**END OF YEAR ROUND UP**
Well, in 2021 unfortunately life didn’t return to ‘normal’ as we expected but we have still had a great year! On the fundraising side we enjoyed continued support from our partnered Pets at Home stores (Walkden and Horwich) even though we weren’t able to fundraise in stores. We had to turn to online fundraising which was well supported and became our main source of income once again. We send thanks to Dave A for funds raised through E Bay sales and car boot events and to Fiona K for the online hamper fundraisers, all of which brought in much needed funds.
We were able to attend some fundraising events and new events such as the Atherton and Golborne Summer fairs, the Worker Bee markets in Bramhall, the Lancashire Mining Museum and Botanical Gardens events, all of which were very successful. Our Xmas Fair held at the Boothstown British Legion was a very successful event too.
A first for us was the Chorley Flower Show back in July where we were awarded a Gold Medal in the community show garden competition. This was completely new territory but was a wonderful weekend – and a great opportunity to spread the word about greyhounds.
With the support of our talented Crafters group we have been able to expand the sales of crafts into a local garden centre and a pet store, we hope to secure more of these concessions in 2022. We were grateful for the support of local artist Angela Banwell who, earlier in the year, donated a stunning painting to raise funds. We send special thanks to everyone who has been so generous and donated items for our fundraising events.
Looking ahead we have already booked the Makants Dog Show for the 26th June and our Christmas fair for the 27th November.
Wendy and Fiona, Fundraising Trustees
Rehoming:
Despite restrictions we have continued to rehome our hounds and we homed our 500th hound in the Summer, ELLA, now LILY who lives in Queensferry. This year we managed to home 76 greyhounds with the help of our team of home checkers. We send our thanks to those of you who have adopted a Makants hounds. Thank you for taking one (or more!) of our greyhounds into your home and allowing them to experience the rest of their life as a treasured pet.
Sue, Rehoming Coordinator/Trustee
A message from Siobhan:
I would like to take the opportunity to thank all our volunteers for their hard work, they have kept us all going this year as they always do. Put simply, Makants volunteers are just ‘brilliant’.
Our walking volunteers are so important as their love and care of the dogs on a daily basis is so important and ensures they have a smooth transition into forever homes. Our volunteers care for the dogs as if they were their own, many spending time with individual dogs after walks giving them plenty of T.L.C. Thanks to our fundraising volunteers who raise much needed funds for the daily care of our hounds. We simply couldn’t do what we do without the income they raise. We realise we are also lucky to have so many volunteers also working hard behind the scenes for us – whether helping in kennels, fostering, taking hounds to the vets, our Admin. team, Trustees and our home checkers – to them all we say a very big ‘thank you’.
Very sadly we lost Patrick our long stay hound in the Summer. He was loved by so many and his loss is still keenly felt, he certainly won’t be forgotten. We also sadly heard of the loss of some of our adopted hounds, we remember Meghan, Bella, Logan, Ruby, Paige, Finn, Liv, Neil, Bella, Stevie G, Mickey, Saffron, Alfie, Raven, Blue, Brandy, Ronnie, Pippa and Duke who have passed over the Rainbow Bridge this year.
I’d like to thank you all for your continued support as we go into our 9th year in existence. It’s hard to believe the rescue started out with one hound and one slip lead! Best wishes to you all for 2022.
Siobhan, Founder and Trustee
Makants Greyhound Rescue NW
photo credits Jo Maxwell, Shilpa Grewal, Ella’s family
