25th June - Poppy II
About a week ago we took in an epileptic staffie called Poppy. She is quite insecure and was facing being put to sleep - like so many of her type (Staffies). She has made friends with Tessy and sleeps curled up with her. I will post her picture as soon as I get a chance.
Blackie Cat (from below) continues to improve, although his leg is still not 100% - will be a few weeks yet I think.
11th June - a wonderful surprise
Today we received a visit from Dean Blackstock - one of the Doctors from the Spinal Health Clinic in Brentwood - who was delivering a donation of £180 raised from a Raffle held at the Clinic's recent Summer Party. The Spinal Health Clinic are Chiropractors dealing with, amongst other things, diet, nutrition, back and neck pain. Their website is HERE so if you do have problems on any of the related issues, check it out - they do come highly recommended from a number of my supporters as, and I quote, small 'miracle workers'!
We are very grateful for the donation and would like to thank all the Clinic staff for organising the Raffle and deciding to support the Sanctuary with the proceeds, and everyone who attended the party helping raise this super donation.
9th June - Blackie Cat pics
From the entry for 5th June below, as promised here are some pictures of Blackie's poorly leg ! A big thank you to those who have got in touch to help with the cost of his vets bills. Thank you very much. Pics HERE
7th June - Sheep Shearing
The Sheep Shearing season is on us again !
Just a plea to ask whether anyone has a portable petrol or diesel generator that will produce more than 300 watts & has a plug socket? Please let us know if you can help - thank you
5th June - Blackie Cat at the Vet
Blackie Cat was a feral who has tamed up and lives outside with the majority of the Cats. Yesterday I thought he had been run over as one of his hind legs was lifted so high as to be almost on his back - looked like it had been dislocated. He was walking on the other 3 legs and was easy to catch and get to House & Jackson Vets. Following an examination it turned out that it was not broken or dislocated but he had cut himself and the wound had become infected causing the leg to swell and be held in a very strange way. The Vet has administered a long lasting antibiotic & expects Blackie to make a full recovery.
If you are able to help us with the £51 vets bill for this we would be very grateful as it is costs like this, on top of the feed bills that we really struggle to find. Thank you from Blackie - a pic will be posted soon.
3rd June - BBC
The Animals Count visit to the Sanctuary was featured on the BBC website - HERE
A short video of the animals is also streaming on the main Animals Count website HERE
2nd June - Animals Count
Today, the Eastern region candidates for the political party "Animals Count" Jasmijn De Boo and Richard Deboo were joined by the Actor Nicholas Ball (amongst other things 'Hazel' in the 70's & currently in Eastenders!) on a trip to Tower Hill Stables to meet Fiona and the gang and to take some publicity shots as part of their campaign for the June 4th Elections.
The shots will soon feature on the Animal Count website HERE, but here are a few pics we took in the meantime!
23rd May - Looby Lou
Clearly having 36 dogs living in the house as well as all the animals outside is a mammoth task, however like so many staffies. Looby Lou was facing the needle, so we said we would take her - Her page is here & she would very much like you to sponsor her !
2nd May - Wish list updated !
Please See here
26th London Marathon
Fiona finished the race 32nd place (4th in age cat) in 2 hours & 58 minutes - a great result, although not the time she would have run if her knee hadn't of hurt so much. As 10 miles she said the pain was so bad that she was almost in tears but then saw a sign that some vegans had put up willing her on & thanking her for what she does for the animals & she pushed on.
Now, don't misurderstand this, a sub 3 hour time is a very good MALE club runners dream time & for a FEMALE it is a fabulous achievement and we are delighted with the result. However Fiona's knee has taken a pounding & she had to see a doctor after the race as it had puffed up considerably. It is actually unbelievable that anyone with a knee replacement is running at all at this level & distance, but to do a sub 3 hour time with one is utterly incredible.
The other "issue" was the women's start. Usually there are 150-200 elite women who have qualified for the elite start by completing a previous race in under 3 hours 15 minutes & in all the previous London Marathon you will have seen a this large number of women athletes all start off 45 mins ahead of the men.
However this year they only let 18 of the top international runners form the elite womens start & all the rest had to start behind the men with the masses in the main race. As expected this cause quite a few issues & there was no way Fiona was going to put in a PB effort from that kind of start. Had she of run harder, she would have probably injured herself badly & we have to think about the animals here as I only have so much holiday from work & Fiona has to do the work of 5 men (that's 5 Big men) alone.
We "understand" & this may not be true, that the reason they did this to the womens race was because last time, the wheel chair racers complained that there were too many women runners in their way - they let the wheel chair racers off between the elite women & the main race. So by only letting 18 of the very fastest women off first, there will only be a few women to get round (for the faster racers) rather than 200 odd. We think it would have been fairer to reduce the qualifying time to 3 hours from 3.15 as that way all the very best females would have had a shot at running a decent race on a clear road - but we don't make the rules...
Needless to say the other elite females finding themselves thrown in behind the men & with the masses were unamused & many will be complaining - although for what that achieves....I wonder what the point is.
Still, its good to know that Fiona still beat Vegan hating Gordon Ramsay by over an hour - & given the male:female factor, thats 90 minutes quicker than him. We have at last, & thanks to Amanda Baker at the Vegan Society, managed to get an article published in the media about this Ramsay vs Oakes story - It's on the Russia Today website see link below.
Russia Today, Today, Tomorrow the UK media? ...perhaps not - if only Fiona had bigger ***'s or 15 illigitimate kids from 23 different fathers or was a foul mouthed as Gordon Ramsay - then they might be interested...
Article here
A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL WHO SUPPORTED FIONA TODAY we really appreciate it
Love from all the Gang ! XXX
23rd - St Georges Day Update
I have updated one more of the Dogs pages - you can now read Snowy's story on the Dogs Page - (click on her picture) or go straight there at this link here
14th April - Another Cockerel Dumped
The Hens wander wherever they like within the bounds of the Sanctuary, however although the property is ring-fenced, the fox tends to make holes in the fence which some of the hens discover and visit the grassy swathe outside the front of the property. We block up the holes, but new ones appear - so it's an uphill struggle ! However, the Hens do not wander & always return to the stables to roost at night.
As I was taking muck across the road this evening I noticed a large white/golden cockerel on the swathe & initially thought it was the one who had been dumped here on 6th April (see below) however he had no red staining under his chin (see explanation below) so I knew it wasn't him. I decided that perhaps he was one of ours afterall & had followed the hens out through the latest Fox hole. However an hour later & with dusk falling I saw that he was still on the wrong side of the fence & clearly didn't know where to go or what to do. All the Hens had returned through their hole but he had not followed - too big perhaps.
