Jakki’s diary account of the 2008 ride
5 May to 16 June 2008
Well, what
an eventful first six weeks, mostly marred by the weather!
After a
very busy three weeks’ preparation in the Camargue, staying with the wonderful
and mainly unflappable André Palatre at the Mas de Tourblanque in Gageron, near
Arles Quito Lot and even rode with the afternoon group. SLL’s Robert Adams brought the young people
over with Liam McCormick on 28 April. We
were delighted to have among our guests on 5 May, the British Consul in
Marseilles, Frederic Lecoin from the Fondation d’entreprise France Télévisions,
Dr Luc Hoffmann, Mr and Mrs Bruno Pourchet from the Haras Nationaux, as well as
the dignitaries from the Maison du Cheval Camargue and the Association des
Eleveurs des Chevaux de Race Camargue.
We were absolutely thrilled too that 2 out of the 5 RDA centres came
down to the Camargue for 5 May – the Elisabeth Curtis Centre RDA and Barrow
Farm RDA. Many thanks to all for coming.
In early
May, we left the Camargue after our departure ceremony at the Mas de la Cure
(Maison du Cheval Camargue) in good sunshine to be then met by rain, rain and
more rain, the odd hail storm and skies turned yellow by sand blown over from
the Sahara.
Quite
unprecedented weather for this part of France at this time of the year across
the Bouches du Rhone in Provence, the Gard and The Herault in the Languedoc
Roussillon, and the Tarn, Aveyron and Tarn-et-Garonne in the
Midi-Pyrénées. Tomorrow, 16 June, we
leave for the Lot-et-Garonne before getting to the Dordogne
in the Aquitaine
The team - and
especially the young people - has been remarkable, putting up stoically, with
erecting tents in soggy ground, soaked clothes and sopping feet - all with
mainly good humour - and even, for Vicki, finding a colony of ants in her
suitcase!
As for the
horses, they are resigned to whatever comes along, whether it be weather-wise,
motor bikes which try and spook them, fast cars or screeching lorries. When the rain pours down, the riders don
their ponchos which cover them and the saddles and bridles.
We had to
get the osteopath as Mogador has been limping from time to time. Quattro, our mascot, is still not able to be
ridden due to his hind hooves not being shoeable yet, but is becoming more and
more of a camp ‘pet’ – he simply loves attention and simply loves clover. This
is great for Xavier, Mehdi and Jakki as they have a horse around while they are
on the ground.
Poor little
Mickaël, after a spell in hospital in the town of Albi, he has had to be
repatriated to Lorient, because of a previously undiagnosed heart problem. He may well have to undergo heart surgery and
therefore may not be able to join us again.
This has saddened us all as he was a good friend, a good rider and had a
very good Franco-British spirit – his English was coming along very well too and
he is missed greatly. We are in touch with La Sauvegarde 56 as to his progress
and, of course, wish for his return among us.
Chris Booth
decided that horses weren’t his thing so returned to England. On Saturday 21
June, we have a friend of Luke’s joining us called Andrew Clark and we are all
excited to meet him.
We are
delighted to say that Vanessa Pailhou, who accompanied Jakki in 2005 from the
Charente onwards to England, has joined us again as a joint ATE. We are delighted to have her among us. Pierre de la Barre de Nanteuil, who was also
with Jakki in 2005, drove Vanessa over.
We have seen Pierre a couple of times for the odd weekend. Wish he could join us more permanently, but
he is working in the South of France now, in La Ciotat.
Rachel, Luke
and Cynthia have suffered with tooth problems; Vicki and Ludo, with chesty
coughs.
Shiva,
Marie and Mehdi’s dog, had to make an emergency visit to the vet after an
incident with a car – luckily Shiva is fine.
Nana, Jakki’s dog, is very loud and barky (Vicki’s words – she’s helping
Jakki write this), but that’s not unusual.
