Christmas Eve present deliveries by donkey with Santa!

We are planning a very special delivery on Christmas Eve for the lucky children of Chalford! Between 1pm and 4pm the donkey will we going round Chalford with his panniers packed with presents accompanied by Father Christmas.
We supply the present and the experience!

The route and times for this delivery will be:

1:00 Chalford Community Stores (for those people who want a present but don't live on the route).

1:00-2:30 Chalford High Street and Rack Hill.

2:30-4:00 Chalford Hill

For more information go to the Chalford Community Stores or email chalforddonkeyproject@hotmail.com

Check out the pictures of the Chalford Donkey on the Getty Images website

Delivery day!

The Chalford donkey did his first delivery on Saturday 27th September. We took bread, papers, milk, bacon and eggs to some very happy Chalford residents. Teddy the donkey did a grand job of carrying everything safely and I think he actually enjoyed himself! He didn't complain once and was happy to go up and down and round and about the streets of Chalford.



We were accompanied by Paul Glendell, a free-lance photographer who is hoping to sell a pic to the national press of the donkey's first delivery. I think it was a surprise for some residents to have a camera waiting for them as they stepped out to pick up their delivery in their dressing gowns! Hope nobody minded!!

Chalford Donkey Project visits the Donkey Sanctuary and Clovelly

We visited two important donkey related places last weekend. First we went to Clovelly, a small fishing village on the north coast of Devon which is famous for its donkeys that still work the cobbled streets carrying things up and down for the tourists and local people. We met Sue and Bart who run the whole donkey operation and were shown around the stables where their 15 donkeys live.


The Donkey Stables at Clovelly

Next we went to the Donkey Sanctuary near Sidmouth which is the opposite end of Devon. We were shown around by Lionel Ford, our main contact at the Donkey Sanctuary. We saw the indoor riding centre for special needs children, the hospital area where there was a donkey getting his head x-rayed and of course we had a look round the gift shop! The Donkey Sanctuary is set in the most beautiful place by the sea and there are fields full of donkeys which are very picturesque. Everything is done to the highest standards with no expense spared. Lots of happy donkeys and happy people!


A field of donkeys


Jan and Siobhan with a Donkey Sanctuary vet showing us a poor donkey with foot problems.


Jan and Lionel Ford with a very hairy Poitou donkey.

Donkey panniers

The Donkey Sanctuary have been a great help to us over the recent months setting up the project. Lionel Ford and Liz Ellis came to visit with a couple of pannier options in order to do a trial run. This one is a very ethnic woven type which looks pretty but wouldn't hold much.

These panniers are the business! They are designed to hold things piled onto the donkey's back and round the sides. This will enable Teddy to go up narrow paths with a load of logs no problem!

Donkey Portraits

Teddy!

Chester!

chalford donkeys at the village shop

The Chalford donkeys have been down to the village quite a lot recently. On Saturday 16th of August they mooched down to the village store to hang out for a while and were much admired by passers-by. Its great that we can finally get the donkeys down to the village so that people can see the whole idea is actually getting to be a reality!

donkeys and kids

During the school holidays the donkeys have been entertaining many children. In fact they went on a summer camp for a week in the middle of July where they were petted and fussed over by a fantastic group of kids, who learnt about many aspects of donkey care and handling. They were in the capable hands of Piers Clifford who used to work donkeys at Ruskin Mill. Piers walked from Westley farm in Chalford, all the way to Horsley with Teddy and Chester, who apparantly enjoyed the trek. When the donkeys returned to Westley farm a week later they had grown and developed well from the experience. Chester will allow his back feet to be picked up(before he would kick), and Teddy can now be ridden. And to top it all, Piers has made us a fantastic harness from cow hide that we can attach panniers to.

Chalford Street Party

Chester and Teddy came to the Chalford street party on July 5th. They got to meet many Chalford residents, which was very exciting for the donkeys and the villagers. Despite the threatening weather there was a good turn out and over £300 was raised for the Chalford Donkey project through our recently launched membership scheme. The street party committee also gave us £150 which is fantastic. So thank you everyone who has supported us.

