Latest News & Events
Bleakholt Events 2025
Come and join us at our Event Days at the Sanctuary in 2025! 27th April - Easter Event Day 6th July - Summer Fair 17th August - Fun Dog Show 23rd November - Santa's Workshop At Ramsbottom [...]
Happy New Year!
We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a very Happy New Year! We cannot thank you enough for all your support, it means so much to us. It's YOU that makes it [...]
Bleakholt’s Early Years – Mud, Toil and Tears
Irene Macauley (Priestley) wrote this book about the Sanctuary’s early years from 1967 – 1969 and it is an account of daily life at Bleakholt from the point of view of one of the kennel maids during [...]
Bleakholt at Christmas – take a tour with Pip!
Get ready for a festive adventure with Pip, one of our beloved sponsor dogs! This Christmas, Pip will be your guide as we take you on a special tour around Bleakholt. From heartwarming moments with our animals [...]
Abandoned Bunnies rescued
UPDATE! Huge thank you to everyone who has donated to the care of these babies - we are absolutely thrilled at your support which has raised £568.50! This will go towards vaccinations and some neutering! WOW! [...]
Santa’s Workshop
UPDATE! Thank you so much to everyone who came to Santa’s Workshop. We took a fantastic £2983! Massive thanks to the Stables Team for organising a fantastic day & to all the Staff & Volunteers who made [...]
Bleakholt 2025 Calendar has arrived!
Our fabulous Bleakholt 2025 Calendar is now available! It features past and present residents. We held a photo competition earlier this year where people were invited to enter photos of a Bleakholt animal and 3 lucky winners [...]
Help for Ana, Oscar & Elliot needed
Poor Oscar, Ana and Elliot are having to undergo Dental Surgery on Thursday 19th September. They have a condition called Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis, or EOTRH for short! The Dental Surgeon will come here, so [...]
Halloween Spooky Fun Day!
Spooky Fun Day - Sunday 20 October 2024 Join us for our special Halloween fun day at the Sanctuary from 12 noon - 3 p.m. It's a great family day out. Children's Fancy Dress Competition, Best Dressed [...]
Vet Costs Appeal – can you help us?
Veterinary Costs Appeal This year we have had more animals then ever needing urgent medical treatment. Many of those required surgery which has made a huge increase in our veterinary bills. In July alone our veterinary costs were [...]
Bleakholt Fun Dog Show 2024
UPDATE! Huge thank you to everyone who came to our Fun Dog Show on Sunday. Despite the dodgy weather, it was a fantastic day! So many gorgeous doggy stars! We raised an amazing £3,170 on the day! [...]
Bleakholt Christmas Fair 2024
UPDATE! Thank you to everyone who came to our Christmas Fair. A big shout out to our stallholders, our staff who helped out and to everyone who supported us. We made around £3,326 on the day which [...]
Meet our gorgeous new Family
Introducing our new family! They are Old Spot cross pigs – a lovely family group of Mum, Dad and their Daughter! Mum and Dad are 7 years old and their daughter is 6 years old (Dad is [...]
Gemma Atkinson raises money for Bleakholt
Our President Gemma Atkinson took part in the AJ Bell Great Manchester 10k Run this Sunday (26 May 2024) to raise money for the Sanctuary. Gemma set up a JustGiving page to raise funds for our animals [...]
Bleakholt Summer Fair on 30 June
UPDATE! Huge thank you to everyone who visited on Sunday. We raised a fantastic £5,901! It was a lovely day and we really appreciate your support. We hope you had a great time. Bleakholt Summer Fair [...]
Volunteers Wanted!
VOLUNTEERS WANTED! Volunteers are absolutely vital to help Bleakholt and we really appreciate everyone who takes time to help us in any way. If you have a day, or even a couple of hours to spare to [...]
New Charity Shop Opening – Rawtenstall
UPDATE! It was a lovely day at the Grand Opening with Gemma Atkinson. Thank you so much to everyone who came along. Please do come and take a look - we would love to see you there. [...]
Bleakholt Spring Fair 2024
UPDATE! Huge thank you to everyone who came to support us! We raised just short of £8,000 mon the day, so we are absolutely thrilled! We had so many visitors, so we hope you enjoyed your day [...]
Spring Raffle 2024
Friday 5 April 2024 - the Draw took place at 1 p.m. today. Congratulations to our 6 lucky winners who have all been notified. Huge thank you to everyone who took part - our animals are definitely [...]
Write Your Will for Free & support Bleakholt
Write your will for free! Bleakholt have linked up with Octopus Legacy to offer you the chance to write your will for FREE. Having a Will doesn’t just save your loved ones time, money and stress, but [...]
Lioness Keira Walsh becomes Bleakholt Ambassador
Lioness Keira Walsh is hoping to help Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary keep roaring as the England and Barcelona midfielder has become an Ambassador. Rochdale-born Keira will work alongside President Gemma Atkinson in helping to promote our amazing Sanctuary. [...]
