THANK YOU!

We are delighted to tell you that we have been given a very generous donation of £3,800.00 by the Minorfern Foundation, an initiative launched in 2024 by SDL Car Parts to celebrate their 45th anniversary. The Foundation provide grants to small local charities and community groups across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Yorkshire.  The grant will be used to help us with our rescue and rehoming work with unwanted and stray cats and dogs.  We were pleased to welcome Andrea Wyatt, their  People Strategist, to The Ark and to show  her round.  Here she is  presenting us with a cheque and being thanked by Ty the Greyhound. She also enjoyed meeting Tom and Pud, two of our current cattery residents.

SANTA PAWS 2025!

The Pets at Home Foundation held their annual Santa Paws Appeal in 2025 to raise much needed funds for the animal welfare sector and, thanks to the efforts of our volunteers, the support of the Meteor Centre Pets at Home staff and the generosity of their customers, we have received a wonderful donation of £629.24 from the appeal!

The lead up to the Open Weekend was certainly challenging, with a big storm the day before saturating our grounds and testing our drains! However, all turned out well and, thanks to the amazing generosity of our supporters, we raised an astonishing total of £13,249 for our cats and dogs…easily a new record!! A big THANK YOU to everyone who baked cakes, helped get ready for the event, helped on the day and helped clear away…we couldn’t manage without you.

ALEX CLARK ART HELP US AGAIN!

Alex and Erik of Alex Clark Art have been wonderfully generous supporters of our charity for the last 15 years and got 2024 off to a great start by sending us £2,500. Once again, this was raised by  donating a percentage of their Christmas card sales to help with our work. This brings the total they have given over the years to support our cats and dogs to an amazing £67,318.00!!  As a small independent charity, we are tremendously grateful and proud that Alex and Erik have chosen to support us all these years.

Albert….Sad News!!

We are very sorry to let you know that we have had to say goodbye to  Albert, The Ark’s ‘Top Cat’.  He  had become very frail over the past weeks although in typical Albert style soldiered on, still enjoying his food and sitting outside on his bench in the garden if the weather was to his liking. He came to us as a very elderly stray in 2020 after a hard life on the road and he immediately took to life at The Ark as he loved his home comforts.  He quickly commandeered the sofa in Roger’s Room, enjoying all the attention he now had as well as regular meals and a warm comfy bed.  He liked getting visitors, especially if ‘Dreamies’ were involved  and liked sitting on a knee for a fuss.  The decision was made to let him live out the rest of his days at The Ark and that’s just what he did!  He seemed very content and happily shared ‘his’ room with many young cats over the time he was with us. He became known as ‘Uncle Albert’ as he did tend to take shy, nervous cats under his wing and help them find confidence and trust in people.  He was a real character with a mind of his own and had very firm opinions on  how things should be done!  He was a regular contributor to our Newsletters with his ‘words of wisdom’ on current affairs and always obliged if photos were needed!

However, his health suddenly deteriorated.  It was clear that he was in distress and we knew that the sad time had come and that we had to let our dear old Uncle Albert go.  The decision was a very difficult one as he was much loved by everyone including our cattery volunteers, staff and his many sponsors. He passed away peacefully in Roger’s Room sitting on the knee of Jo, a member of staff who had developed a special bond with him. 

Albert will always be missed and always remembered.

The Ark cats and dogs join in the Coronation Celebrations

ROGER’S ROOM GETS A MAKE OVER…..much to Albert’s disgust!

The floor in Roger’s Room cattery  was laid many years ago and has been long overdue for replacing, but this was put on hold because of Covid restrictions.  We are pleased to say that we are now in the process of having the floor replaced and this will make the room much easier to keep clean and meet our control of infection standards.  Whilst we are all pleased about this  Albert, the elderly black cat who not only lives in Roger’s Room but firmly believes that this area of the cattery belongs to him, was not happy about the changes.  It meant that he had to move out temporarily into another part of the cattery and he was very put out one morning to find his belongings (of which he has rather a lot) were being packed up…then to his horror he too was ‘packed up’ or rather picked up and carried off to another room!!  The staff carefully arranged all his beds, cushions and blankets around him but it didn’t cheer him up….he wanted ‘his’ room back!  Eventually he brightened up when he realised that the food in his new accommodation was just as good and as plentiful as before!  We have explained that the move is only for a few days and that he should view the change as a little holiday. The great day came when we had a nice new floor in Roger’s Room and the staff carefully moved back Albert’s belongings and arranged them to his satisfaction.  Imagine our surprise when we escorted Albert back into his domain only for him to take one look and sniff at the new floor and turn round and stomp back into his previously unacceptable temporary lodgings! After two more attempts to coax him back….food was involved….he graciously consented to move back!