Our Special Friends

Home The Monthly Paws

The Monthly Paws – Issue 46

This month, we’re excited to announce a new Volunteer Training Session on the topic of Wellbeing in Later Life, delivered online by Wellbeing Suffolk on Thursday, 27th November. Please see below for more details.

We’re also thrilled to welcome five new volunteers to our community this month, and to celebrate Long Service Awards in November and December for 21 dedicated volunteers.

You’ll also find some festive Christmas treat recipes (your dogs are sure to love them!) and a thoughtful article from Gemma exploring Veganism in Pets.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 46

The Monthly Paws – Issue 45

This month, we’re also honouring 13 wonderful volunteers with long service awards. In addition, we’re shining a spotlight on Flip, who has made a remarkable impact in just her first year with us.

You’ll also find two thought-provoking pieces this month: an important article on Advocacy, and Gemma’s Pet Ownership Debates, which explore the challenges of rising vet costs.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 45

The Monthly Paws – Issue 44

This month, we will be hosting our next Case Discussion on Monday, 15th September. It has been a little while since our last session, so we hope you can join us. These sessions are always valuable for everyone involved, providing an opportunity to discuss cases, seek advice, and learn from each other.

In this edition, we also share some useful new resources and volunteer benefits, as well as a truly inspiring volunteer story. We are delighted to welcome five fantastic new volunteers and to celebrate long-service awards for six of our wonderful volunteers.

You can also enjoy another great article written by Gemma. This month, she explores “Pet Ownership Debates: What’s the Point of Dog Walking? And What Are the Alternatives?”

The Monthly Paws – Issue 44

The Monthly Paws – Issue 43

In this edition of The Monthly Paws, we’re sharing some important guidance on how to keep your pets safe and comfortable during hot weather. You’ll also find a range of helpful resources and new opportunities that we hope you’ll find useful.

We’re excited to introduce Molly, our new Office Coordinator! Molly has been with us for three weeks now and is already proving to be a fantastic addition to the team. A huge thank you to Emma, who not only held the fort over the past six months but has also been instrumental in supporting Molly’s induction.

We’re also pleased to welcome two new volunteers to our community and celebrate long service awards for seven amazing volunteers. Thank you for your dedication and commitment.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 43

The Monthly Paws – Issue 42

This month’s edition is full of updates and key dates for your diary. A big thank you to our wonderful volunteer Celia and her recorder group for their recent fundraising efforts. We’re also excited to share an invitation to an upcoming quiz night fundraiser in support of OSF.

There are a couple of opportunities to get involved in wider initiatives too. Suffolk User Forum are inviting feedback on experiences with emergency mental health support services, and we’re pleased to let you know that OSF volunteers are welcome to attend the ADCH’s upcoming online wellbeing sessions.

We also say a warm farewell to Emma, who has been supporting us as temporary admin over the past few months. She’s heading off on her travels, and we wish her all the best. We look forward to introducing our new permanent Office Coordinator when we find them!

The Monthly Paws – Issue 42

The Monthly Paws – Issue 41

This month marks Volunteers’ Week, and we want to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your incredible contributions. We’re delighted to share Sonya’s inspiring volunteer story, welcome six new volunteers, and celebrate long service awards for 13 outstanding volunteers.

You’ll also find some upcoming dates for your diary and a thought-provoking article on Anthropomorphism, written by Gemma.

We look forward to seeing many of you at our Volunteer Celebration Event on Saturday, 21st June—details and RSVP link are below.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 41

The Monthly Paws – Issue 40

In March and April, we welcomed five new volunteers and celebrated long service awards for 18 incredible volunteers — congratulations and thank you to all.

We also hope you enjoy reading The Two Sooz’s wonderful volunteer story, along with two insightful articles in recognition of Dying Matters Week (5th–11th May). A special mention to our ACPs, Gemma and Sam, for their thought-provoking piece, Pet Ownership Debates: Balancing Ethics and Care, which explores the important topic of planned euthanasia and decision-making.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 40

The Monthly Paws – Issue 39

In this edition of the Monthly Paws, we’re thrilled to welcome Sam, our new Animal Companionship Practitioner. Some of you may have already had the chance to speak with her, and for those who haven’t, I’m sure you will soon. She’s a fantastic addition to our team!

We’re also excited to welcome 5 new volunteers and celebrate the incredible dedication of 25 volunteers receiving long-service awards.

