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1 Mar 2024
The Racing Foundation was delighted Lauren Semple from the Racing Foundation-funded Scottish Racing Academy (SRA) won the 2024 Community Award at the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards (TIEA), sponsored by Godolphin.
The Community Award recognises individuals who exceed their everyday duties to positively impact people, racehorses, charities, and communities associated with the racing industry.
The SRA was formed in 2019 to enhance horseracing education and training provision in Scotland and the north of England.
The RF has supported the SRA’s development since its pilot and has provided over a million pounds of continuity funding through its four and a half year delivery.
Lauren has made a significant impact since beginning to volunteer with the Academy in 2020.
We sat down with Lauren to learn more about what she does.
Racing Foundation (RF): Lauren, Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Lauren (LS): I have 18 years in service with Police Scotland and I’ve always been in the East End of Glasgow. I’m a mum of two and I’m married. I’ve been riding since I was four, but I didn’t have my own horse until I was 21. I’m a retired grassroots eventer and a pony club mum and I’ve got four half-retired horses now.
RF: How did you come to volunteer at the Scottish Racing Academy?
LS: I am the strength and conditioning coach for Horse Scotland, which is a member of the SRA. That’s where we started chatting about what I do in the community and the kind of kids I work with. It’s so far from my day job, being in the horsey world, because I generally don’t think the kids see any live animals around here other than dogs, cats and rats. There’s not even a cow or a sheep. There are no fields. We’re so densely populated as a residential area and there is no greenery.
I was chatting about how, in a recent murder of a 15-year-old boy, the girl had been involved in the periphery of the incident and involved in the vast majority of the anti-social behaviour. Then we realised there are no diversionary projects in the whole of Glasgow for any age of females. Everything is aimed at boys because they tend to be the primary source of our antisocial behaviour.
This was the idea that started the Strong Girls Club and looking at if we could give these girls this opportunity to see horses.
RF: How did it all start?
LS: We started running taster sessions but what we didn’t want to do was set them up for failure. We didn’t want to sign them up for the courses and by week one or two, find out that this wasn’t for them.
We wanted to make sure it was something they could succeed at. We wanted it to be realistic and it is achievable because they’ve already been let down a lot in their life. We knew it wouldn’t be easy taking kids with no background with horses into a horsey world but it was good – 22 came the first time and they all successfully managed it.
RF: What is your favourite thing about volunteering for the SRA?
LS: I love watching the change in kids, even ones who have joined in cohorts that maybe didn’t fit in and seeing them interact with other kids and build up from not having any understanding with horses.
This year I’ve got three who want to go into racing and they would not have had that opportunity otherwise. That is now their goal.
Everyone in the SRA is so, ‘nothing’s a bother’ and they genuinely bend over backwards. For such a small organisation they encapsulate that and it’s amazing. I just love working with them in that sense, it’s just such a powerful wee organisation to work with. The kids might not have the biggest educational background, but they’re really emotionally intelligent. They know if you don’t like them, they know if you’re being false and the SRA just totally love them. Everyone wants them to succeed and help get there. That’s part of the organisation that makes it so amazing. They genuinely care and they want the kids to do well.
RF: What do you plan to do with the money?
LS: It’s all going back to the project. I’m not taking any so I’m putting it back in so that we can reinvest in the project and get more kids on the programme this year.
RF: What would you say about the importance of initiatives like the SRA in expanding opportunities?
LS: It’s making sure folk know that you don’t need to know about horses and you don’t need to have a horsey background to get involved.
We had one girl who arrived for the taster session and refused to take her crocs off. But by the end of the session, she was refusing to leave the horse alone. She was someone who was so scared of failing more than anything else and didn’t want to embarrass herself but actually just took to it.
I think that we really need to get out there so that horses can be for everyone.
It would be great if more people could have the opportunity to spend time with horses. But it’s so expensive. We need things like the SRA that provide the opportunity to capture these people who otherwise would never even have been on the radar or on the periphery of racing.
