Photo Caption:
PACT Animal Sanctuary Dog Kennel Runs - January 2007

RAF Marham Volunteers fix PACT Animal Sanctuary Dog Runs

Once again Warrant Officer "Badger" Drayton From RAF Marham set out to find work for about 20 personnel at River Farm, the PACT Animal Sanctuary at Cranworth. It was a cold day but spirits were high. The Sanctuary was delighted to see so many volunteers and found enough work to keep the team occupied all weekend. Mr George Rockingham the gaffer is always willing to oblige by finding projects that will help to maintain and improve the facilities at River Farm, unfortunately, there is never enough volunteers to carry out these tasks.

The Projects undertaken were as follows:
The team were to lay a path made from road scrapings from the housing area to the wildlife site 200/300 metres in length, also improve the paths which were laid last year. Badger along with a large team of men and women, not forgetting ( FS Ritchie White the Dumper Truck Man now known as Bob the Builder and yes we can.) Thanks for all the hard work 50 Tonne of Tar-Mac scrapings were manually handled moved to create the new paths.

They were demolish an old cabin which had out lived it's usefulness and clear the said area. Dangerous Dave from Admin Wing took the team on an experience of there lives hence the name Dangerous Dave, well done Dave Penney and the lads of course hope you have all recovered from your experience, thank goodness for Health and Safety Equipment.

We had to re-lay 200 uneven slabs in the dog runs and lay another row to double the width on all sides to give the dogs more hard surface to run. Warrant Officer "Bunny" Warren, Jez, Kim and Foz along with other team mates got physically up to there knees in Chum Dog Food well that's what they think it was, great job guys.

Foz and dangerous Dave fixed an extra rail all the way round the Donkey field (a pretty large area) this will stop the Donkeys sticking there butts through the wire fencing watch this space.

It was definitely a far better weekend overall after the last visit and the poor weather we had to endure. The sun shone on the righteous, with the minimum of rain and wind and all the jobs were finished very successfully. Our lunch was enjoyed by all including the many four legged friends that enjoyed Chicken Curry and Lasagne.

The ever lasting comment that must be remembered on this occasion will have to be why do we have a Badger and a Bunny working on an animal sanctuary.

All welcome at the next weekend extravaganza!

PACT Animal Sanctuary
The People for Animal Care Trust (PACT) is a voluntary run animal sanctuary, looking after approximately 450 animals and birds which is funded entirely by charitable donations, it is located at Hingham, about 7 miles from Watton. It has been open for 10 years and is steadily undergoing a refurbishment and expansion programme. The latest phase of the programme includes rebuilding the dog kennels, and the centre needs help in the form of money and manpower.

Personnel from RAF Marham have volunteered to supply the manpower over a weekend, which will entail demolishing the existing dog kennel runs and rebuilding them. Warrant Officer Badger Drayton, the RAF Marham organizer and point of contact is keen to point out that there will not be time to sit and pet the animals - a weekend of hard slog is all that's on offer!!! The reward will come from helping the animals have a better standard of life.

It costs in the region of £500 a day to run the centre, which is funded by a variety of willing volunteers. The Sanctuary is run by 5 full time staff and has 4,500 active supporters who subscribe to a quarterly newsletter which nets almost half of the money required to run the Sanctuary. Other money is raised by holding 30 collections annually outside supermarkets which raises about £25,000 per annum and finally a team of 20 people run other collections in the local towns, this brings in another £800 a month.

The Sanctuary is always looking for volunteers (aged over 16) to work at the weekends to give the full time staff time off as well as cash donations. The staff point out that although donations of animal food is welcome, what they are really need is donations of money. The Sanctuary buys food wholesale and get much better discount if ordering in bulk, and it also needs money for other projects like the refurbishment work.

If you feel you would like to help - or donate - please contact :
George Rockingham
The PACT Sanctuary
River Farm,
Woodrising,
Hingham,
Norfolk NR9 4PJ

Tel (01362) 820775

E-Mail: pactsanctuary@aol.com

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