Graham Cornick of Hydestile Wildlife Hospital
This year our Summer Buffet lunch was held in June instead of the usual July meeting. Some 45 members and guests gathered on June 3rd for this popular event in our calendar.
Chairman Sybil Saunders opened the meeting with news of absentees Jacqui Prendiville, who is recovering well from her operation and Linda Reading, a former Committee member, who is anxiously waiting the birth of her first grandchild. She wished our hard working Secretary Shirley a fantastic trip visiting friends and relatives in Australia. Members were invited to sign up for the trip to West Dean on July 14th and given the wonderful news that an anonymous well wisher would like to take all members to lunch at The Georgian Hotel in Haslemere on Aug 28th
Members were then invited to enjoy the colourful and tempting array of meats and salads on the buffet table along with a glass of wine. President Peter White gave a ‘Thank You Grace’ following the delicious meal. Once all the food had been cleared away we were given a clue as to the subject of our Speaker when a large black German Shepherd ambled into the hall along with several covered animal cages. Cue Graham Cornick of HydestileWildlifeHospital!
For the next 45 minutes Graham entertained us in hilarious fashion with the story of his life since he and his wife Lyn started the hospital in Godalming some 30 years ago. Recently they have decided to step back from the hectic life of animal rescue and the centre is now called Hydestile Resident Animals. This means they are keeping many of the animals that they have rescued over the years which are unable to go back into ‘the wild’ and continue to give advice when asked. Their first rescued animal was a road accident deer, when they found there was nowhere to treat it the WildlifeHospitalhad its first patient! now there are similar centres all over the country.
Graham brought in 6 creatures, all with a different rescue story – the German Shepherd was rescued 7 years ago along with other puppies from an unsavoury puppy farm in London, the first cage revealed a rather large European Eagle, a native of Scandinavia, which has been at Hydestile for 12 years. Then a tiny Syrian Hamster found scurrying along a country lane just 12 weeks ago. There was much laughter as Dorisand Dolly, two polecat ferrets emerged from the next cage and our drivers were invited to see how long they could survive with them in their trousers – they declined the invitation.
In February this year a barn owl joined the family, she will never be able to survive in the wild as she has a twisted beak and one eye smaller than the other. 22 years ago another owl came to be rescued but she then refused to leave.
Lastly came a tawny owl chick, a ball of fluff just 3 or 4 weeks old which had been found at the Rikyo school in Sussex.
During his very entertaining talk Graham took the opportunity to remind us that Hedgehogs have been on the endangered list since 2007 and we should be on the look out for them in our gardens and that parents should make sure that children are responsible before buying a pet.
Once the animals were safely in their cages members enjoyed a welcome cup of tea and biscuits as Sybil thanked Sheila and Phyllis for the lunch, presenting them with a fuchsia plant each, Phyllis then took the opportunity to thank one of our ‘back room ladies’ Brenda Petrie for her help in the kitchen every month.
