Dear RDA UK volunteers and staff,

Autumn appears to be on us officially, as does the rain and wind!

Great news from the Virgin Money London Marathon this past weekend – always an inspiring event, and particularly special following last year’s cancellation. We had 6 people running for us, helping to raise awareness and funds. Our congratulations and thanks to all of them – and any other Marathon runners who supported RDA groups.

 

Princess Royal Celebrates 50 Years with RDA

This year marks the 50th year of The Princes Royal’s involvement with RDA. We would like to celebrate this milestone by collecting photos and messages of thanks from RDA members across the organisation, which we will put into a slideshow for The Princess.

If you would like to contribute to the slideshow, please email me your message and an accompanying image if you have one by the 25 October.

We are also creating a timeline of photos for an online display. If you have a great image of The Princess’ involvement with RDA from the last 50 years which we can use for the timeline, please email me a copy along with any background information you think might be useful. I will need these also by the 25 October.

 

Weekly Webinars are Back!

You will be excited to hear that our weekly webinar series is back. These will be every Thursday at 7pm on a variety of topics, from recruitment of volunteers post-COVID to a demonstration from a Saddler.

Our first webinar is next week on the 14 October at 7pm. This coincides with World Sight Loss Day, and we are delighted to welcome a representative from The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association to talk about the services Guide Dogs provide for adults and children with sight loss, as well as a bit about them as an organisation and their dogs.

Register as usual at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xoAW1F0YSxG3afap4ulXpg

PLEASE NOTE, the webinars are recorded for internal use and are posted on our MyRDA YouTube page.

 

UKSA and Virtus Virtual World Championships

We have had seven riders go through from our RDA Regional Qualifiers in the ID Dressage classes to compete on the UKSA team representing Great Britain in the Virtus Virtual World Games. The results should be announced by Virtus on 19 October. 

Thank you and congratulations to all those involved, and we will keep you updated on the riders results as they come in. For more information on UKSA and Virtus visit UK Sports Association – for People with Learning Disability VIRTUS – World Intellectual Impairment Sport

Any questions, please email Emma Bayliss at ebayliss@rda.org.uk

 

RDA Coaches Conference Month 2021

This year’s Coaching Conference will look a bit different. Throughout November, we will be running ‘Coaching Conference Month’ – and everyone is welcome! There will be a Zoom webinar open to all every Tuesday evening in November (9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th).  You can sign up to all 4 webinars or each one individually – Attend all 4 to count towards CPD for coaches that require it.

More details about the programme and opportunities will be coming soon. Any questions about Coaching Conference Month, please email Jo Hayward at jhayward@rda.org.uk

 

Dressage Anywhere

If your groups and riders are missing the excitement of virtual competing, don’t forget Dressage Anywhere run RDA classes. For more information, please see Welcome to Dressage Anywhere

 

Harbro Support for RDA

We are delighted to hear about the support from Harbro, the animal feed and farming company, for our RDA Groups in Scotland. For a whole year they will donate 25p from all horse feed bags sold in Harbro stores to RDA in Scotland. It would be great if you could share with friends and encourage the purchase of feed from Harbro this coming year.

 

Best wishes,

Brigitta Falcini

Communications Coordinator

Riding for the Disabled Association