Three cheers for the wonderful folk from Waitrose, Dorking!

Waitrose isn't just the best place around to fill up your shopping trolley (biased opinion of this blogger, other supermarkets are available), but they also have a strong focus on supporting their local community.

We were thrilled to hear earlier in the year, that HB&L RDA been nominated by Jane who works in the Dorking store, for the Waitrose Community Matters Scheme - as part of their Healthy Community focus in Q1, we were awarded £1,000 towards our annual running costs. This was really welcome news and the charity is very grateful for the support.

Even better than this, the staff of Waitrose are awarded a charity day once a year and four members of staff joined us on Friday 25th July to weather proof the jumps at Clandon Park in preparation for our next Sponsored Ride on 28th September. Lyn, who is the Community Matters Partner, was joined by Jane, Rachel and Chris, for a day in the park - painting, pruning and repairing the 40+ fabulous British Eventing standard jumps which are scattered around the stunning 1,000 acre parkland. We had a lovely drive around the fields, woodlands and even lunched by the lake - with hundreds of ducks trying to join in the picnic.

Here are some snaps from the day:

The generosity of the Waitrose team didn't stop with the jump painting - they came fully laden with carrots and apples for our lucky RDA ponies too. Freckles says thanks so much Lyn, Jane, Rachel and Chris - you can come back any time you like!