Barbury International Horse Trials announce Brighter Futures as 2016 charity partner
Rory Bremner - Brighter Futures' patron The St. James’s Place Barbury International Horse Trials (July 7-10) have announced they will be supporting Great Western Hospital's Brighter Futures as their official charity at this year’s event on the Marlborough Downs. And a very special local participant hopes to be competing during the four-day event.
In addition to Brighter Futures fundraising activities across the horse trials for its radiotherapy appeal, they will be hosting a lunch on the Saturday (July 9) with the charity's patron Rory Bremner as guest speaker. The lunch is being supported by local Rotary Clubs.
Brighter Futures launched an appeal last May to raise the £2.9 million needed to make radiotherapy treatment available in Swindon - so that local cancer patients will no longer have to make the 70-mile round trip to Oxford.
This year the Barbury International Horse Trials and the Brighter Futures lunch will be particularly poignant for James Hussey - a local farmer and eventing competitor.
James Hussey with Kildare Kid - 'Tim' - training for the Barbury International Horse TrialsJames, who is 58 years old and has already raised a substantial amount for the appeal, hopes to compete at the horse trials in July on board his horse Tim.
He will be riding in memory of his wife Gill, who died from cancer: "Gill always had a very special love of horses and the local countryside, she was very involved with conservation projects both on the farm and the Marlborough Downs."
"She was always a great supporter of eventing, loving the sport, and always supporting myself and our daughter Julia."
"Barbury International Horse Trials is a pinnacle of the eventing calendar, and I am looking forward to being back there this year competing in memory of Gill, and supporting Brighter Futures, to help make life easier for those dealing with cancer."
“The Brighter Futures appeal is so important to raise funds for a new radiotherapy unit in Swindon. Gill and I would regularly make 70 mile round trip to Oxford for radiotherapy treatment, it was exhausting both mentally and physically. "
"Having a unit in Swindon will help patients and their families in the region face the challenge of cancer”.
Nigel Bunter, Chairman of the Barbury International Horse Trials added: “We are very proud to support Brighter Futures at this year’s horse trials, their radiotherapy unit appeal is very important for the Wiltshire region."
“The lunch is set to be very popular as the Barbury Club marquee offers fantastic viewing of the eventing competition whilst enjoying a delicious lunch."
Jennifer Green, Head of Fundraising for Brighter Futures, is delighted at the announcement: “So far we’ve raised nearly £700,000 towards the £2.9 million required to pay for the equipment for the new Radiotherapy unit. We hope that the people and businesses from the region will support this fabulous lunch and our appeal for this important cause."
Tickets to the lunch are just £80 and include VIP parking, champagne reception and a two course lunch with wine.
The St. James’s Place Barbury International Horse Trials host four days of awesome Eventing competition with over 1,000 horse and rider combinations poised to compete. This year they will be an important pre-cursor to the 2016 Olympics with many riders destined for Rio taking part.
New this year will be the third leg of the inaugural Event Rider Masters (ERM) - an exciting sporting series, showcasing the world’s best event riders with a total of £350,000 in prize money on offer with each leg promising a minimum of £50,000.
To buy tickets for the Brighter Futures lunch and to the horse trials, and also to follow James’s training progress via the Barbury Blog - visit the Barbury website.
You can find out more about the radiotherapy appeal at the Brighter Futures website.