New Shelter Roof Proves to be a Success

Remus Horse Sanctuary, experts in the care of elderly equines, has shared pictures of its new shelter roof following a fundraising campaign earlier this year.

Remus raised £3,735, via JustGiving, in January and February to replace the roof after it began leaking again, despite two previous repairs.

Image 1: More beams were added to strengthen the roof and wooden supports were attached to the sides of the building to make the whole structure stronger. The electrics that had been getting wet from the previous leaking roof were removed and new timbers added before the lights could be reinstated.

39-year-old Megan can be seen here crunching on some tasty fresh hay. She has been with Remus since 2012 and has a heart issue, laminitis, arthritis and EMS (Equine Metabolic Syndrome). She is the sweetest of ponies.

Of the shelter, Sue Burton, Founder of the charity said, “We grew very concerned last year as the roof began to leak really badly. Pippa, Sophie, Dickie and Megan all share the shelter which opens out to a large laminitic paddock.

“The quote to replace the roof was £3,600 including VAT which seemed an awful lot at the time, especially as we’ve received very little in the way of donations over the past year and haven’t been able to carry out our normal fundraising efforts”.

Image 2: The completed project from the outside with the box profile steel sheeting attached. Treated timber battens were fixed over the existing felt to the entire roof area to reduce the bow in the roof bays.

Image 3: Pippa, warm and dry in the newly improved shelter. 25-year-old Pippa has been residing at the Sanctuary for many years now. The team worked with her to re-build her health and to encourage her confidence after previously having her spirit destroyed. In 2013/2014 Pippa underwent two serious eye operations to repair her sight and is a different animal now from when she arrived in 2009. She also has various health issues which we see in older horses including arthritis. The Ophthalmologist that performed her surgery sees her from time to time and is very pleased with how well the eye is performing. The surgery was for cataracts after she went blind, and it was because of Pippa being kept in whilst she was blind that the charity introduced music to play around the Sanctuary for the animals as it really helped calm her.

Like many charities, Remus has suffered greatly as a result of Covid-19.

“Towards the end of last year, we calculated that our deficit was somewhere in excess of £337,000 and obviously it has just continued to escalate since then.

“Winter is always much more expensive, with us needing to provide so much more food when grass isn’t available and the paddocks turn to mud and, even worse, get flooded. And many of our elderly horses require additional warmth too, which we provide via special electric lamps.”

There are numerous ways for members of the public to support the Sanctuary. Obviously donations are critical, but leaving a gift in your will, recycling, microvolunteering and clothes recycling are just some of the other ways that people can help. Visit www.remussanctuary.org/how-you-can-help to find out more. Both Megan and Pippa can be sponsored here.

“We are delighted to share pictures of our new shelter roof and we, Pippa and Dickie, Sophie and Megan are eternally grateful to everyone’s support. Our thanks to Malcolm and Paul at Ablefelt Roofing for the great job that they did. 

“Hopefully we will see everyone in early May for our first Open Day – weather and safety permitting!”

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

Remus Takes Part in Essex Lottery Case Study

Mother’s Day Gift Idea for a Socially Distanced World

For Mothering Sunday 2021, Remus Horse Sanctuary are offering to include a Mother’s Day card with hand-written personalised message within their sponsorship packages this year, to assist those unable to get out and shop or visit the Post Office during the current lockdown.

This year, Mother’s Day will fall on Sunday 14 March. Under current lockdown rules, non-essential shops such as card and gift shops, restaurants and pubs will remain shut. Indoor socialising will still be banned and people will still be advised to stay at home.

The team at Remus Horse Sanctuary are always looking for creative and imaginative ways to boost fundraising for the charity and the idea of adding a greetings card within the sponsorship package is highly relevant right now. Furthermore, funding continues to be problematic during 2021 and fundraising even more important than normal.

The sponsorship gift packages are popular at the Sanctuary all year round and offer a unique and different type of gift. Once lockdown rules are relaxed later in the year, the Sanctuary will be able to re-open to the public, and sponsors and recipients will be able to visit and meet their animals.

