Branch News

1st July 2019

Branch News 1st July 2019

Welcome to the second edition of our quarterly branch news for 2019.

 

News from the Kennels.

The second quarter of the year, again proved a success with many of our kennel greyhounds finding loving homes to see out their retirement. This means that 103 of the greyhounds coming into our care have found homes this year and the overall total of hounds homed by the branch since it first opened, now stands at 3,943. This is a fantastic number and thanks must go to the dedication of the branch volunteers, past and present, for their hard work promoting greyhounds as pets.

We are still taking greyhounds from the trainers at Ladbrokes Monmore Green Stadium in alphabetical order, on a 2 female and 1 male basis and at present we have 26 greyhounds in our care till they leave us for their new homes.

With winter behind us, (hopefully),  the low plastic roof has been removed and stored for next year and the kennels have had a new coat of white paint. As in previous years, new white walls seems to attract waggy tails against them, resulting in splashes of red as ends of tails split. We are pleased to say that all the hounds tails that were involved in this practice have healed successfully, with no need for amputation of the ends.

The removable transport cages in the van have served us well over many years, but are now becoming tired and at present we are getting quotations to replace them.

During this quarter, there has been a change in policy by our Head Office regarding the supply of food we ordered directly from them. This has meant that we have had source a supply ourselves and we are pleased to say that we have successfully negotiated this with the company that supplied Head Office. However this has meant a small increase in the purchase price. We now have received a delivery and this is available for your greyhounds at £13 per bag from the kennels.

 

Roadshows and Awareness Events.

Steve Smith, our events coordinator has sent this report. 

This year a number of new volunteers have got involved in attending Roadshow events and have worked successfully with our more experienced volunteers. The blend of old and new has been helpful in creating new ideas, approaches and has provided a range of perspectives when talking to and advising people who attend Roadshows wanting to learn about owning a greyhound. 

At the beginning of April the Roadshow went to the Penkridge Children's Market. Angie donned the Homer costume and the children loved it. Penkridge always has lots of visitors and we had a number of enquiries and support. 

In mid April the Roadshow went to Cannock Town Centre and again it created a lot of interest with crowds gathering around the trailer and a number of people expressing interest in owning a greyhound. 

On the 22nd April the Trailer was taken to the Monmore Green Track. Race goers were as supportive and generous as always. 

Essington held its first Spring Festival on Sunday 5th May and the Branch was invited to attend. Volunteers arrived with tombola prizes, children's games and merchandise together with several greyhounds to show off. The Festival attracted large crowds and there was a lot of interest in both the greyhounds and the work of the Trust. 

The next day the trailer returned to Monmore Green Track for the next Bank Holiday Race Meeting and again there was lots of interest and support. 

The Roadshow went to Bilston Town Centre on Saturday 11th May. The event was probably the busiest so far, the warm weather brought out large crowds and we enjoyed a really successful day. 

Towards the end of May the Roadshow went to Perton Spring Fair, where the hounds received and enthusiastic welcome. The organisers always appreciate us supporting the event and make us really welcome. 

On the May Bank Holiday Monday the roadshows were taken to both the Lichfield Bower and the race meeting at Monmore Stadium. Both events were busy and were successful in promoting a lot of interest and enquiries.

The beginning of June was less successful, heavy rain meant that the Rugeley Charter Fair was cancelled and the visit planned to Rugeley Town Centre was cancelled the following week. 

However on Saturday 22nd June the Roadshow went to Waitrose Wolverhampton which was again created a lot of interest and support.

Following a wet start to the month, the end of the month saw weather of the other extreme.

The roadshow went to Great Wyrley Carnival on a sunny day. There were large crowds attending the event with the greyhounds attracting lots of admirers. 

 

The Carnival season continues this coming weekend with a visit planned to Pelsall Carnival. 

Details of events can be found on the Events page of the website. 

 

Branch Walks.

Carole Appleby, our branch walks coordinator has sent this report.

Our second Greyhound Walk of the year took place on Sunday 19th May at Baggeridge Country Park. Forty three hounds and their families enjoyed a choice of two walks on a fine spring morning. After the walk there was a raffle, a chance to purchase Greyhound Trust Merchandise and there were sausages for the hounds. It was lovely to see some of our recently adopted hounds who were settling into their new homes so well.

On Sunday 9th June our next walk was also at Baggeridge. This time it was part of the Great Global Greyhound Walk, when hounds walk both nationally and internationally to raise awareness about the breed. This year was extra special because it was the 10th Anniversary of the GGGW. On this walk our colleagues from GT Dudley joined us and it was lovely to see them.

We were very fortunate to have a really dry and sunny morning for the walk as it had rained constantly on the previous day.

Ninety one hounds and six companion dogs arrived with their families - a fantastic number and an absolutely amazing sight.  It was lovely to see Kennel Dogs ( hounds waiting to find homes) from both Wolverhampton and Dudley branches of the Trust socialising and enjoying the walk. It goes without saying that the behaviour of all the hounds was impeccable.

After the walk all the hounds enjoyed succulent sausages. Our raffle, sale of Greyhound Trust Merchandise and donations raised a total of £226.85p.

The GGGW overall was a great success. There were 275 registered walks which took place right across the world. Overall 8795 hounds took part in the walks, which beat last year’s record by over 2400. A fantastic achievement. Please see our website to enjoy some beautiful photographs of the GT Wolverhampton / GT Dudley Walk. 

 

Our next GT Wolverhampton Greyhound Walk is on Sunday 8th September at Marquis Drive, Brindley Heath, Cannock Chase, WS12 4PW. There will be the usual choice of three walks - one and a quarter or two and a quarter miles or a short walk around the Parade Ground for hounds who still enjoy a stroll and a sniff, but may not be able to manage the longer walks. Please meet near the Brindley Heath Visitor Centre between 10.00 and 10.15am and the walk will start at 10.30.

 

Finally a big ‘thank you’ to all who support our walks. We appreciate your continued support because although the walks are a social event, they help us to raise awareness about Greyhounds and the amazing pets they make. We look forward to seeing you in September - you will be very welcome.

 

Care Home Visits.

Lynn Onyskiw-Mason, our care home coordinator has sent this report.

 

Since our last kennel news, visits to the two main care homes, New Cross and Dovedale Court have continued in a regular monthly pattern with much appreciation being shown each time by both residents and staff. 

For each visit we try to select different hounds. This is good for helping to socialise them into new situations and places, giving us a better insight into their personalities when advising potential homers.

Recently another care home in Codsall has contacted us expressing an interest in meeting our hounds and a first visit has been arranged for mid July.

More volunteers have now indicated that they would like to take part in introducing our hounds to care home residents. Hopefully, this will mean that eventually we can arrange more visits to other homes around our area.

 

Our Branch Volunteers.

Alison Bandurak, our volunteer coordinator has sent this report.

We have 76 registered volunteers with the branch helping at kennels, awareness events, care homes and so on.

We have reordered uniform polo shirts as some are looking a little 'well used' now.

Head office have a Volunteer mentor scheme which is being adapted from another charity and we will be looking at this a soon as it arrives.

We continue to have younger people who require a parent to supervise them and also older ones who have special needs or challenging behaviour. They benefit enormously from being here with the hounds and we encourage our volunteers to welcome them and their carers.

We are hoping more of the branch family find a little time each month to help out at an awareness event now that the holiday period is approaching.

 

Social Media.

Chloe Hayes, our branch social media coordinator has sent this report.

 

If you'd like to keep up to date on daily goings on with the kennels and our hounds, please follow us on social media! 

Our Twitter username is @GTWolverhampton or you can search 'Greyhound Trust Wolverhampton' on Facebook to find us there. 

We post about the day to day goings on, as well as any other bits of news we have to share with you in between our quarterly kennel news'. We also post a picture of each hound leaving the kennels for their forever home with their new family which we know you all love seeing!

 

We have a new gallery on our website for you all to have a look at. It's under the 'Happy Homed Hounds' tab and you can look there to find pictures of hounds in their homes, and we also have a separate album for the photos of the hounds leaving the kennels with their new family, so that people without social media can still see them. 

If you'd like a photo of your hound included on our new gallery, please send one picture with a short caption to gtwolverhamptongallery@outlook.com. 

 

Our Supported Hounds.

Joanne Hayes, our Support Scheme coordinator has sent this report.

 

A big thank you to all of you who renewed their support this year and those who also joined our support scheme, which runs from April to April and costs £25 per annum. 

The scheme enables us to look after those hounds that we have found loving homes for, but need extra support from us with long term medication or ongoing veterinary treatment.

We support four hounds at present, Luigi, Holly, Neil and Murphy following the sad loss of Parker due to cancer early in the year.

Neil and Murphy are two older greyhounds, who were returned to our care due to a change in circumstances of the owner and now have a new home with our volunteer Chris. They both need ongoing veterinary care.

 

If you feel that you would like to help our supported greyhounds enjoy their retirement in loving homes, please contact the kennels for further details.

And Finally...

 

That’s all for this time, but as we approach the 4,000th greyhound homed by our branch, hopefully later in the year, please keep an eye on our social media pages and website.

 

 

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