Park Lane Stables must raise £1M to stay in Teddington

Park Lane Stables RDA (Riding for the Disabled) provides therapy and relief to children and adults, including those with disabilities.

Before the pandemic, the riding school held around 3000 sessions of therapeutic riding a year, involving hippotherapy and carriage driving.

However, the stables could lose its home, after the landlord announced it will not renew the lease which expires in May 2021.

One of the last urban stables in London, the charity says it is reluctant to relocate.

Participants without sight can access Park Lane via public transport, and visitors could suffer increased social isolation if forced to move.

The stables have turned to the community in a last-ditch attempt to crowdfund £1 million to buy the Teddington premises.

The “all-or-nothing” campaign promises pledges will be returned if the target is not met by the fundraising deadline of February 24, 2021.

Park Lane Stables made headlines over the first lockdown when they started the #tinyponyatyourwindow initiative.

The stable spread cheer over lockdown

Stable volunteers spread cheer by visiting self-isolating residents with horses at their windows.

Participants visited over 300 people in their homes, schools, hospitals and care homes.

Park Lane Stables is run by Natalie O’Rourke and a team of coaches, stable hands and volunteers.

In a statement online Natalie O’Rourke said:

“We are a social hub for many adults with additional needs who come to the stables for a horsey fix, be that riding, carriage driving, grooming, jobs around the yard or just sharing secrets with their trusted four-legged friend.”

“With your support we can make this our forever home and our participants will know their safe space will always be available to them.”

You can find out more here: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/save-our-stables