The Ride High Summer Ball, held on 19th June 2010 raised over £15,000 for the charity.

On 19th June 2010, Ride High will be running a charity ball to support its operations.  BBC Radio 2′s Jeremy Vine will be guest speaker at the black tie event which will be held at the MK Stadium, home to the MK Dons football team. For more details see the events page.

On Thursday 9^th July the Mayor of Milton Keynes, Councillor Euan Henderson, attended an event to open Ride High’s clubroom. He joined representatives from the local business community, Milton Keynes youth service agencies and Ride High sponsors and donors to celebrate three months of Ride High’s operation.

The clubroom is a portakabin  sponsored by the McCann Charitable Trust and is sited at Loughton Manor Equestrian Centre, Central Milton Keynes.

Rachel Medill, chair of Trustees said

“Having our own dedicated clubroom is very important for Ride High’s operations.   Every session that the children attend is two hours long, one hour of which is spent with and on the horses and the other doing horse- focused group activities designed to develop social, personal and academic skills in the clubroom. This is a place that the children have fun and learn vital skills at the same time.”

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The original article posted by MK News can be seen at the following link http://www.mk-news.co.uk/mknews-videos/displayarticle.asp?id=433242

Ride High became a charity registered with the charities commisssion on 18th May 2009.

Registered number – 1129692

On 23 April Ride High welcomed its first group of children. Five girls and one boy aged 13 and 14 arrived at Loughton Manor Equestrian Centre for their first lesson. After a get to know you session in the clubroom, during which time we played team games and set individual and group targets, an hour was spent with the horses learning about horse behaviour, parts of the horses anatomy and learning to lead the horses. The two hour session was rounded off by snacks and drinks in the clubroom whilst discussing what we had learned and what we were going to do next time. The time had rushed by and suddenly it was time to go home. Ride High was well and truly live.

The Milton Keynes Community Foundation has awarded Ride High a Community Grant to support its pilot phase operations from May to October 2009.

Rachel Medill, Chair of Trustees commented:

“We are thrilled to receive the continued support of the MK Community Foundation. This will help us to establish Ride High as a permanent part of the Milton Keynes provision for children struggling to cope with the demands of everyday life.  We are galloping towards our launch date of 30th April when we will start with our first group of children at Loughton Manor Equestrian Centre.”

Jeremy Vine signs up as Ride High’s patron.

Rachel Medill commented. ” Ride High is due to go live at the end of April. We are delighted that Jeremy has agreed to come on board and support this enterprise from the very beginning.”

Press release 10 march

Ride High has been awarded a small grant of £1500 by the Milton Keynes Community Foundation to fund the start up phase of the charity from February to April 2009. Rachel Medill comments “This is Ride High’s first grant funding and we are extremely grateful to the MK Community Foundation for their vital support”

On 10th January we ran The Ride High “Sparkle the night away” disco in Aspley Guise. About 100 people attended and we raised over £1000.  In response to popular demand this is likely to become a regular fixture although the request for a monthly disco would probably be overegging it.

We desperately need help setting up the youth club ready for action in May. There is a huge amount to do such as recruiting volunteers, researching facilities and costs, helping with fundraising, liaising with local youth service agencies, preparing presentations and general administration. At the moment I am doing most of this alone and it would be great to have someone to work and share the highs and lows with.”

If you live around Milton Keynes, have a few hours a week and feel you would like to help with any of the above activities please contact me via the email link on the ‘contact us’ page.