A FUNDRAISING heroine has raised enough money to buy a new horse for Barnsley Riding for the Disabled Association.
Beryl Sykes, 68, held a raffle at the Co-op shop on Blacker Road, Mapplewell, raising £700 to buy a new horse for the Barnsley branch of the Riding for the Disabled Association, a charity that uses horse riding to improve the lives of those with disabilities.
The horse, a seven-year-old cob called Oreo, was presented to the RDA outside the shop this week.
Beryl, of Eastfield Crescent, said: “I come up with these big ideas from time to time, I’m usually raising money for different things at the shop.
“We do as much as we can, and people know we really care.”
Beryl is no stranger to the RDA, having raised the same amount of money to buy the organisation a new horse last year.
She raised the money over two weeks by selling raffle tickets in-store.
“I just phoned them just to see whether I could help and asked them how much it would cost to buy a new horse,” Beryl said.
“I knew they rented a couple of horses and didn’t have the money to buy their own. Oreo is lovely. He was a bit mucky when I got him but they’ve cleaned him up. They do brilliant things down there and I just want people to see them.”
RDA centre manager Catherine Mitchell said: “He came to us two months ago with very bad hooves, so he’s had plastic shoes on for a while but now he can have metal shoes.
“It’s took a bit of persevering with him but he’s been out since and he’s been great with everyone. It means a lot to us that someone would do this for us. Sometimes we get horses on loan but we would always prefer to raise the funds to buy our own.”
