Dear Friends,
We have had the busiest Summer ever I think. The phone calls seemed never ending with so many problems we did not know where to start. All we could do was prioritise the most urgent cases. It was very stressful trying to juggle it all, double up where we had to, rush poorly cats to the vet and deal with callers putting the pressure on.
We always help if we can, but when we run out of space it really is impossible to create more. We still have one cat, Bobbi, in an ancient kennel as she was brought in by the police after the sudden death of her owner. And Puddi is still wandering about after escaping from the cloakroom.
Homing has picked up again now the holiday season is over, but it was static for a while which means no space is created. Fortunately lots of lovely people have visited since and many lucky cats have found homes. There was Bunty, found straying and pregnant, who produced 6 kittens 2 days later and was quite poorly. She made a full recovery, her kittens were homed in three pairs and she has recently found a new home. Three little kittens were found in a barn – little spitfires they were – but they soon came round and have since been chosen. Nelson was found wearing a collar and with a microchip and when we traced his owners, instead of an ecstatic reunion, they told us they didn’t want him back! We couldn’t believe it. Percy the Persian was found in a garden in the pouring rain looking scruffy and pathetic. He has since had an eye operation because of a damaged cornea and is recovering well. He still looks very sorry for himself but he never stops purring. Benjy, a scrap of a kitten rescued by one of our supporters and un-neuteured, was brought in on Bazaar day and chosen straight away by another of our long term supporters. They report he is the loveliest and most adorable cat they have ever had!
Sadly, Ginger Toby mentioned in our last newsletter, was put to sleep recently after a thrombosis, but he did have several happy weeks with foster carers who were marvellous with him. Thank you to everyone who contributed to Toby’s treatment and to the Stratford Observer who featured his story several times.
We weren’t affected by the floods, although Welford was cut off for a while, but we still have 2 of our ex-inmates here while their owner waits for her house to dry out and be refurbished. Lots of our helpers couldn’t get through, but we managed. The bad weather also affected some of our events so fund-raising was not so good. We have picked up again here with stalls all over the place, even 2 on the same day, so it is hectic. It is great to meet new sponsors and volunteers and show off some of our lovely goods.
Meanwhile we are working our way down the waiting list – some people are very patient. Some lucky cats like Oscar were only here 2 days – his owner had to move and he was chosen by a gentleman as his birthday present. Freddie and Misty were here a few months and then a couple fell in love with them and they were whisked off happily.
It does cheer us up to meet so many supporters, cat lovers and new owners.
Thank you all. Hope to meet more if you are at some of our events.
Rosemary Spicer Margaret Goode
Please see our Homing page here.
From Helen Hall, 24, Hanson Avenue, Shipston-on-Stour CV36 4HL info@avoncatrescue.orgThank you to all who supported us at our Summer Fete. It was a lovely day and we had many new faces. Our thanks to The Stratford Observer for giving us a boost with the article they printed.
Our takings were a little down on last year but we did manage a respectable £1,900. The coins in the bucket were just over £200, a record. Keep saving for us. Thank you to all who helped and supported us in any way.
Our next bazaar is on Saturday October 27th in the village hall. If you aren’t able to come and feel you could make a donation, however small, please do. The donations do make a difference to our overall total. Any help you can offer on the day will be gratefully received. From 9.30 through to when it is all back at the rescue at around 6pm.
We desperately need some occasional volunteers. (Generally at the weekends and over holiday periods. It would require you to come for a couple of hours at a time convenient to you to get a feel of the job and to see where and what is what.
We need to do things in a certain way to help prevent the spread of infection.) This summer, whilst Rosemary was on holiday, I spent more time than I have ever done at the Rescue doing feeding and cleaning. In fact one day I spent over 7 hours there trying to get all the cats fed and clean. It nearly finished me off!!!
Do we have anyone who would be prepared to come and see and do a session to see what needs doing and then if I am in the same position again would come and give me a hand.
