Orchid’s Independent Local Pubs finished their latest charity drive by introducing CEO Rufus Hall to his namesake ‘Ruffie’!

Fifteen of Orchids pubs took part in a charity campaign raising a staggering £22,000 in just under 5 months, funding two new Canine Partners. 

These highly-trained assistance dogs help people with disabilities.  Each dog takes 18 months to train at a cost of £8,500. The dogs are trained from puppies to master an amazing list of skills, learning a grand total of 110 commands to help transform the lives of people with major disabilities, from all walks of life across Great Britain.

Malcolm Wells MBE, Canine Partners’ Head of Community Fundraising, says: “As a charity we receive no government funding and rely on the public to support our work.  This wonderful amount of money raised by the Orchid Group is the largest single donation that our community fundraising team has received.  We are very grateful for the donation, which will contribute to the training of two dogs – Orchid and Rufus.”

The pubs have tirelessly worked hard to collect as much money as possible towards the puppies’ training and development programme. A multitude of events have taken place from a sponsored dog walk in Eastbourne organised by the Buccaneer – over 100 dogs and owners took part - to a Family Fun Day at the Frogshole Farm in Maidenbower.  Here, assistance dogs from the charity came along to demonstrate their range of skills.  Parsons Pig team members Steve Arnold (General Manager) and Sam Jefang (Head Chef) raised £1500 by running from Buckingham Palace to the Parsons Pig in Crawley – a staggering 32 miles taking 8 hours!  Other pubs have run ‘doggy picnics’, karaoke competitions, darts and dominoes evenings as well as special raffles and sweep stakes.  Not to be left out, Orchid’s CEO Rufus Hall also did his bit, giving employees a chance to ‘tear a strip off the boss’ – quite literally - by taking part in a sponsored back waxing.

Will Porter, Area Manager for the 15 pubs involved explains: “We’ve had to work extra hard to raise funds but as always, our customers and pub teams have done us proud. These highly trained assistance dogs completely transform the lives of wheelchair users, helping them with everyday tasks we all take for granted. From operating lifts or carrying out emergency response procedures, these dogs enable people with disabilities to get on with their lives and get back into education, employment and social activities.”

For further information on Canine Partners, please visit www.caninepartners.co.uk or call 08456 580480.