Statement by sacked volunteers in response to CEO Mike Baker

After reading the statement we would like to make a a few points. 1) We would have to disagree when you say that this is not a new policy but just a new way of working. This tends to suggest a mere tinkering of the existing system. Nothing could be further from the truth. The new way of working bears no resemblance to what was set up 13 yrs. ago by Dr. Svendsen. The core values at the heart of the old system were very much based on enjoyment and physical and emotional growth. This was monitored by volunteers on a weekly basis.When the staff were told that in our opinion the new system were not achieving any of these aims, we were told" that's not what it is about." 2) You state that this new system allows more children to have wonderful breakthroughs. Yet under the old system pre school children were allowed to attend the sessions. These were told that they did not fit into the new system and could no longer attend. This was said right in front of us and we witnessed first hand the sad reaction from the parents. They were told that they could attend the Saturday club which is held once a month. This was a club where families could bring their disabled children and siblings to have donkey rides. This was done on a drop in basis. This has now been altered by excluding siblings and the parents having to make an appointment in advance should they wish to attend. Anyone who has a disabled child knows just how difficult having to plan ahead like this can be. Another factor that promotes exclusion rather than inclusion are the hours that the sanctuary is open to the public. During the week the visiting times have been reduced from 9am-5pm to 3pm-5pm. This applies even in school holidays. Should someone not being aware of this change arrive outside the allotted hours they are turned away regardless of their circumstances or distance travelled. These are just some of the changes, there are others, that we have disagreed with over the recent months. As for the "wonderful breakthroughs" we are constantly told are happening we have yet to see them. Although these were witnessed by us on many occasions under the old system. 3) You say that the positive effects of these sessions continue long after the interaction. We would love to know how you know this as this was one of the points we raised last week when we questioned how this was going to benefit these children long term. We were told they couldn't answer that as none of the data has yet been analysed. 4) You are correct to say that over the last 10 months there have been meetings and discussions with staff and volunteers. This however implies some sort of consultation exercise where in effect these were nothing more than indoctrination sessions where any form of criticism was ignored. 5) As for the small number of volunteers you referred to who are not on board with the new programme we feel this is a little misleading. As well as the 7 sacked volunteers, we personally know of 6 other volunteers who have left Manchester of their own volition who also did not like the new way of working. We are also aware that some volunteers have left from other DAT centres for the same reason. We also know that two of the schools that attended Manchester have now pulled out as they said they didn't feel this programme was meeting their children's needs. 6) As you say there is much more to this than initially meets the eye. Hopefully some of the points raised here will address these issues. We do however take exception to this comment as we feel that people may take an inference that it implies we have done something wrong. We would also like to make it clear that this was not a mutual decision to leave, we were in fact dismissed. We would just like to say in conclusion that we we were in no way instrumental in starting this petition, but we are very grateful to everyone who has taken the trouble to support us. This issue is not really about us, but is and always has been about providing a safe and happy environment for both children and donkeys as per Dr. Svendsen's legacy The Manchester 7 sacked volunteers.