Legacies Making an Impact

Gifts made in Wills are of vital importance to us and play a huge part in our achievements. Between a third and half of our work is only made possible because of the legacies left to Compassion by some wonderful people.

In April 2011, we received an incredible gift of £20,000 from Diana Haddelsey, a long-term, loyal supporter who sadly died in October 2011, aged 61.

Diana, who always loved animals

Diana’s love for animals began early in her life. Her childhood home in rural Hertfordshire was always full of cats and it was as a girl that she embarked on her lifelong passion for riding horses.

Diana lived her adult life compassionately. Working as a beautician at a smart London department store, she used only beauty products that weren’t tested on animals and the little meat she ate was high welfare. She joined Compassion in the mid 1990s around the time we were campaigning vigorously against the appalling transport of live animals from the UK to continental Europe.

When the time came to administering her estate, Diana’s sister, Julia, was happy to act as executor. Julia wanted to see firsthand where her sister’s bequest was going and we were thrilled when she arrived in person at our Surrey office. As it turned out, the office was almost deserted that day as most of the team were at the Big Move campaign event in London campaigning against the barren battery cage.

Diana’s gift has now been put to use funding this crucial campaign against the barren battery cage. Diana’s legacy is helping ensure that Europe takes one further step towards ending all forms of factory farming for good.

Diana’s generosity has helped make possible the lobbying, briefings, investigations and public campaigning that are essential in ensuring a better life for millions of animals.

We are indebted to Diana and all others like her who remember Compassion in World Farming in their Will. Together we can put an end to factory farming forever.

The Ultimate Commitment

Another supporter, who shall remain anonymous, but let’s call her Elsie, was unable to volunteer her time and also unable to afford large donations to charity during her lifetime. Despite this, Elsie did generously support Compassion in World Farming over a twelve-year period until she sadly passed away.

Individual legacies have a huge impact on our work

The true measure of Elsie’s commitment to improving farm animal welfare was realised when the charity received a share of her residuary estate totalling almost £20,000.

The gift was put to immediate use to fund an undercover investigation which exposed the horrific conditions endured by UK calves on their journey to Spanish veal farms. Our filming illustrated how inhumane it is to send young animals from this country to be reared in systems banned in the UK.

Thanks to Elsie, we now have an all-industry voluntary agreement to work towards viable alternatives to the unnecessary shooting or exporting of UK young male dairy calves.

Through her commitment to Compassion, Elsie will be remembered as the person who helped us explore real alternatives to calf exports. We now continue to work for an end to calf exports with an even greater sense of hope.