However, Ludo’s deep voice seems to have an effect as she stops barking
when he tells her to. Ludo is especially
partial to the ‘bonbons bureau’. The office sweets that Jakki keeps in the
bureau – the groom’s quarters in the Equi-Trek Trailer.
Alexi
misses Mickaël and a smile from Adeline cheers us all up.
Xavier
keeps the girls in good order, all while not dampening their high spirits. Cerys occasionally objects and retaliates.
Cynthia is
a water baby – we can’t keep her out of swimming pools – when the odd campsite
has one.
Washing
machines are hotly fought over – first come first served – some don’t obey this
rule!!
The riders
are becoming more and more competent and now gallop happily without being too
scared – even letting out the odd screech of pleasure. The horses are often in their enclosure next
to the tents and seem to enjoy the happiness around the camp. Luke’s determination – one might even call it
complete single-mindedness - to get Muscadeu ready for RDA use as promised to
Terri Cornner who came out for the 5 May departure ceremony at the Mas de la
Cure of the Elisabeth Curtis Centre – can drive the girls barmy. However, we do encourage initiative! They all have plenty of that.
Alexi sings
along in tune happily and as for his English, his favourite phrase is: “Where’s John? He’s in the kitchen”.
Xavier and
Jakki have noticed that Rachel, Cerys and Vicki need a bit of help with their
map-reading skills. Vicki objects to her
being included in the list… We haven’t
had to ask the young French people to map-read, so we don’t know their skills.
The food
continues to be delicious, despite the very difficult conditions that our kind
cook(s) endure.
Invincible,
the RDA lorry so kindly loaned to SLL White Horses, got stuck in the mud (for
the 2nd time), so we have to learn to not drive Invincible onto
grass when it has been raining for such a long time. While we’re on the subject of Invincible, we
were amazed, as was the kind garage man who helped us fit the new parts to the
clutch, how quickly DAF sent us the spare parts we needed – from Eindhoven in
Holland to a small hamlet by the Tarn river in just 3 days – and they were the
right parts to boot, though very costly.
Anita has
so far managed to keep on target which is wonderful. Some mornings the English young people ride
and the French do the afternoon shift and vice versa on other days. Lunchtime rendezvous are when they swap
over. A seven o’clock morning start gets less enthusiasm – even
groans - than a nine or ten start – understandably.
Dominic
(Dandridge) and Sadie (Kaye) come out every month to film for the much hoped
for documentary and they are due back at the end of June for a couple of
days. Catherine (Legras) came out for 2
weeks to film and we all enjoyed her company.
Bilingual, French but living in Dublin
People have
welcomed us from the start to an extent which has been extremely touching. Some are old
friends of Jakki’s, as she had stayed with them on the 2005 ride and it was
lovely seeing them all again as well as looking forward to seeing other old friends we shall be staying with,
this time again. Others are new
friends. Amongst old and new, we have
been given village receptions (by Lucien Croz at Montredon Labessonié) and by Veronika
and Jos at Buzenac-Bas we were all treated to a wonderful dinner in their
wonderful home and warmth all round. To
boot, they gave us breakfast too – the best croissants anyone had ever had.
Well that’s
all for now – the horses have just arrived.
It’s finally sunny and nearly time for tea.
Jakki
17 June to 9 July 2008
Hello everybody, this time from the Département des Deux Sèvres (79).
As some of
you know, our journey has continued to be eventful. Picasso trod on Vicki’s foot a couple of days
ago and after a quick trip to accident and emergency at Angoulême Hospital
Occitan
gave Vanessa and Jakki an anxious hour or so (and to Cerys and Alexis who ride
him mainly). Colic was feared. He wasn’t eating his Royal Horse supper (unheard
of) and started rolling and looking generally uncomfortable. The vet came at around 9 o’clock and by then Occitan was better. The vet thought he may have had a touch of
colic, but it wasn’t serious. The vet
also said that there was never a very windy day – and it was very windy – when
he isn’t called out to visit a horse with colic. A new one on us and a little surprising given
the very strong winds blown up from the Rhone
that the Camargue horses endure on their own territory. Occitan is well-rounded so 24 hours without
his Royal Horse granules hasn’t diminished his strength and courage.
