This year’s Open Day on Sunday 3rd July was the biggest and best ever. The sun shone throughout the day and we had a record attendance of 1,050 people, almost twice as many as have attended in previous years. There was hot competition in the fun dog show and each of the classes was very well subscribed. The judges had a difficult job! The K9 Dock Diving was as popular as ever with every size and shape of dog taking part. For those less keen on water, there were plenty of other activities including the scurry, flyball and agility. RAF Marham sent along some of their police dogs to demonstrate the skills that they use on a daily basis, Fens Falconry provided an opportunity to get up close and personal with a range of birds of prey and John Houlton’s team of gun dogs gave an impressive display of the discipline required for their role. There were plenty of activities for the children as well, including face painting, glitter tattoos and an inflatable obstacle course. A wide variety of stalls provided options for ‘retail therapy’ and there was plenty of food and drink on offer. Throughout the afternoon, there were ‘behind the scenes’ tours of the hospital with numerous information points, explaining the work carried out in our clinic. Particularly popular was the Teddy Bear Clinic which at one point received an emergency admission!! While the dogs and children were kept entertained, the dads (and many of the mums too) admired the display of classic cars.
Thanks to the generosity of stall holders, the kind donations by attendees and the hard work of all our staff, the Dick White Charitable Foundation will receive over £2,000 towards its work with the street dogs and cats in Cuba.