new way to take part. 

Follow the link at: https://www.rda-learning.org.uk/courses/rda-virtual-championships-horse-care-and-knowledge/  

Note: the e-learning platform does require users to sign in, so additional support may be helpful for some.

Any questions to Faye McKenningfmckenning@rda.org.uk

                                                                                                                                                     

Best wishes,

Caroline

Caroline Ward
Head of Communication & Insight, RDA UK
01926 405968
cward@rda.org.uk