Animal rescue centre advert is so uplifting | Zella Compton

What a wonderful advert by Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
Loki, known as the wolf of Battersea. A rescue dog who needed a home in 2017.Loki, known as the wolf of Battersea. A rescue dog who needed a home in 2017.
Loki, known as the wolf of Battersea. A rescue dog who needed a home in 2017.

They have taken data which shows that the majority of us are rescue dog owners – me included – and made a truly lovely piece about rescue being our ‘favourite breed’.

Featuring slobbery dogs, imperfect dogs and dogs having fun rolling (and some cats, but, whatever).

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It presents pure refreshment to the need to aim higher with breeds.

Not that that’s ever really pushed, but don’t you find it’s the first question which people ask you when they meet your dog for the first time?

And then they always have an opinion to offer whether you’ve asked for it – or are interested – or not.

Let’s empower our teens to join the community effort

What are we going to do with all our teenagers who are now bored, ready for action, and have – mostly – lost their income?

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This is those in GCSE years and above, and I should probably include uni students in there as well.

There are year groups of students with so much time on their hands with an education system which has been so dedicated to exams as an end point.

They’re not going to know what to do with themselves, especially as their jobs in cafes, bars and sports centres have disappeared in a puff of Covid-19.

By the time this goes to press we might have all been banned from going outside on any account, but if not, how about mobilising our teenage population to help out where they can?

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Someone, somewhere, can be a centralised point collating people’s needs and sending teens out on bikes to help get shopping, pick-up medication, do outside chores and generally fill their time with a purpose.

Unless of course they’re isolating or ill.

In a couple of weeks, we’ll need all the teens to work on farms, two metres apart of course. With our borders shut and the painful rigmarole of Brexit still nipping our heels, we’re going to be woefully undermanned come picking season. And if we want any chance of getting fresh food, we’ll need to mobilise at speed.

Let’s not forget that this is the age group which needs itself more than any other group – they need friendships and groupings and to be with other people. We need to harness this, make sure they understand the boundaries and get them out there making a difference.

Let’s trust and empower them to make a huge contribution to the lives of the people who are stuck at home, and to their own mental health as it’s so hard to have a goal and then for that to disappear.

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If our teens fall into a box-set slump it’s going to be really hard to help them come out the other side, unless they are truly motivated.

Employers and universities are eventually going to ask: what did you do during Covid-19? With everything in such chaos we need to be able to find a way to help them answer that question.

It’s time to get rid of fort’s dangerous fencing right now

Fort Gilkicker has once again lost its fences and this time they’ve been down for a while.

It’s quite something to watch the evolution of those fences as they’ve grown and changed over the years from some lack-lustre mesh affairs to hard-core steel with barbed wire and anti-vandal paint.

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But the fact of the matter is, the front panels haven’t managed to resist the winds, they’re down again, and the fort remains inviting for anyone to climb who fancies a lovely view.

It’s time to take them down and retreat to fencing off the top, there’s nothing going on there. Give the site back to the dogwalkers and intrepid children and get rid of dangerous damaged fencing before someone gets hurt.