New lives, new roles for retired horses at risk.

Who are they?
GREATWOOD.

Where are they?
Wiltshire.

What do they do?
Provide a home for retired racehorses, whilst helping children with special educational needs.

How big are they?
12 full-time employees.

What did they receive?
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional upgrades, Symantec Norton Anti-Virus.

The outcome?
Systems are upgraded to cope with gradually increasing capacity.

Greatwood is a charity with two distinct but interlinked missions. It was founded in 1990 as a racehorse rescue organisation, taking in and rehoming retired horses that were considered at risk. The charity’s success has been notable. It has attracted substantial support from the equine world and general public alike; the charity prides itself on putting the animals’ welfare above any other concern – including financial – and will never turn away a horse that is at risk.

Along the way, it was noticed that contact with recovering horses was having a markedly positive effect on visiting children with special educational needs. Thus was born ‘Horse Power’ – a formal programme of opportunities for such children to develop life skills and emotional literacy through interaction with the horses. Greatwood now employs qualified special needs teachers; the scheme has been hugely successful and is now in its fifth year.

The charity received donations of Microsoft Windows 7 upgrades and Symantec Norton Anti-Virus.

“As Greatwood was growing, our IT capacity was filling up,” explains Melanie Gee, Trust Fundraiser at Greatwood. “Everything was gradually getting old and slowing down.”

The charity benefits from expertise from technology company Intel, which provides IT consultancy as part of its community outreach activities. “Intel recognised that we needed to upgrade,” says Melanie. “Essentially they told us that if we didn’t do something now then we’d have problems in the future.” The company told the charity about the CTX programme, and arranged for the required upgrades to be ordered.

At the same time, Greatwood’s Norton anti-virus software had expired, with no funds being available for a replacement.

“We thought about trying some free software, but we saw that we could also get Norton through CTX,” says Melanie. “It was such a good price. We couldn’t have afforded it otherwise.”

Like most charities of its ilk, Greatwood finds it difficult to raise money for ‘back office’ functions – vital though they may be.

“The admin side is very important,” insists Melanie. “Getting the donated software from CTX was very straightforward; the website was easy to navigate. We’re sure that we will use them again in the future – it’s definitely an important resource for charities.”