Try as I might, I couldn't get him to go up the drive & several times I thought he may bolt into the road. Eventually though I got him to go up the drive & I had left the gates open to encourage him in.
As he approached the stable block, the other cockerels, including the one from 6th below attacked him, confirming my thoughts that this was not one of ours ! - 30 minutes later I caught him & put him in a chicken shed for the night where he will be safe & from where tomorrow he can explore the sanctuary & meet the others. There will be fights again until the hierarchy is established.
I just wish the person/people who is/are doing this would contact us & at least hand the bird(s) over in a civilised fashion as we just haven't got the time to waste catching birds who do not want to be caught. At the moment the balance between the existing Cockerels & hens is working well - however extra male birds can cause chaos & terrible fighting can occur.
Just dumping birds outside the property hoping they may follow the hens back in is irresponsible & if a bird runs into the road a driver may swerve & cause a crash/death - have you though about that? - This is a terrible corner, there are many car accidents on it as it is without panicking birds running about.
13th April - Jain Festival
Update from Martin - It's my birthday today & as special treat I will be mucking out stables all day long ! It's been a busy weekend as I had to leave Fiona alone here on Friday & Saturday to attend a stall at the Jain Festival in Harrow to hand out leaflets & collect donations for the Sanctuary. Fiona had just started her "tapering" for the Marathon which means she is starting to cut the mileage & training down in order to recover from the last 4 months of grueling training where she has been running between 80 & 100 miles a week. Last week she cut to a mere 60 miles & this week it's 30 & then in the last week before the race she will be only doing light exercise - don't forget though that Fiona's lightest exercise would kill a reasonably fit commando !
Trying to rest here though is an impossibility as the "animal jobs" are enough work for 5 men (that's 5 big men!) alone - so it is important that I try & help as much as I can in the next few weeks in order to give Fiona a fighting chance of getting the recovery she so desperately needs.
Obviously attending a stall for 2 days wasn't a great start, particularly as the weekly shortfeed had to come early due to easter & so arrived on Thursday whilst I was not here to help unload the 10 tons of feed & hay. Plus the local paper came round to take pictures & whilst this is good for publicity, it has to be fitted in around Fiona's training and all the normal animal jobs - which increases the pressure & stress for Fiona.
However I met some lovely people at the Jain Festival and handed out lots of leaflets and collected around £150 - even selling a handful of Yak CD's !! - I must also mention the food which was served - it was absolutely fab! It was also lovely to meet Jean who I shared the stall with. Jean was collecting for Farm Animal Rescue in Warwickshire whom she has supported for many years.
If you are not familiar with Jain's - please check out this link
Some sad news is that Bruce passed away on Thursday night. Bruce has lived here for around 18 months. He had been initially found wandering the streets in Islington and once rescued had been passed from pillar to post as he was incontinent. Finally we were asked to take him & he lived happily with Simon's gang. Despite his years, he even used to go on the Dog monthly walks which he enjoyed very much. We will miss him very much.
Fiona has raised over £350 for the Sanctuary for the Marathon & if you want to support her please go here !
Thanks
6th April - Marathon Sponsorship
Many thanks to Cliff at Fern Tor the Vegan B & B for featuring me on his page here. Also thank you to Susie at Ethical Singles likewise here and to Brian at Vegan London here
I am trying to raise as much publicity as possible to try & get some sponsorship for the Sanctuary on the back of my running - the total raised so far is £126 - see the dedicated page HERE
Thank you
6th April - New Rooster
As I was feeding the Cats this evening in the front garden - I have to wait till dusk so that all the hens have gone away back to the stables, otherwise they will eat all the cat food! - when my attention was drawn by a very large white/golden/red cockerel perched on a clothes horse a few feet from where I was kneeling down. I knew immediately that he must have been dumped here as:
a) I know all our Cockerels by sight & name & I have never seen this one before
b) This one was "roosting" outside in the open - so clearly had no idea where to go
c) This one was covered in blood - so had been fighting - hence the "red" above
Martin had just got home from work & it was about quarter to 8 pm. We approached the bird, but he was obviously scared & ran away. It was vital to catch the fellow, as otherwise he would roost outside & probably end up being taken by a fox. 30 mins later we successfully cornered him & cleaned up his wounds. Clearly the incumbent Cockerels - who are quite settled as a group - will take a dim view to any newcomer & fight.
We have put him in one of the old hen houses for the night and hopefully he will settle in properly tomorrow.
The gate has been locked all day & so I can only imagine that someone has arrived here & thrown him over the garden gate - nice. What are some people like? No consideration for the existing Cockerels or this poor fellow.
We have called him Herman - don't ask
Herman is available for sponsorship & I will publish his picture soon
5th April - Prima Magazine Article
The May edition of Prima Magazine is now out & features a short article on the Sanctuary on Page 89 ! - Check it out. I will get it scanned & posted here in a few days
1st April - Dumper Truck Arrives !
The 2 ton dumper truck arrived this morning - see the pics here
A big thank you to all who helped us with the costs of getting this piece of equipment for the Sanctuary
I have also added a few more "faces" to the Dogs Page - not all linked to stories yet, but the faces are there - still more to add...
26th March - Update
Dumper truck arrives this weekend ! - Pictures will be posted as soon as we have some. Thanks again to all who helped purchase this piece of equipment !
I have also set up a page about Fiona's Running HERE !
18th March - Still..
..waiting for a delivery date for the Dumper - have chased again today - will advise as soon as we know !
12th March - Update
We should take delivery of the Dumper Truck within a week & when this happens we will take some pictures and get them uploaded to the site.
A new Horse arrived a few months ago & I don't think I have mentioned him yet on this site. He was saved from slaughter in France and brought back to this country. The lady who had him needed to home him so she could rescue others & I agreed to take him. He is called Tzar & is an Ex Police Horse - He is very thin, but slowly putting on weight - see him HERE
Daisy & Baron the two elderly Boxers rescued recently are getting on very well with the others - sadly however Baron is not a well dog. He is drinking excessively which is a sign of possible kidney failure. I had to take him to the vets yesterday & we are waiting the results of blood tests. As soon as we have the results I will let you know.
