Telford dog shelter gets £20,000 to upgrade kennels
A Telford dog shelter has been given a grant of £20,000 to upgrade its kennels.
The grant comes just days after
.
Hilbrae Rescue Kennels has received the money from the Support Adoption for Pets group.
The dogs home will be using the money to remove the old kennels and build new ones which will be bigger, brighter and better ventilated
Marty Burrell, owner and founder of Hilbrae, said: "We are absolutely over the moon. We applied for it months ago, and all rescues are invited to apply.
"We had to do a video of the kennels and talk about what we wanted it for, show them round and show them the books, all sorts of things.
"And we found out that they had given it to us yesterday.
"It won't be any additional kennels, just some of the kennels have been in use for 40-odd years and they are looking a bit tired and tatty, compared to some of the newer kennels
"So we will just be replacing them with something lighter, nicer and newer for the dogs.
"But we're so pleased.
A charity box, believed to have contained about £30 was taken from the Hilbrae charity shop in broad daylight while volunteers were working on Saturday (JUL 30).
Marty added that after starting the week on such a sour note, it was great to have a bit of good news.
She said: "With the collection box being stolen, it was not the amount, just the principle of the thing, that someone would steal from any charity and, of course, our volunteers were very upset because they felt responsible, even though that was not the case at all.
"It is great because we all work hard, the staff work hard and the volunteers work hard, and it is nice to be recognised as doing a good job.
"We don't please all the people all of the time, there are some things people think we should do differently or do more of, but we do our best."
The charity has been working in Cold Hatton for 27 years. Dedicated owner Marty Burrell first started the kennels with her late husband James and is still heavily involved with its running today.
She is now helped by her son Peter.
The kennels can comfortably accommodate 60 dogs at the site, but, in recent times has been stretched to look after 90.
