Brian with ponies. Photo copyright of Apex Photo Agency Limited
As many of you may already know, Brian Kind has had to retire from the Mare & Foal Sanctuary due to ill health. His presence and invaluable contributions towards its day-to-day running will be sadly missed by staff, volunteers and Trustees alike.
His training as an accountant and also as a business consultant was invaluable to the charity and it brought with it a steadying influence. Brian is a very sociable person, and he enjoyed having a wide circle of friends that included professional associates who were a great help and gave their advice freely.
Rosemary recalls: “The first time I went to the pony sales was while we were living at a farm near Chudleigh. I said that I would come back with two ponies to see how trainable the wild ponies were. In the event, I came back with six. I thought he wouldn’t notice them until the next morning, but he did.
“He didn’t speak to me for a day, but then afterwards he gave me the best possible advice. He said: ‘If you are going to do this, you could do it properly and become a Registered Charity.”
And so the Mare & Foal Sanctuary was founded in 1988, becoming a Registered Charity in 1992.
While Rosemary concentrated on the equestrian side of things, Brian put his many years of working in the finance industry to good use in controlling the management and accounting side.
Together they worked tirelessly, researching their subject matter meticulously with visits to equine charities elsewhere in the UK at the time where they would pick up best practice tips from those more experienced.
With limited funds they relied as any charity does on the goodwill of others, engaging the support of their family and their many friends in the Torbay area at their earliest fundraising events as they found their feet.
“We lived it all the time,” remembers Rosemary. “The charity took over our lives.”
Soon the charity began to bloom into the organisation it has become today. By the time of Brian’s departure, towards the end of 2011, the Mare & Foal Sanctuary had rescued and rehomed hundreds of horses and ponies across the South West.
It had also become an RSPCA-approved equine rescue centre and established a head office at Honeysuckle Farm, near Newton Abbot, and a separate Visitor Centre at Littlehempston, near Totnes.
“Like myself, Brian is quite a precise person, so if anything was done it had to be done right,” says Rosemary. She adds that while quite at home in his big black leather office chair with his head among the books, he was very fond of animals too – and especially had a soft spot for cats and kittens.
“His cats would stay in the office with him all day in the early days, usually sitting in his in-tray,” she recalls.
In his own time, Brian loved to sail around the South West coast and was a member of the Royal Torbay Yacht Club (RTYC).
Rosemary says: “What Brian brought to my life and to the Sanctuary was stability and business acumen.”
Staff and Trustees will remember Brian with great warmth too. Even towards the end of his working life at the Sanctuary as his illness progressed, the spark of enthusiasm and excitement about life and adventure remained. He is somebody who leaves a lasting impression which commands both affection and respect.
On behalf of everyone at the Mare & Foal Sanctuary, we would like to say thank you to Brian Kind for everything he has done.
Outside work Brian loved sailing around the South West coast
