Our new shops in Leighton Buzzard and Hemel Hempstead are now open!
Back in March this year, we were delighted to be able to open our two new shops based in Leighton Buzzard and Hemel Hempstead.
These shops will both play a vital role in raising money so we can continue to care for the homeless and abandoned animals that come through our doors. It will also help to promote NAWT within the local community.
The openings had a fantastic turn out, with our amazing volunteers and supporters (along with their dogs) coming along to show their support. It was a pleasure to welcome Joan to cut the ribbon at our Hemel Hempstead shop, and Rosemary to cut the ribbon at our Leighton Buzzard shop. Both are long standing volunteers and passionate supporters, that go above and beyond.
From the day Joan first set foot into our Watford centre, over 20 years ago, she has been one of our most passionate supporters. She has gone above and beyond to help every animal, whether it be walking the dog to cuddling the cats. She even helps fostering the animals that need a little extra special care, adopting a couple of them along the way. Joan is a life-long animal lover, she has had several cats and dogs through her life, and it is a pleasure to see her experience in action. Currently, she is the proud companion of her dog Ollie who she adopted in 2020. She is also fostering a young puppy, Albus, who was brought to NAWT in January at 18 weeks old.
Joan doesn’t just work wonders with the animals, she’s also a key part of our fundraising. She volunteers helping to run stalls at our open days and fairs, gathering donations, and raising awareness of NAWT in the community. She continues to show such dedication to NAWT and the animals we care for each year, for which we are so grateful and proud to have her as part of our Hertfordshire team.
Rosemary is truly the heart of our fundraising team at NAWT Bedfordshire. There's not a dog show in the Beds or Bucks area that she doesn't know about... and it's more than likely she's the one running it! Our fundraising efforts would truly suffer without her as she raises thousands every year. Not only does all this mean she is a true VIP to us, but she's also local to Leighton Buzzard. There was no better candidate to open the shop for us! She’s been volunteering with us for many years and chairs the little team of fundraising volunteers. She’s put in what must be thousands of volunteering hours over that time and has raised us a LOT of money. We are also so grateful and proud to have her as part of our Bedfordshire team.
On both the days, our visitors were treated to open day offers including refreshments (specially made NAWT cakes were also on display), pet treats, and advice that was available via our centre managers and fundraising officers.
We also had both local Mayors in attendance to show their support, including Cllr Allen at Hemel, and Cllr Pughe at Leighton Buzzard.
Jane, NAWT’s retail manager, said:
“The shop teams worked incredibly hard to get the shops ready for their grand openings and they looked amazing. We have been blown away by the support shown by both local communities and are grateful to all who came along to the openings to make them such a success.”
If you haven't visited the shops yet, then please do pop into to see Candy, Katie and their teams and pick up a bargain, all while supporting pets in need.
You can now watch videos from both days on our YouTube channel. Credit to our amazing volunteers Tony and Andrew for attending both days, filming, and editing the videos. Enjoy!
