Our Otley branch received an unexpected Christmas bonus recently when a pigeon unwittingly flew down the chimney and got stuck.
Rebecca Bentley had reported strange cooing and flapping noises coming from within the walls of the building for a couple of days. Despite the rest of the team thinking Rebecca was hearing things, further investigation revealed that a bird had firmly lodged itself within the brickwork of the chimney breast.
The quick thinking Ison Harrison team decided a rescue attempt was required and armed with rubber gloves and boxes, set about mounting a daring mission to free the helpless bird, which had been named ‘Santa’ by the team.
Following some minor demolition work to the internal walls, Santa the pigeon was freed from his sooty surroundings. After a quick inspection, the bird was identified as a racing pigeon by the tags on its feet and following a few phone calls the team ascertained that somehow Santa had got lost via Newcastle and ended up in Otley. After some TLC from the Ison Harrison team together with some food and water, they prepared Santa for the return flight back to his rightful owners in Newcastle.
Rebecca commented:
We all got quite attached to Santa after we freed him from behind the walls. Some of us even wanted to keep him for a while as we thought he might not be fit enough to fly. However, after testing if he could fly in the office resulting in much amusement, we knew that it was time to set Santa free for the return leg of his journey. We all said our goodbyes and waved Santa off; releasing him in the hope that he made it home OK.
Nigel Cowley, partner and Otley branch manager commented:
At Ison Harrison we’re used to getting involved in the local community but this is the first time we’ve had to do anything like this. After some minor DIY alterations in the office we were relieved to free Santa and send him on his way, although a few people in the office would have been happy to have him as the new office mascot. Father Christmas should have no trouble getting stuck in our office chimney this year at least! Fingers crossed our office pigeon Santa made the return flight back up to the North East in time for Christmas.
We opened our Otley branch in March of this year. The office was the newest in Ison Harrison’s existing network of branches across Leeds and West Yorkshire, establishing a permanent presence in the town for the first time.
Centrally located at 17 Market Street, the Otley branch offers a full range of legal services for both business and private clients ranging from residential conveyancing and family law and probate matters.
