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Inspiring stories from your local charity
ISSUE 1
RISE & SHINE
Toasty celebrates
Big Dogs Breakfast
success
YOUR SUPPORT
Find out more about
Dogs for the Disabled
and join us for a day
with a difference
Good Company
Good Company
You’re
in Good
Company!
W
elcome to the world of Dogs
for the Disabled, a charity
that is performing minor
miracles, every day. We’ve called
our newsletter “Good Company”
because that’s what we’re about;
with bases in Banbury, Wakefield and
Bristol we train dogs to be assistants
and companions – great company
for adults and children who live with a
whole range of disabilities, including
autism. We’re sure that you’re a
great company too and we hope
you may want to learn more about
us and how other companies have
enjoyed supporting us.
Although we’re a national charity, we
are really local to you, with supporters
and partnerships in your area ready
and willing to come along and
help out at your events. I also love
getting out and meeting people and
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we want to build relationships with
companies. So if you’d like to know
more about the work of Dogs for the
Disabled, maybe do some fundraising
or come along to one of our team
days or just a visit to find out more,
do give me a call and we’ll sort out a
suitable time to get together. I’m on
01295 759805 or email me at cathryn.
[email protected].
If you have any feedback at all on
the new newsletter or want to be in
our next issue, do get in touch, I look
forward to meeting you!
Best wishes
Cathryn Simpson
Corporate Partnerships Manager
This Dog
changed
my life!
We met with one of our
Partnerships and discovered the
difference a dog makes.
Andy Lee, seen here with his
assistance dog Henry, was a
successful police officer, about to be
promoted to Inspector until a freak
accident on a mountain bike led to a
broken spine and the prospect of the
rest of his life in a wheelchair. Says
Andy: “Overnight my independence
disappeared. I was relying on carers
to get me up and put me to bed. As
I was the first person on their round,
that often meant going to bed at
8pm in the evening!”
Since the arrival of assistance dog
Henry, Andy’s life has improved
dramatically: “Not only is he great
company, he fetches anything I ask
him to – which is great because I
can’t bend down. Twice now he’s
barked to get help when I’ve fallen
over – a real life saver. And best of all
he can help pull my clothes on and
off, so now we can spend an evening
in the pub rather than waiting in for
the carers to get me ready for bed!”
Dogs for the Disabled can create
more life changing partnerships like
Andy, with your support.
www.dogsforthedisabled.org
3
Good Company
Good Company
Did you hold a Big Dogs Breakfast?
Many of you did and the events were
a great success! Easy to organise
and fun too. How can you not love it
when bacon baps and a cute puppy
kick off your day? Huge thanks to
everyone that did an event for us and
Fish4Dogs and Lloyds TSB help us out
to Rowse Honey, Fabulous Bakin’ Boys
and Rude Health for supporting the
events with goodies for our hampers.
Watch this space for next years’ Big
Dogs Breakfast Week!
At our recent Summer Celebration we
had a great gathering of volunteers,
partnerships and puppy socialisers.
To help the day run smoothly we had
some brilliant help from Lloyds TSB
Commercial Finance and Fish4Dogs
staff. Thanks to everyone the day was
a huge success. Both companies are
great supporters of the charity and
doing loads to help with fundraising too.
Companion Care
Massive congratulations to
vets and staff from Companion
Care for raising a whooping
£50,874 on their mammoth
cycle ride from Lands End to
John O Groats. Sore knees and
aching limbs didn’t stop them
from reaching their target and
helping the charity to train more
dogs. If you have a challenge
you’d like us to support you
with or to tell us about, email
me at Cathryn.simpson@
dogsforthedisabled.org.
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www.dogsforthedisabled.org
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Good Company
Good Company
Welcome to Partnership
Partnership is our newest corporate
supporter. Based in London and
Redhill, Partnership is the longest
established UK insurer specialising
in the design and manufacture
of financial products for people
whose health and lifestyle means
that their life expectancy is likely
to be reduced. Mark Dearsley,
Chief Financial Officer has already
completed a gruelling Pyrennean
Cycle challenge to raise money for
the charity. We’ll be working with
them over the coming months to
plan future collaboration and how to
reach the £100,000 fundraising target!
Meet the team
Ever wondered how Dogs for the
Disabled operates? We’ll give you
some insights here in each issue of the
newsletter. Let’s start at the beginning
and focus on our puppies.
Puppy Socialisers are volunteers who
take young dogs into their homes
for approximately 14 months and
introduce them to lots of different
environments, training them in the
basics like general obedience, walking
on the lead and toileting. At the end
of the socialising period the puppies
return to the centre in Banbury to start
their training to become life-changing
companions for children and adults
living with disabilities.
“I absolutely love doing what I do!’
says Jean Darlaston ‘People ask me
if I find it difficult doing all the hard
work that comes with looking after a
young puppy and then handing them
back, but it’s easy. All the time the
dogs are with you, you’re very aware
that you’re only looking after them
until they’re ready to start receiving
proper training and following that,
placement with a client. I’ve had over
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10 dogs now and never tire of seeing
how much people’s lives are literally
transformed. That’s why I’ve been
involved for so long”, enthused Jean.
Your company’s support could help us
sponsor a dog through its training and
you could even name it.
Join us for a Day with a Difference
Dogs for the Disabled is committed
to building positive relationships
with colleagues in the corporate
sector. Did you know we can run
a team building day for you and
your colleagues?
We’ve devised a programme
that provides participants with an
opportunity to learn about the
lives of people with disabilities and
to experience first-hand some of
the challenges faced on a daily
basis, negotiating obstacles from a
wheelchair and other mobility aids.
In addition we’ll tell you all
about our work and provide a
tour of our training centre at our
Headquarters in Banbury, and a
practical demonstration of how
the dogs are trained. There will
be an opportunity to talk to our
trainers and to meet some of the
people who’ve been partnered
with an assistance dog. Their stories
never cease to amaze and inspire.
We will also show, with practical
exercises, how our positive
approach to dog training transfers
into building positive working and
social relationships too. Nowhere
else will you have an opportunity
to guide your colleagues through
a series of challenges using just a
clicker device to direct them!
If this appeals to you, do please
get in touch to find out more. We
can also make rooms available for
team meetings and “away days”
and will add in the assistance dog
demonstration and tour of the site
to make it a memorable day.
Jean with her granddaughter enjoying a
cuddle with Giles
www.dogsforthedisabled.org
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Did you know...
Did you know we can support any
fundraising or awareness events
you do? We can provide balloons,
collecting tins, posters and leaflets
and, where possible, a partnership or
puppy to come along and talk about
the charity.
Puppy Partners Club
Sponsor one of our puppies through
training. £1000 will help a puppy
though its first year with a socialiser.
£5000 will help train that puppy through
to partnership with a disabled adult or
child. You could even get to name
and meet your puppy!
Team Building Days
Visit our Headquarters in Banbury
and introduce your team to disability
awareness and clicker training, with
startling results!
Charity of the Year
Can you nominate us for company
Charity of the Year? We can work in all
sorts of ways with your staff to motivate
and inspire, raise awareness and much
needed funds for the charity.
Dogs for the Disabled
The Frances Hay Centre
Blacklocks Hill
Banbury Oxon
OX17 2BS
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www.dogsforthedisabled.org
Events and Treks
Running marathons or swimming,
trekking to Everest Base Camp or even
a tandem Skydive? We can help to
organise any of these.
Payroll Giving
Payroll giving is an easy and tax
efficient way to make a regular gift to
Dogs for the Disabled straight from your
salary, and because your donation is
taken before tax, it is worth even more
to us. For example a £5 monthly gift
would only cost you £4 – that’s the
cost of feeding one of our puppies in
training for a whole week!
Pennies from Heaven
Visit www.penniesfromheaven.co.uk
and see how a few pence from staff
salaries each month can add up to
a large donation. Staff salaries are
rounded down to the nearest pound
and the remaining donation is given to
the charity. It’s a maximum donation
of 99p each month of course, but that
would soon add up!
T 01295 759805
E [email protected]
www.dogsforthedisabled.org
Charity Registration No.
England & Wales 1092960
Charity Registration No.
Scotland SC039828