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Archive News

Celebrity visitors to WARS!
Stefanie Powers and Elizabeth Carling came to see us while they were appearing in a play at the Malvern Theatres. 
They spent some time walking our little terrier, Chelsea, and chatting to staff here.  Ms Powers is now sponsoring two kennels and is interested in rehoming one of our strays.
Ms Powers (on left in photo) is an active supporter of animals in the UK, California and Africa. Ms Carling (on right) is known for her roles in 'Boon', 'Casualty' and 'Holby City'. 
They were happy to pose for a photo with Ben, Jackie and Ned - the photo was taken for us by one of our regular volunteers - 'www.sr-photography.co.uk'.



Maverick finds his forever home
We are all delighted that Maverick has finally found a home of his own, after spending nearly a year here waiting.
He is such an independent cat who loves to be exploring outdoors, that he didn't show himself off well in our cattery. We were starting to worry that no-one would ever see what a great pet he could be, but his lucky day finally came, and now he has a home and garden of his own to explore, and all the freedom he has been longing for. We are so pleased for him!




Baxter goes home

We are all delighted that one of our very-long-stay dogs has finally found his perfect new home.

After more than a year of waiting, Baxter has gone to live with a new family which includes several horses and cats, so he will certainly have enough company to keep him happy, loved and busy!


Christmas Coffee morning and bazaar

Our Christmas bazaar and coffee morning was held in November by a dedicated group of ladies who run regular events to raise money for WARS. There is a huge amount of effort involved in organising refreshments (including delicious cakes!) and a whole range of items for sale and it's well worth it - this time they raised the amazing sum of nearly £1500!!




 Another milestone for WARS

Ollie is our 1000th dog!

Ollie the collie is dog number 2000 (we didn't start at number 1!).

 Our very first dog was rehomed in April 2001, and we are all very proud that
in just over 10 years we have rescued the grand total of 1000 dogs.




Easter Egg Raffle 2011

The draw for our Easter egg raffle was held on Easter Monday. This year's winner was Justin, who is one of our regular dog walkers.

We are delighted that the raffle raised £68 for the Shelter.


New cattery floor


    We now have a beautiful new and improved floor in the cattery which is easier to clean and more hygienic for the cats as well.

   Basil and Brian have come back to us from their foster home, and we are taking in new cats for rehoming again.





The BEST news!! Ty has found a new home too!

We are all soooo pleased for him. When he met his new owners it was like he knew they were the ones, and he was brilliant and showed off all his best tricks for them. He's now settling in nicely and we're all hoping they'll be happy together for a very long time. He's even been playing off the-lead in his local park and coming back to his owners for treats!

A big thank you to everyone who helped with his appeal.


Tommy has finally found a loving home!



Tommy has finally gone to his new home after spending a total of 320 days at the shelter!

He has now gone to live a happy life with his new pal Winston (a previous WARS dog) and looks like he has already settled in well.



Reunited at last!



This is the happiest story of the year so far!

Cedric came in to us as a stray and had been here for ages waiting for a new home. At the weekend (5th Feb 2011) we got a call from a family saying they'd seen him on our website and thought he was their dog who they'd had from a puppy and lost nearly two years ago.
They rushed straight over here to see him and immediately knew he really was their Ty, and he was over the moon to see them as well.
His family have three children, one of whom grew up with him from a baby, and we are all so pleased to see them back together as a whole family again.

Peg our three-legged kitten


On November 21st 2010 a stray kitten was brought in to us with a badly damaged leg, possibly as a result of a road accident.

It had been untreated for a long time and was a horrible mess, but she still purred at all the attention she was getting.  She was taken straight to our vets who amputated the bad leg, and after a night in there she came back here, happy and purring.

She's already attracted the attention of a young family who want a kitten to go with their dog and children, so it looks like Peg's sad story will have a really happy ending. January 2011 - Peg is with her new family now!


____________________________________________________________________________________________

Pet Blessing on 9th October 2010

 

 An interfaith Pet Blessing was held at the Shelter on the 9th October 2010. 

This was very  kindly arranged by Rev Valerie Needham, together with support from Kevin Devaney,  David Weston and music by Julia accompanied with a wonderful string quartet. 

After  the service refreshments were served and everyone took part in a raffle. We would like  to thank everyone who attended and for their generosity. It was greatly appreciated. The total amount raised was £279.79.




      

The New Cattery


The new cattery finally opened on the 1st March 2010. We are now fully up and running and are looking forward to many success stories in the future.         









 The Golden Jubilee Trust (John Lewis Partnership)


[] Mandy is with us for 4 months on secondment on her Golden Jubilee Trust Award. She was one of only 3 partners picked from John Lewis Partnership this year.
The Golden Jubilee Trust is a scheme of awards which gives practical help to UK registered charities run by the John Lewis Partnership.
You can usually see Mandy working behind the deli counter at Waitrose.











Haircuts


[] []
Here you can see Patch who had been at the shelter a year. We decided it was time he had a little trim and as you can see he looks so much better.
Within a few days he got a reserve and has now finally gone to a new home.

We would like to thank Dogs of Distinction for their help and professional clipping skills.





Our Wonderful New Isolation Block!

This last summer was particularly difficult for all charities involved with rescuing dogs in our area.

All local shelters were full to bursting-point with dogs needing to be rehomed. Thanks to recent fundraising efforts we have been able to build these extra kennels.


[isolation block]


The new block is now in use, and it is making a terrific difference to our work.


Fencing The Site

We have now fenced the remainder of the site to ensure security and the safety of all the dogs.


[digger!]
Here you can see work in progress on the fence.


[amy!]

And here is Amy doing some quality control and assessing what they still need to do.


[fence]


It is wonderful now that the whole site is enclosed like this!


Building The New Isolation Kennels!

