Charity work & External Partners
Charity work & External Partners
Our staff spend lots of their free time raising money for great causes!
As a veterinary practice, it is within our nature to give back. As well as supporting animals through tough times, every member of the team at Bay Vets is devoted to caring for others, no matter what their species.
It’s common knowledge that our surgeons, nurses and admin staff are no strangers to hard work. We have a great reputation for supporting numerous charities as a practice, and as individuals.
We have several achievements under our belt and are proud to be seen as such great supporters of so many wonderful charities.
We have raised over £5,000! Do browse the below to learn which charities we have donated to and how we raised funds.
On the 27th of April, 15 of our team members congregated at our Milnthorpe surgery bright and early to embark on a journey which would take them to all Bay Vets branches, covering marathon distance: 26.9 miles.
The reason for the mission was to raise funds for The Oliver King Foundation. Funds raised would be used to install a defibrillator at our Morecambe branch that the whole community can access.
The Oliver King Foundation was set up in 2012 in order to raise awareness, funds and provide training in defibrillator access and first aid. Funds raised have placed 5,900 defibrillators in schools and organisations around the country and have provided training for over 135,000 staff. 12-year-old Oliver King tragically died during a swimming race at school due to Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome. The foundation wishes to increase access to defibrillators and training around the country to help save lives such as Oliver’s.
With the worthy cause in mind, the walk began.
17.6 miles were covered in reaching the Morecambe branch, where more team members joined the mission.
Blisters were already beginning but the smiles never faded, and after a brief refreshment stop, it was onwards to Lancaster.
A further 3.9 miles were accrued, and yet more team members joined here!
Three of the four sections were complete and the first aid kit had been out multiple times for the plasters and paracetamol. Energy levels were depleting but encouragment from fresh faces and the promise of a buffet and accomplishment so soon, evryone rallied and morale remained high. Cakes and other snacks as well as drinks at Lancaster gave the boost required and the final 5.3 miles to Caton began.
Nearly 12 hours after setting off… the team limped into Caton!
Smiles were still a-plenty and knowing what had been achieved created a happy atmosphere and positive buzz.
9 hours of moving time and all those miles ended with a team buffet at a local pub, organised and provided by the management team. Everyone was so grateful and were united in the goal for the Oliver King Foundation.
More information on the charity and donations can be made here: https://theoliverkingfoundation.co.uk/about-us/
As of 2nd of May 2024, the Crowdfunder page is still active too, and donations are still be accepted: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/247-defibrillator-at-morecambe-bay-vets
£930 has already been raised of the £1200. Anything over the defibrillator cost will be donated to the Oliver King Foundation to aid their mission.
Organised by Kate and supported by all… £467 and a whole lot of awareness through donations, sweepstakes, games themed clothing.
We work closely with Pet Blood Bank, and local animal charities, supporting their open days every year.
Every June we organise the dog show at Caton Gala with all proceeds being donated to charity. Please come along and support us and these deserving charities.
On Saturday 8th September Angela, one of our receptionists, organised a Charity Ball at The Bay Strathmore Hotel in Morecambe. The evening consisted of a 3 course sit down meal, along with various raffle prizes kindly donated by local businesses, with a local DJ for the evenings entertainment. The evening was a great success raising funds for 3 local charities.
On the 7th July 2018 6 members of the Bay Vets team (Ellie, Gemma, Charlotte, Demi, Catherine and Emma) took on the Coniston Challenge. This involved a 10km trek up the Old Man of Coniston, a 17km bike rise through Grizedale Forrest and a 3km kayak across Coniston Water. This raised over £1,500 for the Alder Hey Children’s Charity.
We supported the Caton community in their annual gala this year and hosted a dog show and a lifesize “operation” style board game to help raise funds for our chosen charity. Although the day was a very soggy one, we successfully raised £73.50 for our chosen charity.
On Sat 8th October we held a Charity Ball at The Bay Strathmore Hotel in Morecambe. The evening consisted of a 3 course sit down meal, along with various raffle prizes kindly donated by local businesses and an auction of Chas Jacobs prints, with a local DJ for the evenings entertainment. The evening was a great success. We successfully raised £1,462.29 for our local animal charities from this event alone, and this will be split evenly between Animal Care, Wolfwood & Cats Protection.
On Thursday 28th September our Milnthorpe surgery team decided to hold a coffee & cake brunch to help raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. They successfully raised an amazing total of £350 for the Macmillan charity by hosting a cake competition with the community (entry fee £2), selling raffle tickets to win prizes kindly donated by local businesses and clients, and asked for donations to try their variety of beautiful cakes that filled an amazing 4 tables in their cosy surgery.
