Middlesbrough’s Unicorn Centre, a horse riding facility established in 1998 that provides riding opportunities for people with disabilities and learning difficulties, faced closure due to rising costs and funding shortages. However, the centre has secured six months of short-term financial support from the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA), alongside a new management team that has developed a five-year plan to ensure its sustainability. Interim operations manager Kim Upton emphasized the centre’s invaluable role in fostering freedom, happiness, and confidence through horse riding and expressed optimism that the local community would rally to support it.

The RDA highlighted the centre’s vital importance to the community but clarified that their role is to provide temporary stability rather than long-term management, stressing that the future of the Unicorn Centre must be driven by local efforts. To strengthen community involvement, the centre is forming an advisory group, appointing new trustees, and launching initiatives like a Friends of the Unicorn Facebook group to boost fundraising and encourage local organizations to support the charity.