the great greatwood.

​Belatedly, yes, I know we are now five-months in, but I have decided to donate money to the Greatwood Charity. Actually, this ‘New Year’s Resolution’ is far more than five-months overdue. It is more like twenty-years overdue, I am ashamed to say.
In defence of my parsimonious character, I have never had very much money, no disposable income, little in the way of savings. I am a drifter in life, a hard-working, dedicated, honest, labourer of a human being. Intelligent but stunted, perhaps. Not a borrower or lender be, has been a motto I have inadvertently lived-by. Money has only ever been important to me when I have had not enough to cover my expenses. The thought of a mortgage hanging around my neck terrifies me even now and I have steered clear of credit cards with the same resolve as I steered clear of the covid vaccine.
I am far from money-rich at the advanced age of sixty-nine and retired from the grind of earning a living. Yet I know I am lucky to have reached the year that leads me towards the unbelievable and possibly unsustainable age of seventy. So, in any small way I can, I will support Helen Yeadon’s marvellous Greatwood Charity. I urge others to consider doing the same.
When I first moved to North Devon twenty-two years ago, a friend, knowing my life-long love affair with horse racing and horses, who had an appointment with Helen Yeadon when the charity was based in North Devon to arrange funding of some description, took me along. They were not what they are now as the charity was finding its feet and setting its goals for the future. But I easily recognised the good nature and calm of the place and may even have pledged to help the charity when the opportunity presented itself.
In a feature in the Racing Post last week, Peter Thomas highlighted the brilliant work of the charity and its extraordinary blend of giving ex-racehorses a home and a useful life and allowing vulnerable children the opportunity to rebuild their confidence, with people as well as hulking big horses, by learning at their own pace how to interact with human and equine alike.
Horse Racing, of course, contributes to the upkeep and ambitions of the charity through occasional race-days as at Newbury and the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham. And I have no doubt that racing people dip into their pockets on a regular basis to give their support to a cause that must be safeguarded well beyond the life of its founder.
In one of Peter Thomas’ most heart-warming articles, the sour apple in the barrel was the news that the B.H.A. do not directly contribute to Greatwood funding. At a time when the credibility of the sport is under intense scrutiny, everyone needs to pull their weight. The Racing Post should make the feature on Greatwood available to any newspaper or magazine that shows an interest in publishing the article. And the B.H.A. should be contributing at least a five-figure sum-of-money to Greatwood as an annual donation. No excuses. No cries of ‘we cannot be seen to be favouring one charity over another’.
This sport should ease-off raising millions of pounds for human charities and devote itself to supporting equine charities. Cancer charities, for example, need financial donations but they are supported a thousand times more in a year than equine charities. Home is where the heart is. Racing people may benefit from cancer, heart and other human-targeted charities but without the horse they do not have a career, a life well-lived. 2024 should be designated the Year of Equine Charities. As should 2025 and onwards.
Greatwood do work bordering on the miraculous with horse and child. Go to their website, conduct your own research. If you live close by, visit and put a fiver in the charity box. Horse racing must be seen as a force for good for all equines all around the world. We are seen by our critics as ‘takers’ not ‘givers’, using horses for our financial greed. Critics do not see or understand our love of the horse, our wish for its longevity of purpose and our anguish at the loss of the individual is overshadowed by what seems a deliberate intention to censor all facets of the sport except tragedy and the woke, ignorant interventions of disturbers of the peace.
We should be raising money for equine charities at every race-meeting, in every High Street betting establishment. Greatwood shouldn’t be fiddling around looking for cash. The sport should be proud to fund it, to sustain its future. As with all equine welfare charities. We are always on the back foot, reacting to bad publicity, never on the front foot, directing the public gaze to all that is good in the sport. 
If, and hindsight is a wonderful thing, in the build-up to the Grand National, I.T.V. had broadcast a feature on Greatwood, for example, the events that unfolded before the public gaze might have been seen in a truer light. I.T.V. are the guardians of our sport, much more than the B.H.A. could ever be. I wish I could have the ear of someone high-up in the I.T.V. sport hierarchy. 
That is unlikely to happen. All I can do is find my cheque book, go to the Greatwood website and donate.