As many of you will know, this year is the 50th anniversary of Blairgowrie Riding for the Disabled, but – like so many events around the country – COVID-19 has put paid to our planned celebrations to mark this incredible milestone.

All is not lost, however – although the group was founded in 1971, lessons didn’t actually start until 1972 and so we have taken the decision to postpone our celebrations until next year, when we’re planning to mark our Golden Jubilee in even bigger and better style!

Rhona Christie, chair of Blairgowrie RDA, explained: “The communities in Blairgowrie and the surrounding towns and villages have been great supporters of our group over the last five decades and we wanted to acknowledge that by sharing our 50th anniversary celebrations with them.

“While it’s disappointing that we can’t go ahead with our celebrations this year, we are really looking forward to 2022, when hopefully we’ll also be back to normal with our lessons. We can’t wait to see the children back at Easter Rattray Farm – we know how much they benefit from their lessons and all our volunteers have really missed the youngsters.”