Thank You!

Thank you so much to Thea and everyone who attended her woodland workshop on Exmoor today!  Together they raised an amazing £140 for the ponies which we really appreciate so much!  Thank you everyone from the ponies and all of us!

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Memorial Service for Hazel-Ann Willson

Yesterday was the funeral and memorial service of Hazel-Ann Willson who had been a long term supporter of P4P.  Some of you who are signed up to Easyfundraising may have seen she was the top Easyfundraiser and raised considerably more than any of the rest of us through the course of her adventures!  Hazel-Ann and Graham also jointly sponsor the ponies.  It all seems very strange that she passed so quickly and at such a young age.  The photo above is one of Hazel-Ann and Ebony taken last winter and it was also used on her memorial service order of service.  The service was extremely well attended and really celebrated the full and varied life she lived.

It was also a busy day yesterday with Vicky helping in the morning and she was able to work with Rocky and then give Munchie a bath.  We were very grateful to Caitlin, Lottie and Becca who were on hand for the afternoon chores...and Lottie has purchased our super hand knitted pony jumper which was kindly donated a while ago - we've nearly sold it quite a few times but clearly it was waiting for Lottie to be it's perfect new owner!

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Haymaking Complete!

Yesterday we managed to complete our haymaking mission - with huge thanks to all our helpers - an army who turned out to help us!  A few days ago I worried it was just going to be me trying to get it in and I was so relieved to see so many people arrive!  Roger was able to rewe up for us and then came with his tractor, "flat 8" and extra big trailer.  Angela came from Cornwall to drive the little tractor and with the help of Jo we made a start on getting some bales in.  Then Roger arrived and we had a change of plan - the flat 8 was bringing bales in faster than we could process them!  We were so thankful to see our extra helpers arrive and as the evening went on we had an army of 22 people!  Jo, Angela, Pete and Jamie who came to help from the local village, Archie, Caitlin, Lottie, Becca, Richard, Catherine, Edward (who drove the big tractors for us), Victoria, Tasha, Orrie, Vicky, Jim, Roger, Ted (who also managed some extra tractoring), Margaret and Jenny working on refreshments, Henry watching from the sidelines, and myself.  It was so hot and this cut was one of the earliest ever.  The ground is so dusty and I had the worst hayfever with this crop - I'm still suffering with dust in the lungs now so I hope our helpers have recovered from all their hard work.

It was the first time we've ever had an "artist in residence" to capture the haymaking and Henry drew us some fantastic pictures of the job in progress.  Thank you very much to Jo for capturing the photos on her phone for us!

770 bales all stacked and safe in the barn! Phew!  Thank you to everyone from the ponies for all your help!  It's going to be the most delicious hay they've ever had!  Thanks especially to Ted and Jenny who donate all the hay for the ponies - such massive help to P4P!

Roger arrives with his tractor and the Flat 8

Henry - our artist for the evening impresses everyone with his drawings of the event

Henry's artwork

Offloading and stacking in the barn - there's a chain of people there in the shadows of the barn that you can't see.

The baler hard at work and the John Deere and trailer in the field

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Alfie's Birthday, Babe, St John's Fayre, Newsletters...and Haymaking!

As is often the case there can be really intense times of activity here...As well as the newsletter being published and sent out last week...Nicole and Martin came to visit and helped get the barn all tidied up on Wednesday (little did we know at the time their timing would be perfect!)...

...Next day it was yard work and then heading out to see Babe and her pals Maisie and Jaffa and their "Mum" Frances...Hopefully these photo will cheer Roy as he's still suffering and can't come back to help us yet.

Babe

Babe, Jaffa and Maisie in a 3 way "red-arrows-esque" manoeuvre

..When I got back the hay field had been cut so haymaking is now underway! Thank you so much to Roger and Ted who have been looking after it and turning for us...

...Friday was Alfie's Birthday and the last chance to get ready for the Fayre which Margaret has been preparing for all week with a tombola to arrange and preserves to make.  Ted turned the hay.  It didn't go quite to plan with a chicken emergency to deal with too (not Alfie or hay related!)...

Alfie inspecting the hay - it's Alfie's first birthday (he has an honorary date in his passport and although he's clearly not one year old today, we think it is probably the first birthday he's ever actually celebrated and certainly in the UK).  It's also his first time hay-making!

Running in the hay (grass at the moment)

Inspecting the tractor

Beautiful evening

...Yesterday was St John's Fayre - beautiful weather and super attendence.  We had amazing support yesterday and for the first time ever on a P4P stall we sold out of the tombola completely - thank you so much to Margaret, Catherine, Victoria and Edward who came to help!  We raised an incredible £314 for the ponies and we are so grateful to Vicky and Henry for looking after the ponies for us...

...And now tomorrow is baling day!  A huge day for us to get all the hay into the barn and stacked.  It's an earlier cut for us than usual but everything is so dry so we need to take our chance whilst we have it!  Hay helpers on standby - food being delivered tomorrow morning!


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Thea's Workshop In Aid of People4ponies!

A huge thank you to Thea who is running another workshop in aid of People4ponies!  Here is a poster with the details - it is held in the beautiful Horner Woods - such a lovely setting.  Please share and contact Thea if you would like to take part.

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June

This month's calendar features Breeze and Star in the coastal setting where they used to conservation graze - people often ask about the background in this photo - and it is the sea.  In this photo the ponies were walking along the coastal footpath which they helped to keep clear of vegetation for all the walkers. 

This photo really shows how strong Breeze was and it still seems so unbelievable to have lost him.

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