HopeFM & The Bizhear Podcast
Hope FM Best Bits - CAN (Aug 2024)
Real community radio time now for our main focus on the show today to find out about the latest news from the Community Action Network, delighted to say that Hannah Reese is joining us once again. Welcome back, Hannah. Thank you very much. So before we do our usual bits of revealing the Community Hero in the spotlight for the month of August, some latest news and goings on with the Community Action Network, just very, very briefly. I know we do every single month, but in case for some reason, people listening for the very first time, where have you been? But as you're here now, I will give you full context to tell us what is Community Action Network? It's a charity that supports other not-for-profit groups across the whole of Dorset. So we can help people to find volunteers. We can help people to run their charities in a legal way, to find funding, to meet each other and to support each other. We offer everything for free. It's for any not-for-profit group across Dorset, like I say, and form with Christchurch and Paul, and everyone's welcome to contact Community Action Network and find out more about what we do. We would love to meet you. Fantastic. The brilliant work that Can does in connecting all of these charities and organisations that are just, to be honest, without them, where would we be? Scary thought. So, brilliant work that you do, Hannah, and the whole team. Tell us what's new this month. I know you want to tell us about something new that popped up. I do. It's exciting times in Community Action Network at the moment. Last month, we launched a new project to support ethnically diverse communities. This month, in July, we launched a project called the Early Help Partnership, and it's a way of bringing together people who provide support for children and their families. So it's any families who need help across the whole of BCP area, and it's with children from zero to 17. Any families who need some support, who need some advice, we've brought together well over 100 people who work in that field, and we all gathered together last week, but sorry, last month at the Spire in Paul, and it was a really buzzing event where lots and lots of organisations met each other and found ways to work with each other. So that wasn't open to the general public. This is the people who are offering the support, but I'm sure in time that the Early Help Partnership team, which is led by Nikki and Liz from Cannes, I'm sure we'll be having some open events soon, so that the public can come and see what supports on offer. The support used to be through the children's centres, which are being re-styled as family hubs. This has been talked about for two or three years and can be delighted to be able to work alongside BCP Council to offer this support going forwards. So what does it mean then by Early Help Partnership? Is that getting help early, or is it specifically for early as in for young people? Good question, Dan. It means both. It's to do with early years, which tends to be from zero to five. We're also supporting children and young people, which tends to go up to 17 or 18. And it's all about identifying that help is needed as soon as possible, not for families to struggle and think they'll manage and they'll cope and they don't want to ask for help for loads and loads of different reasons, but to get in there quickly and to turn any concerns around as soon as possible, because it's much easier to deal with things before they escalate and become really big issues for families. What sort of organisations are helping then? Because I mean, instantly you think, okay, well, that's a food banks would probably be involved. What else and what other services would probably come under the umbrella of Early Help Partnership? Thank you. At the event last week, I would try and remember, I did loads of schmoozing and networking and loads of eating cake, which was wonderful, but we had the food banks for sure. We also had bundles that love, which is an organisation who give baby clothes to families who need food banks. They were also providers of help with understanding about vaccinations for children, so there were some health professionals there. Who else was there? Or organisations charities who work with young people with disabilities, so they were there and, oh gosh, so many more, so many more. Doorpip, who I know are, yeah, we know them well. That stands for door sit parent infant partnership. They run loads of classes for families with, well, actually from conception, up to the age of two, they run baby massage classes, groups for dads. There was so much support in the room and it really was heartwarming to see what's on offer and our job now is to spread the word so that everybody knows that there's help available. So when's this being rolled out then? I mean, is it available for people to contact now and be pointed in the right direction? At the moment, it's the organisations are coming together and meeting with Liz and Nikki, but if you're listening and you'd like some support, I think email through to hello@can100.org, say that you've heard me talking about the early help partnership and you'll be put through to Liz or Nikki and I'm sure they'll be able to put you in the right direction. Yeah, great stuff and for all that can does as well, that website is can100.org and I'm going to put you on the spot and I'm sure you know what it is, Hannah. For anyone who maybe doesn't have easy access to the internet, is there a phone number they can call to? I have written it down. Good, well done. 01202 466 130. Before we get to the fanfare and the revealing of who the community hero in the spotlight for the month of August is, let's just find out about those volunteer fairs that we mentioned before the song them. What are the volunteer fairs? Who's it for? And when's it happening? Well, we have a really fantastic team in Can, who are led by Amy, who help organisations to make their roles sound really appealing because lots of people might want to volunteer and not have much time or not have the confidence or not know what they could offer. So when the groups are writing their role description, they need to make it as easy to understand as possible and be really flexible about whether they could do two hours a week or whether it's one Saturday a month or whatever they can do. One of the best ways to do that is to have the groups who want volunteers altogether in one room with stands and flyers and posters and human contact so that members of the public can come on in, hone in on the charity that they might be interested or the group that they might have heard of and go and ask them some questions face to face about what to expect from a volunteering role. And as I say, all those things about what time of the day, what time of the month travel expenses and things like that, it's just a really great way to come and find out what's on offer so people can choose the best role for them. So when are these fairs are happening then Hannah? They are in September, so there's plenty of of notice to get your diaries out. Price Church Priory are hosting one on the 16th of September from half ten to half past two. Bournemouth Library are hosting a volunteer fair on the 18th of September, half past nine to half past one and Paul Dolphin Centre are hosting a volunteer fair on Friday the 27th of September from half nine to half past one. No need to make an appointment, go to the one that's easiest for you to get to if you're interested in volunteering and really pick the brains of those people who want your help. It's also really good to ask about what training they can offer because it can be a really fantastic way to skill yourselves up either to get back into work or just to keep on being a learner and enjoying new things in life. So I hope that lots of folk will be able to turn up to those. Yeah, that website again can 100.org or cool. I want to owe two. I've got it written down. I want to owe two four double six one three zero if you need to be reminded of those dates and times and locations for those volunteer fairs. OK, that brings us to this. OK, Hannah, who are the Community Action Network hero in the spotlight for the month of August? Staffy and Stray Rescue. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant choice. I'm very familiar with Staffy and Stray Rescue and the story, but if anyone's never heard of the charity before, we're going to be finding out a little bit more about them later on in the show. But why have you chosen them as the hero in the spotlight? Last month we were talking about different kinds of groups that can support and we talked about animal charities down. I don't know if you remember. So I had a look at special days in August with that's usually how we pick our themes for our heroes. And there were loads of different days in August for celebrating the different animals. So what we've done for August is we're going to feature a different group each week. Oh, wow. And so you'll be learning lots about all the different rescues and different opportunities for working and supporting animals across the county. And Staffy and Stray Rescue, Safety is just really passionate about what she does and what they do there. Staffys kind of get a bit of bad press because of the breed. And it's just a way to reset the balance a wee bit and to hear from Sophie who will speak. I'm sure passionately and enthusiastically about those dogs. You're listening to Community Now on Hope FM with Keith Jones Bookshop, serving the community for over 50 years, visit kiefjones.co.uk. It certainly is Community Now, the final Community Now of the Month and this we just been hearing with the wonderful Hannah Reese from Community Action Network. The Community Hero in the spotlight for the month of August is Staffy and Stray Rescue. And I'm so excited to find out all the brilliant work that this charity does very familiar with the charity. Myself, perhaps you listening, will be familiar too. I'm certainly a dog lover. There'll be plenty of dog lovers listening in today. So I am overjoyed to have Sophie with us today. Welcome to Hope FM Sophie. Thank you. Hi, Dan. Thanks for having us as well. I really appreciate it. So first off, congratulations for being chosen as the Community Hero in the spotlight for August. It just gives us a brilliant opportunity to find out about the wonderful work you do. Hannah knows. Certainly I am a dog lover and I'm guessing you certainly are to Sophie. So tell us a little bit of a nutshell, a bit of a history of why Staffy and Stray Rescue began and your involvement as well. Of course. So we are actually in our 10th year of operating now. So it's a really nice, actually really perfect time to chat with you within