Shoppers raise more than £12,000 for guide dog charity (From Darlington and Stockton Times)
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Shoppers from Middlesbrough raise more than £12,000 for guide dog charity
12:03pm Monday 4th February 2013 in News
By Graeme Hetherington
VISITING CENTRE: From left, Barry Spooner with Lola and Marion Connelly, Doreen Attarby and Brenda Spooner with Sadie
GENEROUS shoppers have ensured that two Labrador puppies will be trained to provide essential support for blind and partially-sighted people.
The puppies, Sadie and Lola, who are three-months-old, will stay with their mother at the National Breeding Centre before coming to Middlesbrough to be trained and placed with owners.
A total of £12,000 was raised through the efforts of charity volunteers Barry and Brenda Spooner and their team from Guide Dogs For The Blind, who ran a stall in the Cleveland Centre, Middlesborugh, throughout the year.
Since the team started fund-raising in 1983, they have raised more than £1.2m for the charity thanks to the donations of Middlesbrough people.
Centre manager Debbie Anderson said: “We are delighted to support this amazing charity which breeds and trains puppies so that they become an essential support to a visually impaired person.
“Shoppers’ generosity in The Cleveland Centre has been inspiring and we are looking forward to hearing about the puppies once the training has been completed and they are placed with children or adults in Middlesbrough.”
