How to help abandoned puppies and city farming this Christmas

2020 has been a very different year for all of us and the charitable sector has faced enormous pressure with a huge decrease in donations. Animal charities have struggled too and so Natural Animal Health decided to use its 2021 calendar as an opportunity to support two small animal charities, the Mid Antrim Animal Sanctuary and the St James City Farm in Gloucester.

Stunning animal photographs sent in by social media followers

“Every year we produce a calendar for our customers but this year we wanted to do something a little different, “ explained David Willis, the owner of Natural Animal Health. “We put out a plea for photographs on Facebook and Instagram at the end of September. We had no idea if we would get any photographs but we received over 250 photographs from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and even as far away as Canada. We were totally amazed by the interest in our calendar but we were astounded by the quality of the entrants. We quickly realised that the winning photographs would make an absolutely stunning calendar which we could sell and raise money for charity.”

Deciding on a charity was the next step so all the people who had sent in photographs were asked to nominate a charity to be supported.

“As we produce natural products for dogs, horses and hens, we felt it was important to support an animal charity,” continued David. “But as a small business ourselves, we wanted to support two small charities who would really appreciate our support, one in Northern Ireland where we are based and one from England where many of our calendar photographers came from. We decided to support the Mid Antrim Animal Sanctuary and the St James City Farm in Gloucester.”

The Mid Antrim Animal Sanctuary

Located in the town of Antrim, the Mid Antrim Animal Sanctuary concentrates its work in animal rehoming, welfare and education. Every year it finds homes for over 650 abandoned or relinquished dogs and cats.

“We are delighted to be receiving support from Natural Animal Health via the profits of their calendar,” commented Janet Hume, the manager at the Mid Antrim Animal Sanctuary. “Even though there was an increased demand for dogs and cats at the start of the coronavirus lockdown, we still have many dogs and cats that are permanent residents with us. Feed costs are one of our major costs and we really appreciate support with this.”

St James City Farm and Riding School in Gloucester

St James City Farm is a tiny ‘farm’ in the middle of Gloucester’s inner city. It is run as part of a registered charity and the main aim is to give children from the inner city a chance to see and learn about farm animals, pony care and riding. The farm is free to enter and is run by a handful of staff and many volunteers from different backgrounds. 

Karen Berry is one of the riding coaches at the farm and a very keen photographer herself. The beautiful pony pictured above was taken by her at the St James City Farm.

“Beatrix is one of the ponies at our riding school. She is a miniature pony and is a petting pony for kids to handle and groom. As you can imagine, there is a hefty food bill for the animals every week and many of our fundraising activities were cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic,” explained Karen. “The calendar is a fantastic fundraising idea from Natural Animal Health and we were thrilled to be picked as one of their charities.”

Calendar goes on sale in early November

The calendar design is currently being finalised but will go on sale in early November. Please email info@naturalanimalhealth.co.uk if you would like to be notified so you can support abandoned puppies in Antrim and a city farm in Gloucester.