Thursday 10 September 2009

Puppy farming protests and performance knitting on the plinth!

I feel like I've just used a week's supply of the letter 'p'. But it's all in a good cause as two Dogs Trust supporters take to the fourth plinth* in Trafalgar Square as part of Anthony Gormley's latest project.

First up is Pam Page (more 'p's!), who takes to the plinth in the wee hour of 2am with knitting to hand. Pam, who is travelling all the way from Doncaster to take part, is a performance knitter being sponsored by the line to knit for money which she'll be donating to us. Pam, who has an Irish Setter called Rufus and an appropriately-named moggy called Nelson, will be proudly wearing one of our t-shirts as she takes to the 'stage'.

At the more-appealing hour of 4pm, Neil Watson - complete with dog suit - will be squeezing himself into a puppy pen to highlight the plight of puppy farmed dogs. He's relying on public support to help him emerge and throw some goodies to the crowd. The more people who show their support for bringing an end to the cruel practice of intensively breeding puppies -often in dreadful conditions - the better. Neil is also kindly raising sponsorship funds for his stint on the plinth, and you can contribute to these on his Just Giving page.

If you're going to be in the area, please do pop down and give our brilliant supporters your backing. They could have chosen to do anything up there and they thought about dogs; we think that's wonderful. Tell your family and friends and don't forget to bring along your dog(s)!

*For those unfamiliar with this, a quick explanation. If you visit London's Trafalgar Square, you'll see that each corner has a plinth, three of which are filled with statues. The fourth, which is empty, has been used for a variety of specially commissioned artworks. The current project is by sculptor Anthony Gormley. People enter a draw for a slot on the plinth so that someone is on it every hour of every day until the end of October. Find out more about One & Other by visiting the Fourth Plinth website.

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