BETWEEN winning bids and donations, over €3,400 was raised at the charity auction held in the clubhouse at the Ard Chuain Equestrian Centre last Saturday evening following day one of the EquiTrace Wild Atlantic Dressage Festival.

Simone Hession, who heads up a tight, high-performing group to run the two-day Festival, had little trouble in persuading her accountant father Tony to take up the gavel for the second year running to conduct the auction which was preceded by live music performed by Sligo’s Karen McKim.

The last-named must have worked her magic on those present who, as soon as the auction got underway, quickly started bidding on a variety of 26 lots ranging from hotel breaks, to lessons with different coaches, hampers, goodie bags, a photo shoot and a cherry blossom tree. The funds raised are to be split equally between the Simon Communities of Ireland and Dogs Trust Ireland.

Simone’s main right-hand woman is Catherine Meenaghan, who is passionate about promoting and developing equestrian sport and provides Simone with great support in the run-up to the Festival. Over the weekend, extra help was volunteered by Belfast’s Sharon Watters, whose main function in the control tower was scoring, while north Co Dublin’s Jane Whitaker undertook numerous tasks such as doing the times, judging, ‘admin stuff’ and collecting and returning the two visiting judges from/to Knock Airport.