Blewbury. Why??? Why?? Why??

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mbequest

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is it allowed to hold BSJA qualifiers. It's such a dirty little place. It is dark and dingy in the indoor, and was told that they couldnt put all the lights on as they couldnt afford it.

The warm up outdoors was underwater, the cow shed that is the indoor warm up is just diabolical, very small and you've got 3 strides before and after fence before hitting the walls, that is if people arent riding at you!!

The car park is just a joke, tiny muddy and disorganised.

Hot food was stopped before the 3rd last class had finished.

Courses really leave nothing to the imagination.

Surface indoors is rock hard in the middle and then loose and very slippy on either short end.

No where to sit, ok you can sit in the cafe but there are only 4 or so tables, and you cant see anything......

Why does the BSJA allow this place to hold qualifiers......... Ok I only ever go there if there is one, but FFS, there are plenty of better venues.......


But, the people seem nice on the up side?

Maybe someone with money should build a centre in oxfrodshire, they certainly seem to be lacking!!!!
 
mbequest said:
is it allowed to hold BSJA qualifiers. It's such a dirty little place. It is dark and dingy in the indoor, and was told that they couldnt put all the lights on as they couldnt afford it.

The warm up outdoors was underwater, the cow shed that is the indoor warm up is just diabolical, very small and you've got 3 strides before and after fence before hitting the walls, that is if people arent riding at you!!

The car park is just a joke, tiny muddy and disorganised.

Hot food was stopped before the 3rd last class had finished.

Courses really leave nothing to the imagination.

Surface indoors is rock hard in the middle and then loose and very slippy on either short end.

No where to sit, ok you can sit in the cafe but there are only 4 or so tables, and you cant see anything......

Why does the BSJA allow this place to hold qualifiers......... Ok I only ever go there if there is one, but FFS, there are plenty of better venues.......


But, the people seem nice on the up side?

Maybe someone with money should build a centre in oxfrodshire, they certainly seem to be lacking!!!!
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What a shame we used to go here a long time ago and I remember it was always a tad depressing .
Curious as to who owns this now as a million years ago in another lifetime I used to do the owners horse when it was in sj livery elsewhere .

S x
 
They get the qualifiers as they have an indoor and without them places like this would close. I guess its little cr*ppy places v Addington, but do you want Addington to kill off all the small ones?

I totally agree with you and think Blewbury could at least do something about the warm up as its been like that for years.

You didn't mention the piles of scrap and rubbish in the car park, have they moved them then?
 
Haven't been there for years. I can remember when it first started indoor the surface was really nice but the car park was very stony and the place itself was freezing. That said, the decent surface made up for it although never really liked the place as such for some reason. Agree with the comment that it just always seemed depressing.

Can appreciate that finances must be tough for centres but no reason for places to be untidy or dirty.
 
i wish someone would build one in kent the nicest one we have was towerlands !!! everything else is atleast 2 hours away

never been to blewbury but have heard its not great x
 
I chose not to mention the towering pile of muck nor the numerous spare caravans adorning the carpark........

I agree that we should not have places like addington, etc running all the shows and putting the smaller places out of business, however if these smaller centres spent a little money of doing the place up, they would attract the huge majority of people that would prefer to go to a friendly centre rather than one where you are seen as a hinderance.

I mean, if blewbury just sent someone up to the skylights with a broom or a powerwasher to clean them.

Cleared the muck heap from the car park

Gave the walls a lick of paint

it doesnt take much to make a centre look a little less dreary and depressing........

I would like to repeat, the people that run the shows there are nice people. It is a shame that I do not feel that I can support them more because of the facilities. I would be more than happy to spend the considerable amount of entry fees I pay each year to a centre other than addington.
 
It depresses me so much :( It is the only venue I have within an hour, and it is rubbish and I really won't jump there unless I absolutely have to :(

J and I have been looking for somewhere to buy around here for years, with the view of setting up a BSJA centre, but the problems we are finding is access....and pricing!
 
They were stopped from running BD competitions a long time ago now, because of being a dump! LOL. Are there minimum venue criteria for BS? If so, a complaint to them might help a bit. But I agree, we need a good Oxfordshire show centre for BS and BD. Addington isn't far, but it isn't in Oxon either! :)
 
Jen_Cots said:
What is even worse is that fact we have facilities like the Unicorn Trust where they cannot run competitions due to the locals objecting.
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Im am not sure that is the case with the locals objecting anymore but i believe think they only got consent when it was first built if it wasnt too busy and TBH it wouldnt hold a lot of traffic on that stretch of road - but I agree it is such a fantastic space and only 2 miles from me !!!

S x
 
Have to say that I am a Blewbury fan! I went to Addington first time round and felt absolute awful about it. No one was friendly and it was all very pressed whereas at Blewbury they were absolutely lovely, the courses were fine and the warm up is manageable as long as it is not too busy. It's not the poshest place in the world but I am willing to go as it is close, friendly and the courses are good (Same as Addington just not new poles etc etc!

