NNWEC is a registered charity and purpose-built disabled riding facility which offers riding therapy, learning and training opportunities for over 100 disabled adults, young people and children from the North Warwickshire and Leicestershire area each week. We opened in April 1979 and the centre has become an established part of the local community, with a strong contingent of about 30 dedicated local volunteers who assist with riding and other tasks each week.
Our aim is to provide riding and countryside activities for people with disabilities in an inclusive, safe and supportive environment that will allow each individual to achieve their full potential. To provide this service we depend on our committed group of staff and volunteers and input from families and personal assistants. In addition, we depend on contributions by able-bodied individuals and clubs also making use of our facilities. With limited funding from user fees, we rely on additional fundraising and donations to subsidise the cost of our services.
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic we were taking steps to refocus the organisation and diversify by designing services that complement our core mission of supporting disabled people through horses. This diversification led by our new leadership team, is essential to sustain our future and also broaden the appeal of our services to younger people with a range of disabilities, health issues and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the communities directly surrounding the centre. The project we are currently planning will support young people to learn countryside skills, be out in the open air and enjoy learning and working in a Covid safe environment. The skills they will gain will not only help support our charity with vital maintenance work, improve our environment and significantly improve young people’s chances of securing employment in high growth areas in the local economy.
In addition to learning practical and work skills the young people will be part of a team and engage in support that will build their confidence, self-esteem and personal resilience.The addition of this project will allow us to diversify, secure our future and provide a unique support experience for young people with additional needs primarily in the Nuneaton, Bedworth, North Warwickshire area.The young people who we are attracting will, with the support of our staff, design and build this project for themselves and for others in the future and we hope they will continue to be stakeholders in its future through a project board and ultimately be members of our Board of Trustees. We want to actively involve younger people in the design and the vision for our Community Countryside Skills service and build a community resource at the heart of our stables in Galley Common, Nuneaton.
We have over 19 acres of countryside on the edge of Nuneaton and a disused menage measuring 40 metres by 20 metres at the centre of our complex. Our vision is turn this land into an environmental and countryside experience for the local community. Small animals, access to our horses, growing for food and health along with a sensory garden and picnic area for families is the big plan and at its centre will be a hexagonal multifunction wooden cabin building measuring 17m2 which will serve as:
An all-weather meeting place for local community activities
· An outdoor “classroom” for educational purposes (e.g. “forest school” type activities)
· A unique events space for one off events (e.g. our dementia afternoon teas)
· Exhibition space for young people and our disabled clients to showcase work
The cabin is visually attractive, fits in well with our vision of a unique countryside experience and as mentioned above is multi-functional with minimum maintenance and a 10-year warranty. We are hoping to provide low voltage lighting through solar power. Measuring 17 square metres and providing seating for around 25 (subject to social distancing) the cabin will be the hub from which our young people and volunteers plan and start to build the countryside centre with our management team and trustees. We have sourced a cabin from a reputable supplier in the East Midlands who provide these specialist buildings and they will design and fit inc. base to our site for £14,300.
We are seeking additional funding to pay for instructors and sessional staff to teach participants in our Community Countryside Skills project the practical and emotional support they will need, however if we can provide the central structure, purchase and fit the cabin through this application, the work with the young people will go ahead supported by volunteer trainers regardless of the success of other bids to support the revenue costs of staffing.
The cabin is truly the first building block in our journey to secure the future of our centre and provides the springboard for so many opportunities for both the organisation and local people in the surrounding area who have been so supportive to us during the pandemic. The re-modelling of this disused menage will allow us to make access to the general public a reality and put in appropriate health and safety safeguards around the working stables area.Many of our clients and volunteers are under 25 years of age and as an organisation we need young voices and young minds to help shape our future. The Community Countryside Skills project supports young people with both their physical and mental health and will give all participants the skills to play a valued role in the shaping of the future organisation whether that is on the CCS project board or ultimately as members of the Board of Trustees