Join us for the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary Autumn Fete

5 September 2024

Autumn Fete update

We are very sorry, but due to the very heavy rain forecast over the next few days, we have made the sad decision to cancel our Autumn Fete on this Sunday 8 September.

For large events we use our precious paddocks for car parking. We cannot risk damaging our vital winter grazing paddocks which we rely on during the colder months.

Thank you for all your support – we’re so disappointed to have to cancel.

Date: Sunday, 8 September

Time: 11am to 3:30pm

The Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary’s Autumn Fete is a fun-filled day out for all the family including four legged members! Our arena will host displays throughout the day, including our grand finale Dog Show.

Outside of the arena you’ll find a wide variety of stalls, Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary Hedgerow Gin tasting, live music in the courtyard and horse and carriage rides. Our café will be open, serving up delicious treats to keep you fuelled throughout the day. Don't forget to visit our shop, offering a range of unique gifts for all ages including our 2025 calendar, and dare we say it…Christmas cards and gifts!

Our adoption hub will also be open, so if you’re thinking about welcoming a new member of the family, come along and chat to our friendly team. Every adoption on the day will get a free Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary Souvenir Guide.

Our Autumn Fete is free to enter! Come and stroll through the sanctuary, meet our herds, and learn about our mission to provide refuge and care for donkeys and other equines in need. All donations and profits on the day will go towards the care of our much-loved animals.

Arena running order

Please note all timings are approximate and may change.

11am Welcome from our chief executive Susan McCall

11.05am to 11.25am Meet our mini Shetlands. Find out more about our gorgeous gang of mini Shetland ponies and discover how we care for them.

11.30am to 12pm TrackaDog demonstration. Discover how this fantastic local voluntary organisation helps find missing pets on the Island.
11.30am to 1.30pm bring your dog along for some tracking training.

12.15pm to 12.30pm Meet our donkeys. Join a member of our yard team as they introduce some of our donkeys and tell you all about our enriching donkey therapy visits.

12.45pm to 1.15pm A display of dancing with the Rainbow Group from Starlight Academy.

1.30pm to 2.00pm Resident sheep display. Find out all about the sheep we have at the sanctuary.

2.00pm to 3.30pm Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary Dog Show
All dogs welcome – there’s a class for everyone to enter, so please do bring your pooch along!

£2.50 entry per class on the day.

Classes:

Prettiest bitch
Most handsome dog
Best puppy (age 1 and under)
Golden oldie (age 7 and over)
Waggiest tail
Dog that looks most like its owner
Best in Show (wins a donkey adoption)

3.30pm Thank you and goodbye.

Save the date!

We can't wait to welcome you to our Autumn Fete on Sunday, 8 September, for a day filled with fun, laughter, and plenty of donkeys! See you there.

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Equine Treatment Centre

by abigail.fox • 7 November 2024

In late 2022, we started fundraising to establish an equine clinic at the sanctuary. Thanks to your generosity, we raised £125,000 from the initial campaign. This is ringfenced to spend on the Equine Treatment Centre. In the summer of 2023, we paused fundraising and undertook a separate feasibility study, using the generous free support of a civil engineer. We used this opportunity to make sure our build plans were making the very best use of your donations and the funds we had raised. We’ve tweaked the initial plan and have planning permission to undertake a project that will greatly support our high standards of equine welfare. We plan to: Repurpose an existing structure to house the Equine Treatment Centre thus reducing construction costs. Construct an equine rehabilitation barn on the site originally intended for the clinic. Create an isolation barn at the site’s perimeter. This will mean we can provide the very best care for equines needing isolation for medical treatment or observation. We will focus first on building the new barns, then move on to repurposing existing structures into our Equine Treatment Centre. The work cannot start until spring at the earliest, when we hope the ground will have dried out and the machinery will be able to move around the site. We need to make sure our precious paddocks are well looked after while the building work takes place.