The Memorial Garden was created for us by local family firm Keystone Paving (see the building of it by clicking here). We are extremely grateful to them for all their hard work, skill and professionalism.

The purpose of this space is for us and visitors to sit quietly and enjoy the peace and tranquillity of Coombe Down.

There is an opportunity to have a name plaque in memory of a beloved pet. The cost of this is £30 and the money raised will go towards the care of the cats and running costs of the centre.

Please contact us for more details.

There are usually around 15 cats living in the Pavilion. These are older and more difficult to home cats who are able to spend the rest of their lives with us. Some do find homes and four have been happily rehomed this year.

Fudge is one of our permanent residents. She is 17 and went blind whilst with us, so knows her way around. A couple who sponsor came to visit on Open Day bearing gifts of catnip mice which Fudge spent a long time playing happily with way after everyone had gone home.

A sponsorship scheme is run to help with the upkeep and care of the Pavilion Cats (see sponsorship page). You can sponsor an individual cat or the whole group and will receive a certificate and photograph plus quarterly Paws & Claws newsletters.

If you would like to be a sponsor please contact us via the website or by ringing Lyn, the sponsorship secretary on 01444 459464

Annual Open Day 2010

Sunday 18th July

From our Chairman

What better way to spend a warm, sunny, summer afternoon than sitting listening to the gentle strains of a jazz trio whilst enjoying a refreshing cup of tea and a slice of home made cake. Add to that the opportunity to see the lovely cats in our care and you have a perfect Paws & Claws Open Day.

This year saw a record number of visitors to our rescue centre to support us. Everyone enjoyed seeing the many cats and we hope some of them will find new homes as a result. They also spent generously on the many and varied stalls and all the money raised will go directly for the care of the cats and running costs of the centre.

An event like this can only happen with a great deal of planning and preparation. A team of us spent a busy weekend getting all the gazebos up and stalls laid out so a big thank you to all those people for their hard work and dedication. The cattery staff and volunteers did a great job in looking after the cats and keeping them happy with all the visitors around.

A successful refreshment tent was run by Helen and her team. Guests were able to sit in our new Memorial Garden under the oak tree and enjoy their tea and cake. The Memorial Garden was only made possible through the extra donations from our already very generous sponsors enabling us to provide this amenity area. As a personal “thank you” to all who contributed I and some of my committee provided the catering for a small party to celebrate the opening.

As always the Pavilion was a big draw with queues all afternoon to go in and stroke the “oldies”. One or two found a quiet spot out of the limelight to chill out but most of them were keen for all the attention lavished on them, not least, Topsy who is a very fit 24 year old!

The day would not be complete without the fantastic playing of Raye Du-Val and his Soho Village Jazz Band and we offer them our sincere thanks.

Our thanks also go to David Frewer of Seasonal Gardening Services for keeping our grass under control and for his generous donation of a case of 12 bottles of wine to raffle. Needless to say it was a popular prize and raised £120.

Russells Nursery in Hassocks again donated stock for us to sell and we are grateful for this and all the support they give us throughout the year. Many of our faithful members donated prizes, goods to sell, plants they had grown and cakes they had baked - as well as giving up a great deal of valuable time to help in all manner of ways needed to make the day the success it was.

It was lovely to meet and greet so many friends, old and new (Benny normally does this job but I had to deputise for him as we were afraid he might get in someone’s car in his enthusiasm. He was not very happy to be confined to his pen for the duration). We all love to hear tales of how ‘our’ cats are getting on and to see photos of them in their new homes so thank you for keeping us updated.

We hope you all had a lovely day, we certainly did and so did Fudge who as you can see was rather tired at the end of it and fell asleep in her favourite trough. Thank you for coming and we look forward to welcoming you to Coombe Down on many more occasions.

Lyn Basset, Chairman