VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR 2010

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Each year one of our volunteers is awarded a special award for going the extra mile.

Our 2011 nominees were:

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR 2011

		KIERAN BARNES Kieran is in Manchester in the incredibly busy part of the country: The North. He has had, I believe, 6 fosters over the last year and is always busy with home visits, home checks and transporting dogs up and down the country. Kieran’s outstanding moment though was during the Christmas period when he calmly agreed to take multiple dogs for holiday cover, eventually having his foster Oscar, Alan’s dog Debo and his own girl Daisy. It was a huge help for us at an unbelievably manic time, so thankyou very much Kieran.
		BOB AND SANDI SHAW Bob and Sandi are based in Bristol and are new volunteers who have only been with us since February. They really hit the ground running and within a day of getting their badges they had the terror known as HARRY (formerly known as TYSON) from Ruth … and he is still there and still causing havoc. Bob and Sandi have since then had 5 fosters to stay, 2 remaining to this day. At one point had 4 dogs in their house for us and on top of this regularly undertake 3 hr roundtrips into Wales for homechecking and visits, and so very much deserve to be nominated for this award. Very well done!
		ALAN FORSTER Alan is in Stockton on Tees and has only been with us since September of last year. He has proved to be an invaluable help in the North East. Alan was also dropped in at the deep end, collecting a dog for us the same day that his badge arrived and he has had a very colourful 9 months, dealing with 5 fosters; several home checks and visits and 2 PTS on temperament grounds, the last of which he is now baring the scars from on his leg and arm needing 20 stitches… Alan’s outstanding moment though was back in April. Tania had a call from a Child Welfare Officer asking us to collect a little bitch called Gucci, in Derbyshire. The family were being moved to a women’s refuge after the father punched his 12 year old daughter in the face, knocking her front teeth out. An hour later, Alan was in his van and nearly 500 miles later he was back home with her. She was badly abused and is now a permanent resident at Alan’s as she has cancer. Very recently Gucci had a heart attack while asleep at Alan’s feet. So he put leads from his car battery onto her chest and got it going again. This man is a legend and fully deserves his nomination…. Well done Alan!!
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		JOSEPHINE FREW The very lovely Josephine can’t be with us today sadly as she had a litter yesterday, but what a truly deserved winner she is! Josephine runs all areas from start to finish in Scotland for Tania and up until February was doing it singlehandedly. She can’t remember how long she has been with Rescue, but says Tania only had one kennel so that’s around 9 years. She also doesn’t know how many dogs she had last year but recalled at least 10 since September, including 3 PTS. On top of this she is also a tireless fundraiser, an enormously well respected and valued breeder and a judge. Josephine’s outstanding moment, when I know we all felt for her, was at Easter when she had to put to sleep two of her fosters, within a week of each other. Cleo from kidney failure and after a failed placement and then her dear Sacha, a 12 year old lady who Josephine had been fostering for 2 years. We must all admire her dedication and appreciate the enormous pressure she is under, with no-one there to take over if she needs a break, until now. So very well done Jo! JOSEPHINE SAYS: “Thank you to everyone who voted for me and although I’m hundreds of miles away, Tania and co are always a call away for help and encouragement…. So special thanks to them .”

Our 2010 nominees were:

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR 2010

	Georgia Burton: In the time Georgia has been a volunteer Georgia has always shown herself to be a very willing member of the volunteer roster along with her husband Chris. However, she is a nominee for this award because despite being almost 9 month pregnant, she was prepared to make the journey from Birmingham to Wales to collect a dog for rescue, drove back to Oxford services to hand her over to me before making her way back to Birmingham. There has been a number of occasions where she has more than put herself out for a dog in need and has been through some very harrowing times with some of them.
	Val and Malc Kirk: Both Val and her husband Malc have had health problems this year, but despite this they have still managed to pick up dogs for rescue and ensure they are properly cared for whilst in the care of the local boarding kennels. With a history in animal welfare Val is more than aware of the urgency of some of the cases that have had to be dealt with and although they have both required hospital treatment during the last few months, they have never said no when asked to go out for rescue, for this dedication I am truly grateful.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>	*BUT THE WINNER WAS ...*
	Alison Jones: Alison has been a very hard working member of the volunteer roster and has stepped up to the mark on more than one occasion. She can often be found helping out in the kennel and recently fostered an injured puppy that was handed to us by East Sussex Police. She not only ensured that he received all the treatment he needed for a badly damaged leg but she also managed not to panic when the original owner threatened to take us to court to get his dog back once released from prison. However, she really came into her own when we were recently contacted by a charity that looks after dogs on a temporary basis for abused women who needed temporary care for 3 bulldogs. Alison not only took the entire case on for me, liaising direct with the charity and organising and overseeing all the foster care that was required, but also personally drove the dogs back to the owner who had been relocated to Norfolk when the time came for them to go back.