Gaddesden Place RDA Centre

Briden's Camp, Hemel Hempstead,

Hertfordshire, HP2 6EX

Registered Charity Number 1140330

A Private Limited Company Registered in England and Wales Number 7512961

Gaddesden Place RDA Centre was formed in 1974 by Trina Hall and grew rapidly to become one of the first full time centres in the region. 

Thanks to the support of the Halsey family who own the Gaddesden Estate and tireless fundraising, we were able to build the Indoor School and later the Viewing Area.

The picture shows the indoor school being opened by our RDA Patron – HRH The Princess Royal - in 1983.  This was followed with the opening of the viewing area in 1985.  It was named after the famous show jumper Caroline Bradley who helped get fundraising off the ground for the project.

The new facilities meant that riding would not be interrupted by the weather especially during the winter months.

Sadly Trina died in 2002 but not before asking her helpers to keep RDA going at Gaddesden Place.

With the continued support of the Halsey family a new lease was secured.  We also found sponsorship for new stables from a local company, resurfaced the riding area and kept the Group going as a full time RDA centre with volunteer management.

In 2006 we won the Dacorum Betty Lees award for excellence in volunteer management and in 2008 the "Valuing Volunteer Management in Hertfordshire" award.  We were also runners-up in the Herts Sports Partnership Paul Pearce Award for Disability Sport. 

At the end of 2008, the Chiltern and District RDA Group, which had been based at Chalgrave Manor, was merged with the Gaddesden Place RDA Centre.  They joined us with their two school groups, volunteers and Ben the pony.

In 2010 we were second in the Dacorum Sports Partnership's Contribution to Disability Sports section and won the Audrey Bell Award for Special Achievement.  We were placed third in the Herts Sports Partnership Paul Pearce Award for Contributions to Disability Sport.  Julie Wilcox (our Saturday instructor) was short listed in both the "Best Female Coach" and "Best Volunteer" categories.

Despite our continued growth, our survival is still very dependent on dedicated volunteer help, and fundraising. 

Here is the yard before our team of volunteers constructed five new stables, a tack room and a new mounting block.

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Gemma poses in her new residence. The old wheelchair access mounting ramp is just visible on the right of the picture.  It was replaced in 2008 with a hydraulic lift in the indoor school, pictured below.