A Ruddington dog lover has launched an online fundraising appeal for her pet’s favourite exercise spot – after poor weekend weather put people off attending a special event there aimed at raising more cash to maintain and improve it.
Rain fell on Sunday (26th August) as the 3rd Anniversary “Fun Dog Show” was taking place in and around Coppers Dog Activity Trail at Rushcliffe Country Park – keeping many pooches and their owners away. The woodland trail, designed exclusively for canines, was created and built with over one thousand volunteer hours and opened to the public in August 2015.
Helen Barton, who runs tommydoggy.com told RUDDINGTON.info: “When Coppers Dog Activity Trail started 3 years ago myself and my dog Tommy (pictured above) really enjoyed using this as part of our country park exercise. As a small business owner I wanted to support the team who came up with the idea and volunteered to help at fundraising events. As my business has a small stall selling greeting cards and gifts that feature dogs it’s the perfect fit to attend the fundraising events.”
She was there again over the Bank Holiday weekend on what turned out to be a rather soggy Sunday: “Unfortunately the event suffered from really bad luck with the weather and the attendance to the event was low. As we know lots of people really appreciate this feature of the park we thought there would be some who want to support but didn’t manage to make it on Sunday due to the wet weather” said Helen. “To help support the maintenance of the course I’ve set up a crowdfunding page to help raise funds that would have been raised if the weather had been better.” She’s set an initial target of £100.
A spokesperson for Rushcliffe Borough Council, which oversees the running of the park, said: “An annual dog show and occasional events are held to raise funds for its maintenance and, due to its popularity, it has become clear an all-weather surface is needed so that it can be used safely all year. The crowdfunding page set up by Tommy Doggy is very much welcomed by all those involved.”
You can find it HERE: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/copperactivitytrail
