Saddling up for new style Donkey Derby
Villagers enjoy rides not races at community event
Burnham was buzzing on Saturday as thousands of people headed to the village green to enjoy one of the area’s most popular community events – the Donkey Derby.
Organised each year by the Burnham Beeches Rotary Club, the Donkey Derby aims to bring the people of Burnham together for a day of fun and fundraising.
Shelterbox, a charity that sends aid to war-torn areas such as Ukraine, will benefit from the event.
This year’s focus was a repeat of last year’s modified event where it was more ‘saddles on’ than ‘bets on’.
Instead of donkey races there were donkey rides – 350 to be exact – all provided by Kelly’s Donkeys.
Not having races for a
second year worked well, according to Claire Popple of the Rotary Club’s events team.
She said: “Kelly’s Donkeys are all rescue donkeys and don’t do racing, but they’re great doing rides with children. They love the attention, are used to the public, all lovable with different characters, highly trained and their handlers are all experts.”
Although it was billed as ‘Almost the Donkey Derby’ there was nothing ‘almost’ about it.
Steady weather, cake stalls, games and prizes, an entertainment arena, a very popular aviation simulator ride for adults and even a COVID-19 booster jab tent all ensured that the crowds kept coming.
“The car park was still busy with incoming cars until after 4.30pm,” said Claire. “I went over and spent a lot of the afternoon directing people into places.”
Putting on the annual event is a real act of joy for people like Claire.
She said: “I love it because parents who used to come as children now bring their own children and the grandparents.
“Everyone was in good moods and happy to be out enjoying themselves; a really good start to half term and warm-up to the Jubilee weekend celebrations.
“It couldn’t have been better for bringing the community together.”
Currently the total raised on the day is approaching £10,000 but more is still to be counted.
Keith Greenough, Burnham Beeches Rotary President, said: “Staging ‘Almost the Donkey Derby’ was a major team effort from all of us at Burnham Beeches Rotary.
“It was so wonderful to see the members of our local community come out in force to have fun after two years of lockdown due to the pandemic.
“A big thank you to all our sponsors, advertisers, stallholders and our many volunteers and supporters.”