Tuesday, 27 June 2023
West Midlands community riding centre Summerfield Stables has expanded their offering with the opening of a new inclusive training centre based at nearby Solihull Riding Club. ‘Summerfield@Solihull’ is a new yard with six stables and grazing built with volunteer help to provide greater opportunities for young people from all backgrounds to develop their potential and skills towards a career with horses.
Based in the Yardley Wood area of Birmingham, Summerfield Stables is a registered charity that encourages children and young people to understand and interact with horses, while working to be inclusive for any participant, including those with mental and physical disabilities and those who struggle in mainstream education. The centre offers a variety of activities to build strong relationships between horse and human in a safe and social environment and delivers The British Horse Society’s Changing Lives Through Horses initiative, and the organisation has helped fund the new site.
However, Summerfield’s Director Georgina Urwin, whose mother Roslyn Tedd-Urwin founded the centre in 1973, saw a gap in the centre’s offering as some participants were ready to take their equestrian activities to the next level which the site couldn’t fulfil so the quest for a satellite offering began. Located around 20 minutes away from the established base and with extensive all weather facilities, Solihull Riding Club was the ideal site.
Georgina said; “This exciting new partnership will enable our members who do not own or loan their own horses to compete and train using their first-rate facilities. The aim of this centre is to help a diverse range of riders progress through their British Horse Society stages which may help them in future careers and employment, or to gain knowledge and the skills to own their own horse in the future. We’ll also be able to offer Pony Club qualifications. Having this site gives our young people a place to progress on to and join the mainstream equestrian world – it’ll be lovely to have a place where young people can branch out and really fully participate.”
The site within the extensive grounds of Solihull has been built from scratch, largely by volunteers who have transformed a greenfield site into a facility where young people can thrive. The partnership with Solihull Riding Club will give the Summerfield riders access to the extensive world class facilities including indoor and outdoor riding arenas, cross country training and competition courses and plenty of grass arenas to ride and train in.
The team will work to get the finishing touches in place through the summer but the hard work couldn’t have been completed without the help of volunteers and generous local supporters. Georgina and her team are grateful to Patrick Lavin and the family from Elevate Construction Management and Elevate Homes Ltd, plus Gap, Travis Perkins, JSET Electrical and Norvent Pumping for the loan of equipment and donation of time and materials. Additionally, the neighbouring hotel, Hogarths Solihull has allowed them to rent some land for which the team add their thanks.
The opening of the site was attended by around 100 people from the Summerfield’s community, with representatives from The British Horse Society, The Pony Club, The Pony Racing Authority, British Ethnic Riders Forum and British Equestrian in attendance. To coincide with the opening, the team has also launched a fundraiser to raise money to help subsidise the participants’ learning so that finance isn’t a barrier to help achieve their qualifications. Donations can be made via their Go Fund Me page.
The honour of cutting the ribbon to formally open the site when to Georgina’s mum, Roslyn Tedd-Urwin, who declared; “Thank you all very much for being here. My daughter Georgina, this is her project and she’s put an enormous amount of work in. It’s invisible to a lot of people, but I can assure you that she’s been nearly brainless at times and to the point of exhaustion. I wish everybody success in what they’re trying to do and particularly success if it’s around horses, and remember you need a lot of patience for this. Carry on taking your time and remember that the important thing is being here for the experience, things will grow from that if you’re patient. I now declare, Summerfield@Solihull....open!”
Georgina added; “We’ve had some amazing volunteers – particularly with building knowledge – who’ve really helped us out. In the last few days, we’ve had quite a few 6am to 8pm days to get it finished but we’re really pleased to get to the stage we now are. It’s been a hard slog but worth it – there’s a few more finishing touches to be done but we’ll be fully operational once the horses are competition fit. It’s really fab to see the facilities and everything going on at Solihull Riding Club and hopefully what we’re imagining is that as our people progress from Summerfield, they’ll be able to use these facilities to participate in activities here at the club.”
Sarah Dale, Head of Business Support for The British Horse Society attended the opening and was impressed with what the team had achieved; “We’re delighted to have been able to provide financial support to Summerfield Stables through our Ride By Your Side fund, for their expansion to a second site at Solihull Riding Club. The expansion will have positive outcomes which are aligned with our charitable objectives, such as enabling them to deliver further training for BHS professional pathways, increasing the number of qualified individuals in the area, as well as increasing the number of participants and the experiences they will receive in this new setting.
“The expansion will also positively impact inclusivity and diversity within the area, giving individuals who may not usually access horses, the opportunity to build that indescribable horse human bond. It’s been fabulous to see how the community has come together to make this possible and make the site theirs for the benefit of all the young people who will train and develop here.”