Martin's CD has now sold over 250 copies to raise funds for the animals & was chosen as the album of the month (Jan) by a Progressive Rock website see HERE
You can still order a copy HERE
We will look to start the monthly dog walks up again soon, but probably not before the London Marathon as Fiona is training so very hard - over 90 miles a week with a 20+ mile run on Sundays - so we are flat out with the jobs - as you can imagine. As the marathon is at the end of April & Fiona will not be training (much..) in the week before we may be able to squeeze one in.
Some sad news is that Beanie has gone to sleep - Beanie was an old Spaniel and attended the very first Dog Walk, but ended up taking a ride in a pram for most of the way ! - he really enjoyed it. He will be missed by all his friends.
28th February - Dumper Truck Appeal Update
A big thank you to all who have donated or pledged funds towards this appeal - we have now raised enough to buy the vehicle which is fantastic news ! Thank you to all who have helped make this happen. As soon as the vehicle arrives I will post pictures to this website.
Any donations that are recieved in excess of what is required will go towards the feed bills for December & January, which were over £12,000 & we are about £3,500 short of paying for them. Donations are still very welcome either by cheque or PayPal to fiona@towerhillstables.com
Roxy the Bull Terrier arrived yesterday - another old girl facing the needle. Her claws were so overgrown they were digging into her pads on all 4 feet - poor little thing - I will post her picture soon
Thanks again all for your continued support - anyone wishing to join & help with the monthly feed bills is very welcome - just print & fill in this form HERE - no amount is too small & 100% goes towards the feed bills. Thank you.
22nd February - Update
First off, Daisy & Baron are now part of the oldies gang - see the new picture on their page here
Another very busy weekend - all the concrete areas have been cleared out (a regular Sunday task!) and on Saturday the weekly feed delivery arrived - 100 bales of Hay + 50 bales of Haylage + around 100 sacks of feed! - quite a few tons to unload.
Additionally we have had another 8 tons of straw put into the lower school to make a firm base for the horses. The other school was done a few weeks ago & it has worked very well. The weather was great on Saturday, but it will take a few weeks of days like that to dry the ground out - so forget that then !
Fiona had to jump in a ditch whilst out running today as some idiot driver failed to see her - well his phone call was important you see... - & he had the temerity to turn round & come & give her a load of verbal abuse for being on the road. - It's enough to make you think that it is almost pointless trying to achieve anything.
Some good news is that one of our supporters is offering to help us buy a very useful piece of equipment ! It is not something which is on the wish list as it is a bit expensive ! - It's a 2 ton Dumper truck ! This is something that would be very useful for helping us move the muck across the road.
Cleary a new one is ludicrously expensive, but we have located a good 2nd hand one for £1500. Our supporter is offering to "match donations" up to half the cost of the truck. So we need to raise £750 & they will match that & donate another £750.
This is a great chance for us to get hold of a piece of equipment like this but we need to raise the funds within 2 weeks or else it will be sold elsewhere. If you would like to help us with this please please get in touch ! No donation is too small ! This is what they look like
We are struggling with the feed bills at the moment as Dec & Jan were over £12,000 and we just don't know how we are going to find what we owe - we are about £3500 short.
If you are able to help by joining the Sanctuary (from just £1 a month) please do get in touch - all the donations go towards the feed bills & nothing is taken to cover any sort of expenses.
21st February - Baron & Daisy
A few weeks ago Fiona read about the plight of Baron & Daisy - two 12 year old Boxer crosses who were facing being put to sleep as their owner no longer wanted them. Brother & Sister had been together all their lives but now the family had a baby, the Dogs had to go
The photo's being circulated on the Internet showed the two old & venerable dogs & Fiona said that if no alternate home were found, she would take them as it is so hard to find anywhere for "oldies" to go & so often they are put to sleep.
Very kindly two Sanctuary members, Carina & Rob went to fetch the Dogs for Fiona & they arrived today.
Daisy & Baron were perfect in the car and are now having a sleep in a room on their own for tonight. They will be introduced to the other oldies tomorrow. See them HERE
9th February - Marathon Training
Fiona is not only doing the work of 5 men (that's 5 big men) at the sanctuary, but also having to find time to training hard for the London Marathon. Sunday is her "long run" day & on the flooded roads she put in 25 miles this Sunday at a sub 3 hr pace. After 10 miles, she ran past a property whose 3 dogs ran out as she approached. One bit her in the knee drawing blood. With 15 miles still to go, I know what 99.99999999999% of people would have done, but there's "tough", there's "really tough" ...& then there's Fiona.
Needless to say she is in a lot of pain, as it has now stiffened up.
8th February - Charity Auction Update
The Swedish Crystal Glasses that Fiona was selling on eBay were sold for the grand sum
of £230 ! - This will help towards this months feed bill. (see 24th Jan entry for details)
7th February
A few weeks ago we were contacted by someone who works for Hozelock who had been researching the Internet and came across the sanctuary website - specifically the wish list where we have asked for Hozelock hose fittings to replace broken and worn ones we have here. They kindly offered to send a few pieces on behalf of the company. Click here to see what they sent !
28th January - New way to donate !
If you would like to donate via PayPal on a REGULAR basis - particularly useful if you are outside the UK, we can support this now via the wonders of modern technology - see HERE
Oh, and yes - 2 more old Dogs are on their way ! - more details soon
27th January - Sanctuary Shop
The commission cheque generated from purchases through the Sanctuary webshop arrived today. See HERE. It was for £39.26 & was generated from 22 people visiting the shop in December & making a purchase from one of the 150 retailers signed up to the scheme.
In case you are not familiar with the shop, basically if you ever shop on-line, please see if the retailer you want (Amazon, Play.com, M & S etc etc) is available via the Sanctuary shop front. All you do is visit the retailers website via the shop page & buy there online as usual - It costs you nothing more than visiting their site direct, but if you go via the Sanctuary shop, the retailer pays the Sanctuary commission ! - Yes it's mad, but if you can't beat em ...
Visit the shop HERE
24th January - Charity Auction
It's been another grim weekend in terms of weather & work here at the Sanctuary. The rain has flooded everywhere making the usual grueling tasks even more grueling than usual. Masha the Horse has hurt her leg and needs to be rested in a stable for a few weeks - but we have no free stables, so we have had to improvise. The problem is that just to do the normal caring and feeding is a "full on" all day activity, so to fit anything extra in is a real challenge.
To free up a stable we had to build an aviary for the Peacocks! - There were some old aviary panels down by the chickens area which were no longer being used, but to free them up wasn't easy as they were literally stuck into the ground. Digging them out was very hard work & to show how stuck they were we actually snapped not one, but two pitch forks! - They were the wooden handled type rather than the metal ones!
