Committee

President:

Kim Ratcliffe

Vice Presidents:

Chair & Club/Show Secretary:

Laura Vandervleit

A long standing supporter of the club, Laura has been on the committee of EEFDG for almost 20 years. For most of that time she has held the position of Show Secretary and is now also the Chair of the club. Laura competes regularly on her homebred Burywood Chess, out of Burywood Briar. Chess and Laura have a great partnership and are competing at affiliated elementary.

Laura is a freelance hairdresser, happily married to her long suffering husband Chris and also mother to her lovely dogs!

Vice Chairman:

Emma Pewter

Emma is a lecturer at the College of West Anglia and a freelance instructor. Following a bad fall eventing Emma turned her attention to dressage 7 years ago and has competed up to Intermediate 1. She owns a 16 year old Lusitano stallion, San Rafael. Emma married Guy last year , an ex amateur jump jockey who has shown an interest in high speed dressage!

Emma was our Team Organiser for many years and is still active riding with our teams and competes regularly. Emma is also British Riding Clubs Representative for Area 8 so any queries for BRC Head Office should go to Emma.

Treasurer:

Avril de Solla

Previously Treasurer for EDRC, Avril pays all the bills and expenses, keeps the books up to date, completes a monthly bank reconciliation and an annual trial balance for submission to the auditors. A Civil Servant since leaving school, she has a New Forest mare on whom she competes at Preliminary level dressage and shows in ridden Mountain and Moorland and veteran classes. Avril is also a List 6 judge.

Membership Secretary:

Teresa Langley

I have been riding for a long time and have always enjoyed my membership of British Riding Clubs with all my horses. I recently lost my special boy Polo (Game Boy) after 26 years together. Now I have the lovely Spark (Toy Boy) and we are learning everything together  – again! It’s very sad to see the decline in riding clubs and how so many venues are closing, especially near us in Essex. I am delighted to be helping with the riding club and I hope I can help to ensure we offer all our members some valuable experiences and a lot of fun with their horses.

Judges & Schedules :

Jacquie Field

Jacquie got involved with EEFDG when Holly Hill Riding Club closed.  She has two horses Rocky a shire TB cross who is now 20 that she used to compete at unaffiliated dressage and Boy a 10 year old Dutch warmblood.  Both horses she had as 4 year olds and brought them on to compete and enjoy dressage, encouraging others to join her on the way.  If she isn’t competing she can usually be found helping in the Secretary’s office at shows.

Clinics & Helpers:

Naomi Kember

A latecomer to riding and horse ownership when she and husband Malcolm decided their four children were having too much fun on horses without them, Naomi and Malcolm are now proud owners of Fungi and Jacob. Fungi competes affiliated at Elementary where he particularly enjoys music classes , Jacob has just started doing elementary classes at club shows.

Naomi and Malcolm’s sons, Tim and Alastair are also members of EEFDG and provide fun time for the horses taking them to the gallops, jumping and on faster hacks as well as being available to compete.

Naomi is always happy to receive suggestions for future clinics and feedback about previous ones.

PR and Communications:

Hilary Clifford

I really got into riding properly when I was in my forties, and I had a lot of fun with my first horse Paddy. I really enjoyed participating in all the club activities and I have been on the committee from the time I first came along, around 5 years ago.  We learned a huge amount from being part of the club as Paddy and I worked our way up to Elementary and we particularly enjoyed music freestyle here at EEFDG. Paddy retired this summer and I am learning again with my new horse, Lorenzo ( affectionately known as Lolly)  and we are looking forward to competing in the league competitions as well as participating in the clinics and perhaps even joining the club team. We would both love to be competing at medium before too long, so fingers crossed!

Points & Trophies:

Lesley Harrison

Lesley Harrison is Trophies Secretary for the club.  She has been a member of the club since 2006 and currently competes Katie Tyler’s Liberty Belle.  Her husband Harry is a regular helper in the scoring hut, and has also been know to lend a hand polishing the trophies before Championship shows.

First Aid/ Woodlands Bookings:

Hilary French

Hilary joined the committee in 2014 and is our qualified First Aider. Hilary started riding as a small girl and horses have always been a big part of her life although she has only quite recently got the dressage bug. Hilary has had her current horse,  Elvis for 4 years and he is stabled  at Woodlands. Elvis is a quirky but delightful horse, and they have a very successful partnership . Currently they are riding at affiliated medium and qualify for the areas and regional competitions with great regularity. In her non riding life Hilary works in recruitment and manages a large team of staff.

hand polishing the trophies before Championship shows.

Team Organiser:

Colleen Taylor

Colleen joined the committee in 2014 and organises the team events for the club. A research scientist working at the Royal Veterinary College, Colleen got into riding as an adult and owned her first horse when she was  in her late 20s. Her current horse is Frosty, a 7 year old Irish gelding whom she rides at Novice and will affiliate to BD this year. They have had a successful year, riding at Trailblazers at Prelim and Novice levels. Colleen is a natural organiser and in addition to enjoying the chance to meet new  people through team events, she would love to get more people involved in riding for the club. So please contact her if you are interested in finding out more.