Purpose This blog is intended to be a replacement for the Branch Bulletin.
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Those members from last year, past members and friends will well remember the monthly Branch Bulletin’s which were very ably written by the late Toni Russell. Even after I took over as DC in February 2010 Toni continued to ghost write the Bulletin for me and did so right up to her untimely death in December.
You will have noticed that no Bulletin has been forthcoming since. It has always been my intention to put one together and I have been diligently saving ‘copy’ for inclusion. I will admit that the job of sitting down and putting it all together has never reached the top of the ‘to do’ list and my guilt has increased with each passing month. It then dawned on me that a better approach may be to replace the Bulletin with a ‘blog’. The sorts of reports and announcements seem to me ideally suited to the medium and there are other advantages. Toni always wrote the Bulletin in Microsoft Word and I these were originally printed off in hard copy and mailed out to members. Over time we migrated to e-mail distribution and I started converting them to PDF format. I also diligently transposed each Bulletin so it could be seen on the branch website. This is all quite a lot of work (especially ‘translating’ complex Word formatting to display legibly in a web page) so it struck me that a blog would be more efficient.
In short I hope the blog will demonstrate the following benefits:
- news published more quickly ‘as it happens’ – no longer saving it for the ‘next edition’;
- each post will have a category (eg. competition report, announcement, achievement) and the blog software automatically groups the posts together;
- each post will be time stamped and all posts will be automatically indexed by date;
- no need to reformat and republish on-line;
- hopefully reduce the amount of indiscriminate e-mail ‘spam’ that we produce;
- readers can ‘subscribe’ to the blog using their web browser so they can easily tell when new posts appear.
Of course nothing is truly straightforward! The Pony Club website uses the same software that I am using for this blog but seemingly can’t support the style of use I intend to use. If I can migrate using the official web server then I will. However, many of you already use my own web server (theFourFootWay.org) to access the photographic collections.
At this point this new service is an experiment and if there are substantive problems I can have another think! I will clearly have to start with a backlog of ‘old’ news! For the few who are not ‘online’ I am sure we can manage to print off the content periodically and mail it out by traditional methods.
Mike
Please extend warm congratulations to the following members who passed Pony Club Efficiency Tests over the Easter holiday period.
D+
Georgia Bashford
Emily Duveen
Francesca Fairhead
Hannah Foreman
Millie Foreman
Jessica Fry
Katy Head
Charlotte Hutt
Tara Keoshgerian
Livvy Logan
D
Anna Currie
Ella Farnes
E and D
Ella Austin
Poppy Barrot
Rumer Crawford
Yoyo Etherington
Rebecca Greaves
Jaze Karrouze
Jessica Taylor
Jason Watson
E
Hadley Peck
I am pleased to announce that the Branch Committee recently decided to appoint Stuart Fellingham as an additional member.
Stuart will take responsibility for coordinating fund raising and sponsorship. This is becoming an increasingly important aspect of managing the branch and I’m sure everyone will support him in his new role.
Stuart is, of course, an ex-member. For many years he has also given up a week of his annual leave to attend summer camp at Plumpton where he has helped to magic away the ‘muck’ from the stables to great effect.
For the purposes of clarity, branch committee members are appointed by the committee for a three year period of office. Anyone wishing to serve for a further period must then be re-elected by the other members on a rotating basis. It is also the resposibility of the committee to appoint the DC, Treasurer and other officers as required.
Mike
Hazel Perry reports:
On Sunday 15th April Amy Dunn and I did a one day event at Tweseldown. Both our horses did pleasing dressage tests. Darcy jumped double clear and finished 10th. Amy had an unfortunate 2 poles down show jumping but Grouse flew cross country.
Not bad for their first event of the season!
My thanks go to Candy Robbins for submitting the following report:
The Branch was represented by 4 teams at the East Sussex Interbranch show jumping competition held at Golden Cross on 14th April – thankfully the weather was 100% better than the last competition held at this venue!
Our Mini team of Hazel Perry riding Harvey, Steph Barnes-Capps riding Whiskey, Livvy Logan riding Dylan and Georgia Corrin riding Daisy came 5th with Georgia also taking 5th place in the individual
The mixed pairs saw some very fast times with 11 combinations taking part – one rider from the mini teams paired with a rider from the novice teams.
