The Cat & Rabbit Rescue Centre

ICU Pens

Recovery Pens

Due to the extreme kindness of two Trusts we were fortunate to be able to purchase 6 ICU pens and 16 Recovery Pens which are situated within easy proximity of our new veterinary room, in Viv Eadon Lodge.  Each pen can also be split into two if necessary by using a steel divider, doubling the capacity.   So a massive ‘thank you’ to The Jean Sainsbury Animal Welfare Trust and The Animal Defence Trust for making this vital project possible.

Open Day - August 8th 2010 – saw the official opening of our new cat building, Viv Eadon Lodge, by the Duchess of Richmond & Gordon.

Viv Eadon was a great friend and dedicated volunteer, who suddenly passed away at a very young age of 50.  Viv was a fantastic animal lover and gave many hours of her time to our rescue centre, therefore we are dedicating our new facility to her memory.

Nigel Oddy (Trustee/Treasurer) began the demolition of Stacey Lodge (the old cat pens) on Wednesday 14th May 2008.  Working with the help of James (one of the staff members), and brother-in-law Roger, they worked tirelessly to clear the site of the old pens.  The old sheds, where the cats slept, have been saved and reused.  With a lick of paint they are now used to store the donated, sorted and priced, bric-a-brac ready for selling in the CRRC Charity Shop.  All the metal work has been reused from Stacey Lodge to save money and enable us to reconstruct new cat pens in the rabbit barn.  Some of the mesh and metal work will also be used to create some large pens for the rabbits. 

August 2008 – the barn structure is now up!

So far we have raised £174,342.98 towards our £340,000 target for the new cat building.  Although the structure work has commenced we still need £42,000 to purchase the cat pens (the next stage of the project).  This is the crucial part of the project as our services can then increase to cope with the demand of 1,600 unwanted animals each year. With the roof part now complete we are looking at builders/firms to do the rest of the work.  Fingers crossed by Open Day (August 9^th) you will see a lot of progress.  As we so desperately need this building, please can you send a donation or do some fund raising for us?  Every little helps.

Monday 9th March 2009 - the builders (Fellowes Building Services) have started digging trenches for the foundations!  They estimate to finish the building work by July 2009 (weather permitting) then we can start to put the cat pens in – once we have all the money to purchase them!

By the week ending 20th March 2009, the builders have laid the first line of bricks.  We had a delay in the rest of the bricks arriving due to the supplier but they have now arrived and more bricks have been laid. 

Funds raised to date £176,192.19 (target £340,000)

How exciting the building is really progressing.  These pictures were taken 1st June 2009.  By Open Day (Aug 9th) we will have hopefully completed this part of the project then will have the pens to install and equip each individual room.  We still need to raise £140,000 to complete this project – can you help by doing some fundraising or sending us a donation?  All donators will be written in a book and ‘In Memory’ plaques can also be arranged – email admin@crrc.co.uk for information.

July 2009 the building is now complete!!!  External doors and windows are in, the floor is laid, internal walls are up – now we are ready to start fundraising to equip the internal rooms.  Our priority is to get the cat pens purchased and built as this is obviously the crucial part of the project.  All other internal rooms will have to wait until funds permit.  Our Open Day raised us just under £9,500 after expenses and Pets At Home very generously donated £20,000 to this project as they wanted to support a charity that is helping more animals find homes.  Well that is certainly us!!  This now brings our total raised to date to £208,253.28.  Thank you to everyone who is supporting us – we can’t do it without your help.

Unfortunately due to the flooring taking longer than anticipated to fully dry out, Jago are unable to start fully on the cat pens.  But they have managed to get started on one part of the side walls and hopefully be able to continue with the rest as soon as possible.

February 2010 and the work on the cat pens can now fully start.  This will take approximately 4 weeks to complete, then the metal work will need to be done, so we anticipate the cats being in there by May 2010. 

By end May 2010 the cat pens will finally be completed by Jago and we aim to get cats in there by the 1st week of June.  Each cat pen has underfloor heating making it lovely and cosy in the winter months.  They are all coated in fibreglass which will make them easier to clean and have a lovely bench installed so that the cats can jump up for a cuddle  and groom from one of our volunteers!  Taking 2 years of planning and building we are nearing completion of our greatest achievement, our dreams are now a reality for the unwanted animals.  Nevertheless we still need your donations coming in to help us equip the internal rooms.  Please send a donation on-line by clicking on our ‘donate now’ button – please the animals still need your help!  Thankyou.