Meet the Team

I have worked many years for various charities and retail outlets. My passion is animals. I have had various animals from hamsters to horses and taken in many injured and rescued animals over the years. At present I have two ponies which are a black Fell and a chestnut New Forest. I also have four rabbits, two of which are rescues, a guinea pig, a hen and a dog called Tosh who is a Jack Russell Cross Westie. Tosh was handed over at only three days old as his mum had passed and he was hand reared. I took him on at fourteen weeks old and he has accompanied me to work from the day I took him on and now accompanies me to the Cromer RSPCA shop daily. He loves all the staff and volunteers and has made many new friends. We are both privileged to work for a great charity.

I joined the RSPCA team at Cromer in 2014 as a volunteer where I helped out with a wide range of tasks. In 2017 I was offered a job with Cromer mainly to do the furniture side but also running the shop and organising the volunteers and general running of the shop. I am very proud to be a member of the team at Cromer and to work for the RSPCA.

Animals are my passion. I volunteered my time while studying in college and leapt at the chance to join the team in 2013. I've spent a lot of hours working with animals and volunteering with public services. I am a believer in do what you can, when you can, how you can, where you can. Working hard to provide the public with a pleasant experience along with quality used and new items is made all that more rewarding knowing all the proceeds goes to helping to offer animals care and welfare in their time of need. Choosing a favourite animal is an almost impossible task, I'm a keeper of black cats so they hold a special place.

I am the Shop Manager of the Dereham store and have a long history in retail and hospitality. I am a huge charity shop fanatic and myself and my large family are very mindful of re-use and recycle, this has passed down to my children who are now also avid charity shoppers! We love nothing better than 'hunting for treasures' together, be it a bed set to re-purpose into a blind or some wool to make a market bag we love it! As an animal loving family, we have had almost a Noah's Ark of pets from large to very small and now we share our world with Susie the Ball Python, Penny the long dog and Ripley the wonder cat! I consider myself to be very fortunate to be in a job that I absolutely love whilst raising funds for such a worthy charity. I get to come into work and be in my element demonstrating my passion for creativity with dressing the shop windows or a merchandising theme. I also have the added bonus of getting to know our lovely customers and lots of fusses with their dogs (and sometimes cats!) that come into our shop, with their owners of course.

I've been obsessed with animals since I was a child, becoming vegetarian at the age of 12 and recently becoming a Vegan. I have always had rescue animals and wanted to be involved in helping them anyway I could. I have always worked in retail and have been in management roles for 20 years and managing a store to raise money for neglected and abandoned animals has fulfilled a lifelong ambition. It's a pleasure to come to work knowing the difference you make!

My love of animals definitely came from my parents, especially my Dad who was constantly rescuing German Shepherd dogs (his favourite breed) and so I grew up surrounded by big affectionate dogs. As much as I would love a big dog I only have room for a little one and so at home (and sometimes at work) I have my little spaniel Leo who just loves all the attention and fuss he can get. I started with the RSPCA in 2018 and feel really proud to be working for such a wonderful charity which helps animals and people in so many different ways; and as an added benefit I get to fuss all of the dogs who come into our shop with their owners!

After 20 years of commercial retail including many roles and projects, I joined the charity retail sector. I have been with the RSPCA Norwich Branch since February 2022 and find raising funds for animals through selling pre loved items so fulfilling. I have always had cats as pets from as long as I can remember. If I won, the lottery, I would set up a cat rescue centre!

Before joining the RSPCA family I worked as a classroom assistant teaching special youth with complex and profound difficulties discovering hidden amazing skills. I also have worked in IT which involved visiting customers, writing and developing bespoke software. Here I met my husband of 29 years. We have six children and have cared for various pets including Twitchy, Fudge and Truffles the rabbits and Rex Gandalf, Charcoal & Flash the guinea pigs. I also have a long sales background, working in store and as a jewellery rep travelling around Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Home work included childminding and selling on eBay and Amazon. I am wholeheartedly behind all the RSPCAs aims and feel privileged to be able to be fundraising for such a good cause.

Having previously worked as a photographer, publican, teacher, writer and door to door salesman amongst other jobs - I was so lucky to move to my favourite part of the country (Norfolk) at the same time a position came up to work for RSPCA, synchronicity at its best! Being an only child, always moving when I was younger, dogs were my constant & best friend - as they are now. To be able to give a little back to animals that have given so much to me is a privilege.

I'm the manager of the Wymondham shop and have been for the past 21 years, this is our second shop we moved to our present location in 2012 from a smaller shop just across the road. I really enjoy working in the shop with our lovely customers and volunteers some who have been here longer than me! What I really enjoy is the variety of each day from the lovely donations, to dressing our windows. You never know what each day will bring sometimes nothing (!) or sometimes it’s overwhelming, but we cope. We also have lots of lovely customers who regularly come in for a chat and then we can give their dogs a treat too.

I have worked in the Wymondham shop for 9 years where I started doing two days a week, this year it changed to three days. Most days I love my job I have a lovely hard working group of volunteers in the shop. I enjoy the customers that come in and their dogs which are my favourite pet of all, Labradors being my love of my life, having had my first at only 5 years old.