Local can-do helps RDA make its big move
Levin community chips in to help
Anew facility for Levin’s Riding for the Disabled is almost complete and it wouldn’t have happened without the help of local businesses and scores of helpers who donated time and labour for free.
Levin RDA has been looking for alternative accommodation for a while now and had already packed up at Speldhurst Country Estate, where ongoing building activities were beginning to squeeze them out, though it had been a good home for them until recently and they remained reluctant to leave.
They felt their horses and their people needed a different environment to thrive and time had come to move on.
The search has been on for a new location for a while and a local farmer, and Horizons Regional Council, have come to the party, so they have at least a temporary home, until something suitable is found.
With members of the local Rotary Club donating man and woman power to get the new arena and club rooms established or tidied up, Property
Brokers have also stepped into the ring with rugs for the horses/ ponies.
“In the summer it can get hot, and there can be lake flies at the new, but temporary, property,” RDA ‘horse team’ volunteer Joan Sim said.
“We hoped to get fly rugs to ensure the ponies are comfortable.”
When the Property Brokers Levin team heard about this they immediately put their hands in their pockets. “Everyone was familiar with RDA and the great job they do,” Property Brokers branch manager, Murray Doreen said. “The entire team got behind this and donated enough to pay for a rug and neck rug for every pony.”
For 35 years Levin RDA has been offering therapeutic riding programmes for people of all ages and range of disabilities from Horowhenua to Ka¯piti and they have garnered support from locals and businesses across both regions from the start.
Local farmers Geoff and Cynthia Kane, who are leasing the farm from Horizons, are paying the lease on the property as it is part of their farm and have set aside a suitable patch of their
farm at the end of Mako Mako Rd for it.
“I think this is an ideal spot for them and it is readily accessible for any locals who want to see them in action, want to help, or just pet the horses,” Kane said.
“Levin people have come out in droves to help out, from Rotary to Property Brokers, but also Quinns’ who supplied a new roof on the clubrooms, Warren Webb Cartage, Dale Poulton Fencing and Trotters Contractors, to name a few, have all pitched in, done work, and supplied materials to do the work. It has been amazing.
“RDA is a superb organisation that deserves our help and the new location will make them more accessible. This will be an excellent amenity for our town, for years to come.”
Chris Clarke, according to many, has been the driving force behind all this relocation work. He’s made plans, organised volunteers, and donations as well as the many jobs done during working bees. Last week a team of Rotarians and RDA volunteers moved a lot of equipment from their old digs at Speldhurst into a large container and the clubrooms at the new location, for example.
Chris has been volunteering for Levin RDA for 16 years and is a member of their committee. He volunteered on Tuesdays for several years, before work commitments resulted in a change of direction, He then took on the tasks of leading the maintenance team.
He is also a member of Levin Rotary and when he made it known to them that RDA were looking to relocate, fellow Rotarian Geoff Kane made the offer to come to the property he is currently leasing from Horizons.
“There is a longstanding relationship between Rotary and RDA, going back to when RDA started here in 1985. So a call for help was quickly answered by us,” said one Rotarian. “We have always supported RDA and so have many others in the community, but never to this extent. It is truly amazing to see so many locals willing to lend a hand.”
RDA stopped its sessions at the end of last year’s term four and its horses have been located across three properties to be looked after.
A lot of work had been done in the last few months and while 90 per cent of it is now completed they are waiting for the national body to certify
the new facility. Again the riding arena is outside, but the relocation work has brought back old dreams of a covered arena, mooted years ago.
They said they had had valuable advice from national president Donna Kennedy, who had to go through a similar relocation process
in Wellington some years ago.
■ The following people have helped Levin RDA — giving of their time, services and expertise — during the relocation to Mako Mako Rd and that help has been much appreciated: Metal Immersions, Tawa, Premium Garage Doors, Carl Gibson Contractors, Wayne