Torquay & SE Devon Branch

Our annual Charity Casino Night courtesy of Genting Casino Torquay will be on SATURDAY 24th NOVEMBER 2012 AT 7.30pm
Tickets once again will be just £10 and include a luxury buffet, entertainment with Steve Laister, a chance to play on the fun casino tables, and a chance to win lots of prizes throughout the night.
Tickets will be limited this year and always sell quickly so if you are interested in coming along you can reserve your tickets now by contacting John Williams on 01803 556130

UPDATE
Our Charity Walk from Babbacombe to Brixham took place in glorious weather on Sunday 14th October. 12 people took part and all thoroughly enjoyed the walk and quite rightly felt very proud of themselves. As well as having a great day the walkers raised OVER £1000 for the branch.
Thank you and well done to you all

DUE TO THE BAD WEATHER THIS EVENT HAS BEEN REARRANGED FOR SUNDAY 14TH OCTOBER 2012 when we will be holding a charity walk starting from our shop in Babbacombe and walking through to our shop in Brixham.

It will be a challenging walk of approx 13 miles, mostly along the coast path taking in Walls Hill, Meadfoot Beach, Daddyhole Plain, Torquay Harbour, Torre Abbey Sands, Corbyn Head, Hollicombe Gardens, Preston & Paignton Sands, Roundham Gardens, Goodrington Sands, Broadsands, Elberry Common and Brixham. Harbour

Anyone who is interetsed in taking part can obtain a registration form and sponsor form from any of our shops at Babbacombe, Brixham, Paignton, Totnes or Newton Abbot or by contacting the branch office on 01803 556130

As part of their Torbay Civic Award, 2 very enterprising 11 year old girls, pupils at Abbey School in St Marychurch Torquay used their initiative and came up with a novel way of raising funds for the South Devon Branch of the RSPCA.
Lucy Rumblelow and Flora Davis asked family, friends and school mates to donate an item of pet food, a pet toy or unwanted towels in return for a raffle ticket to win a prize of an enormous bar of chocolate. A huge amount of donations came in including lots of items of luxury pet food and John Williams Branch Manager for the South Devon Branch of the RSPCA was delighted to attend the school, collect the donated items and present Lucy and Flora with a certificate to thank them for their hard work and enterprise.

Monday 30th April to Sunday 6th May is RSPCA week

Please come along and show your support for YOUR local branch of the RSPCA

We are holding a week long store collection at Tesco Kingsteignton which last year raised over £1,000

If you have a few hours to spare, why not volunteer to help? 

Staff and volunteers from the Brixham shop have organised a coffee morning at

THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY CENTRE FORE STREET BRIXHAM
ON SAT 5TH MAY 10.00AM TO MIDDAY

They will be serving tea, coffee and biscuits and there will also be a Bric-a brac stall, everyone is welcome and they will be delighted to see you.

Or maybe you would like to hold your own event to raise funds, ie cake stalls, bring and buy, book sales,

Another way you can show your support is by visiting our shops and donating or buying goods

We need YOUR help to keep up the work we do in YOUR area!

So come along and support us!!

If you would like more information please contact our office on 01803 556130

UPDATE-THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO TOOK PART AND ALL THE GENEROUS PEOPLE WHO DONATED WE ARE DELIGHTED TO REPORT THAT TOGETHER WE RAISED £1357.64

The toads theatre company are holding a special charity performance of “The Haunting of Hill House” on
Friday 18th May @ 7.30 pm at The Little Theatre Marks Road Meadfoot Torquay TQ1 2EL

Based on the novel by Shirley Jackson – “Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone…” – Despite warnings about its evil reputation, four visitors, including Eleanor and Theodora, conduct an experiment to investigate the supposedly supernatural occurrences in the remote mansion. But nothing can prepare them for what lurks in Hill House, because the house is alive, with a will and desires of its own. And what it desires most is Eleanor…

Tickets £11.

Available from all of our shops in Paignton, Brixham, Totnes, Newton Abbot and Babbacombe or by contacting the branch office on 01803 556130. Come along and have a great night, and support your local RSPCA. 

