Elisabeth Svendsen Trust

Each week around 150 children from local schools benefit from visiting each of our centres. The children's needs vary greatly; some have learning difficulties, others are physically disadvantaged or have behavioural problems, mobility problems or sensory impairment. Donkey-riding therapy improves their confidence and self-esteem, and can also help improve their balance, strength, co-ordination and mobility. All our rides are given under qualified supervision and are adapted to suit the needs of the individual children.

We need your help to be able to carry out our invaluable work; we receive no government funding and rely totally on the generosity of people like you. Can you help us to help more children? It could even benefit a friend or a member of your family.

The donkeys have such a placid nature and are ideally suited to this sort of activity. The children love interacting with the donkeys during their visits and it is wonderful to see their confidence grow, as well as their riding skills. Our Centres have indoor and outdoor play areas to occupy the children between rides and some have a purpose built sensory room providing soft play and interactive toys. The children's families also benefit from attending the centres, by being involved in their children's progress and by meeting other families with similar circumstances. School groups who attend also have meals at the centres which are prepared by our own cooks; in effect the centres are an extension to the children's schools providing stimulating play, therapies and structure.

Each of the centres also has a lorry which is used to transport donkeys to schools to enable us to carry out riding therapy on site, the lorries are also used to take donkeys to hospitals and hospices so that the donkeys can meet those who are unable to visit the centres. We also visit nursing and residential homes to provide stimulation for the elderly.

Some of the centres also have minibuses which are used to collect the children from their schools and groups; this enables those schools that would otherwise not be able to attend the Centres to participate in our services. It is a wonderful sight to see the excited children arriving at the centres having been collected by our drivers.

One child who benefits from our wonderful facilities is Lucy. Lucy is blind and physically disabled. She has been attending EST Sidmouth for the last eight years and her confidence has grown tremendously from riding the donkeys.

Nicola is Lucy's mum and she explains "When Lucy first visited the centre she wouldn't touch a donkey but now she pats them quite happily, she loves being with them and attends the Centre every fortnight with her school.

"Lucy also loves to hear music which is played throughout the arena and that, as well as the donkeys, has a calming effect on her."

Nicola ends with "It's a wonderful place to catch up with other families. My husband, Patrick, and I can have a chat over a coffee and watch Lucy ride in a safe environment. We have made some great friends and we are all able to support each other. We can also bring Lucy's two year old brother along on a Saturday once a month to ride a donkey – the whole family benefits from visiting EST."

How you can help

If you feel that you can help us to continue providing children like Lucy with riding therapy sessions we would be very grateful.

• £1.75 will buy a child's meal
• £11.50 will pay for the electricity to run the sensory room for one week
• £45.00 will pay for the running of our lorry for one day
• £185.00 will pay for the running of our minibus for one week

Any donation you feel able to give towards Lucy's appeal, no matter how small, will be most gratefully received.

Thank you for your support.