Little
Quattro joined the big boys! He is now
being ridden as he was able to be shod with the others on 23 June. When being led alongside the rider, he does
tend to want to eat grass, however, rather than concentrate on being led. Luke really enjoys riding him, so it would
appear he can behave – I refer to Quattro of course… this, of course, doesn’t
deter Luke from his devotion to and hard work with Muscadeu.
We were
joined by Andy Clark, a friend of Luke’s to make up our numbers of British
young people. Andy flew from Leeds to
Bergerac where we picked him up. Andy
wasn’t able to come along as an SVE/EVS volunteer due to bureaucracy, but is
part of the riding team. He has amazed
and surprised everybody by his aptitude to riding. Since the first day he arrived, when he
looked a little disconsolate for 24 hours, he began to ride and hasn’t stopped
since. He also has a great sense of
humour. Every good rider needs a tumble.
On 9 July, Andy had his first tumble and has been teased mercilessly by
the others. Mogador what got into you
today?
We have
also been joined by Chris Tahaney from Glasgow, who was brought along by Sadie
Kaye and Dominic Dandridge when they came to film for 36 hours over the weekend
of 27-29 June. Chris is ‘one of Sadie’s boys’ and was with her
in South America and the Caribbean
for a month helping boatbuild. Chris is
here to help Xavier with logistics. He
has ridden a few times since he arrived and is showing a great aptitude around
horses too. Poor Chris, even Jakki has
to ask him to repeat what he says – and, as for the French and Southerners like
Jakki – so softly spoken is he with his broad Glaswegian accent, that we all
remain a little perplexed.
If someone reading
this would like to contribute to Andy and Chris the same monthly amount as
given by the European Voluntary Service of 125 euros a month which is what the
4 others receive, it would be gratefully received as it would put Andy and
Chris on a par with Vicki, Cerys, Rachel and Luke, our SVE’s. That would be 125 euros each for the rest of
July, August and September!
So welcome
to Andy and Chris, and soon welcome to Erwan!!!
The Sauvegarde 56 (Jean-Louis Cartron) is bringing 17-year-old Erwan to
join us in 10 days, to replace poor little Mickaël (whom we gather is now at
home in Lorient
We’ve now
travelled through the Lot et Garonne, the Dordogne, the Charente into the Deux
Sèvres and are making our way northwards at an alarming rate – The Journey of Discovery will be over
before we know where we are!
France 3
(Périgord) came to film us again at the Centre Equestre Poney Cheval at Le
Cros, St Antoine d’Auberoche in the Dordogne and we were filmed again by France
3 Poitou Charentes on 7 July in the delightful village of Villejésus, where we
camped by the church with the tents and barnum on the adjoining tennis court,
much to the perplexity of the 3e age
card players who had to cross the tennis court for their weekly game of
cards. We gather that this went national
– people even saw us in Corsica !
As you will
have seen, our Sheila Cosma, joined the riders for a day when the team crossed an iron bridge over the Lot river at
Touzac– clank, clank, clank – with a surprising lack of concern by the
horses! Sheila rode with the English on
the afternoon shift. On 9 July, Shirley
and Michael Shea from east of Angoulême joined the riders for the morning. Gather from Cerys, Andy and Rachel, there
were plenty of screams, songs and laughter.
We don’t think Shirley and Michael will have been disconcerted as they
have 3 daughters themselves and, no doubt, grandchildren. Watch the website for their pictures of their
day with White Horses 2008.
It was
wonderful seeing our colourful friend, Thierry Cholet, again at Bourdeilles in
the Dordogne .
The sight of his 16 horses galloping up the valley at a whistle call
from Thierry towards their drinking trough - with our 10 white horses lined up
in amazement watching the other herd approach – followed by the donkey – has
been caught on camera by Dominic and Sadie.
