Yippee it's official! The bears will arrive at the Zoo on the 30th March!! Still a lot to be done and the rest of the money raised, but we've got a date to focus on and everything will be ready for Carmen, Peggy & Suzy, please spread the word. Happy International Save Bears Day everyone:)
The next stage of constructing the holding pen area is about to begin now that the metal posts have arrived, if the rain keeps of, the men will start cementing them in place today.
A MASSIVE thank you to Pump Action, who have just donated a fantastic pump for the pond. It will power the waterfall and also keep the pond water moving..... we've already started installing it - Happy International Save Bears Day it is indeed!
This is specially for Don Min Jay who has asked for some new images of the bears, will try to put a new one up each day :)
Carmen...
Weather permitting, this Saturday June and Eva McCubbin are planning a car boot sale in the carpark area of the Zoo and all money raised will go to the bear appeal - thanks so much as always:)
That's the brickwork finished, now for the metal work :)
Suzy tucking into a piece of fish:) Please keep spreading the word about our appeal, thank you.
Bears are awesome! Here's Carmen, deep in thought - wondering how our thermometer is doing?
Door frames for the holding pens are now in place!
Bat Ear foxes have amazing faces :)
The unloaded doors getting sorted for the holding pen area, shiny and new! Thank you to Mechanical Plant for your hard work to date with the metal work:)
Great excitment at the Zoo as the frames/doors start to arrive for the holding pens :)
The brickwork for the holding pen area is coming along, hoping that it will be finished by the weekend:)
Good luck to a number of pupils and teachers from Bathgate Academy who are going to so a sponsored circuit of the aerial assault course at the Edinburgh International Climng Arena, Ratho on the 24th Feb to raise money for the bears. You are all very brave!
Work is well underway on the 3rd fence - this will be the one that the public will stand behind to see Peggy, Carmen and Suzy:)
We have 3 fabulous new Golden Pheasants courtesy of Lakeland Wildlife Oasis - thank you, they are enjoying their new home in with the Kookaburra.
A massive thank you to Duncan Anderson (14), who has raised an amazing £150 from his plunge into the Gareloch on New Years Day. Well done Duncan pictured below diving in on the right:)
Watch out for our new transalvanian naked neck chicken who is free to roam around the Zoo - don't worry he's not meant to have feathers around his neck, hence the name:)
Welome to the first babies of 2012 - gorgeous baby guinea pigs!
The guys have been busy today with the concrete blocks, its starting to take shape!
This fantastic framed painting entitled "Looking Forward" could be yours for as little as £2.00! The winner will be known soon, tickets can still be bought from the on-line shop on the website. A huge thank you to Gordon Corrins for painting and donating this amazing piece!
Thanks to Central Scotland Joinery, the owls all have new owl boxes - here's our beautiful Bengal Eagle Owl showing his new home off!
Works started on the holding pen area - the concrete blocks kindly donated by Buildbase are now getting cemented into place and the metal doors are currently getting made by Mechanical Plant Hire, Bathgate:)
Congratulations to the 3rd Mid Calder Brownies who held a sponsored karaoke night to raise money for the bears and have presented us with a cheque for £330!!!!! This is fantastic and a huge thank you goes to Brown Owl Donna White and all her lovely brownies (and not forgetting all the people who sponsored them!)
Well done to Duncan Anderson pictured below diving into the Gareloch (he's the one on the right) for his New Years day swim! He is still collecting his sponsor money but looks like he will raise an amazing £140!! Many thanks Duncan for doing this for the bears and to the people who sponsored him:)
Thanks to both Annie Galbraith and Mike and his fellow climbers from the Westerinch Mountaineering Club, the thermometer is now over the £50K. A massive thank you once again for this and for those who bought calendars and sponsored the guys pictured here with Brian and their large cheque!
Just added the ASDA bag pack money to the thermometer and its now at £49,666 - wonder when we will be at £50K???
Good luck to Duncan Anderson who is going to do a sponsored swim across the Clyde tomorrow for the bear appeal! Let's hope it's mild tomorrow and a huge thank you to Duncan for doing this!
What a fantastic Chrsitmas present the bear appeal got from Ian Whatley from Hardhill Travel pictured below on the right, with Brian Curran, co-owner of the Zoo. Ian presented 3 cheques each for £250 from his 3 businesses; anyone who bought a gas cyclinder since October £1 was donated to the appeal, anyone using his garage services he donated £5 and for each travelling passenger on the Executive Mini buses travelling over the weekend, he donated £1. Ian also handed over 2 very heavy donation tins, so £750 + this is a fantastic amount THANK YOU!!!
Our male Giant Continental Rabbits got a lovely Christmas present each - 3 new posh hutches thanks to Central Scotland Joinery, who very kindly donated them. Thank you from all the rabbits!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all the staff at the Five Sisters Zoo!