Bleakholt Events in 2024
Come and join us at our Event Days at the Sanctuary in 2024! 28th April - Spring Fair 30th June - Summer Fair 25th August - Fun Dog Show 20th October - Spooky Fun Day 24th November [...]
Bleakholt Community Cafe
We are starting a Community Cafe every Wednesday from 4th October at our on-site cafe. The Cafe will be open from 11.15 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. It's free and just a place to come, have a chat, [...]
Haymaking Time at Bleakholt
Good things come to those who wait - haymaking time finally arrived with the weather! And what a haymaking it’s been, with our biggest crop yet at 1,400 bales! The team this year has been absolutely fantastic. [...]
So many Cats needing help
There are always animals needing our help, but Bleakholt, just like every cat rescue, is struggling to cope with the vast numbers of cats needing our help. In just 12 hours recently, a litter of ten day-old [...]
New Ambulance now Needed!
Our trusty Bleakholt Ambulance Van has finally given up! It is not financially viable to keep on ‘fixing it up’, so we must buy a replacement to make sure our animals can be transported safely to the [...]
Bleakholt Fun Dog Show 2023
UPDATE! A massive thank you to everyone that came to our Dog Show. We raised a FANTASTIC £3,936! Special thanks to our Judge, Stacey Edwards and all the staff and Volunteers who made it possible. We hope [...]
Bleakholt President Gemma – It’s a boy!
Huge CONGRATULATIONS to our President Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Marquez on the birth of their son Wishing Gemma, Gorka and Mia much joy and happiness - enjoy your family time together and have lots of fun! Lots [...]
Desperately sad for this little one
This is a desperately sad case - breaks your heart This morning (31 may 2023), three-month old Lila was brought in to the Sanctuary as a stray via a vet. She is a beautiful bulldog pup, but [...]
2024 Bleakholt Calendar Competition
The competition is now closed - Check out the gorgeous Winners below! It's here - the launch of our 2024 Calendar Competition! 2024 may seem a long time off, but we are already thinking about our calendar [...]
Bowie’s safe haven
24th May 2023 and meet the beautiful Bowie. This poor boy was left tied to the gate at the Sanctuary this morning. Although micro-chipped, the number didn't tell us anything and there has been no answer at [...]
Never Off Duty!
THIS IS THE BEST STORY! Bleakholt staff were part of an amazing reunion this morning! Bleakholt Sanctuary Manager Karen Weed and Sallie Conroy, Rehoming Supervisor for Dogs, were at the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes Conference [...]
Our latest rescue
With a lot of help, we have just rescued a young Mum cat and her four kittens after they were dumped in nearby Haslingden. A cyclist found a lone kitten on Commerce Street, near to the busy [...]
Help Us to Win a £1,000 Award This Year
They're back in 2023 - the Benefact Group Movement For Good Awards! The NEXT DRAW is Wednesday 6th SEPTEMBER 2023! Throughout the year, they are giving away awards of £1,000 to nominated charities and nominations are open [...]
Our Easter Visitor – & a Happy Ending!
Our stables staff got an extra visitor over the Easter weekend after a loose pony was found roaming the streets of Edenfield/Stubbings area. It was the early hours of Good Friday morning when Joint Head of Section [...]
Tree-tastic!
UPDATE 21 MARCH! Tree Planting day - and we're off! Fabulous turn out and things are going really well as you can see. Weather could be kinder, but....you know how it is! Huge thank you to all [...]
New Membership Scheme for 2023
We have launched an amazing new two-tier membership scheme so you can get more for your money, help the animals and become part of our fantastic charity. There is now Standard Membership and Membership Plus, with options [...]
Bleakholt’s Next Top Model
UPDATE 3 MARCH 2023! The judges had such a hard time choosing our next Top Model as they were all beautiful! It was so tough that TWO were selected! Minnie the dog will feature on [...]
Goat Thomas rescued from tram tracks in Manchester
A goat brought Manchester Metrolink to a standstill on a busy Monday morning, January 16th 2023! Peter, the Head of our Farm section, got a phone call from Manchester Metrolink saying there was a goat on the [...]
Dog Grooming is so important
Please remember to budget for the cost of regular grooming when taking on certain kinds of dogs. Harper (shown above), a Labradoodle, was surrendered to us very recently. The two year old has extremely matted fur and [...]
Volunteers needed in our 3 Charity Shops!
Making a difference - and having fun! We urgently have need of Volunteers to work in our Bury, Ramsbottom and Bacup Charity Shops to ensure their continued success. Volunteers will help with the smooth running of the Shops. [...]
Some of our 2023 plans
We thought you would like to know just some of our plans for Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary for 2023 which we will be fundraising for. If anyone feels they can help with these, or you would like more [...]
