MGF Register charity for 2016: Guide Dogs

[Keith Williams]

I am pleased to announce that we will be supporting Guide Dogs as our 2016 charity.

Our charity page can be found at https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/mgfregister2016 where you can donate directly to Guide Dogs and claim Gift Aid if you are a UK tax payer.

The Register and the Regions will be collecting donations at various events throughout the year but the best method to donate is through our charity page as that will allow UK tax payers to gain Gift Aid to boost their personal donations at no cost to yourselves. We loose the Gift Aid option if we do a general collection at events so to ensure the tax man gives us the best deal for the charity, donations made through the charity page is the best method to take the money in.

A little about Guide Dogs .......
The Guide Dogs story started in 1931 with two amazing British pioneers, Muriel Crooke and Rosamund Bond. These remarkable women organised the training of the first four British guide dogs from a humble lock up garage in Wallasey, Merseyside.
We’ve come a very long way since those early days. Today Guide Dogs is the world's largest breeder and trainer of working dogs. And thanks to our dedicated staff and volunteers – and your vital donations – we’ve helped over 29,000 people to achieve life-changing independence.

Our partnerships and dogs
The average working life of a guide dog is five to six years.
There are nearly 4,800 guide dog owners in the UK.
We are currently responsible for around 8,000 dogs.
We breed more than 1,300 guide dog pups each year.
We created more than 820 new guide dog partnerships in 2013.*

*Update: March 2014

Our money
The guide dog service receives no government funding and depends entirely upon public support.
It costs £5 per day to support each working guide dog partnership.
The lifetime cost of a guide dog is around £50,000

Our work beyond guide dogs
We campaign for the rights of people who are blind and partially sighted to have the same freedom of movement as everyone else.
We undertake quality canine, ophthalmic, psychosocial and technological research that informs our services, policies and campaigning activities.
We support Blind Children UK which is enabling them to help thousands of children and young people living with sight loss live as independently as they can when they become adults.

The information above was taken from the Guide Dogs web site: http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/

Guide Dogs is a charity registered in England and Wales (209617) and Scotland (SC038979)

[garytipping]

Good work Keith, a very worthwhile charity to support.

Regards

Gary

[Keith Williams]

Help us, help Guide Dogs in 2016 .....

Our donation page can be found at https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/mgfregister2016

[Worzel]

Great charity

[TimM]

It was great to have the Guide Dogs with us on Saturdy evening and for the start of the Charity run on Sunday morning at this year's Chairman's weekend

Don't forget to donate if you took part in the run !

[adrianclifford]

Without realising it, this weekend we raised more money for Guide Dogs while in Holland as KNGF Geleide Honden is the chosen charity of the MGCC Holland too :

www.geleidehond.nl

Every car on the Octagon Tour was given, amongst several other things a soft labrador toy with a blue Guide Dog jacket.

[Keith Williams]

I am really pleased to announce that the Register has raised £3177.91+ including Gift Aid during last years collection for Guide Dogs.

This has been raised through events during the year but mainly from the local regional group collections held at their events in 2016.

A big thank you has to go out to all our members that have contributed to Guide Dogs.
The donation page is still live until the end of January if you would still like to donate to this great cause.

Last years donations have raised the grand total raised by the MGF Register and its members since 2006 to over £22,000 which is a great achievement. Many thanks to all that have contributed.