Riding for the Disabled (RDA) Tasmania is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and they are on the lookout for Kingborough residents to share their stories.
As part of the golden anniversary celebrations, RDA Tasmania is launching a community storytelling campaign, inviting past and present participants, volunteers and supporters to share their personal experiences with the organisation.
RDA Tasmania established a centre in Kingston back in 1975, initially on a property belonging to the parents of former premier of Tasmania Will Hodgman on Summerleas Road.
The centre moved to the Kingborough Sports Centre in 1993, using Gormley Drive for the arena and their grazing area was what would later become Twin Ovals.
After approximately 15 years, Kingborough Council wanted to transform the grazing area into Twin Ovals and RDA had to return the land to Council.
The RDA’s Kingborough centre moved around a number of properties in the early 2000s, unable to find a site that met their requirements for a permanent home.
In 2020, RDA Tasmania decided to amalgamate their Kingborough and Glenorchy centres to become RDA South, operating out of 500 Kalang Avenue, Glenorchy.
“We still have a lot of input from Kingborough,” RDA South Executive Officer Claudia Nevah said.
“We have lots of volunteers and coaches in Kingborough all going to the Glenorchy centre.”
Claudia reminisced that in its earlier days, RDA’s Kingborough centre saw a lot of participants from schools as far as Geeveston Primary School attend, as well as those closer to home from Kingston, Blackmans Bay and Illawarra.
She is hoping some of these participants have memories to share.
Community members interested in sharing their RDA Tasmania stories are encouraged to contact Claudia on 0429 943 247 or email admin@rdatas.org.au
“Every success at RDA Tasmania represents countless hours of dedication from our volunteers and the remarkable determination of our participants,” said RDA Tasmania Chair Stephanie Mirowski.
“We want to capture and share these stories as part of our history.
“This milestone belongs to every Tasmanian who has been part of our journey.
“Together, we’ve built something truly extraordinary, and we’re excited to shape an even more impactful future for the next 50 years.”
