12hr Sponsored Flying Display

On Saturday 26^th January 2008, the Raptor Foundation ran what we believe to be the world's first 12 hour sponsored flying display. Despite worries about the weather, we had a good sunny, if somewhat breezy, day. The flying display started at 10am with one of our youngest birds on the flying team, Rimmel, the African Spotted/Great Horned hybrid owl hatched in March 2007. The display ran until 7pm in our outdoor flying area and then continued in our indoor flying area. We concluded the marathon display a little late, with Rimmel flying again to conclude the display at 10.10pm.

The event was well supported throughout the entire day by visitors, some managing to stay with us until the end of the day. On the day we managed to raise over £2000 and we would like to thank all of those people who contributed to us. The proceeds will be split equally between the Raptor Foundation and the The World Land Trust conservation project that the centre is supporting.

Throughout the day, all 41 birds on our flying team were flown, 14 of the birds were flown twice. 19 members of staff & volunteers were involved in the 12hr display, with a further 8 helping out in the gift shop.

The event was covered by Anglia Television (short reports appearing on the local news on the following Sunday & Monday) and also local newspapers. Unfortunately we were too late getting in touch with the Guiness Book of Records (but may try again later in the year).

In addition to the flying display, one of our volunteers, Lorraine, raised over £300 by having her head shaved.

In addition to individual sponsorship, we would also like to thank the following businesses that sponsored us on the day :

• South Lincs Food Service
• Johnson's Of Oldhurst Farm Shop
• Cole & Day
• Wiser Waste Information Services (Recycling & Waste Management)
• Image Development Photographers
• DisplayLink (Multiple Monitor Experts)
• Cambridge Maintenance Services
• Boomerang Training & Consultancy
• ND's K9 Academy