ANIMAL CHARITIES CHRISTMAS FAIR
ANGELS RESCUE
CHESHIRE SHOW
NEW SURGERY
VET OF THE YEAR NOMINATION
HALE SURGERY BECOMES A FILM SET
OLDEST PET COMPETITION
VET ON THE RADIO
SCHOOL VISIT
Our first Animal Charities Christmas Fair took place in Weaver Square, Northwich on Saturday 3rd December 2011. We had a great turnout with 12 local charities supporting the event with goods for sale, raffles, tombolas and even selling kisses with Mrs Santa.
 VET ON THE RADIO (OCTOBER 2011)Our regular quarterly 'vet on the radio' spot on Silk Fm featured Paul Unsworth from Broom Cottage in Wilmslow. The show was hosted by DJ Mark Blackman who was standing in for regular host Phil Rodgers. Paul answered a number of listeners questions on air and also delved into his background and experience of 30 years as a vet in New Zealand.
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 WILMSLOW SHOWPaul and the team from Broom Cottage were delighted to be asked to sponsor the dog show at Wilmlow Show this year. In addition to sponsoring the event they also had a stand to raise money for local animal charities. They had a great day in the sunshine talking to local pet owners.
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GRANGE SCHOOL XMAS FAIR 2011A desperate plea from a small charity in Macclesfield came to our attention recently. One of our clients had seen an article about them on a local website. They are a mother and daughter team who care for unloved and mistreated animals from their home. In addition to cats and dogs they also loan a field and stables to care for horses and operate a re- homing and fostering programme. They are incredibly passionate about what they do. The charity were desperate for a new computer system as their old one has stopped working. We rang the charity and after discussing their needs were pleased to buy a new laptop for them. They would still like some more help. Their current requirements are for a handyman to do some odd jobs, donations of pet food, cat litter, hay and straw and they are also looking for any local people who could give up a bit of time to help with the animals. If you can help in any way please contact Angela or Emma on 01625 421467 or 07737 126990.
VET ON THE RADIO
Ian Hopkins, one of our vets at Holly House in Knutsford was the guest of Phil Rodgers on Silk FM last week. Ian talked about some of his experiences as a vet over the years and also answered listeners questions on diverse subjects including diarrhoea, arthritis, alergies and behaviour. The station have invited us back in October for another session.
THE GRANGE SCHOOL SUMMER FAIR
We had an enjoyable day at The Grange School Summer Fair in Northwich. We nearly had a disaster as the lady who was bringing along a selection of animals for us had car trouble and was unable to get there. Luckily one of our vets had a litter of adorable Chihuahua puppies which proved to be very popular with children and parents alike. We apologise to the parents who had to endure cries of 'Can we have one ?' all the way home !!!
WOODPECKERS
Our marketing manager, David, was sat watching Springwatch recently. As they were showing images of a woodpecker feeding its young he glanced out at his bird table and luckily having his camera to hand managed to snap this shot. What a coincidence.
CHESHIRE SHOWWe had a busy two days at the Cheshire Show this year with three stands - Small Animal, Equine and Farm Animal. The weather wasn't as good as last year but stayed dry for the majority of the time. On the small animal stand our vets and nurses had the glamorous job of selling Poo Bag holders to raise money for The Retired Cheshire Police Dogs Benevolent Fund and we are delighted to say we raised £252 for this great cause. A massive thank you to everybody who contributed.
It was great to see so many of our clients stop by for a chat and bringing their dogs over so that we could have a fuss of them !!!
BLOODHOUND LIFELINE CHARITY
Our staff from Abbeycroft supported the local Bloodhound Lifeline charity with a stall and some sponsorship at their local event. Staffed by volunteers the charity rehomes unwanted and unloved bloodhounds and rely on public support and donations to provide this service.The girls gave away a stuffed toy cuddly bloodhound at the local Lifeline Companion Dog Show and sponsored the 'Best in Show' classification which was won by the adorable Italian Spinone in the photograph
CHARITY RAFFLE
To celebrate Easter our Winsford surgery have made up a hamper of treats for rabbit owners which they are raffling to raise money for the PDSA. Unfortunately the PDSA charity box was recently stolen from our surgery during a break in so we hope the raffle will help to replace the stolen money. Please can you support this raffle by calling into the surgery and buying a ticket.
NEW SURGERY We are pleased to announce that we have added another surgery to our group. Due to the retirement of Mick Christian we have taken over his surgery in Kelsall. Mick has retired after 32 years and we wish him and his wife Maggie a very happy retirement. The Kelsall surgery will be run by a long standing Willows Vet, Fiona Wall. Fiona is part of the community in Kelsall having lived there for 5 years with her family, 2 dogs and cat.
