DISABLED horse riders are celebrating after they scooped £4,000 of funding to carry out work on an indoor arena.

Work has been carried out at the Wear Valley Riding for the Disabled to improve the riding surface in its arena.

The project at Three Lane Ends Farm, Escomb, near to Bishop Auckland, was funded by a grant from the Santander Community Fund.

The money has been used to pay for a new hard surface for the arena which is used by members of the disabled group and the Riding Centre for Special People.

Kathy Scales, chairwoman of the disabled group, said: “We heard that Santander did community funding and applied for £4,000.

“We received the money that we asked for and now we have got a very good indoor surface at the arena.

“They used a mixture of very fine sand and recycled rubber and it makes a very good surface.

“The old surface had become broken down and the horses were kicking up sand as they were going round.

“The work involved 80 tonnes of sand and this should be okay for the riders for quite a while now.”

Last year the Francis C Scott Charitable Trust gave £10,000 to help with repairs to the arena.

Lynn Brennen, Santander branch manager in Bishop Auckland, said: “It’s fabulous that Santander cares about the local community.

“To be able to give out the money to this group and to be able to see the benefits it brings has been great and it was quite humbling.”