Our Work in 2024
It’s been another eventful year for Blue Acre and .our eternal thanks go out to so many of you in our fabulous community, too many to mention individually, for the support and genuine care that is shown towards Blue Acre. We’re very humbled by the amazing response every time we reach out for help with so many of you right behind this amazing tiny charity in so many ways.
We are deeply grateful to those who make monthly donations; this is key to us being able to stay open; local businesses - The Perseverance, The Kitchen, The Co Op and Wraysbury Club, that host donation boxes (if others would like one please let me know), and regularly offer prizes for various events we hold. Other local groups make donations – West Eden Nurseries; Wraysbury Players; Wraysbury Horticultural Society, Swan Radio (upon it’s closure) plus others who wish to remain anonymous.
FUNDRAISING EFFORTS
We were proud to be the chosen charity of Neil Knowles, Mayor of RBWM council for 2023/2024. He is an Old Windsor Councillor and a great supporter of Blue Acre. He hosted a Christmas dinner and auction at the Guild Hall, Windsor for us which resulted in a donation of just over £3,600 in January.
Barker Bridge House Trust in Datchet gave us a grant to buy two field shelters for the fields closest to the yard. A further shelter was donated by one of our generous volunteers. Our horses are rugged but the shelters offer protection from strong wind, rain and snow as well as shielding them from the hot sun(!) In Summer. We can also feed hay under them to keep it dry in wet weather.
Shelter four our herd
I’m sure most of our Facebook followers will know of the amazing Renate Hassell and her daughter Emily from Wraysbury, who decided to do their own challenge in August. They made 4 walks, litter picking as they went, from their house to Old Windsor. These walks took 6 hours each time on some of the hottest days of the year. They raised over £1,000 which is a huge amount of money for us. Their challenge also raised awareness and helped to clean up our environment all at the same time. We are so grateful and so proud of them for supporting us and believing in what we do.
During August and September we organised a Prize Draw, offering some fabulous prizes donated by local businesses including meal vouchers for the Perseverance, The Kitchen and Reeds Garage. Our top prize was 4 tickets to the Queen Anne Enclosure at Ascot Racecourse and 2nd prize was 4 tickets to Legoland which, I’m very pleased to say, was won by a Wraysbury resident. We also sold ticket on our stall at Eton Action Fair in September. Our thanks go to everyone who supported us through buying tickets and to the local businesses who offered prizes. We raised £1580 and are looking forward to doing more, smaller scale, prize draws in the future as we have more wonderful prize ideas up our sleeve!
Our thanks go to everyone who supported us through buying tickets and to the local businesses who offered prizes. We raised £1580 and are looking forward to doing more, smaller scale, prize draws in the future as we have more wonderful prize ideas up our sleeve!
We regularly apply for grants (which are few and far between for animal welfare charities). Many of these have to be against specific projects and require detailed costings.
However, particularly over the winter months when our real needs are for funds to cover the immense cost of hay for the whole herd in the absence of grass which we feed from September through to Spring (this can cost £10,000 to £15,000 depending on the length of winter and the now regular floods we get from December to February which decimate our grazing) and for hard feed and supplements which are needed for our elderly horses, many of whom suffer from arthritis (a bit like many of us in later years!). These are the horses that are almost impossible to rehome as their ongoing medication needs make them an expensive pet. This is where regular donations through our Sponsorship scheme are invaluable as it enables us to budget for these crucial expenses.
The exhausted fields of Blue Acre in Winter We accept foreign currency (current or old denominations) which is converted to GBP by Land of Coins in Datchet (anyone can take currency in to them and ask for it to be donated to Blue Acre Horse Rescue) or give to Sue who will deliver to them. This has been very successful in the past.
Donations don’t always need to be monetary – a yard broom; buckets; a wheelbarrow; a bag of horse, chicken, goat, pig or dog feed or a bag of carrots or apples is also welcomed. Nothing goes to waste, we are very aware of everything we spend.
A regular monthly donation of even a few pounds upwards really helps – please don’t think that a small amount won’t make a difference, I can promise you that it does if enough people do it. It’s simply a fact that our commitment to rescuing these beautiful animals come with regular costs, not all of them need additional winter feed due to their breeding but they DO all need hay from late September to Spring the following year and they need their feet trimmed every 6-8 weeks at a cost of £20 per horse (£60 for those who need front shoes due to sensitive feet) and many need long term medication for things like arthritis;
Every single penny goes towards helping our residents – none of our volunteers or Trustees are paid for their time or services.
THE GOOD AND THE SAD
REHOMING
In 2023 we told the story of - Ziggy – (the pony abandoned at Old Ferry Drive, Wraysbury in 2022)
This poor lad was discovered by Maddy, a local resident when she took over the stable yard in Old Ferry Drive in March 2022. He’d been left locked in a stable for several weeks when the previous tenants left, with no food or water and if she hadn’t found him he would have been dead within a few days. After a year of rehabilitation with us Ziggy was rehomed to a wonderful family in May 2023 and is very much loved.
HOWEVER ….
