Before lockdown we were all very busy trying to improve our facilities and with some amazing generosity from people we were getting there.
The improvements to the kennels continue with the latest being a huge clear up and landscaping at the rear of the kennel making a decent car parking area at last.
The new lighting in the individual kennels has been a huge improvement so we are looking to try to extend that if we can to the kennels on the opposite wall.
All this costs money and of course fund raising is always hard work, and we would probably not have survived in our current form without the income from our shop at Blyth where Joan has worked wonders.
With that in mind we approached some charitable trusts and succeeded in raising a grant to enable us to employ a professional shop manager and to open two more shops.
Again before the present climate took over, we completed our recruitment process and we are delighted to say we have found an outstanding candidate Geoff who will be joining us next month.
We have also identified what we hope will become our second shop premises which if all goes well we will occupy in July. We can’t share the exact location because the lease is not finalised yet, but it is in Amble and we are very excited about it and have high hopes. All being well we would look to open a third shop about six months after that.
As the government have recently announced that non essential retailers can reopen their doors from the 15th of June, we aim to do so with our Blyth shop.
It will be great to get things back up and running again, and to see so many familiar faces in our loyal customers, but with the guidelines on how to keep people safe, there is a lot of work to be done before we can actually open the doors.
Leave all that to us, although there are a couple of tasks you might be able to help with.....
One of our first tasks will be to recruit some volunteers from the Amble area to help us staff the new shop. We will also be looking to expand the team at Blyth.
If you would be interested or if you know anyone who would help us please contact me by email to team@shak.org.uk
In addition we will be looking for stock for the new shop. Please save anything suitable and we will let you know when the shop is open to accept donations.
Alll very exciting...... Thanks in advance for your support and we hope to see you all soon.
Stay Safe
The Trustees.