Dedicated Guide Dog puppy raiser from Northampton honoured with long service award

Anne Breach joined Guide Dogs, 25 years ago, as a volunteer puppy raiser.

Anne describes her years volunteering for Guide Dogs as very rewarding and having retired early from her secretary work, she was able to throw herself into volunteering for the charity and fully immerse herself in the Guide Dogs experience.

Now aged 78 and living in Northampton, Anne looks back at her volunteering for Guide Dogs with a lot of fondness, and despite not planning to volunteer at the charity for long, she kept coming back to support the cause further.

To honour Anne’s incredible contribution to Guide Dogs over 25 years, she was recently recognised by the sight loss charity with a Volunteer Long Service Award.

She said: "I started volunteering for Guide Dogs in January 1999 in Essex, when I was 53. I first decided I wanted to join after a chance meeting with a guide dog puppy raiser, after recently retiring from my job as a secretary.

“It ended up happening so quickly - I was told, in my first interview, that it was a long process and that there was a waiting list until you got given your first dog. A few weeks later I got the call to confirm that my pup was arriving in a few days' time!

“I ended up being a puppy raiser for 10 dogs over my time with the charity. After my first puppy, I was hooked.

“Nine out of ten of my dogs went on to become fully fledged guide dogs, and although one didn’t make it due to a skin condition, it meant that I was able to keep her as my own!

“As anyone can imagine, the biggest challenge was always saying goodbye to the dogs, as they went off to start their careers. But I knew that this was what I’d helped raise them for, and they were going on to do amazing things helping someone’s quality of life. Being a part of this is a very rewarding experience and is something that I’m certainly proud of.

“Having raised ten puppies, I’m often asked if I have a favourite and I always say no. I loved them all equally, even if secretly deep down I might have done!

“On top of raising puppies, I was very active as part of the Chelmsford volunteer fundraising group in Essex, working in the merchandise shop, fundraising, and attending school fairs and many other activities to help raise awareness and support for the charity.

“When I moved to Northampton nine years ago, the workload decreased slightly due to my age, but there was never a dull moment and I continued to be a champion for the charity.

“Guide Dogs is like a second family to me and even when I left the Chelmsford group and moved to Little Billing in Northampton, I kept in contact with my friends that I have made along the way and I still, to this day, keep in touch with some of the people living with sight loss who my pups helped.

“I feel so rewarded by all the relationships I’ve made with other Puppy Raisers along the way, as well as with the spectacular guide dogs themselves. This, and the feeling of making a difference, was truly the reason I stayed with the charity for 25 years."

For Anne, her long-service at Guide Dogs at a later stage in her life reinforces that you’re never too old to get involved in something new, meet new people, and learn new things.

She added: “Guide Dogs has taught me so much, and if more people were involved, they would have more understanding of the difficulties that people living with sight loss face, every day. The charity has also enhanced my compassion, as well as my love and admiration for dogs!

“I was honoured to receive a Long Service Award - my time at Guide Dogs feels like a blessing. I have been able to do something that I felt was necessary and such a good cause. I had been blessed with the opportunity to be involved in a charity as wonderful as Guide Dogs."

The UK’s first guide dog partnership qualified in 1931, and since then, thanks to the dedicated staff, volunteers and supporters, Guide Dogs have partnered more than 36,000 people with a guide dog and transformed the lives of thousands more through other services.  

To find out more about volunteering for Guide Dogs, visit: https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/volunteer.