Having sorted the Peacocks, we got Masha in. She is happily in her stable now resting her leg.
Additionally today we took delivery of 8 giant straw bales for the Pigs over the road to play in - their last straw bales have disappeared now & the fields are so wet, more straw is needed to give them a dry area to play & eat on.
Also today a Cat arrived. Fiona hadn't told me another Cat was coming until this morning. The man arrived at lunchtime & I went to meet him. He handed me the cat in a basket & I asked how old she was. 19 he said. Oh, I replied - Have you had her long? - Yes, since she was a kitten came the reply. I see, I said. What's the problem? - Well, she's old now & I can't look after her anymore he said. I asked if she was used to Cats & Dogs? - Oh no, she's been alone all her life with me. He said it was either bring her here or have her put to sleep.
Not that it makes any difference, but he was a Priest ! I find it incredible that people can decide to put an animal they have had all it's life into an alien environments for, let's be honest, the last few months of its life - at 19 she won't have a lot of time. But hey ho
Finally - an auction on ebay to hopefully raise funds for the animals.
So if you are into fine Swedish Crystal Glass from about 1993 - then check out this listing HERE. There are 5 "Clown Series" champagne glasses hand painted by Ann Nilsson who worked for the Swedish glass company Orrefors in the 90's. We noted that a single pair went last week for over £90.
Fiona is selling these to try & help with the feed costs as we continue to struggle
22nd January - Vladimir update
Vladimir, as mentioned below (14th Dec entry) is doing well and has gained some weight now. Hopefully he will be strong enough to be "seen to" soon and then we can start to integrate him into the blind dog "gang" - I have uploaded some pictures of him here
10th Jan - Ice cold in Asheldham
It's been a grim week - probably the toughest week Fiona has ever known at the Sanctuary. We have had cold snaps before, but we have considerably more larger animals than ever before and of course all the water troughs & pipes supplying them have been frozen all week. This means that Fiona has had to hand carry water from the house to all the horses, Pigs & Cows - including across the road to where about 60 of the animals live.
This is a very hard way to carry on & has added considerable effort to the already ridiculously heavy workload that Fiona has to endure. Plus unfortunately I picked up a shocking cold at work, which obviously I have passed onto Fiona. she always gets hit harder than I do due to her levels of fitness (resting pulse a mere 27 - straight up). Fiona cannot ring in sick or stay in bed, so she has had to knuckle down & get on with it - this is very tough.
Hopefully the end of the freeze is in sight.
15th December - Our First Grant approved
A few weeks ago we received a letter from a firm of Solicitors who administer a fund known as the Edna Smylie Memorial Fund. In their letter they explained that someone had suggested to them that we should apply for a grant from the fund & they enclosed an application form.
The form explained that the "Fund" normally only paid grants to registered charities and usually to organisations in Kent, Sussex & that part of the world, but may consider applications from small organisations and who were based outside those areas. The Fund does not aim to provide "running cost" type expenses, i.e. they won't pay for food etc, but will consider "projects" etc. Clearly as we are not a registered charity, nor in the preferred area, we didn't hold out much hope, but we nevertheless completed the application form & sent it off.
The project we would like to work on next is to cover an area of the main "school", the piece furthest from the stables - an area about 60 foot wide by 20 foot deep. This will give excellent protection from the worst of the weather for the Horses that winter out. In Summer it will make somewhere to store the Hay we collect off the fields, as this has to currently sit outside & - well if we had a "summer" it wouldn't matter, but we tend to just have rain in this country now don't we ! Hay doesn't save if it gets wet.
We had previously obtained quotes for the work & the best was in the region of £7000. I know this sounds like a lot, but set against the monthly feed costs of £5200 - it puts in into perspective.
Anyway, the "Trustees" of the Edna Smylie Fund met on 11th December, and today we received a letter to say they had approved a grant of £3000 towards the project - subject to planning permission of course. This is fantastic news as we really want to make improvements to the lives of the animals here, as well as keeping them fed and a covered area like this will make a huge difference - it will also stop the ground beneath the shelter from getting wet & as those that came on Sunday will know, the drainage here in Essex is not good as we are on clay!
So we are launching an appeal to see if we can raise the funds necessary to make this happen
If you would like to help with this appeal, please do get in touch
Thanks !
14th December - Open Day
The Open Day went very well with about 20 people attending. The rain held off too and although it was cold, a nice time was had by all. Tea and refreshments being served in the new unwrapping shed !
A grand total of £520 was raised from donations which was fantastic news. A number of people have said they will become members after seeing the work that Fiona does which is really good news.
Some of the visitors got to meet a new dog too - he only arrived 2 days ago and is a cruelty case. He was going to be put to sleep, but Fiona agreed to take him as he has had such a rotten life. He is supposed to be about 4, but looks 24. Is blind & emaciated. He is a Sharpei.
He is at the vets tonight for an assessment and we will get his picture on line just as soon as possible. He is not castrated either, so can't yet be introduced to the main gang - also being blind he will hopefully live with the partially sighted & blind gang who live in the back part of the house with access to their own patio. (Sam, Lassie, Hettie etc)
At the moment he is living in the room we had Vladimir in - which is heated of course. Fiona has called him Vladimir too.
27th November - Membership Update
Membership of the Sanctuary is up to 200 now which is great news - we still need to double this if we are to carry on caring for all these animals - please check out the new membership schemes as advertised below on 11th September - we really need your help & remember 100% goes towards the animals feed costs - nothing goes in admin or salaries - thank you!
26th November - Update to NHVV event below (1st Nov)
£300 was raised for the Sanctuary from the event, for which we are very grateful ! - Also the charity FACE (Fight Animal Cruelty Everywhere) has donated £500 towards this months feed bill - which is handy as the last one came in at a staggering £5,700+
Sales of Martin's album have reached 80 raising £800 approx too, which is also a help - order your copy here whilst stocks last... Reviews here
22nd November - Fiona Runs for CAPS
Fiona is a Patron of the Charity CAPS (Captive Animal Protection Society) and all being well has agreed to run the London Marathon next year to support the work that CAPS does. One of the other CAPS Patrons Jay Kay from Jamiroquai is backing Fiona as you can see in the article HERE
If you would like to support Fiona please get in touch with her or go via CAPS as per the link above
15th November - Sheba
Sheba is an elderly German Shepherd who was about to be put to sleep Fiona was asked to take her in. On the basis that Sheba was an elderly female, and very very quite Fiona said OK - She is a good as gold & just spends all day asleep in the kitchen ! - Pics will be posted as soon as possible.
