Latest Newsletter - August 2008

The Branch held a very successful AGM in July with good member and volunteer support of the evening.
Committee members are as follows;
Chair – Mrs Shelley Devonshire
Treasurer – Mr Philip Warrington
Secretary – Miss Charlie Bulley
Sally Robinson
Lyn Jones
Lois Thorpe
Lynda Wright
Claire Carney

Claire Porter our fundraising co-ordinator will be giving up her post in October. We would like to thank Claire for her work with the branch over the past year and wish her well for the future.

Branch Neutering Campaign

The branch is currently running a full cost neutering campaign for dogs and cats to people who are in receipt of an income based benefit.  Following the withdrawal of Dog Trust Funding we have been able to allocate a limited number of full cost dog neutering vouchers that can only be used at Vets4Pets in Harrogate.

PetRetreat

In 2002 the RSPCA was approached by a women’s refuge in the South West of England to see if it could help with pets belonging to families fleeing domestic abuse.
A pilot scheme was set up to monitor the need and the scheme was rolled out to cover Region One.

The scheme enables victims of domestic abuse to escape from the perpetrator with the peace of mind that their pets will be safe.
Once referred, the animals are placed in of the centres for assessment and veterinary treatment. The animals are then placed into one of the PetRetreat foster homes and remain there for an average of 6 months.
Clients are given progress reports and sent photographs of their pets.
The scheme which has been running successfully in the South West Region is to be rolled out in the North and branches have been asked to contribute £500 towards getting the scheme up and running.
I am very pleased to report that Harrogate branch wholeheartedly supports the scheme and has made the required contribution.
I will everyone updated with the schemes progress.

Branch Microchipping Campaign

The branch will be running its annual microchipping campaign in September.  The vets participating in the campaign are :
Vets4 Pets Harrogate
Rae & Bean Boroughbridge
Westwood Vets Boston Spa
Hutchinson Dunlop & Baird  Wetherby
Forest House Knaresborough.
Bishopton Veterinary Group Ripon

The cost of microchipping will be £12.50 and all proceeds will come to the branch.

Animal Updates

I am so pleased to report that we have had a very busy summer with re-homing cats and kittens.
Looking for new homes-
Bertie & Bella are two black cats that were left behind when their owners returned to the USA. They are aged 3 & 5 years and are fully vaccinated, neutered, wormed. They are both quite shy but affectionate and need to re-homed together.
Please contact Jill if you are interested in re-homing any of our animals.

Microchipping

The branch now offers microchipping at a cost of £12.50 per cat/dog.  We have three branch members who are now trained to microchip. If you would like your animal microchipped please contact the branch for further details.

Friends Meetings

The next Friends Meeting will be held on Tuesday 14th October 2008. The meetings will be taking on a different format with guest speakers and we will be providing nibbles and refreshments.  We are aiming to make the meetings more varied and informative as well as being a sociable occasion for volunteers and members. We will be holding the meetings every three months.

Lottery Winners

May
1st Vicki Lister (52)
2nd Vicky Crawley (20)

June
1st Mrs Preston (39)
2nd Jeanne Thompson (43)

Birstwith Show
We had a very successful day at Birstwith Show with over 70 entries for the various dog classes.  Despite it being a very hot day it was the biggest turnout we have ever had.
Chris Bell from Stray fm was the judge of the dog classes and did a magnificent job.
Thank You to Mango Mutt and Trophy Foods Leeds for sponsoring our classes.

Abseil off Leeds Met Building
Charlie Bulley very bravely did her abseil off Leeds Met building in poor weather conditions and raised todate £350 in sponsorship.  Thank You so much to Charlie for her never ending enthusiasm and support of the branch.