Sad news....

So, I am sure you will all be wondering what happened, how far did I get with my fundraising and did I make it to Edinburgh last week for freshers week.....

Well, unfortunately the answer to those things is not the one I would like to be giving you. This has got to be by far the most difficult blog post I need to make.... but I need to make it.

As you have probably guessed by know, in spite of my hard work and fund-raising efforts, and your great support (financially and otherwise) it just obviously was not the year for me to get off to vet school. For this year's tuition fees, I was left about £7,500 short (and that would have been with the loans I could have got as well).

So what happens next I hear you asking?

Plan B:

I have every intention of reapplying to vet school. My plan over the next few weeks is to begin a course in chemistry and physics, getting those back up to scratch, send my application to more vet schools (including, but not exclusively Edinburgh), taking the entrance exams and then preparing for some interviews (hopefully).

I would like to thank you all so much for the support you have given me, it really gave me hope and made me more determined than ever to succeed, but as I said this year obviously was not the one for me. But I will not stop, I will hold onto that hope and determination, and see what next year brings.

In terms of the financial support you offered to me, I propose several options....

1) Allow me to hold onto it for another year should I get in and have more success next time round acquiring enough funding

2) Request to have your donation back, which I am more than happy to do, as I won't be able to use it for at least another year, or

3) Allow me to donate your funds to a deserving animal charity carrying out great work themselves, such as PDSA, Blue Cross or The Dogs Trust.

I will try to contact you all individually regarding the money you donated, as I kept all details of who donated what (bike ride, and random donations). Should I not be able to please do contact me. You can email me sponsoravet.hannah@gmail.com or facebook me or leave a message on here for me to get hold of you, to let me know what you would like me to do with your donation.

I am sad to bring you this post. As you can imagine, I would have very much rather be posting one telling you how excited I was to start vet school, thank you to those who helped me to get there etc etc etc, but unfortunately, as I know well, things don't just work out all that well for us all of the time.

Thank you for staying loyal and supportive throughout this challenge, and please do continue checking my blog, as I will continue to post throughout this years application process, keeping you up to date with my progress.

Thank you all once more.

Hannah

Time is running out

Time is running out very quickly. I have had some great opportunities pose themselves since sending out my sponsorship proposals, however, I am still facing quite a deficit in financial support.

Freshers starts next week, and I am not sure I will be there myself......, which is incredibly disappointing. Anyone know of someone/company etc. that I may not have thought of that will be worth contacting?

I know it is such short notice now, but let's all play the lottery this weekend....you never know :-)

I will keep you posted with any progress, and the next step.

Thank you again.

Hannah

xxx

Quick update

Hey all,

Sorry I have not posted for a while but been crazy busy with the fund-raising recently.

As we all know, my place at vet school is to begin in less than a month, so I am really pushing for any financial support I can get now!

I am so proud that I have raised as much as I have and thank you all for helping me to achieve that, however, there is still more that I need.

If you can help in anyway, please do let me know. I don't just mean financially, but if you have some spare time to do leaflet drops, put up posters, help with boring admin work (folding letters and stamping envelopes) or if you know of someone I should try to get help from, please please please get in touch!

I have just sent out more applications for trusts and company giving, and now on the mail shot for more sponsorship from veterinary related companies. Any ideas of areas of the industry I may have overlooked and worth a try, please let me know.

If you are able to spare some finances toward my fees, I would be increadably appreciative, as you know. Even just £50 will help with my essential book list, or even £10 toward my lab coat and equipment. As they say, every little helps, and with the support shown to me over the last year or so, I know I can make it, I just need that little bit more help.

If you are on this website as a result of recieving one of my letters or leaflets, please do give serious consideration to helping me to achieve my dream! Once qualified I cannot wait to give back to the local community and those who have supported me through this, and I really look forward to making a possitive influence in animal health and welfare!

Thank you once again, and please: if you can help in any way....do!

Sponsor a vet - Make a dream come true! :-)

The Big Event

I would like to say a huge thank you to all of those who got involved and made Saturday night happen! I have just finished adding the totals and we raised £999 toward my funds....... what a fantastic achievement!

I am assured the story will go into the Oxford Mail very shortly, and it was great to have the support once again from BBC Radio Oxford.

Please see below a full thank you list for all those businesses who kindly donated items to auction, with a particular thanks to The Oxford Belfry Hotel for their donation of a fantastic venue, with discounted bar, and their raffle prize of two spa days!