Thierry’s swimming pool was a haven from the sudden scorching weather
and just about all of us swam. The edge
of the swimming pool looks over his valley and as you swim you watch the horses
below and the stunning landscape under a peerless blue sky.
It was good
to see Dominique Balthazar again at Ste Croix de Mareuil. Dominique and his wife breed arab horses,
mainly used for endurance riding. Their
warmth at seeing us again was touching.
One of the employees, a very nice young man called Mickaêl, gave some of
the team a wonderful demonstration of de-sensitizing the horses. It included acting the drunk around the
horse, grabbing it, leaning on it unexpectedly, making weird sounds and
generally lurching about. We all look
forward to having a go ourselves with the Camargues – soberly, of course! It was good seeing Joël Ducasse again at
Torsac where we spent a night. Staying
with Fabienne and Sylvain Bourgion was a treat for the French and English young
people. Sylvain gave everybody who
wanted one a ride in his quad at a very fast speed indeed over his land. Be reassured: he drives the quad every day
for work purposes and has 4 children of his own. Screams of fear cum pleasure/ laughter were
heard all over the Haras les Barbreaux at Sireuil. As a postnote, Fabienne and Sylvain breed
Welsh.
The dogs,
Nana and Shiva are fine, the horses too, as are Christine and Alain, the French
Team Leaders, Ludo, Alexis, Cynthia and Adeline, as well as Vanessa, Xavier,
Marie and Mehdi, Chris, Cerys, Rachel, Vicki, Luke and Andy. A big hello from them all to all of you. Vanessa who is from the Charente was pleased
to see her sister, Flavie, who popped over twice to see us in the Charente; Cynthia
is really helping a lot now – yes, she did enjoy
Thierry’s pool; Cerys can’t wait for her birthday on 21 July (yes, presents
welcome please); Vicki a bit miffed (no, Jakki jest’s) that her birthday on 4
June was rather uncelebrated, due to Mickaël’s accident being on the same day –
Jakki said she could share her own birthday (yes, presents welcome, please for
Vicki); Luke continues to be lukish; Ludo is affectionate and a good mimic;
Rachel is putting all her horsewomanship into helping Andy; Xavier has ridden a
couple of times again now – he is a very good rider, but logistics prevent his
riding regularly (Jakki borrows all of his books, which she reads late at night
and which he doesn’t have time to read); Marie rides, and with Mehdi they both
continue to provide us with lovely meals in difficult conditions – Marie’s
mother is coming out to join us for a few days which we all look forward
to. Marie had the brilliant idea of
marking each of our plates on the underside – that way we all wash up…; Alexis
is a cool guy, remains unphased by events and never forgets to spike his hair
with gel, Adeline remains gentle and undemanding with her familiar refrain: “Jakki, est-ce-que tu aurais du feu?”
Today the
sun is out again, but we gather rain is forecast in a couple of days… some
might say we should be used to it… others say that last year’s bad weather and
this year’s bad weather is due to there being 13 full moons last year and this
year. Qui sait!
And from me, Jakki, until the next time!
09 July to 17 October
At last, we
have a bit of time to tell you the rest.
Between 10
and 13 July we stayed at l’Etrier du Pays Mellois in the Deux-Sèvres (where we
were in 2005); our friends from Melle, Yvonne Wetjen, Rolan Tchan and Michel
Sicault came to see us on the car park of the equestrian centre – our camp
site. Rolan had the great goodness to
pay for our stay here in the area of Melle.
Lovely scented roses from Yvonne's garden brightened our table under the
shelter.
