Lindsay has been an incredible supporter of Hannah’s Willberry Wonder Pony for years, using her marathon running to raise money for the charity.  Sadly, last year she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and underwent gruelling chemotherapy treatment and a mastectomy at the end of January.  Incredible lady that she is, she was back running and pushing herself despite the treatment, and in October she actually completed the virtual London Marathon just four days after a chemo session, raising an incredible £1200 for Hannah and Willberry, with her very special little Ringoberry by her side throughout!  Lindsay is also one of our amazing 16 runners for Bath Half, we are thrilled to have her as part of #teamwillberry 💗

Well, Willberry decided that Lindsay deserved a special treat for everything she has gone through, and worked with his volunteers to think of a big surprise during these limited times.  Something extra special that wasn’t too far from her home in Ivybridge in Devon.... no competitions open to spectators yet.... no big events happening.... how about somebody very special in the eventing world..... Bingo!!  A treat for Ringo!! And Lindsay of course 😊 Who better to go and visit than our country’s leading lady, Olympic medallist, Badminton and Burghley winner, World Games and European Championships gold medallist, the wonderful Mary King!

As soon as we asked Mary if she could give Lindsay a trip around her yard, she said an immediate and unequivocal “Yes!” and a date was set!

And so, on a slightly damp Wednesday in June, Lindsay and Ringoberry made their way excitedly to meet a true Eventing legend in real life!  She took her three best friends along with her too, who have supported and cheered her through all her difficult times, and their close bond is obvious.  Jill and Maryberry, Sam and Remyberry and Zoe and Ladyberry came with Lindsay to meet the Wish fairies first for a coffee in a local café, where the little Berries were equally thrilled to meet their own hero – Willberry!  What a time they had telling Willberry all about their lovely owners and the fun they had together with their horses.

Soon it was time to go and meet Mary, and what a warm welcome they received, both from Mary and her lovely dog Barney who hounded everyone to throw him a ball constantly!

Mary spent so much time chatting about her career, built from a clearly very determined small child with no horsey background through tough years of training with the indomitable Sheila Wilcox to her hugely successful eventing career, which is far from finished yet!

Lindsay and her friends were shown all around the yard, met some of Mary’s lovely young homebred horses and even had a guided tour of the impressive lorry, complete with slide out which Zoe accidentally triggered by leaning on a button!!

To top off the amazing experience they were even treated to tea and homemade flapjacks by Mary in her beautiful home – they had to keep pinching themselves!!  Lindsay and Mary even had a common bond as Mary is competing in the London Marathon later this year, so many tactics to discuss!

Willberry had decided the morning held one more treat for the lovely ladies, so they all went to Sidmouth for a lovely lunch at the Fort Café overlooking the sea, which despite the yukky rain which had settled by then was still a fantastic place to complete the wonderful morning.  Ringoberry and the other Berries just had to go and dip their toes in the surf too, even though their manes and tails got a little soggy too, it was worth it!

We cannot say a big enough thank you to Mary King for her kindness, warmth and generosity in giving her time to share her home with Lindsay, it meant the absolute world to her and will be a memory she will never forget.

Keep running and keep #kickingcancersbutt Lindsay – you can do it 💗

A very special lady called Nikki , contacted the Willberry’s Wish team with an unusual request.  Nikki had been diagnosed with a recurrence of breast cancer and was bravely undertaking the Your Horse 1000 mile hacking challenge on her rescue horse Merrylegs.  She asked Willberry if he could manage to arrange for her to finish the final miles of her challenge at Badminton Horse Trials.  This seemed an impossible task, but thanks to the incredible support and generosity of Event Director Jane Tuckwell, plans were made for Nikki to ride into Badminton on the Wednesday of the competition.  Sadly, when Covid hit the country, this could not happen, and all wishes were put on hold.