 
UPDATE- THE TOADS THEATRE PUT ON A FABULOUS SHOW FOR ALL THOSE THAT ATTENDED AND DESPITE BEING SCARED WITLESS IN PLACES HAD A VERY ENJOYABLE NIGHT AND HELPED TO RAISE £352.50. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE INVOLVED

At last our Totnes shop has had a makeover! For years it has been a very succesful but very dark shop with nowhere for the staff to sort things and hardly anywhere for the customers to try things on. People struggled to see what was for sale, and the staff and volunteers struggled to find somewhere to display all the magnificent donations that are kindly given to us. Well, what a difference now!

The shop is light and bright and there is so much more space for everyone. The staff and volunteers can now see everyone clearly and have somewhere much bigger to sort all the donations.

We’d like to thank all our customers for their patience while the shop was closed, and we welcome all to come and see what they think!

Many thanks to everyone for all their hard work. A couple of pictures of the refit are posted below.

Well now that Lyn has finally been able to retire-lucky so and so !! We desperately need some more help in the office. If you have office experience and a few hours to spare why not help out. You must be reliable, honest, trustworthy and accurate. You will need to be computer literate, with experience of MS Publisher, Word, Excel & Access.
If you are interested please contact John Williams on 01803 556130 for an informal chat

Well what a fabulous night we all had!!!

We had 111 guests who all enjoyed brilliant entertainment from Nigel Lee and Steve Laister, a marvellous luxury buffet, lots of fun on the Blackjack and Roulette tables and a superb auction which all helped to raise the FANTASTIC SUM OF £2211.04

Our grateful thanks go to everyone who attended the event, all of the generous people who donated items for auction, all of our generous supporters who sponsored the event and a special thanks to MINT CASINO for organising everything. THANK YOU

On Saturday 10th September RSPCA  at West Hatch Rescue Centre will be holding their summer fair.

There will be stalls, face painting, live music from Dave Martins Jabbo Five, BBQ, beer tent, kids crafts, ice creams. We will also have a demonstration at 1.30 pm from our local police dog trainer Lee Webb, who will be showing us what his sniffer dogs can do.

Registration for the dog show begins at 11am, with the dog show as follows- 11.45am – Prettiest Bitch 12.15pm Handsomest Dog 12.45pm Best Rescue Dog 2.15 Dog most like it’s owner 2.45 Best In Show (winners of classes 1-4) Dave Martins Jabbo Five will play 2 sets between 12 and 1 and 2 and 3. There are stalls available. Please phone the centre on 0300 123 0747 and ask for Sally Neale for more details.

2.50 entry per person. Children under 15 free. Begins 11am     Finishes 3pm

We’re having a stall with bric-a-brac, gifts, jewellery etc ,so come along and support us, and have a great day out with the family!

On Tuesday 30th of August Little Valley Animal Shelter (Exeter) organised a pentathlon of events in order to raise funds for the animal shelter. We supported the event and  a few people from our area were sponsored in some of the events.

The events were: A six mile run from our Babbacombe shop to Shaldon, A horse ride from Shaldon to Ideford Common, A cycle ride from Ideford Common to the Turf Hotel, A canoe row from the Turf Hotel to Exeter Canal Basin and A walk from the canal basin to Little Valley Shelter.

We had 1 person running, 1 person cycling and 4 walkers.

This was a well sponsored event and the money is still being collected so we will put an update on the site when we know the final figure.

We’d like to thank everyone who took part and everyone who sponsored someone!! Well done all.!!!

On Monday 29th August (bank holiday Monday) we attended the Lustleigh Show. It was a beautiful day and there were many interesting stalls to see and the show was very well supported by locals and visitors alike.

It was quite a long day and we managed to raise £89.81 which will help us in the work we do supporting animal welfare in our local area.

Many Thanks to all who supported us on the day, either by volunteering on the stall, buying goods or donating money.

It must have been one of the hottest days of the year, the day we were on the green with the Carnival! We sweltered along with everyone else, and made a fabulous £78.05.

Thanks to all who supported us and also thanks to those who helped out on the day despite the soaring temperature!

What a glorious day it was for the annual Apple Pie Fair. People were out in their droves and we had some wonderful support.

We managed to raise an amazing £190.70, and we’d like to say to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all who supported us.

Also thanks to those who helped out on the day.