The stop of
14 July at Christian Bonnin's at St Christophe du Roc was marked by the arrival
of Erwan Heriquet with Jean-Louis Cartron (of the Sauvegarde 56) thus
completing the French team. Erwan immediately found himself having a bath; our
camp was very basic in this sloping but sunny field, and the hosepipe was the
only way of showering. Marie had a hosepipe battle with Jakki and Vanessa and
all three ended up soaked. This was a good opportunity for Erwan to integrate
happily in the group. The same evening the whole team, except Jakki, went to the
14 July (Bastille Day) celebrations. Quite naturally, our darling super-star
Cynthia danced on the stage! Jakki chose
that evening to clean the exterior of Invincible, our green lorry…
So we
arrived chez Caroline at Poneys de Serzais.
Patricia Sergent, Marie's mother, joined us there and was to share our
journey for almost two weeks. Her presence was very welcome. Caroline welcomed
us most kindly. Xavier asked Caroline to show us her method of working with
Oural. His problem was difficulty in being separated from the other horses. The
method was impressive and effective.
French News, an English language newspaper in France
A farm
campsite was good enough to open specially for us. Although our hosts told us
that the ground for the lorry was limestone and hard, Invincible the lorry got
stuck in the mud. It took a several phone calls and a powerful tractor to get
Invincible back on the road.
We depart
for another farm campsite, La Ferme de Mervent in the Vendée, where we were
surrounded by poultry, goats and of course, our little Camargue horses. Vanessa was able to lie down on Quattro who
was himself lying down along with most of the other horses. We dined in front
of this spectacle under a rare blue sky.
Swimming,
storms in the air, English hosts with a handicapped daughter in a wheelchair,
at the Camping du Lac at Pouzauges. We had called the vet for Mogador and
Perdigau who were lame. A big
celebration for Cerys' birthday on 21 July – 18 candles. It's not every day that you celebrate your
coming of age and she was delighted about it.
Quito
« Camping
a La Plage »: our campsite – one sandy riding school arena at Aurélie
Weingarten at the Centre Equestre des Herbiers.
Invincible had again been up to mischief before the arrival at Les
Herbiers. Breaking down at a Leclerc service station in full sun was a
laugh. Happily the partner of Aurélie
knew something about motors and helped us out – saved once again.
« My birthday » said Jakki «was one of the best I ever had.
The warmth of the team, all the signatures on my cards, all the gifts
received, the beautiful meal and the delicious birthday cakes were extremely
touching, as well as the Franco-English versions of Happy
Birthday! ». Next day, chez Thierry Merlet at
Boufféré, Jakki, Marie and Invincible went to repatriate the horses and riders,
arriving at night and in the rain, but welcomed with the delicious carbos of Patricia. Mehdi left us that day to return to Brittany
Finding
again our friends from 2005, Arnaud and Cathy Moquet, and saying goodbye to
Patricia, as well as welcoming the parents of Cynthia, and our documentary
team, Dominic and Sadie, marked our pause at Geneston in the Loire Atlantique;
all this crowned by a very pleasant outing with the whole team to a local
pizzeria. Great relief to the Brits, Andy and Luke, to see the stocks of
English tea brought by Dominic! Then
another beautiful reunion, with Marine Vincendeau, at the enlarged Ecuries du
Clos. Two youngsters from the club joined us for a part of the ride. Marine gave Jakki a ride on her quad!
A most
agreeable pause chez Marie-Claire Barraud at the Ferme Equestre ESAT de la
Chauffetière at Le Pellerin before the Loire river crossing. Sadie survived her
night in the tent! The grooms at La Chauffetière were handicapped persons. In the morning France Loire . Muscadeu not wanting to go into the lorry any
more, Xavier rode him alone as far as the evening camp. A few days break at the Centre Equestre de la
Pirouette. Meeting some wonderful
people, including Eric and Piéric.
Piéric's help was particularly beneficial with regard to Muscadeu who
had been refusing to load into the lorry when not being ridden as he had lost a
bit of weight. A symbolic scene for Luke and many among us. There has never
been another problem since that intervention and team lesson from Piéric with
Muscadeu. Nevertheless, we thought it
well to buy a couple of natural horsemanship head collars and a long
"carrot stick".
