Welcome to the website for Hamsterley Riding Association. The association exists to regulate horse riding access to Hamsterley Forest, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham and was formed with the approval and encouragement of the Forestry Commission, owners of the forest. Please browse the pages of our site and if you are interested in joining the association or would like further information please contact a member of the committee. These contact details are on the “About Us” page together with a current membership form to download. For a copy of the latest (August 2006) newsletter follow this link:- Current Newsletter

News Items 16th December 2006 Endurance GB Christmas Charity Ride An extract from the Endurance GB Newsletter … "Once again Anne Turnbull is arranging a short ride for us all to blow away the cobwebs and the excess pounds that we accumulate over the festive season. The ride will be as usual from the Broompark Picnic Area on Wednesday, 27th December, starting between 10 a.m. and 10.30 a.m. The route will be approximately 10 miles (16kms.) long. Do make the effort and come along as it is to support the Great North Air Ambulance. Even if you do not want to ride come and sample the mulled wine and mince pies. Just the thing to warm you up on a winter morning. This is not a formal ride but if you could ring Anne (0191 3780446) and let her know if you are coming along it will help her to calculate how many bottles of wine and mince pies to purchase. Donations will be collected on the day." If you do ring to book, she will ask for your telephone number, so that if the weather turns bad, she can ring people up to let them know if she has to cancel it. 29th October 2006 Halloween Ride This year's ride was a great success with brilliant sunshine and over 80 riders taking part. Photographs taken on the day are now available to view and freely download by following the link on our special Halloween Ride page. 4th July 2006 Summer Ceilidh Once again our Ceilidh was well attended and tickets sold out very quickly. This year for the first time it was held in Hamsterley Social Club and this turned out to be a good choice as food and drink were all provided, making things much easier for the organisers. The landlady, Trish, provided a very good buffet with plenty of variety for everyone’s tastes and the quiz tested everyone’s general knowledge. The Joint Stock Band once again gave us great entertainment and everyone enjoyed the dancing. We made £436 profit which is going to help in the construction of the gallop in Hamsterley Forest. £117.50p of this was from the raffle and quiz. Some raffle prizes were kindly donated by Carol Atkinson, Judith Ruth, Morris and Angela Hogg, Sue Gulliver, Alison Kerson, Forestry Commission. The winter Ceilidh is on the 15th December, again in Hamsterley Social Club and again with the Joint Stock Band. Check with your newsletters and with this website for details of when the tickets will be available. 28th June 2006 Upcoming Events Thursday 7th September 2006 – HRA Meeting – 7pm Sunday 24th September – HRA Fun Day at West Hoppyland Trecking Centre Sat 30/09 & Sun 01/10 – Ripon Car Rally in forest. Sun 29th October – HRA Halloween Ride 11th May 2006 Car Rallies Please note that the two car rallies mentioned in the current newsletter are not in Hamsterley Forest - they are in Kielder Forest. It is therefore safe to go riding this weekend (13th/14th May) and later in the year (18th-21st November). 25th April 2006 Easter Bunny Ride Some photo's of the Easter Bunny Ride have been added to the Photo Gallery. Forest Events When planning a ride in the forest this summer, particularly on a Sunday morning, don't forget to check the list of events first to ensure you can park in the normal place - the Grove Car Park. See "Hamsterley Forest Permit Events" in the Document Archive. 28th March 2006 Newsletter The latest newsletter is now available by following the link above. Many interesting items including details of the AGM held on 23rd Feb, the Easter Bunny ride (get those entries in!), dates for TWO (!) Ceilidh’s this year, dates of events in the forest this year and proposed future events. New Look Website We hope you like the new look to the website – please send any comments about any features you may wish to see on the site to johnbhowells@supanet.com A new page on the site is the Documents Archive (see link on left). Hopefully you should be able to find all the forms and records of the Association on this page. 3rd March 2006 Spot the deliberate mistake? The entry on this page for 8th February "Works in the Forest" has incorrect dates. It should read "Monday 6th to Friday 10th". Sorry for the confusion. 25th February 2006 Halloween Ride photos Sorry for the delay but we now have some photos of the 2005 Halloween ride (see link on left) on the site, taken by Carol Atkinson and Carol has also sent some lovely photos of riders in and around the forest on other occasions which are on the photo gallery page. If you have any photos of riding in the forest which you think are suitable please send them to johnbhowells@supanet.com and we'll put them in the gallery. 18th February 2006 Part-time work wanted. Shelley Routledge, a member of HRA, is looking for a part-time job working with horses. Shelley has a hatfull of GCSE passes and is currently studying A-levels. She has been riding for 10 years and has had a horse of her own for the last 4 of these. She has ridden horses for other people before and has also worked at West Hoppyland Trekking Centre. Shelley will be doing her BHS levels soon and is also hoping to do a degree in equine studies later. She would prefer working in the Hamsterley area. If you have an opportunity available for Shelley you can contact her at sharp_shell@hotmail.com 8th February 2006 Works in the Forest During the week of Monday 4th to Fri 12th March between 8am and 6pm there will be harvesting operations occurring in the vicinity of the visitor centre. This will include felling of trees on the roadsides down from the toll, in front of the visitor centre, and along the woodland edge/forest drive from the where the black cycle route starts to the Green Man. We won’t know which bits will be closed or blocked in advance and there may be a need to close the Bedburn entrance altogether. The best thing for people to do is to turn up and follow the signs and diversions as they appear. The road should be open as normal after 6pm each day. The thinning of the woods behind the visitor centre, extending along towards the Green Man, will be completed by Easter but until then we can expect to find diversion signs in this area. Also there are works planned for the Grove Car Park during the next few weeks. This will have the edges pushed back a bit to make more room and there may be extra parking spots created behind and to the left of the mounting block. 