VET OF THE YEAR NOMINATION We are delighted to announce that Jamie Peloso, a veterinary surgeon at Abbeycroft Veterinary Surgery in Northwich has been nominated for the prestigious Pet Plan Vet of the Year award. The award ceremony takes place later this month at a glittering ceremony in Birmingham. Well done to Jamie.
HALE SURGERY BECOMES A FILM SET Our Station House surgery at Hale has been chosen as a location for a scene in a new comedy drama ' Mount Pleasant' which is to be aired on Sky 1 in September. The drama is being shot on location in South Manchester and features Bobby Ball, Pauline Collins and Sally Lyndsay among the cast. We were approached by the production company Tiger Aspect to use the surgery and were offered a fee which we will be donating to local animal charities. Bobby Ball was really lovely and happy to pose for photographs with the staff.
NEW PET WEBSITE
If you are looking for local pet services then everything you need can be found on a brand new website we are sponsoring www.thecheshirepetnetwork.co.uk
The site will contain listings for groomers, dog trainers, pet taxis, dog sitters, dog walkers, pet shops etc etc. The site has only just launches (March 1st) but will be updated on a regular basis with new businesses being added as they join.
Site visitors can also add any pet related items they wish to dispose of to the pet items for sale section and there will also be a selection of special offers and events listings on the site.
Please take a look at the site
CHARITY DONATIONS
We always help local animal charities when we can either by fund raising events or by direct donations. We are pleased to announce that we have just made donations to Phoenix Dog Rescue, Warrington Animal Welfare and Helsby Cat Rescue all of whom provide much needed services.
WINNINGTON PARK RFC SPONSORSHIP
For many years Willows Veterinary Group have had an association with Winnington Park RFC in Northwich.. Many of our vets have over the years played for the club and we currently have 3 vets playing for the first and second teams. We are delighted to announce that we are now proud first team joint shirt sponsors (Along with the Tiger's Head in Norley). Winnington Park RFC are very active in the local community and have a very active programme for both Juniors and Seniors.
CHARITY CHRISTMAS CARD SALES
Our Abbeycroft and Holly House branches were selling christmas cards on behalf of Lower Moss Wood Wildlife Rescue Centre near Knutsford. A big thank you to everyone that purchased cards. We managed to raise over £177 for the charity.
OLDEST PET COMPETITION In November as part of our senior pet campaign we asked you to send in details of your pet as part of our quest to find Cheshire's Oldest Pet. We had a fantastic response. We clearly have a lot of clients that look after their animals and had many 16, 17 and 18 year old pets. One pet however stood out. Sheeba is over 26 years old and has lived with her owner Glenis Bagley for the last 23 years. She has been featured in the local press and also in The Sun newspaper. Glenis won a goody bag for her and Sheeba and also a year's subscription to Your Dog magazine. Furthermore Sheeba's is set to become a national superstar as Your Dog magazine has agreed to feature Sheebs in a forthcoming issue. During 2011 we will have more subscriptions to Your Dog magazine and it's sister publication Your Cat to be won so keep visiting the website for details
VET ON THE RADIO Fiona Hughes from our Winsford Branch was the guest of Big Al last week on his Vet slot. As well as giving useful advice about hazards facing pets at Christmastime and in the cold weather Fiona also answered listeners questions
SCHOOL VISITVets and nurses from Holly House made a couple of visits to St Vincent's Primary School in Knutsford. In total they saw 5 classes of children ranging from 5 years to 11 years old - a total of around 120 children.
The children were shown numerous radiographs of problems such as broken bones and marbles in the stomach. Ian and Jacqui talked to the children about micro chipping and showed them an actual implant. 2 volunteers from each classed dressed up, one as a Veterinary Surgeon and the other as an Anaesthetist. They wore a surgical gown, face mask and large animal gloves. They 'operated' on Bruno (our teddy dog) to repair a fractured plastic bone by inserting a metal pin. Then they bandaged the leg
We passed several real animal teeth around and jars of ticks/fleas/worms !!!
On the second visit Ian and Jacqui took three little guests in the form of tiny kittens that one of the nurses had hand reared. The younger children were very excited
St. Bertilines School
Bruce Waddel from The Laurels surgery in Runcorn took time out to speak to 45 reception class children at St. Bertilines School in Runcorn recently.
Bruce took along his Tibetan Terrier Lettie 
Bruce took along his Tibetan Terrier Lettie 
(short for Lettuce!!) who is absiolutely fantastic with children. The children had great fun looking at x-rays, talking about pets and trying to guess how many teeth a rabbit has. The guesses ranged fron 2 up to 1000. At the end of the visit the children all came to pet Lettie and then took away some work sheets. The school have now set up a 'Vets Surgery' within their classroom for creative play and are doing all manner of follow up work with the children.Pictures used with kind permission of the staff and parents at the school.