Georges and
Pascale Sefelin came to see us at the side of the Canal de Nantes at Brest Brittany
There we
were, just preparing the first reception at Vannes on 18 August, with the help
of Jacques Busson at l’Etrier Vannetais: washing vehicles, whitening horses,
cleaning rugs, saddles and bridles and first trying-on of SLL charity White
Horses t-shirts. Great surprise for Jakki, to see her daughter and grandson
Edwin, brought there as a surprise by Dominic and Sadie. The photos of the
reception bear witness to the splendour of the occasion.
This
magnificent reception at the Hôtel de Ville at Vannes offered in our honour by
Monsieur François Goulard, the deputy mayor, was an important moment for
everyone and in particular, for the young Bretons who were proud to show the
success of the project to their families.
After the
reception we left l’Etrier Vannetais to continue on our journey; we received a
very warm welcome from Madame Frédérique Beyer and her spouse Jean Paul, a very
pleasant place where they receive animals in trouble (horses, donkeys, and a
lot of dogs).
Then
departure for a stop where we had been welcomed before, in 2005, chez Joseph
and Anne-Marie Runigo, where we had to call a vet for Osco's runny eye and for
Mogador's foot. A very good vet, who diagnosed an abscess in Mogador's
hoof. Pierre and Xavier then removed
Mogador's shoe, and he was very relieved!! We had the great pleasure of being
given a good hot coffee and a delicious piece of cake before leaving.
On then to
the Haras National (National Stud) de Hennebont (our charity is supported by
the Haras Nationaux) and so offered us the overnight stop, the first night
for the horses in the stables, of the Old Abbey; they were well behaved and
adorable, as ever! The five French youngsters and their supervisors left us for
the two nights, so they could be with their families, an important and
difficult stage but which gave them a moment to reflect on all the hard work
they had put into their own self-improvement.
It was at
the Camping Vacanciel Belle Plage at Larmor-Plage that they rejoined us and we
were all very happy to get back together. We passed a whole week here (the
longest break since the start); an immense thank you to Jenny, who helped us
enormously and who participated in the financing of our accommodation where we
prepared for the reception given in our honour at Lorient on 25 August by
Monsieur Norbert Metairie, Mayor of Lorient and President of Cap L’Orient. The
youngsters took advantage also, during this break, to have a gallop on the
beach at daybreak, unforgettable moments…
We were
touched by the tremendous welcome which was reserved for us at the Lorient
reception and we had the great happiness to see Mickaël again, who gave a short
improvised speech.
Returning
to our expedition, we left Larmor Plage on 28 August with a small tug at the
heart for the youngsters who were leaving their families again. We took the
road towards Camors, the centre where Christine works, where we celebrated
Ludo's birthday, not every day are we 16 years old! On leaving Coz Camors for
the next encampment, our lorry Invincible again behaved badly by refusing to
climb a steep hill; Jakki, Marie and Pierre found themselves broken down in the
middle of the road with Quattro and Mogador, but happily we were saved by
Annick Garrau (another great meeting); she arrived with Xavier to repatriate
the horses, and told us she had found a sponsor to finance our accommodation (a
big thank you to Jean Guéry for his contribution). She also offered us a super
breakfast before our departure the following morning and looked after our
Mogador (as our lorry was being repaired at the garage) and afterwards brought
him as far as La Ville Chauvin chez Xavier and Maryse Mallet where we would be
arriving a few days later. A big thank you!!
