Onlineability directors Andy Darley and Lisa Hutchins responded to a fundraising appeal in the Screech Owl Sanctuary’s regular newsletter by offering to give its website a complete makeover at no charge.

The job required a site that was attractively-designed, informative for visitors and painless for busy staff to use and update – as well as making sure the sanctuary appeared high on any visitor’s potential list of places to visit in Cornwall.

The redesigned site is now live and the company is working to help staff make the most of it and consider future directions for expansion. Visit it here.

Onlineability director Andy Darley said: “We have followed the work of the Screech Owl Sanctuary closely for years now, sponsoring an owl and visiting whenever we are in range. We’ve got some great memories of time spent there, especially taking part in its falconry experience, and we definitely recommend a visit.

“When we got the newsletter containing the fundraising appeal we were very keen to help, and offering our professional skills simply seemed the most effective way to do it.

“We hope we have set them up with a site that works well for staff and visitors – but which, crucially, can also grow to meet their future needs. We look forward to working with the sanctuary in the future to continue to make sure the site does a really good job for them.”

Screech Owl Sanctuary deputy manager Sarah Clement added: “We would like to thank Andy and Lisa for an absolutely fantastic new website. The work they have done is incredible and their service was second to none.

“They have been very patient and understanding with us when we’ve had difficulties understanding web jargon and always explained things thoroughly. They’ve been just on the end of phone, answered any queries we’ve had along the way and been full of helpful advice and tips.”

For more information: Onlineability can be contacted by telephone on 01462 437503, by email or on the web.

The Screech Owl Sanctuary can be contacted by telephone on 01726 860182, by email or on the web.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The Screech Owl Sanctuary, located near Indian Queens in mid-Cornwall, is home to a large collection of owl species from around the world and offers visitors of all ages an excellent opportunity to learn about owl conservation.
2. It offers a wide range of experiences including guided tours with qualified staff, close encounters with the hand-tame owls under staff supervision, falconry displays with owls and birds of prey, owl husbandry and falconry courses and rescue work with sick and injured owls.
3. The Screech Owl Sanctuary is also involved with internationally-important projects to safeguard rare species. These include its Siberian Eagle Owl breeding programme and a pioneering cataract operation to save one bird’s sight. More information here.
4. Onlineability is the Hitchin-based web and copywriting agency run by Andy Darley and Lisa Hutchins. We love the power and beauty of good, simple, uncomplicated writing and web design – and we want to share it. We’re passionate about using the internet to communicate our clients’ messages and we are experts at making each word hit its target, whether it’s part of a snappy headline, a friendly newsletter or a long and detailed report that needs to hold its readers’ interest to the end.
5. Andy and Lisa are regular visitors to the sanctuary and sponsor a Western Screech Owl named Montana – Monty for short.

ENDS

This wonderful organisation provides care and rehabilitation for sick and injured wild owls in the county. Where possible it ensures their safe release back to the wild when they are fully recovered. But, if the bird is permanently disabled, it becomes a resident of the sanctuary and is cared for there.

We’re delighted to have this opportunity to work with the Screech Owl Sanctuary – for the technically-minded, we’ll be migrating the site to a WordPress platform with all the modern features that this software offers. We’ll also be re-skinning it with a customised design.

We strongly recommend a visit. To find out about ways of supporting the sanctuary’s work you can visit its current website here.

Tom Screech, who runs the sanctuary with his wife Carolyn, said: “Many new features are being put together to make the website easier to use and find. New pages are also being designed and we are looking at the possibility of adding a shopping site.

“We would like to express our thanks to Lisa and Andy for making this possible and for offering their services free of charge to the sanctuary – particularly Lisa for coping with me, as I am not ‘web-savvy’, as she puts it.”

Onlineability director Lisa Hutchins added: “Visiting the sanctuary over the course of years has given us a wonderful opportunity to see its work at first hand and to get an amazing insight into some of Britain’s most impressive native wildlife.

“We’re delighted to have a chance to give something back and hope that in this way we can help contribute to the Screech Owl Sanctuary’s future success.”