When I began to think about writing this newsletter it felt there was little to say. The last 6 weeks have been consumed by our long awaited building work so its kind of felt like that’s all that’s happened.
However, scrolling back through posts over the first 3 months of this year I find the picture is more complicated than that – Henderson for example.
Henderson arrived in January, during that period when we’d resolved to not take in any more cats. When we heard that he’d been found half dead at the side of the road though, we went racing over to get him. After causing a lot of worry in his early couple of weeks with us he’s emerged as an adorable purry elderly gentleman. His only (ONLY?!) fault is a tendency to pee everywhere. He’s been neutered of course and can use the litter tray some of the time. He even appears to have understood that we tend to frown on this behaviour …. but sometimes its just too tempting …. or maybe he forgets and is only reminded when I leap up squealing HENNNNNNNNderSONNNNNNNNNNNN!!!. Fortunately for him we love him anyway and he’s slotted in happily with the other residents. Given his age and health / behaviour issues will probably stay here for the rest of his life.
Speaking of Hendo …. reminds me to tell you about our ….
Cards
Our fabulous fundraiser Jenny has been creating and selling some lovely cards for a while now and making some welcome money for 8 Lives. Card sales have gone to a whole new level since Christmas though with a few talented supporters. First Victoria Butterell a local artist approached us with the offer of one of her designs to sell to support 8 Lives. We arranged a launch at our favourite Rileys & Co and a friend of theirs Christopher Carter came to take the photographs.
Our very own Rufus attended the event as he rarely passes up an opportunity to go to Rileys. The next thing I know, he’s arranging his own personal photo shoot with Chris. A lot of the photos made us say “awwww” but this is the one ultimately chosen to go on a card. In the background is the chair I used to sit in to give him his bottle when he was tiny,
We had another addition to our collection from Gale, one of friends at Rileys. She drew and painted this gorgeous picture and donated it to us for fundraising.
These are all available at Rileys & Co and Pet Company pet shop on Abbeydale Road …. and a few other places.
We’ve had heart break and heart warming stories …..
Poor old Tippy our stray visitor only allowed himself to be caught when it was too late to help him. A frantic dash to Vets Now one Sunday afternoon only led to a night time / nightmare call requesting our permission to put him to sleep as he continued to deteriorate and was in distress. The heartbreak was eased a little by the amazing care from Pet Cremation Services . Jody who manages the service is tremendously kind and respectful of the animals who come to her. The fact that Tippy was a grubby old tom cat was irrelevant …. he got all the love and tenderness that our precious Sooty got almost exactly a year previously. Here he is in happier times in the garden with our Flipper.
Our heart warming story is of Daisy Mae who came to us just before Christmas, and was mentioned in our Xmas newsletter. She’s an older girl who unlike Tippy was very healthy .. but had been threatened with being put to sleep because she was being made homeless. She moved out of here into foster care as the building work started. This more or less coincided with half term and grandmother coming to visit in her foster home. One thing led to another …. and at the end of the holiday she packed her bags and left with grandmother for her furever home. Nice one Daisy Mae.
And the BIG NEWS almost at the end ….
Because we got it after we’d written most of the newsletter … Our second attempt to register as a charity has been successful !!
Obviously it has to be a stringent process, but its proved to be a bit of a nightmare getting all the ducks in a row to satisfy the charity commission. Our previous attempt failed when they didn’t like the layout of our accounts (but couldn’t quite tell us why), we had one part of the document naming us 8 Lives and another 8 Lives Cat Rescue, and a date missed off one of the multitude of signatures required. It felt infuriating and petty at the time, but now its all gone through it feels like we won it fair and square 🙂
And Finally …..
We have another fundraiser planned ….. Friday 9 June at Rileys & Co. at 7.30pm . It’s mainly about music and fun. We have the amazing Peter Fagerlind on piano and the wonderful Octogenesis It was well set to be a fabulous evening to start with ….. but now we’re celebrating our Charity Status too ……. just WOW ….. don’t miss it! For more details keep an eye on our facebook fundraising page , drop in to Rileys Co or email us at eightlives@outlook.com
Henderson
Henderson has rather overdone it with the celebrations … but who can blame him. Without 8 Lives he wouldn’t be here.
8 Lives: Sheffield 8 Cat Rescue 