Fen Bank Greyhound Sanctuary is a registered charity dedicated to the protection and re-homing of ex-racing Greyhounds. We are based at Friskney near Skegness in South Lincolnshire, and were established in December 1997. The Sanctuary, which obtained independent registered charity status in 1998, provides comfortable spacious accommodation for around 20 greyhounds of all ages who have come from all over the United Kingdom. We take in dogs from many sources – trainers, owners, the police, the RSPCA and other welfare groups. Some are cruelty cases, including dogs with physical and emotional scars, dangerously underweight dogs, and dogs seriously ill from neglect.
Policy Statement
Fen Bank Greyhound Sanctuary does not support or condone greyhound racing. However, the Sanctuary was founded to be “for the rescue and rehabilitation of ex-racing greyhounds in need”. The Sanctuary therefore has to maintain links with individuals and organisations within greyhound racing to be able to provide the best possible chance of successfully meeting its aims.
The Sanctuary
We welcome visitors every afternoon until 3pm (other times by appointment) – we are waiting for your visit. At busy times you may have to bear with us as we are a working kennel, so the dogs come first!
Each greyhound has a warm kennel, their own run, and in addition there are three large galloping paddocks for free exercise, one of which is covered in several inches of sand. All dogs are walked almost every day and as far as possible they are treated like the pets they are destined to become.
We provide fully-supported homing and follow-up programmes for every greyhound, including vetting procedures and a help line. All our dogs are neutered, inoculated, wormed, health checked and micro-chipped before being placed in a new home. Although we do our best to ensure that our greyhound adoptions go smoothly for both new owner and dog, there are occasions when a homing fails, and we then insist that dogs MUST come back to Fen Bank. A Fen Bank dog is a Fen Bank dog for life.
As an independent registered charity, the Sanctuary relies on donations, our shops at Alford and Spilsby and a programme of events during the year to continue to support the dogs in our care. We are members of the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes and our Honorary Friends are Clarissa Baldwin OBE, and John Curran.
The People
The Sanctuary is managed by Mick Fern, with the support of Kennel Assistants Sue Card, Claire Stanton, Gill Bradbury, Amanda Kemp, Nicky George, Toni Anne Butler and Jon Lee. The Sanctuary is left overnight in the capable hands of our night attendant Tricia Baker. Our Charity Shop in Spilsby is managed by Bev Millard with her fantastic team of volunteers. Our charity shop in Alford is managed by Janette Slapp and Nicky George and their team of wonderful volunteers. Both our charity shops raise a huge amount of money to support our lovely longtails.
We also are very grateful for the support of our regular volunteers who provide day-to-day care of the dogs and give them the extra attention that they would otherwise miss.
John Forrest is our Honorary Treasurer.
The ultimate responsibility for Fen Bank Greyhound Sanctuary rests with the Board of Trustees: Ian Breacher (Chair of Trustees), Paul Bryan (vice-chair and PR), Stella Pullum (Shops Trustee) Graham Crick, Graham Fountain, Sally Martin (Kennels Trustee) and Steve Martin (Kennels Trustee)
