We are delighted that we have been able to send a donation of £1,600 to our chosen charity for the year, Hounds for Heroes. Each year we choose a charity that supports the armed services for our retiring collection at the Festival of Remembrance, where we remember the men from East Wickham and Welling who gave their lives in the First World War. This year we collected a record £1,300 and a total of £300 was given as other donations.
Hounds for Heroes is a new charity, formed in 2010, with the purpose of providing specially trained assistance dogs to injured and disabled men and women of both the UK Armed Forces and Civilian Emergency Services. They provide help and practical support to give an enhanced quality of life for those men and women.
In the own words of the charity:
“Initially Hounds for Heroes set out to raise £100,000, which would pay for the first 5 Labradors and their subsequent costs throughout their lives. The Puppies on Parade Appeal was so successful that we have just started our fourth appeal to purchase our latest squadron of cadets: we already have one squadron of puppies in advanced training and two squadrons in basic training at our Training Base in Petersfield, Hampshire.
Our dogs are carefully selected for all the qualities needed to produce excellent assistance dogs. The Charity has a small army of puppy parents who help with the first year of training. The dogs then enter advanced training to turn them from well behaved dogs into fully trained assistance dogs that not only bring quality of life to their owner by opening doors, picking up items, getting money from ATMs, opening train doors etc: they also bring companionship and love that can be missing when someone becomes disabled. When the dogs are fully trained the ownership will be fully transferred to the disabled partner.”
If you would like to find out more about the work of Hounds for Heroes, visit their website houndsforheroes.com
