On the 30th September 2018 at 11am, a large crowd gathered at The Diamond Centre for Disabled Riders, they were there for The Diamond Centre’s annual autumn fair. This is an annual event held and run by The Diamond Centre for disabled riders in Carshalton. The purpose of the autumn fair is to fundraise as well as raise awareness of The Diamond Centre in the community.
The Diamond Centre provides horse riding, carriage driving and vaulting for over 300 disabled people each week. This weekly contact with horses has proven beneficial for people with a mental or physical disability. They rely on volunteers as well as donations because they receive no government funding. They have over 20 horses and ponies and need to pay salaries and the upkeep of buildings and machinery, so the event is a key part of promoting and fundraising for the Diamond Centre.
The event was officially opened by the Mayor of Sutton at 12pm. After this there was a carriage driving display in the field arena, this was done by some of The Diamond Centre’s carriage driving group to the music from The Greatest Showman, the two ponies used were Belle and Daisy. This seemed to be one of the popular events of the day. There was a dog show right at the start of the event which was quite entertaining as some of the dogs were better behaved than others.
There were a number of stalls run by different companies that had come to support The Diamond Centre, these included QEF Mobility centre, Oaks Way old people centre, Millie’s Pet portraits and a stall running children’s games. There was also face painting and a bouncy castle which were popular with the children. There was a band at the fair, they played a few sets of a variety of songs throughout the fair.
Senior instructor, Kate Gordon said about the fair "The Diamond Centre Autumn Fair was held on Sunday 30th Sep 2018. The weather was in our favour and we had a greater number of visitors than normal, this was due to our newly extended dog show. We had lots of attractions including donkey rides, a petting farm, and farriery display, Punch & Judy, and a visit from a shire horse. We raised just over £10,000.00 and we are very grateful for the hard work put in by many of our volunteers to make the autumn fair such a success"