It would also be useful if we had one or two who could help because there have been several occasions, on a weekend, during this year when Rosemary has had the entire Rescue to feed and clean. It takes her all day and this is on top of a full time job. We do desperately need some kind people to help.
Spending more time at the Rescue is a real eye opener. The number of times the phone rings is amazing. Some days it never stops. Generally it is someone asking us to take in a cat. Often people asking us to take in a cat do give us time but often they do not. For instance ‘We are going abroad to live tomorrow’ Why can people not plan ahead. We only have so many spaces and over the summer homing is slower anyway with people on holiday.
Other people just arrive and expect us to take the cat in even if we are full. This is not fair on the Rescue, the cat or the cats we already have with us. When someone arrives with a cat/cats other cats have to be moved around and often put in small pens to accomodate the newcomer.
One cat over this summer, called Puddy, had to go into a tiny cloakroom as every other available space was full. (He was let out into the house to get some exercise but had to be shut in for much of the time. Puddy, on one of his exploritory trips around the house got out of a bedroom window late at night. Miss Goode who was in the house at the time heard him land on the Scullery roof and knew it wasn’t one of our resident cats as it sounded too heavy. By this time it was dark and he could not be seen so it was left until the morning only to find him waiting by the Scullery door to come in for breakfast. Fortunately he gets on well with the resident dog but not with Tubby so he is still looking for a new home. (see cats for Homing)
The other problem with people arriving with cat/s without an appointment means that people who do book cats in in plenty of time get pushed down the list. Please if you or anyone you know needs to have a cat brought in plan ahead and give us time to help you and the cat properly.
Marathon Lady. In the last newsletter I spoke about a lady who had contacted us and was going to run a marathon in the Saraha Dessert to raise money for us. I cannot tell you any more as I have not heard anything else. If it does happen it is in May 2008 and I will let you know in the Spring newsletter.
I know Christmas is a long way off but as this is our last newsletter of 2007 I need to appeal to you for cat food. If you could buy an extra tin/pouch/foil tray/dry food and donate it to us for the cats we would be very grateful. There are many places you can leave these tins, one of these places is at our Autumn Bazaar. We would be happy to receive any you can spare. This food does help save our funds for other things.
Jollyes and Tescos. Both Jollyes and Tescos have had a bin for food for us all year and I thank them very much. The food they provide us with is a great help.
Raising money through ‘events’ is hard work and is never ending. This year alone we have lost two of our venues, due to various reasonS and our trip to Cramar Cat Sanctuary was curtailed when the rain arrived, the wind got up and our gazebo snapped. Rosemay packed much of the wet goods away whilst I stood and propped the gazebo up. A kind gentleman then came and gave us a hand by holding up the gazebo whilst we rescued all our stuff!
Sponsorship accounts for about 1/5th of our annual income. It is very important to us continuing our work. The number of cats we have with us permanently is 55. As you can imagine it is quite costly to keep these cats (feeding, litter, vets, heating etc.) Some people are often surprised when they see the cats have many sponsors. We could not manage without all this help.
These cats are known as our ‘pensioners’ and are with us for many reasons. Mainly it is because they are so nervous that they never give themselves the chance of being chosen. As I said in the last newsletter we have moved 4 very, very nervous black cats out into TV. As of this newsletter going to printt I have only managed to get a photo of Scylla. The others are
Stella, Kiri and Kay. Syclla is now up for sponsorship.
A gift of a sponsorship makes an ideal Christmas gift for someone who is a cat lover, or can longer own a cat.
The sponsorship of a cat costs £15 per year.
Do you have cat lovers amongst your friends who might help us in this way? If you want extra newsletters to pass on to them, just let me know.
A selection of ‘Cats for sponsoring’:-
If the sponsorship is for a birthday gift please let me know the date so a birthday card can be sent.A sponsorship form can be found at the end of this newsletter.
