Welcome to News Wheek!

Hello and welcome to the first edition of News Wheek! My name is Elouise and I am head of fundraising and social media here at The Potato Patch.

For anyone who may not know, we are a guinea pig rescue based in Belton, near Doncaster, in the UK. We've been around since 2021, and the last time we counted (which was in October 2024...) we have rescued over 1000 guinea pigs! Our team is small, and includes Hannah (head of rescue), Dan (trustee and Hannah's husband), Vicky (trustee, social media admin, fundraiser, and my mum), Mandy (treasurer, fundraiser and trustee), and me (head of fundraising and social media). We also have some amazing foster carers!

We temporarily closed to new intakes in early 2025, due to a difficult period in our personal lives. However, on New Year's Eve 2025, we received a message from one of the local vets - fourteen guinea pigs (mums and babies included) had been found dumped in a bin in Scunthorpe, and would we be able to take them in? Despite the closure, we said absolutely, and so the first 'Bin Pig' rescue happened. We decided the best names to give them were Womble names, because Wombles are found bins! On January 4th, 2026, we had three babies born, the first of many. And then, on January 10th 2026, we receieved yet another message from the vets, because five more piggies had been found, this time in a rucksack outside of a cafe in Scunthorpe. Two boys went straight to another rescue, two more boys stayed with us for a few days (so we gave them Womble names) and then went to a different rescue, and the lone girl stayed with us. Over the course of three months, we had 18 guinea pigs born! In total, 37 guinea pigs were rescued, and 33 stayed with us.

We are now at the point where the majority of the Bin Pigs have new homes, and have left us. Some of them, such as the most recent babies, are with us for a few more weeks, and then we'll be left with no more fosters. While that is the aim of rescue, my house will be very quiet, and I'll miss the baby snuggles.

However, this rescue did lead to the most foster fails we've ever had. My mum and I foster failed two of the bin pigs, Cholet (now Eowyn) from the original Bin Pigs, and Heidi from the second round. Two members of our foster team fell in love with Ozzy and Botany, whose mum is Obi from the first rescue. And finally, when Womble was born, Hannah and Dan took one look and realised that she looked like Gwenne, the face of the rescue and Hannah's soul pig. The only natural conclusion was that they had to adopt her!

I hope you've enjoyed reading the first edition of News Wheek. Updates will most likely be sporadic while we're still closed, but we are undergoing a huge renovation of our new premises, so I'll make sure to update everyone on that.

Wheeks and Popcorns,

Elouise and the rest of Team PP x