Thirteen bikes and one trike (with loaded trailer) met at the Grey Horse on Sunday 18th March for our 3rd Annual Charity Dog Food Run. Great to welcome along some familiar faces we see every year for the run, together with a couple of new faces who had seen the event advertised at Squires and decided to come along.
The weather forecast was for sunshine and showers although it looked like we were in for far more of the former, rather than the latter (which makes a nice change).
After our obligatory photo call, we saddled up and watched Eddie try to reverse his trike and trailer without jack knifing it. With the entertainment over, we rode out of Wakefield on Aberford Road, cutting across to the A650 past Pinderfields Hospital, then heading on towards East Ardsley, where we took Main Street, towards Cave Lane, and our first call of the day, Whitehall Dog Rescue. Just to maintain our well earned Lost Riders nickname, the lead bikes ever so slightly overshot Cave Lane so had to do a quick U turn (the street sign could only be seen once you were actually past the junction, and this was only my third visit, so I could hardly be blamed for not remembering the turning exactly now could I !?!?!!?).
Slight mishap for Martin as he dropped his bike turning it round but other than a new mirror required, the crash mushrooms did a most splendid job of protecting expensive Japanese plastic.
We were welcomed at Whitehall by Brian and his glamorous assistants and we dropped off lots of dog food, then got to meet some of the residents (dogs up for adoption together with some of the permanent residents - dogs with various serious health problems or who have been badly abused and can't therefore feasibly be re-homed).
We had a tour through the kennels then got to fuss several of the dogs in the exercise field behind. A couple of the Staffies were really boisterous and can really run fast and we could have done with betting on them in our night at the Greyhound racing the previous week !!!!
Whitehall do a fantastic job and it's great to be able to help them by donating dog food.
I found out from Brian that he had several visitors mid-week, dropping dog food off, as they couldn't come on the actual run, but still wanted to make a donation (well done, whoever you are !!!!).
After our tour of Whitehall, we saddled up for our second and final call of the day, the Leeds, Wakefield and District RSPCA rescue in Tingley. A relatively short ride through Thorpe, looping back to the A650 at Tingley, then down to Tingley roundabout, and MyPetStop, behind Real Radio (thanks guys for plugging our event !!!).
We ferried lots of dog food, treats and dog toys to the RSPCA offices in MyPetStop, where the RSPCA rent a number of kennels for their rescue dogs.
After a cup of tea, we then got to meet the rescue dogs up for adoption, both in the play area / arena and in the kennels themselves.
We also got to meet Caroline Lewis-Jones, the new branch manager of the RSPCA who had come along specifically to meet and thank us for our donations.
There are some gorgeous dogs up for adoption in the kennels, some through a change in their owners circumstances, but others unfortunately who have been neglected / abused, including one poor dog who deliberately had it's leg broken by it's owner (who the RSCPA are trying to prosecute !!!!). We favoured a more direct action !!!!!
After seeing the dogs, we also had a tour of the Cattery, as the RSPCA also have cats up for adoption (so for next years run, bring along some cat food too !!!).
We wont mention the cat with the black face marking below it's nose, that bore an uncanny resemblance to Adolf Hitler !!!
We were all finished by 13:00 and went our own ways. The numbers for this year's pet food run were down on last year but there were two significant reasons which contributed to this - A christening of one of our members Grand Daughters accounted for half a dozen, and it being Mothers Day accounted for a good few more. For those that missed the ride though, you missed a most cracking event, great to help a couple of very worthy local charities, and, we stayed warm and dry ...... A result in anyone's book.
Special thanks go to the following for their kind donation of dog food in support of the event:
And if you are looking for a dog (or cat), avoid the profiteering breeders and puppy farms and instead, go along to your local pet rescue and adopt one (or more) of the lovely pets looking for new parents.
We will hold our 4th Pet Food Run in March next year (but we'll avoid mothers Day this time !!!!).