[isolation block]


Work in progress adding four more isolation kennels.

[isolation block]


Before this project we had only two : not enough to ensure segregation and minimise the risk of any disease spreading now that more and more dogs are being brought to the shelter.


[isolation block]

The buildings are almost complete!


[isolation block]
The new block is now in use, and it is making a terrific difference to our work.


The New Office And Manager's Accommodation Are Now In Use!


[outside view!]
We are delighted with our new office and Manager's house.

As you can see, the office is on the right - and if you visit the Shelter please respect Ben's privacy as the section on the left is his home!
You can see photos of the building work in progress if you scroll down this page.


[doggypix!]


When you walk into the reception area you can see photos of all the dogs, with an indication of which ones are already reserved.


[the desk]

- and the reception desk (but I couldn't persuade the staff to pose behind it!)

We appreciate all the work done by John Rogers and Associates in building this, and give a huge "thank-you" to Geoff Southall for supplying all the electrics free of charge.


Here You Can See The Office And Manager's House Being Built.


[measuring-tape!]
In March 2004 the builders marked out the area for the new Manager's House and Administration block.

Until October 2004 the Shelter made do with temporary buildings (mobile homes), which had reached the end of their life.
The work was done by the same firm which built the kennel-blocks. Here are some photos which show progress on the site.


[foundations!]


Here you can see work beginning on the foundations.


[the boss!]


- and the boss himself is lending a helping hand!


[foundations built!]


It is now the beginning of April and you can see how the foundations have grown.

[the committee!]


It was wonderful to see the walls appear towards the end of April. Here you can see three members of the committee with Jodie inspecting the Manager's house with the admin section behind them and the kennels in the background.


[foundations built!]

And the roof is beginning to take shape!

[more roof!]
More roof.

[painting door]


Now Phil is putting three coats of varnish onto the door and window-frames.

[timber!]

The building is really transformed here with its wooden cladding.


The "Play-Pens"

[]
Here you can see photos of when the 'play-pen' or enclosed exercise area was built!



[]
This picture was taken when there were just several posts in the ground, and the next one shows it in use. One or two dogs at a time can now run free and play in safety with volunteers or Shelter workers in each section- it's wonderful, and great fun.





[]
It is 110 feet long and is divided into two separate play areas. There is of course a double gate with a small area between for added security.







The 'Adopt a Dog' day on 16 July raised over £1,000, we made £906 at the Guildhall Bazaar and the table at the Dogs Trust raised £84.00 : thank you to everyone who supported these, and a big Thank You to the 'Past It Motorcycle Club' from Droitwich for their generous donation! A further £277.03 was raised at the Hallow Table Top Sale.


A very big THANK YOU to Phil and Ros for organising a successful gig featuring 'The Pontiacs' which raised £427 for the shelter! 


[christopheretc] The launch of this website was celebrated with an Art Competition for young people (aged up to 18) in the Worcester / Malvern area.

This photo shows Christopher, the winner of the pre-school section with his picture of Jasper, the dog in the foreground who was found a new home by the Shelter. Also in the photo are Anne Dicks, the previous author of this website and Annette Payne (on the right) who was one of the judges.



Malvern pet portrait artist Annette Payne, said 'The best pictures were those where the artist had thought about the animal and its character. The little touches such as texture of fur and the eyes are important when portraying any creature. I particularly liked those who also included a little humour in their picture.'

'We were delighted with the response to this competition and with the variety of types of pictures we received,' said Mr Alex Husband, Site Manager. 'We were expecting to see mainly dogs and cats, but we had elephants, fish, insects and a variety of exotic birds as well as cartoons. We would like to thank all the entrants for their hard work - we enjoyed looking at all the pictures.'


[trees]

This is a photo from the Malvern Gazette, showing a student from Malvern Girls' College presenting a cheque to Alex (and Ned!). The girls from the Mount House have organised several fund-raising activities for the Rescue Shelter as well as becoming volunteer dog-walkers (one girl is doing this as part of her Duke of Edinburgh Award).


Volunteers and friends of the Shelter enjoyed a wonderful evening's entertainment organised by Anita on Saturday 17th November at Stoulton Village Hall, which raised a grand total of £150 for the Shelter in a variety of ways.

Unfortunately the flash on my camera was not working so I cannot show you photos of the singing group 'Echo' as they enchanted us with their voices, or of the wonderful food or the competitions! The knitted dog which was the prize for 'Guess the name of the dog' was admired by everyone and we hope Alex organised a Home Check for him before he went to his new family!




[trees]

This was the scene on 13th November when 32 trees were donated by St Peter's Garden Centre to be used as a windbreak, protection from the sun - and soundproofing (!) for the kennel block.

One of the Shelter's volunteers had the bright idea of asking for this support from the Garden Centre, and she also organised the transport back to the Shelter.

[moretrees]

Here you can see Tony from the Garden Centre helping Alex to put the rest of the trees into the Shelter's vehicle.

Back at the Shelter, more volunteers, Rosemary and her husband, planted the trees with Alex and Sally.

We really appreciate all the help and enthusiasm we get from our volunteer helpers.

You can find out more about St Peter's Garden Centre by clicking the link to its website on our links page.


Christmas 2001

You will be delighted to know that the dogs at the Shelter celebrated with real turkey and sausages on Christmas Day, and that they all received two presents!

Thanks to donations, all the dogs were given two new toys of their own and special biscuits, so spare a thought for the celebrations which took place at the Shelter while you were enjoying your own Christmas festivities.


George and Vanessa at the Brewers Arms in West Malvern held a Pub Quiz on the last day of Christmas - January 6th - and used the proceeds to buy food for the animals in the Shelter.


Click here to see news and pictures from the official Opening of the Rescue Shelter on Saturday 15th September 2001 and here for our current news and events !