Details of the animals available for sponsorship and dates of all events are shared on the charity’s website at www.remussanctuary.org. To ensure delivery of the pack and greetings card for Mother’s Day, orders should be placed with first class post no later than 12 noon on Thursday 11 March. If orders are placed after this time or on Friday, a voucher can be emailed.

Sue Burton, Founder of the Sanctuary, said: “We find that horses such as the blind mares Holly and Grace and their two youngsters are particularly popular as Mother’s Day gifts due to their own particular stories, and orphans such as Dante and Charlie.”

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

Cryptic Quiz to Entertain You

Jenny Palmer’s cryptic quizzes have for many years helped to provide a little of the much-needed funds for the Sanctuary.

Her present Lockdown Quiz is currently on sale at £1.50 a copy and there is a prize of £25 for the winner! The quiz is guaranteed to fill in some of those hours of boredom whilst in lockdown.

Obviously Jenny is unable to sell her quizzes at live events, so if you able to help her and, of course, the Sanctuary, by purchasing a copy please get in touch with her. Jenny can be contacted either by telephone on 01277 654065, by email at palmer38@sky.com, or by mail at 38 Little Norsey Road, Billericay, CM11 1BL.

Thank you for your support

New Year PUSH for New Shelter Roof

Happy New Year to you! Just before Christmas, we launched a new fundraising appeal to help us to build a new roof for one of our shelters which houses Pippa, Sophie, Dickie and Megan…

The area that we call the shelter is a large area enclosed on three sides with two gate size openings at the front which allows access to the laminitic paddock. This area is lived in by Pippa, Sophie, Dickie and Megan. If you were fortunate to visit us for the one Open Day of 2020 when we could actually open to the public, you may have seen it. It is the large barn on the right hand side as you enter the yard.

Last year we grew very concerned as the roof began to leak and, despite two patch up jobs the leaks have continued! It is very important for us to get this roof fixed prior to the really bad weather starting as these horses will need the protection.

We have received a quote for the works and, to fit the extra timbers to the inside, then fix treated timber battens over the existing felt to the entire roof area spaced from the eaves to top of the roof; pack some of these battens out to reduce the bow in the roof bays, and then fit PVC coated galvanised steel sheeting and barge boards to either end and flashing at the top…will cost £3,600 including VAT.

Will you help us raise the necessary funds by giving our appeal a big New Year PUSH?

You can donate online directly via this link:  www.justgiving.com/campaign/NewShelterRoof and please do share the details of our appeal on your social media profiles and with your friends and family.

Thank you!

Huge Deficit Faced by Essex Horse Charity

Like many charities, Remus Horse Sanctuary is suffering financially due to the impact of Covid-19 on its fundraising activities. Founder, Sue Burton believes that the charity will be facing a funding gap somewhere in excess of £337,000 for events and fundraising activities cancelled so far this year, stating that it costs £450,000 per annum to remain open.

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“At the beginning of each year, I know that we have to find hundreds of thousands of pounds just to remain open, to feed the animals and to cover the medication bills,” said Ms Burton.

The majority of fundraising activities and events take place during the warmer months from March to October all of which, apart from one, have had to be cancelled. The deficit can be estimated at a sobering £10,500 per week.

Mounting a rescue operation is extremely expensive including equipment, medical expenses and transport costs. Though the greatest impact is felt by the charity once the animals are on-site at their Sanctuary near Ingatestone in Essex – financially, emotionally, physically and mentally – as Ms Burton explained:

“The majority of animals that we rescue are, at best, malnourished and full of worms. They may have been abandoned, neglected or mistreated. Some may not recognise food and hay, let alone know what to do with it. Some may be suffering from Cushings or Laminitis. Often their lower teeth are found growing into their top gums. Some may be crippled either by overgrown hooves or injury.

“Some will have shut down completely, near death, depressed and, despite all of our best efforts, just can’t be saved. It takes its toll on them and on us. But we can’t give up, we have to continue trying to help these magnificent creatures.” 

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The charity was hoping that the few remaining events scheduled, along with their online gift shop, will generate some interest. However, as Essex has now been raised to Covid-19 Alert Level High, even those few sales are unlikely to happen.

