45 riders and 15 helpers gathered in south Leicestershire this weekend for the summer TREC at Shangton Grange. The sun shone, the ponies behaved (mostly), the views were pretty and the food was universally hailed as delicious so it was a roaring success! We handed out the prizes at 5:30om on Sunday and the placings and phase details are now available on Results page, so head over there to see how you and your friends did!

Louise Jarvis won the prize draw for having read her Competitors’ Information closely enough to have spotted the code (or magic, according to our stalwart tack check judge, Izzy France) word. Be warned, CTG might do something similar in future but if we do the code word might not be at the end of the information, so make sure you read the document properly… Competitors’ Information is a vital piece of the communication process between organisers and riders, so we do hope that they are always read and digested (not just glanced through to see if the directions are at the start of the end…)

Once the last bits of clearing up are done (collecting in ticket punches and checking the toilets have been collected) our attention will turn in earnest to the next event in our summer season – the English Championships at Cannock Chase in July. Entries will open on 1st June so be ready to get yours in – places are sure to go fast! Full details are available on our Calendar page. We would be delighted to hear from anyone who would be able to help or judge for all or part of one or both days, please fill in a Helper Information Form to register your availability (also available on the Calendar page). If there is demand for a session of judges’ training we will look to run one, please email central@trecgroup.co.uk to register your interest.

We are looking forward to seeing lots of members at our competition at Shangton Grange next weekend, and will be giving out the prizes for our 2022-23 Winter League at the Saturday night social. Provisional standings are available here, but please be aware that final results may be different to these. Any queries should be sent to moulton@trecgroup.co.uk by no later than noon on Monday 15th May 2023 (as we need to get the prize glasses engraved).

On 10th April 2011 an intrepid band of hardy TRECcies gathered at Princethorpe in Warwickshire to do some unmounted POR training followed by an evening meal and a talk from our inaugural Chair, Anna Lea. Central TREC Group was born!

Since that day we have run over 30 summer competitions, including at least one event at Park Farm every year, and 35 arena competitions. We created the Club Challenge for the TREC GB Championships and run training and social events for our members on a range of topics and in venues ranging from pubs to village halls to tents in fields! The summer and winter leagues are hotly contested and we award Milestones to mark the achievements of our members and their horses.

We are hoping to celebrate this milestone for the club as the year progresses, so watch this space for details!

The CTG committee has been working away behind the scenes during lockdown, and we are pleased to announce that we now have an online shop! We are now able to offer membership, club clothing, equipment and entry to our events directly from this website. Payments will be processed via PayPal, though payments can be made by credit or debit card without setting up a PayPal account if you prefer not to.

Some of the products will appear to be free on the main store page, though we are afraid to say that once you select your options (which classes you wish to enter, for example, or which piece of clothing you would like to order) the price will change to reflect that.

We hope that this will be a convenient way for our members and other interested riders to enter our events, and it should also reduce the admin burden for our hard-working Entries Secretaries and Treasurer. We have also reviewed our financial systems and have decided to introduce an admin surcharge for cheque payments. Any payment made by cheque will be increased by £2.50, to reflect the additional time and effort required to prepare cheques for the bank and pay them in. If this causes a problem please contact us on central@trecgroup.co.uk (or email the Treasurer directly via helen.martin@trecgroup.co.uk).