Moni Davenport
Moni Davenport collecting box
For more than ten years, Monica Davenport from Shropshire supported the charitable needs of ex-working Greyhounds, through attending events, fundraising and even through her skilled craftsmanship in knitting coats for the Galgos rescue work in Spain and even adopting her own rescued Greyhound and meeting lots of fab. Grey rescuers and supporters along the way.
Monica sadly passed away in July this year, but her family has many happy memories of Mon’s interest in these amazing sight hounds including recalling Mon’s very own Grey rescue story.
“Working for Macclesfield Borough Council Leisure Services (as it was called back then), I remember back in the late 1990’s mum had been speaking at work, to the local dog warden who mentioned a Greyhound had recently been rescued and taken into Stockport Dogs Home”, recalls Mon’s daughter – Deb. “Mum really wanted a rescue Grey and she straight away went with dad, to visit this rescued dog and began the application process for his adoption”.
Enter Jacob or ‘Jake’ the ex-racing Greyhound, who was in a very poor condition on entry to the Dogs Home, having been out on the streets for some time – he had various scars, injuries and a very low body weight. After Jake received some excellent support and treatment from the Stockport Dogs Home team, Mon and the family took Jake into their home and so Mon’s absolute fascination and love for the breed was finally fulfilled. Jake was very nervous for some time, it took many months to get his confidence in different situations, but Mon’s endless patience supported Jake to settle into his new and comfortable lifestyle. While Jake was adjusting to his new family, Mon began to support Greyhounds in Need with her charitable fund raising. She and Barry visited events where Greyhounds in Need were in attendance, sometimes travelling many miles away to support the cause.
Mon was very interested in supporting the work with the rescued Galgos dogs in Spain and enjoyed knitting coats to help keep them toasty and warm following their rescues.
Barry recalls whenever he and Mon went on holiday camping, it always took them a long time to get through a shopping area and walk anywhere, as Mon would stop to meet any (and every!) Greyhound that she encountered (and Whippets too, as Mon’s first sight hound was a Blue Brindle Whippet).
Meanwhile at home, Jake had earned himself a second name, as the family discovered, due to his time loose on the streets before he went into Stockport Dogs Home he had acquired quite ‘extreme scavenging’ habits, which took time to correct. Mon’s son Rob, on a number of occasions, had found Jake rooting through the waste bin for extra food between meals, despite being extremely well fed and cared for, the habit earned Jake the nickname of ‘binners’.
Deb recalls her experience of having a rescued Greyhound in the house, “he was great and Mum really loved doing all the cleaning, feeding, walking and general care for Jake, he was a lovely dog. It was great to see Mum enjoy having a rescued Greyhound and especially how much it meant to her. I also do remember thinking a few times though, (albeit fondly) how times had changed following his arrival, since there was often one happy Grey stretched right out on a very large sofa and three humans sitting on the floor, backs resting against the sofa watching television in the evenings…..”
To continue supporting the charity following Mon’s passing, Deb has decided to sign up to become a member of Greyhounds in Need and has also set up a monthly donation towards the excellent work of the Charity. “It kind of helps to deal with the sudden loss”, Deb says, “to continue with mum’s wishes to help with a worthy cause – I hope the ongoing donations will help lots of lovely, rescued Greyhounds in the future”. Barry is also continuing to support the charity with a monthly donation. Meanwhile, the family’s interest in sight hounds continues with her son Rob being the proud owner of a lovely young Italian Greyhound called ‘Harvey’.
Written by Moni’s daughter Deb