Max and Pascal – cheeky duo!
Our two stable cats Max and Pascal can often be found playing games! They are siblings and were found as strays, untrusting of human contact, but they moved into the staff room and now they just love [...]
Our very own Head Elf!
Our beautiful Pip loves dressing up and here he is this Christmas making a fabulous Head Elf! Pip has been with us for a long time now and he has quite a few funny little ways and [...]
Bleakholt Bookshop
Onsite Bookshop at the Sanctuary The big news is that our bookshop takings have just smashed £50,000! THIS IS AMAZING! We are absolutely over the moon! For those who don't already know, we have a Bookshop on [...]
Our Stable Staff on hard work and heartbreak
Read about the fantastic work our amazing Stable Staff carry out every day at Bleakholt! “A good sense of humour, strength and a waterproof skin” – those are the qualifications the staff say are needed to work [...]
Calendar Boy Zeeke!
Zeeke is Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary’s calendar boy this year – and we really hope his cover story will get him a home! Zeeke is a three-year-old lurcher who has been at the Sanctuary for quite a while. [...]
RIP Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
It is with deep sadness that we learn of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. As we join the nation in mourning, we pay tribute to the contribution Her Majesty has made around the world [...]
Our New Charity Shop opens in Bacup
September 2022 - We are thrilled to announce that we have now opened a new Bleakholt Charity Shop in Bacup! The Shop is at 37A Market Street, Bacup, OL13 0AJ It is open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday [...]
Use Amazon? Raise money for Bleakholt!
UPDATE! Amazon have announced that they will be closing AmazonSmile down on 20th Feb 2023. Very disappointing for us and other rescues chosen to receive their donations from your shopping. Another income stream gone.... We will still [...]
Fun Dog Show at Bleakholt – it’s back!
UPDATE! This was a fantastic day with lots of people visiting. We are thrilled to announce that we raised £3,772 on the day! Huge thank you to everyone who supported us and we hope you enjoyed the [...]
Walking the West Highland Way for Bleakholt!
UPDATE! We are thrilled to announce that Gabriel and friends absolutely smashed this and raised over £1,000 for Bleakholt! We are over the moon and cannot thank them and everyone who donated enough. Gabriel said: "We'd like [...]
Meet Gordon!
We have a new addition to our Goat Family - meet Gordon! Poor Gordon has spent some time living feral on the moors, so he really deserves this second chance at happiness. He won't be on his [...]
Summer Fun Day at Bleakholt!
UPDATE! We had a fantastic day and raised £4,336! Huge thank you to everyone who came along to support us and we hope you had a lovely day. Our next big Event here at the Sanctuary is [...]
Help us to win a £1,000 Grant!
UPDATE! We have been awarded a grant of £1,000 so are over the moon! Thank you so much to everyone who voted for us - this is your gift to the Sanctuary The Benefact Group are again [...]
380 mile Manchester to Paris Challenge for Bleakholt
We are thrilled that Symon Hughes has undertaken this epic challenge and is hoping to raise £3,000 for Bleakholt! He is doing a 380 mile walk from Manchester Cathedral to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, starting on [...]
Weather eh?
What a lot of weather we've been having! Rain, rain, go away......! Our goats really don't like this heavy rain and they always look a bit miserable on goat mountain and head for the shelters. [...]
Celebrity Catchphrase with Gemma Atkinson
UPDATE! Huge thank you to Gemma who won £5,800 for Bleakholt! Absolutely thrilled! Our President, Gemma Atkinson, took part in an episode of Celebrity Catchphrase last year and Bleakholt was Gemma’s chosen charity. The episode will be [...]
Grant from PetPlan Charitable Trust
We are thrilled to receive a Grant of £6,400 from the Petplan Charitable Trust! This is a fantastic boost to our funding and we are really grateful. Petplan Charitable Trust was delighted to be selected as the [...]
Introducing Yorick!
Introducing a new member of our fabulous Goat Family in December 2019 – Yorick, who is only 2 feet tall! We rescued Yorick when someone reported to us that he was wandering about on the moors with [...]
Black Panthers in the House?
Who doesn’t love a beautiful, sleek black panther? Can this be true - should we run and hide? Definitely not! We love our black panther kitties here with their beautiful green eyes and we can assure you [...]
Refurbishment of our Rabbit Building
We have recently completely refurbished one of the buildings housing some of our animals as part of the ongoing Farm Improvement project as this was in a poor state. This is an isolation and intake area for [...]
Setting them free at last!
We recently rescued a group of ex-battery hens whose future was definitely very bleak if they couldn't be found new homes. They have spent all their lives so far crammed in tiny cages, so most are missing [...]
A Cheeky hello….
..........from our smallest pig, Jamie! Jamie was part of the craze for micro pigs and would have only been the size of a cat back then. He was abandoned here back in 2014 and although quite small [...]