our first decade. So how did we begin? So we are a family run rescue just to paint the picture there. So it was actually my mum who founded the rescue. So back in the day, going back 10 years ago, she had a couple of dogs already and she had already had a Staffy. This Staffy in particular, she'd had from a puppy. But she had a little look online and there was lots and lots of Staffys in need of help. So it's something you might, you know, people don't really might not be aware of that until you actually go search in the internet and looking at dog dogs in desperate need of help. So she took on another Staffy. He was from a council pound, not local. Unfortunately, as of many rescues, looking back, he kind of, thank gosh, we were mad, mad, just sort of taking a dog and bringing him into sort of a multi dog household. I think it's a bit crazy. But he came into our doors in the house and he was blessing, didn't get on, didn't get on with the other dogs, had a bit of food guarding issue. And it would appear as well, he had never even sort of walked on a lead before. He, he liked the good old alligator death role, bless him. Didn't have a clue what he was doing. Now, the, the reason I'm sort of saying that, and it sort of sounds a bit scary and overwhelming, and it wasn't that we had given up on him at all, but my mum had sort of contacted the, the kind of authorities where he'd come from and just sort of said, Hey, can you give me a bit of help and advice? Like, what, you know, what's the best way to sort of go forward with this? Because we're not all gone dog behaviorists or dog trainers, are we? It's hard. It's hard when we're faced with, with issues like that. Now, the, the authorities basically turn around and said, well, if you want, you can just swap him for another one. And we were like, Oh, my goodness, that's not what we're asking. Now, now his name was Kenzie, and he did live a full long life with us. He passed away a couple of years ago now. But it was quite a kind of pinnacle moment really for us that we're sort of like, Oh, my goodness, you know, this, this isn't really a solution, isn't it? You've got lots of dogs in need. And the solution just to kind of swap them for another one. It doesn't really seem to be solving problems or helping dogs. So once she'd kind of settled Kenzie in, and everything was absolutely fine in the end, she continued to kind of look, look into bull breeds. And she'd noticed that people would jump in the road to avoid walking past her because they were kind of scared of the breed. She noticed how many dogs were in need of rescues of across the UK. She also did help her, help her other rescues and things like that. So she did sort of dip her toe and sort of toes into it and kind of explore all the, all the things that are out there locally to us. And basically, she thought, you know what, I think I can do this better myself. And that's how we're here today. So it's basically from ones or very, very passionate woman and very determined woman. And we're now, we're over 800 dogs, we've rehomed over 800 dogs. So we've got a thing or two along the way. Yeah, absolutely. And such a brilliant service for people like you just said, it doesn't matter whether it's a staff or any dog, new dog ownership, people need help when they're first venturing into dog ownership, don't they? Absolutely. And that's one thing in particular that we do pride ourself on. We're quite, we always kind of let people know that we are here for them. So we're not, we're not kind of an organization. It's like, okay, you've adopted. Thank you. Goodbye. We are in touch with our doctors for life. We offer support for life. You know, we have a few of our clients that have had sort of quite challenging dogs. But you know, even a few years down the line, we're still working with them and kind of, you know, having those sort of making progress and sort of hitting, hitting our target goals and things like that. So because we know it's hard and I think you can feel very isolated and not really know what to do when you have challenging dogs. And it sort of seems without that support system, surely dogs are just going back into that rescue system as well. So we do everything we can sort of keep dogs, keep dogs out of that once they're kind of rescued and found homes with us. We'll do everything we can to kind of work with our clients. So we are quite, we're quite proud of ourselves, how we do it. So like you said, this is a family thing, and your mum, Callie, she passed away a year or so ago, didn't she? She did. Yes, she did two years now, actually, which I know it's shocking to think that because time flies by, doesn't it? That was really hard for us. I think, you know, being eight years down the line in rescue and sort of seeing all that she had achieved, and you know, she wasn't, you know, she was only Paulie for a few weeks. So it's not not like we didn't really have contingency plans, you know, it was quite eye-opening for all of us, because like, oh my goodness, we're in a lot of pain. But also, I think it's kind of an honor to continue because she wouldn't have wanted us to stop, and I can't, I can't imagine a world where staff in a stray rescue doesn't exist. So I think it, you kind of push through the pain a little bit, and we just do everything we can in her memory really. And yeah, I think it's helped us to sort of be proud, I think, of