News - Jan / Feb 2009

from Julie Grant - Cat Welfare Sussex in Portslade

I would like to thank all our friends and supporters for their generous contributions towards our 2008 Christmas appeal and for their Christmas wishes.

Rae Sinnett

Along with heartfelt thanks for all the donations to CWS in Lieu of flowers for dear Rae - our late, much loved, Honorary Secretary, who passed away in December. We were deeply touched by so many messages of support and beautiful cards.

Rae’s ashes have been scattered at Falmer Pond where her sister Rene’s ashes were scattered some years ago. As most of you will know - Falmer Pond is a well known local beauty spot.
It was a special place for Rae and Rene and they would often visit there together and spend time admiring the beautiful , timeless scenery and watching the antics of the ducks upon the pond.
I miss Rae so much and even now three months after her passing I really can’t believe that she has gone.
I have a beautiful photograph of her, taken when she was in her thirties, looking so happy and carefree. I keep it on my desk and that way I feel that she is with me in spirit.
We are hoping to hold a Fund Raising Event in order to remember Rae and all that she accomplished, later in the year.

Winter in the Cattery

It seems to have been a very long , cold winter. Especially as we had such an awful summer.
However, the cats were tucked up in the cattery throughout ; the cattery is the warmest place to be on a cold days as it is completely insulated and really holds in the heat.
All the cats thoroughly enjoyed their Christmas Turkey dinner as usual - employing Tommy as their Silver Service waiter for the event.

The heavy snow caused some damage to the back cattery roof panels and our water pipes to the outbuildings were frozen solid throughout the cold spell. We had to carry buckets of hot water from the house down to the cattery until the temperature rose. It’s not easy managing the shelter without running water as we have to wash the floors, litter trays and bowls daily as well as hosing the outdoor run and surrounding areas.

As most of you know our garden is very long and very steep and can be quite treacherous even in good weather. Well, imagine the difficulties in ice and snow. (Dancing on ice it certainly wasn’t!) Even the dogs slipped over!

Therefore, our first major job of the New Year was to erect a safety rail of approx 30 meters on both sides of the decking pathway. We have needed a rail for a long time. The bad weather led us to realise just what a priority it was.
Tommy has sunk large upright wooden posts three foot into the ground and attached double wooden rails horizontally to the uprights so we now have a very strong handrail indeed.

Unfortunately, with all the digging, the garden is a sea of mud and we have to start preparing the ground all over again in time for our fund raising events.

Photos of our Cats

The cat situation is dreadful with a real lack of suitable homes due to the Credit Crunch. At the moment we have some beautiful cats in the cattery just waiting for a loving home.
CWS does not put photos of cats awaiting adoption on the website. We feel that our cats have individual requirements and there is a lot more to adopting a cat than just it’s colour or cute factor. Furthermore, cats might be overlooked if a photo doesn’t do him or her justice.

However, we do love to receive photos of our rehomed cats and to post general cat pics and events on our web page.

Several kind people have adopted cats from us since Christmas but sadly, they are few and far between.

Phoebe

Phoebe (pictured right) had been living rough in a garden in Hove for many months. Luckily she was micro chipped but when we contacted her owners, sadly, they had replaced her with two new kittens during her absence and did not want her back. Poor little girl had come from a rescue centre originally and in her short 18 months of life had been pushed around from pillar to post. Going from her original home to a rescue centre to a new home and then becoming lost and living on the streets and finally admitted into our cattery.

The good news is that Phoebe now has a lovely new home and as you can see from her picture she is very happy.

What more could a girl want - lovely home - kind owner and killer shoes.

Adopting a Cat

We have so many cats waiting for a home of their own. It just breaks my heart.
I would like to point out that the majority of the cats that come to us have suffered in one way or another and will need patience and understanding. Many can be timid and shy at first but given lots of TLC, they can blossom into loyal and loving companions for the right owner.

We rarely have kittens under 6 months of age as we try to keep our spaces for older cats that have special needs or injuries.

If you would like to adopt one of our cats please telephone for a chat (01273 423861)

WE DO NOT ENTER INTO ADOPTION OR DISCUSS CAT PROBLEMS BY EMAIL
Sorry, but we do like to talk to you directly and assist with any advice or information that you might require on a personal level. It would help if you could phone during office hours as we get so little free time and we do have to eat and sleep.

Charity Changes

January and February have been especially busy as we have had to change the registered charity address from Rae’s home at Braeside Avenue in Patcham to our Cattery address at Mile Oak Road in Portslade, plus, we have now appointed two new trustees. The paperwork involved in these changes has been phenomenal.
All financial and charitable details must be correctly amended, thus resulting in mammoth form filling, numerous visits to the bank along with endless phone calls etc.

On a lighter note we would like to welcome our two new trustees-: Gilly Bristow and Denise Walton.
Gilly and Denise have been loyal supporters of the charity for many years. Both care deeply about the welfare of cats (indeed of all animals) and come with excellent working credentials that will be of great benefit to the future aims of Cat Welfare Sussex.

Fundraising

Please keep an eye on our fund raising page. The 2009 list of events has yet to be finalized, but our first event is the Barcombe Spring Fair on the 28th March 9am - 12pm.
So I will be busy making cakes and jams for this lovely village event. It’s a lot of work but we find that home produce sells much better than bric a brac. Also we are not getting the donated items that we used to. I guess that, due to lack of money, people are reluctant to give things away.

Waitrose supermarket in Burgess Hill have kindly nominated Cat Welfare Sussex as one of three charities to share in their Community Matters funding scheme throughout April. Great news for us!

The Grand Raffle Draw is on Saturday 18th of April from 2pm at the cattery address. Refreshments provided. Please could you let us know if you wish to attend this event as space is limited.
Please phone Julie 01273 423861 or Keren 01273 725943 by Saturday 11th April.

Please remember we are always in need of good quality saleable items for our fund raising events and if anyone could bake cakes or preserves etc we would be very grateful.

Thanks once again for all your support and kindness during these recent difficult and sad times.

Spring is Coming!

As I’m writing this newsletter - the early spring sunshine is filtering through the window. Outside, the garden is starting to show signs of life again, green buds on the trees and daffodils coming into flower.

In the hedges the birds are nesting and the fox family have taken up residence once more, beneath the cattery, to await the birth of their cubs. The cats are sitting outside relaxing in patches of sunshine.

How wonderful the promise of spring…………

Bye for now

Julie Grant

For further information regarding the cattery, fund raising or the sponsored walk please contact Julie on 01273 423861 or email Julie here (please include your telephone number)
We regret that the cattery is not open to the public. Should you wish to adopt a cat please phone Julie for an appointment.