Elisabeth Svendsen Trust

Back Lane Stables Riding Club in Leeds have chosen the Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys (EST) as their local charity of the year, and visited the centre on Saturday 10th July to adopt William the donkey.

To celebrate their first anniversary, members of the club visited the Leeds centre, which provides a free of charge service to children with special needs and disabilities. Members witnessed first hand the benefits of donkey riding therapy, and got acquainted with William.

The club chose to help the centre by adopting William for one year. The money raised through adoptions helps to support the costs of running the centre, which provides riding therapy to over 175 children every week.

Anne Tate, Back Lane Stables’ owner and Riding Club organiser, says: “We set up the Riding Club to give members who don’t own their own horse an opportunity to join in all sorts of riding and social activities. To celebrate our first anniversary, members decided to sponsor a charity of the year. We chose EST because they make it possible for children with special needs to experience the same joy in riding that we all take for granted. We have chosen to adopt William, and we will be holding various fundraising events throughout the year, to raise enough money for the centre to provide a week’s worth of lessons.”

Cathryn Williams, centre manager of EST Leeds, says: “William, who is the cheekiest of our centre’s four adoption donkeys, revelled in the attention from the club members, as his favourite pastime is making friends with visitors. We are so grateful to the riding club for their support. Our charity is funded entirely by donations and without the support of the local community we could not offer our services. Last year we provided over 5,000 riding sessions free of charge, and we were able to do so because of our supporters who we are very grateful to”.

The Leeds centre has four adorable donkeys called Kelly, Rosie, Simon and William that are available for the public to adopt. Adoptions include an adoption pack enclosing details and a photo of the chosen donkey, together with a beautiful drawing, a Certificate of Adoption and an update letter with news about the adopted donkey after six months. The cost of each adoption is £16.00 or you can purchase a pack for £22.50 if you would like to add a DVD all about our adopted donkeys.

To find out more about the work of The Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys, or adopting a donkey, please call 01395 573133. You can also get in touch with the EST Leeds Centre directly on 0113 261 9249.

To find out more about Back Lane Stables please telephone 0113 255 6615 or you can visit their website.