At the Pony Show held recently at Castle Irvine Necarne, over £20,700 was raised for Air Ambulance NI, the life-saving service that assisted a young showjumper who was injured during an event at the venue last year.

Jessica Baxter from Omagh, who had a riding accident at a showjumping event last September, had to avail of the Air Ambulance NI service when she was airlifted to the Royal Victoria Children’s Hospital, where she spent nine weeks.

Indebted

Jessica and her family are deeply indebted to this crucial service and would like to take this opportunity to thank the Air Ambulance NI, Doctor Geoff McCracken, the show paramedic on the day and the NI Ambulance Service who all provided aid to her.

Organised by the Ulster Region SJI Pony Committee in conjunction with Castle Irvine, the Pony Show took place on Sunday, June 19. Almost 350 entries competed in classes from 128 50cm to 148 1.20m to Children on Horses and Junior 1.20m. A lot of these competitors had travelled from all over Ireland and stayed locally for the weekend.

A generous total of £20,719 came from entry fees, donations, donations of prize money from the children on the day, a raffle ran by Thyolo Equestrian and Chocolate Fountains WCM who ran a guess the 5ps competition.

“We would like to say thank you to all our sponsors who kindly gave prize money for all 18 classes to run the show,” said Aldyth Roulston from Ulster Region SJI Pony Committee.

She continued: “We have seen first-hand the incredible work that the Air Ambulance crews do and are only delighted to help keep this work going.

“I am in awe of the amount of money we managed to raise. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Hannah Gallagher from Castle Irvine and their incredible team for all of their hard work and support.

“This was a joint venture between the SJI Pony Committee and Castle Irvine. I would also like to say a heart felt thanks to everyone who supported us in anyway, we had people donating and competing from the full length and breadth of Ireland. Donations rolled in long after the show ended,” added Aldyth.

Grateful for the support, Castle Irvine and Ulster Region SJI Pony Committee would like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped make their Pony Show such a success which raised such a large amount of money for Air Ambulance NI.

Aldyth, representing the Ulster Region SJI Pony Committee, and Hannah Gallagher representing Castle Irvine ably assisted by Jessica and her mother Janette handed over the cheque to Myrtle and George Irvine representing the Air Ambulance on Monday, July 11.

Air Ambulance NI works alongside the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service to provide helicopter emergency medical services for the region. The charity’s on-board helicopter crew consists of a pilot, doctor, and paramedic, and operates 365 days a year.