Celia and Paul Munro with RSPCA staff member, Hannah Hawkins and Rosa the Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

The Friends of South Godstone RSPCA have suffered a serious blow to their fundraising efforts following the theft of the generator they hired for their Christmas Fair that was held on Saturday 19th November. They were due to return it to the hire company the following Monday morning but when staff arrived at the centre they discovered the generator had been stolen.

Trustee of the Friends Group, Paul Munro, said: “The thieves had broken through the gates to the centre, ripped open our marquis with a knife and broken the chains that were securing the generator in order to remove it. The garden centre on the A22 opposite the RSPCA also had £2,000 worth of tools taken the same night.”

Brandon Hire in Crawley had kindly provided the generator at a reduced rate of £100 plus VAT but the Friends are now faced with a bill of £7,600 to replace it.

To make matters worse, two other major fundraising events, the Summer Boot Sale and Summer Fair both had to be cancelled due to torrential rain in June making the field waterlogged.

Paul’s wife, Celia, who is also a member of the Friends Group, said: “The Christmas Fair raised £2,000 but the financial loss incurred by the theft of the generator is huge, and the effort made by all our volunteers has gone to waste".

Money raised by the Friends Group goes towards the cost of the centre’s valuable work, such as funding expensive operations that may be needed by the animals.

The Friends also spent ten years raising funds to make a contribution towards the cost of the state-of- the-art new kennel block that opened in January 2015.

For more information about becoming a Friend of South Godstone RSPCA visit www.rspca-friendsofsouthgodstone.org.uk or e-mail Celia and Paul at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.