Double Winners!

30 June 2022

The IOW Donkey Sanctuary was a double winner at the Royal Agricultural Society Rural Business and Charity Awards, announced at the Island’s County Show on Sunday 26th June.

The sanctuary had been nominated, shortlisted and, after a panel interview, became finalists in the Rural Tourism Business/Charity of the Year. We were absolutely thrilled to be announced as the winners, beating off competition from what the organisers said was the highest number of entries and the highest quality of applicants ever received for these awards! Director, Derek Needham, and Estate Manager, Nick Painter, stepped on stage to collect the award.

However, an even greater shock was to follow. After all the various categories had been presented, the ‘big’ award to the overall business/charity of the year was presented. The IOW Donkey Sanctuary was named as the overall winner, and on his last afternoon as Charity Manager, Derek went up to collect the main award.

Derek said afterwards, "this award reflects the outstanding team effort by everybody connected with the sanctuary - our visitors, supporters, volunteers, staff, and trustees, who all come together to make this charity what it is. It represents a lot of hard work by everybody on the farm, with the animals, on the estate, in the office, in the shop, in the kitchen and in the café. Everybody who works or volunteers here has a passion for what they do, and they all deserve to be congratulated and to celebrate this award".

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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.