1st November - North Herts Vegetarian & Vegan Event
We were delighted when we were contacted by Helen from the North Herts Vegetarian & Vegan Group to say that we had been selected to be the charity to benefit from their event for World Vegan Day on Saturday night. Sanctuary supporters Tracy & Kevin who manned the Tower Hill Stables stall at the London Vegan festival a few months ago, again made themselves available to man a stall at the event in Ickleford this weekend which was very kind of them.
As it was an evening bash, Martin was able to attend whilst I looked after the animals here - with 35 Dogs in the house, one of us has to be here all the time!
Martin delivered a short speech about the work of the Sanctuary and leaflets were distributed to the attendees. They even played a track off Martin's bands new album and 11 copies were sold raising important funds for the animals which was great news. As soon as we know how much the evening raised I will let you know.
We are very grateful to all at the group for wanting to help the rescued animals here.
27th October - New Yak Album
Martin's bands 4th CD "Journey of the Yak" has arrived and is now available for purchase. There is a page HERE where you can order a copy.
All proceeds will go to the Sanctuary
To read more about the Band please visit their myspace page HERE
22nd October - Large Whites tuck in
See HERE for a new picture of the Large White Pigs tucking into their lunch last weekend !
Scroll down the page to see the most recent picture
19th October - Marylin the Pig
Marylin was living at a petting farm. She had lived there for many years and had been used to breed cute piglets for the amusement of the visitors.
The petting farm have got a younger breeding Sow now, and so now it was time to send Marylin away. A visitor was upset at what was about to happen and asked if they would spare Marylin if she could find somewhere for her to live.
She tried everywhere locally and then expanded the search to include the usual "organisations" who all said no. Then despite what the website says, she tried Fiona. Fiona felt so sorry for Marylin she agreed to take her.
As regular readers will no, we had no room for an extra pig when we took Edward a few weeks ago, so we have had to put Marylin into one of the new areas that we had put in for one of the Loch Lomond families to move into. This has snookered us as we now have nowhere to put the family who are currently in a stable - so we will have to see what can be done.
A video of Marylin is on youtube here
If you would like to help by sponsoring Marylin, please get in touch - thank you
18th October - Ebay Auction
A drum skin signed by Paul McCartney together with the authentication certificate has just gone onto ebay. The seller is going to give 50% of the sale proceeds to the Sanctuary
Check the auction out here
14th October - Dog Walk
This months walk is earlier than usual & will be NEXT Sunday - apologies for the short notice. Please let me know if you can make it. (19th Oct)
13th October - Cat News
Two elderly house cats arrived today. they had been taken to a vet in Southend to be put to sleep (or in plain speak; killed) as their owners didn't want them anymore. One is 15 & one is supposed to be 21. I am sure the older one is not that old, but rather the owner has said that to make the "please kill my cat request" to the vet more reasonable. ($%^?)
As we have so many dogs, the house cats tend to live upstairs where the dogs can't go & so these 2 new ones are in pens on the landing whilst they acclimatise to their new surroundings.
Please send me an e mail if you would like to join the Sanctuary as we really need your help
Thank you
30th September - Pig News
At the moment we have Pigs and their babies in 7 stables ! - This was due to the Loch Lomond rescue earlier in the year and the resulting piglet arrivals as the females were nearly all pregnant. Clearly with Winter approaching we need the Pigs out of the stables & into their paddocks as quickly as possible as the stables will be needed for the elderly horses who are still out in the field at this time of year. Last nights rain has taken the fields back to where they were ahead of the recent spell of "summer" weather. It takes a long time for the ground to dry out & go hard, but only one good downpour to turn it back into 'slush'.
We had one "pig area" built a few months back which cost us £800. This is quite a large area & we hope to home 3 mothers & their families in it - there will be scuffles at first, but the area is large enough for them to get out of each others way until they establish a pecking order etc - That will free up 3 stables.
Yesterday I had two more areas built by sectioning off Cilla Pigs existing area into two & also sectioning the end piece of Jayne's paddock across the road. This extra work has cost £325 for materials & labour. This will clear out 2 more stables.
Additionally we will need to buy 2 more water troughs for these areas and 'fittings' to plumb them in (which we can do ourselves at no labour cost) Plus we need 2 more Pig Arks.
If you are able to help with the cost of getting the Pigs outside ! - please get in touch. This is all extra cost we have to bear on top of the feed bills. Donations can be made by PayPal to fiona@towerhillstables.com - every penny helps - thank you
29th - September - Update
The Dog walk went very well and the weather was great !!! - Thanks to all who came along - £75 was raised for the animals. The next one will be the last but one Sunday in October.
Special thanks goes to Tracy, Kevin & their daughter Jade who ran a stall for the Sanctuary at the London Vegan festival - £575 was raised through the sale of raffle tickets, Sanctuary cotton bags and donations.
Also thank you's to Amanda George and her friends for running fund raising stalls on behalf of the Sanctuary over the past few months and raising £350 !
27th - September - Dog Walk
The September charity Dog walk will be tomorrow (28th) at 11
20th September - Thanks Ross !
Further to our request for a welder, Ross came over and sorted the gate hinges for us last weekend - see him at work here (although I think you need a facebook account to see this)
If you haven't click here
Also thanks to John, Cong & Donna who volunteered to clean crates for us before they go back to Salisbury - still loads of crates left, so if anyone wants to help with this task please get in touch !! - many thanks
15th September - Welder Needed !
If anyone reading this knows how to, or knows someone who knows how to weld AND would be interested in helping us out with a bit of welding, we would love to hear from you. We don't have a welder, so it would need to be a portable unit. Basically we need to weld some gate hangers onto existing posts so that yard gates can be hung. We will be looking to get the 4 "hangers" required (for 2 gates) this weekend. They are the type that can be bolted into a wooden post, but the posts we need to hang from are metal! This is the last part of our Winter preparation work that needs to be done before the Horses come in from the fields.
If you can help Please get in touch - thank you
11th September - New Membership Scheme Announced
As regular readers and existing members of the Sanctuary will know, we do not have a fixed membership amount in order to "join" the Sanctuary. Currently you can become a member of the Sanctuary by setting up a standing order "here" for any amount you would like to donate on a monthly basis. We want to continue with this arrangement as it allows people to choose an amount they are comfortable with and of course they are free to alter the amount simply by contacting their own bank.