As soon as things started to open up again this year, Willberry and his team came up with an idea for a wish for Nikki which would make her feel extra special, and help to make up for the disappointment of not fulfilling the Badminton plan.  They asked her if she would like a professional photoshoot of her and Merrylegs, complete with a hair and make up session first.  Nikki was over the moon with the idea, so the team went to work to find a photographer with the talent, creativity and empathy to take the perfect shots..... Enter Amy Lathrope-Reid of Indy Equine Photography!!  Amy is an incredible photographer and when Willberry asked her she immediately jumped at the chance!  She also recommended a brilliant make up artist Charlotte Carlton-Smith, who again was delighted to be part of such a special occasion.

          

Despite an unsettled week, as Willberry travelled to Cirencester for the photoshoot the sun shone up above and the weather was perfect.  Charlotte did an amazing job on Nikki, making her look so beautiful without changing her natural looks and style.  Willberry watched carefully to see if he could pick up some tips for his mane!

Then it was time for the photo shoot with Amy, and how incredible that was.  Nikki and Merrylegs looked so beautiful together, and Amy spent so much time getting the photos just right, in lots of different ways.  Merrylegs did need some bribing with several packets of polos, and when the novelty of those wore off the bucket of nuts came out, followed by Amy’s trump card, recordings of neighing horses on her phone!  Willberry met Merryberry, who was equally confused by all the horses whinnying, so they decided to just keep quiet and watch from a safe distance!

            

We cannot thank Amy enough for her time, kindness and incredible photography skills, and also to Charlotte for making Nikki look and feel so special.  It was exactly what Nikki deserved, and she will have the wonderful selection of photos to remember the day forever 💗 

Just a sneaky preview of one of the amazing photographs on their way to Nikki 💗

Willberry’s Wish fairies were contacted by Jane about her amazing friend Kristi who has been battling the cruel Adenocarcinoma for the last three years.  She has fought through hideous operations and relentless chemo treatments even starting her own company during this time, but sadly just as lockdown started, she was told the cancer was back.  She is an incredible lady with so much fight in her, and Jane asked if Willberry could help grant a wish to give her a very special treat to help her in her battle against this vile disease.  Well of course the fairies jumped to attention ready for action! 

Her dream was to meet the legend that is Pippa Funnell, and maybe a trip to her yard.  With the Covid restrictions and lockdown Willberry had to wait patiently until things started to open up again, but finally this week in great excitement Kristi and Jane took Bayberry and Bimbleberry down the motorway to meet Kristi’s idol! 

          

Pippa was thrilled to meet them, giving Kristi and Jane a full tour of her yard.  Pippa rode some of her horses for them, then they went to Pippa's home for coffee which gave Kristi a break before heading off to William’s yard to see all the young horses there too. 

It was an incredible day and Kristi was absolutely over the moon to have spent most of the day with Pippa, seeing so much behind the scenes of an internationally renowned rider such as Pippa.  It was literally a dream come true, and the icing on the cake was when Pippa made a date with her for Badminton 2022!  Something to look forward to and fight for, and we know Kristi will keep that fighting spirit to make sure she keeps the date. 

Our enormous thanks go to the incredible Pippa, whose generosity with her time and attention has given a very special lady some wonderful memories and made a new friendship in an exceptionally difficult year.  

Kay Bradshaw contacted Willberry’s Wish team in July 2019 as she had been diagnosed with breast cancer the previous year.  She had been receiving chemotherapy treatment and had already undergone an operation to remove one breast in May, with a second operation to remove her other breast in October.  She desperately wanted something to look forward to and get her through the gruelling and traumatic treatment, and her first wish was to have a lesson on her horse Bailey with Ben Hobday.

The fairies knew that the wonderful Ben can never do enough for Hannah’s charity, and sure enough of course he instantly jumped at the chance to help out.  Kay was absolutely over the moon as she had never dreamed this could be a possibility, but with the treatment in October looming, she decided it would be better to wait until early in 2020 when she was fit and well enough to enjoy this wonderful experience. 

Sadly as 2020 unfolded and the pandemic controlled the country, there looked to be little to no chance of Kay and Bailey meeting up with Ben at any time in the foreseeable future.  This was a huge disappointment for Kay and Willberry, because she had been through so much and needed something to cheer her up.  So when the fairies looked at Kay’s second wish they decided that they had to stray a little from the Charity’s normal path for Wishes, but undoubtedly these are not normal times that we are living in, and some light and hope for Kay was the most important gift that Willberry could give.  