2nd February 2006 Sporting Events in the Forest in 2006 The Forestry Commission have informed us of the following events which will be staged in Hamsterley Forest this year. The Sunday events start at around 9-10am and all are centred on the Grove Car Park so it would be best to avoid that area for parking and horse riding on those dates. The duathlons on 30th April and 22nd October also feature a bike race going in and out of the forest via the Grove Road so it would be advisable to use the Bedburn entrance for Horse Boxes and trailers on those dates. The roads should be clear by 12.30pm on both dates. Sunday 12th March – Open Adventure Event (Mountain biking and orienteering) Sunday 2nd April – Doctors Gate Fell Race (5.5 mile Fell Run) Sunday 30th April – Hamsterley Forest Spring Duathlon (Running and Cycling) Sunday 7th May – Endurance GB Horse Riding Event Tuesday 9th May (7.30pm) – Fell Race Tuesday 20th June (7.30pm) – Fell Race Tuesday 4th July (7.30pm) – Fell Race Sunday 10th September – Ayhope Skyline Fell Race Sunday 17th September – Great Milk Stout Ride (Mountain bikes). Sunday 22nd October – “Hamsterley Hammer” Duathlon (Running and cycling) 14th November 2005 Newsletter The latest newsletter can be seen by following the link above. 8th November 2005 Car Rally - Sunday 13th November Don't forget - Ripon Motor Sport Club Ltd. is holding a car rally in Hamsterley Forest on Sunday, 13th November between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. They will be using the area of forest roads to the west of Grove House and this area will be closed to all other users. The remainder of the forest will be unaffected. The proposed event is a relatively small regional event with an anticipated entry of about 60 cars. The Secretary informes us that spectators will not be encouraged to attend and the only persons present should be those connected with the event. 9th August 2005 Membership Secretary The new membership secretary is Susan Gulliver, Green Farm, Morley, Bishop Auckland, DL14 0PZ. Tel:- 01388 718586. 26th July 2005 Membership Secretary Due to work commitments Sue Coatsworth has sadly had to resign as Membership Sectretary. For the time being and until a new secretary is appointed please send all membership queries to Julia Howells at johnbhowells@supanet.com 7th June 2005 Newsletter The latest newsletter – June 2005 – is now available by following the link above. Items for your diary include:- 12th June – Beach ride – Seaton Carew 25th September – Fun day at West Hoppyland 30th October – Halloween Ride December – Ceilidh – date to be confirmed Check out the newsletter for full details of these events and reports of all items of concern. 2nd March 2005 NEW DATE FOR THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The AGM has been re-arranged for Thursday 17th March at 7.00pm in the classroom at Hamsterley Forest. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather! 23rd February 2005 THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING IS POSTPONED Owing to the current spell of snow and treacherous driving conditions the AGM planned for tomorrow (24th) has been postponed. Please watch this space for an announcement about the re-scheduled meeting. 13th January 2005 2005 Annual General Meeting The AGM will be held on 24th February at 7.30 p.m. in the Hamsterley Forest Classroom. Please come along to let us know your views about the Association. 16th December 2004 Shooting Dates - Update Shooting will take place every Saturday until the end of January 2005 plus Mon 27th December and Monday 3rd January (public holidays). Shooting usually takes place west of the Grove so it would be advisable to steer clear of those areas on those days. Generally shooting takes place from when the clocks go back in October until the end of January. 15th December 2004 Charity Appeal The Blue Cross Charity currently have an appeal for any horse rugs that you no longer need. Sizes required are 5ft 6ins to 7ft outdoor and indoor. If you think you may be able to help please contact your secretary Julie-Ann (see "About us" page for address). 13th December 2004 Committee Meeting A committee meeting was held at Hamsterley on Tuesday 7th December. The main topics discussed were:- Membership Fees. This has remained at £20 since the association was formed but it was agreed that a rise was necessary in order to help with the upkeep of gates, tracks and running of events. It is now £22. The Mounting Block. We now have some signs to go on the mounting block, which is situated in the Grove car park. These will be in place as soon as possible and hopefully this will stop it from being used as a picnic table! Track over Eggleston Common. A representative from Trail Blazers came to the meeting to discuss the track out onto the moor near to Eva Pools. It is hoped that we can put in a joint bid for a grant to repair the track, which will join on to the track over the common to Eggleston and the Moorcock Inn. Shooting in the Forest. There was an unfortunate incident recently when a horse was startled by gunfire, panicked and became injured. It would be helpful if the Riding Association was notified when shooting parties were meeting so that members can be warned to keep well away from those areas. The shooting syndicate are reluctant to give out this information in advance but it is hoped that some compromise can be reached to prevent any future accidents. Halloween Ride. The ride this year was very well supported with over 80 riders enjoying a lovely day in the forest. Everyone agreed the forest had never looked better, the Autumn colours were magnificent. All money raised is to be donated to the International League for the Protection of Horses. See separate page for photographs.