Staff at Galedin Vets Practice start charity bike challenge

The charity’s animal shelter and veterinary clinic was set up by ex-Royal Marine Commando Pen Farthing, who is fundraising to hire a cargo plane to fly out his colleagues and as many of their dogs and cats as possible in a mission called Operation Ark, as the charity faces the prospect of putting rescue animals in their care to sleep.

Members of the nursing team at the practice Danni Johnstone and Carol Smith set up bikes behind the reception area and clients are being urged to give their support.

The pair told us: “We were all upset by events unfolding in Afghanistan and are even more affected knowing about the veterinary staff and animals. VetPartners agreed to support Operation Ark but we as a practice wanted to do something, so we challenged ourselves at the Galashiels branch to cycle 3584 miles which is the distance from Afghanistan to Galashiels.

“We have a friendly competitiveness in our team and aim to complete miles in between consults, on lunch breaks, after work, weekends and even have staff coming back in on their holidays to complete some miles. We also have a strava page created to allow us to log any miles completed away from work.

“At Galedin we have a very caring and supportive client base and hoped they would get behind us in this challenge, which they have. We started the challenge on Friday 20th and have raised over £900 and have almost reached 500 miles. Only 3000 to go, so pop in and say hi while we shed blood, sweat and tears to complete our challenge.”

“You can help by donating at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/galapedalfornowzad or donating cash at reception, to help to get these animals and colleagues to the UK.”

The practice is situated at Unit 1 Easter Langlee Industrial Estate Melrose Road, Galashiels.