Ladies from the VWH Hunt organised a beach ride last Thursday (23 November) and have raised over £650 in support of a Welsh charity supporting children with cancer.
With no meet planned for that day, 14 of the VWH’s “Thursday ladies” took a trip to Ogmore-by-Sea in the Vale of Glamorgan for a beach ride. The group parked at the family home of six-year-old Betsy Williams who is undergoing treatment for cancer, so decided to make it a fundraiser to support Latch, the charity which supports children and their families undergoing cancer treatment.
Suzie Belsham who organised the ride said:
“We were lucky enough to be able to park our lorries and trailers at Christian Williams’ racing yard and hack through the dunes to access the beach where we had a lovely time in beautiful sunshine.
“The leading Welsh trainer’s six-year-old daughter Betsy was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia back in March and has been undergoing intensive treatment, supported by Latch, so we decided to raise funds for this incredible charity as a gesture of our support for what Betsy and the family have been going through.”
Polly Portwin, Director of the Countryside Alliance’s Campaign for Hunting praised those involved and highlighted the incredible fundraising that hunts do each year for charitable causes:
“What a brilliant idea by the VWH ladies, making the most of a non-hunting day by raising money for this heart-warming cause and supporting young Betsy and her family at this difficult time.
“Hunts and hunt supporters work incredibly hard to raise huge sums of money for good causes throughout the year and this is yet another example of this fabulous contribution hunting makes to local and national communities.”
As well as running a training yard, the Williams family – including Christian’s brother Nick who is a former Welsh champion point-to-point jockey – also provide a rehab operation from their yard.
Suzie, whose own event horses have benefitted from the rehab experience added: “Christian and Nick use utilise the dunes, the beach and the sea to return horses recovering from injury back to full fitness – it is incredible what they can achieve using the natural environment surrounding their yard.”
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.