Ailsa’s Aim

03/09/2026

02/09/2026

♿🚻 AIM HIGH – ACCESSIBILITY, TOILETS, SEATING & INCLUSION 🚻♿
We want Aim High Festival to be a day where everyone feels welcome, included and able to enjoy themselves. 💚
📅 Saturday 19th September
⏰ 12pm–8pm
📍 Saffron Road Recreation Ground, Higham Ferrers
🎟️ FREE ENTRY and FREE activities!
🚻 Toilets will be available across the festival, including accessible toilets.
🪑 We will have hay bales around the site to provide seating and places to rest. You are also very welcome to bring your own camping chairs, picnic blankets or other portable seating — especially if you know you will need a comfortable place to sit during the day.
♿ We are working hard to make the festival as accessible and inclusive as possible. Our dedicated SEND area will be located in Chichele Gardens, offering a quieter space away from the busiest parts of the main festival.
Please remember that this is an outdoor festival on public recreation grounds, so some areas may be uneven and accessibility can be affected by the weather. If you need help while you are there, please speak to one of our volunteers.
🍺 You are welcome to enjoy a drink from one of our official festival bars, but no alcohol may be consumed within our festival areas unless it has been purchased from one of our authorised traders. Please do not bring your own alcohol into the festival areas.
Aim High is completely free to attend, but it certainly hasn’t been free to put on! Every ride, activity, performance and inclusive space has had to be funded.
If you are able to help us, please donate to our Aim High JustGiving page. Even a few pounds will help us cover the cost of creating this enormous free day for the community. 💚
👍 Please LIKE and FOLLOW our social media pages
📣 SHARE this post everywhere
💷 DONATE through our Aim High JustGiving page
👫 TAG the people you’re bringing!
The more people who follow and share our pages, the more people we can reach — and the more support we can raise for Ailsa’s Aim.
A huge free festival, created by the community, for the community. We cannot wait to welcome you! 💚

02/09/2026

🍺🥂 MEET THE BARS JOINING US AT AIM HIGH! 🥂🍺

A festival wouldn’t be a festival without somewhere to grab a refreshing drink, and we have some fantastic local bars joining us across the Aim High festival sites! 🎉

📍 SAFFRON ROAD RECREATION GROUND
🍻The Bell - Little Addington

The Bell will be serving on our main festival field, keeping you refreshed while you enjoy the stage, free rides, activities, entertainment and everything else happening throughout the day!

📍 AIM HIGH VIP AREA
🍸 Halfyard's

Halfyard will be looking after our VIP area and making sure our guests and sponsors are very well catered for. A huge thank you to them for joining us!

📍 CASTLE FIELDS
🥂 Saxby's Cider

If you’re visiting the medieval activities at Castle Fields, you’ll also be able to purchase drinks from Saxby’s.

Please support the brilliant official traders who are helping us make Aim High happen. 💚

⚠️ IMPORTANT FESTIVAL INFORMATION

Alcohol may only be consumed within our festival areas if it has been purchased from one of our authorised onsite traders. Please do not bring your own alcohol into the festival areas.

📅 Saturday 19th September
⏰ 12pm–8pm
📍 Saffron Road Recreation Ground and surrounding festival areas, Higham Ferrers
🎟️ FREE ENTRY and FREE activities!

Aim High is free for the community, but it has cost an enormous amount to create. If you can spare even a few pounds, please donate through our Aim High JustGiving page. Every donation helps us fund the rides, entertainment, accessibility, SEND provision, security, toilets and everything needed to deliver the day safely.

👍 LIKE and FOLLOW our social media pages
📣 SHARE this post far and wide
💷 DONATE to our Aim High JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/page/aimhigh2026?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL
👫 TAG your festival friends!

Thank you to The Bell Little Addington, Halfyard and Saxby’s for joining us — we cannot wait to raise a glass with you at Aim High! 🍻💚

Please drink responsibly.

