'Mars' stars as children reach for the sky

by Fiona Jarden | 17th June 2009

WITH the click of  his tongue, Marsden "Mars" Carrad gently led Red to the other end of the pen,
uttering encouraging words to both the gelding  and to young Nicholas perched on top.

Then, for the umpteenth time in his 10 years volunteering at the Welcome Bay Riding for Disabled centre, Mars helped the young rider gain an ounce of confidence and a tonne of joy.

"It doesn't happen overnight, it might take a year to see some major change come about," Mr Carrad said.

He says the rewards make it all worth while. "Just seeing the enormous satisfaction personally and seeing the benefit that arises from the thing ... the little boy that I've had most of the year [Nicholas], he wouldn't go within 100m of the horse, he would burst into tears, he was terrified. A week later he was wanting to get on and never wanting to get off. He is more and more verbal and communicative," Mr Carrad said.

He is among 80 volunteers that currently  help at the centre.

 To mark this week's national Volunteer Awareness Week, the centre's operations manager, Kat Macmillan, said from 8.30am to 10.30am daily  past and present volunteers, sponsors and donors  were invited to a gourmet barbecue at the centre.

"It's a way of saying thank you," she said.

"We want to do a lot more than that. It's just a token, a gesture ... we can never thank them enough.

"They are amazing these people, the time they dedicate."

Mrs Macmillan said volunteers aged 11 to 75 lend a hand at the centre on a regular basis.

 "We are just completely dependant on volunteers to run this organisation. And it's not just with the riding  that they have helped."

Farm work, maintenance work, office work and fundraising work  all involve volunteers, she said.