SUCCESSFUL CHARITY GARDEN PARTY RAISES ALMOST £2000

The garden party on Sun 18th May was a great success with several hundred people attending despite the chill in the air.  Tina Malone, who plays Mimi Maguire in hit TV drama Shameless, came to support the Hearing Dogs and was very impressed by their work. ‘I have never heard of the Hearing Dogs’, said Tina ‘and I think its fantastic that there are more than 6000 dogs out there helping deaf people.  Maybe we can raise the profile of the charity even more and get more dogs trained up.’  Tina was also very impressed that more than 70% of Hearing Dogs are selected from rehoming shelters, particularly during the current climate when more dogs than ever before are being abandoned.

Music from the Tree Creepers and The Tragics kept everyone entertained and children had competitions, face painting, ‘hook-a-duck’ and ‘name the rabbit’ to keep them happy. 

The practice tour included ‘have a go at keyhole surgery’ where people used an endoscope to remove sweets from inside a soft toy, and ‘guess the number of teeth a cat/dog/rabbit has’ which produced some surprising answers.

Over £2000 has been raised and donations are still coming in.  The money will be split between the 3 main charities supported on the day – the Hearing Dogs, Dr Kershaws Hospice and the Air Ambulance.  

Friends of the practice have also been donating materials and old clothing which is going to be weighed in for recycling and the proceeds donated to the Air Ambulance.  The car boot stall stocked by donations from clients, friends and family also did extremely well, raising £372.  The remaining stock will be donated to Dr Kershaws hospice charity shop

	The grand prize raffle was drawn:
	1st : Pennine Helicopter Ride	0730
	2nd: Years Supply Hills Pet Food	0584
	3rd: Guys Thatched Hamlet	0070
	4th: DVD player	0282
	5th: iPod	0496
	more...

A full list of winners is available from Briar Dawn Vets for the other 14 prizes and we have been trying to contact winners individually to receive their prizes.

Many thanks to all the local businesses, clients, friends, and family who donated prizes, car boot items, material for recycling, time and effort towards making the open day such a fantastic success.