Branch AGM and committee nominations

View Larger Map

The Cambridge and District Branch's AGM will be on Tuesday, 28th June at the Friends' Meeting House, Jesus Lane, Cambridge (map)

Anyone interested in the work of the branch is very welcome to attend, but only RSPCA branch members are able to be included in the vote to elect the committee of trustees. 

If you are a branch member you will shortly be receiving the official meeting notice by post (some time next week as we are planning to stuff envelopes on the bank holiday Monday).

If you are a member and would like to stand for election, or to nominate another branch member, please take a look at the information about trusteeship on our main website. This page has a link to download an official nomination form.

If you are not an RSPCA member, but would like to join, you can do this via the RSPCA national website. It's too late to be eligible to vote in the current elections, but you would be able to next year.

Volunteer opportunity: Donate, Don't Dump Day

Gracie is looking for a home

Could you organise a "Donate, Don't Dump" day at your workplace, school or college?

The idea is that you ask everyone to try to bring in one item that's suitable to be sold in our charity shops.

Almost everyone has something that's too good to throw out but they never use or wear.

You can either bring the collected items to our shop, or we can collect them provided we have enough warning in advance.

This opportunity would be particularly suitable for school pupils who are not old enough to volunteer directly with the branch as it can be done at school (provided your teachers are happy with the idea.)

If you would like to organise a "Donate, Don't Dump" event, please email camshop@rspca-cambridge.org.uk or newmarket@rspca-cambridge.org.uk (depending on whether you are local to Cambridge or Newmarket.

Rabbit Awareness Week on Twitter

Sunday at 61 Burleigh Street

Thank-you for all the fantastic donations, including this incredibly realistic soft toy, some superb pictures, delightful Hello Kitty charm necklaces, and a pair of two foot high chess pieces.

Ffiona, Wayne and Phil have been adding more shelves to our books and media section.

We've also got a selection of May Ball frocks and suits and lots of fresh summer blouses and tops which are flying off the racks as fast as our volunteers can steam iron them and put them out.

Drop by for some fantastic bargains.

We urgently need to increase our fundraising to meet the increasingly worrying costs of veterinary treatment, which I will discuss in another post.

Animal Welfare Statistics for April

During April our animal clinic treated 224 dogs, 78 cats, 3 rabbits and 5 miscellaneous "small furries". We neutered 16 dogs and 7 cats (cat spay/neuter numbers are low at the moment because Cats Protection is running a free neutering campaign by voucher, so it's generally more beneficial for cat owners to use these rather than use the clinic). We microchipped 13 dogs and 9 cats.

Volunteer opportunity: Minute taker

Basically this involves attending our regular monthly committee meetings, taking rough notes and then writing up minutes of action points agreed and circulating them by email before the next committee meeting.

It may seem fairly trivial, but for the effective running of the branch it's essential to have an accurate record of what was agreed and who has been "volunteered" to action the decisions. The accountants who prepare the annual independent examination of our financial affairs which is required by law expect our records to include minutes of all meetings where decisions were taken.

This would be an excellent opportunity for someone with note-taking skills who is interested in learning more about the activities of RSPCA branch committees, but not yet prepared to take on the responsibilities of full trusteeship. Or, of course, for someone who DOES want to be a trustee and would like to get started with useful work that doesn't require huge amounts of time.

If you might be interested in this, email volunteering@rspca-cambridge.org.uk