We’re starting to plan our our popular Casino Night which this year is on Saturday November 12th!

Last year’s event was very popular and raised an amazing £1700 for the Branch.

Tickets will be £10 to include a buffet, entertainment, fun casino and auction. One of the auction items was a night’s B&B at The Cary Arms in Babbacombe. The winners told us they had a fabulous time and are hoping to bid for something similar this year!

If you would like to donate an auction prize or know anyone who does, please get in touch on 01803 556130.

Right on the back of the Carnival, we’ll be attending the annual Marldon Apple Pie Fayre!

This year it’s on Saturday 30th July.

Come along and visit us and support your local RSPCA!

It’s that time of year again where Torbay Carnival gets into full swing!!

We’ll be on the seafront on Tuesday 26th of July , so come along and grab a bargain and help support your Local RSPCA!

RSPCA Exeter’s Little Valley Animal Shelter’s Open Day on Sunday 26th of June turned out to be  a scorcher!! It was very well attended with lots of people bringing their animals and entering all sorts of competitions!

We had a stall and managed to raise the brilliant sum of £225!!!

Many thanks to all who supported us and also thanks to the help from all the Trustees who attended.

The charity concert on Sunday June 5th was a brilliant afternoons’ entertainment! We were given a varied programme of modern and traditional songs and the choir were at their very best vocally. The programme lasted for two hours, and as well  as the male voice choir we were treated to a solo performance by a fifteen year old boy by the name of Josh, who had a wonderful voice and sang three or four songs for us.

The event was well attended and we raised the magnificent sum of £323.!!!!

Many thanks to all who were involved in organising the event, and a special thanks to Liskerrett Male Voice Choir for giving up their time and putting on such a good show!

A photo will follow!

On Sunday May 15th an animal blessing service was carried out by the Reverend Dermot Thornberry at the Methodist Church, Palace Avenue Paignton.

People bought their animals along to be blessed, and a talk was given by Chair of Trustees Wendy Osborne and Animal Collection Officer Mike Watts also attended. It was a very good turnout, a wondeful service and everyone enjoyed the event.
We hope that the Reverend will repeat the event next year so keep checking back on the website for details.

Here are some pictures from the day.

We were all excited about the recent Royal Wedding, so we challenged our Managers to come up with the best window display to match the occasion.

All the shops made a great effort and pulled out all the stops to be the winner.

The Trustees of the Branch went  and viewed all the windows and eventually came up with a winner!

And the winners were ……………………….BRIXHAM CHARITY SHOP!!!

Well done to Mandy and her team for their stalwart efforts!!

Here we see the wining window and Mandy receiving  a small token of appreciation from the Area Manager on the left and the Chair of Trustees on the right.

The competition was very close so the Trustees decided to award a Certificate of Merit to two runners up who were Newton Abbot and Babbacombe Shops. Well Done All.

We would like to say a huge Thank you to all customers and staff at Sainsbury’s in Dartmouth. We raised an amazing £427.39.

Many thanks to all who donated. Your contributions are greatly appreciated.

Tickets for our Charity Choir Concert on Sunday June 5th are now available to buy in our shops or you can get them from the office. Just ring 01803 556130.

They’re only £5 each and the concert promises to be a wonderful afternoon. There are a limited number of seats available so don’t delay, get yours today!

The concert starts at three o’clock  at St Paul’s Church in Preston, Paignton

Come along and enjoy an uplifting afternoon, and support us at the same time!!

Thanks to all who took part in our Teddy Tombola on Saturday the 2nd of April. This event was organised by the Blue Cross and lots of animal charities took part. We had a good response and raised over £30, so thank you all again and we hope to see you at our next event which is RSPCA Week, 2nd to 8th of May. We’ll be at Tesco In Kingsteignton with our collecting tins! Come and say hello and support your local RSPCA.

We’re pleased to announce that the renowned Liskerrett Male Voice Choir is giving a concert in aid of our charity on Sunday, June 5th at St Pauls Church, Torquay Road, Paignton, 3pm to 5pm.

This popular Cornish Male Voice Choir have around 50 members and have sung with the likes of The Polperro Fishermen and Brixham Orpheus Male Voice Choir.

They have a varied programme of Traditional and modern songs and it promises to be a fabulous afternoon’s entertainment!

