A CROWDFUNDING campaign in aid of the Broadlands Riding for the Disabled Centre in Medstead has topped the £15,000 mark.

Together with other funding raised toward the centre’s £180,000 ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign, the GlobalGiving crowdfunding campaign, launched last November by Four Marks and Medstead Rotary, has enabled essential roof repairs to the riding school at the centre to go ahead.

Without this repair work, the centre was under threat of closure.

As it was, the Broadlands project, which has been broken down into two phases, has been supported to such an extent that in June £75,000 - including £10,000 from Rotary’s crowdfunding efforts - had been raised to remove harmful asbestos from the roof of the indoor riding arena.

Broadlands RDA group chairman Nigel Hoppitt said that over the course of four weeks, during which riders were able to use a hastily constructed outdoor menage, the contaminated and failing roof was removed, an extension added to the indoor arena to create a new hay barn and viewing gallery with meeting room/learning centre, the steelwork repainted, and a new roof installed.

Now the drive is on to raise the next £50,000 needed to put in the brickwork to finish the hay barn and viewing gallery extension.

So far the pot stands at £20,000, which includes the latest contribution of £5,436 from Four Marks and Medstead Rotary, presented recently by ITV newscaster Alistair Stewart, who is a national Patron of Riding for the Disabled, to Suzanne Stratford, owner and trustee of Broadlands RDA Group.

Mr Stewart was accompanied by Rotary past president Sally Duncan, who has led the crowdfunding campaign, and fellow Rotarian Tom Yendell.

Mrs Duncan said: “The response to our appeal far exceeded my expectations, and we are very grateful to all those who have supported Broadlands so generously in this way.”

Mr Stewart, who is a keen supporter of the Medstead RDA Centre, said: “There is something magical about the way the therapy at Broadlands helps those with disabilities.”

Since its inception, Broadlands has helped more than 4,000 disabled children and adults, but the state of the roof of the riding school building had threatened its survival.

And Mrs Duncan added: “More funds are now needed to improve other essential facilities at Broadlands so that the centre can expand its much-needed services for disadvantaged children and adults.”

In addition to the restoration and upgrading work, which has included replacement of the electrics and installation of LED lighting in the roof of the indoor arena to enable riding to continue into the dark evenings, Broadlands is also looking for a new pony and a new horse to join the team.

What’s needed, according to Mr Hoppitt, is a 12 hands high to 13hh pony and a 15hh to 15.2hh horse (not a cob but an Irish sports horse type) aged seven to 10 with a kind temperament.

Broadlands would be willing to consider buying the animals or permanent loan.