Farewell to much-loved occasion organiser, volunteer and proprietor

Jill Lamont, the long-standing occasion organiser, volunteer and proprietor died on 28 August, aged 85.

Jill developed a ardour for horses from an early age, spending a lot of her time serving to at White Horse Stables, earlier than she obtained her first pony aged 16.

When Jill left college she labored as a lab technician on the Queen’s Veterinary College Hospital on the College of Cambridge, and right here she met Peter. The couple married and moved to Bisley, Surrey, the place Peter labored as a virologist on the Central Vet Laboratory in New Haw. The couple welcomed two sons, Mark and David.

In 1966 Peter was seconded to The Ohio State College Faculty of Veterinary Drugs for a analysis fellowship and the household moved to Columbus for 18 months. On their return, Jill purchased a Welsh pony, Jessie, and taught Mark and David to experience. Quickly after she purchased Laverock, so the youngsters may experience collectively.

Mark and David joined the Pirbright department of the Pony Membership, the place Jill grew to become treasurer and Peter district commissioner. Jill and Peter organised one-day occasions for the Pony Membership at Roker’s Farm in Worplesdon, and this began their involvement in eventing.

As Mark and David continued within the sport of their teenage years, Jill and Peter started volunteering. They met Invoice and Anne Allen and have become a widely known group within the eventing neighborhood; Jill as organiser and secretary, Anne as entries secretary and scorer, and Invoice and Peter as cross-country starters, at many occasions together with Dauntsey Park, Purston Manor and Tweseldown.

Additionally they volunteered at fixtures together with Blenheim, Chatsworth and Withington Manor, and officiated on the 2006 Asian Video games and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Along with supporting Mark and David and proudly owning their horses, Jill owned four-star eventer Lebowski, ridden by Beanie Sturgis. Jill and Peter had been additionally keen on travelling, and loved visiting locations all over the world with family and friends.

Jill was predeceased by Peter in 2015. She is survived by Mark and David, and her grandchildren Henry, Sam, Hugh, Beth, Sophie and Matthew.

H&H senior information author

Since becoming a member of H&H in 2018, Becky has lined a broad vary of equestrian information together with welfare issues, veterinary research, FEI Tribunal hearings and street security campaigns. She has additionally interviewed prime riders together with Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to call only a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, in addition to the Royal Highland and Blair Fortress Worldwide Horse Trials nearer to dwelling. She was additionally a key a part of the distant reporting group for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.