We are today however please to announce a new membership program which will run in parallel with the existing arrangements to hopefully attract new members to help with the costs of feeding the 400 rescued animals.
Introducing the new "Carrot Membership Scheme" - Become a "Carrot Member" for just £1.65 a month !! - This is the cost of a sack of carrots and we use 100 sacks a week ! These days there are only a few weeks in the year when the carrots are not available, so most weeks you will always see a mighty pile of carrots in the yard ! - but at 14 sacks a day usage, the pile quickly goes down !
If you would like to join by becoming a Carrot Member, just complete the membership form here for £1.65 a month - or "2 sack" membership at £3.30 a month - and so on. Your money will be used to buy carrots which many of the animals enjoy daily as part of their diet - particularly the Horses & Cows, but Goats & Pigs too enjoy carrots and of course the Rabbits. The Geese love them as well ...and if there's any left Martin too even - eheh
If you join as a Carrot Member you will receive a carrot in the post as a thank you (if you want one!) together with instructions on how to cook and eat it ! Be the envy of your neighbours. I bet they don't get a carrot through the post often - eh?
Next is the "Hay Membership Scheme" This is very much like the Carrot Membership Scheme, only due to postage costs and frankly letterbox issues uncovered in user testing, we will not be sending you a bale of hay through the post ! Additionally we have yet to find a suitable cooking method and large enough saucepan. This membership scheme costs £3.25 a month - of if you want to buy 2 bales a month, £6.50 - and so on. The Sanctuary uses 100 bales every week - more in wintertime.
Next is the "Shortfeed Membership Scheme" - Now shortfeed is the term used for sacks of feed concentrates for animals - generally 20KG sacks & we buy shortfeed for the Horses, Cows, Goats, Sheep and sometimes Pigs. The price of shortfeed sacks varies. The economy mixes are between £5/6 a sack whilst the more expensive feeds used for the older and more needy animals are £10+ a sack these days. So as an average we are pegging the "Shortfeed Membership Scheme" at £8 per month which would mean that you are buying a sack of feed for the animals per month at this level of donation. Clearly as with the Hay Membership Scheme, the weight & size of the items prohibits a postal example as a thank you!
Whatever membership type you choose, every single penny of your hard earned cash will go towards the feed costs. The Sanctuary is not a business; it's not what we do for a living. Nothing will be deducted to pay for admin, salaries, or any type of expense.
Members can visit the animals at the Open Days (June & December) and if you attend one of the monthly Dog walks (last Sunday in the month) you will have a chance to meet the gang after the walk !
Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary is in Essex near Burnham-on-Crouch and about 15 miles from Chelmsford.
We need about 200 more members in order to keep going - please help us
Thank you
10th - September - Kune Kune Pig
Today Fiona had just got back from a 16 mile run & was about to start the afternoon "shift" when the phone rang with someone wanting a home for a Kune Kune Pig. The Pig was already loaded & was about to be sent to slaughter but the owner was still trying to find somewhere to take him. All the major charities had said "no" (suprise suprise) & the RSPCA had even suggested having him shot as the best thing to do. (Rolf or the camera's weren't about that day obvioulsy).
We didn't want the poor thing slaughtered & so despite having 400 animals & 7 acres we said we would find him somewhere to live. He arrives tomorrow.
31st August - Dog Walk
It was a lovely day for the Dog walk - despite the weather warnings - and a fine time was had by all ! Poppy, Maddie & Buddy decided that it was too humid & so had to call for a lift home just the other side of the first bridleway, but Tessy 1 & 2 + Rolly, Cassie, Amber, Mutley and visiting guests Taffy & Willow managed to stay the course - quite a lot of water was drunk at the Church and Rolly, in particular, enjoyed a cold shower!
The sun continued to shine on arrival back home and the baked potatoes seemed to go down well with everyone - especially Meg !
26th August - A Heart Warming Story (of everyday country folk...)
Fiona received a call at the weekend from a local lady who had seen the sanctuary's poster in a local shop. She explained that she had 8 dogs and had a large quantity of frozen brawn & meat that her dogs didn't like & wouldn't eat - so did Fiona want it.... Firstly - lets consider the facts so far - we have a load of frozen 'God knows what' & the ladies own Dogs - some 8 - won't eat it. So not likely to be a single "fussy dog" problem - ...could it be "off" perhaps? - still, Fiona was very polite & explained the following:
Clearly with 35 Dogs in the house we have to be careful what we feed & we like to keep the Dogs on a consistent and high quality dry feed as if you continually change what you are feeding it can cause stomach upsets & that can bring on diarrhea. The woman got angry at this point & said "well how am I supposed to know what you feed your dogs on?" (aren't some people great?) Fiona said calmly, that's what I am explaining to you, but what I will do is to call my friend at a Brentwood kennels to see if she could use it. The call ended.
Fiona called the kennels but as expected, they didn't want a load of frozen meat either for exactly the same reasons as Fiona had not wanted it, so Fiona called the local lady back to explain. On hearing the news the local lady exploded at Fiona saying "This is outrageous, you people are all the same, you can't be helped, all you ever want is money, it's just a scam, they should investigate people like you". Fiona kept her cool & simply said. "Well it's been lovely talking to you, Goodbye" and put the phone down.
This is unfortunately not an un-typical scenario.
The reason sanctuaries and kennels do not want to feed their animals any old rubbish I would have thought were self evident. It is true that places like Tower Hill Stables need money so that they can buy the things they actually need to keep the animals well fed & healthy. Palming off unwanted (& possibly "off") rubbish onto a Sanctuary, or anywhere, is only helping the person doing the palming off - it is not helping the animals. I would have thought this was not Rocket Science - but it seems that perhaps it is - at least for some folk !
Don't forget its the Dog Walk this Sunday @ 11am - e mail Fiona if you would like to attend
25th - August - New Horse
18 year old Segovia arrived this weekend. I will get his picture posted as soon as possible !
24th August - Sad News
I regret to advise that poor Vladimir passed away suddenly on Friday. It was a terrible shock. I had just gone to fetch him to take him for his little walk by the sea and found him dead in his room. It took Martin & I all weekend to come to terms with it as we had such high hope for him & he was such a nice Dog. The vet said it was not likely that the liver condition had caused this to happen, but rather that there was something else going on. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed towards his operation costs - some £900 approx now. Although this will now not be necessary, we have run up over £1250 in vets bills for him so far and so we would like to use the donations towards this.
