Volunteers sell more than 300 swan calendars to 'give back' to animal charity after 'much-loved' swan developed ulcer

The group, who check on the welfare of the wildlife in Boldon Pond, have raised £1150 for Pawz For Thought after a female swan was treated at the charity for an ulcer on her eye.

The ‘much-loved’ swans became popular after Facebook Page ‘On Boldon Pond’ was launched following the sad death of a female swan and her cygnets who died of avian flu last December and left the male Swan, Bob alone on the pond.

Residents Carol Yung, Ann Walsh and Sharon Quinn posted daily updates and photographs of Bob on the page which now has over 1,200 members.

In Spring of this year the trio announced that Bob had found a new partner who was named Faith by the group.

But in March on a daily visit to check the family, Faith had developed an ulcer on her eye and was taken in by the founder of Pawz for Thought, Lynne Ebdale.

One of the volunteers Ann Walsh from East Boldon said: "Faith developed an ulcer on her eye and thanks to Lynne, the charity had her in their care for 12 days. As a thank you, the Facebook group decided to produce a calendar with all proceeds going to Pawz.”

Following Faith’s recovery, she then produced four cygnets in June with three still surviving.

The calendar was created by Carole Pritchard at CP Print with photographs taken by Carol Yung, who is one of the longest standing volunteers in the group, and the group sold 300 copies with help from Cafe Boldon who stocked copies.

Ann, 63 added: “There’s so many people who love the swans and the page has really taken off. I never thought I’d have such an interest in them but we all enjoy taking care of them.

"We really wanted to show our appreciation for Pawz, they’ve been such a great help and we just wanted to give something back to this amazing charity.”