what, you know, what we do. But we do miss her so much, and it is, you know, it has been very, very, very hard. It's been quite a side-swiping sort of experience for us, but we're getting through it, we're getting through it. There was an outpouring of of tributes and the news when it broke, like you say, about two years ago. You can see it everywhere. And the number of people coming forward to talk about a staffy and stray rescue, and also sort of a Callie's legacy as well, and the brilliant word that she'd done. So yeah, what a wonderful woman she is. A brilliant thing to dedicate your life to as well. Absolutely, absolutely. It's sort of, it's a lovely rescue work is never for the faint-hearted, but it is, it does give you that sort of great purpose and motivation, and you know, we're just basically one big family. So, you know, even being a family-run rescue, it still, because my sister works with us as well, you know, so, you know, it is lovely to continue that family-run. But also, anyone who adopts from us fosters us, fosters from us, sorry, or supports us in any way at all. They've just kind of become part of our extended family, so, which is what we love. Let's talk about some success stories over this last 10 years of rehoming. What instantly comes to mind those stories that you've seen over this time? Oh, there's so many, actually. There's so, so many. So there's one that I immediately think of is a dog called Lola, and she actually lived with Mum for two years before finding a home, and she was a bit of a menace, you know, not particularly dog-friendly, and, you know, she sort of had, I think she'd been treated pretty, pretty, had a pretty rough life before us, and, bless, bless her. She sort of, we sort of did so much work with her. And kind of one of those moments where we kind of thought, oh my goodness, is she ever going to find a home, you know? But she's found absolutely fantastic home, and, you know, we're really pleased, really, really pleased, because it just, it doesn't, doesn't matter how long it takes, does it? I think it's just, it's a really lovely breakthrough moment when you just find that right candidate who's the perfect fit for the dog. That was an absolutely brilliant one. There was a case a few years ago during COVID as well, and we had a dog come in, he was called Winston, and he was one of the, one of the, one of the sadder cases where he blessed his heart, he was very emaciated, and it was just horrible to see, horrible to see, but lovely to see him sort of find a forever home, and sort of found a home that would basically nurse him back to health, and then seeing the after photos as well, which is brilliant, isn't it? A few months down the line, and just sort of seeing them all sort of in full, vibrant health, and that's always a joy to see, always a joy to see. So what is it about staffies then that perhaps present other challenges that maybe some other dog breeds won't when it comes to finding them a new home, or is it the same across all breeds is just the focus and the misconceptions around staffies make it harder? Yeah, it's a tricky one. I think there, I feel like now we're a decade on, I do feel like perceptions towards the Staffordshire Boateria have changed, I would say they're not as negative as they were, perhaps back in the day, you know, in the first kind of year or so when we started, which is really, really positive. It's tricky, isn't it, because stuff is, you know, they're sort of known for being these kind of strong, powerful dogs, and I think once you get to know them, you kind of think actually they are quite sort of big babies really, they're not, they have this kind of hard exterior, but they are a very, very sensitive breed, and they are quite a quirky breed, I think it's sort of, if you've never had a staffie before and then you had one, you might be like, oh, that, you know, I wasn't expecting that. I think it's about knowing the breed and how to handle them best, it's in the name, they're bull breeds, so they are bullheaded, they're very, very stubborn, you know, so training can sometimes be hard, but they're equally, they're very food motivated, which helps. They're a lovely, lovely breed, and it is, it is a shame that, you know, some people worry about them because of their, perhaps their sort of size or their strengths, and I think genetics as well, you're kind of playing with sometimes, you know, they were bred as fighting dogs, so we do find a lot of our bull breeds aren't particularly great with other dogs, you know, no matter what kind of socialization and training you're doing, it is, unfortunately, a more negative trait if you're expecting an awfully dog on a field or a beach of lots of other dogs, maybe not quite the dog for you, so I think it's very much, and I expect it is, you know, it would be like any other breed, it's just understanding that breed and they're kind of do's in their don'ts that come with them really. Yeah, and it's not exclusive to staffies in terms of their their interaction or how they get on with with other dogs. I've got two, two hours that will go crazy when they see another dog therefore they are always and forever on a lead, but it's all down to the key point really is about responsible ownership, isn't it? And we're going to speak about that in just a second, but maybe advice for other dog owners or people that do go out and about for