22 Jun 2023
Vet and chair of trustees Kit Sturgess attends annual gala to hear of charity work made possible by lottery raising more than £1.1 billion for good causes to date.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
The audience at the People's Postcode Lottery's annual gala, with donations to a wide variety of charities it supports.
Cats Protection says it has been able to provide support, care and veterinary treatment to thousands of needy cats and kittens thanks to £7.3 million that has come from the People’s Postcode Lottery since 2018.
The money received by the charity, which has its National Cat Adoption Centre in West Sussex and funds various welfare resources, is part of £1 billion raised for charities to date.
Vet Kit Sturgess, who chairs the Cats Protection board of trustees, attended the People’s Postcode Lottery’s annual gala to find out about some of the charities that had received support and the projects that had benefited.
Dr Sturgess said: “This funding has supported a variety of our activities, including our Paws to Listen grief support service for owners experiencing pet loss, research to develop a cat welfare assessment tool, our advocacy programme (which has recently resulted in legislation for compulsory microchipping of owned cats in England), and our CATS [Cats and their Stats] report.
“It also helps cover the costs of caring for cats in our centres, such as Monkey, who came into our National Cat Adoption Centre in West Sussex needing a lot of medical care.”
Dr Sturgess continued: “The gala was an eclectic experience, which ranged from seeing the absolute delight and disbelief of winners, and watching a performance by Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet (reminding me of my student years), to appreciating an in-depth interview with actor, producer, and director Forest Whittaker about his charity’s work with young people to develop their leadership and peace building skills, and having some great conversations with other charity trustees and CEOs.”
People’s Postcode Lottery funding is granted via 20 charitable trusts that cover a huge variety of activities ranging from international charities to local community groups.
Other animal charities to benefit include PDSA, Medical Detection Dogs and Riding for the Disabled Association.