So thank you's to:

Angels Hair Design, Headington

Annie Sloan Interiors, Cowley Road

Arbat Russian Restaurant, Cowley Road

Archway Kennels, Garsington

Asante Music, Oxford

Beaphar Pet Products

The Beauty Room, Little Milton

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock

Bizzie Lizzie's Flowers, Thame

Clay's Butchers, Thame

Cotswold Wildlife Park

Domesco, Thame

Feel Fit Gym, Cowley

Freerange, Thame

Gallery Wood Flooring, Thame

Greenfield's Pet Care

Kilconnel Kennels, Chinnor

Kong Pet Care

Majliss Restaurant, Cowley Road

Mia Capri Italian, Thame

Monera Beauty Salon, Thame

Moti Mahal Restaurant, Tiddington Nr Thame

Oxford Animal Behaviour Clinic, Oxford

The Oxford Physiotherapist, Nr Thame

Oxford Theatre Train, Kidlington

Pegasus Theatre, Cowley

Planet Health and Organics, Thame

Powder, Thame

Purina Pet Care

Rebecca Emin, Author, Little Milton

Robert Paige

Royal Canin Pet Foods

Rumsey's Chocolatarie, Thame

Safe Solutions

Salters Steamers, Oxford

Shoecare, Thame

Skirmish Paintballs, Finmere

Sound Therapy, Nr Garsington

Supreme Science

Thimbelina, Wheatley

Umberto's, Thame

Verde Restaurant, Cowley Road

Wagging Tails, home from home kennels, Oxford

Wheatley Farm Shop, Wheatley

William Mansfield, Oxford

Woozelbears hydrotherapy

Stefanie Kimber, Oxford


Also a big thanks to The Belfry, and also to 722027 (oxford Music Equipment hire on Cowley Road), along with family and friends for helping to make the event happen!

Keep your eye on The Oxford Mail, and please continue to follow the blog (with it's great new look) for the next events!

The Big Event

Sponsor a Vet

The Big Event

7:30pm

Saturday 2^nd July

The Oxford Belfry Hotel

(Milton Common, Near Thame, OX9 2JW)

Fund-raising auction with prizes to include holiday for six, meals for two, activity days

and more

Free entry with automatic chance to win two free spa days at The Oxford Belfry,

plus 20% discount on all drinks

www.sponsoravet-hannah.blogspot.com

The big push

So.... this is it now. I have that place at vet school and time is running out to get the remaining funds to get there, so I'm doing another huge push with all of the big companies, however I feel it is now time to do something big to get local people involved.

On Saturday 2nd July I am planning an event - An auction of promises, sale of donated items, raffles and such like.

So here is my check list:

A venue - I will be contacting local venues over the next week, so any suggestions please let me know

Items for sale/auction - I will be contacting local businesses for donations. In keeping with the animal care theme, I will be contacting local kennels/catteries, pet shops and groomers. I will also get in touch with other businesses for events/dinners etc etc.

Donations - I don't mean cash donations (although all are welcome), but donations of things for auction. Perhaps you have some old items you have been meaning to get rid of for a while, or perhaps you have something you could offer - cooked dinner, baking bread, flower arranging?

An Auctioneer - This is something I have no experience of at all so if you or someone you know know would like to give it a go, please get in touch!

Advertising - as you are aware, there is no real budget, so word of mouth will be hugely important. I will also be in touch once again with local media, particularly those who have followed me in the past.

Guests - And most importantly I will need guests. Without you it will not matter how many donations I recieve, so please come along for some fun, and invite as many people as you like. Obviously as yet there is no set location or time, but I will keep you informed.

If you would like to get involved, in anyway, please don't hesitate to contact me. The more help I get the bigger and better we can make this event, and the more funds and awareness we can raise! I appreciate your support so far, and look forward to hearing from you. Any suggestions of locations or companies to approach to ensure my checklist is completed please let me know!

The event will appear under the facebook group, and I will be sending out messages to members, so if you haven't joined already, please click here and become a member now!

Thank you again.

:-)

Table Top Sale cont.......

So... unfortunately the table top sale was fairly quiet yesterday (probably due to the next village having their huge annual fete).



However saying that, I did get a lot of interest and managed to pass on some business cards so hopefully this blog will begin to get more hits. For those of you who either purchased something and took a card, or who have subsequently been given one of my cards, thank you for visiting this blog. Please feel free to have a browse on my blog.

I am also on , facebook so please do join and invite others to join. The more support I have, the more help should become available to me.

I hope to do several more events similar to the table top sale, so please do keep following my blog, and show your support by attending and informing others. I will also be accepting any items that people do not want anymore, in order to sell and raise funds, so if there is anything you have been meaning to get rid of, it would be very welcome :-). Anything not sold will be given to charity shops (most probably Blue Cross).

Thank you for your support, and will keep you updated about up and coming fundraising events.