a walk, even without a dog, and they come across a staffie and they're maybe having this rush of panic thinking, what's going to happen? The misconceptions that may be deep seated in people, what advice would you give to people, we'll start with maybe taking their own dogs out for a walk? Absolutely, it's always a tricky one. I think being out, out about the words that very much a dog friendly place isn't it? So we're all faced with dogs all the time, and it can be worrying. A lot of what I do personally, it can become a bit of an art maybe, but you know, I kind of look at other people's body language, if a person is, if I'm walking a dog and a person might be like holding their dog a bit tighter or whether it's their dog or they might be worried about mine, I just give a wide berth or I might just smile and keep walking, but I'd never kind of force a relationship if that makes sense. So if someone's kind of looking a little bit worried, I'm never going to try and sort of go straight into their sort of line of direction type thing and force a hello between two dogs. So I definitely kind of looking to that, and I think if people have reactive dogs, even if you do have like little, you can get the sort of yellow flags on the leads and things like that, maybe anything just to fool one other people, I think that's always helpful. In terms of people being worried about the breed generally, not necessarily with other dogs, I think it's always great to, I think it's a good way to be to perhaps not judge based on what other people say or think and make your own judgment really. You know, always ask if it's okay to say hello to a dog, but definitely, you know, if you see a stuffy, say hi, you know, is your dog okay, or are you okay to say hello, you know, just have a little hello and spend a bit of time with them and sort of, if you're not really a stuffy person, just see what you think, just be open-minded and they're very, they're very, they're full of character, they're quite comical dogs, they're very loving towards people, that's one of their best traits, that they're just very, they just love being with their people all the time, they're a very loyal breed. So yeah, absolutely, you've never met a stuffy before, put on your to-do list. Some really great words of advice that applies to all dogs that you might come across out and about, whether it is a stuffy or a little chihuahua, always, if you're interested in saying hello, always ask for the owner's permission first to sell, you never know, you never know, no matter what breed it is, what sort of temperament it would have, and always, always ask for a permission first. I certainly don't want to be focusing in on like, oh, best ways to deal with staffies, because it is, it's dogs in general, isn't it, and everything applies to every breed, being responsible in this dog-friendly world that we're in, and thank goodness that it is dog-friendly, as well. Let's focus in on the owners themselves, then again, you can apply to all breeds of dogs, but especially for maybe first-time owners of a breed like a stuffy, what are you saying to potential people coming through the door, looking to adopt a stuffy, what characteristics, what should they be ready for, what should they know before the owner dog? Absolutely, so with stuffies, and especially a lot of our stuffies in rescue, because it kind of, you do sort of sometimes with rescue dogs, you kind of get slightly different aspect, I suppose, of the breed. So a lot of the things that we come across that people might be kind of surprised by, or should be, not should be, but could be prepared for, I would really push on sort of mental stimulation, or mental draining, or mental enrichment, whichever word you pick to use. So a lot of our dogs, especially when they're stressed, or they're not settled, or if they're bored, sometimes the stuffies can be a little bit lively and boisterous, and although it's fantastic, obviously, warping your dog, and that physical stimulation is brilliant, but what comes hand in hand very nicely is the mental enrichment, so it's all about sort of getting them a little bit more brain-tired, and then you'll get a slightly better behaved dog for it. So that might be like, you might, rather than feeding them for a food bowl, it might be scattering food around your garden, so they've kind of got to forage, and smell, and sort of hunt for that food. We do things like the sort of scent work, so it might be just sort of mixing up some like chicken stock, and then with like a jug, just kind of drizzling it around and making your own trail, and then maybe put a little bit of dry food or treats, or something at the end of that trail, so we'll have to sniff and find it. Anything like that, or cutting out little holes in your milk carton, popping a few treats in, so they have to kind of bash it about, to try and get the food out. Things like that, just give them a job, give them something to do, and that's kind of one of the biggest problems that we find, if people are like, "Oh, my dog's not settling," we do push on that, and if you Google mental enrichment for dogs, I promise you there's hundreds of different ideas, I could go on on all day about that, but that does sort of seem to really help. It's a bit like someone might go to the gym before work, and then go to work, but going in the gym, it doesn't mean that they're tired all day