Tickets are only £5 each and there are a limited number of seats available so don’t miss out, BOOK NOW!

Tickets will be on sale in our shops in May, but you can reserve your seat now by calling the office on 01803 556130.

No payment required now. We’ll take your details and contact you when the tickets come out.

Don’t miss out on this excellent concert!!

RSPCA week will be held at Tesco’s in Kingsteignton from Monday the 2nd of April through to Sunday the 8th of May, where we’ll be standing outside the store with our smiley faces and collecting cans, and trying to raise as much money as possible for the Branch.

If you’d like to donate, or help with the collection please contact our Branch Office where we have all the information you need.

The Blue Cross is organising an Animals In Need Day on Saturday the 2nd of April at the Precinct Centre, Church Road, St Marychurch, Torquay, 10am to 1pm.

We will be attending and helping to support this day, so please come along and visit!

We’ll be having a Teddy Tombola so come along and support us and them! See you there!!

Sorry it’s been so long since we posted on here, we’ve had a very busy start to the new year, with lots of people fund raising for us and some rather unusual rescues!

The Apple & Parrot in Torquay held a number of events including  a mechanical pig race and they raised an amazing £233 for us. We’d like to say a Big Thank you to them for that!

We would also like to thank Waitrose in Torquay who raised the brilliant sum of £413 through their Community Matters Scheme during January.

Another Big Thank you goes to Sainsburys at Paignton whose customers and staff helped us raise £446.84 at our collection on the 19th and 20th of February.

We gave a talk to Year 1 pupils of Roselands Primary School on February 16th and the children were very well behaved and asked some very good questions of ACO Chris Inman.

So all in al a busy couple of months.

Now for the rescues!

On one of the coldest days this winter our ACO Mike Watts received a call to say a female swan had gone down the enclosed weir beside the watermill in Totnes. The weir was too steep and the flow of water too strong for her to return. She made many attempts to get back up to no avail. When Mike arrived the swan was totally submerged by the freezing fast flowing water, so Mike climbed down the ladder through the access trap and managed to pluck her from the water! She was exhausted, saturated and hypothermic and was wrapped in a blanket immediately. She was taken to the Devon Wildlife hospital then after an overnight stay was released back into the wild none the worse for her ordeal!

Another unusual rescue involved a young buzzard who was found entangled on some barbed wire by a couple of  dog walkers. Again Mike came to the rescue and after some time managed to untangle the bird and take it to the wildlife hospital. We are grateful to the member of the public who contacted us and who happened to be a specialist Pet Photographer. He took some great pictures for us. These are a couple of them.

The Christmas Craft fair at the Methodist Hall in Totnes on Saturday was very well received . There were lots of different stalls selling things from gorgeous cup cakes to hand made jewellery and more. We had lots of Christmas goods for sale and refreshments,including tea, coffee, soup, mince pies, and fruit cake.

People even started coming in before we were  open and it was very well supported.

We raised an amazing £417.92!

Many thanks to the other stall holders who took part and to our team of staff and volunteers. Well done everyone!

Our Victorian evening on Wednesday the 8th of December was a very cold but DRY event! Last year it poured down and we all got soaked!

We had two stalls with a tombola on one and goods for sale on the other. On the Tombola stall we had a HUGE snow tiger and several people tried several times to win it, to no avail. Then when we were down to our last few tickets, a gentleman came back who had been trying to win it all evening and said” I’ll just have a couple more goes” and on the third go he won it!!! He was delighted and so were we!

All in all we raised a total of £160.57.

Many thanks to all who bought things from the stall and the Tombola, and thanks to all our Volunteers who helped on the night.

See the Herald Express for that week to see a picture of our Branch Chair, Wendy, on the stall with a customer.

Who wouldn’t want to be at the Christmas Fair in Totnes on the 11th of December?

10.00 am – 3.00pm

We’ll be in the Methodist Church in Fore St, and we’ll have some fabulous things for you to buy to help us raise funds for our Branch! Come and try one of our lovely cakes or buy some hand made jewellery. There’s also Patchwork Gifts, Fashion Accessories, RSPCA new goods and Face Painting for the little ones! Come along and support us and have a good day out too!!!