On behalf of Middlesex Masons, the Middlesex Province Relief Fund (MPRF), which was established following the sale of The Princess Alexandra Home at Stanmore in January 2002, has recently made a donation of £5,000 to “Strength and Learning Through Horses” (SLTH) based in Barnet.
https://strengthandlearningthroughhorses.org/
Strength and Learning Through Horses has a primary purpose to promote the mental wellbeing and education (including social and physical training) of people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET), those at risk of becoming NEET and people with learning difficulties.
In 2022, the lease on their home for the last 10 years was terminated, leaving their horses homeless and their young people without a means to the emotional support they rely on. Thankfully Barnet Council stepped in and gave them a permanent lease on a derelict stable yard in Barnet. They have completed phase 1 of the build for London’s first dedicated Equine Therapy Centre which opened in Spring 2023 and are seeking further funding to undertake construction of phase 2.
Rosie Bensley and Dr Jemma Hockley, Founders & Joint CEOs of SLTH acknowledging the donation said:
“We are very grateful for your incredibly generous donation of £5000 to Strength and Learning Through Horses. Thanks to your donation, we will be able to help young people in mental health crisis to begin to turn their lives around and move towards a positive future. With your support, we will continue to provide urgent mental health and educational support for young people in need. We are receiving unprecedented referrals for young people experiencing mental health crises impacting on their relationships with others and their ability to engage in their education and communities. Thanks to your support we will be able to help more of these young people access our life changing service and turn their lives around”.
Below is a letter from a young person who has been helped by the Charity.
“Strength and Learning Through Horses has been an invaluable resource for me over the past months, and at this point in my life, I don’t know what i would do without it. The staff there are absolutely incredible, and I can tell they are all genuinely passionate about working there, which makes the experience feel so positive.
When you struggle to leave the house, it can be difficult to find a way to spend time in an environment in which you’re surrounded by happy, friendly and caring people, but SLTH consistently provides that for me. The horses have made a change to my life that nothing else has come close to for years. Before going to SLTH, I was totally lost on how to help myself anymore. We were going to try out equine therapy as a last resort but could never have anticipated how much it would help.
Being around the horses makes me feel calm, content, and brings me confidence, and I look forward to seeing them every week. When I help them accomplish things themselves, I feel like I’ve accomplished something too, which is something I didn’t feel at all regularly before SLTH. I also have the privilege to be able to work towards AQAs there, and for the first time in a while, I genuinely feel like I’m achieving something in life. I’m learning things, forming meaningful bonds with other young people and horses, and gaining more confidence than I’ve had in years. SLTH is an invaluable resource and experience, and I genuinely don’t know how to express how much it means to me. Thank you for supporting the charity”.
From Jamal
Recent donations made by the MPRF on behalf of Middlesex Masons include; the London Air Ambulance Appeal – £75,000; the Gordon Bourne Bursary – £4,500; the Mulberry Centre – £2,000; as well as underwriting part of the costs of setting up the Middlesex Cares initiative.
