Newsletter JULY 2016 - Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary

This lovely pair of Yorkies have a strange story.
They were advertised as pups and ‘free to a
good home’, but when they were delivered to
their new owner and dumped on her doorstep,
it turns out that they are actually 12 and 15
years old! It seems that they had a second, very
brief childhood! We agreed to take them in and
rehome them and we doubt they will be with us
for very long as they are so irresistible! We
don’t know if they are related, but as they have
been living together we will rehome them
together and ensure they have a happy ending.
Continuing our programme of improvements,
we have made full use of some additional space
in front of our wonderful new chicken pen to
create a pets corner. This will be used as a
petting corner when we hold an event or have
a special celebration day, or just simply to let
prospective adopters see their animal of choice
at play! The pic above shows Falkor playing—
and maybe playing to the crowd!
We have also been working hard to create
another dog walking area in one of our fields.
The area is fenced off so this means that our
dogs will have another safe area to run around
in, let off some steam and simply have fun. The area is now ready for action so our
dogs can run and play to their heart’s content!
Dear Friends
As always there has been a lot of things going on at Bleakholt that
I would like to share with you all. Gemma Atkinson, our Vice
President, continues to be a regular visitor and supporter of
Bleakholt. She is a volunteer dog walker and led ‘Team Bleakholt’
in the Great Manchester 10K Run on the 22nd May. Thanks so much
to all of the runners and their sponsors, you raised a fantastic
amount of money.
As members of the Association of Dogs & Cats Homes we are able
to access grant funding. I am delighted to announce that we
successfully bid for and secured £15,000 from the Pedigree &
Whiskas Feeding Brighter Futures Grant Fund which will be used to
part fund a Canine Assessment Unit where the former Puppy Unit
is sited. The unit will be a dedicated facility to focus on the needs
of the dogs as they begin their journey towards successful
adoption. It will also serve as a quiet area for assessment of dogs.
We anticipate works will hopefully commence later in the year.
There are a number of other capital projects either completed or
underway. We have started works on the Outdoor Equine Arena
which should be complete shortly after the Summer Open Day and
will be a fantastic facility; the new chicken enclosure; we have
fenced off part of the top field for volunteer dog walkers use;
continued work on the horse shelters and have just signed a lease
on a new Charity Shop in Bury which should open following refit in
the Autumn.
I am also pleased to announce the arrival of our new Head of
Fundraising, Bob Carter. Bob has worked in the charitable sector
for a number of years and brings with him a wealth of experience
and enthusiasm. Bob’s key remit is to increase our charitable
donations and make sure that we continue to be sustainable. I am
sure you will join me in wishing him every success in his new post.
I would like to end by thanking you all for your continued support
and I look forward to seeing many of you at the Summer Open Day.
Let’s hope that we have another wonderful day and the sun shines.
Best wishes from Vicki Appleton
Don’t miss the AGM—put it in your diaries now! It will take place at 12 noon
in the Civic Hall, Market Chambers, Market Place, Ramsbottom, BL0 9AJ.
To cut down on postal costs & devote more money to our animals, please email
info@bleakholt.org confirming your full name and address. Thank you.
Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary, Bury Old Road, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, BL0 0RX.
Reg. Charity No. 1110503
Email: info@bleakholt.org
website: www.bleakholt.org
Dog Show (full details on our website)
Birds of Prey
B-B-Q
Kiddies Trampolines
Kiddies Train rides
Bouncy Castle
Café, delicious food Dog Agility Area
Balloon Modelling
DJ Andy Stalls, games Glitter Tattoos
Gift Shop 12-4p.m.
Bentley is a gorgeous Staffie Cross who is about 4 months old.
Our brave little man was born with a deformity in his front legs
and poor diet and lack of knowledge about his
care before he came to us haven’t really helped
him. Bentley is very sweet and loving and loves
to be cuddled and he has been affectionately
nicknamed ‘wonky donkey’, but really doesn’t
seem to mind! The good news is that as he is so
young, he still has soft cartilage in his legs
rather than bone, so this means we should be
able to treat him by manipulating his legs with
splints which hopefully will make him as good as new. Actually, the
news gets better, as Bentley already has a new home to go to when
he’s ready. The lovely family already have a Bleakholt dog who also
had to have splint treatment to his legs whilst still a pup, so they
are very experienced! So little Bentley has a lot to look forward to.
The 10K Run took place on Sunday 22 May and
Bleakholt entered a team of 17 runners to raise
funds, which included our Vice President,
Gemma Atkinson. In addition there were also
several independent runners who ran for us as
their charity of choice. We can’t thank
everyone enough for all their hard work and
for thinking of us. This event was a spectacular
success as the total raised was over £9,500!
Gemma said on the day: "The reason I was
doing it was for Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary, a
charity close to my heart. Although the animals
can't thank you themselves, I know they will all be grateful with their new beds,
toys, training areas, kennels, food - all the items everyone's donations will go
towards." Our Operations Manager, Stuart Murray, also extended his thanks to
everyone who took part and donated. This is an incredible start to a major
fundraising campaign to replace some of our dog kennels. Congratulations to all!
We recently had the leaky
goat shed roof replaced.
Some of our goats had to
move to a temporary home
for a very short while and
our donkeys kindly offered
two of their stables to four
of our lovely pygmy goats.
Far from unsettling any of them,
this turned out to be an exciting
adventure for all concerned!
Curiosity was the name of the game and it was a time for welcoming
guests and getting to make new friends all round. Our donkeys
found the goats fascinating and the goats were mesmerised!
Last month we welcomed our new horse Rosie to Bleakholt.
She is a French Trotter Cross and we cannot be 100% sure of
her age but the staff estimate around early-mid thirties. She
spent the last six years with a wonderful lady who saved her
and her foal’s lives. Prior to this it's evident she has had a
very tough life and sadly she has all the scars to prove it. She
was rescued, in terrible
condition, from an
auction and was loved
and nurtured slowly but
surely back to health.
Tragically this lady
passed away and that's
why she has come to live
with us. We are all excited for her as she will get
to spend a wonderful retirement at Bleakholt
which she most definitely deserves. Rosie is
settling in very well now and is looking great and
her personality is shining through more and more. She is a lovely horse and has
grown quite attached to Millie. As you can tell from the picture, she is most definitely
loving her new home—and the old girl can still set a fair gallop!
Being a rescue centre we inevitably take care of animals that
have special needs, need certain living conditions, or may need
permanent health care. This does not mean that they can’t live
perfectly happy lives in a loving forever home, but unfortunately
this may make them a bit more difficult to rehome. For example,
some of our lovely house cats, like 5 year old handsome Coco
pictured here (left), have the feline immunodeficiency virus
which simply means that their immune
system doesn’t work as well as it should, so
they may be more susceptible to picking up
a virus. It is therefore essential to keep up
with their annual boosters, but otherwise
they live a perfectly normal life. This lovely
lady (right) is 11 year old Princess who would
make an amazing companion. She is very
affectionate and loves attention but can be
quite nervous as she is completely blind. This
of course just makes her beautiful eyes shine
all the brighter! Another little lady with a
condition is 6 year old house cat Tika, who is
loving and affectionate and can even be a bit
cheeky! Little Tika is a diabetic so requires 2
insulin injections a day and has a special diet,
but she really deserves a loving forever home
where she will get plenty of TLC. It is sad that some animals may
get overlooked, as all of them deserve our help and love and a
second chance at happiness. We adore them all!