Goodbye to pet hero Stan
COMMUNITY INVITED TO PAY TRIBUTE TO MAN WHO SET UP SANCTUARY FOR ANIMALS
A LOCAL hero who provided endless joy to children and adults from a Hillingdon pet sanctuary is due to be remembered today (Wednesday).
Stan Atkins, who built and ran Pet’s Corner for four decades, passed away in late March, just months after he was forced to close the sanctuary for health reasons.
The community has been invited to attend Stan’s funeral and wake, to celebrate the 40 years he spent at his sanctuary in Pole Hill Park, Hillingdon.
A Facebook group commemorating Stan, titled In Memory of Stan – RIP Stan, has attracted more than 300 members since he passed away.
A funeral procession will start at Stan’s home, in Petworth Gardens, at 2pm and head to Breakspear Crematorium, in Ruislip, for 3pm.
Mourners are then invited to the Scout Hut in Petworth Gardens, next to Pets Corner, to celebrate the extraordinary life of this local legend. The organisers of Stan’s funeral plan to release Chinese lanterns in order to light up the sky in his memory.
Former park keeper Mr Atkins set up Pets Corner as a shelter for those moving into high rise accommodation in the borough who could no longer keep their cats and dogs with them.
His popularity in the community was highlighted after a plea to keep the sanctuary open gained an overwhelming response.
A Facebook Group titled ‘Friends of Pets Corner, Hillingdon’ was set up in 2016 with an accompanying crowdfunding page to return Pets Corner to its former glory.
The farm closed its doors for good in November last year, with all its pets taken to Nathan’s Farm, in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire.