New Luxury Retirement Village announces Charity of the Year and Community Fundraising Dog Show

Cirencester's new luxury retirement complex, ‘Siddington Park' built by award-winning developer Rangeford Villages, has announced its new charity of the year - the National Foundation for Retired Service Animals (NFRSA). 

The NFRSA was founded by The Countess Bathurst, who visited Siddington Park for a tour of the incredible facilities on offer for people over sixty years old.  The NFRSA was set up to promote the care, wellbeing and welfare of retired service animals from across the emergency services family, namely that of police, fire, prison and border force. 

Head of Marketing for Rangeford Villages, Amanda Valentine-Bunce, said:  "It was our great pleasure to host Lady Bathurst for a visit to Siddington Park, during the launch of the new Grange Apartments.  Lady Bathurst enjoyed a tour of the apartments and afternoon tea with our team.  We donated £250 and presented the Countess with a bouquet of flowers to thank her for her time working with us to raise funds for this very worthy cause.  Her charity, which takes care of retired service animals from the Police, Fire, Border Force and Prison service animals, is an excellent fit with our retirement brand."

Siddington Park is planning its first fundraising event for the NFRSA, a community dog show at the village held on Saturday 27^th May, which will be judged by Lady Bathurst.   There will also be a police dog display at the event. Refreshments, a raffle, shopping and prizes for dog show class winners will all make up the event.  Full details will be released soon.

Lady Bathurst said: "It was a privilege to visit Rangeford, Siddington Park. It's clear that a huge amount of thought has gone into the planning, because it's beautifully designed. The amenities are excellent, every residence is unique, and I loved the light and airy feel each apartment has.  And for someone who possibly has too many unnecessary belongings, the storage space is fabulous.  It already has the atmosphere of a friendly, welcoming, and inclusive community, and I absolutely believe that anyone lucky enough to be able to live here will be incredibly happy. It's a very special place."   

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ALL MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Jo Welch, The Cotswold PR Companyjo@thecotswoldprcompany.com07767 416092

Above:  Lady Bathurst with David Doody, from Rangeford Villages' sales team

Above left to right:  David Doody; Lady Bathurst; and Amanda Valentine Bunce, Rangeford's Head of Marketing.

Exterior of Rangeford Villages' Siddington Park, Cirencester

Above: Interior of Siddington Park's show home

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Rangeford Villages: (www.rangefordvillages.co.uk)             

Rangeford Villages mission is to create beautiful, contemporary communities with excellent services and amenities to help people 60+ enjoy life to the full. Rangeford is owned by Fern Trading Limited, the parent company of a diverse group of companies based in the UK with a market capitalisation of £2.8bn. It is advised by Octopus Real Estate, a leading UK healthcare property investor, developer and manager. Octopus Real Estate is part of Octopus Group, which invests in and develops partnerships and properties to deliver innovative healthcare facilities to improve the health and wellbeing of the UK.

About the NFRSA: (https://www.nfrsa.org.uk/)

The National Foundation for Retired Service Animals is a registered charity (1200949) supporting retired dogs and horses from the police, fire, prison and border force services by helping with medical and veterinary bills, which inevitably occur as they get older.

When serving police/fire/prison/border force dogs and horses careers end, the financial support they have enjoyed whilst working, including food, kennels or stables, medical and veterinary requirements, training and equipment also comes to an end.

Unfortunately, meaningful insurance is almost impossible to obtain due to their age and training, and even if available, the premiums insurance companies charge for retired animals is incredibly high. This is obviously a serious worry for handlers who have their own financial obligations, and medical bills can be a real challenge.

As is widely acknowledged, the relationship between a handler and their working partner is second to none, and it is unthinkable that the pair may be broken up due to financial pressure. Unfortunately, this does often happen, and it causes great distress for the handlers, their families, and of course the animals themselves.

So, the NFRSA is there to help to ensure these wonderful animals can stay where they belong, with the families they love, as the years advance. It's the least they deserve when they've devoted most of their lives to keeping us, the public, safe.

Our job, quite simply, is to ‘Protect Our Protectors'.