HOOF NETWORK – North West

Dear Colleagues
 

It has been a while since the last newsletter at the end of 2012, and this will be my last regional update due to an organisational restructure within the British Equestrian Federation. 
 

However, future updates will now be communicated directly from BEF national office to all members of the regional hoof networks. In the meantime please do check out our hoof portal www.hoofride.co.uk and facebook pages for the latest news as it happens.

 

Please do feel free to pass on this newsletter to your own contacts if it proves useful:-
 

Hoof – the BEF’s Equestrian legacy brand continues to build momentum. Across the nine England regions there are now nine active networks of Equestrian communities connected via hoof, through its virtual communication and ad hoc physical meetings/workshops. Hoof has a clear mission to get ‘more bums in saddles’ and aims to do this by promoting opportunities across the networks, sharing good practice and via its new portal www.hoofride.co.uk which acts as a ‘front door’ to Equestrian sport for those who wish to find out more about taking their first steps into riding.

 

If you would like to sign up to the national hoof network database to keep in touch with hoof and its developments/opportunities then please do register online at www.hoofride.co.ukhttps://www.facebook.com/hoofride or alternatively send your contact details to Jenalynn.Ancliff@bef.co.uk at BEF Head Office. You can also keep in touch with hoof on facebook

Trot to be trim is a new national health & fitness campaign from ‘hoof’,  which aims to promote the health and fitness benefits of horse riding to all. To find out more: http://www.hoofride.co.uk/news.aspx?itemid=605&itemTitle=Trot+To+Be+Trim&sitesectionid=34&sitesectiontitle=News

Many riding centres across the hoof networks are now promoting the ‘trot to be trim’ logo on their websites and marketing to encourage people to find out more about riding and hopefully encourage them to take part.

In April 2012 we launched via the hoof networks ‘Take Back the Reins,’ which is a concept/tool designed to be utilised by centres to encourage lapsed riders back into the saddle. A number of centres in each region signed up to deliver the programme and we have received some really positive feedback/success stories from centres on how they have been able to utilise the concept to attract new customers. We have also learnt from the challenges/suggestions that a few Centres encountered and have embedded this learning into further rollout of the programme to more Riding Centres in 2013. We now have over 70 riding centres across the country offering Take Back the Reins and it was recently featured in the Sky Sports ‘Get Involved’ series which focussed on Equestrian sport http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/tv-shows/get-involved/8589429/get-involved-stay-involved-in-riding

Hoof was also involved in promoting riding via its ‘hoof on tour’ initiative called ‘Take up the Reins’ which involved ‘Queenie’ the Mechanical Horse visiting shopping centres and community events across England, to give people the chance to try riding. Many thanks go to the British Equestrian Trade Association who took Queenie around the country and also to the riding centres who supported the events, such as North West Centres, Carrington Riding School and Mobberley Riding Centre who helped out at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in October.
 

If you are a BHS/ABRS accredited Riding Centre who would like to find out more about offering Take Back the Reins at your centre and how you can benefit from the marketing package and customer care training it involves then please do contact me on Sonia.birch@bef.co.uk

In December 2012, Sport England announced their next round of 4 year investment into Equestrian Sport. Based on the positive progress of ‘hoof’ across the regions, Sport England have pledged further support into Equestrian Sport, but are very clear on the targets they wish Equestrian Sport to achieve with regard to recruiting new people into the sport, retaining people already involved and developing the ‘Excel’ pathway for talented riders. 

These targets and conditions of funding have resulted in BEF evaluating its current staff structure/resources and understanding the priorities for 2013-2017. With this in mind, the small team behind ‘hoof’ will now be centrally based at the British Equestrian Federation in Stoneleigh.  This team will continue to work with our Volunteer Hoof Chairs across the regions and also the newly recruited Business Growth Officers who will be located in target areas to assist Equestrian communities to maximise opportunities in order to attract more people to take part. The previous BEF Regional Development Co-ordinator roles will no longer exist from April 1^st , 2013. 
 

In the North West region we are still looking for a Volunteer Hoof Chairperson to help promote the network and if you have a passion for promoting Equestrianism and would like to contribute to the Hoof legacy programme then please do get in touch Sonia.birch@bef.co.uk or 07813 332362 for an informal discussion about the role.

In May last year, Hoof North West held a ‘free’ funding workshop to help Riding Centres and Organisations prepare for any funding opportunities. 
 

Funding is one of the key areas that most network members are interested in understanding more about, for instance where can they apply for funding and how they can prepare a funding bid. If you missed this workshop or are new to the network, then here are a few pointers to help get your started.
 

As regards funding opportunities, there are a number of sources of information to check out:-

OPPORTUNITIES IN YOUR REGION

County Sport Partnerships in the region are offering a number of coach education courses. from First Aid to Safeguarding & Protecting Children and communication skills. Log onto your local County Sport Partnership for details:
 

Cheshire & Warrington Sport Partnership: www.cwsportspartnership.org/events/coach-education-courses

Merseyside Sport Partnership: www.merseysidesport.com

Lancashire Sport Partnership: www.lancashiresport.org.uk/courses-and-training

Greater Manchester Sport: www.greatersport.co.uk/2012/03

Cumbria Sport: www.activecumbria.org/courses

 

Congratulations go to Cheshire West and Chester’s Rural Regeneration Team who have been successful in securing £52,750 in grant funding from the British Horseracing Authority in their recently announced grant programme. To find out more http://www.ruralwestcheshire.org/?page_id=641

 

As this is my last regional newsletter, I would like to say ‘farewell and thank you’  to all of you Equestrian folk in the North West who have attended the hoof meetings, workshops and supported/contributed to the promotion of ‘hoof’ an equestrian legacy in the region. The North West has a lot to offer Equestrianism, with its wide variety of facilities from grass roots to elite level, its heritage in offering equestrian events and of course its passion for lobbying for change so that Equestrianism can thrive. 
 

I wish you all every success and hope you will continue to engage and support the hoof brand and all it stands for as it continues its quest to open more doors for people to enjoy riding and the partnership of the horse.

Best wishes

Sonia Birch