01/09/2026

🏆💚 WE HAVE SOME VERY EXCITING NEWS! 💚🏆

Ailsa’s Aim has been selected as a BRONZE WINNER in the Charity of the Year category at the Great British Business & Community Awards 2026! 🎉

There were more than 159 nominations in our category alone and over 2,770 nominations across the awards, so to have reached this stage is an incredible achievement for our little charity.

Even more excitingly, all Bronze Winners now progress to the final judging day on 6th September, when the Silver and Gold Winners will be chosen. So, we aren’t finished yet! 👀🏆

We could not have achieved this without our amazing trustees, volunteers, donors, fundraisers, business supporters and everyone who shares our work. Most importantly, we do it all for the people affected by cancer and the families with babies receiving neonatal care who trust us to support them through some of their hardest days.

It has been a particularly difficult year behind the scenes, which makes this recognition feel even more special. We are incredibly proud of how far Ailsa’s Aim has come and of every care pack, RADAR key, yoga session, respite break and moment of kindness we have been able to provide.

Thank you to the Great British Business & Community Awards for recognising our work. Now we wait for the final judging day… please keep everything crossed for us! 🤞💚

01/09/2026

We are in the kids zone. We are so grateful and thankful to OlneyEvents for having us back this year 💚💚

Ailsa’s Aim are looking forward to running Kidzone at this years BOFF , and helping to make this a special event for all the younger children.
The Great Gappo will also be there!

01/09/2026

🏇🦄 AIM HIGH HOBBY HORSE CHAMPIONSHIPS – THIS WEEK’S LEADERBOARD! 🦄🏇

RIGHT THEN.

THIS HAS ESCALATED. 😂😂😂

We decided this week we’re including GIFT AID in the bragging, because frankly, if you lot are going to put this much effort in, we might as well make you look as impressive as possible. 💚

So… here we go.

🥇 Charlotte Jeffs & SNOWSTORM
💰 £430 + Gift Aid

Charlotte was on £420 approximately five minutes before we last checked.

Then she was on £430.

At this point we’re scared to refresh the page. 😂

SNOWSTORM HAS LEFT THE BUILDING.

🥈Jess & SPUDGUN
💰 £305 + £76.25 Gift Aid
🔥 TOTAL VALUE: £381.25

JESS!

Spudgun is galloping up behind Charlotte at an alarming rate. 👀😂

🥉 AMY & RIDE AND INK for Ta**us Tattoo Studio 2026
💰 £200 + £50 Gift Aid
🔥 TOTAL VALUE: £250

THE £200 BARRIER HAS BEEN BROKEN!

Ride and Ink clearly isn’t here for a gentle trot around Higham Ferrers.

4️⃣ BETH & MY HORSE NITWIT
💰 £140 + £35 Gift Aid
🔥 TOTAL VALUE: £175

Former leader.

Still respectable.

Probably plotting.

Definitely competitive. 😂

5️⃣ AILSA & GALLOP
💰 £135 + £26.25 Gift Aid
🔥 TOTAL VALUE: £161.25

SEVEN YEARS OLD.

£161.25 value raised.

ADULT JOCKEYS…

We’ll just leave that there. 👀😂

6️⃣ CHELSEY & PURPLE REIGN – Little Steps Nursery Higham Ferrers (reliably informed it is most certainly not 'RURPLE'
💰 £70 + £17.50 Gift Aid
🔥 TOTAL VALUE: £87.50

And YES…

📣 OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT 📣

Chelsey will be taking the reins of…

💜👑 RURPLE REIGN 👑💜

for Little Steps Day Nursery!

RURPLE REIGN.

Quite frankly, that horse name deserves points before the race even starts. 😂

7️⃣ KELLY & PONY BALONEY
💰 £50 + £12.50 Gift Aid
🔥 TOTAL VALUE: £62.50

Pony Baloney has officially entered the game!

8️⃣ CHARLIE & NEIGH-WAY for Happy Printz
💰 £45 + £11.25 Gift Aid
🔥 TOTAL VALUE: £56.25

9️⃣ SOPHIE & 50 SHADES OF NEIGH
💰 £45 + £6.25 Gift Aid
🔥 TOTAL VALUE: £51.25

Same donations.

Different Gift Aid.