We are so excited about 2012 and hope to see you all soon! Have a wonderful time - Santa is on his way!!! :)
A huge thank you to both Will and Lou Patterson - they recently got married and instead of buying "wedding" favours, they gave a donation to the bear appeal, explaining this to everyone at the wedding. Congratulations to you both and enjoy your first Christmas together as Mr and Mrs! Will designed our website so thanks to him for all his hard work this year:)
A huge thank you to the Civic Centre, Livingston for agreeing to let us sell our 2012 Zoo calendar from the reception desk area tomorrow (Wednesday 21st) from 11 - 2.30pm. If you are still needing a wee extra gift for someone or simply a calendar for yourself, please call by - calendars are £5 each and all proceeds will go to the bear fund.
Our thanks once again to Eva and her mum June for their latest donation to the bears, bringing their total to a massive £782.14! Eva visited a snowy Zoo on Sunday and enjoyed her visit to Santa in his new grotto. Thanks also for buying calendars and bear soaps:)
Santa will be at the Zoo, from 11 - 4pm this Saturday, Sunday and Saturday 24th! Come and visit him, £5.00 per child and includes a present and free child zoo ticket valid for 6 months. Situated in our fabulous new log cabin, the carpark area with his reindeer you can either just viist Santa or include a visit to the Zoo and/or soft play.
Can anyone help to sell our calendars - if we don't manage to sell them over the next two weeks, we may well be left with them
if you are able to help or have any good ideas please call Lesley on 01506 870000. Thanks
You can still join in with the on-line donation raffle that's not a raffle, its open till 5pm tonight - our total so far is £543.00 lots of great prizes! http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/154350484664740/
For the next 24 hours there's an on-line fundraiser event happening on the Circus Bear Appeal page. To donate simply click on the link below for the Zoo and donate £5.00 or more to be entered into our raffle for a chance to win one of these wonderful prizes, more to be added today. http://www.fivesisterszoo.co.uk/index.php
This is the link for the prizes https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150385888457382.348715.540607381&;type=1
Our fabulous bear painting "Looking Forward" is now on display at Bronze Framing & Gallery, Stirling http://www.bronzeframing.co.uk/index.html. For £2.00 per raffle ticket, this wonderful painting could be yours! Next week the painting will move to Julian Jardines Gallery and Workshop in Perth - good luck!
We've got all the sponsored walk money in from the Forth Road Bridge Walk on the 30th October and have raised £2353.00!! This is an amazing amount and thanks again to all who joined in and collected the money :)
A huge thank you to Karen who organised a Pyjama Party at the Firs last Friday night and raised a staggering £306.00 for the bear appeal. Many thanks for all those who supported the evening and to Karen who was stuffering from toothache on the day.
This amazing painting has been gifted to the Zoo by artist ,Gordon Corrins. This original piece which is in a fabulous frame, will be raffled and all proceeds will go the Circus Bear Appeal. The painting will initially be displayed in galleries in Perth and Stirling where raffle tickets will be on sale for £2.00t. The title "Looking Forward" was chosen by Gordon's wife Vivienne; for the bears and the Zoo staff when the goal of bringing the bears to live at the Zoo has been achieved. Thank you SO much Gordon for this wonderful gift.
Santa is coming to the Zoo each weekend in December - including Xmas Eve, 11-4pm £5.00 per child and includes a gift and free child Zoo ticket valid for 6 months. Visit the enchanted Grotto in the carpark area either with or without a visit to the Zoo/soft play areas.
A huge well done to the Wester Inch Mountaineering club who successfully climbed the Five Sisters of Kintail last Sunday. The weather was fantastic and by setting of early, they managed to get down as the sun was setting a total of 8 hours!! They have raised just over £600 which is fantastic guys!
Thanks to Buildbase at Whitburn, the concrete blocks arrived today that will be used for the holding pen area, another step closer.... We are so grateful for this generous donation Buildbase.
Congratulations to Joseph Doherty, aged 14 who took part in a 20 mile cycle in Ayrshire on Saturday 5th November. He has very generously donated the money he raised for the bear appeal - an amazing £410.00! Thank you so much to Joseph and those who sponsored him.
Once again good luck to the guys who are doing the sponsored climb of the Five Sisters of Kintail today, enjoy and take care - they set of before it got light as its a 10 hours climb :)
The Zoo will be at Honey Pot Ceramics (within the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena, Ratho) this Sunday from 1 - 4pm, with a royal python, tortoise, bearded dragon and others so you can get up close and have a touch! Honey Pot have kindly invited us along to help raise money for the bear appeal - you could also let the kids get busy painting a pot, or making jewellery and cosmetics - great for Xmas pressies:) the bear appeal calendars will also be on sale priced £5.
A huge thank you once again to 6 year old Eva and her mum June for all their fundraising efforts for the bears. On Halloween they presented Brian with £400 and have not finished yet...please like Eva's Circus Bear Appeal facebook page and also Craigton House, if they get 1000 likes, the bears get £100! Here's a rather scary looking Eva at our Halloween party.
Folks who would like a fun weekend with the chance to win some wonderful prizes, make a note in your diary for Friday 2nd and Sat 3rd Dec! Prizes to be won and lots of information about bears, all of which is being co-ordinated through Dawn Edwards and Marion Wilson. Dawn and Marion are asking if anyone would like to donate a prize or need more info to contact them before the 26th Nov, be prepared to learn all about bears, laugh and help raise funds to bring our bears home :)
