EASTLAKE Riding Stables at Belstone ensured a happy day for Parth Joshi, the 14-year-old boy who was rescued from an earthquake in India three years ago.
Parth went out for a ride on Dartmoor on Saturday, June 5, with a horse called Gingernut. He was joined by his father, Pradip, John Miller, Billy McPhee and staff from the stables.
Parth was just ten years old when the earthquake hit his home town of Bhuj in the state of Gujarat, killing his mother and brother. He was rescued from the rubble of his home by Okehampton-based international rescue team RAPID-UK and has made regular return visits to Britain.
His English is improving and he is said to be doing very well at school.
While Parth was out riding, Graham Payne, director of RAPID-UK, Caroline Miller, Christine McPhee, Geraldine Jury and Carol Payne went for a walk on the moor and around Belstone village with Parth?s stepmother Gita.
After the ride, everyone enjoyed a late lunch at the Fox and Hounds Hotel, where Frank and Sue Ward and David welcomed everyone.
The horse-riding trip was part of Parth?s most recent visit to Britain to continue treatment and be fitted with a new prosthetic leg at the Oxfordshire-based OrthoEurope Medical Centre. Doctors there have agreed to give Parth free leg replacements until he stops growing.
Before returning to India, Parth and his family will be staying with Les and Mary Spence and then for a few days with one of his rescuers, Nick Spence.
RAPID-UK is a publicly-funded charity which operates both abroad and in the UK in search and rescue operations following major disasters.
For more information about RAPID-UK and its work or to make a donation contact the charity?s head office at Beech Lodge, Jacobstowe, Okehampton, telephone 01837 851443.
RIGHT: Parth with RAPID-UK director Graham Payne, and, on horseback, his father, Pradip, and RAPID?s John Miller.
Picture by Ian Snell