I know that many of you will remember Pat Wood MBE and the sterling work she did at the charity Leek Home for Strays.
It was therefore a real pleasure to visit Nicola Pierzchalla at the shop in Stanley Street, who is continuing with Pat's legacy. The charity shop is run entirely by volunteers and I heard how Nicola and her team do such amazing work rescuing stray cats and kittens, looking after them in their own homes or in kennels, arranging adoptions, working together with a local vet and running the charity shops to fund everything. They are keen to have more volunteers so please do get in touch with Nicola if you have a few hours spare to help out in the shops or would be willing to adopt one of their cats.
On the subject of animal welfare it was also great to meet Finn, the brave police dog who was almost killed protecting his handler, PC Dave Wardell, from a teenager with a knife.
I joined other MPs to pledge my support once again for the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill aka #FinnsLawPart2 and was given the latest version of ‘Finn's Map of MPs’ which already included Staffordshire Moorlands.
It's been a busy week in Parliament with important Bills such as the Second Reading of the Environment Bill being debated, lots of meetings with other Staffordshire MPs to discuss those issues that affect North Staffordshire and Stoke and I dropped into Parliamentary events to pledge my support for Fairtrade and to lobby Virgin Media for better broadband in our rural areas.
Finally, I have created a local charities section on my website following my charities training session with the Charities Aid Foundation. Any charities wishing to be included should email me with 200 words about your charity and a photo.
