Prestigious accolade for visiting dog charity

The highest award a voluntary organisation can receive in the UK will be presented to representatives from Wag & Company North East Friendship Dogs by the Duchess of Northumberland, Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland, later this year.

It aims to end loneliness for older dog lovers by recruiting and deploying professionally-assessed volunteer befrienders and their special dogs to regularly visit older people in their own homes as well as in care, medical and dementia establishments across all of the North East.

The Hexham-based charity launched in 2016 and in just over four years, it has made more than 74,000 Friend Visits, benefiting almost 3,000 elderly people.

Its Visiting Wag Teams go to see people in their own homes on referral from professional agencies involved in social care.

Although its service is temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 restrictions, volunteers have been working as hard as they can to safely keep in touch with and support these people.

Founding director of Wag & Company, Diane Morton, said: “We are absolutely delighted that the special contribution of our over 400 amazing volunteers has been honoured in this way.”

Sheila Moody, who nominated the charity for the award, has received regular visits from Diane Snowsill and rescue lurcher Eddie – a friend, and a furry friend.

She said: “Diane probably does much more for me than she should and they have both made such a difference to me. It’s honestly appreciated so much.”

Go to www.wagandcompany.co.uk for more information about the charity.