29th May 2008
Two Clubs, both affiliated to British Equestrian Federation Member Bodies, have achieved their goal of Sport England Clubmark accreditation. Grove House Stables, a British Horse Society approved riding centre in Doncaster and Nottingham Horseball Club are the first two equestrian Clubs to receive this valuable Accreditation.
The British Equestrian Federation (BEF) has been awarded the licence to accredit Clubmark clubs in the Equestrian Industry. The British Horse Society (BHS) has been instrumental in leading on a pilot of this scheme, supporting a number of their approved centres to progress towards gaining the accreditation. In the long term the BEF plans to utilise the BHS model to support many of its Member Bodies to allow a variety of clubs to gain the mark. The British Horseball Association has also been one of the first successfully to accredit a club.
Clubmark, introduced in 2002, is the Sport England mark of high quality clubs, reassuring both parents and participants that the club is a high quality, welcoming environment for young people. The mark is awarded to clubs that can satisfy minimum operating requirements in the four areas of the playing programme; duty of care and child protection; sports equity and ethics and club management.
The mark is an accreditation scheme covering a variety of different sports and is specifically designed for clubs with junior sections. The scheme is designed to ensure the well being of young people whilst participating in sport, enable them to use their leisure time creatively and optimise their talents and personal ability.
The benefits are not just for the participants, accredited clubs will gain assistance in many areas from structure to direction. Through the attraction of a strong youth membership the clubs will be able to develop; membership should increase; clubs will receive assistance in developing coaches and volunteers and will develop an increased profile via a listing on the Clubmark national database. In the long term, accredited clubs should find that they have a distinct advantage when they come to work with local authorities and other government agencies.
Until now the scheme had not been rolled out to include any Equestrian clubs. With the support of the BEF, the BHS have been piloting the scheme at some of their approved riding centres and it is also being rolled out outside of the traditional riding school environment, with a Horseball club being one of the first to gain accreditation. In the longer term the BEF hopes that a wide variety of equestrian clubs will be able to gain accreditation.
Nottingham Horseball Club and Grove Farm Stables will be awarded their certificates at the Petplan National Riding Festival Day at Grove House Equestrian Centre on 30 May 2008.
Nottingham Horseball Club is one of the founder Clubs of the British Horseball Association (BHA) and remains a leading club in the UK both in terms of development and competition success, the junior section of the club has been awarded the Clubmark accreditation. It is the first Horseball Club in the UK to gain the award but the BHA and the BEF are assisting other clubs to complete their portfolios.
Grove House stables, based in South Yorkshire, was established in 1991 and now has around 35 horses and ponies plus a range of facilities for both horses and riders. The centre caters for both children and adults and are one of only a handful of equestrian centres to have been awarded the coveted "Investors in People" standard
Andrew Stennett of Grove House stables comments, "In order to maintain the progressive nature of our organisation's development we have recently committed ourselves to obtaining the Clubmark Scheme. Britain is a leader in equestrian sport and schemes such as 'clubmark' will help individuals develop their potential within a secure and structured learning environment. Making sport available to the younger members of society, and encouraging them to commit to continued participation in physical activity is absolutely vital and I personally feel that being part of a club can also play an even wider role in the personal development of young people."
Andrew Finding, Chief Executive of the BEF comments, "It is great news both for clubs and participants that this valuable award is being rolled out across Equestrian clubs. It shows great coordination throughout our member bodies and demonstrates what can be achieved by the power of collective working."
Dave Pettifor BHA Head of Training and Development will accept the certificate on behalf of Nottingham Horseball club and Andrew Stennett will accept the award on behalf of Grove House Stables.
