A PARTY was held on Saturday to celebrate the success of an appeal set up in memory of a beloved guide dog Last year, Alan Fletcher, of Swindon Guide Dogs, launched the 4Joy appeal, with the aim of raising money to go towards the training of new puppies.

In just over 12 months, a staggering £46,000 has been collected and at the weekend a party was held for the first six puppies on the training programme.

Despite never having been together, all the dogs were on their best behaviour under the watchful eye of volunteer trainers.

The appeal was set up after Alan’s last guide dog Joy, who died suddenly last year.

Alan, who now has a new guide dog called Nutmeg by his side, said: “It wasn’t until then that I realised how much of an impact on people’s lives, not just mine, that Joy had. So I decided to make a positive out of a negative.

“The amount people have raised has been absolutely fantastic. We initially aimed to raise £20,000 but that was reached so quickly we have decided to carry on.

“There are six puppies here and there is one other who cannot be here today because she is so young. We are really grateful to everyone because a guide dog has such an impact on people’s lives and we wanted to celebrate the success of the programme.”

It costs £5,000 to train a puppy in its first year so the money raised is vital to keep the programme going.

Victoria Noyce-Guthrie, a community fundraiser for the Guide Dog Charity, said: “We get no support so the money we get from volunteers is vital.

“As we know from Alan, a guide dog is more than just support but also a companion for someone who is either blind or has impaired vision.”

The success of 4Joy is in many ways down to the work of the volunteers who give their time to train the puppies to make sure they are ready to be a guide dog.

Barbara Clark is overseeing all the volunteers. She said: “It is our job to make sure all the puppies are ready to go into people’s homes. We teach them not to become distracted by things such as traffic or other dogs. I think what 4Joy has done is make more people in Swindon aware of the work a guide dog does.

“That is important because it is vital that when a dog is working people shouldn’t come up and pat the animal or distract it. That message is getting out there now which is great.”

For more information about the 4Joy Appeal or to donate, visit www.4joy.co.uk .