A Royal honour for RDA stalwart Sam

Sam Orde, chair of Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) UK from 2010 to March 2019, has received an OBE for services to disabled people. She began volunteering with the Morpeth RDA group, formed in 1971, in 1995 as a side helper and became lead coach within two years.

After “great support” from the group’s previous two locations at a site just outside Longhorsley and Benridge Riding Centre, the move to the Pegasus Centre at Tranwell in 2009 meant riders could benefit from high-quality indoor and outdoor arenas, as well as an education room.

Sam and other members worked with the former Castle Morpeth Council, Northumberland County Council and Active Northumberland on the £1.2million project.

It has hosted major competitions and Morpeth RDA riders have been successful at regional and national level.

Sam has been praised by the RDA for her efforts, such as being instrumental in the building of RDA’s first ever National Training Centre, and all this combined with her occupation as an uplands livestock farmer at Coltpark Farm near Netherwitton.

She said: “I have loved it from day one – the teamwork, the people, and the opportunity every week to make a real difference.

“The news of the OBE was a complete surprise, but a lovely one. It has given me an opportunity to reflect on 25 happy years with an organisation that means so much.

“I’m delighted to receive this honour and I feel this is also an award for the people I have worked with, including the many wonderful volunteers, in the Morpeth group and RDA UK.

“Riding provides therapeutic benefits, as well as plenty of fun, to disabled people and the Pegasus Centre has helped thousands of people since it opened.

“I was Morpeth RDA lead coach for 22 years and I am no longer doing this due to my other time commitments. I am now a supporter of the group from the sidelines, so I sponsor a pony and give other support when I can.”

Sam’s delighted family include husband Michael and their adult children Jasmine and William.

She is currently chair of Activity Alliance, the operating name for the English Federation of Disability Sport, and is also a trustee for the London Marathon Charitable Trust.

Meanwhile, an MBE for services to higher education has been awarded to former Newcastle University employee Lesley Braiden, of Ponteland, in recognition of her significant contribution to widening participation into higher education – especially for disadvantaged children in the North East.

Lesley joined Newcastle University in 1987 in the admissions team, where she quickly developed her role into a new focus on attracting students to enter higher education who would not have traditionally considered this as an option.

Throughout her career, widening participation remained the cornerstone of her work as she progressed in levels of seniority, becoming Academic Registrar in 2013 until she retired in 2019.

She developed the PARTNERS Programme, the University’s nationally acclaimed flagship widening participation approach.

Now in its 21st year, PARTNERS has, to date, supported the admission to Newcastle University of 4,668 eligible widening participation students by providing a series of additional educational opportunities, including summer schools.

Lesley helped the university pioneer the concept of contextual offers, making lower grade offers to students with the potential to succeed – a practice now widespread in leading universities.

The students receive additional support on registration and their degree results are compatible with those who enter through conventional routes.