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Tel / fax: 01472 822979
Fen Bank Brick Breeze & Cement Appeal
Welcome to the FEN BANK Brick Breeze and Cement APPEAL where for the small sum of just £5 you can buy a brick for the new kennel block. In return you get a uniquely numbered certificate which you can keep or give as a gift. Each brick bought will be recorded on the web site donation wall with the number and who it is for.
You can buy a brick immediately if you have a PayPal account by simply clicking on the donate button below.
If you wish to pay by any other means, please download and print the Appeal Form.
If you pay income tax, please remember to fill out our online Gift Aid form. This will make your donation worth that much more. (See our Helping page for more details about Gift Aid).
Fen Bank which was always so open for the dogs who could see for miles across the Fens is gradually becoming a very different sort of place and all because of one man's continual noise complaints!!
When the project first became necessary to cut down on cross barking in the original kennels which faced each other, a number of quotes were obtained, the most feasible of which in terms of quality of workmanship and value for money was £25,000 plus VAT! With a little skilful management and pruning this has been reduced to around £20,000 plus VAT (which we cannot avoid paying). Because this is such a huge sum we would be grateful for any financial help you can give towards this unwanted, unsought, but very necessary project so that we can increase the number of greyhounds in kennels once more.
Here you can see the area we had to knock down housing originally 4 double kennels with their own runs. On the left just out of view is the most recent block of 6 kennels which are now 5 years old, the solid boarded fence, has been another necessity to stop the complaining and extends all around the kennel in an effort to keep what little barking there is inside fortress Fen Bank! Eventually when the building work is finished we shall plant all round the fences. On the right of the picture is the walkway under a rose arch to the oldies area where the Sponsor dogs live - they at least still have a view over the Fens.
Below left, the groundwork has been completed for the new block of 4 double kennels and a bathroom/treatment area within a soundproofed well-ventilated, well lit and warm building. You can see Samuel looking a little bemused at the area of concrete that is extending a couple of feet into one of our paddocks, making it unusable whilst the building is going on. Below right, the slab is now ready for construction of the walls to begin.
The walls start to rise under the ever-watchful eyes of Samuel and Nellie. The new Treatment Room is in the right-hand foreground of the picture on the right.
The roof joists are now in place and the raised beds are taking shape.
Late winter and the building is up and waterproof (almost).
Still late winter and the inside shots show the kennels.
It's now May, and painting is in progress. The cream and red colour scheme really brightens things up, as you can see from the right hand photos, above and below.
In an ideal world the New Build would still be empty, but new dogs need to come in, and painting has to continue around them. They seem to approve of their new home anyway!
It might look like it's finished, but there's still a lot of work to do! Painting needs finishing, and much work remains in kitting out the Treatment Room. On behalf of our residents, your continuing support with the Brick Appeal is greatly appreciated.