Donkey handlers training day

Lionel Ford and Liz Ellis from the Donkey Sanctuary came to do a donkey handling course with volunteers from the Chalford Donkey Project.

After watching a video about general donkey care and paddock maintenance, Liz showed us how to put on a head collar (see photo above).

A sumptuous lunch was laid on and we all sat around enjoying a well earned break in the sunshine.

After lunch we all went out to the field and put what we had learnt into practice. Liz explained the importance of going up to the donkey in a calm way as well as a sneaky tip - hide the head collar as you approach!

We had a go at leading.....

......and grooming......

At the end of the day the kids arrived for more grooming and Liz gave them some basics tips about donkey handling.
We all had a great day. Thanks so much to everyone who participated.

What an Ass

To Cooke’s corner grocery shop
I used to go as I grew up.
There to get my sweets,
Over ripe banana and other treats.
Delivering groceries to my old Gran.
Stopping to have a chat.
Swopping news of this and that.

Tesco’s, Asda and Waitrose,
That’s where my money goes.
No need to shop in store,
They’ll deliver to yur door.
“Is your house hard to find?
Then we can’t deliver, never mind,
It really is a pain being stuck in country lane,
You see our vans are too wide
To deliver to the countryside.”

Then a villager with a heart
Decided to deliver by donkey cart.
The Ford Transits laid to rest.
In Chalford Hill horse power is best.
Teddy from retirement brought
To bring the beer for winter sport.
“I’m afraid I’ve made a substitue,
The donkey ate the fruit on route.
And while we stand and discuss your veg
The brute has started on your hedge.
Have you got a bucket and spade?
I’ll remove the mess it’s made.
They say it’s good for the roses,
Violets, Sweet Williams and other posys.

By John Ball

Chalford Donkey in the News again!

In the last week the local and national media decided to report on the donkeys arriving in Chalford. It is great that they find our donkeys' every move of interest. Chester and Teddy are becoming quite good and grinning at the camera! Although Chester's amorous advances towards Teddy might have to be cut. Yesterday, I found myself at 6:30 in the morning with two bedraggled donkeys in the pissing rain standing in a field with a film crew. There was a bit of a drama as the sound technician couldn't get down the drive to where the donkey's were as the trees were too low, and he was in danger of scraping the satellite dish on the top of the van. But the problem was overcome by taking the donkey's nearer the van and the very nice reporter did a grand job of leading the other donkey.

So in the last week we've been been on ITV west, BBC 1 Breakfast show, Points West, The Stroud News and Jounal, The Western Daily Press, The Llanelli Star, the Evening Post (Swansea), The Citizen (tomorrow) and Stroud Life (next Tuesday)

And they all want to come back for more when the donkey starts delivering the shopping!

We've found our donkey!

We have finally found our second donkey! His name is Teddy and he comes from Mynyddygarreg, near Camarthen. He is a chocolate coloured gelding and is surprisingly tall and strong. Mike Thomas, a beach donkey operator, sold us the donkey but says he's very sad to part with him as he's such a friendly chap. We are very grateful for the help of the Lionel Ford from the Donkey sanctuary in Sidmouth for his help and professional advice and for putting us in touch with with Mike.

Council Refuses Grant Application

The Chalford Parish Council told the Donkey Project today that their application for a grant had been turned down. We had applied for money to cover the public liability insurance expenses totaling £267 in January and have just heard the disappointing news. The Secretary of the Parish Council informed us by telephone that the Council had decided that our project shouldn't be supported because it isn't up and running yet and because some of the council members thought the idea wasn't practical.

What a shame the Council can't get behind the Project and help an initiative that has inspired others to donate their time and resources and caused such a stir of excitement in the village and beyond.

working day

Residents of Chalford got together over the Easter bank holiday weekend to help prepare the donkey paddock. Over 20 people turned up despite the unpromising weather and got stuck in with raking, weeding and fencing. As it turned out, we had a lovely sunny morning and were able to enjoy a delicious soup cooked on an open fire at the end of it all.