In line with our adoption contract, in July 2024 Ziggy was returned to us, through no fault of his own, in line with our adoption contract stipulations. This is standard practice for rescue charities to prevent horses being sold on for an escalated price and to prevent them getting into the wrong hands.
Maddy, who originally found him had kept in contact with us and his adopter so we told her that he had been returned and she immediately asked to come and see him. During that visit she decided that she was now in a position to rehome Ziggy herself, having totally transformed the stables and land she took over. I have been to visit Ziggy and can confirm that Maddy is working wonders with him and we couldn’t be happier that he has a forever home with her back in Wraysbury.
PONIES AS THERAPY
Earlier this year we were approached by Alexander First School in Windsor about them rehoming 3 ponies to live at their school to be part of their holistic approach to education which very much focuses on the emotional and mental health of their pupils. They even have a therapy dog as part of the staff who is available just to sit quietly with a child whilst they are reading or who are feeling generally overloaded. Many of their pupils’ parents work in the military services which can mean them being uprooted and moved around regularly. The ponies have been an immense success at the school’s purpose facilities and we couldn’t be happier to think these ponies, are bringing so much joy to so many children who, in turn, are learning to respect animals. One of these ponies was rescued by Blue Acre after being found running loose around the village. He was eventually caught by the police who held on to him at the top of Coppermill Road until we arrived. He’s a little chestnut pony so it was only right we called him Copper.
LOSSES
This year we’ve sadly lost 7 of our beautiful residents:
Jack – a gentle, beautiful soul, a true favourite with everyone at Blue Acre who was adopted by one of our volunteers and eventually retired. Sustained a leg injury which was untreatable.
Ombu – an ex polo pony who was the “Uncle” of the herd. We often took him on rescues which involved foals or young horses as they would come to us if he was there and he would travel home with them. Once home he would spend the first few weeks with them, giving them confidence before they were introduced to the main herd.
Noah – who came to us with his lifelong buddy Izzy. Despite aggressive veterinary assistance his infection was untreatable.
Alazana and Caribina – 2 of 4 polo ponies who came to us together having served their purpose and, no longer fit enough to earn their keep, were at risk of being shot.
Chestnut – a 30 yr old Shetland whose owner died and was left alone in a field. The field owners had no means of caring for him so he came to us. He was diagnosed with cancer and was suffering so we decided it was best to let him be at rest.
Bruno - our beautiful show winning stallion and a well behaved boy who used to love being ridden & driven. In his younger years he went to many shows and always came home with a rosette. Sadly he succumbed to an untreatable disorder which left him unable to digest food. He was the special favourite of Caron, Co-Founder and Stable Manager of Blue Acre, and she was not willing to let him suffer and had to make the painful decision of putting him to rest.
WAYS TO HELP
We want it to be known that we are totally aware that so many people are worried about the current cost of living (us included) and that not everyone is able to give a large donation. You’ll see it mentioned several times in this article but if everyone who receives this magazine was to give between £1 and £5 per month, we wouldn’t have to worry where the next funding was coming from. Details of ways to donate can be found below.
Sponsorship of a horse or pony – details of our sponsorship programme has been updated thanks to a new volunteer who is updating our website. You can find the sponsorship page on our website – you can Google Blue Acre Horse Rescue and Sponsorship is one of the options shown. This is a key source of income for us as it’s regular and allows us to budget monthly. Many people give sponsorships as birthday or Christmas gifts. I’m happy to answer any questions on this. - Sue Turner, Fundraising Manager
CONTACT DETAILS
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/blueacrehorserescue
Email: - blueacrerescue@outlook.com
Paypal - blueacrerescue@outlook.com
(please use “family and friends” option to avoid charges)
Caron Muir, Co-Founder/Trustee 07833 110256
Sue Turner 07867 616761
If all our supporters donated just a few pounds each month (or even £1) it TRULY would change everything for us and our beautiful horses.
Direct donations - Metro Bank Account Blue Acre Horse Rescue
A/C No 36119934
Sort Code: 23-05-80
GIFT AID
We are registered to claim Gift Aid from HMRC at a rate of 25% of the value of the donation where UK tax has been paid. We need your name/address and confirmation that UK tax has been paid on relevant donations but we will undertake the process of recouping the tax paid – e.g for every relevant £10 donation we can reclaim an additional £2.50 if the relevant paperwork is in place/written permission given at no cost to the donor.
Please let us know if this applies to you if you make/have made any single donation over £20 or if you make regular donations and you are a UK tax payer – this would mean we could claim an additional 25% on your donations at no cost to you. We can claim on donations going back 4 years from the date of the claim – this can be huge
We happy to answer any questions about this.
Finally, “thank you” just doesn’t do justice to the amazing support we receive from this amazing village community. You have no idea what it means, especially as it’s not somewhere most of you have ever visited. You have no idea how much I’d love to take a coachload of you to the farm for a visit, to feel the magic that I feel every time I’m there but we’re a rescue and rehabilitation charity, not a sanctuary and we just don’t have the facilities. For that reason, as I said in my first paragraph, you have my heart. xxx
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