Looking ahead, our March training session, Enhancing Canine Wellbeing: Enrichment, Pain Recognition, and Smarter Walk Alternatives, will be delivered by our very own volunteer, Lucie Grant. More details can be found below.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 39

The Monthly Paws – Issue 38

This month marks the debut of Gemma’s new article series, where she tackles thought-provoking topics each month. In this edition, she explores the ethical and moral considerations of dressing up animals – a fascinating read!

A note to say that Bin will be driving to Crufts on Saturday 8th March. If you’re going and would like a lift, just let her know – she’d love the company! 😊 Once there, she’ll be busy networking, so she won’t be able to stick with you during the event.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 38

The Monthly Paws – Issue 37

This year we also look forward to welcoming our new Office Coordinator, Fran, and Animal Companionship Practitioner, Sam. With a new practitioner settled into the team, the plan is for Bin to focus on the ‘influencing others’ aspect of our strategy. However, she will continue to support her practitioner cases and fellow colleagues.

Speaking of strategy…we’re working on it! With the support of some great advisors, we hope to secure our 1-3/5 year plan, and how we can get sustainable funding to achieve this. Anna has worked tirelessly over the past years to get crucial funding which is no easy task. With Andrew now having joined us (see his intro below) we hope to increase funding from other streams too.

We will share this year’s volunteer training dates as they are confirmed throughout the year. In February, we will have a virtual Case Discussion session and hope that many of you can join. More information to follow.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 37

The Monthly Paws – Issue 36

This month we welcome 2 new volunteers, and 3 four legged friends to our volunteer community. We also celebrate long service awards for 11 special volunteers.

We hope you will all log on and join us to say ‘Merry Christmas’ at our virtual volunteer celebration on Monday 16th December, 5:30pm-6pm. If you need any support getting online, or could do with a practice beforehand, please let me know and I can help.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 36

The Monthly Paws – Issue 35

This month we welcome 2 new volunteers, and 3 four legged friends (and one of them’s a cat!), to our volunteer community. We also celebrate long service awards for 11 special volunteers.

World Mental Health Day is on 10th October. The impact of animal companionship on mental wellbeing is huge. Read Chloe’s article below to find out more.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 35

The Monthly Paws – Issue 34

This month we welcome 3 new volunteers, and 2 four legged friends, to our volunteer community. We also celebrate long service awards for 5 special volunteers and welcome our new Trustee Rebekah Sullivan to the team.

We wanted to say a big thank you to Diana and Ian who have helped us to raise funds by working a shift and representing us at the Bury St Edmunds Beer Festival. Thank you to Jane H for her support at the Purina Family Fun Day. We really appreciate your efforts.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 34

The Monthly Paws – Issue 33

This month we welcome 4 new volunteers and celebrate 9 long service awards for our volunteers. In this edition of the The Monthly Paws we share Suzy and Molly’s heartwarming volunteer story.

Our next volunteer training will be on the topic of Dog Behaviour, led by Lisa from The Dog Behaviour Clinic on Tuesday 24th September, 6:30 pm-8 pm online. Please let me know if you would like to attend and if you have an particular topics you would like Lisa to discuss.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 33

The Monthly Paws – Issue 32

This month we welcome Chloe to the team who has joined us an Animal Companionship Coordinator while Trina is on maternity leave. She has a great amount of experience in the social care sector, and is an animal lover, so perfectly suited to the role.

Our next volunteer training will be a Case Discussion on Tuesday 30th July, 4:30 pm – 6 pm at our offices at The British Racing School.

We have recently reviewed our Volunteer Survey Responses. In summary, volunteers feel really well supported which is great news! In terms of how rewarding volunteering with OSF is, all volunteers scored either 4 or 5 out of 5 and 90% said they would strongly recommend their friends and family to volunteer for us.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 32

The Monthly Paws – Issue 31

Our volunteer dog walk and picnic was a great success on Sunday and it was lovely to see such a great turnout. Thank you to everyone who came!

In this edition of the Monthly Paws we introduce Cee, who has been in role as our Office Coordinator since May. She is a fabulous addition to the team and has brought a great energy to the office. With a wealth of experience in admin, she has picked up our systems quickly and settled in really well.

We had a really enjoyable and informative First Aid training session in May, led by Nigel from The Red Cross. He shared some really useful knowledge and skills that we can all use either in a voluntary role or in any other context where it might be needed. A huge thank you to the volunteers who helped at Sudbury Pets at Home in May – we really appreciate your continued help to raise awareness and attract new volunteers in the area.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 31

The Monthly Paws – Issue 30

Final request for responses to the annual volunteer survey. If you haven’t already done so, please follow the link in this edition of The Monthly Paws to complete the survey and share your thoughts. We really value your opinion and need feedback to help improve what we do.

