A few years ago, a young Ollie Bastone went to watch his mom Jackie volunteer with Stafford and District RDA at Rodbaston College. He became enthralled by what he saw riders, horses and volunteers achieve and became determined to be involved. As soon as he was old enough to be a volunteer for the group he signed up and has been helping ever since.

Ollie Bastone is now an 18yr old Agricultural Apprentice who still finds time to help. One evening, after an RDA session, he came up with the idea of a Charity Tractor run to raise funds for the group. His aim was to help raise a few hundred pounds to donate to the charity to help funding their work. He asked his father Mark what he thought about it, Mark agreed to help him ‘give it a go’. Little did they realise it would be so popular and gather so much support. Ollie’s girlfriend Connie, also an Agricultural Apprentice, volunteered to help.

After quite a few hours of phone calls, emails, messages and pages of official paperwork, a tractor run was organised for Sunday 21st Dec 2025. The Tractor Run started from Moor’s Covert farm in Bednall, where Ollie works, and wove its way round the local countryside for a total of 22 miles ending up back at the farm. The Run was a colourful and lively evening with 32 tractors taking part. Everyone who joined in thoroughly enjoyed it. The support along the way was truly heartwarming.

Ollie said ” I’ll be honest, I didn’t think it would be this good. I was hoping for a small amount of money to go to the Stafford & District RDA, which as many of you know is a charity that I help with on a weekly basis. I get to see what an amazing difference this charity makes to people who struggle to do some of the things we do on a daily basis. But this charity gives them a new perspective on how they are no different to anyone else, they can make lifelong friends within the groups (I know I certainly have) and experience mental and physical support through horses.

Ollie expected to make a few hundred pounds but everyone’s donations were astounding and the final fundraising total stands at a truly amazing amount of £7077.38.

A cheque for that amount was presented to the trustees during an RDA lesson on the 20th of January 2026 at Rodbaston College. Ollie’s Mom Jackie was a coach for the riders on that evening and Ollie was leading a horse.

Feeling inspired? Take on your own fundraising challenge, join a challenge event, and help raise life-changing funds for RDA!