Post by Sam on Apr 16, 2013 8:43:32 GMT
Saturday saw the first of this years Meet and Greet events this time at Pets at Home, Sheffield Drakehouse (or Crystal Peaks to the locals!).
Having watched the weather forecast all week, we prepared for a changeable day and arrived forearmed with jumpers, coats and umbrellas!
I arrived early to set up and barely had chance to unpack all the tombola prizes before people were queuing to have a go! Clare (Girlytrude) and Claire (sheffclaire) arrived a little later with the lovely Aimee (Claire's daughter) and three very excitable dogs - Tessa, George and Marley. We set up a second table with literature and further collection tin.
All three dogs behaved fantastically, if a little noisy at times (anyone who has spoken to Clare on the phone will know how Tessa likes to join in the chat!!) and they drew lots of positive attention.
There were plenty of visitors with their own dogs too and we met some beautiful King Charles Cavaliers, Jack Russells and Staffie pups. Their owners were happy to chat about their dogs and to listen to what we do, many taking away additional literature. We spoke to several people very interested in fostering for us including a lovely lady who runs a dog sitting / boarding service. We also took a number of enquiries from people looking to adopt a small dog.
The tombola was a huge success and we had some funny moments as people were desperate to win a particular prize. There were also some lovely people who donated their prize back to us! This was Claire and Aimee's first experience of a fund-raising event and they both thoroughly enjoyed it. Aimee was fantastic and took on the job of handing out sweets to the children who didn't win on the tombola.
At around 2pm we said goodbye to the sunshine and out came the coats. By 3pm it started to rain
We had originally said we would finish by 4pm and it was so cold it was tempting but the response we were still getting spurred us on! When the rain started to come down heavy, the lovely Pets at Home staff same out and moved their display of bird boxes, kennels and rabbit hutches so that we could move our tables under the canopy. We had wonderful support from Pets at Home all day, regularly popping out to find out how we were doing and see whether there was anything we needed. We started packing away around 5.30 but even until the last minute people were coming over to put coins in the tin - one very generous gentleman emptied his pockets out of loose change consisting of a number of £1 and £2 coins! The generosity of people was heartwarming.
Before we left we spoke at length with the in store Charity Liaison lady who offered further dates and gave us a bag of lovely items from the Charity bin. The relationship with the Sheffield and Barnsley based Pets at Home stores has been forged which is a very positive result.
So, you'll probably want to know how we did?! After lots of counting and recounting I am pleased to announce the we raised the fantastic sum of £239.38!
I'm sure I will speak for all when I say that we had a fantastic day and are looking forward to the next one!