The Christmas Gift Shop is now available online with some lovely gift items including stocking fillers, new and exclusive Christmas card designs for 2020 and a new wall calendar for 2021, which features a variety of rescued animals residing at the Sanctuary. Visit www.remussanctuary.org/product-category/christmas. The Sanctuary will also accept orders placed over the telephone.

New items for 2020 include a Christmas Biscuit Gift Drum (£3.50) available as Caramel and Sea Salt biscuits or Clotted Cream shortbread, Clotted Cream Fudge (£3.25) and Milk Chocolate Truffles (£4.50). The majority of items come with a choice of Christmas design.

Sponsorship of an animal, like Blax [pictured], can also make a lovely gift for animal lovers and welfare supporters – with horses, ponies, donkeys, cats, goats and sheep to choose from! More details can be found at: www.remussanctuary.org/how-you-can-help/sponsor/.

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One socially distanced Winter Sale is due to take place on Saturday 14 November at the Billericay Reading Rooms, Covid-19 alert level allowing. Full details of the event can be found on the charity’s website at www.remussanctuary.org/events.

“As always,” concluded Ms Burton, “we are deeply indebted for everyone’s support. Every winter is tough due to the spiralling costs, but this year will be extremely difficult. We implore the public for help. If they can’t donate, we really hope they can shop with us! 

“I still believe that together, we can make a difference and that no animal should be born to die”.

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

Recycle Your Ink Cartridges and Help Support Remus Horse Sanctuary

Did you know that you can help us raise vital funds simply by recycling your ink cartridges via our Recycle4Charity programme? And what’s more, this service is available both for individuals and for companies!

For each inkjet cartridge recycled via the programme we will receive a £1 donation, meaning you can help the environment whilst raising money for charity!

To start, all you need to do is go to one of the addresses shown below and sign up for your free account:

• For office recycling of ink tanks and toners visit: www.zerowasterecycling.co.uk/charity/C76482
• For individuals recycling inkjet cartridges visit: www.recycle4charity.co.uk/Register/C76482

With more people than ever working from home, this is a great way to help us and to avoid unnecessary landfill.

Please do share this information with your friends, family and colleagues.

Thank you for supporting Remus Horse Sanctuary.

Co-op Local Community Fund

We’re delighted that Remus Horse Sanctuary has been chosen to benefit from the Co-op Local Community Fund but the Fund closes on Saturday 24 October and we need your help to raise as much money from it as possible.

At a time when funds for community groups and charitable organisations are becoming more difficult to access, we’re incredibly grateful for this opportunity to make a real difference in Buttsbury, near Ingatestone in Essex.

We’re raising funds to improve the condition of our paddocks, to give the animals a better quality of life and enhance the visitor experience.

To help us raise vital funds, we’ll be relying on Co-op members. When a member buys selected products or services from the Co-op they earn a 5% reward for themselves, with a further 1% for local causes like ours.

The Co-op is looking to support organisations that make a difference in their local communities by protecting and improving community spaces, helping people reach their full potential by developing their skills or promoting health and wellbeing.

Co-op members can choose us as their local cause by visiting https://membership.coop.co.uk/causes/34263.

We really hope that people will visit the website and donate their 1% to us.

If you’re not a member and would like to support us, you can join at your local store or online at www.coop.co.uk.

When a community comes together we’re able to achieve great things, so we hope you can help promote our project!

Thank you!

Coronavirus Update

Late March we were told we had to close the Sanctuary and stop all Fundraising – for us this was going to be one of our worst nightmares as after the Winter we are desperate for our fundraising to start, so that we can begin to bring much needed funds in to feed the animals and pay the bills that have mounted up during the winter months.

Despite the Government claiming it was wrapping its arms around us all and keeping us safe during these unprecedented times, no help was ever offered to animal charities, nor were they even acknowledged. We have struggled through April, May, June and into July still without help and now that there is light at the end of the tunnel with zoos and wildlife parks etc opening there are so many rules and regulations that at present were we to try to have an Open Day with reduced numbers as requested with all the signage and new additions we have to put in place we would not make money so we are no further forward.

