A family festival to support rescue animals is coming to Wirral

A brand new festival supporting animal rescues and sanctuaries in Wirral is happening in August.

Animal RescueFEST Wirral will take place at Claremont Farm on Saturday and Sunday, August 1 & 2.

The family-friendly weekend has been created jointly by three friends who run Celandine Wood Animal Rescue and Willowfields Sanctuary and Rescue.

Suzy Doherty and Jenny Watson from Willowfields in Hoylake, and Sharon Williams from Celandine decided to join together to create an event which would not only help them raise much-needed funds, but also give other animal charities and organisations a platform.

Jenny says:

“We collaborate a lot and often help one another out, and we wanted to have an event where we could bring in the local community and put on a fun day filled with rides, music, food and drink, dog shows, and stalls where people could sponsor an animal or maybe look into adoption.

“We’ll have two spaces for our sanctuaries where we can highlight the things we need help with and we’ve offered stalls to other rescues to promote what they do.

“It’s really all geared around animals and people who just want to come and support some of the smaller rescues and businesses, and any proceeds we make on the day will be split between our two sanctuaries and go towards our running costs.

“At Willowfields we offer a safe haven to about 250 ex-farm animals, wildlife and birds, and Celandine cares for cats and dogs, and other small animals like baby rabbits and squirrels. The costs of looking after the animals are enormous, thousands a month, and it’s a vast task for us to keep on top of that.

“We do rely on donations and it’s never-ending because animals never stop needing help so we’re constantly looking at the next thing to bring money in.”

Jenny says there will hopefully be lots of dogs at Animal RescueFEST Wirral, either taking part in fun categories as part of the shows or just coming along with their owners, but they’ve made the decision not to bring any of their rescue animals.

She explained:

“Although we know it’s nice for people to see them, and obviously we want to highlight the animals we look after, we do have to think about what works for them too,” she explains. “We don’t want to be putting them in environments that make them stressed, especially if it’s loud or hot on the day.”

With its message ‘every paw, hoof and wing matters’, Jenny says the festival organisers are keen to encourage the local community to engage with the rescues in any way they can.

“There are always little ways in which people can help, and there’s something for everybody, so it’s just about pointing people in all the directions and letting them find where they could slot in. 

“If people can’t help financially maybe it could be volunteering, even once a month. The event is just about putting ourselves in front of enough people who are kind and compassionate and want to help, and showing them the different ways they can.”

Animal RescueFEST Wirral is at Claremont Farm, Bebington on August 1 & 2, from 10am-5pm on Saturday and 10am-4pm on Sunday. Entry is only £1 and kids go free.

Find out more about Animal RescueFEST Wirral here.

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