Hazel and Harvey were in flying form and partnered by Wil Gribble on his new ride, Boogie, came an excellent 3rd, followed in 5th place by Livvy Logan riding Dylan and Tara Keoshgerian riding Jester.
The Novice class created many nail biting rounds with plenty of stops and poles on the floor!
However, our “Red Team” of Tara Keoshgerian riding Jester, Sophie Duffield riding Amber, Sophie Beldham riding Connie and Ben Berrill riding Ready Eddie Go came a brilliant 2nd, and our “Blue team” of Beth Giddings riding Perfect Pete, Emma Robbins riding Charlie Chalk, Chloe Fry riding Gunner and Jess Copsey riding Evie came 3rd.
Individual placing’s also went to Beth – 3rd, Tara – 5th, Sophie Beldam – 6th, Ben – 7th and Jess – 8th
The Intermediate team came in 2nd with fine performances from Lara Curtis riding Duke, Will Gribble riding Boogie and Sophie Beldham riding Strider. Lara and Duke went on to take 1st place in the individual, so a very well done to them.
Another great day for the branch with lots of rosettes – 4 team placing’s, 2 pair placing’s and 7 individual placing’s.
Well done also to Georgia McCormick riding Forest Fire in the mini individual class, Grace Black and Holly Feltham, Georgia Corrin and Beth Giddings in the mixed pairs and also Beth Giddings riding Del and Will Gribble in the Novice individual.
Look out for more competitions coming up and remember to attend lots of practices to be considered for a place in a team – we hope to have some after school sessions organised in the very near future.
Many thanks to all the parents and helpers for their support, and above all, thankyou to all the members who took part, rode well, made a big effort with their turnout and were a credit to their branch.
Candy
P.S. Mrs Giddings, next time please can you wear gloves, I have a Chinese burn on my wrist and nail marks!!!
Please extend a warm welcome to following new member to the branch:
Christopher Bone, age 12, from Uckfield,
Kirsty Bone, age 9, from Uckfield,
Summer Dyer, age 13, from Westerham,
Jessica Gibson, age 11, from Crawley Down,
Marianne Gibson, age 16, from Crawley Down,
Abbey Pollard, age 8, from Walstead.
Details of our Summer Events are now available here. Parents and carers: don’t forget these events are our main branch money earners and we need lots of helpers to make them successful! Please respond to appeals for help.
I hope all the new members will quickly settle in and start to enjoin the fun, companionship and comradery offered.
Mike
I am grateful to Katie Giddings for the following news report:
I thought you would be interested to hear that Beth Giddigs and Chloe Fry were both awarded their Pony Club Hunting Certificate at the closing meet of OSB & WK Hunt yesterday. You may remember that we asked your permission at the beginning of the hunting season for the girls to undertake this test with OSB, as you know we regularly follow and support this pack. The girls have hunted (both Autumn Hunting and Full Hunting) on about 20 occasions this season. To achieve the certificate they had to accompany an adult subscriber twice during the season, once autumn hunting and one full hunting day, and prove they could cross the country and were knowledgeable about the hunting day. The girls spent a day at Kennels helping, and even worked in the flesh house with our huntsman (rather them than me!), and finally had to answer a written test all about hunting terms and etiquette. So it was quite an undertaking for them, but one they obviously thoroughly enjoyed!
In addition to achieving the PC certificate Beth and Chloe were also given their Jorrocks Hunt Button, which is a special award given to youngsters in our hunt who are helpful , courteous and well turned out on the hunt field, this button is a real honour and highly respected, so Claire and I are both thrilled that they have both been recognised as offering a valuable contribution to a very adult environment!
We thought you would like to hear of the girls success, we are very proud of them both!
Congratulations to both girls!
Mike
Member Ben Berrill (age 13) has created a wonderful fun and educational website which will be of interest to anyone working towards their D test.
Ben has been rewarded for his hard work with an ICT Scholarship. Well done!
Mike
I am indebted to Candy Robbins for submitting the following report of the jumping at Golden Cross on 4th March. Well done to all concerned!
The Branch entered 5 teams at the Eridge Interbranch show jumping competition held at Golden Cross on 4th March. Who said there was a water shortage? Members encountered continuous rain, strong wind and the temperature dropped rapidly as the day went on – what toughies SDHE are!
