Good day to you all,

This has been another very busy year for us at HART but also an extremely productive one! Many, many animals have been helped at the centre and I have been all over the country catching dogs on behalf of DOGLOST UK.

As always huge thank you to everyone that has supported us throughout the year, whether with donations of bric-a-brac, bedding, fundraising or dogwalking; you all know who you are and we couldn't do what we do without you.

Hope you all have a lovely festive season and best wishes for 2017!

Warmest regards,

Ray


P.S. You can find the Christmas edition of our newsletter The HARTbeat and our Christmas card by clicking on "Rays Newsletter" in the menu above, or following this link. 

Hi Folks,

A fantastic young supporter, Felicity Benton, is going to be running the Birmingham Color Run on the 20th August 2016, not only that but she is doing it to raise money for our organisation!

I am constantly warmed by the generosity we see here, from people of all walks of life, and the wonderful Felicity is no exception. Simply put Hollytrees Animal Rescue Trust would not be able to help the vast number of animals we do without this kind of backing. Every penny raised goes straight to the animals, whether it be food, bedding or vets bills etc they are the ones who benefit. 

Felicity has set up a crowd funding page with the organisation JustGiving to aid her in raising funds for the run. You can find her page through the following link: 
Felicity Benton Crowd Funding Page for Hollytrees

Please show her as much support as you can. leaving encouraging comments or passing the word on. She's got great spirit and we are humbled that she has chosen to raise money for us.

Good luck Felicity for the 20th!

Warmest regards,

​Ray 

Just a quick update from the fundraising event hosted by Yorkshire Building Society back in May. As a reminder they set up a competition of sorts whereby people going in to the branch could vote for one of three charities who would receive a monetary donation based on how many people voted.
Well our wonderful supporters went out and voted and managed to secure us 2nd place! Which means a donation of £300! We are extremely grateful to those who voted for us, as always the support shown to us is very humbling and of course every penny received aids the animals in our care currently and any future admissions.

Many thanks again to our supporters and of course to Yorkshire Building Society Solihull branch for not only hosting the event but also for including us! And not forgetting Sue who represented us.

Warmest regards,

​Ray

Hi folks,

Another crazy day for us at the centre. This morning at 8am we had the second load of concrete delivered for our new aviary building. The gang had it poured, spread and tamped in record time! The new foundation, which lies upon and includes some of the old foundation is now complete. The next phase is to decide on what type of building will be most beneficial and efficient and then have it built. Just in time for the influx of young wildlife we are seeing at the moment, and will continue to see throughout the summer!

Many thanks as always to all of our supporters, donators and volunteers. Extra special thanks to Rob, without which this project wouldn't be where it's at, and George who came in especially to lend a hand - and we couldn't have done it without him!

Warm regards,

​Ray

Below you can see a time lapse movie of the concrete being laid. That's Rob, George, Adam, myself and of course my youngest Emma all running around like maniacs!

edit 15/5/16
Sorry again for any inconvenience this may have caused, but our phone lines have been fixed and are back working 100%.

Warm regards,

​Ray

Sincerest apologies to anyone affected, but our phone line has been damaged since yesterday afternoon. Although it will appear the phone is ringing, the call does not come through to us, nor does it go to our answering machine. BT are aware of the fault and are working to fix it as soon as possible. If you need to get in touch with us feel free to shoot us an email which we can still monitor.

My apologies again to any inconvenience caused by this.

Warm regards,

​Ray

The good people at Yorkshire Building Society Solihull branch have put us, along with two other charities, into a competition to win a share of £1000. Any member of the public, whether part of the society or not, can go into the Solihull branch and fill out a voting form for the charity of their choice. The more votes acquired the larger the share of the money is won. 1st place receives £500, 2nd place receives £300 and 3rd place receives £200. 
​The event is running from the 9th - 21st May.

So if you happen to be passing the branch on the High Street in Solihull, feel free to pop in and vote for us! Every vote counts and is very much appreciated!

Warmest regards,

​Ray

​What an absolutely crazy day it has been today, in fact the last week!

Some of you may be aware that we decided to develop the land that sited what we called our ‘crow pens’. Named due to the many years these large aviaries housed Cyril the Rook and Joe the Crow. After both of them went to live with a friend of the charity who keeps Corvids, in even bigger aviaries that you can imagine no less, we decided a redesign was in order.

This is where our friend Rob comes in, knowledgeable as they come; he is our project manager and keeps us on the right track. So for the last week Rob and I, with the help of any willing volunteers, have been clearing this area and under Rob’s guidance prepared it for the first stage: solid concrete base.

In the December 2015 edition of The Hartbeat, I mentioned that I was looking to acquire a new hospital cage/recovery unit. We get such a large number of animals come in that need the warmth and security of a recovery unit in order to survive, especially the young birds and other baby animals. Although we have two fantastic hospital cages that have been in near constant use for years now I decided a larger one was needed to cope with the amount we see.

Well, totally unexpectedly, some of our fantastic supporters sent in donations stating they wanted it to go specifically towards our new recovery unit! One of our longstanding members even went so far as to contact Brinsea who are well known for making brilliant incubators and recovery units, and told them about us. They were very interested in what we get up to and had a Advance Brooder/Recovery Unit on its way to us before we knew it.

Well folks, it has been another crazy year at the centre!
We couldn't do what we do without the fantastic support we receive from the members of the public. Be it our charity members, regular donators or just the odd load of towels or newspaper here and there, all of it helps us to keep going! 

From everyone here at the centre, we hope you have an awesome and prosperous 2016.

Warm regards,

​Ray