when they go to work, does it? However, you might have someone that works at the computer all day, and then they're absolutely exhausted when they're finished, because it's a different type of work. Does that make sense, physical versus mental? It's not just about one single walk a day, it's everything else in between. Absolutely. Yeah, as chosen today by Sophie from Staffy and Stray Rescue, that's Fontella Base, and Rescue. Me, you're listening to community now as we're finding out about the brilliant work that Staffy and Stray Rescue do, because they are community action networks. Hero in the spotlight for the month of August is hot at the moment, so we are approaching August, and we're getting these little mini heat waves. Now, usually, if I'm on a breakfast show, I will do my normal public service announcements about dogs and hot cars, rather than me doing it today, and we've got you here, much more informed on the subject, dogs and hot cars. They don't go, do they? No, not a good combination. I mean, I don't like being in a hot car either, to be honest. With the windows open sometimes, it's just horrible, isn't it? It's just unbearable. It is a struggle, isn't it? And I think for a lot of dogs, I suppose they're kind of itching to go out on their walk, aren't they? The creatures are routine and habit. And it is hard, it is hard, but having one walk missed is not the end of the world, is it? Or even if we just sometimes have to change our routines to maybe really, really early or really, really late. Just don't put pressure on yourself to feel like, "Oh, I have to get out no matter what the weather," because it's not the end of the world. We don't have much hot weather in this country. It's not going to last long, so it might just be a few days of our routines being disrupted a little bit. I know we chatted earlier about mental enrichment and mental draining, so maybe switch a walk up for some fun activities in the garden, change up a little bit. Absolutely. Plenty of war, plenty of shade. And also those cool mats as well, that you can pick up at pet shops. They're brilliant. Yeah, they're really, really good. And you get the bandanas as well now, calling bandanas, that they seem to really like those as well. And also a shout out to up-textured lick mats as well, which you can put some like paste or some food in, chuck it in the freezer for 20 minutes, pull it out. That's mental enrichment, and it will call them down as well. Exactly. Yeah, we love working with our lick mats here, that's absolutely brilliant. I'm really good for sort of de-stressing as well. So for dogs, if they're licking, that's like sort of anti-anxiety kind of behavior. So if you have any nervous or stressed out dogs, go out and get a lick mat. Yeah, yeah, highly recommended. Okay, let's find out about some of the dogs that you've got in need of a new home. Perhaps someone is listening today has considered perhaps adopting a dog in need of a forever home. Have you got some at the moment? Yeah, absolutely. I'll tell you a very brief and a nutshell about some of them. My first dog I'm going to go with, she's called Ruby. Now she is actually, not a stuffy, she is a sort of collie, rosy, huntaway type breed, she's got a little bit of a mixed breed. But bless her, she's been in kennels for about four or five months now. Her owner passed away, unfortunately, and the family kind of contacted us because the family had already adopted a dog from us, so they were sort of desperate for us to help because they already knew us. But poor Ruby, she's in kennels at the moment, which is really sad and she is struggling, especially with a sort of breed mix that she is. She's kind of, they're more of a working breed really, so she's one that really needs stuff to do. So being cooped up in a kennel is no good. We've worked really hard with her, like bless her, her main thing is she's very frightened of traffic. So we've been doing lots and lots of work on her, which is brilliant. But her next stage is, she's just desperate for a foster or forever home. This is her next stage. So all of our dogs are on our website, it's www.staffianstraevescue.co.uk. All of our dogs have a little profile as well, so you'll get a sort of read all about them. But bless her, we're all rooting for Ruby because she deserves her chance. We also have a blue staffian at the moment, he's called Bobby. He's six years old. And bless him, he's a lovely, friendly boy, just needs a bit of work on the lead. He's quite a strong boy, and he's been quite nervous and anxious. So he's transitioning from being surrendered by his owner, and he's gone into a foster home. So he's been a little bit nervous, bless him. But every day goes on, he's getting better. So he's waiting for his forever home as well. And then we have another dog, another stuffy, another slightly older one, seven years old, called Lenny. Unfortunately, he is currently with his owner. He's not getting on with the resident dogs in the home, he's currently being separated. So he's also desperate for sort of a foster or forever home, just so we can sort of get him into sort of a dog only, you know, single dog household, and work with him there. But we have lots of dogs on our website, lots of different breeds as well. But yeah, check us out, see who we've got. You might find your perfect stock for you. Yeah, I'm sure once people go to the website and they