Some of you may have seen/heard the exciting news that Global’s Make Some Noise surprised us by doubling their grant to a whopping £62,200. The grant will be split over two years to fund our Animal Companionship Practitioner (ACP) role.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 30

The Monthly Paws – Issue 29

We hope everyone had a lovely Easter.

We have recently sent out our annual Volunteer Survey which should be in your inbox (a link can also be found in this edition of the Monthly Paws). Please take the time to complete it to help us to improve our volunteer experience for existing and new volunteers.

We had great conversations at our Case Discussion in February. It was fantastic to share experiences and talk about some particularly complex cases.

We also learnt a lot at our March training delivered by Amanda and Sam from Suffolk Sight. They taught us about different types of sight impairment, some aids that can help independent living as well as demonstrating effective sight guiding.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 29

The Monthly Paws – Issue 28

In this edition of the Monthly Paws we share our, hot off the press, 2022/23 Annual Report. Please follow the link below to read the fantastic impact you have all helped us to have.

In February, we welcome 5 new volunteers to our community. We also celebrate long service awards for 9 volunteers. We are excited to announce that Rebecca Stephens has also joined us as a new trustee.

This month we will host our first training session of the year and are starting with a case discussion on Monday 19th February. We have listened to your feedback, and have chosen to host this session virtually.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 28

The Monthly Paws – Issue 27

Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a great festive period and looking forward to 2024.

In 2024, Our Special Friends celebrates its 10th birthday…and we are pretty excited about it! It feels like its going to be a big year, supporting more people and pets in need whilst we continue to work hard to grow our volunteer community, demonstrate our impact and secure sustainable funding.

This month we welcome 4 new volunteers to our community. We also celebrate long service awards for 14 volunteers.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 27

The Monthly Paws – Issue 25

Wow, the final Monthly Paws before the new year. How is it that time already!

This month we welcome 3 new volunteers to our community. We also celebrate long service awards for 18 volunteers over November and December.

We are getting into the festive feeling, and are looking forward to attending the Bury St Edmunds lights switch on, as well as being part of the Sudbury Pets at Home Santa Paws appeal. Thank you to all of you who have offered to help at both of these events; we really appreciate it.

We will also be hosting our Volunteer Christmas Cheers on Monday 18th December at 5:30 pm. We would love for you all to log on and raise a glass with us before Christmas.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 25

The Monthly Paws – Issue 24

We’ve had a busy month with lots of events, training and celebrations. In this issue we mention the C word (Christmas!) for the first time as we start planning for the Pets at Home Santa Paws Appeal and the Bury Christmas Lights Switch On. More details on both events can be found in this newsletter

This month we welcome 3 new volunteers and 2 new volunteer visiting dogs. We also celebrate long service awards for a whopping 10 volunteers.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 24

The Monthly Paws – Issue 23

This month we welcome 2 volunteers to our community offering admin and AAA/dog walking support. We also celebrate long service awards for 8 of our wonderful volunteers.

This month we will be hosting a volunteer case discussion on Monday 25th September. SCAS are also running a webinar, and their annual webinar, this month. We also have an upcoming event at Mildenhall Sainsbury’s which we would really appreciate any volunteer help with.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 23

The Monthly Paws – Issue 22

This month we welcome 3 new AAA partnerships to our volunteer community. We also celebrate long service awards for 5 of our volunteers.

In July, we had hosted a fantastic training on the topic of ‘Having Difficult Conversations’, led by St Nicholas Hospice Neighbours. A huge thank you to Kirstie and Rhonda for leading this session. Please have a read of the summary notes, included in this edition of The Monthly Paws. We also had a productive Case Discussion session, where volunteers came to talk about their cases with our team. We find these sessions SO useful and will repeat in a few months.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 22

The Monthly Paws – Issue 21

Well…we have just about finished packing away everything from the volunteer celebration! We had a fantastic time with you all. It was a really special event and such a nice opportunity to socialise with you, AND the sun was shining!

A huge thank you to the volunteers who helped us at The Haverhill Show on Sunday 2nd July. The raffle was a great success and we hope we have planted the volunteering seed and that some people who visited the stall sign up for volunteering.