Rest in peace Vladimir, we only knew you for a few weeks but we will always remember you XX
15th August - Appeal for Vladimir
Further to the entry of 5th August below we are appealing for help to raise the funds necessary to pay for Vladimir's operation. So far we have received nearly £700 in donations towards his operation and if you want to help us reach the £3000 target, please let us know. You can donate by PayPal using the e mail address fiona@towerhillstables.com or by cheque payable to Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary - address at the foot of the membership form here
Vladimir's page is here we will upload some more pictures of him this weekend.
14th August - Membership Campaign
We are desperately trying to increase the number of members the Sanctuary has from 164 to 300+ and to this end we have set up a Sanctuary group on Facebook. If you have an account there search in groups for "tower hill stables" and it should come up. Please send a join request to any friends you have on facebook too - thanks
10th August - another busy weekend
As you may be aware, for the past 2 years or so, Martin has been collecting a car load of "on sell by" produce & bread from Sainsburies in Brentwood. This we have used to feed the Pigs and goats. Now of course with the Loch Lomond Pigs having produced a further 25 or so mouths to feed this food is all the more important to us. Unfortunately a company called "Old MacDonalds Farm in Brentwood have persuaded Sainsburies to let them take the food on a Tuesday & Thursday in spite of the fact that they are a commercial business whereas we are a charitable organisation. They are essentially a petting zoo & have amusements - you know the kind of thing - £10 to get in I think - & they have a restaurant.
So, we are now short of Pig food ! Even with the Sainsburies food - which is absolutely fantastic quality - our feed bills are £5200 a month & without the Sainsbury food on Tuesday & Thursday we have been forced to collect it on Saturday. This is an extra 3 hours we have to find which is not ideal at all.
If there is anyone or a number of people reading this who might consider doing the sainsbury run on a Saturday and/or Sunday for us that would be a real help. This is Sainsbury in Brentwood by the way. All you have to do is drive into the back, load up & drive the food here.
We managed to get 15 or so sheep sheared today - the weather has been so poor it hasn't been necessary yet to tackle this yearly task, but we have to get it done. There are just 5 left to do, but Martin needs a new back first...
The Loch Lomond Pigs have now passed the 115 day mark, which means that there will be no more piglets arriving ! The vets are booked for Tuesday week to castrate all the males. I dread to think what that will cost. Then they can move out to their new paddock across the road in time for the arrival of Summer - which I assume has to be soon???
Vladimir is due back at the vets this week & needs more medication. He is on 4 different sorts of medication a day. We don't know what to do as we cannot afford the operation.
Crate Cleaners Desperately Sought - if you want to help physically - we need someone or many people to clean up about 100 sainsbury crates ! They have got muddy & need a scrub before we can take them back to sainsbury. They are all sitting in the field across the road where Percy lives. There is a mains water supply & scrubbing brush waiting ! - An ideal job for the Summer.... Please get in touch if you want to help. Thank you
Finally - if anyone has any ideas about how we can increase the number of people sponsoring an animal (currently around 160) please let us know.
5th August - Vladimir Comes Home
Vladimir has been at the vet since Friday whilst they try to establish what has been causing the fitting. He came home today with the results ...and a bill for £800
It is not good news. He has a problem with his liver that will take an operation to cure. In layman's terms, there is a rogue blood vessel that is effectively by-passing his liver. The liver is used to cleanse toxins from the blood & because a large proportion of Vladimir's blood is "missing" his liver out, the toxins are not being filtered & these are getting to his brain causing the fits. The operation would seek to close off this rogue blood vessel which would then force all the blood to go through Vladimir's liver. This is however not easy, as the vessel cannot be closed off in one go as the additional pressure this would put on the liver may have catastrophic results. Instead, the vessel has to be slowly closed off. They put some sort of clasp around it, which reduces it by 50% & then over 6 months or so, it closes completely.
In the meantime Vladimir is on 4 lots of medication twice a day & must have a special diet that will not put too much pressure on his liver.
We are waiting for an estimate on the operation costs and expect these to be about £3000
Without the operation, Vladimir's has no long term prognosis. Poor Vladimir :0(
Clearly this is a difficult time. If anyone is able to help us with these costs, please get in touch
2nd August - Saint FM
Following the Tillingham Flower Show, where we did the car parking, one of the leaflets given out found its way to Steve Gallant of Saint FM who has asked Fiona to go for a radio interview on Tuesday this week - between 2 & 4. Not sure if this is going to be "live" or recorded for later transmission, but if you can get Saint (local Maldon radio) then tune in !
1st August - Hay Alert Again !
The "expected" call came (on Fiona's Birthday!) at 9:30 pm to say that person who was supposed to take the last 200 didn't want them now they were wet ! & did we want them? Fiona was supposed to be taking her Mum down to her Sisters in Sussex for a joint birthday celebration tea as her Sisters daughter was 2, however we had to cancel the plans as clearly we cannot turn down an opportunity to save funds for the animals.
So on Saturday evening, after the jobs were done, Fiona & I set off to collect the last 200! Yes the rain had made them wet & some were about twice as heavy ! We ought to have got them in with 4 van runs, however due to the swollen nature of the bales we had to do 5 trips.
It doesn't matter to us that they have got a bit wet as we will use them so quickly - but they cannot be stored now.
We unloaded & stacked all but the last van load & Matt came round to help on Sunday to help Me unload the last load as Fiona had a 22 mile training run to fit in !
Thanks also to Matt for helping to muck out 2 Pig stables !!
31st July - Vladimir rushed to the Vet
We had been told that Vladimir had been having some fits before he came to us, but he had not had one since his arrival. However he started to fit today & so Fiona rushed him to the Vet. Unfortunately he had a fit in the car too which wasn't ideal. The vets have taken blood tests & we wait to see what they will reveal - his page is updated here
30th July - Hay Alert
The call came to let us know that the remaining hay had been cut and was ready to collect. At short notice, Leigh, Rob, Andy, Rachel & Donna made themselves available to help & we set off to collect what we thought was the 1st lot of the 1000 - or so we had been told we could have.
Speaking to Ernie when we arrived it was bad news as the fields "yield" was about 800 bales less than he was expecting - based on previous years cuts. This can be for all sorts or reasons, but the upshot was that we were limited to a total of 190.
These were quickly collected by the Hay Team & in doing so -& thanks to a revolutionary new stacking technique - we broke the previous record of 52 & got 54 in one load !
