Redwings is looking for volunteer guides to help the charity open the birthplace of the Black Beauty author, Anna Sewell, to the public. The building, in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, has recently been taken on by the charity.
Anna Sewell House is owned by a supporter and horse owner who approached Redwings about occupying the property.
Gemma Walpole, Executive Director for Income and Engagement at Redwings, said: “As the biggest horse charity in the UK, founded in Norfolk, we were absolutely thrilled when the owner contacted us.
“It’s so important to them that Anna Sewell House be used in a way that’s a fitting legacy to Anna and her work to improve horse welfare, so it makes perfect sense that we become its new caretakers.
“We’re looking for local people who would like to become volunteer guides and help us to open this important building – which is a site of pilgrimage for many of Anna’s fans — to the public as often as possible.
“We’ll be using the space to celebrate Anna, Black Beauty, and showcase the work Redwings does today.”
The volunteer guide role will involve greeting visitors, sharing information about Anna Sewell, Black Beauty and the history of Anna Sewell House, as well as the work of Redwings.
“The importance of this book cannot be overstated,” said Gemma. “Black Beauty is one of the most successful novels of all time with over 50 million copies sold worldwide and was one of the first to use an animal as a narrator. Anna didn’t write the novel for children. She said that her purpose was to ‘induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses’.”
Black Beauty was the only book that Anna Sewell published. She died shortly after the novel was released in 1877, and never witnessed its enormous success or the influence it had on changes to horse welfare in Victorian Britain. Over 100 years later, in 1984, Redwings Horse Sanctuary was established and is currently responsible for more than 2,000 rescued horses, ponies, donkeys and mules across the UK, including 700 living out on permanent loan in guardian homes.
If you can offer some of your time to join the volunteer guide project, email volunteering@redwings.co.uk
Redwings will shortly be holding an official opening for invited guests and Anna Sewell House will be open to the public on days to be confirmed. Keep checking their website for more information at www.redwings.org.uk
Lead image of Redwings’ own Black Beauty, Maya
