Mowing Brigade - Denise & Dean from B&Q flank Maz & David of S.O.S.
at the presentation

Further to the successful outcome to our "Lucky Escape" story involving a young kestrel as featured in last month's blog, you might be interested in what has happened since.

We told you of how this tiny native raptor became trapped inside a local B&Q store and how we lent a helping hand in successfully returning it to the wild.

However, to our surprise, the story did not end there!

As we reported, during the period of incarceration we had many phone calls from concerned members of B&Q staff about the welfare of the bird and it was truly heart-warming to see the levels of genuine concern expressed. 

This in turn led to the development of some great rapport between ourselves and the store, as part of which Dean and Denise - both Managers at B&Q - got to understand more about S.O.S. and the work that we do. It also gave us the opportunity to give them an 'insiders view' of the centre and a guided tour of our Raptor Hospital and Rehabilitation Aviaries to illustrate our mission at first hand.

During the course of our dialogue we explained how we are completely reliant on public donations to operate, and this led to some interesting - but I hasten to add, un-prompted - conversations with regard to what help the B&Q organisation could give to S.O.S.

Given that at this time of year, the onset of Spring means that ground-keeping becomes a major concern as we start to tidy up after a long winter; and witnessing the dilapidated state of our lawnmower, itself in need of a thorough but expensive service - Dean and Denise took it upon themselves to contact the 'powers that be' within B&Q and ask if it would be possible to donate a new lawn-mower to S.O.S. to assist with our task.

The outcome was that shortly afterwards, we took delivery of a brand new lawn-mower courtesy of B&Q as a thank you for assistance we provided for the stranded Kestrel. So we would like to use this blog to extend a huge and heartfelt thank you to all the staff of B&Q and to good samaritans Denise an Dean in particular, for the part they played in ensuring that our visitor center looks pristine and ready to welcome the public throughout 2008.

In return, if you would like to join us in thanking B&Q for their support and are thinking of tidying up around the house now that winter is done, why not pay a visit to B&Q - click here for further details.