We welcome 4 new human volunteers and 3 new visiting AAA dogs to our community.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 21

Web capture_9-6-2023_101836_email.vetstream.co.uk

The Monthly Paws – Issue 20

This month we say a particularly big THANK YOU to all of you,; our incredible volunteers, as we celebrate Volunteers’ Week, 1st – 7th June. We say it all the time, and it’s never felt more true – OSF is nothing without our volunteers and we are so grateful for everything you do. We have now analysed our 2023 Volunteer Survey results and include a summary in this edition of the Monthly Paws. Thank you to those of who completed it. Your feedback is invaluable and I will work hard to further improve our volunteer experience for you, and for future recruits.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 20

The Monthly Paws – Issue 19

We have lots going on over the next few months (well don’t we always!) This month we welcome Trina, who is joining us as our new Animal Companionship Co-ordinator. We are also hosting out next training session on Tuesday 23rd May on the subject of Animal First Aid. Thank you to all of you who supported us by helping out in Sudbury Pets at Home for their Easter Appeal. We are waiting to hear how much was raised and will share with you as soon as we hear. We have a few events coming up in the Summer and would appreciate any volunteer help that you are able to offer.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 19

The Monthly Paws – Issue 18

This month we welcome the lovely Trudi, who has joined us as our new Office Coordinator. We celebrate long service awards for 13 wonderful volunteers. and welcome 4 new volunteers to our community and look forward to matching them soon (if they haven’t been already). Our 2021/22 Annual Report is now ready to read! It includes statistical reports; sharing of our vision; and some amazing volunteer and client stories.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 18

The Monthly Paws – Issue 17

A new year will bring lots of new exciting change for Our Special Friends. We have now received the grand total for funds raised during our Pets at Home Santa Paws appeal in December. It was an amazing £1000!! Thank you again to all those volunteers who spent time in store, helping to raise awareness, attract new volunteers and raise funds.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 17

The Monthly Paws – Issue 16

Happy New Year! Throughout November and December last year, our Sudbury volunteers rallied together to have an instore presence at the Sudbury Pets At Home during their Santa Paws appeal. A huge thank you to those local volunteers, and those who travelled from further afield, to represent OSF as the store’s community partners.

As most of you will have heard, we say a fond farewell to Bil at the end of January. She is off to pursue her next chapter and she will be missed greatly.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 16

Web capture_25-11-2022_10353_email.vetstream.co.uk

The Monthly Paws – Issue 15

This month, as we creep towards Christmas, we are seeing a huge amount of referrals coming our way, particularly for Animal-Assisted Activity (AAA). On the last count we currently have 16 unmatched AAA clients. We would love to bring animal companionship to their lives, with visits from a volunteer and their dog.

We also welcome some new volunteers to our community, as well as celebrate long service awards for 9 of our volunteers.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 15

The Monthly Paws – Issue 14

It’s getting chilly and we have just turned our radiators on at the British Racing School. We hope you are all keeping warm, watered and fed (that goes for our animal volunteers too)!

This month has been another busy one. Gemma, Corentine and Chris completed The Big Half marathon and raised a fantastic £576.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 14

The Monthly Paws – Issue 13

In August Sammie delivered a fantastic, informative volunteer training session on Dementia. Please have a read of our ‘On the topic’ section below for a summary and to access the presentation slides.

This month we send a fond farewell to the lovely Sally, who has been a fantastic member of our office team for nearly 5 years. We wish her all the best, and will of course stay in touch.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 13

The Monthly Paws – Issue 12

Well…I think we have just about unpacked everything from our Suffolk Dog Day trailer! What an event! Thank you again to all of you who came along and helped. It was lovely to get together and we certainly left the ‘happy hub’ feeling suitably happy (with slightly achy feet!)

This month we welcome two new volunteers and one new trustee as well as celebrating long service awards for six of our fabulous volunteers.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 12

The Monthly Paws – Issue 11

Well, it’s been rather hot, hasn’t it! An uncomfortable time for our furry friends, whose ability to be a cosy hot water bottle, no longer works in their favour. In this edition we share some advice and guidance to keeping your pets cool and signs of heatstroke to look out for.

We are looking forward to attending Suffolk Dog Day on Sunday 31st July. If you are able to come along and help, and haven’t already let us know, please do email me and I will pop you on the rota. We will be part of the ‘Happy Hub’ and will be manning an enclosed ‘have a go’ agility area as well as having a presence on our stall.

The Monthly Paws – Issue 11