It looks like all stalls and fairs and fetes are cancelled for this year and we have real concerns how we will keep our heads above water until next Spring (assuming we can open then of course!). We will do our utmost to try to open this year but we do need to be sure that we can keep visitors and staff/volunteers safe and there are so many hoops to jump through and things that would need to be changed that  for now we will closely monitor the ever-changing rules and requirements. If in the meantime you can help in any way, we would love to hear from you.

Can you help us with one of the following:

• Make a donation
• Set up a regular standing order
• If you haven’t renewed your membership, please consider doing so
• Why not sponsor an animal as a gift for yourself or a loved one?
• Donate any unwanted gifts, good saleable bric-a brac, used postage stamps, any bits of scrap gold or jewellery
• Can you organise a fundraiser at your workplace?
• Consider microvolunteering

Anything that you can do to help keep our gates open will be very much appreciated.

We are hoping that all our members and families have remained well and safe during these very difficult times. Thankfully all staff and volunteers have remained well and able to care for the animals. As expected with these times, cruelty to horses is on the increase and we have seen and helped some pitiful cases. It breaks your heart to see what mankind has done to these beautiful creatures

On the whole, all the Remus animals have remained well, which has been a Godsend, especially in the first 6-8 weeks when Vets were not working. At the beginning of the Virus we were suddenly hit with not being able to get the animals food from our usual suppliers as people started panic buying their horse feed so we had to buy from other suppliers that didn’t offer us the same ‘good price’ as our Supplier does so we had to pay through the nose for feed. Our Hay Merchant very kindly allowed us to stack our barn full of hay and straw just in case someone in their family was taken ill and then they could not deliver to us. It was all an unknown quantity and none of us knew what to expect. Our two main concerns were (1) Could we get sufficient food and hay in to feed the animals and (2) If we had a proper lockdown where we couldn’t leave our homes what would we do about the animals so a small group of us had agreed that were that to happen we would stay at the Sanctuary and sleep in the offices but at least we were here to care for and look after the animals.

PETS AT HOME & SUPPORT ADOPTION FOR PETS – We were delighted to receive a grant of £5000 which was paid direct to our Veterinary Surgeon towards our ever-growing Vets bills. This was such a help and so very much appreciated.

PET PLAN FUND – We were able to receive a £2,500 donation from this Fund towards the cost of keeping the animals fed and cared for and we are very grateful to them for their support at this difficult time.

All very helpful when you consider each week, we pay £1000 each to our Vets, Feed company, hay merchant. £3000 a month on regular medications that the animals need. Then there are staff wages, HMRC costs, insurances, utilities, repairs to the buildings and premises, rent, waste costs to name but a few of the outgoings.

50/100 CLUB – Why not join one of these clubs? For £24 a year you enter into a draw that is drawn three times a year and pays out at each draw. £12 of the money donated goes direct to Remus and the other goes into a fund with the other 49/99 people and then three times a year there are three draws and the money gets split between the winning numbers. A great way to help the Sanctuary and to win a ‘bit extra’ for yourself. Email us for further information.

#GivingTuesdayNow

As you know, #GivingTuesdayNow is a global day of unity and generosity, taking place today, Tuesday 5 May, as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19. It is a day for us all to show how much we appreciate those key workers who have played such an important role over the last weeks and months and to those charities who are always there working on the important issues that make such a difference.

Our skeleton staff have kept Remus going since lockdown. We’re delighted to be part of #GivingTuesdayNow and thank them and our amazing volunteers for all of their assistance, not just now, but since we began.

We are calling on you, our members and supporters, to help us specifically today on #GivingTuesdayNow but if you can’t help us today, please do consider us tomorrow, or next week or when you get paid at the end of the month. There are numerous ways you can make a donation including via our website.

Without your help we won’t survive, and we need your help to continue feeding and caring for the precious rescue animals that we have saved since we started the charity in 1983.

Please, unleash your generosity and share our plea!

#GivingTuesdayNow #CharityUniteUs #EveryDayCounts