Furlock Holmes – Our 2020 Story – With Thanks
Of course, the work of Furlock Holmes could never be done without the amazing volunteer team. With volunteers from as young as 10 years old, they dedicate their time and energy – whatever the weather – into keeping our animals happy and healthy. Many of our volunteers are teenagers and I know many organisations are reluctant to take on teenage volunteers, but all I can say is how fantastically our young team has stepped up and taken on the challenges faced by the rescue in 2020! A huge thank you must also go to one of the charity’s trustees, Jen Farrand, who has been an immense, crucial part in keeping the charity afloat and keeping us all smiling!
Our aim is to empower domestic animals and provide a rehabilitation and rehoming service to those in need and this year has certainly involved a lot of it! With more residents than ever, we have been forced to fight the craze of people impulse-buying animals in lockdown and the consequences this has caused. Not only this, but we have faced an increase in the number of animals brought to us with varying health problems and needing urgent veterinary treatment. With this comes the heartbreak of those we can’t save and who pass over to Rainbow Bridge. It has been an emotional rollercoaster of a year, but with the help of the incredible John Chitty and his amazing team at Anton Vets (who are probably all sick of us by now!), we have seen many of our unwell animals recover when we thought they wouldn’t and many have even left us for their forever homes.
Many of our fundraising events that would normally have raised a great deal for the animals, were cancelled this year and we were thrown into the struggle of keeping up with the daily costs of the animals, as well as veterinary costs. We consequently introduced our COVID-safe “Family Tours” where families could come (in their bubble) to visit for a private tour around the rescue and to meet many of our animals. We thought this would be a great way to raise money and, over 200 tours later, this has shown to be true! These tours introduced us to new people and new opportunities. Many of our visitors were shocked to hear the stories and struggles of the animals at the rescue and it was a chance for us to spread the word of the importance of animal welfare and to show how pets, like rabbits, should really be kept. We have since seen many of these families go away to do more research and then return to adopt from us. These tours are certainly something we will be continuing and we thank everyone who has been so far!
As well as the tours, we saw the fantastic community of Whitchurch come together with the Scarecrow Trail to raise funds for the charity – kindly organised by the volunteers of the Whitchurch (Hants) Community Live Events Team. We tied the scarecrow trail with an event of our own, to let people (socially-distanced of course) see where the funding would be going. Thanks to the AMAZING generosity of Whitchurch, this raised a total of £2,000, which went towards various CT scans, X-rays and veterinary treatment for some of our four-legged residents!
We then ended the year with our Live Nativity and this was very popular with visitors who kindly donated a total of £700. It was such a magical event and the atmosphere was lovely – definitely an event we hope to repeat in future years!
None of what we do would be possible without the help of our supporters. From every bag of hay you bought from us, every night your pets boarded with us and every bag of veg you donated, you helped save a life. Every time you share our Facebook posts, tell a friend about us, or follow us on Instagram, you are listening to our mission and spreading our aims for animal welfare. We can never even begin to thank you enough, but please feel proud that you are the reason we are still going.
Sending virtual bunny-kisses and best wishes to all our followers. Happy New Year! Whatever challenges 2021 brings us, we will continue to fight them together – for the love of our furries!