Our History

In July 1985, Gaile Ogden and Anne Coney visited a Riding for Disabled national holiday in Saffron Waldron.  This holiday was run from a farm house, the outbuildings being used as dining halls and accommodation. Independently, both friends decided that Anne’s home at Bank Farm would be an ideal venue.

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So, in July 1986 the first holiday for 8 disabled children was held at Bank Farm.  Financial support was given by the Lions Clubs in the area and on the last night they were invited to come and see how their money had been spent.  That night, a well respected physiotherapist for disabled children in the area asked ‘ why don’t you run lessons here for independent disabled children, I can supply them!’.   The team that had got together for the camp agreed to give this a go and Bank Farm RDA started with one rider and one pony on September 6th 1986.

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To date our group has run 18 National RDA holidays and 14 National carriage driving holidays. As time went on, we started to collect more and more riders.  Nearly 40 years later, we have 7 ponies and 60 children taking part in our weekly sessions and have built a thriving and happy community.