JIGSAW, the country’s national centre for youth mental health, is the beneficiary of a charity run staged under the auspices of the Fingal Harriers at The Naul, Co Dublin last Sunday.

The run was held in memory of local girl Emma Bruton who used to hunt with the Fingals and played for Clann Mhuire GAA club whose car-parking facilities and club house were generously made available for the day. Emma was also a member of the Ward Union Pony Club and that hunt cancelled its children’s meet on Sunday so that riders could support the fundraiser.

The event was organised by a committee which comprised Emma’s father Conor, her cousin and Fingal Harriers member Anna McCardle, her aunt Lorna McGuinness, local hunting enthusiast and former Fingal Harriers joint-master Larry Flynn and current joint-master, Helena Duff.

At the time of writing, around €17,000 had been raised, a remarkable figure at any time but particularly so given the prevalent weather conditions.

“While the forecast wasn’t great, and the ground was very wet with Storm Dennis following on from Storm Ciara, we decided that the only thing which would stop the run going ahead was if a warning had been issued advising people not to travel,” revealed Duff. “As it was, we woke to a beautiful morning so it was all systems go from early in the day.

“It was an amazing sight as 220 riders gathered for the ‘off’ and these were split into four groups, each of which had mounted stewards in the front, in the middle and sweeping up those who dropped behind.

“Thanks to the generosity of local farmers, many of whom had purposely held off ploughing to leave their fields in stubble, we had 600 acres available to use and the lead group of experienced riders, led by our huntsman Chris Smith and Larry Flynn, got to jump about 60 fences.”

Among that first group was Graham Quinn who won the Hunt Members jumps race at the Ward Union point-to-point in Oldtown the previous afternoon.

“We had a middle group for those who wanted to take it a bit easier and a group for riders who didn’t want to jump at all – there were about 50 in that,” continued Duff. “The final group, who had their own dedicated track, was for lead-rein riders and there 25 of those. Before everyone moved off, Ken Mahon and Joy Murray were given the task of judging the best turned-out ponies and three delighted riders were presented with giant Easter eggs.

“We were extremely fortunate that the run started and ended in sunshine but there was a deluge in between with the rain coming down like stair rods! Not so great I can tell you when you were on top of the hill at Malahow! Thankfully, when we got back to the GAA hall, the local ladies had laid on buns, cakes, tea, coffee, hot whiskies and port.

“On the day, we held a raffle for 50 hampers or vouchers, which were all donated by local companies and businesses, while in the lead-up to the run we held an on-line auction for eight items. Included among these was a Waterboy unit, VIP admission and dinner for two on any one day of the Tattersalls International Horse Trials and a private course walk for 10 at Tatts with Joseph Murphy. That last item was purchased by supporters of the Ward Union Pony Club.

“We had hoped to raise €10,000 so to do as well as we did was amazing. But what was even more amazing was the huge community spirit and input from the local farmers, all the riders who took part and the huge number of people from the village who acted as stewards for the traffic and parking, tidied up the GAA grounds and power washed the car-park and streets – there wasn’t a speck of manure left anywhere. They even had special high viz vests made for the run!”

While Jigsaw can be contacted on-line, their office services are available in counties Cork (Cork city), Donegal (Letterkenny), Galway (Galway City), Kerry (Tralee), Limerick (Limerick city), Meath (Navan), Offaly (Tullamore) and Roscommon (Roscommon town) with six centres in the larger Dublin area including the city and its suburbs from the south west to north Fingal.

See picture on Pony Tales (page 106).