The newest recruit of an education charity took the chance to ‘horse around’ with some of its four-legged volunteers as she joined a workshop for children last week.
Lisa Williams is set to officially start her new role as volunteer development officer with Fostering Compassion next month.
And she popped in for a taste of the East Lothian charity’s work meeting miniature Shetland ponies Wilson and Flicker in their Ormiston headquarters.
Fostering Compassion was set up in 2013 by Tranent woman Lesley Winton and runs workshops at its base and in schools to help children and young people open up by listening to the story of rescue animals.
The work has proved extremely successful in helping children identified as struggling with behaviour or emotional issues.
Over the school holidays the charity ran its Horsing Around – Why The Long Face workshops with Therapy Ponies Scotland who brought Wilson and Flicker to meet youngsters along with their dogs Jamie, Lloyd and Raine.
The children learn all about the needs of horses and ponies during the sessions as well as some interesting and educational facts about them.
The charity’s appointment of Lisa is part of plans to expand its services and support.
Lesley said: “Lisa will start in September and will oversee and work with all our current volunteers and will be charged with recruiting and training more volunteers. The more volunteers we have – the more children and animals we’ll be able to support.
“Lisa joined our ‘Horsing Around – Why the Long Face’ workshop for the children last week to get a feel for the work we do and fitted right in. We are looking forward to welcoming her permanently next month.”
By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