The mini mini and mini teams had a tough competition over the new style single phase, meaning a long course to memorise with the second half against the clock. This caused a number of competitors taking the wrong course and with the jumps well up to height; there were not many clear rounds. Well done to our members for keeping their heads and composure.
Our mini mini team of Ella Farnes riding Definitely Maybe, Isobel Pennington riding Schmoo, Matthew Perry riding Harvey and Charlotte Hutt riding Murray came 4th with our mini team of Jasmine Pearce riding Taboo, Flo Evans Thomas riding Jazz, Evie Pope riding Martini and Livvy Logan coming 5th. It was great to see some new faces making their first appearance in a competition for the branch.
The mixed pairs saw some fierce competition with 17 combinations taking part. Well done to Xanthe Fairhead riding Zac and Greta Israel riding Princess Sapphire for coming 2nd and Chloe Fry riding Del and Beth Giddings riding Perfect Pete coming 4th. Well done also to Hannah and Millie Forman taking part in their first competition for the branch.
By now the “warm up” arena resembled “The Somme” and our beautifully turned out horses were getting blacker by the minute, as well as theirs riders getting soggier!
We had 2 teams entered in the small novice with our Blue team of Beth Giddings riding Perfect Pete, Emma Robbins riding Charlie Chalk, Chloe Fry riding Del and Jessica Copsey riding Evie coming out victorious in a very close competition. Our Red team of Xanthe Fairhead riding Zac, Daniel Dickens riding Toby, Charlotte Burden riding Everything’s Rosie and Grace Black riding Howells Bank Chocolate Minnie came 3rd. The top three teams all finished on clear round scores with the placings being decided by the times. Beth and Perfect Pete came 2nd in the individual and Emma and Charlie Chalk came 6th.
Sadly the novice team had to withdraw as one member fell sick on the day and one horse was injured in transit to the show. Romney Marsh also had to withdraw leaving just 2 teams to contend. However, our remaining 2 members flew the flag for the branch with Beth and Perfect Pete winning the individual and Sophie Duffield riding Amber coming 6th.
In all SDHE had 4 team placings, 2 pairs placings and 4 individual placings – a superb effort by all our riders and horses.
A huge thankyou to all our riders and supporters for staying the course in such grotty weather, especially Melissa and her Mum who had been there since first thing and for their delicious cakes.
Everybody remained full of good humour and made for a great team atmosphere.
WELL DONE EVERYBODY!
Our next event will be at Golden Cross on 14th April for the East Sussex PC interbranch competition.
Candy.
Please extend a warm welcome to following new member to the branch:
Elouise Bedford, age 3, from Scaynes Hill,
Imogen Burgoyne, age 12, Danehill,
Jessica Cavalini, age 6, from Lewes,
Heloise Crenn, age 12, from Lindfield,
Holly Feltham, age 14, from Lewes,
Annabelle Frost, age 12, from Plumpton,
Megan Kentsley, age 16, from Hurstpierpoint,
Neve Oakton, age 6, from Worthing,
Rowena Redgrove, age 13, from West Hoathley,
Millie Robin, age 7, from Hassocks,
Jessica Taylor, age 8, from Keymer,
Jason Watson, age 11, from Lewes,
Phoebe York, age 10, from Wivelsfield Green.
Details of our Easter Programme are now available here.
I hope all the new members will quickly settle in and start to enjoin the fun, companionship and comradery offered.
Mike
Fiona Mitchell has kindly submitted the following report:
Yesterday, a number of members competed at Southdown West’s dressage competition held at Albourne equestrian centre. It was a well organized show with excellent surfaces and warm up facilities. Well worth making a note in the diary for next years show as young inexperienced riders were really encouraged!
Olivia Greenwood riding Pie an Jo Mitchell riding Earl entered the Pony Club IntroductoryTest 2007 with Olivia coming 6th and Jo winning the class.
Alex Irwin, riding Percy and Lara Curtis riding Ludo joined Jo in the Novice Dengie qualifier. Jo came first and with Alex coming third, the pair have qualified for the area competition on 26 February. Lara and Ludo, a new combination, finished 5th, just missing out on a qualification.
A brilliant branch result!
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Next Branch Event Our next event will be the Open Spring Hunter Trial, kindly sponsored by PABX Solutions Ltd, at Wivelsden Farm on Sunday 20th May.
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