For the summer months of 2016, we promoted the very hardworking RNLI Morecambe Lifeboat team. On 20th August they were celebrating their 50th Birthday at the station with an open day. Therefore, to help raise funds for this fantastic team, we made a list of all 237 RNLI UK stations and popped them into a dipping bag. We then gave our clients, team members and family and friends the option to “dip” for £1 to select a station. A station was then chosen at the 50th Birthday of the RNLI at their open day and the lucky winner would receive “Champagne Afternoon Tea for Two” at The Midland Hotel in Morecambe. This prize was kindly donated by English Lakes who own the Midland Hotel along with other local hotels.
We successfully raised £130 for the RNLI Morecambe Lifeboat team. We hope to help support them in the future also.
During the summer months of 2016 we have held 2 events to help raise funds for the amazing charity “Bendrigg Trust”. The first event we held was a dog show at the popular Caton Gala in June 2016. Entry fee’s to the dog show were collected and totalled £84.50.
In July, we then decided to do a prize draw for a pet photography session. This was very kindly donated by Sam Adele Pet & Equine Photography based in Caton. Sam gave us a voucher for up to a 2 hour photography session, for 2 animals, with 3 free prints of their choice and online gallery access for the photos from the day. We sold raffle tickets for £1 and the lucky winner was chosen at random. We raised £140.00 for this event alone. All together we raised £224.50 for Bendrigg Trust.
During the months of Nov & Dec 2015 we held some small events to help raise money for Alder Hey Children’s charity. Sadly as one of our team members daughter’s had visited the hospital this year we thought we shall host some events to help raise funds for the hospital. Sophie is now on the mend and even came in to see us for a guest appearance.
One event we did hold was a “Guess the baby” competition between staff members. Staff were asked to bring in photo’s of themselves under the age of 4 years old (As this was Sophie’s current age). All photos were then collected and made into a quiz style booklet. Team members & clients if they wanted to join in, then gave a donation to receive a booklet and complete their answers who which team member was which baby/toddler. This was a great team event that everybody thoroughly enjoyed.
The second event was on 18th December all 4 of our surgeries joined in with the National Christmas Jumper Day. Again staff had to give a donation to wear their Christmas Jumpers for the day.
Overall for both events we have managed to raise an amazing £309.42 for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. This will make a huge difference to the children in care.
We have donated £325.00 to the Nepal Earthquake Appeal. The donated monies were raised within each of our surgeries.
We hosted our very own Doggie Fashion Show to raise monies for 4 local animal charities being Wolfwood, Dogs for the Disabled, Save-A-Pet and Animal Care. The day consisted of our very own catwalk at the church of ascension in Torrisholme. Our catwalk had our own selected dogs modelling the best winter safety wear for you and your dog such as High visibility jackets, flashing collars and leads, Safety Harnesses and even winter boots for your pooch. We also had tea cakes and biscuits, a FREE Prize Draw, Raffle and the option to buy products on the day with a 10% off discount. The day was a huge success and we successfully raised £280.00 for our chosen local animal charities.
Our Vets & Nurses attended a Badass Mudder Challenge to raise money for St John’s Hospice in July 2014.
The Badass Mudder challenge was held at Halton Park Estate near the Crook O’Lune, and consisted of a 10km obstacle course.
Our team had to wade through mud, scramble up a quarry face, scale climbing walls and natural obstacles, go under and over nets, haul themselves across monkey bars, crawl through dark tunnels, fly down a huge waterslide, cross the River Lune.. twice and much much more.
Our team stuck together throughout the 10km challenge and we successfully raised £917.14.
Our staff spend lots of their free time raising money for great causes!
As a veterinary practice, it is within our nature to give back. As well as supporting animals through tough times, every member of the team at Bay Vets is devoted to caring for others, no matter what their species.
It’s common knowledge that our surgeons, nurses and admin staff are no strangers to hard work. We have a great reputation for supporting a number of charities both as a practice, and individually.
We work closely with local animal charities and support their open days every year. Come and visit us at the AnimalCare open day in late spring and Wolfwood’s Summer bark in the park event.
Every June we organise the dog show at Caton Gala with all of the entry fees being donated to charity. The next Caton Gala is on Saturday 13th June 2020, please come along and support us and enter your dog into the fun dog show.
We have a number of achievements under our belt and are proud to be seen as such great supporters of so many wonderful charities.