Elisabeth Svendsen Trust

A donkey riding centre based in Eccup, Leeds has been donated a beautiful painting by local artist Bruce Dobson, and now plans to raffle the piece to raise funds for its cause.

Bruce Dobson, a 63 year old artist from North Yorkshire has donated his latest masterpiece to The Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys (EST), who provide free riding therapy for children with special needs and disabilities in Leeds.

The cloud of volcanic ash currently hovering over Britain has meant that, for some, dreams of completing marathons in locations such as Paris, Boston and Vienna last weekend had to be cancelled due to the ‘no-fly’ zone.

EST still has two places available for the May 2010 Edinburgh Marathon which takes place on Sunday 23rd May 2010. The charity is appealing for local runners who have been left all trained up with nowhere to run to sign up and take part on their behalf.

EST Birmingham tells how three-year old Jonah, who has Down’s syndrome, benefits physically and emotionally from donkey-riding therapy.

Seven months ago Jonah’s mum Jacqueline Nixon was given a list of activities for children with disabilities, one of them on offer being free donkey-riding therapy at the Birmingham Centre of the Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys (EST) located within Sutton Park in Sutton Coldfield.

On World Autism Awareness Day (Friday 2nd April 2010) a UK charity tells how a donkey-riding centre five miles from his home is one of the very few places six-year-old Charlie McGowan will venture.

Charlie is profoundly autistic and struggles to communicate or socially interact, affecting his everyday life, but his anxieties are eased once a week when he rides donkeys at the Leeds Centre of the Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys.

Today, a UK charity has announced its plans to build a one million pound donkey-riding centre just outside of Belfast, which will provide a free service to hundreds of children in Northern Ireland who have special needs and disabilities.

The Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys (EST) provides unique donkey-riding therapy and has five centres across the UK. It has recently acquired land in Ballypalady near Templepatrick to build a sixth centre, which is planned to open in early 2011.