Our own handmade wooden items
Aa small group of supporters have gone into the production of some wooden items. Items coming off the production line are kitchen/toilet roll holders (£3.50); pen pots with our logo on the front (£2.50); large hand painted key rings ideal as an aid to not losing your keys (£1.50); doorstops (£3.50) and letter racks (£2.50). The doorstops and key rings and letter racks are all beautifully hand painted by a supporter in Warwick and are a ‘must see’. I am also working on making our logo into a key ring but these will not be available until later this year. These will cost £1.
We have lots of other items for sale. Notelets (packs of 4 £1), tea towels (£2.50), birthday cards(£1), writing paper packets(£2), correspondence cards(packs of 5 £1.60), hand painted cats, lots of lovely, reasonably priced ornaments which make lovely presents, many different styles of keyrings and lots more.
Our newest notelet can be seen below
2008 CALENDAR.
This years calendar contains some lovely pictures and stories of ex Avon Cat Rescue cats. They are useful and make ideal presents. The front cover, seen above, is drawn by Richard Ledwidge and is delighful. Our thanks go to him for his support. The calendars cost £4 and can be bought from any of our sales or from me or the Rescue. If anyone can sell any for us please let me know. If you are coming to one of the sales we have and know you want to buy more than a couple please let me know in advance so I can make sure I have sufficient to satisfy your needs.
2007 Christmas Card.
This have been drawn for us by Richard Ledwidge for which we thank him. There are 4 cards in each pack and cost £1. I would think there are hardly any other charities that can say that 100% of the sale of their cards goes to the charity. The cards are donated so every pack you buy gives the Rescue £1. It would be lovely to think that all our supporters would buy at least one pack. This would give the Rescue well over £500.
See our Competitions and Sales page here, to see what we can offer for sale by post.
(Sadly we do not have many cat stories this time. Hopefully before the Spring newsletter some more people will have sent stories in to me)
HILL
Hill was a female tabby stray found in Quinton.
We are happy to report that we’re both very happy with each other! My wife and dog both passed away last October, and the house has been very lonely since. My new addition has brought a little sunshine back into my live. (I’ve named her HILL – after my wife!)
Hill settled in almost straight away, she has her favourite places and seems to adore tinned pilchards. My one and only worry is when I let her out for the first time – I pray she doesn’t run away! Fingers crossed. Thanks for everything.
TEAZLE (photos on our website)
Sorry for the delay in sending you the photos, we’ve been waiting for the rain to stop.
Teazle is very much part of the family. Yes, still Teazle, it suited her! When she arrived the first thing she did was sit on everyone’s laps and gave us all cuddles!!! On her first night she slept on Rosie’s bed, which is now part of her bedtime routine!
She loves to go outside in the garden and use her cat flap, but she doesn’t go far. One of her favourite things is to climb the apple trees and especially chasing pigeons! She has made friends with the neighbours’ chickens. NO CASUALTIES YET! And our resident hedgehog!
Her fur has nearly grown back as you can see in the photo. On these rainy days Teazle has been sat in Rosie’s window on air traffic control (watching the birds fly by!). She loves to play with her toys! Everyone who meets her loves her!
Thank you for letting us have Teazle! She is much loved by us all.
DAISEY & SIDNEY
I can’t believe it’s just over a year since we had Daisey and Sidney from you. They have developed into such characters and bring us so much pleasure. The bonding between Mother and son is touching. We would love to know how many kittens Daisey had and where they went. The thought of splitting a family is awful.
This last week we had my daughter’s dog staying for a week. He hates cats. He has been on the rare occasion before and somehow the cats always came when called with Dog safely shut away, the house being split into dog and cat zones.
This time was awful and we couldn’t get them in. The dining room window was left open day and night and there was evidence they had had small amounts of food. We got so distressed and thought that we would never see them again. The night the dog left they were at the back door – thank God.
Keep your stories coming please.
See our Events page here
Name of cat chosen .............................
Amount enclosed £………… (£15 per cat)
Name ..............................
Address ............................................................ .......................................................................
Post Code ..............
Please send this form with your cheque (made payable to Avon Cat Rescue) to Helen Hall, 24, Hanson Avenue, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire CV36 4HL