PLAYERS from Worcester Warriors rugby club will be volunteering their services fortnightly at Bromsgrove’s Blue Cross as part of a link up between the two organisations.
Among the tasks the players will be doing on Mondays from 8am to 9am will be walking dogs, clearing out the kennels, cuddling kittens and serving the animals their breakfasts.
This Monday (October 20), James Percival, Matt Cox and Mike Daniels from the squad visited the centre.
James, who has two dogs called Nancy and Rocky, told The Standard the players going down there would help take the pressure off the staff and there would also be some fund-raising activities organised.
“A few of the lads have got dogs already and it’ll be interesting to see how many of them go away with dogs from here.
“The club supports a number of charities and community programmes every season and we have a lot of animal lovers in the squad so the Blue Cross is a perfect charity for us to work with.
“As rugby players we are often labelled as big and physical but I’m sure people will be able to see another side to us when we’re looking after these pets.”
The decision to select the Blue Cross as the charity to help was made by Tom Biggs.
Samantha Homer, an animal welfare assistant at Bromsgrove’s Blue Cross, said: “We really appreciate the commitment and hard work of all of our volunteers and the added support from the Warriors is amazing.
“We are so grateful that they have taken time out of their busy training schedule to help us care for the pets – we think both the players and the pets really enjoyed it.”
The link-up will last until the end of the season.
It is a good time for the club to be part of the centre’s fund-raising as it is currently trying to collect £1.9million to rebuild a new centre on the current site.
It will have a new reception area, newly-refurbished dog kennels, a brand new cattery with dedicated puppy and kitten units as well as a new pet care clinic for pets owned by people on low incomes.
Read more: Fund-raising campaign launched for £1.9million Bromsgrove Blue Cross revamp | Bromsgrove Standard
Visit www.bluecross.org.uk/bromsgrove for more on Bromsgrove’s Blue Cross and the rebuild.
Matt Cox with Max the dog, along with James Percival and Mike Daniels. s
