Gardie Grissell: Organiser

Gardie is joint owner of the Brightling Park Estate with his brother Henry. He has been organising horse trials and other equine events at Brightling since 1987. He has also been successfully training racehorses at Brightling since 1976. As a trainer of racehorses he understands the importance of producing good ground conditions. He aims to provide safe and enjoyable tracks at Brightling to which people will return year after year.

Charlotte lives in Brightling and with her husband Fraser owns the only flat field in the Village. Hence, that is where we hold the dressage. Charlotte assists Gardie on the not inconsiderable administrative side of running a BE horse trial. She has considerable experience in her own right of organising hunter trials and other equine events.

Jenny has been involved with Brightling for over 20 years. She runs the secretaries office over the weekend and is basically the first person competitors meet on arrival. She has a vast experience of eventing, being the long standing organiser of the South of England and Eridge horse trials. She is a horse trials owner and the mother of international star Pippa Funnell.

Roz is a well known local riding instructor with a great understanding of Dressage. She and her team organise the judges and stewards and insure that the dressage element of the event runs smoothly. She does likewise at other southern shows.

Cindy is a well known show jumper and eventer in her own right. She is a top class instructor as well as being the mother of junior gold medallist Emily Llewellyn.
She runs the show jumping element of the event.

Cherry has been involved with the Pony Club for many years and is currently national chairman. She is responsible for recruiting all the fence judges, stewards and other cross country volunteers. A small army of people. They also have to be nourished during the day and Cherry and her daughter Emma feed them and organise the “bun run”.

Scott is a qualified and officially recognised BE course designer and builder. He is responsible for most cross country courses in the South East and has been involved with Brightling for some 15 years. He is also a long standing member of the construction team at Burghley, where he has gained vast experience working with the likes of Philip Herbert and Mark Phillips.

Anna is a Swedish international, based locally. She is a regular competitor at Brightling and advises the organisers’ from a competitor’s point of view.