Star Comment: Turn out to support the PDSA

There is of course lots of choice around and about Shropshire and Mid Wales, and for many going to a football match will not be high on their list.

But the football match at the Greenhous Meadow at Shrewsbury on Sunday is no ordinary game of footie. It has been organised by former Coronation Street actor Adam Rickitt, who says it is the first time such an event has been held in aid of the PDSA, the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals, which has its headquarters in Telford.

Various stars and celebrities are turning out, so you can expect it to be a lot of family fun in aid of a good cause.

If you have taken a pet to the vet lately you will know veterinary bills can be expensive. You will also wonder how people without much money can afford to pay.

The tragedy is that letting poorly pets suffer is the cheapest option. Unless, that is, help is at hand, which is where the PDSA comes in.

Nearly 100 years ago PDSA founder Maria Dickin was moved by the plight of sick animals and the owners who can't afford to treat them, and the same principle applies to this day, with the charity providing free veterinary care to the sick and injured pets of people in need.

From a purely parochial point of view, we can celebrate the part Shropshire has played and continues to play in the story.

The network of pet hospitals and practices is across the country, but the PDSA headquarters has been in Priorslee, Telford, since 1989, having moved up from Dorking in Surrey. The brand new purpose-built offices were officially opened by Princess Alexandra, the charity's patron, in June 1990.

It is a matter of interest that the PDSA headquarters is only a short distance away from the site of a dispensary for sick animals which was set up in a pre-fab building in Stafford Street, Oakengates, thanks to local fundraising. Looking for a way to mark the honour of local boy Gordon Richards, the great champion jockey, being awarded a knighthood, Oakengates folk came up with the idea of creating the dispensary, which Sir Gordon opened in March 1958. The pets of the poor received free treatment.

Those who go along on Sunday will be supporting a locally-based charity with a national reach.