£65,000 Raised by Enthusiastic Ladies

£65000 RAISED FOR THE SUFFOLK PUNCH TRUST BY A TEAM OF ENTHUSIASTIC LADY VOLUNTEERS 
In front of a gathering of invited guests including the Mayor and Mayoress of Ipswich, donors, supporters and volunteers of the Suffolk Punch Trust, Caroline Donsworth and her team of ladies- Jo Kellaway, Kate Bowling and Claire Harris, presented a cheque for £65000 to the Suffolk Punch Trust last Thursday evening (18th June 2009).
The presentation was held at ChristchurchMansion,Ipswich and introduced by Lady Caroline Cranbrook, a Trustee, who outlined the wider importance of the Suffolk Punch Trust which would be to make it an educational centre celebrating not only the Suffolk horse but also the Countys landscape and heritage.
She then asked Paul Heiney, the writer and broadcaster who had farmed and ploughed with Suffolk Punch horses, to thank the ladies on behalf of the Trust and to outline the Trusts plans for the future.
Mr Heiney remembered that he had attended an early meeting of the Trust some 5 years ago when an appeal for over £2.4m was launched and he seriously wondered if it could be done. But, as an old Suffolk farmer had once said to him Theres not much to farming as long as you get on with it and the same is probably true of fund raising- and look at what has been achieved and what is promised. He pointed out that Caroline and her ladies had taken the traditional fund raising route with devastating effect- they did the coffee mornings, the Valentines Ball, the ploughmans lunches et al - and came out with £65000.
He said that the evening was also to thank the army of people who go through the often tedious, sometimes gruelling and often disappointing business of writing letters, filling in forms, making contacts, persuading donors. Look where it stands just 5 years on from that early meeting- 200 acres bought, over 30 Suffolk Horses, machinery bought, utilities connected. The second phase well under way- stables to be refurbished, new roads and car parking and the Learning and Heritage Centre being developedhe added.
But how has the Suffolk Punch Trust come so far in such a short time? Mr Heiney underlined that what the project has clearly understood and why it would be a success is because it has realized that the most important thing about it is education. It is not a horse rescue charity or theme park, neither is it just a museum nor just a tourist attraction. It is trying to tell the whole story.
He concluded that it is only through education that others will come to share the appreciation many have for the Suffolk Horse.
The whole story is this- for over a century, it shaped the landscape, powered a new way of farming and growing food and was the best friend the East Anglian farmer ever had. The Suffolk Punch made lives better and how it did this was vital if we are ever to understand how the people of East Anglia were shaped by the way they lived and farmed, even those not born or bred on the land have had their histories changed by the work that the Suffolk horse was able to do. So we are keeping up the good work and the good work of those who have faithfully bred them often at huge personal cost, those who have schooled and worked them and brought them to shows for all to see.
Thus, with the opening of the Learning and Heritage Centre in Spring 2010 he said, the Suffolk Punch Trust will be able to bring all that hard work into the open for all to see.
Caroline Donsworth responded on behalf of the fundraising committee. She said that all four ladies were thrilled with the amount of money we have so far raised. Fundraising events still to come include the Silent Auction of Maggie Hamblings "Crest of the Wave" which is running through June and July, the Ladies Walk to be held in September and the Art Exhibition and Auction which will be held in November and the Christmas Bazaar and various raffles.