Buy a Bale of Hay to Support Charity

In late March, Sue Burton, Founder of Remus Horse Sanctuary was told to close the horse welfare charity and stop all fundraising – one of her worst nightmares! As a result, the ‘Buy a Bale of Hay’ appeal has been set up online to help raise funds to continue to care for and feed the animals at the Sanctuary.

£5 will help us buy one bale of hay, £10 will help buy two bales of hay, £15 will help the charity buy three bales of hay, whilst £20 will ensure one animal receives hay every day for a week. As one can imagine, the volume of food required to feed the charity’s 200+ animals is by far its biggest expense and challenge.

Ms Burton commented: “Thankfully our animals, for the most part, remain oblivious to everything going on around them. But we have been reliant on a handful of people to look after everything – and believe me, its hard work! Fundraising and events are crucial to our survival and there have been many days when I’ve wondered if we would even see it through to the autumn!”

After the winter months the charity is always desperate for its fundraising and events to start, to bring in much needed funds to feed the animals and pay the bills that have been mounting up over the winter period. The heatwave in spring meant that the normal grass supplies in the paddock were sparse, whilst the subsequent downpours have flooded the fields.

Due to the very stringent and necessary requirements about re-opening from the Government, Local Authority and National Farm Attractions Network, it is the charity’s intention to host a further virtual Open Day on Sunday 2 August but to welcome the public and host a live event again on Sunday 6 September – the first one this year.

Ms Burton said, “We have thought long and hard about opening to the public and we are very mindful that if we do we have to keep ourselves safe – if we go down with the virus then the animals wont be cared for. Also, a lot of our stall holders and volunteers are older, so we need to keep them as safe as possible and, of course, its very important that we keep our supporters safe too.

“It is important to us that we follow the guidelines and do things to the letter, so we will be making some changes to the way that the Open Days are run during September and October.”

To find out more about the appeal and to donate, please visit the JustGiving website here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/buyabaleofhay.

For further information, visit www.remussanctuary.org or contact Sue Burton on tel: 01277 356191.