We sense a completely unnecessary argument over who is technically eighth. 😂

🔟 MICHELLE & HORNYCORN
💰 £10 + £2.50 Gift Aid
🔥 TOTAL VALUE: £12.50

And then…

🐴 NICOLAS…

💰 £0
🎁 Gift Aid: also £0.

Nicolas has done the difficult bit.

He has created the JustGiving page.

He has committed publicly to running around with a hobby horse.

And financially…

NOTHING HAS HAPPENED. 😂😂😂

SOMEBODY GIVE NICOLAS A FIVER.

And what about the rest of you?!

ROSANNA… 👀
RIA… 👀
Addacas Accounting… 👀
Higham Ferrers Veterinary Clinic… 👀
Bertie's Pet Store and Grooming… 👀
CLARE… 👀
AMIE… 👀

AND ANY OTHER JOCKEYS HIDING IN THE PADDOCK…

WHERE ARE YOUR PAGES?!

Come on.

This is getting silly.

Although, admittedly, THE ENTIRE EVENT IS SILLY. 😂

But underneath the ridiculous horse names, the competitiveness, the questionable running techniques and the NO EXPENSE SPARED trophy…

there is a very serious reason we are doing this. 💚

Every pound raised helps Ailsa’s Aim continue supporting people affected by cancer and families with babies receiving neonatal care.

It helps us provide care packs, RADAR keys, practical support, respite and services to people going through incredibly difficult times.

That is what all this madness is really about.

And that’s why Gift Aid matters too.

If you’re eligible to Gift Aid your donation, please tick that little box. It can add extra money to the charity without costing you anything more. 💚

🏇 IMPORTANT LEADERBOARD RULES:

This is ONLINE FUNDRAISING ONLY.

The buckets are still lurking in the background. 👀

We will collect the fundraising buckets ONE WEEK BEFORE THE RACE and then add those totals in too.

Which means somebody currently looking rather embarrassing on £0 could turn up with a bucket full of cash and completely ruin Charlotte’s week.

PLEASE LET THAT HAPPEN. 😂😂😂

We also owe all our jockeys an apology.

We’ve been a bit slack getting everyone’s individual posts out while Aim High planning has consumed approximately 147% of our lives.

THIS WEEK WE’RE ON IT.

Expect jockeys.

Expect horses.

Expect JustGiving links.

Expect public humiliation of anyone still sitting on £0.

All done with love, obviously. 💚😂

💚 AND A HUGE THANK YOU TO OUR HOBBY HORSE CHAMPIONSHIP SPONSORS! 💚

A massive thank you to:

🏇 Bertie’s Pet Shop
🏇 Barker & Barnet

None of this madness happens without brilliant local businesses getting behind us.

Toymaster Pavilion have helped with the all-important horses, and all of our sponsors have backed what may possibly be one of the stupidest fundraising ideas we have ever had…

WHICH IS SAYING SOMETHING. 😂

We genuinely couldn’t do events like this without businesses saying:

“Yep, that sounds completely ridiculous… count us in.”

Please show them some love and support the businesses that support Ailsa’s Aim. 💚

Because apparently behind every badly behaved hobby horse is a very generous local business. 😂🦄

🏆 AND REMEMBER…

The highest fundraiser receives our legendary…

✨ NO EXPENSE SPARED TROPHY ✨

Is it solid gold?

No.

Probably.

Maybe.

Absolutely not.

But you WILL want it. 😂

🏇 COME AND WATCH THE RACE!

📅 SATURDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER 2026
⏰ 1PM
📍 BEHIND The Green Dragon Hotel, HIGHAM FERRERS
🎪 AIM HIGH FESTIVAL 2026

Taking part?

SET UP YOUR JUSTGIVING PAGE!

👉 Join the campaign or sponsor your favourite jockey here:
https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/hobbyhorse?utm_medium=CA&utm_source=CL

Watching?

💚 PICK YOUR HORSE
💚 BACK YOUR JOCKEY
💚 THROW THEM A FIVER
💚 SHARE THEIR PAGE
💚 FOLLOW AILSA’S AIM
💚 COME AND WATCH THEM MAKE COMPLETE FOOLS OF THEMSELVES FOR A VERY GOOD REASON

Charlotte has the lead.

