Visit from the RSPCA

14/11/13

This week a lady from the RSPCA came to talk to the girls and to collect the money we raised in June by holding a sale (which the girls organised and ran themselves). RSPCA stands for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and is a charity here in the UK which cares for animals which people abandon and also raises awareness of all animal illnesses and care requirements. In June we held a sale where the girls ran stalls in small groups, ranging from cake stalls and raffles to jumble sales and nail painting, and we raised over £180! We always invite someone to come and collect their money and talk to the girls because it means they get the chance to find out exactly how they're helping. 

She gave a brief talk on what the RSPCA does and asked them a few questions on what they thought the '5 Freedoms for Animals' are (freedom from: hunger and thirst; discomfort; pain, injury and disease; fear and distress and freedom to behave normally). Then she gave the girls the opportunity to tell any stories they had about their pets and other animals they'd encountered. We ended up spending almost 45 minutes listening to various stories ranging from what animals the girls had been bitten by (mostly nibbles from small animals) to the various antics of all kinds of pets! The girls who didn't have any pets seemed to get bored quite quickly (which is understandable) and I think she could have cut it a bit shorter but the rest of the girls were very enthusiastic about sharing their stories. She did manage to fit in a few extra details, such as teaching them how to deal with a dog if it runs towards you (stand still and don't make eye contact) after one of the girls told a story about when she tried to outrun a dog at a park which I thought was quite a subtle way of teaching them things. 

Brown Owl then presented her with the cheque and she gave the unit a certificate to say thank you. We then lined all the girls up so that we could take a photo of them all as a record of who raised the money (we keep a scrapbook of photos and certificates the unit has gained) and then she announced that she had RSPCA stickers and paw shaped badges for each girl which cheered up most of the ones who'd been looking a bit bored! There was then a long queue of girls all deciding what colour they wanted and then changing their mind and going back! Eventually they all settled on the colour they wanted and she left, just in time for the girls to go home.

It was a good evening, in my opinion, because I'm a huge supporter of what the RSPCA do and an animal lover on top of it but I don't think some of the girls really enjoyed the evening because they had nothing to input and weren't that interested in what was being said. I do, however, think she could have drawn the story session to a close faster than she did as even I was getting a bit fed up with the girls stories (and I'm usually pretty patient when it comes to hearing stories!).