There were a further 200 bales left on the field, but these were for someone else - however with the prospect of rain the following day - we had a sneaking suspicion that the person would cry off. We told Ernie that should this happen, please let us know as we would be happy to take the wet bales & use them quickly.
28th July - Vladimir & Bunny
During the Dog Walk, a rabbit called Bunny arrived & also a rather large gentleman called Vladimir - not got a picture of Bunny yet, but will do so soon. Click here to see Vladimir - he weighs 50Kgs !
27th July - Dog Walk Update
It was a hot one ! - a bit too hot in fact, but unperturbed we set off on the 5 mile trek ! After a mere mile, Poppy decided she had had enough and so we called for mobile assistance & she went home in the car !. The rest of the team went on to St Lawrence Church (hopefully a picture will be emailed soon!). However Teddy and Katie decided they were too hot to walk back and again the car was called to ferry them home.
On the return journey Buddy seemed to be full of beans, whilst Cassie, Amber, Mutley and visiting Darcey took the return leg in their stride. Rolly Polly decided that she should be carried about a mile from home & Martin & John took it in turns. She decided to get down & walk again about 200 yards from home, so no-one would see that she had been carried !
Refreshments were served on arrival home including some very welcome tea !
£100 was raised for the animals, so thank you to all who came along. Hopefully next month will be a little cooler !
Whilst the Dog walk was in progress, a Rabbit called Bunny arrived along with a Doggy called Vladimir. Vlad went to the vets on Monday (28th) to be castrated. more details about him will appear soon !
26th July - Tillingham Flower Show
As regular readers know we have been appealing for helpers to act as stewards for the car parking on the basis that the organisers said we can keep the £1 car parking fee for the Sanctuary. The volunteers called at 8 am today to cancel, so emergency calls were made to Matt & Keith who dropped everything to come over & help ! - The sunny weather brought the visitors out in droves & we collected £305 altogether. This will go towards the cost of the hay we have collected this week. Big thanks to Matt & Keith for helping at such short notice.
25th July - Hay Team day 3
Martin & I cleared the final 92 bales from the field this evening! - This brings this batch of hay collecting to a close with 438 bales being collect in altogether. The farmer has another 1000 for us but this isn't cut yet. Stay tuned for further updates
24th July - Hay Team day 2 !
This evenings Hay Team had 8 people !! - Bill, Jo & Divina from Martin's office + Andy, Rob, Leigh (+ Fiona & Martin of course). Many hands made light work of the 4 runs we managed to achieve this evening between 7 & 9:30 pm. We collected 202 bales, & on one trip managed to fit in 52 bales setting a new European & commonwealth Record ! (well probably...)
The only controversy was that Jo was wearing a Hay Team Badge - the only one in existence & this caused some degree of jealousy in the ranks. A strike was avoided but Martin will be manufacturing a few more in true Blue Peter style to keep the equilibrium ! eheh
We think there are about 80 left on the field & we will get those tomorrow ahead of the predicted showers scheduled for the weekend (great!)
Thanks again to all Hay Team members everywhere & if you want to join this elite club, just let me know !
23rd July - It's Hay Time
We had notice that there would be hay available towards the end of this week and on Tuesday, the farmer called to say it is ready from Wednesday pm ! - Then the fun started. Normally we are able to borrow supporter Keith's rather large van to collect the hay in. However the van was missing in action. Eh? - well a friend of Keith's had borrowed it to take his motorbike to Brands Hatch to race it last weekend & unfortunately he had a bad crash on the track & was in hospital with all sorts of problems - including memory loss. Neil will be OK we understand, but has some bad injuries and will be in hospital for a while. We wish him a speedy recovery. Eventually however we established that the van was somewhere in Essex ! - It had been taken back to the racing teams HQ & we just had to find where that was. Eventually it was recovered & arrived back in Brentwood. Martin & Keith unloaded it of its motorbikes & associated gear at lunchtime today. Having already been to Sainsburies to get the daily food for the pigs in his car, Martin had to transfer this to the van & then leave his car at the office in Brentwood & drive the van home - unload the sainsburies food & grab a quick cup of tea before the Hay Team arrived !
Tonights Hay Team featured Leigh, Julie and Jo + Martin & Fiona of course and we managed to get 3 van loads collected from Bradwell and unloaded back at the Sanctuary
In all we collected 144 bales in this evening - each bale saving £2 - so we saved the best part of £300 tonight on the feed bill this month.
We are collecting again tomorrow & Friday from 7 pm. If you want to be in the Hay Team - please let us know !
Don't forget the Monthly Charity Dog Walk is this Sunday - let me know if you want to book a Dog !
18th July - Save Dolly
If you are on Facebook - have a look at this group here It's a group created to save a Dog called Dolly. If you don't have Facebook I have cut & pasted the story to a page on this site here
We would like to raise funds to help pay for her treatment as well as her on-going care. Please pass this story to all you know & try to enlist as much help as you can - thank you
She arrives here on Sunday
16th July - Chicken Rescue
Today we were able to take 165 rescued hens from a farm near Brighton. Each year Brighton Animal Aid and others organise the rescue of as many hens as possible from a free range farm. Even free range hens are killed at 80 weeks old for food, but this one farm currently allows as many as can be homed to be taken. There are 13,500 altogether and about half are re-homed. The new Hens are milling about on the lawn and in the stables as I type. I will post some pictures as soon as I can. Clearly if anyone would like to sponsor a rescued Hen, please get in touch !
PS - if anyone is interested in helping re the entry of 7th below - please get in touch asap
15th July - CT goes out
CT the Pig has been at the Sanctuary since she was a tiny piglet - see here We have been waiting for her to be big enough to cope with the Large White Pigs & today the day finally came - see here for details and pictures
10th July - Hay team
The Hay team is up to 10 people now - if you would like to put your name down please let us know - see 24th June update - bottom part of the entry for the details. We need to get to about 30 names to make this work, so please ask anyone you know who may be able to help
7th - Volunteers for 26th July
We have been asked if we can provide a couple of people to do the parking direction at the Tillingham Flower Show on Saturday 26th July - All you will need to do is to show the cars where to park on the playing field at Tillingham. We have been told that if we do this, the Sanctuary can have the parking money which should be £200-£300. If you are interested in helping out with this please get in touch for more details.
5th - Meg & Masha arrive
Masha is a old German Shephard who is very quiet and has settled in very well. Meg is a little old Staffie with back leg issues. Both her and Masha were facing the needle and no-one wlse would take them. I will get their pictures posted as soon as possible.
This page was last updated on: June 25, 2009
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