Happy New Year! Looking into 2016

Happy New Year!

Kingston, who was adopted from us, showing off his festive attire!

2015 was a busy one at the branch and despite having a part-time member of staff on maternity leave all year we achieved a huge amount for animals in need. Of course none of this would have been possible without your incredible generosity and so we wanted to share with you how your contribution has benefited the animals in our care.

Animal Activity

In 2015 we:

* Admitted 419 animals (we admitted 352 in 2014)

* Rehomed 352 animals (17 more than 2014)

* Completed 355 pre-adoption home visits

* Microchipped 254 animals at community events

* Neutered 31 owned ‘at risk’ cats at a cost of over £1200

Newly admitted animals waiting to be health checked at the vet

Lenny - 1 of the 238 cats adopted this year!

The Big Events 

We had two big fundraising events this year. In September 24 brave souls abseiled 170ft down the Barton Square clock tower at the Trafford Centre raising a grand net total of £5830 in sponsorship! Big Walkies was at the start of October and saw 117 dogs trotting round Clifton Country Park to help raise over £2,300 for the branch. I’m sure you’ll agree these are both fantastic sums of money and it has meant that we’ve been able to help fund the care of many more animals in need. They’ll be another Big Walkies in September 2016 and a really daring challenge event in June!

Our abseil down the Trafford Centre Bell Tower raised £5830! Amy Lewis wins the competition for best photo though...

 

117 dogs took part in our Big Walkies event in Clifton

A few other things...

Donating pet food and providing neutering vouchers at the Manchester Food Bank

Staff member Deborah at the University of Manchester Volunteer Day - looking for new recruits!

Staff member Michelle ran a half marathon for us!

Hip-hop duo Run The Jewels donated copies of their limited edition EP for us to sell in our Northern Quarter charity shop! One of the more random points of the year!

Looking forward to 2016

There is plenty to look forward to in 2016!

• Our part time animal staff member Catherine is back in January following maternity leave for her second child. She returns just two days a week but will be working Saturdays so we can get even more out of our week.
• Our Urmston charity shop has reopened after a year of closure and we hope it will bring in some much needed funds.
• Friday 26^th Feb will see our first venture into a vegan pop-up cafe at the Nexus Art Cafe on Sidney Street in the Northern Quarter. We hope you can join us (it’s not all lentils, we promise!).
• A 1950s prom themed Murder Mystery Night is set for Sat 23^rd April thanks again to the generosity of the Manchester Murder Mysteries Mistresses!
• And please put Saturday 4^th June in your diaries as we'll be arranging a treat for our supporters with an afternoon tea and revealing talk about the RSPCA (for more info please get in touch).

Our Urmston shop reopened in December 2015

What else will we be up to?

• We already have two community welfare events lined up in Irlam and Blackley offering free and low cost microchipping and there will be many to follow. (Don’t forget in April it becomes the law that all dogs in England are microchipped.)
• We will be working in partnership with Cats Protection League (CPL) to get owned ‘at risk’ cats to the vets for neutering. We will provide the transportation and free microchip and CPL will pay for the neutering.
• We will be funding and overseeing ‘The Reptile Project’ based at the RSPCA adoption centre in Pets at Home’s Stockport store. The custom-made vivaria has been kindly funded by Pets at Home. Currently there is no provision for reptiles in Greater Manchester rescued by the national RSPCA inspectorate, so we are aiming to provide a much needed service for admission, rehabilitation and rehoming of all things scaly!

So, as you can see there is plenty to look forward to in 2016! Thank you for being by our side all the way.

All the very from RSPCA Manchester & Salford Branch :-)

Our very special team: Michelle, Susie & Deborah