Castle View Students

Two students from Castle View School have been raising money for the RSPCA Danaher Animal Home in Braintree.  Taking time out during their half term holiday last June, Emma Fuller and Charlotte Alexander completed a sponsored walk along Canvey’s seawall.

They started their walk near Benfleet Bridge and followed the seawall round, via the seafront towards the Lobstersmack Inn.  When they had got halfway round it started to rain, getting heavier and heavier as they walked alongside the Thames estuary.

By the end of the walk which took them just under four hours to complete they were very tired and soaking wet.  Emma said “we really felt we had earned our sponsorship!”  Needless to say they opted for a bus ride home.

Later that summer the two girls attended the RSPCA Danaher Animal Home’s annual fun day where they presented their sponsor money to the site manager in the arena.

Emma recalls “there was a bit of a delay before we got to head into the arena for the official presentation and photograph, so both of us (already feeling shy) got a bit nervous and we were quick to make our exit.”  Emma was especially embarrassed when the announcer mentioned all the other fund raising she had done for the RSPCA. (see video below)

The girls were also invited to have a behind the scenes tour of the Animal Home during their summer holidays as a thank you for all their fund raising efforts.

Set up in 1990 the RSPCA Danaher Animal Home is an independent charity which is affiliated to and works closely with the RSPCA but it is entirely self funding. Over the last few years on average around 450 dogs, 350 cats and around 350 other small domestic animals have been taken in to this Animal Home every year.  The work it does is invaluable to our local community as it takes in and rehomes domestic animals from all over Essex.  Projects such as the new kennel block opened in August 2008 were only possible due to fund raising and donations.

Emma started raising money for the RSPCA in 2008 by selling hand crafted cards to her teachers and classmates at Castle View School.  She also completed a sponsored walk from Benfleet Station to Leigh in 2009.  To date she has raised over £400 for the charity, £207 of which has gone directly to the Danaher Animal Home.

When asked why she chose to support the RSPCA and Danaher in particular, Emma explained “I love animals and would like to work with this charity in the future.  Danaher is especially significant to me because they helped two of my Gran’s dogs – Lee and Ozzy.  Selling cards seemed to be a good idea for raising money as I enjoy crafting and I keep interested by trying my hand at different styles and techniques of card making.  To date I have tried cross stitch, decoupage, embossing and iris folding.”

Emma is already putting the finishing touches to this year’s Christmas cards and both her and Charlotte are looking forward to planning another sponsored walk next year.  Though maybe not round the Island’s seawall this time as it was longer than they had thought!

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Many thanks to the Danaher Home for helping Lee and Ozzy and making our visit interesting, informative and very welcoming.