see the pictures, they're going to fall in love instantly. But if that is maybe not just taking them to the edge of making that leap into dog ownership or adopting gone, just push it over the line for us, Sophie. What's the best thing about being a dog owner, especially for a staffy? Do you know what, the staffies are so much fun, they're full of life and full of character, and they're just always making you laugh with their silly little traits and the silly little things that they do. And they're so loyal, they're so loyal. And, you know, once a lot of people, when they're once they've had a dog, they just wouldn't be without them, you know, it wouldn't be without them at all. And, you know, they are just lifelong friends, they've become part of your family as well. Fantastic breed, that's really good fun. Good stuff. So yeah, people can go to that website. So that's a stafinstrayrescue.com. .co.uk, my apologies. So they can go to the website, but you're out and about in the community at this August, a couple of events. Tell us about those. Where can people see you this month? So Saturday the 10th and Sunday the 11th of August, we are at Christchurch Carnival. On the Saturday, we've got like a fundraising store, we'll be selling some of our merchandise, we've got Tombola, Lucky Dips, that sort of thing. But on the Sunday, from 1030, we are hosting the dog show. Now, that's a pound of class. Anyone can enter, it's not just for stafis, it's for any breed, any dog owner, and it also will be for like most handsome male or best child handler. Dog the judge would most like to take home. That's a couple of the categories. It's all fundraising. You get rosettes. The dogs who win in first place to third, we do rosettes and goodie bags. And even if you haven't got a dog, just come down and watch because it's a really lovely event and it's a really nice busy one. You get to see all different dogs of all different shapes and sizes as well. So that's a really, really good fun. We love Christchurch Carnival. And then on the 12th of August, we are actually at Bournemouth Square. They've got a summer event and we've got one of the shallows there. So we'll be there for the day, 10 to 7. So you can come and meet us, come and chat with us about anything, anything at all. We'll talk you through anything. We're selling some merchandise and doing some fundraise and bits as well. And then a bit later on, on Sunday the 18th of August, we are doing an afternoon tea. This is at St. Jars Village Hall. All cakes are made by our volunteers. We've got some amazing bakers, actually, team stuff in straight, a fantastic baking. And yeah, we do sandwiches, cakes, everything comes with our team tea and coffee, that sort of thing. And it is really good fun. And there's loads of cakes, so you should definitely come. Now, obviously, we would love a responsible potential dog owners to come forward to provide forever homes for some of these dogs that you've been talking about today. But for those who can't adopt a dog, perhaps they don't live in a place that allows pets or perhaps themselves to know that they wouldn't be able to look after a dog. There's other ways that people can help, isn't there? Absolutely, absolutely. And sometimes helping might be the most simple thing. And it might just be sort of showing one of our posts on social media. So that that's sort of the most easiest way. However, we've also got two charity shops. We're based in Kintzen and Wimbledon, always desperate for volunteers. And you still get, we get loads of our dog customers and adopted dogs. And we do events in-house there as well. So that's a really nice way of getting involved in it. And a lot of people think, oh, it's just sat at it here, let's not. There is loads of different things you can do within the shop. It doesn't have to be customer facing, for example, if that's not your thing. We have other voluntary work, like helping out of home checks, helping out of fundraising events, transporters, dropping off food to foster homes and then any supplies that they need. And for people that perhaps might not be able to commit to having a dog permanently fostering, they are always in desperate need of foster homes. We cover everything financially, so it's a really nice way to get involved. And we also have holiday foster homes. So that might be, if a foster home is away for the weekend, we might just call one of our holiday covers and say, hey, can you help this weekend? So helping our dogs doesn't have to be a very long commitment, if that makes sense. Well, brilliant. And all these details, of course, over at staffyandstraightrescue.co.uk. And also, all the links will be there through to all the social media pages as well. I always try and get some of our organizations and charities that are guests on the show to do because we're not, not everybody has internet access or can get onto the internet easily. Is there a phone number people can ring to find out more? Maybe if they can't get down to some of the events that you've mentioned. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So we do have a couple of our mobile numbers, which I can read out if that's easy at all. Yeah, yeah, I will read them out. I'll write them down in an hour. We'll reiterate them at the end as well. Yeah, that's absolutely fine. So contact numbers 0796 3566084. And we've also got 07480 826285. Real community radio.