Brownbread Horse Rescue

Brownbrea= d Horse Rescue

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& Disabled Riders= Registered Charity 1029341. Established 1972<= /b>

Email tony.brownbread@tesco.net = &nb= sp; htt= p://brownbread_rescue.250free.com/brownbread.html=

Ashburnham, Battle, E Sussex. TN339NX. Tel 01424 89238= 1.

Patrons: Baroness Masham of Ilton, Dora Bry= an OBE, Dr David Lewis & Ms Heather Moffatt

Annual Report 30^th Nov 2003<= /st1:date> to 29^th November 2004

During the year we were delighted to enrol write= r and broadcaster, Dr. David Lewis as our fourth Patron. Dr Lewis also attended our Septemb= er Open Day. We were also please= d that our Patron, Heather Moffatt had sold over 400 saddles that she had designed. As a reward to her = the manufacturers, Nursey & Sons donated two of these saddles to Brownbread= . They are unusual in being treeless= , very comfortable and eventually both were sold to raise funds.=

The “Friends” group has continued to increase although about 75 members were deleted who had either moved away or not made any contribution over recent years. The group numbered about 500 by th= e end of the year. We are always pl= eased when our “Friends” turn up, very often with a donation or items= to sell. They have all received = our 8-page tri-annual newsletter and this is now produced by me in house but co= pied free by H.B.Office Services in Sedlescombe. In fact the copy numbers run to ne= arly 1,000 as each enquirer for a loaning/submitting an equine to the Centre also receives a newsletter. Furthe= rmore, Linda, the director of HB Office also kindly fosters some of our equines on= her farm.

Our charity stall has been set up at several eve= nts but two notable ones were the Charity Fair in Hastings and the Heathfield S= how. The two Ian’s, bosses of Abb= eygate Agency in Battle and Timber Buildings invited our charity to share their stand.&= nbsp; This proved mutually successful although the number of sales follow-= up didn’t warrant them having a stall in the following year.<= /span>

The two annual fund-raising Open Days held in Ma= y and September continue to grow in size with usually a moderate increase in income. Each time we try addi= ng new attractions such as local fire appliances, a dog show, a fashion display and military vehicles.&n= bsp; The stall holders and boot sale vehicles also increase for each occasion. The new toilet bloc= k has been completed so we don’t need to hire Portaloos anymore. It is becoming common to meet peop= le in local towns who say they know us because they have been to our Open Days.

A traumatic emergency rescue of five colts/stall= ions and two mares from one yard an hours distance away took a lot of time as our trailer = could only take one at a time; two stallions together would have been asking for problems over that sort of distance. The operation was completed early the = next morning although subsequently several had serious problems associated with emaciation and other medical conditions.&n= bsp; Two were so bad that they had to be put down within a week or two of rescue. The younger colts/sta= llions were gelded and overall the cost of the whole rescue to Brownbread was considerable. The middle-of-the-night rescue of a horse found abandoned by the police and wandering the streets of Battl= e resulted in the owner turning up the next day to collect the horse without either a thank you or a donation! The owner even rang us up at 6am knowing well that, as volunteers, we had already= been up for half the night on her behalf.

Stable refurbishment has continued slowly accord= ing to the funds available.

There is now an urgent need for a purpose-built information centre on site. Currently visitors or workers have nowhere to go out of the weather. The proposed Centre = would have a display/sales area, information about the Charity and the animals, a= nd audiovisual / lecture room and a mezzanine floor under a low roof to house a cavalry museum and small agricultural artefacts.

Most of the hay made on site is now made into ha= lf ton bales that can be carried by the tractor.&= nbsp; The attractive five-bar wooden farm gates had to be largely replaced= as being completely unsuitable for the majority of rescued animals we get. Many of the equines have problems = and the brittleness of the treated timber resulted in many gates being shattered. Despite what the government scheme required for aesthetic reasons we have had to resort to tubular steel gates although even these get buckled by some of our stronger, heavier residents.

Our local MP, Greg Barker visited the Centre whe= n we were able to discuss proposed legislation in the new animal welfare Bill. Two of our Trustees visited France = under the Government Interreg Scheme to foster links with similar equine organisations there.

The name, Brownbread, continues to become highly respected in the SE for its commitment to equine welfare through the effort= s of its voluntary workers.

Tony Smith, Chairman of Trustees, 13^{th July
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