Support group set to saddle up for move

The horses and ponies are all part of the Yeaton-based Perry Riding Vaulting & Driving Group (or the Perry RDA).

It's the region's only group to offer chartered physiotherapist-run hippotherapy – a therapeutic treatment involving horse riding.

The small Yeaton centre also doubles as founder and organiser Jane Barker's home.

It has nobly acted as base to the group for more than two decades, demand and popularity are causing Perry RDA (Riding for the Disabled Association) to up sticks and relocate.

In 1995, Barker was helping Baschurch RDA with a group of youngsters from Shrewsbury's Severndale Specialist Academy.

Barker, 66, said: "There was a greater demand than the group was able to cope with in the end. I thought to myself 'I suppose I could do something at home.'

"So we started at my place with two ponies and six volunteers."

The club have grown and now regularly tend to between 50 or 60 disabled youngsters and adults from Shropshire and the West Midlands every week.

The four-legged count has risen to 10 and now almost 50 volunteers, many of them young people looking to bolster their CVs and complete Duke of Edinburgh requirements.

They willingly give their time at weekends to help members experience the thrill of riding. Perry RDA's challenge to move away is proving a tricky one for Barker and her trusty sidekicks.

But planning permission has been submitted and the wheels are in motion for a move 40 minutes down the road to a new multi-purpose Much Wenlock base that has not yet been built.

A growing waiting list, coupled with regular disappointments of cancelled lessons due to poor weather, has pushed the group to find an alternative.

The 'Cavalier Centre', as the group have titled it, will be situated in Bradley Farm and according to Barker, serve not just as an aid for those with disability, but to help anyone in need.

She added: "It's going to be a 70m x 30m multi-purpose centre for all to use. The local community have been hugely supportive.

"It will be quite a unique set-up and when we get the arena, it will not just be for the disabled to use. It will be for the community and anybody can apply to use it.

"We've had interest from West Midlands Modern Pentathlon to base themselves there. We've also heard from disability cricket and archery.

"I go to other purpose-built centres and see what they do and the professional experience they offer. We want to help more people in Shropshire and the West Midlands.

"We'll be able to offer ourselves to people at Much Wenlock and the Wolverhampton side of things too.

"We could still have people from Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Telford and the Wrekin – we already have children and adults come from all over Shropshire.

"There were two little boys at our gala afternoon from Ludlow and others from Whitchurch and Newport."

The gala – based at the Kingswood Equestrian Centre in Wolverhampton – doubled up as an opportunity to persuade all visitors to help the group seal the move.

With a unique line-up of impressive riding displays, gymnastic action upon horses and ponies and opportunities for the disabled – young and old – to move around on horseback or in a carriage.

But, with sorrow, Barker admits that they are still some way away from sealing the move.

She added: "It's been estimated we need £750,000 just to get the roof over our head and move in. But that would still be basic.

"We're at £200,000, at the moment, and have spent £50,000 more on the planning application.

"It's a long way off, but as well as financial support we're also always looking for volunteers. I can't do it forever, we need young blood. You need new enthusiasm.

"The parents of the members are amazing and I receive lovely messages from them after events."

To get a feel for what the group is about, visit their Facebook page 'Perry RDA' and watch the attached video.

For more information about supporting the club or joining as a member or volunteer, visit www.perry-rda.org.