WES AREA 6 SPRING NEWSLETTER
Welcome to any new members.
The Area 6 AGM in February was well attended and the minutes of the meeting are being put on the Area 6 website for all to see. I arrived late at the meeting to find to my complete surprise that it had been suggested that I become joint area 6 representative, responsible for the part of area 6 in England with Nigel retaining responsibility for the Welsh part. I have learned by my mistake and will not be late for meetings in future!
At the AGM one of the topics was the series of group practise sessions that I organised through the winter. However since the meeting there has been a change of plan. Overall the sessions were quite successful and the first 3 were well supported. The February session was not well attended due mainly to clashing with half-term. On the final session in March all 8 places were booked but then, one by one people dropped out until on the day only 2 people turned up! As both the February and March sessions ran at a loss, I decided we could not afford £5 a week to store the equipment at the Earls Croome venue through the summer. The equipment that was purchased last October was sold and the money returned to Area 6 funds. Taking into account all of the costs including original purchase and subsequent sale of the equipment the sessions made a profit of £65 . Most of the equipment has gone to Ridgeway Equestrian Centre, near Malvern. Their arena is available for anyone to hire for £5 an hour and the trail equipment is available to use and for a further £5 you can also do the off-road ride from the farm.
Plenty of Area 6 members took part in the 3 day clinic at Moreton Morrell and I believe some did very well in the Versatility competition on the Sunday morning. If you have seen the latest e-news you will be aware that there is to be an unaffiliated inter-area Versatility competition on the Friday evening of the WES Championships. Each area will be invited to enter one Novice and one Amateur entry so get practising everyone! Nigel Crowe is sponsoring a trophy for the event and I am sure he would be overjoyed to see Area 6 do well. Further details re. selection will follow at a later date.
The 2008 season kicked off on 20 April with the Area 2 show at Tushingham Arena near Whitchurch. There were over 25 horses there and quite a few of them were Area 6 members braving the cold, miserable weather to get the rosettes.
Hartpury 2008 show is being organised again by Brenda Ditchfield. We desperately need sponsors for the classes as so far there is only one. It really does make a difference to the show finances if we can get all the classes sponsored especially as it has been decided not to charge the trade stands this year. Please contact Brenda or either of the Area reps if you can help. If you could find time to help with the running of the show in any way at all, either with the organising or on the day, please let us know, even if you are only available for part of the time, the more helpers we have the easier it is for everyone concerned. If you are not competing or helping then bring some friends along to spectate, it should be a good show, with plenty of trade stands. The show schedule and entry form are available on the Area 6 website as well as the main WES website.
Sarah Hadley