A few days
later, Pierre
So we found
a very happy Mogador with Xavier and Maryse Mallet; our thanks to Bernard Daco
(Membre de l’Association des Cavaliers de Montauban) who found us this place
(with our friend Christian Amiel) for all his help. That was another very warm welcome and
Maryse, Xavier and Bernard helped us a lot. They kept 5 horses for us while we
went to the Brittany
The
receptions in the Brittany
Big
departure on 11 September for Cherbourg; Patrick Mohan rejoined us, he has been
our indispensable driver, friend and helper (driving round Brittany then,
having driven the horses to England afterwards, coming back to England to fetch
the remainder of the team and the 5 horses to be given to the Brittany centres
in October). We thank him immensely for his valuable help and for all the time
he so freely gave us. So now we are at Martinvast, near to Cherbourg
We took the
ferry in the afternoon of 13 September to arrive at Poole in the evening (we
thank Brittany Ferries Freight for having sponsored the association and provided
all the necessary to and fro crossings). It is night and we are rather tired.
We got lost on the way to our encampment but we were lucky enough to be
escorted there by the police. We were received for two days at Shirley Farm
with Mr and Mrs Butler, where Graham Axford of Easterbrook Farm, accompanied by
his wife and a man with whom he works, gave us the pleasure of a visit
accompanied by several handicapped youngsters.
Then we
made our first stage on horseback in England, through the New Forest, an incredibly
beautiful conservation area, where the wild horses run free and where you can
observe deer who aren't afraid of man or cars because they've never been
hunted, and where you have to stop in the middle of the road to let a herd of
cows go by; well worth it, it was really marvellous!!
Marvellous but
difficult; thank you to James Alford's mother, who escorted the horses in her
car when they arrived at night; that evening we had to dine and pass the night
in the field with the horses, a great experience, (even if the more curious of
the horses tried to steal the bread from the table), but in freezing cold
conditions.
A few more
incidents occurred with Invincible before our arrival at Sunningdale, where we
were received near to a school. (Our thanks to Rob Plews who returned the lorry
to us with a new battery, and who promised to help if we had further problems,
which was very reassuring.) Before meeting up with the army at Windsor we made
a stop at Flemish Farm where Georges Cooper, a charming man, offered us showers
(something which had been quite rare recently) and looked after the horses
while we were at Victoria Barracks.
While the horses were at Flemish Farm (Guards Polo), some of us had the
good fortune to ride in Windsor
Great Park Windsor
We left
Victoria Barracks – thanks to you, Toby - and in the centre of London we separated into two groups (one to St John's
Wood Barracks, the other to Knightsbridge Barracks) for 5 days, to await the
big reception in London which took place on 27
September in one of London's largest hotels ‘The Mandarin Oriental’ near
Hyde Park. This was very impressive for
everyone, to find themselves in such a luxurious place, where the party was for
us. The next day we assisted at the blessing
of the horses and of the team at St Mark's church; the mass was a bit long for
those not used to it but otherwise very beautiful and moving. That day was
notable for the "au revoirs"
between the French and the English, as the French were leaving on the morning
of 29 September to return home to France
It was on
30 September that we left the army for Enfield where we were welcomed by Terry
Wall (who we thank enormously for everything he's done for us) and where we
passed the last 9 days while delivering the horses to the centres in England. A
big pang of sadness for us each day that we had to leave our horses but at the
same time a great joy to meet the people who would be looking after them, and
who had been awaiting their arrival with anticipation, and to find such a
welcome as they had prepared for us.
It was on 8
October that Jakki took the young Brits to Kings Cross station and we were
separated; hard, so hard, so many partings in so short a time!!! Patrick Mohan
came to join us in Enfield France Brittany
Penultimately,
it remains to ask you, friends, volunteers and members, to be patient until we
are able to thank those of you who haven't yet received letters of thanks –
that includes our indispensable sponsors and partners – until we prepare our
brochure of the project White Horses 2008 and follow-up articles about the
horses and the young people during the weeks, months and years to come. However, we would like to thank Sheila Cosma
and Paul Malblanc for all their work
on the web site and for their endless patience!
Finally,
we'd like to thank with all our heart,
the Vice-President of the SLL charity, Mme Shirley Malblanc, who in
indefatigable fashion for the last two years has given herself to the project
White Horses 2008 – Shirley is retiring from the charity to be able to give
more time to her family.
Jakki
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