Liveryman Graham Ellis embarked upon a 500-mile bike ride, ‘the Tour des Wheelwrights’ back in August 2021, starting in Warkworth in Northumberland and ending at Heathfield in Sussex, stopping at wheelwright’s workshops on the way. The ride raised £14,795 for the Wheelwrights’ Charity to fund the training of an assistance dog by ‘Dogs for Good’ to help a person with a disability to live independently.
Our assistance dog is a golden retriever called Jimmy and he is now 12 months old. To meet Jimmy and to see his progress, Graham Ellis BEM and Past Master David Mortlock, along with their wives, visited the ‘Dogs for Good’ training centre near Banbury on 23 March. They sat in on an obedience training session that showed that Jimmy is getting on well and that if he continues to progress over the next 2-6 months then he will undergo more specialist training before being matched with a suitable person to help them to live independently.
Graham is pictured on the left meeting Jimmy and Linda Walden his current volunteer socialiser. In the centre is Jimmy and Linda during a training session and right Past Master David Mortlock is pictured with Anna Lawrence, the ‘Dogs for Good’ Trusts Manager, who arranged the visit.
