Money raised by you for Sport Relief helps disadvantaged people across the world.

Carrie, 13, Ride High Project in Milton Keynes

Two years ago, Carrie’s life became a nightmare when she became the target of vicious bullying by other pupils at her school. She was so unhappy that she began suffering with depression. She would have panic attacks and struggle to cope with everyday life. She stayed away from school for a day here and there, but as the bullying worsened her mental health deteriorated. 

Understandably, Carrie’s mum was very worried about her. Carrie began to work through her difficulties with a psychologist and managed to get her depression and anxiety under control.

Carrie has always been passionate about horses and found out about Ride High after her cousin told her about it. She looks forward to it every week. “The horses have a therapeutic effect on me. I feel like I get a break from everything when I’m here.” Ride High has boosted her confidence as a young person and she has made a close friend with one of the other members, Rachael.

Back at school, things are better too and Carrie feels better equipped to deal with any taunts. In fact, the bullying has actually now stopped. Her anxiety and depression are also under control. She hopes to keep coming until she’s 18 when she hopes to go on to have a career working with horses.

The Project

Ride High helps disadvantaged and troubled children by teaching them to ride and care for horses. By providing a structured environment for learning, they build self-esteem and develop personal skills.

Bradley, L’Dub BMX project
in Bristol

Bradley was diagnosed with leukaemia when he was two years old. For the next four years he was in and out of hospital battling the condition and fighting for his life. Thankfully, he was given the all clear when he was six and finally he was allowed to go to school.

But growing up was still tough for Bradley and anything but normal.  The illness had weakened his immune system so that he still needed to be very careful about playing outside and was unable join in normal games with other children, so he struggled to make friends.

The turning point came when Bradley started to take an interest in BMX racing. When he was ten this led him to the Comic Relief funded L’Dub BMX group which is held on a track close to his house. Bradley says: “I didn’t really have friends before I came here, but I got the confidence to speak to people as everyone is really nice and we had a mutual interest in bikes. Now I have loads of mates.”

Bradley has now been coming to L’Dub for over two years. Bradley says: “This track is brilliant, it keeps kids in the area off the streets with somewhere fun to go to. We also do some good stuff to help the community like painting buildings or clearing areas of wasteland.”

The Project

L’Dub works with young people to buy equipment, improve the BMX track, facilitate trips to bike competitions and provide training by professionals. These activities are intended to boost the self-esteem, confidence and desire to achieve of youths in the area.

For more information about Sport Relief and how you can get involved go to sportrelief.com/milo, where you can also watch interactive comics about other children around the world who are supported by Sport Relief money.