Alternatively, make payment:
by BACS to the Simonsbath Festival account (Sort Code 52-30-42, A/C No. 38041278)
or
by cheque made payable to Simonsbath Festival and post it to: Marian Lloyd, Higher Bradley, Withypool TA24 7RS
or
by calling 07855 670360
Dido Harding – Baroness Harding of Winscombe – has had an illustrious career in business and politics, serving among other things as the chief executive of Talk Talk, as the chair of NHS improvement and, during the pandemic, as head of Test and Trace.
Brought up on a farm in Dorset, however, Harding is also a talented horsewoman who in 1993 borrowed £7000 to buy an Irish thoroughbred, Cool Dawn, so that she could ride in point to points. Five years later the risk paid off. Her 1999 book, Cool Dawn, tells the story of her success against all odds, including a triumph in the 1996 Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham. Cool Dawn subsequently went on to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1998.
Baroness Harding currently serves as Senior Steward of the Jockey Club and, for the Simonsbath festival, she will be talking principally about her equine career. Cool Dawn, she once wrote, “taught me that dreams come true, sometimes, that actually miracles can happen. Isn’t that a great gift? I think it shaped my business career.”
