We are so excited to launch our first ever Online Small Pet Show!

Entries are open until Friday 14th May.  To enter simply email your photos and/or videos to frm@ferneanimalsanctuary.org, don’t forget to let us know the pet name and class(es) being entered and if entering the Celebrity Look-a-Like class please tell us the name of the celebrity as well!

We have a suggested donation of £1 per photograph entry, these donations can be made via the donate button on our website.

We can’t wait to see the photos and videos start coming in!

The Incredible Journey is a story of bravery, courage in the face of danger but above all the love of an animal for its owner.

In the classic story, the two dogs and a cat travel 200 miles through the Canadian Wilderness. We are asking you to sign up for your own Incredible Journey of 200 miles between 1st March and 31st August 2021.

It’s the equivalent of walking from Nina Duchess of Hamilton’s London home, where in 1939 she found a queue of owners looking to save their beloved pets after her announcement on the BBC, to the original Ferne Estate in Wiltshire, where the animals were first taken and the Sanctuary remained until 1975 and all the way back again.

Your Journey – Your Way! It could be a group challenge; anything from a family or friendship group, WI, Brownies, Scouts, or Rotary OR an individual challenge to go the full distance.  What’s more, how you cover the distance is up to you, you could walk, run, swim, skip or even dance, we really don’t mind how you do it but please get in touch to let us know and if you’re sharing your journey on social media don’t forget to tag us and tell us where you have been, we really want to see where it takes you and celebrate those milestones with you.

Click HERE to visit our Campaign page, then click on Start fundraising, then Fitness at home to set up your own Fundraising Page and start gathering sponsorship.  If you use Strava, you can link this to your page, which makes it really easy to share updates on your progress.

To recognise your support, everyone who completes the 200 miles will receive a personalised e-certificate and all who raise over £50 will receive a Ferne goodie bag AND there’s prizes for the top fundraisers as well;

• Top Child (under 18) fundraiser – Tour of the Sanctuary with cream tea and an Incredible Journey hamper
• Runner up (under 18) – Tour of the Sanctuary and a cake (flavour of their choice) made by our chef Richard
• Top Group fundraisers – Tour of the Sanctuary and cream tea
• Top Individual Fundraiser – Annual pass, tour of the Sanctuary with cream tea and an Incredible Journey hamper
• Runner up Individual Fundraiser – Tour of the Sanctuary and a cake (flavour of their choice) made by our chef Richard
• Most Unusual Campaign – Tour of the Sanctuary, with cream tea and an Incredible Journey hamper

Look out for extra fun challenges and a photo competition or two along the way!

If you would like to support us without taking part in the challenge, we also have a team of Ferne staff completing 200 miles each – you can sponsor the team HERE.

We want the information we display around the Sanctuary to appeal to and engage children, so who better to design it than children!

We are excited to launch a competition for ages 5 – 11

Choose any animal that lives at Ferne, find out all about it and design an animal welfare information sign. 

You could include; information about the animal, what it needs, how it should be looked after and the reasons it does or doesn’t make a good pet.

Entries to be submitted on A3 (2 pieces of A4 stuck together is absolutely fine) and posted to the Sanctuary with an accompanying application form which you can download HERE

All designs received will be laminated and displayed  and one winning design will be turned into an information board for the Sanctuary, with the winning designer invited to see their sign unveiled!

Full competition rules are available HERE

We can’t wait to see what you all come up with!