Yanni and Richard doing a fantastic job on the fencing.

The hard grind of raking and hoeing.

Chalford Donkey Project News

February 6-11:
Mad Media Frenzy in Chalford as the story of the Donkey Project broke and is covered by local, national and international press. (see separate blogs 'the Chalford donkey in the Media' and 'Chalford donkey press links')

February 11:
ITV West donates us a donkey. He is a beautiful little jack donkey of 10 months old and comes from the Coteswold Farm Park. He will have to be trained up and won't be ready to carry things until he is around 4 years old.

February 16:
The hunt is on for a second donkey to accompany the one we have been donated. We are looking for an older donkey who is used to carrying stuff and being with people.

February 25:
The Chalford Donkey Project meets with the Chalford Parish Council. We present a more detailed grant application to receive funding for the project. The Parish Council are concerned about the access issues to Rack Hill. At present it is not allowed to take a donkey up the paths as they are designated footpaths, not bridleways. This comes as a surprise as the paths are still known as 'Donkey Paths' and are not signposted as footpaths. The problem of access could possibly be overcome by granting a special license to the Chalford Donkey to allow it to use the paths.

March 8:
Money raised so far for the project comes to around £300. This includes £200 donated by the Daily Mail newspaper. We still need to raise another £1000 to set up the project.

March 9:
We are still looking for a second donkey and the search is becoming more urgent as we need to collect the first donkey from the Cotswold Farm Park before the end of March. We cannot collect the first donkey until he has the company of another one.

March 9:
There are plans to have a working party at the smallholding where the donkey will live. There is lots to do to prepare the land where the donkeys will eventually live. It is hoped that people from the village will volunteer some time on March 21 and 22.

March 15:
The Donkey Sanctuary of Sidmouth, Devon visit Chalford. Their welfare representative offers us free advice on how to work effectively with donkeys. After touring the paths of Rack Hill he said we will need to find a strong donkey who can manage the steep hills and also said we will need to consider the panniers carefully. He also came to see our paddocks and explained about fencing, sheds and other important issues in caring for a donkey. The Chalford Donkey Project has been given the full support of the Donkey Sanctuary welfare representative and they have offered to host a donkey handling day in Chalford for anyone wanting to become a donkey handler.

The Donkey Project in the Media

See also separate heading 'Chalford Donkey Press links'

Feb 6:

Article about Chalford Donkey Project in the Stroud News and Journal.
Interview on the Anna King show (BBC radio Gloucestershire).

Feb 7:
Interview on the World Today (BBC radio World Service).
Interview on the Today Programme (BBC radio 4).
Interview on the Six o'clock News (BBC 1).
Interview on BBC Radio Five Live.

Feb 8:
Interview on the Jeremy Vine Show
Feature Article in the Daily Mail
Interview on The West Tonight (ITV West)
Story covered on many national and internation internet news sites including The Guardian, BBC Online, The Daily Express, The Telegraph, The Mirror, Country Life, Reuters, Associated Press and Getty Images.

Feb 10:
Feature Article in the Independent on Sunday

Feb 11:
Interview on Talk Radio Ireland
Interview on ABC Radio Western Australia

Feb 16:
Interview on BBC Radio Ulster

March 16:
Interview on BBC 1 Breakfast Show with Chester and Teddy, the Chalford donkeys.
Interview on BBC Points West. Report also included interview with Siobhan Wooster of Chalford Community Stores and Mike Mills, a local historian.

Photos

The Chalford Donkey with Richard Franklin of ITV West.

The Chalford Donkey with Anna Usborne and Adam Henson (of the Cotewold Farm Park).

Donkey Rescue in Spain

Article supplied by the Donkey Sancuary in Andalucia, Spain.

If only all rescues were as easy as Rescue 6,444 ( Tuesday 6th Feb 2008). It had already been one of those very long nights and the rescue team were looking forward to breakfast, a shower and then bed, when the rescue phone rang again, this time, with a report of a donkey wandering along a road at Almayati, by a concerned Mum, Angela Jackson, who had just been on the school run.