Jess is hunting her down.

Amy has broken £200.

Beth is plotting.

Ailsa is embarrassing the adults.

Nicolas needs a donor.

And the buckets haven’t even entered the equation yet.

THE RACE IS VERY MUCH ON. 🔥🏇🦄

01/09/2026

💄💚 “THANK YOU—IT WAS SUCH A TREAT!” 💚💄
We recently received this lovely feedback from someone who received one of our free make-up care packs, and it really made us smile.
These packs are about so much more than the products inside. When someone is going through cancer treatment, a little treat can provide a much-needed lift and remind them that they are seen, supported and thought about.
Thank you to everyone who donates items, purchases from our wish list or raises money to help us create these packs. This is the difference your kindness makes. 💚

01/09/2026

💚🎉 IT’S SEPTEMBER… WHICH MEANS AIM HIGH IS ALMOST HERE! 🎉💚

After months and months of planning, our huge, FREE community festival is now just weeks away!

📅 Saturday 19th September
⏰ 12pm–8pm
📍 Higham Ferrers

So, what can you expect to find at Aim High? 👀

🎤 Live music and entertainment on our main stage
🎡 Three FREE fairground rides
🦄 The Aim High Hobby Horse Championships
🦖 Dinosaurs and circus skills
🎮 Gaming bus
🏰 Medieval reenactment
✨ Face painting and glitter tattoos
🫧 Bubbles, mascots and children’s entertainment
🥁 A 30-piece steel pan band
🧘 Yoga and wellbeing activities
💚 A dedicated SEND area
🛍️ Indoor and outdoor stalls
🍔 Food, drinks and so much more!

We will be releasing the official festival maps very soon, so make sure you like and follow our page for all the latest Aim High news, announcements and updates.

This event would not be possible without the businesses, sponsors, performers, stallholders, suppliers, volunteers, trustees and community groups who have supported us. So many people have donated their time, skills, products and money to help create a day that everyone can enjoy, regardless of their circumstances.

Thank you to every single person involved. We genuinely could not do this without you. 💚

Aim High is free to attend, but it is also a charity fundraising event. If you are able to donate—even just a few pounds—it will help Ailsa’s Aim continue supporting people affected by cancer and families with babies receiving neonatal care.

💚 Donate here:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/aimhigh2026?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL

Please share, invite your friends and get ready—AIM HIGH IS ALMOST HERE! 🎉

01/09/2026

💚 OUR AUGUST UPDATE 💚

In total, Ailsa’s Aim brought in £16,648.74 during August.

This was lower than we had hoped for, but if we are honest, we were barely in the office throughout the month! Even when we have quieter periods, the bills continue, so every donation, purchase and fundraiser really does matter.

On a much lighter note, August still brought some wonderful achievements:

🧘 We funded four yoga sessions, giving people affected by cancer the chance to relax, breathe and spend time with others who understand.

🏖️ We enabled four people to enjoy a much-needed break in our caravan, completely free of charge.

💷 When it wasn’t being used by our beneficiaries, the caravan generated an incredible £1,500 in private rental income for the charity! This helps us cover its running costs and continue providing free respite breaks.

💚 Our care-pack output for 2026 is now back up to almost 14,000 packs!

That figure will be climbing again very shortly, as new deliveries are arriving every day and we are getting ready to send even more support into hospitals.

We are still waiting for August’s Gift Aid claim to be completed, but we estimate that we should be able to claim around another £500.

August may have been a quieter month financially, but nearly 14,000 packs, four yoga sessions and four respite breaks remind us exactly why we keep going.

Thank you to every single person who donated, fundraised, shopped with us, booked the caravan privately or supported us in any way. It all adds up, and it all helps us continue Putting You First. 💚

31/08/2026

A huge thank you to Higham Works for their ongoing support. We are so appreciative guys! You are all legends. 💚💚

A massive thank you to Heidi Granfield for organising the race night too. We will be there, but enjoying a day a night off. 💚💚