Having lost my sight suddenly after suffering a brain haemorrhage and 4 strokes in 2005 I stopped going out unless a friend came to take me somewhere. I didn’t know how to find my way around alone anymore. I changed from a person who loved being outside to someone who was frightened when I went out.

In 2010 following the death of Jessie, my pet dog, I contacted Guide Dogs. I was visited by one of their mobility instructors who taught me how to walk around the block, go to the shops and many things that were once daily events but that I no longer had the confidence to do. I was then put on the waiting list and in 2012 was matched to my wonderful Guide Dog Ted. Ted has changed my life, helping me to get around safely and with so much more confidence. Thanks to Ted I have met many new friends and those friends have also changed my life helping me do some of the things I loved doing when I could see, like
swimming, running & cycling.

During a parkrun one Saturday my good friend and one of my guide runners, Evelyn, suggested riding my tandem with me and challenged me to do the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 which we did in 2017 and I absolutely loved it. I wanted to do it again, but I was not successful in the 2018 ballot and as a result of having to have a knee replacement and a procedure on a hip injury I wasn’t fit for much at all that year anyway. Through everything that happened in 2018 my guide dog Ted has been by my side helping me to recover.

I entered the 2019 ballot for the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 2019 and was delighted to get a place! Once again Evelyn will pilot the tandem and we will ride the 100 miles to raise money for Guide Dogs.

The guide dog service receives no government funding. Without donations they simply wouldn’t be able to continue. That’s why they’re so incredibly grateful for every contribution made, however big or small it may be.

The lifetime cost of a guide dog is around £55,000

£8 could feed a guide dog puppy for a week.

£10 could buy a grooming kit to keep a guide dog looking and feeling great!

£25 could buy a white harness, the iconic symbol of a fully qualified guide dog.

£50 could pay for fun, tactile creative activities for visually impaired children.

Please donate to our page if you can. Any amount will help greatly. It all adds up and will help the Guide Dog charity to breed and train more guide dogs who will go on to change the lives of visually impaired people in the same way that Ted has changed my life.


Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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