Puppy love after Market Drayton pupil Lizzie raises £50 for Guide Dogs for the Blind
Young Lizzie Deaville has a new friend – would-be guide dog Griffin. The 11-year-old took it upon herself to raise £50 for Guide Dogs for the Blind at her school.
And she was rewarded with a visit from the cute little golden Labrador which is about to start training.
Lizzie, a Year 6 pupil at Market Drayton Junior School, organised a competition to raise the money.
The region currently has 213 guide dog owners. It costs about £50,000 to support a guide dog throughout its lifetime.
Laura Saunders, Lizzie's teacher, said: "Lizzie's grandparents look after guide dog puppies and help train them for 14 months.
"It costs about £50 for that training so Lizzie was inspired by that to help raise some money to sponsor a guide dog puppy.
"She set up a 'guess the name of the puppy' and people paid £1 to do that. It went very well and she raised £50 in total.
"We have been doing a lot of fundraising in school recently but Lizzie did this separately off her own back."
Pupils from the school have so far raised more than £1,000 for charity following a fundraising day. As part of the school's citizenship lessons, staff grouped children into 12 mixed age classes.
Each class then chose a local charity to support and did some preparation looking into the history of the charity and the work that the charity undertakes.
Pupils also included a coffee morning and bake sale, a sponsored quiz to raise money for the British Red Cross, and a sponsored 5km walk in fancy dress collecting for Birmingham Children's Hospital.
