St John’s Church in Felixstowe is the location for the unique yuletide concert on Friday 11 December 2026, raising funds for our branch.

Join us for a wonderful evening of festive music from The Rabble Chorus, a community choir and The VIPs, a male a cappella group who have selected a mix of Christmas classics and carols for singing along to!

As a dog-friendly event, the night will bring together local pet lovers and their canine friends for an evening including a celebration of animals by the Revd Helen Rengert, vicar of Felixstowe Parish.

We would also love you to celebrate your other pets – whether they are safely at home or are no longer with you – so why not bring along a photo of your pet or memento to share with others on the night.

Doors open at 6.30pm for mulled wine and mince pies and the chance to buy your raffle tickets and other festive goodies, with the concert set to start at 7pm.

There will be a fundraising raffle with lots of local foodie treats including a star prize of a luxury Christmas hamper with contributions from the county’s leading food producers including Pump Street Chocolate and Stokes sauces.

Tickets cost £10 and include mulled wine, mince pies and other festive treats. Under 14s free of charge when accompanying a paying adult.

Book your tickets online here or pop into our shop at 144a Hamilton Road, Felixstowe, IP11 7DS to purchase (from 1 November)!

Please note:

We’re over the moon to tell you that our Family Fun Day in May raised an amazing £2,800 despite the super-hot weather, you still turned out to support our branch and we couldn’t be more grateful!

The day would not have been possible without the kind support of the Suffolk Soul Singers who provided the fantastic live music, HMP Warren Hill and B&Q Ipswich for donating their time and materials to produce bug houses for kiddies to paint, everyone who baked fantastic goodies for our refreshment stand, Riverhills Healthclub & Spa and Play2Day who donated prizes for our raffle/draw and all our volunteers who worked a long day to make this event such a success.

Every penny will support our efforts in rescuing and rehabilitating animals across Suffolk and we couldn’t be more grateful 

As part of our drive to deliver much needed Welfare Services across Suffolk, we’re thrilled to announce that we have partnered with Whitworth Vets, Swayne & Partners and Vets4Pets Ipswich to launch six new Welfare Clinics in Bury St Edmunds, Felixstowe, Haverhill, Ipswich, Long Melford and Newmarket.

Our Welfare Clinics offer access to low-cost vet care and medication to families in need, with them receiving a vet consultation for just £30. To qualify, families need to have a household income of £26,437 or under per year.

The expansion of our Welfare Clinic programme means that more families have easier access to low-cost vets near them, with longer opening days/hours.

These clinics provide a vital service to local families and help keep pets in their loving homes, happy and healthy. You can find out more about all our clinics across Suffolk here.

Friday 12 June saw our inaugural Ryder Pup charity golf day – and Team Essex emerged victorious! It was a tie with 4.5 points each, decided by the biggest winning margins on the holes – with Essex edging ahead 14 v 12.

But what a great day – we had fabulous weather, great food, a wonderful group of players, who really got in the spirit of the day – donating an incredible £1,400 on the day through our auction, raffle and extra donations – thank you all!

Huge thanks also go to our kind sponsors GBS Contracts and MSC UK, as well as the team from Offset Films who were on hand to capture the day on video for us. Thanks also go to everyone who kindly donated prizes for the day including The Stoke By Nayland Resort, The Crown at Stoke by Nayand, The Warren Estate, P&R Locksmiths, C’mon Golfwear and the Skylark Vineyard.

We were recently invited to attend a Poetry night at the Half Moon Pub in Felixstowe, to speak to a group of talented poets that meets regularly to perform or recite poetry.

Our fundraiser, Lorna, gave a short talk about the work our branch does in the Felixstowe area, including our new Welfare Clinic at Whitworth Vets that provides subsidised vet care and medication for families on low-income, our pop-up pet food banks and other financial assistance.

The organisers had tasked the group with reading poems about animals and there were some amazing readings – some that made us cry and some that made us laugh.

The group have kindly agreed to let us reproduce a few for you:

I Paused Unsure by Sean Timms

Yesterday
I was cold and wet life on the street 
exhausted and panting
defeated 
I couldn’t walk 
my paws were so sore 
outside this somewhat familiar building 
I paused 
Unsure 

From angry demeanours comes a different face 
seems kind 
so does the different voice 
a better place awaits you 
Trust me

I know that I don’t really have a choice 
because I’m cold wet and tired from this life on the street 
Go with you or stay 

Today
I awoke to different smells 
rescued 
from a life of abandon misery and abusive yells 
RSPCA 
Not sure what that means 

There you are 
Smile you say 
I recognise your voice 
Your face
your photograph will be on poster wall and computer screens 

Excited 
Visitors are at the shelter 
here I am 
wait 
Please don’t go 
now I’m sad again why do you have to leave 

Happiness 
No More sorrow 
the visitors from yesterday are taking me home tomorrow 
today will be my last day alone 
Adopted 
I will finally have a forever home 

I still don’t know what 
RSPCA means 

But I think it means a better tomorrow 

Colin the Triceratops by Howard

My Triceratops is most unwell
He’s green around the gills
His feet are pink and his ears are ablue
I’m up to my knees in dinosaur poo
and I really can’t stand the smell

I found him ‘neath a chestnut tree
When he was just a calf
I called him Colin and took him home
My neighbours they did laugh

He’s last in line you know
No more once he is gone
Dinosaurs don’t make great pets
But we’ve always got along

My dinosaur is most unwell
So I took him to a vet
“I’m sorry, Colin can’t come here;
He’ll eat the other pets.”

