THE TRUST EMPLOYS JUST ONE MANAGER AND A GROOM. WE ACTIVELY ENCOURAGE VOLUNTEERS FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE TO HELP WITH NUMEROUS AND VARIED TASKS INCLUDING ADMINISTRATION.

If you choose to join our rescue team you will be a vital part of the ponies lives, and remember, no gesture is too small - we all do what we can to help and this is the total sum of what the Trust is.

Our motto remains unchanged "Every penny possible for the ponies."

ARE YOU CONSIDERING ORGANISING A FUND-RAISING EVENT FOR LLUEST?

If you are, why not do this through Just Giving - it will broaden your capacity to raise lots more much needed funds for the ponies, and give you even greater satisfaction and a real sense of achievement. Go to

www.justgiving.com/lluesthorseandpony/raisemoney/

and find out how you can set up your own fundraising page.

Everyclick - the search engine donate 1p for every search click you make - at no cost to you. 40 supporters already have raised over £250 - so the pennies do mount up!! Everyclick is holding a 'car draw' for small charities - just £2 gives you the chance to win a brand new Fiat - please go to www.everyclick.com/lluest-horse-and-pony-trust

Some Ways for You to Help

Adopt a pony for a year - Although the suggested donation is £25 per year we invite supporters to donate according to their personal circumstances during these uncertain economic times. Please see our 'adoption' page.

Become a volunteer at the farm (see below for information).

Have a collection box for small change at home or in the office.

Collect foreign and British commemorative stamps. Please do not send stamps to the farm but to Lluest Horse and Pony Trust Stamp Appeal, PO Box 6198, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire LU7 9XT

Donate unwanted tack or stable equipment.

Sell something on Ebay and click the charity donation box.

Open your gardens to the public.

Distribute leaflets/posters to friends, your local feedstore, shop, vet.

Host a coffee morning/ do a car boot sale or bring-and-buy.

Get sponsored - everyone can do something - serious or silly! *

Get together with some friends and form a support group.

Buy a pony a gift (see our Shopping List page).

Dedicate a stable to a family, group or in memorium - minimum £250.

Join our mailing list (not supplied to any other organisation), and receive our newsletter.

* Sponsorship forms are available by request.

For our Open Days

Make craft items for us to sell.

Bring your own table-top of things to sell.

Help us to set up and run an Open Day - loads of jobs available.

Standing Order & Gift Aid

If you are a tax payer you can increase the value of your gift by completing a Gift Aid Form, which enables us to reclaim the tax on your donation. Even better, if you can consider a monthly donation, however small, by standing order, this provides us with a regular income which will help us to plan an annual budget. Standing order mandates are available to print out. Please click here to download and print our standing order form .

Legacies

Since Ginny's death the Trust has teetered towards insolvency a couple of times, and both times has been saved (literally) by a legacy. Several of the ponies have been named after people who have left legacies. Val and Ginny don't think about it as they munch their grass and snuggle in their warm beds, but we know how much the Trust owes to their thoughtful, caring namesakes. You could continue spreading a little love after you have gone and add to Ginny's own legacy, which is the Trust itself.

Alternatively, CHEAT THE GRIM REAPER!

Why wait - why not donate a "legacy" early and enjoy seeing the money help the ponies now (you may even divert a bit from inheritance tax). If you would like to help in this way then please call Adrian or Pauline at the Trust - Thank you.

Volunteers

Do you live near us and have time to spare? We are always desperately in need of extra help to look after the ponies. Managing on minimal staffing levels, we need volunteers every day to help muck out the stables and help with routine maintenance around Beili Bedw. If you are within reasonable distance of the Trust and can spare a few hours regularly each week we would love to hear from you. If you cannot make a regular commitment, help is always needed for our Open Days. For dates see "Open Day Events".

Anyone who would like to be involved should telephone Adrian on 01550 740661

Looking for a Printer to print newsletters and information leaflets.

We were recently complimented on the contents of our newsletters. Advised though that the appeal would be so much greater in colour - is there a very kind printer out there who would be willing to offer a free colour printing service for our newsletters and/or our information leaflets, maybe even as an ongoing gesture of goodwill until such time as we are in a position to either pay for the service, or purchase our own colour printer? We would be happy to have a line of advertising on the newsletter. 2010 is the 25th anniversary of Lluest becoming a registered charity. It would give us an amazing boost to have our publicity material in colour for that special year. Please contact Barbara if you would consider helping us.

Protect vulnerable horses. Act NOW and you WILL make a difference!

World Horse Welfare's Make A Noise campaign, to end the long-distance transportation of  100,000 horses sent  to slaughter annually has entered a critical stage, with a Written Declaration  (54/2009)  needing urgent MEP signatures.

Because the petition has shown MEPs how strongly the people  feel, a Written Declaration has been tabled in the European Parliament calling for an urgent review of the Regulation which governs the transport of horses to slaughter.

At least half of all MEPs must sign this Declaration before 21st January 2010.

If this is achieved, then the campaign  will be a step closer to ending these journeys for good!

Support needed by 50% of MEPs

However if the Declaration is not supported by 50% of MEPs it will fail, weakening the case for new laws to stop these cruel and unnecessary journeys.

Please contact your MEPs, asking them to sign Written Declaration 54/2009, and ask your friends in Europe and the UK to do the same.

Director of Campaigns and Communications, Jo White, comments: "We're extremely grateful to Liz Lynne MEP, Sidonia Jędrzejewska MEP and Carl Schlyter MEP for tabling this important Written Declaration. It's a great opportunity to increase pressure on the European Commission  to release  a proposal on amendments to the Transport Regulation.

"A huge amount of suffering is still happening every day as the single biggest abuse of horses in Europe continues. 100,000 horses a year are forced to endure inhumanely long journeys, where they become dehydrated, injured, exhausted and stressed. This cruelty can be ended, but only with public action."

Each region in the UK and across Europe has a number of Members of the European Parliament (MEP) who are there to be your voice at the European Parliament. They can only represent your views if you make them known.  

Please contact your MEPs, asking them to sign Written Declaration 54/2009, and ask your friends in Europe and the UK to do the same. A template letter (available in a range of languages) is available online:  www.worldhorsewelfare.org/takeaction  or by calling 01953 497226. To find out who your regional MEPs are, visit http://www.europarl.europa.eu

Hannah Westen's Diary

This summer  Hannah Westen, World Horse Welfare's Campaigns Officer for Research and Education, followed one of Europe's slaughter routes for the first time. This is a passage taken from her diary.

"A tiring eight hour journey from Romania to a control post in Hungary, where one horse in particular caught my attention. He was a large elderly chestnut gelding showing signs of complete exhaustion. His headcollar had come off and was hanging down from his neck, where it was fastened tightly, and a short rope tied to the metal railing prevented him from lying down. On either side of him stressed stallions fought viciously with each other. He was trapped in the middle with no means of escape; but he didn't join in - he just stood there with his head down, unable to rest.

Following a disturbed night's sleep, during which I struggled to banish the image of the old chestnut gelding, we were up early for a second day of observations. Many horses at the control post bore the signs of an uncomfortable night of ‘rest'. In an end pen was a large quiet bay gelding. He was extremely gentle and affectionate but had bleeding bite wounds on his quarters where he had been attacked in the night by another horse. His injured limbs were also clearly causing him considerable discomfort."