I am raising money for the charity Guide Dogs for the blind.

THE AIM:

I'm looking to raise a total sum of £2,500 for Guide Dogs. Once I have raised this amount I can name a Guide Dog puppy....and of course it's without question it will be named SAM in memory of my boy so that he can live on and continue to help somebody else in their life. 

Sam helped me more than anyone can ever imagine. He wasn't just a dog, he was my best friend. He came with me practically everywhere - work, home, stables, holidays, hotel visits, stays at friends, he was always there. He was my shadow. He helped me day in day out with physical work and company, aswell as helping me emotionally by just being around, but most importantly he helped by being there when I had bad news when I was diagnosed with a horrible condition in 2010. And again in 2016 when I had to make incredibly hard decisions on which treatment option to take (one being life threatening) as the condition had worsened. It might sound silly but Sam knew whenever something was wrong, he knew when to play, when to just do his own thing and he knew when he needed to just be there for me........and he would come and put his head on my lap or shoulder to let me know things would be ok.

He greeted me every day with his happy face no matter what. I miss that happy face so much, it's unreal. The day Sam died, a part of me died and life will never ever be the same - but if I can help improve the lives of those with sight loss for the better then somehow I hope it will help with my loss of Sam.

I could write all day...but you'll be glad to know I'm about to get on with my point!

THE EVENT:

I do realise I am often raising money for various charities and asking people to donate so I need to make this a super event in order to bring in the total amount of £2,500. I've already raised £550 from the Bonfire Night held in Sam's memory on 5/11/2017 and general donations from people in memory of a great dog so that's already 22% of the total needed. 

At this point in time I have 2 different ideas of what I can do in 2018-2019 to raise this money but need to work out which is best. All I can say is one will involve ALOT of planning (more than I have ever done before) and both will involve alot of physical training and work myself.

I have only lost my vision in one eye temporarily on a few occasions and I can tell you it's a scary frustrating thing not being aware of what is around. For those who have no sight at all it must be nothing less than terrifying!!! Guide Dogs give these people indepence, security and confidence enabling them to have a much greater quality of life.

THE CHARITY:

Almost two million people in the UK are living with sight loss that has a significant impact on their daily lives. Of those, around 180,000 rarely leave their homes alone and lead lonely, isolated lives. Guide Dogs works for a world where people with sight loss are never left out of life, for a world where being blind or partially sighted is not what defines you. A world with enough support to make the challenges of sight loss no barrier to fulfilling hopes and dreams.

Info about naming a puppy: https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/media/15383374/name-a-puppy-2017-brochure.pdf

Guide Dogs website: http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/