Unique event raises essential funds for small animal rescues

The Animal Charity Fair is a twice yearly event run by several volunteers from 3 small, independent cat charities based in and around the Preston area, and aims to raise much needed funds for several small, local animal rescues and charities. The event brings around 20 small rescues/charities together under one roof with the 3 organising charities offering a free stall to the other rescues. This gives everyone an opportunity to raise much needed funds and raise awareness.

Whilst the event IS more weighted towards cat charities, there are also stalls raising funds for dogs, rabbits, hedgehogs, small furries, donkeys etc., and there are always guest appearances from 2 cats, Spud, The Cat With a Tash, a rescue cat who is a minor social media celebrity and star of several adverts and TV programmes, and his friend Chilli, a Selkirk Rex variant, both of whom are happy to greet visitors during the day.

The idea for the event came from Carol Walker, of the SRPCC Cat Welfare Trust, and together with 2 of the other trustees - Julie Harling and Marina Higab, and close friends from Lancashire Cat Rescue - Christine & Brian Lomax and Jenny Coupe, and A Purrfect Friend Cat Rescue - Shirley Chisnall, the idea became reality in May 2023.

Further fairs followed in November 2023 and May 2024, with the recent one being the 4th, and the event goes from strength to strength, with virtually every stall immediately booking again for the next, so popular has it become.

Talking about the fair, Carol said: "When I first had the idea it was for a one off event to see if we could get as many small rescues together under one roof as possible to try to raise funds and awareness. Initially we proposed to offer a free stall in return for a small donation but it soon became apparent that we could pay for the hall out of the proceeds from the raffle that we hold so we decided that the stalls would be totally free.

"We wanted to target the small rescues specifically as they have no paid CEOs, staff or fundraisers on huge salaries, and are manned by volunteers, many of whom combine their rescue work with their own paid work, not an easy task. Every penny counts for them and we wanted to give them an opportunity to raise funds, raise awareness of their organisaion and maybe even do a bit of networking, swapping experiences and ideas etc.

"We got so much interest in the first one tht we decided we would do it twice a year, in May and November, and now most, if not all, of the rescues come back every time. We do offer stallholdes at one fair first refusal sfor the next so vacancies are limited but we have yet to be unable to fill any space occurring."

Spud and Chilli are crowd pullers, Spud in partiicular has fans all over the country - and indeed all over the world - and one even regularly visits the fair from West Yorkshire! We advertise locally on Facebook and in shops etc and so far have always had a good gate but obviously more are always welcome!

Each stall keeps 100% of what it makes and the proceeds of the raffle, the small public admission charge and the food & drink sales from the kitchen are split equally between the 3 charities who run it, with the only deduction being the cost of the hall.

This last event raised over £4000 in total when the individual stall takings are included! That is £4000 going directly to the little rescues to look after the various animals in need that they look after. The atmosphere in the hall is always congenial and we have even had a volunteer from one rescue covering on a stall for another who was on their own and needed a food/comfort break, despite them never having met before the fair! That is exactly the type of friendliness and camaraderie that we wish to generate, at the end of the day we are all in this for the love of the animals and there is no room, at our fair anyway, for petty differences and disputes.

There is always an amazing raffle where everyone has the opportunity of placing their tickets in the pot for whichever prize(s) they would like to win if lucky and the home made cakes ALWAYS sell out! It is a fabulous opportunity to pick up lots of bargains, both new and pre-loved, try your luck on the raffle or one of the tombolas and sample the delicious home made food and cakes. If that has whetted your appetite then the next fair will be on the 10th May 2025 at Hoghton Village Hall, Hoghton, Preston.