Calls about animals wandering loose are fairly frequent, and when we are short of rescue volunteers and the call call is not, what we call a verified call from the police asking us to attend as they can confirm that the animal is in danger or is itself a danger to road users, we have to think about the best use of our limited resources.

When a call comes from a concerned member of the public, we have the usual dilemma of working out whither we should remain on stand by for the Guardia in case of an injured animal on the road, or whither we can afford to take the chance and send the very tired and overworked rescue team on another call, especially as in this case, at the end of a 24 hour shift they had already undertaken 4 overnight calls.

Quite a lot of our calls are about loose animals, and 99 times out of a hundred, when we attend and put a head collar and rope on the wandering animal and make it safe, and set off to try and find the owner, we find that when we return to the animal, it is usually already been collected by its owner, and, as a result, we can lose up to 30 head collars and ropes a month, and at 15 or so Euro a time, it is 450 Euro we can ill afford each month , so when we are all tired and weary and wondering if we can afford another head collar and rope as well as an extra call out, we are often inclined to ask if the caller can just make the animal safe somewhere, as the owner will turn up, sooner or later, but we always try to then visit when we can, often just a few hours later.

But in this case, it sounded as though Angela knew an exhausted, abandoned and old donkey, so we asked her to tie it up until we got there. When we arrived at the industrial warehouse where she had left it, needless to say it had gone, but we asked inside and the owner, Pepi who said he had taken it to a field for safety, and off we went in convey (joined by Angela and a friend) and here indeed was an elderly and very tired donkey, and when we went to try and check his age (using his teeth) we found the poor old boy only had 3 teeth left ! Pepi seemed to think it was just an elderly donkey that had been used by Gypsies on fairground duties, and when they recently left, he was left behind. Certainly when we drove the rescue truck and trailer up and into the field, he perked his ears up, and just walked straight into the rescue trailer. !


When we got to Nerja, our stand by vet Nico was waiting for us and confirmed that not only was he old, exhausted, hungry, overworked and lacking in teeth, but he had a terrible infection in his coat which means he had to be isolated away from all other animals and given an expensive course of medication and twice daily shampoos for the next 21 days, but we can happily report that he is a lovely and very gentle old boy and is well on his way to the first stage of recovery – Angela Who reported him asked if we could call him Capitan, and we were pleased to do so, but he will need lots of gentle exercise, so if there is any gentle elderly donkey walkers around, please drop in and see us as daily gentle exercise is essential for his long term recovery, especially as he is in the isolation pen and really needs that little bit of extra TLC and attention, as well as exercise.

Eco Donkeys in Italy

ECO FRIENDLY DONKEY SCHEMES (Article supplied by the Donkey Sanctuary in Andalucia, Spain)

We were especially pleased when we recently received an invitation from, Mario Cicero, the Mayor of Castelbuono, a medium sized rural town in Sicily, to visit and inspect his plans to make his town the most environmental friendly in Europe, and as part of his plan involved DONKEYS, wild horses (donkeys really) could not stop us visiting him !

In a very short time, Mayor Cicero has propelled his town into being listed among the top 11 in Italy for environmental quality by the Lega Ambiente, or Environmental League.

In Castelbuono the donkeys represent a part of the big project that is called “Save the world” and by 2007, Mario Cicero, has realised his ideas to replace four waste trucks with six donkeys, especially in the old part of Castelbuono. In replacing the rubbish trucks with donkeys, Mayor Cicero also took into account that the residents wanted more rubbish collections, and the Mayor says as it has turned out, the donkeys are far more quicker and efficient at removing the regular waste and as a result, in 2007 the waste collection has increased from 140.239 kg to 2.468.147 kg and more importantly, there was an increase of about 20 per cent to 829.956 kg of separated waste.

The donkeys don’t work more than five hours a day, and carry about 100 kg of waste for one route and their equipment consists of two containers, one for mixed and the other one for organic waste.
Moreover, there are many other positive aspects due to this project, not least being the fact that the residents of Castelbuno now feel they have a satisfactory and reliable waste collection and re-cycling system in place that can be built and expanded upon.

