24 July 2020

#CoronaChronicles: Week 18

It’s less than 24 hours to go until we reopen the doors of our Redwings Caldecott visitor centre in Norfolk and tickets have just sold out!

If you've missed out on a ticket for this weekend, there are still plenty of time slots available for future dates. Remember, entry will only be permitted with a ticket to help us avoid over-crowding and ensure everyone can keep to a safe, social distance, so please make sure to book yours as soon as you can to avoid disappointment!

Click here to read the full details on how to book your time slot, as well as all the safety measures we are introducing at the centre and the facilities that will be available during your visit.

Don’t forget, you can also pre-book your tickets for our Redwings Aylsham visitor centre, which will be reopening on Saturday 8^th August.

As well as thanking you all for your incredible support, we’d also like to say a big thank you to our staff who have been working extremely hard over the last couple of weeks creating and installing signage and protective screens, among other things, to ensure our centres are Covid-safe and ready for visitors again.

One of the projects they’ve also been putting the finishing touches to is a beautiful Memory Garden at Redwings Caldecott, which we’re delighted will be open to visitors for the first time this weekend (see image above).

Taking pride of place near our wonderful horses and donkeys, we hope the Memory Garden will provide a peaceful place in which to relax, but also a reflective space to remember lost loved ones, both people and pets, with special memorial plaques, slates and benches.

The project has been kindly sponsored by several organisations, including Peaceful Pets and Mars Horsecare UK Ltd, and created with the help of volunteers, and we hope it will serve as a welcoming, outdoor community asset in these unsettling times.

You may also have spotted a very special addition to the garden – a stunning life-size sculpture of much-loved former Redwings resident and Adoption Star Welbeck.

Ex-police horse Welbeck lived at Redwings for 13 years and was incredibly popular with supporters, so we felt it fitting to commemorate his bravery in this special way. You can watch a video below showing when his sculpture was delivered to Redwings Caldecott last year by artist Connie Adam.

If you would like to find out more about honouring the memory of a loved one in the Memory Garden, please email fundraising@redwings.co.uk.

Can’t make it to either Redwings Caldecott or Redwings Aylsham this summer? Then don’t worry!

To give you a taste of what’s taking place at our centres across the Sanctuary, we’re taking our usual Summer Club for children online!

Summer Club Online 2020 will launch on Monday 3^rd August and run every week throughout August. Each week, take a peek at our social media channels and our website to see fun, educational videos and photos on a range of topics, including how we keep our horses happy and healthy, all the extra care we give our Golden Oldies and why we absolutely love long ears (donkeys!).

There will also be activity sheets and quizzes to complete. We really hope you can take part and look forward to bringing you more details next week!

All of the hard work our teams have put into making sure our rescued residents were kept safe throughout the lockdown and are now ready to greet their fantastic visitors again, is all down to the support you have shown us.

If you can, we would be incredibly grateful if you could continue to support us, either by donating during your visit or contributing to our coronavirus appeal, to ensure we can continue to be there for them, now and into the future. Please click here to find out all the ways you can help.

We can't wait to welcome our first visitors this weekend. Thank you #RedwingsAngels!