Following storm Frank last year, when the centre suffered significant damage including our mobile home which housed many of our cats, The New Arc has received fantastic support from the general public. As a result, were able to provide a superb new home for all of our 38 resident cats.

Since then, we had a variety of projects continuing throughout the year, which will soon result in The New Arc being able to expand its rescue facilities significantly.

On April 1st (no fooling) we begin our 12th year as an official charity. During the past 11 years we have rescued over 7000 animals, ranging from domestic pets to exotics and, of course, our native wildlife. Our main concerns have always centred on wildlife and as we enter our 12th year we would like to focus on the needs of wildlife in particular.

Each year we accept hundreds of injured and orphaned birds and animals. We accept them all. Some are passed to us by the general public, some are passed to us by vets and other rescue centres. Some we refer on to our own vets, which may, in turn be passed on to specialist vets. No animal or bird is refused as a ‘pest species’ and every attempt is made to rehabilitate and release those who are fit to go.

As many of you will know, our own home has played host to a great many of the orphans we’ve taken in, meaning that throughout the coming spring we could be providing through-the-night care for several deer, squirrels, foxes and a variety of birds and other wildlife. However, year on year the numbers we take in are continuing to grow and we need to look ahead and plan to meet that growing need. Some of the animals we take in require extended stays at the centre to enable recuperation and allow us to equip them with the ability to fend for themselves once released.

As a result we are asking all our supporters to help us realise a dream that we had when we first set up The New Arc: To provide and equip a wildlife hospital specifically designed for wildlife care.

We have to be realistic and accept the fact that even the basics for such an ambitious project will require a huge amount of funding. As such, we have plans for a facility which would equip us to deal with all our first aid requirements, provide specialist housing and care for the increasing numbers of orphaned birds and mammals. We would also like to reach a position where we have the flexibility to expand if finances allow.

The more money we raise, the better the facilities we can provide. We have set an initial target of £30,000.00 – a huge amount! We already have some funds in place, specifically allocated to this project, which currently amounts to £7080.00.

This is a huge undertaking and we need help! We have a number of fund raising ideas in place and will announce details soon. We already appreciate the efforts our supporters and volunteers make on our behalf, so we are not asking anyone to send money (although we will not refuse it!). Instead, we are asking all our friends and supporters to think of ways that they can generate interest in our project, raise the profile of the work we do and come up with their own suggestions and fund raising ideas to discuss with us.

We have over 4000 likes on our Facebook page. If only one in ten of the people who like our page could raise £20.00 then we will reach our target. Please consider the huge impact this would have for our native wildlife and what it would mean for the work we do here at The New Arc.

Please continue to visit our website and follow our Facebook page. We look forward to keeping you all informed of our progress.

Kevin the Swan, Valentine the buzzard and an as yet, un-named tiny pigeon squab are just some of the wildlife casualties to have arrived at the centre in February.