In 2008, the town now has a total of 10 donkeys, all stabled in the local agricultural school attached to the town, and they are used as part of is unique eco friendly method of rubbish collection, and other ancillary parts of his overall new town plan to show just how eco friendly a town can be.

Six days a week, donkeys and their handlers set off around the town to collect the rubbish, although the first port of call is a quick coffee before starting work, and the donkeys wait patiently for their handlers to return.

Of course the donkeys can't collect the same amount of daily waste as large rubbish trucks can do in one trip, so the Mayor has installed large bins in easily acessable locations, locked so that only the donkey teams can use them, and has replaced his monster rubbish trucks with smaller ( eco friendly) ones that collect the waste from the collection points.

The Mayor says it is not about costs but about saving the environment, but as mayor Cicero says, “big collection trucks cost a lot of money to buy and run, but I can have 12 donkeys working for the same running costs of one truck, and the donkeys do not pollute the air of our town, and make collection quiet and more accesable to our residents. He added and as our donkeys are a happy family, they produce new babies, so we will never need to buy a monster truck, or a donkey, again ! “
There is a daily collection of recyclable waste, with the vegetables and bread being put into the towns' compositing scheme, and it was amazing to see elderly ladies hanging out of their windows waiting for “their donkey” to arrive, and lowering their bags down on string to be collected by the team – One elderly resident said,” I just love it, I don't even have to struggle down the stairs and down to the rubbish bins with my bags any more, and I can sleep easier at night, and yes I can really say I am very pleased to see the back of those large noisy and smelly big trucks blocking off streets whilst they collected rubbish and not winding their way through our town belching black polluting hot air, especially in the summer.”

Mayor Cicero is not finished yet and explains, “we have a list of babies and children who are allergic to cows milk but can use donkeys milk, our donkeys breed and can be used to raise more money for the town and I will never have to buy a monster smelly truck truck again,” and with a twinkle in his eye adds “ Many town all over Europe need and welcome tourists, and we compete against each other, but how many other towns and villages have our donkeys !”!

In view of the experiences of Mayor Cicero in Sicilly and his efforts to make his town the most eco friendly town in Europe, we would be delighted if Nerja or any other local town or village would like to start the scheme as we would be happy to help provide the donkeys and stable and care for the animals during the trial scheme.

Feedback

Please add your comments about the Chalford Donkey Project

Lesley from Leicestershire wrote this letter to us when she heard about the project on Radio 5 Live:
The mention of 'Chalford' and 'Donkey' took me straight back to my childhood, I had such happy holidays there. At night, before my bedtime, my uncle, aunt and I would stand on the porch and look over the valley to the woods opposite and then I used to think "when I am an old lady I'd like to live here." Unfortunately it wasn't to be but I still remember Chalford with great affection.


Pat from the West Midlands wrote to us:
I was delighted to read the article in the Daily Mail (Feb 8). It brought back many happy memories of then I was evacuated to Chalford at the age of 10 in 1940. I stayed with a Mr and Mrs Gardener of Abnash Cottages. Everyone was very kind to me.


A Daily Mail reader wrote in to the newspaper this letter of opposition:
How very kind of the Daily Mail to volunteer the services of a little donkey of 23 years old to work as a beast of burden for some lazy bastards who can quite easily carry their own shopping. We are disgusted by your newspaper encouraging these village weirdos. Bringing back archaic practices is disgaceful. We have moved on since the dark ages.

Another Daily mail reader wrote:
When we go abroad we see these poor little animals suffering lives of misery. We then think, thank goodness this doesn't happen in Britain. How nice for people to be able to see and touch animals. How very practical and environmentally friendly - WHAT ABOUT THE POOR ANIMAL? it has no say in the matter. Oh, and let's get the creature to plough our allotments. THIS IS CRUELTY TO ANIMALS by selfish human beings. Anna Usborne should have her wicker baskets tied round HER neck -see how she likes it. We are no great lover of animals but are disgusted at the way humans use them in a selfish way. There is no need for it in this day and age.