PS: If you sit where they do the entries, you get a chair, a heater and window!
 
Psst mbequest you know your information is on your website? Not the best kept secret (although great site for fantasy shopping)

swellhillcottage the Unicorn planning had to be jigged round to the charity thing because of the council and residents complaining. They are not physically allowed to hold competitions, but got the charity trust as it was deemed to be society enriching etc etc. Don't think they are any plans to fight the planners
 
It's so sad as i am 20mins from there and it would be awesome if it was looked after better!!

To be honest i don't mind the surface in the indoor if not jumping too big, in fact have never had a horse jump badly there, but my biggest bugbear is the warm up. The outdoor is always flooded and boggy and pretty useless, and the indoor warm up is down right dangerous. I have seen numerous horses there go down due to the surface, and one very serious accident where a horse went down and rolled on the rider.

If they could extend the indoor warm up to include the outdoor and put down a decent surface, and a decent surface on the indoor it would be soooo much better.

I read recently in a schedule that they had a new surface in the indoor, so went with expectations of improvement to find a 'new surface' actually meant a bag or two of extra rubber put on top of the existing uneven surface and was v disappointed.

I wouldn't ever jump a decent sized course there now.
 
It is a real shame. Its not changed in 20 years unfortunately.

I see Aston le Walls (although not in Oxon) is having a new Indoor put in at their yard.
With the BD already there, maybe BSJA will follow?
Who knows. Maybe Nigel will go this route if the planned high speed railway line goes through his XC course?

They will obviously have to improve parking, but I would think it would be quite well attended.

There really isnt any good show centres around Oxon unless you are happy to drive 1-2 hours.
 
i like blewberry as like your first couple or BS if your new to BS or a new/young horse cause when i went the jumps werent anything Mega 'OMG', and its not over busy like addington seems to be mega packed when i go... :)
 
Hopefully this message will get through to the right people, seems such a shame when you guys are crying out for a venue.
Whats the line from BS?
Just my thoughts, dont want to start an argument.
Where I live there is NOTHING in the winter,
JC
 
Unicorn Trust - feel as though you have died and gone to indoor school heaven. It is such a pity it can't be used more, but as I understand it was built for personal and charity use and a local didn't like all the horseboxes going past his house, looked up the planning permission regulations and kicked up a fuss so it has to strictly comply with the regulations. I am not sure what it is used for now as I haven't seen anything advertised there for a time, but I am a bit out of things now.

I took my horse for a clinic there once and looked with horror at the pristine stables (NOT a speck of anything anywhere) and thought "how am I going to leave the stable as clean as this?" I wasn't the only one who thought that!
We weren't allowed to take the horses out of the front of the stables into the yard in case they got a shaving on the yard. Everyone was lovely and we found out that they power washed the stables after we had gone, hence the immaculate appearance.
 
TBH, it really doesn't cost anything to tidy up, clean up the food area,fork up the muck heap, keep the loos clean. Cleanliness costs nothing IMO.
 
Blewbury is a disappointment. Tbh I don't care if it isn't brand new squeeky clean etc, but when we went last (seems the same as when you went op) the indoor was v dark, with extremely bright slashes of light from the low sun across the school. 90% of horses didn't go clear in oh's class (it was a second round) and refused at fences into the bright stripes. Blewbury wouldn't put the lights on. Warm up was super stressful as it was a drawn order, so with everyones round being so much quicker than normal, instead of being able to estimate your warmup from the number still to go, and planning it, people were rushed in very quickly. There were people in floods in the warm up and it was just lethal. V badly run I thought to allow the class to continue in that way. We left after the one class instead of oh continuing on to do another class as planned as it was so bloody poor.
Interestingly a BS person did turn up, also had the opportunity to bend said BS person's ear at another BS event a few weeks later and was shocked (well, disgusted really!) to be told that there are no minimum standards for a BS show center!! Had hoped that there would be a minimul h&s level to make the affiliation costs worth it really! There isn't even a minimum size of arena!
Though, tbh if you think Blewbury is bad, you should see Rockhampton (and yes, they also run BS second rounds) - arghhhh!!!
 
That is quite true re BS requirements. we have been assessed for BS shows and we have been given the go ahead if we want to ( I am in Berkshire) . Our arena is 35 x50m approx, they said this was fine. We also said we would have summer classes on the grass and they were over joyed with that! I was suprised at how little they really wanted from you. They were mainly impressed with our toilet and coffee shop!
 
is there some way BS riders and owners could put forward show centres that are good, bad and ugly onto some form of survey/questionnairre? So as not to witch hunt or be downright condescending about venues, more get them onto a 'needs to improve within 12 months' list etc?


or like addington, needs a lobotomy asap....
 
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