Bellway donates £500 to Guide Dogs Shrewsbury Community Team

Publication Date: 20-03-2024 09:00

Bellway donates £500 to Guide Dogs Shrewsbury Community Team

Bellway has given £500 to help support the work of the Guide Dogs Shrewsbury Community Team.

The housebuilder is building 150 new homes at Darwin’s Edge off Hereford Road and recently welcomed members of the team to the development for the cheque presentation.

The Shrewsbury team, which covers Staffordshire, Shropshire and the Black Country, offers a range of services for adults and children with visual impairment. This assistance includes providing guide dogs and buddy dogs, teaching life skills, offering sighted guiding and information and advice.

It is the second time the team has visited Darwin’s Edge, as Bellway West Midlands invited volunteers along to the site in November 2023. The visitors were given a verbally described tour which helped them to envision each room of the Baswich and Cutler showhomes and the general layout and appearance of the site.

Mary Conner, Community Fundraising Relationship Manager from Guide Dogs, said: “Guide Dogs are here to help people in the UK, who are living with sight loss, live the life they choose. Our expert staff, volunteers and guide dogs help people affected by sight loss live actively, independently and well.

“The funds donated by Bellway mean we can continue supporting people with sight loss, through providing information and advice, rehabilitation support and of course our life-changing dogs. It costs approximately £55,000 to support a guide dog from birth to retirement. We are currently supporting nearly 3,500 active guide dog partnerships in the UK.

“We would like to express our thanks to everyone involved at Bellway. This donation will make an enormous difference to someone’s life.  Founded in 1934, following our first partnership in 1931, we are a charity that is almost entirely dependent on donations and can only provide our guide dogs with the support of donations and fundraising.”

Marie Richards, Sales Director at Bellway West Midlands, said: “We are proud of our ongoing relationship with the Guide Dogs Shrewsbury Community Team and we are glad to hear that our £500 donation will help them to continue to fund the brilliant support service they provide for visually-impaired people in the local area.

“It was a pleasure to be able to invite the team over to the development for a second time and to update them on the progress of the development. Their visit was also an opportunity to meet the amazing guide dogs which are so incredibly loyal and intelligent and melt the hearts of everyone who meets them.”

Further information about the work of the Guide Dogs Shrewsbury Community Team can be seen at guidedogs.org.uk.

For more information about the new homes at Darwin’s Edge, call the sales team on 01743 598533 or visit https://www.bellway.co.uk/new-homes/west-midlands/darwins-edge.