So I took him to my local zoo
To see if they could help
They gave him cherries and monster munch
He roared out loud as he ate his lunch
The spent an hour in the loo

My Triceratops is now fit and well
But it’s time for a new home
I called the RSPCA
And I really don’t know how
They found Colin a farm to stay
And he’s made friends with a cow.

If you would like our team to give a talk for your school, group or at an event, please get in touch here.

This year we thought we’d try something a little different to help the animals in our care find love. So with this in mind, the lovely Maisy will be be offering ‘speed dates’ to potential new families!

Date: Tuesday 17 February 2026
Time slots available: 11.30am, 12noon, 2pm, 2.30pm

If you’d like a 15-minute ‘date’ with Maisy to get to know her, before you consider applying to adopt her, you can register your interest online here.

All we ask is that you meet the adoption criteria for Maisy, so we can ensure that the dates get filled with the most suitable matches – every girl deserves the best chance for love…

To find out more about Maisy, with all the details of her needs, please visit https://rspca-suffolkcentral.org.uk/dogs/maisy/

Spaces are extremely limited, so book your space today!

About Maisy

🐾 MAISY, 7
📍 Suffolk

Brindle queen 👑 | Cuddle connoisseur | Walk lover | Certified good girl with big feels 💛

Loyal, affectionate and endlessly smiley — I’ll greet you like you’re my favourite person every single day. I’m happiest right by your side, preferably on a comfy sofa or out exploring together.

‘Swipe right’ if you:
• have dog experience
• can offer me a private, fully secure garden with 5ft fencing
• want a one-dog household (I like being your main character)
• don’t mind helping me keep up my gentle weight-loss glow-up

Families with kids aged 8+ welcome — I bring the love, you bring the patience.

My love language: chest scratches, sniffy walks, and being told I’m beautiful.

I am looking for my forever human… could that be you? 💕

Staffordshire Bull Terriers (‘Staffies’) are an often over-looked or misunderstood breed, who can spend more time in our care before finding their forever home than some other dogs. However, with the right training Staffies can make wonderful pets, and like Maisy, are well-behaved, affectionate and playful. If you’d like to learn more about Staffies please visit the RSPCA website here.

What a great night! Huge thanks to everyone who came to our Charity Quiz night at The Woolpack in Ipswich last night.

It was a tightly contested quiz, but the winners were Forza TCL – who nabbed some bottles of fizz to celebrate 🍾 A full list of the results are below.

We also raised an incredible £743.48 – all of which will go to help animals in need across Suffolk 🐾💕

Huge thanks to the Woolpack team for generously hosting and @coes_stores, @dial_lane_books and @EastOfEnglandCoop for your generous prize donations and Rebecca, Brian, Katie and Marilyn who volunteered their time to help with quiz-mastering, event set up, ticket sales and running the raffle!

Final results:

Team Name Total score
Forza TCL 92
Relegation fodder 87
Abolut Horse 84
Dazed and Confused 84
The Tudders 81
Quiz 2 Far 78
Foxy Tractors 78
No Ice please 74
We brought a dog 71
Bleak Expectations Revisited 69
Aurora 59

Our next quiz night will be in Martlesham on Saturday 11 April and tickets will be on sale soon! You can find details of this, and all upcoming events here.

If you’re interested in volunteering at any of our other events, please visit our volunteering page on our website here to find out more.

Our new range of birthday cards is hitting our charity shops in early February! All our stores in Felixstowe, Ipswich, Stowmarket and Bury St Edmunds will be selling the fun range of dog and cat cards for £2 each!

This completes our new stationery range which includes mini notebooks, bookmarks and fridge magnets. Priced from just £1.50, these items are fantastic gifts for any animal lover.

The animals featured are inspired by actual animals that we have cared for, and their details are on the back of each birthday card.

We hope you love these as much as we do – and all profits from the sale of these products will be used to support our work helping animals in need across Suffolk.

Details of our shop locations and opening hours can be viewed on our website: https://rspca-suffolkcentral.org.uk/our-shops/

We asked, you voted!

We’re thrilled to announce the results of our ‘Suffolk’s favourite dog breed of 2025’ poll:

As you know, we love ALL dogs, but Staffies hold a special place in our hearts and thoroughly deserve the top spot!

The top 6 breeds will be featuring on an exciting new range of stationery items hitting our shops very soon – so keep an eye out!

You can view all the dogs currently in our care and looking for a forever home here.

We know, Christmas is still a way off, but it’s still fun to plan a festive charity fundraiser!

How about holding a Christmas Jumper Day at your work, school, at a family gathering or with your local community/sports group?

Grab your worst (and by that we mean best) Christmassy jumper, collect donations to help animals in need, and feel that warm festive glow of doing something amazing, all while looking ‘cool’!

You can find out all you need to know on our campaign page at https://rspca-suffolkcentral.org.uk/christmas-jumper-day/

Sign up today!