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.

The RSPCA Suffolk Central and RSPCA Essex Mid & North branches are hosting a ‘Ryder Pup’ golf day at the Stoke By Nayland Resort. This event will pit teams from Suffolk and Essex in a Ryder Cup style event in a pairs match play format.

For £200 per pair you can enjoy:

Timings for the day

8.30am Registration open, live scoring set up

8.45am Breakfast baps and hot refreshments served

9.15am Welcome and rules of the day run-through

9.30am Putting green open for practice

10.30am Tee times commence 

4.00pm Two course BBQ meal

4.45pm  Raffle and auction

5.30pm Prize giving presentation

6.00pm Expected finish

Not only will this be a fantastic day out, you’ll be helping to fund vital vet care, safe shelter and rehabilitation for local animals in need across Suffolk and Essex.

Book your tickets today to avoid disappointment as places are limited!

If you are interested in sponsoring a hole at this event, or providing raffle or auction prizes please get in touch with lorna.goodwin@rspca-suffolkcentral.org.uk or call 07842 93593.

The Ryder Pup is kindly sponsored by:

Video production of the event will be supplied by:

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 wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who kindly donated a gift to the animals in our care this Christmas through our Festive Gift Appeal. You were so kind, every animal got a gift and we were able to put out stockings for our residents on Christmas eve. 

Not only did families, individuals and local groups hand-deliver parcels to our Martlesham Animal Centre, local businesses got involved too.

We can’t say thank you to everyone personally (blame GDPR) but please believe your kindness meant the world to us all.

Would you like to take on the ultimate muddy challenge to raise runs for local animals in need?

We are offering £10 charity entries if you’d like to take part in either the Whole Hog or Boss Hog event on behalf of RSPCA Suffolk Central – all we ask in return is that commit to fundraise at least £150 on our behalf ahead of the event.

Event details

Sunday 4 October 2026

Start times available at 9.30am, 10.30am, 11.30am or 12.30pm

Whole Hog course: 30 obstacles, 5 mile run
Boss Hog course: 40 obstacles, 7 mile run

The Whole Hog events are for teams and individuals over 16, and include running (or walking) around a course made up of a variety of challenging obstacles.

They are hard work but a lot of fun, and usually last around 1 ½ to 3 hours (3 hours if you walk!).   

The Obstacles

You can expect to be crawling (under cargo nets), climbing (up steep banks and walls), wading through rivers (never swimming), tunnels, slides, jumps, swings and monkey bars… Expect to be tired, expect to be wet and muddy and expect to go the Whole Hog!

What’s included?

Full details about the event can be found on the event website here.

REGISTER YOUR PLACE TODAY!

Don’t forget to create your fundraising page on JustGiving here.

Please email fundraising@rspca-suffolkcentral.org.uk if you have any questions. 

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!

For the last two years we’ve created a fabulous team of runners who have taken part in the Ipswich Half Marathon while raising funds to support our vital services in supporting animals in need.

If you might be interested in running the 2026 event, which is being held on Sunday 27 September 2026, with a FREE charity entry, in return for committing to raise £150 for us, please let us know by signing up below! We’ll then be in touch nearer the time to see if you’d like to join our 2026 team.

Sign up now to express your interest here.