Blacksmith's bat set to help Whitby animal sanctuary

A hanging bat made by Whitby blacksmith Katie Ventress is set to help Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary.
Blacksmith Katie Ventress works in her workshop in Hinderwell. Whitby. pic Richard Ponter 174032bBlacksmith Katie Ventress works in her workshop in Hinderwell. Whitby. pic Richard Ponter 174032b
Blacksmith Katie Ventress works in her workshop in Hinderwell. Whitby. pic Richard Ponter 174032b

Katie has donated the hand-sculpted 10cm high steel bat as a prize for a competition - and tomorrow (Fri) at 6pm is the deadline for people to enter.

The bats normally cost £55 each.

Katie, who has been working as a blacksmith for six years and has her own forge in Hinderwell, explains why she got involved.

“I just wanted to be able to help in some way,” she said.

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“I admire Alex [the founder of the animal sanctuary] and all her hard work, not to mention the fact that I love animals and our lovely part of the world, and they feature heavily in my work.

“With recently starting up my own business I do not personally have a lot of spare time or money to donate myself, but I thought if I could squeeze in making just a small contribution we could try to raise some funds that way, which I would otherwise not have been able to give myself.”

The competition costs £1 to enter.

There are several ways to enter – you can text WILDLIFE to 70660 or pay by Paypal at [email protected] – or you can donate by visiting the Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary page on Facebook and clicking the donate link on competition post.

Cheques can be made payable to Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary.