(Its fun to type that!)
Having posted the news initially in the rescue and re homing section, thought I'd better post in the proper section.
Having just been left a house with huge garden we are gearing up to using it as a 'rescue centre'. As most of you know these things are very expensive to start from scratch, so it will probably be quite a slow process.
Initially we are hoping to replace the 20/24 pens that are there but substandard (and frankly falling apart!). This does not have to be done in one go.
The first thing we need to do is upgrade the bungalow - the usual sort of thing, kitchen , bathroom and redecorate. Once this is to a standard we can then get it rented out so that the place pays for its own upkeep and maybe something towards development.
The next step is to develop the pens. If the fund raising goes very well, it may be that this happens at the same time as the house. We can't have occupied pens and no one on site. An ideal tenant is a vet/vet nurse - someone who is committed to animal welfare and maybe even join in for a rent rebate!
Must admit thinking then gets a bit woolly but that in itself is all probably 6 months away. There may be an option of getting one of these property guardians in for a while, someone who is happy to put up with the house as it is for a nominal rent and a months notice. Whatever happens, we don't want the place to sit there empty eating money.
We are waiting to hear if we can take part in the Big Give Xmas Challenge and should hear sometime in July. If we are accepted then basically it means that donations made in a 3-day window in December are doubled.
The project is now live on the Big Give site at
http://new.thebiggive.org.uk/projects/view/17399 for anyone who wishes to donate now and not save their pennies up until December.
The minimum donation on the site is £5, and the projects target is set at £80,000 which is awfully high, but that is for everything.
For anyone local to us who can help in a more practical way with with things like decorating, furnishing etc please shout. We have already been promised a kitchen from freecycle that should be available in August.
Also we are grateful if anyone wants to offer suggestions or help with the planning/fundraising and probably other tasks that we don't know are needed.
I have created a group on Facebook, thinking that those people who want to be more involved can sign up there and we can discuss to our hearts content.
Friends of the Coventry Cat Group Centre
https://www.facebook.com/groups/441648402525395/and of course our donations can be made from our website as normal at
www.coventrycatgroup.org.uk/donateThankyou.
