Dinkie’s at it again. The Shoreham dance legend is again raising money for local good causes to mark her forthcoming birthday, just 102 years young on May 7th. For her 100th birthday Dinkie raised funds for NHS charities by daily dance kicks in the 100 days leading up to her 100th birthday. Now she has been carrying out one hour keep fit and dance sessions all in aid of the excellent Gateway Hub run by Jill Lennon and her volunteers at Fishersgate.
Regular readers may recall that I invited Dinkie up to Westminster to celebrate her 101st birthday last year and introduced her to Mr Speaker only for him to get roped into some dance moves. One of the resulting photographs was shortlisted in the annual Parliamentary Photo Exhibition before Christmas. I am going to be joining Dinkie in one of her routines this week and if you would like to sponsor Dinkie her JustGiving page is www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/dinkie-flowers
One of my favourite charities is the Dog’s Trust where we have their excellent Rehoming Centre in Shoreham. The charity is very effective at lobbying Government and has been instrumental in clamping down on puppy smuggling. I saw the results of this where 2 heavily pregnant dachshund bitches had been brought in from Eastern Europe but were intercepted at Dover and the resulting litters housed at Shoreham. With the puppies selling for up to £2500 each this is a lucrative business for criminal gangs, and I am glad to say that all the very sweet pups have now been found homes.
We hear a lot about the cost-of-living impact on food prices, but pet food prices have risen even faster and the Rehoming Centre is seeing the impact on owners having to give up pets they can no longer afford. At Shoreham they have set up a pet food bank to help and I am also supporting their campaign to reduce VAT on pet food too. You can find out more from the video on my website.
