Back Under Cover: How Thornberry Animal Sanctuary Got a New Gazebo in Three Days

Over the August bank holiday, strong winds snapped both front legs of Thornberry Animal Sanctuary's fundraising gazebo at Sheffield Fair, the seventh event in a run of nine across their summer. With the Rotherham Show only a week away, the South Yorkshire charity put out a heartfelt appeal on Facebook for help to replace it. Three days later they had a brand new, fully branded Gala Shade Pro 40 gazebo, donated free of charge by Gala Tent.

A bank holiday appeal we couldn't scroll past

We spotted Thornberry's appeal on the evening of the bank holiday Monday. They are longstanding customers of ours, and the gazebo the weather had destroyed was a 3m x 4.5m Gala Shade Pro 40 they had bought back in 2018, so we already knew the charity and the brilliant work they do. Our marketing manager Ryan saw the post and made them a promise there and then: we would do our best for them, whatever that ended up looking like.

At the same time, Thornberry volunteer Nate had emailed us with a plea for help, and it landed with our director Lisa. She gave the green light straight away to replace the gazebo at no cost, and to brand it up for them as part of the donation.

From a promise to a printed gazebo in three days

The next morning, Ryan spoke with Thornberry's hardworking Community Fundraiser, Lynsey, to confirm we would be delighted to help. She took the call in the middle of opening their brand new charity shop in Barnsley, an event attended by Barnsley's Mayor and by social media personality and charity shop lover Life at Gully.

By Tuesday afternoon, Lynsey had found a moment to sign off the design. By Wednesday the printing was finished. And by 10:30 on Thursday morning, Ryan personally delivered the new fundraising gazebo to Thornberry Animal Sanctuary in Dinnington, where a delighted and very grateful Lynsey met him for a photo, along with Duke, a friendly greyhound who has been in the charity's care for a couple of months and had been over to Barnsley for the shop opening too.

Three days, from the call going out to a brand new gazebo the same as the one they had relied on, finished with fresh branded covers for a professional touch. Because we covered the replacement, every pound the community donated to the appeal can go straight to the animals, and Thornberry can head into the last few events of their fundraising year with confidence.

Spotted at the Rotherham Show

Ryan headed down to the Rotherham Show at the weekend with his family, and tracked down the Thornberry fundraising gazebo like a hungry dog after a bone, catching up again with Lynsey whilst he was there. Seeing the new gazebo out in the field, doing exactly the job it was built for, was the best possible end to the story.

After the event, Ryan said: "Thornberry is an incredibly popular and important charity for our region and the animals in it. It's testament to their standing in the community that so many people and organisations wanted to come to their rescue in a moment of great need. I'm very proud that Gala Tent can count itself as one of their supporters, and it was great to see Lynsey and her team doing what they do best at The Rotherham Show. I wish them all the best for the remainder of their peak fundraising season."

A company of animal lovers

We are a team of animal lovers through and through, and Thornberry joins a growing list of good causes we have been proud to support. We recently donated branded gazebos to the Halifax, Huddersfield and Bradford branch of the RSPCA and to the Retired Greyhounds Trust in Sheffield. 

Anchoring the gazebo effectively

On the morning of the Rotherham Show, Lynsey shared an image of the gazebo's legs being triple anchored, with the caption "It's not going anywhere this time!"

As you can see, Thornberry triple-anchored their new Pro 40 gazebo, using the Gala Tent leg weight bag, a cast iron leg weight, and two heavy duty gazebo tent pegs. This meant that no matter what the wind conditions, they could be much more confident of protecting their vital fundraising shelter. There really is no such thing as too much anchorage when it comes to protecting your gazebo, especially when it is as important to your operation as it is to a charity.