Dearest reader, you’ll be pleased to hear ‘tis Friday again, which means you can spend your last day of work reading Society Diary columns in the guise of labour.
If anyone objects, simply ask them ‘What could be more productive than reading about charity news?’ There are a great many answers to the question, to which Diary would not care to listen.
Donkeys
Have you, too, ever wondered what it was like to look through a donkey’s eyes? If not, then that makes two of us. But Donkey Sanctuary’s new strategy aims to make its supporters consider just that.
Chief executive of the charity Marianne Steele said: “Around the world, donkeys are intrinsically linked to the cultures and landscapes they inhabit. When we see the world through a donkey’s eyes, we see a way to improve the world, not just for donkeys, but for the people and communities that rely on them.”
Putting on donkey-tinted-glasses will help people understand their importance and the need for their welfare, the charity believes.
Steele continued: “Donkeys remain in peril. They need our help. We cannot do this alone – building partnerships and communities is key.”
The CEO did not specify in what way said donkeys were in peril, so Diary hopes ferverently they are not walking along a rickety bridge to get to an abandoned castle like Donkey in Shrek (cinematic masterpiece, by the way).
There are 5 million donkeys in the world, which means 5 million people could have their own donkey and take them around town to impress their donkey-less friends.
Old penguin, big birthday
In more super important animal news, it was Spneb’s 35th birthday this week!
Who is Spneb, I hear you ask? Spneb is the oldest Humboldt penguin in the UK and she lives in Paradise Park in Cornwall which works with charities like the World Parrot Trust.
Spneb celebrated her birthday with a three-tiered ice cake which was decorated, somewhat morbidly, with dead fish coming out the top of it. Delicious.
According to a BBC article, Spneb was named after her treatment for a lung condition she suffered back in 2007. Her name derives from the drug that treated her (Sp) and nebuliser (neb).
What Diary learnt from this was that the poor penguin was given a new name at 16 years old, which must have been confusing and presumably gave it some sort of identity crisis.
Director of the sanctuary Alison Hales told the BBC that the secret to Spneb’s old age was “exercise and fish oil” and that she “loves to swim and she keeps fit”.
These are lifestyle habits that Diary (who I can reveal is not a penguin) should also be capable of following. Alas, it is not going to happen. Diary didn’t want a dead-fish-cake anyway…
Back to the fifties
Going back to the 1950s would be undesirable for most people if they weren't a middle-class white bloke, yet, the London Transport Museum is enabling us all to return to 1953 and without all of the social baggage this time.
For three days from 29 April to 1 May, there will be a special retro train running in honour of the king’s coronation.
It will show how a tube ride would look when Elizabeth II was made monarch.
The limited edition ride costs £28.50 for adults and £15 for children, and £28.50 for two children stacked on top of each other wearing a trench coat.
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