We are a small independent not-for-profit animal rescue charity based on the borders of North Yorkshire, south Cumbria and north Lancashire. We specialise in cats but have contacts with other organisations for dogs and small furries. Our aim is to re-home all the animals that come to us. We operate on a foster model, which involves our volunteers looking after our cats in their homes. All potential adopters must have completed an adoption enquiry and have had a home check before visiting any of the cats in our care. We recently became a “CIO”. We are the same group of people, and are keeping the overall name Bentham and District Pet Rescue. We will now additionally start to use the the name Dales Cat Rescue for our cat rescue activities, and the charity number is changing from 1071200 to 1209722.
Registered Charity nos. 1071200 and 1209722
Trustees
- Chairman: Sue Arnott
- Secretary: Joanne Hall
- Treasurer: James Annan
- Kath Threlkeld
- Pat Roberts
- Carolyn Linney
- Julia Hargreaves
- Ingrid Ellershaw
- Tanith Staveley
Honorary President: Val Marshall
Over 25 years have passed since we started and we are still busy finding new homes for abandoned, stray or bereaved pets, helping elderly owners when necessary, and neutering local feral cats. We never put a healthy animal to sleep and do our best to find suitable caring homes for all the cats that come into our care, however long that takes. We have many dedicated volunteers – fosterers, fundraisers and trustees – who work tirelessly to help us achieve our aims.
Please note that we can only help pets in Bentham and the surrounding area.
Early years
Our work started in 1997 and we registered with the Charity Commission the following year. Our aims are:
- to help homeless pets, taking them into our care whilst they await new approved owners
- to help elderly owners with veterinary and kenneling costs, so that they can keep the companionship of their pet
Our first sanctuary was in the garage of founder and President Val Marshall. There was very little money to spare, so our first eight pens were hand-made, and soon in constant use.
We needed money to feed the cats and to pay vet bills, so we started holding book sales at Watershed Mill in Settle. These were extremely successful and became very popular with local people.
Over time, more volunteers were recruited to help raise funds and look after the cats, and our reputation grew. We won an award in Cat World Magazine, and then a grant from Jean Sainsbury and the Barry Green Memorial Fund enabled us to build our first proper sanctuary in Burton in Lonsdale.
Until 2016 we also ran a second sanctuary at Horton in Ribblesdale and shortly after, we established another at Newby near Clapham. Our centre at Burton closed in 2021 due to manager Pat’s well-deserved retirement after 20 years, and after 6 years dedicated service, our busy sanctuary in Newby closed in 2022 with centre manager Louise taking a well earned rest.