Derbyshire Pony Trekking help to raise funds for Ashgate Hospice
Derbyshire Pony Trekking (in conjunction with The Sanitaryware Supplies Company) helped to raise over £1500. By calling themselves The Villiage Idiots and dressing up as the Teletubbies they entered the Scarcliffe Soap Box Derby and came 21st out of 41 entrants.
On one of the hotest days in June 2019 they managed to steer the Teletubbie go kart and complete the whole course twice, encountering chicanes, ramps and a few bumps and giggles along the way.
Thanks to all who sponsored us and helped us all achieve this. Watch out for next year and let's see what the theme will be???
Tripadvisor Accolade for Derbyshire Pony Trekking
Derbyshire Pony Trekking has received the Certificate of Excellence award from online review site, Tripadvisor for 2015 & 2016.
A family business owned by Jayne Dukelow, the popular Trekking Centre in Upper Langwith, was given a certificate of excellence after receiving consistent outstanding reviews from visitors.
The centre has a wide customer base catering for customers from both local and far afield including foreign visitors both adults and children enjoying their off road pony trekking experience in beautiful scenery.
The business operates in Upper Langwith showcasing the beautiful Derbyshire Countryside and has proved popular with hundreds of customers looking it up on social media. Derbyshire Pony Trekking usually take a photo of their customers whilst on horseback, which most people love as it is a keepsake of their fantastic day out on horseback.
Owner Jayne Dukelow said: “I am so proud that we have achieved this award in such a short space of time, we will strive to continue the high standard of customer service that we offer to all our customers old and young and it is an honour to have been given this award. We couldn’t do it without our well behaved four legged friends, my daughter Zoe and our wonderful volunteers” As a business we are now only into our fourth year of trading, to have Achieved this after only being listed on Trip Advisor for two years is a real privilege. I’d like to thank all our customers for all their support who have enjoyed themselves and left positive feedback.”
24 Hour Ride raises £1293.37 for Ashgate Hospice
A group of horse riders have taken part in a 24 hour ride to help raise funds for their local hospice.
Staff and customers from Derbyshire Pony Trekking in Upper Langwith took part in a horse riding relay lasting a total of 24 hours, raising £1,293.37 for Ashgate Hospice in Chesterfield.
Derbyshire Pony Trekking Proprietor, Jayne Dukelow, said, “A 24 hour sponsored ride always seemed like a challenging but also fun idea to do and we had plenty of demand from customers wanting to join in the good cause.”
The idea for the challenge came from Jayne’s daughter, Zoe Clayton, who wanted to raise funds for the hospice following the care provided to her grandma, Cynthia Clayton, who died in April from cancer.
Jayne added, “Zoe wanted to create some good after losing her Grandma and she had also lost her Granddad, Brian Clayton just 4 months after her Grandma had passed away.
“Zoe was able to see all the fantastic palliative care and amazing work that the staff do at the hospice. She wanted to do something to thank them for caring so well for her grandma in her last few weeks of her life.”
“Over the 24 hours, we achieved an amazing 68 miles between us all. It was a tiring and very long day with many numb bums and achy legs. We also set up a raffle to win a 2 hour ride for 2 people, which raised lots of money.
“We’d like to say a massive thank you to all our customers, friends, suppliers and family who participated in helping to raise this fantastic sum!”
Thanks to the kindness and generosity of everyone who supported and took part in the 24 hour ride, the money raised will allow five patients to recieve 24 hours of specialist care at the hospice.
Zoe Clayton - Apprentice of the Year 2013
We are very happy and proud to announce the winner of The Derbyshire Times Awards 2013, Apprentice of the Year is Zoe Clayton. Zoe and the team attended the Awards show at the Chesterfield Proact Stadium on the 21st November.
Here is some information about Zoe:
Zoe started working at Derbyshire Pony Trekking on 1 October 2012 , as an Apprentice Yard Manager , when she was 18 year old. She has many years of experience with horses through riding her own horses from then age of 4, and breaking her second pony in when she was just 12 years old. Although she had never worked in the equestrian vocation, when she first started was very confident in the way she carried out her manual tasks and her NVQ work, but when dealing with people was a very shy type of person (in particular with people she did not know). Within 6 weeks, her confidence had soared and she was dealing with all types of customers face to face on a daily basis. This was evident with many of our customers raving about how lovely and approachable she was and how she had made their trek really enjoyable through the way in which she approached the ride. Feeling totally at ease and safe in her company they felt confident and in tune with the horses. Horse riding has always been a true passion of Zoe’s, and she has thrown herself fully into the role with great enthusiasm.
She has a natural flair for a managerial role, which she has never had any previous experience in, but is very good at organising/training work experience students and also volunteers, two of them being double her age! She has this air of authority which flows naturally and is very patient with people.
We have a broad base of customers from 4 years old to pensioners and we also look after disabled people. For a young person of 19 years of age it is admirable the way Zoe manages to cope with all types of people across all age groups.
In December, the proprietor of the business fell ill unexpectedly and was taken into hospital and was out of action for a whole 2 months. During this period, Zoe looked after the business all by herself and kept it going without a flaw. I cannot commend Zoe enough for being so committed in this difficult situation. She often gave up her own personal time to check emails, bookings and all other roles that the proprietor usually did. This after only 2 months in the role!
Because we offer trekking all year round, even in the harsh winter of last year, she carried on through a foot (or more) of snow (regularly getting cold and wet) to keep our customers happy.
She is always up to date with her NVQ work, never has to be chased and is a leading student , now training with Olympic show jumpers as she advances her career.
Well done Zoe, we’re all very proud.
Derbyshire Pony Trekking raise £1107.75 for Breast Cancer Campaign Week
Derbyshire Pony Trekking held a full week of PINK filled FUN in aid of Breast Cancer. The proprietor Jayne Dukelow commented “There is a high percentage of women affected by Breast Cancer and if not affected personally themselves they know someone be it friend or family that it has affected. I myself had a scare a few years back and luckily for me it was a false alarm, my sister and a good friend of mine had it and to date they are both in remission. An ex- colleague with whom I worked with for over 10 years has just been diagnosed and is currently undergoing treatment”.
With our family run business reaching it’s first anniversary we thought we would mark the occasion in a way that would also benefit others but which would also be fun ……… so PINK WEEK it was!!”.
We had ladies riding in PINK; Tutu’s , Wigs, Onsie’s, Feather Boas, Bras & Pants worn outside their clothing etc , all of course on PINKED UP Horses and Ponies…even the male horses!! We certainly got some strange looks when riding around the area.
Our Customer’s either did a sponsored ride or gave a donation, one of our friends did a sponsored dressage test and we matched 10% of all monies raised, we also had a ‘Derbyshire Pony Trekking Calendar’ printed at our cost and the profit went solely towards the campaign.
We set a modest target of £100 seeing as it was our first charity campaign we weren't sure what response we would get but in all we managed to raise a fantastic sum of £1107.75 not bad for our first time!
A massive thank you to all our customers, friends and family who participated in helping to raise this fantastic sum!
Match Ball Sponsor at Chesterfield FC
Derbyshire Pony Trekking was the Match Ball sponsors on the 2nd November at the Proact Stadium, Chesterfield. Zoe Clayton partner of DPT represented the business, along with taking three regular customers Annette Edwards, Kelly Mountain and Jade Bark. All enjoyed a four course meal, a tour around the stadium, a signed Chesterfield football to take home, an announcement for DPT over the tannoy for 6000 people to hear, walking onto the pitch just before the start of the game for photos with footballers. Chesterfield played Scunthorpe united and drew 1-1 on the day. Thank you to all at Chesterfield FC for a perfect day.