Sandhurst Donkey Derby

The inside view of the last few weeks prior to the Donkey Derby, one of the major community events in the east of Berkshire.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

2009 Donkey Derby was a great success


About 3½ thousand adults - I don't have the exact figures yet - and a similar number of children visited the Donkey Derby yesterday. That's the best attendance figures for quite a while, but of course I am comparing it with the last two or three years when we have had cancellations and rescheduling.

Many thanks to the businesses and individuals that sponsored the event, the entrances, the start and finish gantries, advertised in the programme, sponsored donkeys or sulkies or took stall space on the day. This is an event which generates terrific amounts of money for a range of charities as well as (probably more importantly) providing a community entertainment.

When my wife and I moved back to the UK from Belgium in the early 1980s, Sandhurst had a number of events which provided a calendar of things to do in the area. Since then, a lot of well-meaning legislation has had the unintended consequence of making those events harder to plan, organise and stage and has driven them out of the calendar. I think that's a shame and it was nice to speak to a number of teenagers and young adults yesterday and find out how positive they were about the Donkey Derby.

One of our problems is physical. I was on the field at 6:00am and we finished packing the gear away in our store at about 8:30pm. I was pretty shattered at the end of the day and I'm a long way from being the oldest in the team. Anyway, let's finish on a really positive note - it was sunny, it was fun for thousands and we raised a huge amount for charity.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

2009 Donkey Derby

The 42nd 2009 Donkey Derby should take place at the Bull & Butcher field on Monday 25 May. Gates will open at 11:30 and the last race will be about 4:30. We have arranged a funfair, donkeys and plenty of charity and trade stalls. All we need now is some decent weather between now and the day itself.

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