Success stories

Jay and the Solent Renegades showed their beautiful American classic cars and asked for donations to SPANA. Their fundraising has raised an amazing £120. We love Jay's original fundraising idea, a huge thank you for choosing to support SPANA! We really couldn't continue our vital work without fundraisers like yourselves.

We shivered when we heard Janet Wicking's plans to do a Christmas Day Dip in the North Sea. Her amazing efforts raised a fab £332 for SPANA! Thank you to all her generous sponsors and obviously a massive thank you to Janet for taking time out of her Christmas day to fundraise for SPANA.

Despite pulled muscles and blisters (ouch!) Jane Cummins completed the Coombe Abbey 10k and raised £307.58! We love that Jane choose SPANA to run for because she believes 'hard-working animals deserve better'. Thank you for all your support Jane!

Isobel Ripley has done a tremendous job of fundraising for SPANA over the last few years, her amazing efforts of ceilidh dancing, show jumping, table top sales, all topped off with a trek in Borneo, have raised £2,330! Here's a picture of Isobel at the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary in Borneo wearing her SPANA t-shirt. Despite the trek in Borneo taking place during the rainy season and having to encounter unwanted leeches Isobel has already booked her next adventure and is off to trek in the Rockies! Her next adventure won't have her meeting more leeches, but there may be the odd bear!

Every Christmas, Hilary Brown organises a fantastic charity Circle Dance. In 2015 Hilary and friends raised £165 for SPANA. What a great way to raise vital funds for working animals, keep fit and most importantly, have fun! Thank you, Hilary!

Elaine Davies organised a stall selling delicious cakes and biscuits at her local coffee morning and raised over £80 for SPANA! Thank you for helping to give a brighter future to working animals and the people who depend on them.

After seeing our work first hand whilst on holiday in Marrakech, Dr. Aybar decided to collect donations and spread the word about SPANA's work to his customers by setting up a display in his Pharmacy in Germany. His fab display encouraged his generous customers to donate £145. Danke!

Former SPANA Vet Volunteers, Danny and Aaron spent 12 days trekking the 205 mile length of the Offa's Dyke path, they faced hills and blisters but we hope it was worth it for the fantastic £885 they raised for SPANA. We loved following Danny, Aaron and Boost the dog's journey on their facebook page. Thank you for all your hard work!

Who could resist giving this gorgeous ball of fluff a squeeze?! That’s what one of our supporters Joy Lambert thought and so started her regular (and very popular) bunny cuddling fundraiser! Joy charges a small fee for each bunny cuddle, and has raised almost £700 from five events. Hugging an animal helps to boost happiness levels, so if you have some adorable animals, why not bring some cheer to your community and to charity by sharing them with others?

One marathon is usually the limit for most people, but not SPANA supporter, Bec Drackley who took on the Marathon des Sables, a six-day, 251 km (156 mile) ultramarathon, which is approximately the distance of six regular marathons....across the Sahara Desert! Known as the toughest footrace in history, it is not a challenge to be taken lightly so we were super proud of Bec for completing it and rasing a fantastic £750 for SPANA. That's not forgetting the £500 she raised for SPANA in 2014 whilst taking part in the Brighton Marathon. What a super star

68-year-old retired vet, Anthony cycled the 350 miles of Route 68 for two charities, SPANA and Freedom from Torture. As a cycle route described on the Route 68 website as 'not for the faint hearted' Anthony said 'the ride had to be hard as a token of the suffering which my two charities try to address'. Thank you, Anthony, we hope your legs have recovered!

Anne-Marie Bowring and her father cycled 100 miles for SPANA in just 7 hours and 48 minutes, and raised a fantastic £677! A HUGE thank you to them both and to all their sponsors - you have helped to provide a better quality of life for the working animals and the people that depend on them in some of the world's poorest communities.

Three cheers for equine Vet, Tim Adams who choose to support SPANA when he took on the Marrakech Marathon. We hope that seeing our work first hand in Marrakech helped to keep those legs moving and get him round the course. His generous sponsors have helped him raise over £730, which will make such a difference to the working animals that SPANA treats. Feeling inspired? Read more about taking on a marathon during your next trip abroad in our fundraising section.

The wonderful, Thomas took on the hilly Lisbon Marathon and raised a brilliant £225 for our vital work.

Sandra Britain took on the Plusnet York 10 Mile run in memory of her husband, Mel. This was the second time Sandra has run for SPANA. SPANA is so so grateful for Sandra's continued support!

For the last two years Nicola Cooke has organised coffee monings in her local Town Hall. From these two events Nicola has donated £630 to SPANA. On behalf of all the animals we help each year we would like to thank Nicola and all her helpers for all their hard work!

Being one of Britain's favourite foods, the curry nights that Judith Best organises were bound to be a success and they have proved to be a fantastic way to raise money for SPANA. The three curry nights that Judith organised in 2014 and 2015 in her local curry house, Red Pepper, have raised an incredible total of £1,310, showing that food and fundraising are the recipe for success!

Kirsten raised an incredible £460.25 by completing the 2 mile course of Lake Windermere, despite it being a chilly 16.5 degrees, brrrrr! Thank you, Kirsten!

Laura Butlin arranged and held a clothes sale with all proceeds going to SPANA. Laura's Joules Seconds Sale raised £415 for SPANA - Thank you for all the time, effort and hard work you put into raising so much for the working animals.

Running a half marathon is hard enough, let alone in 90% humidity, phew! Super star, Melissa took on the Appleby Bermuda Half Marathon Derby for SPANA and raised a fantastic £192.48, she even got her picture in the paper! We know it is no mean feat running in the Bermuda heat but to take on a running event abroad like Melissa did, find out more on our Running for SPANA page.

Natasha Welch trekked 100km of the Sahara desert in the scorching sun for SPANA and raised a whopping £3,230. Natasha said 'The mental aspect of continuously walking in extreme heat, not knowing how much longer you have to keep going was more challenging than expected. On one of the hottest days (35 degrees in the shade....and there was no shade) I realised that the animals I'm doing this for go through this every day, never knowing why or when it will end. They just kept going; and with that in mind so did I'. Challenge yourself like Natasha on our fundraising pages.

The wonderful Jodie was kind enough to fundraise for SPANA at her 30th birthday party! As a horse owner she was keen to use her celebrations to help the less fortunate animals of the world. Whilst dancing, singing and drinking her family helped her sell raffle tickets, and we were chuffed to receive over £174 from the night! Thank you, Jodie, and on behalf of everyone here at SPANA and the thousands of animals we treat, Happy Birthday!