Cats Protection Haverhill in quest for more volunteers as it celebrates silver anniversary

A charity is celebrating 25 years of helping cats in and around Haverhill with a plea for more volunteers to come onboard to ensure its future.

For the past quarter of a century volunteers at Cats Protection Haverhill has dedicated its spare time to ensuring cats who find themselves homeless are looked after.

Whatever the circumstances, volunteer fosterers step in to offer a safe, temporary place before they are matched with a new home.

The team is led by a co-ordinator who has been part of the group for 23 years and at the helm for 14.

While the group has enjoyed continued loyalty, numbers have naturally dwindled as people have retired from voluntary life or moved away, sparking the appeal.

The most urgent need is for more fosterers, who provide care and accommodation for cats before they go off to their new homes. They need to have a dedicated room for a foster cat or kittens or space for a garden cat pen and an appreciation of cat welfare and hygiene standards.

Haley Heley, regional community operations manager, said: “The branch at Haverhill is a small but dedicated team of volunteers who all have a shared love of cats, and a commitment to helping those who aren’t fortunate enough to have a secure home.

“To ensure more cats are helped on their journey to a new family, it needs to recruit like-minded people to join.”

Volunteers could help in a number of ways, including fostering, admin and publicity roles.

Haley added: “Fostering is a really flexible way you can enjoy caring for a cat in your own home without the commitment of cat ownership.

“Cats Protection provides everything you need, from food and litter to toys and scratching posts – and cover the costs of veterinary treatments.”

To find out more, including how to volunteer visit www.cats.org.uk/haverhill