The fairies contacted the wonderfully helpful Gina at Equiclass to ask if she might help with a special wish, and she was delighted to be able to help.  She managed to get some measurements from Kay via an online chat involving two feet, a tape measure and lots of laughter!  Gina finally got all the information she needed, and let Kay decide what she wanted for some her special boots.  Apart from some very swanky styling, Kay also asked if it were possible to have the breast cancer logo embroidered on one boot and Willberry’s logo on the other.  Nothing was too much trouble for Gina and she immediately sprang into action, with promises to get the boots made as soon as possible. 

True to her word, despite the difficulties with Covid restrictions and Brexit, Kay’s boots arrived at the beginning of February and wow what a pair of boots!  Sadly, Willberry’s logo was a little too complex to fit on the boot, but the pink ribbons will get the message across loud and clear to help #kickcancersbutt.    

Kay was absolutely ecstatic when she received them, and she simply could not believe that they were actually hers!  As you can see from the picture below Kay is beaming from ear to ear sat on her horse and best friend, Bailey.  What a wonderful boost to her morale at such a low period, and something that will give her joy for many years to come ❤

Our enormous thanks go to Gina at Equiclass whose kindness, generosity and compassion are greatly appreciated, Willberry cannot thank you enough for helping us to make this wish come true for Kay.

Benzion’s mother Leah contacted Willberry’s Wish Fairies to ask for a wish to be granted to her son, who suffers from brittle bone disease.  Benzion had been going to a local riding centre for group riding sessions, and one of her original wishes was to have some private riding sessions on his favourite horse Jazz.

Of course Willberry was delighted to help, and the fairies began making enquiries with the riding centre.  Unfortunately this wish was not possible in the circumstances, and so the fairies started thinking about Plan B....

They came up with the idea of a horsey mural being painted on the garden fence outside Benzion’s window, so that he could look at it every day.  Leah was thrilled with the idea, and so Willberry’s team started asking for any artists who might be interested in helping create this wonderful gift.  Onto the stage steps the most talented and generous artist that Willberry has been privileged to meet – Amy Goodman!  Amy instantly jumped at the opportunity, and began liaising with Leah about the style of the mural over the following weeks.  All seemed to be going full steam ahead, until a curve ball was thrown at the exciting plans.. The next door neighbours decided to have some building work done, which would involve the adjoining fence, and it was unsure whether Leah’s fence would be affected.  After several months of waiting without any clear answers on the building plans, the Covid pandemic took over and the whole project was put on hold for the first half of 2020.  Once we were safely out of lockdown, the fairies decided that time was of the essence, and it was time to go to Plan C and give Benzion a much needed boost!  They chatted to Leah and Amy once more, and it was decided that Amy would create a painting that could go on the wall inside the house.  Leah was so thrilled with the idea and said it was her dream to have a painting which could be cherished forever.  Amy was excited to be able to get to work at last, and started sketching....

    

At last, just in time for Christmas, Amy completed the most incredible painting that Willberry has ever seen.  Willberry galloped to Amy’s, he was so excited to see her masterpiece, and was overjoyed when he saw it, and keen as mustard to get the parcel to Benzion.  All in a mad rush to get this amazing painting to Benzion in time for Christmas, Willberry packed up the painting and waited patiently for the courier.

FINALLY, Benzion has his ‘Willberry’s Wish’ and he was thrilled.   Leah, Benzion’s Mum said ‘Benzion is delighted with the magnificent painting. He studied it and couldn't take his eyes off it.’ 

     

Amy has portrayed Benzion riding along his favourite beach with Bournemouth pier in the background, a beautiful and inspirational vision of an exceptional young man.  Amy said ‘I wanted to show him galloping free on Bournemouth beach, emerging out of the sea mist to create a magical atmosphere’ and this is exactly what has been created.  Heartfelt thank you to Amy Goodman www.amygoodman.co.uk