7 February 2017

Brooke 2017 supporter day

On February 2 Brooke hosted their #ProudToBeBrooke Supporter Day, an event inviting the charity’s friends and ambassadors to share in our recent success and hear about our upcoming plans to find solutions to major issues facing donkeys, horses and mules.

The day showcased Brooke’s achievements including meeting their target of reaching two million working equines in a single year and featured guest speakers sharing stories from the field and providing insight into the fantastic work Brooke carries out. It also provided a chance for representatives from Brooke programmes in India, Pakistan, Kenya, Senegal and Ethiopia to speak directly to supporters about the work they do.

Our CEO Petra Ingram opened the day’s festivities with a speech outlining Brooke’s new strategy which aims to reach more of the 100 million working animals worldwide than ever before and unveiled an emotional video showing scenes from our field work, highlighting the continuing need for Brooke’s work overseas.

Our Head of Animal Welfare Capacity Karen Reed kicked off the presentations by discussing the global challenges of tackling the welfare of working equines and the steps Brooke have taken in addressing them. She highlighted that, as well as supporting the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to set global welfare standards for working equines we also teamed up with World Horse Welfare, SPANA and The Donkey Sanctuary to help start to implement these standards and raise the profile of previously invisible working horses and donkeys with policy makers. This was also proven with the recent success of the ‘Brick By Brick’ report, launched with The Donkey Sanctuary and International Labour Organisation which emphasised the challenges of South Asia’s brick making industry.

One of our newest supporters was next to take to the stage. Carolyne Crowe, a veterinary coach and mentor, has decided to undertake the immense challenge of running ten marathons in ten days to raise £10,000 for Brooke. She admitted "I am continually being asked: Why would you do this? Why not go for a spa day to celebrate your fortieth? And my response is always ‘Why not?!’ If I can inspire people to think outside the box, to stretch themselves out of their comfort zone, to dare to dream and take action then that makes me happy." Accompanied by fellow vet and friend Brian they will be running all over the British Isles, finishing their gruelling journey with the London Marathon, you can follow their progress and donate to their cause through their website.

The second of our supporters to address the audience was vet and long-time Brooke supporter Ben Portus.

He explained how he, like our founder Dorothy Brooke, witnessed donkeys working and suffering in Egypt and was inspired to make a difference to their lives and also write a poem about his experiences. He said "thank goodness when Dorothy Brooke was in Egypt 20 years prior to my visit she decided to articulate herself far better than me in a letter to the newspaper to gather funds to help those animals and start the charity we’re all here to support today". Ben will also be running the London Marathon for Brooke, his colleagues at Paton and Lee have raised a considerable amount of money over the years and continue fundraise to help us achieve our goals.

We were also joined by world class farrier Tom Burch, who has supported the Brooke farriers since 2014. He shared his experiences of working on charity projects in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nicaragua and most recently Senegal and the challenges they faced.

I’ve seen farriers hacking away at donkey’s feet with machetes trying to trim them down…The objective of what we do when we work overseas isn’t to just turn around and say ‘you mustn’t do it that way’, the objective is to take what they do and improve upon it by showing them a slightly better method

Tom Burch, MBE, Farrier

During his 2016 trip to Senegal, Tom was joined by Farrier Major at the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment Neil Sherlock who also took to the stage to discuss the progression of farriery in the country. Whilst there, the pair evaluated the advancement of local practises since Tom’s visit in 2014 and found that, with the help of Brooke staff, the community had formed a farrier’s cooperative and each farrier now had their own workshop. Regular meetings were still taking place to ensure standards were being maintained and the farriers reported an increase in profits.

During a break from the presentations guests were invited to have a go at some farriery with varying levels of success!

We also produced an exhibition featuring images and updates from all of the countries Brooke work with and encouraged guests to chat with our country representatives who had travelled to London to take part in the day.

Back in the auditorium we were joined by Brooke ambassador and Olympic Team GB Chef d’Equipe Richard Waygood as he relived his recent trip to Nepal. He reflected on how much the communities cared for their animals and praised Brooke for helping provide better welfare for the working animals in the area. He was so touched by the people he met that he announced he would be donating the funds to build a shelter for the donkeys in one of the communities he visited. Thank you Richard!

We also had the opportunity to hear from our very own Content Editor Freya Dowson as she shared the emotive stories from her recent trip to Pakistan’s coal mines. Accompanied by slides of her photographs her speech ensured there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as she told the audience about the terrible conditions faced every day by coal mine workers and their donkeys. She ended, however, on a note of hope, Brooke vet Dr Nawaz has been working with the miners to ensure that their animals are allowed regular access to water, that their harnesses are well fitted to prevent lesions and that they are not overloaded, again highlighting the importance of Brooke’s work.

To round up our day’s events Brooke patron and ITV news anchor Alastair Stewart interviewed our CEO Petra about the future of the charity. She said ‘through our years of experience, Brooke understands that animals cannot change their welfare on their own and so it is vital for us to work with the owners and the communities and on a government level…The new strategy enables us to look forward to the future, to making sustainable, lasting change to the welfare of those animals’.

Petra used the opportunity to announce the exciting news that there is soon to be a Nicaragua Brooke branch opening to help further expand the reach of our work ‘we really make a difference, and what excites me is doing more of that, we have a really ambitious strategy… but we really are making it happen. Brooke is leading the way and it’s changing the world for working horses, donkeys and mules.