Buxton’s Dotty about Donkeys
25 July 2008
June with her adopted donkeys ‘Baz’ and ‘Beethoven’
Soap star June Brown (chain smoking ‘Dot Cotton’ in EastEnders) will break the showbiz rule of ‘never working with animals’ when she brings her two adopted donkeys to the University of Derby Buxton.
June was appointed an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list earlier this year for services to drama and charity, recognising her work as President of the Michael Elliott Trust.
The Trust is based at the Freshfields Donkey Village, Freshfields Farm, in the Peak Forest, near Buxton. It rescues and cares for donkeys which have been abandoned, mistreated or neglected and allows children with special needs to visit them. This is seen as helping enrich the lives of the animals and the children.
On Monday (July 28) June will visit the University of Derby’s Devonshire Campus, in Buxton – which includes the Dome, a magnificent 18th century building originally built to house the then Duke of Devonshire’s stables – with her adopted donkeys ‘Baz’ and ‘Beethoven’. She will be accompanied by local children.
Her visit is to raise awareness of a larger celebration planned for the weekend of 13/14 December in the run up to Christmas, when more than 40 donkeys from the Trust will be visiting the Dome and Buxton.
Christine Sweetmore, Development Manager at the University of Derby Buxton, said: “The weekend event in December will be completely different to anything we have done here before at the Dome and will be an exciting addition to the Christmas calendar of events in Buxton.”
June will be accompanied on Monday by John Stirling who, together with Annie Stirling, founded the Trust in 1991 following a chance visit to Chelford Livestock Market. There they found themselves watching a donkey auction and were so shocked by the state of the animals that they rescued them.
Other celebrities involved with the Michael Elliott Trust include Dame Judi Dench, Sir Richard Attenborough, Mark Knopfler and Edward Fox, who is the Vice-President.
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For further media information please contact Press and PR Officer Sean Kirby on 01332 591891 or 07876 476103,or email:s.kirby@derby.ac.uk.