Puppy Pickle’s sad tail…
Update 22 July 2019 - watch Pickle's Vid dated 22 July on our Facebook page ! Pickle is starting to learn what being a puppy is all about! He is now walking all the time. He is [...]
Help Us to Help Them
Safeguarding Our Future Most of you will know that as a Charity we rely solely on donations and legacies for our survival. We have made it our mission to take care of those who have no-one and [...]
The importance of vaccinations & flea treatment
25 January 2019 - Meet the beautiful Cocopop who joined us at Bleakholt this week. Cocopop came in as a stray and sadly he came to us with cat flu, sore skin from fleas, an ear infection from [...]
£100,000 Grant awarded to Bleakholt!
We are absolutely over the Moon! Imagine how thrilled and excited we are to learn that we have been awarded a Grant of £100,000 from Support Adoption For Pets! Our current dog runs need a lot of [...]
Bleakholt hosts Artists Workshop
On 14 September 2018 our Stable Section were happy to welcome the Association of Animal Artists which featured artist Lesley Humphrey hosting an art workshop for its members. It was a fantastic day and even the horrible weather didn't [...]
Microchipping our pets
Why take the risk? Please get your pet microchipped – you know it makes sense! All Bleakholt dogs (compulsory since 2016), cats & rabbits are chipped whilst staying with us before adoption. We have run a chipping [...]
Baby brothers – look at them now!
Jacob and Edward are our two British Saanen goat brothers who have been with us for 5 years now. They were only a few months old when they arrived after being found wandering on a main road. [...]
Sad to say, this is a real eye opener….
We recently took in a stray Mum and her 3 beautiful kittens who had been born on the streets. They were in an appalling way as they were suffering from cat flu. If left untreated this can [...]
Special home needed for Special ladies Rhonda & Megan
These two gorgeous girls deserve a special home with special people to love them. Rhonda and Megan have been with us since April last year when they were found in a sealed box in a field and [...]
The dramatic disguise of Boris
Those of you who know our crossbred Kunekune pig Boris will notice a big change in his appearance during the summer months and people often ask us if he’s OK. But there’s nothing at all to worry [...]
Lambs arrive at Bleakholt, just 2 days old
In May we took in two 2 day old rare breed Soay lambs. As they were separated from their Mum at only 2 days old, we knew that raising them successfully would be a challenging task. [...]
New Kennels Project – the Journey
UPDATE - picture taken on 15 October 2018 - looking amazing! The beginning - Monday 4 June 2018 We are very excited and thrilled to announce that the work has started on the brand new Dog Kennel [...]
Make way for the sunshine!
So we've had gales, snow, snowdrifts and freezing cold weather lately – but hurrah! today, Tuesday 13 March, we had some lovely sunshine! Here’s Jacob, Gary, rabbits Jenny, Sixpence & Tulula and Tulip all soaking up the [...]
Donkey Play Session – watch the video!
Our arena is a great place for our equines to run and play and generally let off steam. Of course at the same time they are having loads of fun! Here you can see all 10 donkeys [...]
How we start our day….
Great start to the day. To cheer us all up before we started work, Leo told the funniest joke ever! hmmmm…...he wouldn’t tell us where he heard it though….. just pawsed for thought! So after the joke [...]
Rescued Marty finds peace at last
We’d like to introduce everyone to Bleakholt’s new Mule inhabitant, Marty. Marty was admitted to the sanctuary on 5 January 2018 using an emergency stable as he was desperately in need of a new home. His previous [...]
Cat Foster Carers urgently needed!
Are you interested in becoming a Foster Carer for one of our Cats? Foster homes are urgently needed! If so, or you would like more info, please email us at: karen.weed@bleakholt.org You can download our poster here
Rainbows and Clouds
We consider ourselves very lucky to be able to work in such beautiful surroundings and have such wonderful views whilst we work. Not only that, but we are surrounded by all our amazing animals, giving their [...]
Bleakholt Wish List on Amazon
We have now set up a Wish List on Amazon to help us to take care of all our animals. If you would like to donate something to help with the welfare of our animals, or just [...]
Arena chit-chat
Our new (recently completed) Equine Arena is going down a storm with our residents. The Arena is in use every day and we are continuing to see the benefits for our animals. Our amazing team are doing [...]
Weight watchers diet?
Tilly is the latest addition to join our happy band of pigs. When she came to us she was extremely overweight and had to go on a very strict diet, which she was not at all happy about [...]
Who knew swedes could be so much fun?
We had some swedes donated to us and our Donkeys just loved them! You can see them here tucking into this special treat and it wasn’t long before they polished them off despite the swinging ropes! Sometimes [...]
All you need is a welly!
Our donkeys are forever playful and cheeky and they just love messing around. There are several versions of one of their favourite games but they all involve an old welly boot! You can join in a team [...]