ACE Newsletter.......Winter 2006/7

The year started as usual with the Centre in Luxor as busy as ever, so many animals arriving for veterinary treatment and washing. The horse seen here was just one of them. The owner had him tied to a cart that was laden with 60 bags of cement, the cart had a flat tyre which made it difficult for the horse whose name was Rambo to pull. He fell down injuring his knees badly, but the owner kept beating him to get up. Finally he stood up and the owner brought him to ACE. Our vet found he also had a bad cough; the owner was persuaded to leave him with ACE for a few days to recover from his cough and injured legs.

In FEBRUARY Kim Taylor, manager of ACE Centre in Luxor, decided to take a very well deserved rest with her husband to holiday in England for 3 weeks and visit family and friends. Julie Wartenberg, founder of ACE took over the running of the Centre whilst Kim was away. Julie was joined by Victoria Snelgrove, practice nurse from The Veterinary Hospital, East Grinstead. With a Diploma in Advanced Veterinary Nursing she had a lot of experience to teach our vets in Egypt about clinical hygiene. They enjoyed her visit and hope she will return.

On Sunday morning 23rd APRIL, a BBC Radio 4 programme was aired about the work of ACE. Kim was the prime commentator describing the daily life with the animals; it was a great success with our office receiving many phone calls, emails and letters in response to the programme that was produced by Ben Chesterton of the BBC.

During most of MAY, the office in the UK continued to be busy with the response from the BBC Radio 4 programme. Having heard the programme, Louise and David Whyte of Chichester wanted to help, and on 26th they organised a street collection in Worthing. One of their pet donkeys whose name is Aimee came along to help as well. She was an absolute star, loving every moment, in particular the rustle of shopping bags, expecting food to be in every one, and all the pats and hugs she was getting from the children. A wonderful day raising £394 for Aimee's less fortunate friends in Egypt.

With the temperatures soaring in JUNE, one of Luxor's hottest months, a brave lady from Belgium, Maria Van Heirreweghe a vet, came to the Centre for one month to help us.

In JULY we purchased the new ACE land of 6,125 square metres for the new hospital, allowing ACE to build better facilities for the animals - enough land for buildings, growing your own feed and room to expand in the future. This was our most exciting time, as it had taken two years to find exactly the right place at the money we could afford.

Rachael Nelson of Halifax wanted to raise funds for ACE and had always wanted to skydive; she bravely decided to do both and raised £520 for the animals. Well done Rachael.

Street collection on Saturday 5th AUGUST with Aimee the donkey and her owners Louise and David Whyte. This time it was in the town of East Grinstead West Sussex, raising £294.92. Special thanks to Louise, David and an extra carrot and hug for Aimee.

SEPTEMBER was a busy month. It began with Sarah Royal arranging an end of school holiday show at Home Farm Bradwell Grove Stables, Oxon. The day started with a fancy dress parade, costumes created by Mums and Grans, the yard spruced up to provide a barbeque area, and many competitions for the ponies and riders. Prizes, rosettes and flowers in abundance for lucky winner and three rousing cheers for Sarah. It was so enjoyable that the riders were asking to repeat it again next year. We second that as the day raised £290 for ACE.

On Animal Welfare Sunday, Susan Thorne and her husband arranged a buffet lunch at ST. Hilda's Church, Halifax. St Hilda's always provides a special service for this day. Susan arranged a delicious vegetarian lunch, and the vicar highlighted the work of ACE in her sermon and many more people became aware of our work. Susan sent £165.74 from this happy and successful day.

In Egypt, Kim was welcoming visiting vets from England and Qatar. Gigi Kay was the first to arrive for her one week visit. She put our resident vets through their paces with advice and lectures. She is planning to return in January 2007. After Gigi returned to Qatar, Kelly Boult and Tom Beeston arrived for two weeks. It was Kelly's 3rd year to visit ACE; she is a small animal vet. Tom is a large animal vet and it was his first visit. They worked very hard and returned to England for a rest. Hopefully they will not be put off and they both return next year.

On 14th OCTOBER Susan Polding arrange a dog show in Ballingarry, country Tipperary with 17 different events, including large dog, waggiest tail, best dressed and many more. They advertised the event and had a spot on local radio, with prizes sponsored by local shops and businesses; they were fortunately blessed with a sunny day. Susan and her son Guy had visited the Luxor Centre in March and were impressed with the work of ACE and commented on how much the local owners of the animals had come to rely on ACE. This motivated Susan and her family to make the dog show a success. She is already planning an even bigger event for next September, to include a bungee jump, as well as the dog show events, and raiding funds for a children's library in Ethiopia. The day raised over 940 Euros, approximately £600 - special thanks to Susan and all her helpers. Without Susan and all our fundraisers, ACE would not be able to exist.

28th. A conference organised by The Donkey Sanctuary entitled FUTURE FOR WORKING EQUINES, was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and attended by Julie Wartenberg on behalf of ACE. It as well organized with 175 delegates from all over the world, including all the equine charities from the UK

Worldwide Veterinary Services (WVS) have arranged for a qualified vet and a fourth year student to visit the Centre in DECMEBER for two weeks, along with needed medical supplies. Once again everyone is looking forward to their visit. Our vets are always eager to learn more from the people willing to give up their spare time to help ACE.

If you think you can help ACE with fundraising, perhaps you have ideas of your own and can help us to continue our work helping the unfortunate animals in Luxor. Please contact our office for leaflets and advice.

Our thanks to supporters and other fundraisers not mentioned here by name but appreciated just the same.

Previous Newsletters - Winter 2005 - Summer 2006